Geeky Cat Miusings

Some of you may remember that I broke my toe on December 10. It hurt a lot at the time but it slowly improved but it is still hurting me, though the pain is usually not that bad. I thought I would consult the doctor about the pain and the slow healing of the toe because she said it is possible that I may be wearing high heels again by New Year’s Eve. Well, that day has come and gone and wearing heels still hurts. I know it is not good for my toe if I wear high heels but my toe hurts even in my flat boots. So I went to my doc today and she asked me to take off my boots so that she can have a look. So I removed my socks and quickly brushed off the sock lint that gathered between the toes while she looked at her notes to see which toe was fractured, even though it should be obvious to anyone which toe is affected because of the misshapen lump. She touched it and bent it and she asked me to curl my toes. She then wrote down some notes in my file and asked if I would like an x-ray. I asked if she thought getting an x-ray was a good idea…what would we do with the information after all? She agreed — the x-ray report would only state that the toe is improving and we would do nothing but stay off high heels and avoid kicking tires for a while. She suggested I wait another 2 weeks (which is the 2 month anniversary of the injury) and return to her if the toe still hurts. I am not sure what we would do if the toe continues to hurt but in the meantime, I will sit and wait.

I just wanted you all to know that the Winterlicious festival is currently on till February 7th. It is a great opportunity to try different restaurants at discounted prices. I went to Millie’s Bistro yesterday and had the fabulous Grilled Pear Salad on organic greens with goat cheese and a pomegranate vinaigrette as an appetizer. The main course was an omelet with caramelized onions and mushrooms finished with truffle oil, served with organic green salad. For dessert I had the tropical dream banana-coconut cream flan with Belgian chocolate shavings. I also took samplings of Moroccan Bean soup and No Pasta Lasagna with Yukon Golds, melted Leeks, sweet Red Peppers and Portobello mushrooms, goat cheese and cream sauce from my Winterlicious partner’s dish as he was kind enough to share his excellent choices with me. I would definitely go back to Millie’s.

I had a fabulous weekend … I went to a fondue party (YUM!) and I went to hear the Richard Whiteman Trio (Awesome!). I am too busy (and tired) to tell you about them right now…but stay tuned as regularly scheduled programming will resume shortly (I hope).

I hope everyone will consider making some New Year’s resolutions that helpful and beneficial to the environment. The climate change trend is going to change our life in a very profound way and we all need to make changes in our daily lives to help the situation. I know most of us want to do the right thing for Earth and desire to treat our planet with respect to make sure that it stays vibrant and bountiful. And while good wishes are genuine and heartfelt, we need to be active in order to have an impact on the world. As a friend said to me, all other issues don’t mean a thing if the planet is destroyed: Without a healthy planet to live on other problems such as a poor economy, diseases, poverty, or war are all non-issues.

As per an article in The Toronto Star, here are a few things that will change if climate change continues:

• Guacamole won’t be quite as abundant as it is now. With the hotter temperatures California’s avocado production will be reduced by 40 percent over the next 40 years.
• Two-thirds of the polar bears along the Western Hudson Bay area will disappear by 2050.
• The cold winters have kept the black-legged ticks that carry Lyme disease (which causes serious symptoms like paralysis) from infiltrating Ontario. With the milder weather they will thrive and expand their territory to the point where we would be foolish to go on the grass wearing shorts and sandals.
• The blue-green algae will bloom in Lake Ontario. The water tastes musty and taking a shower is a smelly experience. Not pretty!
• The decline of the Emperor Penguin — with warm winter temperatures breaking up the sea ice early, their eggs and chicks are being swept out to sea.

We don’t want to see these changes, so let’s act now!

PS Happy Birthday, Rowan Atkinson. I love you!!!

I received several e-cards this holiday season and they were all very nice. They usually have some cute animation set to music and a greeting of some sort, with room for customization. But the ones by Jacquie Lawson are my favourite and the one I link to here celebrates the arrival of the New Year or of summer. Purrrfect!

Happy New Year everyone!

It has been cold in Toronto. It has been cold outside so I am bundling up in many layers whenever I go outside. It has been chilly on the TTC as well so my many layers keep me warm there too. And it is cold at work. I have a little heater at home so I thought I could bring it in to work to warm me up. I noticed other people in the office had their heaters going, so I didn’t think there would be a problem. I turned on my heater and set it at a low setting. A half an hour later everything went off. So I had to wait in my office for facilities management to switch the fuse back on. I had no computer to work on and no heater to keep me warm. I do dress warmly….I wear a tank top, a sweater, and a jacket…and yet I’m still chilled. The next day I wore a shawl over all my layers to keep me warm. It is not good being cold all day long and the only break I get from the chill is at night when I am under many layers of blankets and kitties.

I can’t wait until summer.