Holy Mackerel

Our afternoon and evening with my brother and sister-in-law was fabulous, thanks for asking. They live in Chelsea, Quebec, a tiny hamlet of sorts nestled in the Laurentian Mountains, also known as the Adirondacks, with a history as rich as many of its current residents. The village has gone through many a transformation, and is now a very desirable area of residence for those who have lots of dough. It's about 20 minutes to half an hour from our house to theirs, and I don't know why we don't get together more often. It's ridiculous, really. Especially since Gee and Ess are the only family on my side that we have left. My younger brother, Leo, is incognito, and that's the way he wants it. Long story. Maybe someday I'll tell you about it. Suffice it to say that I pretty much had written him off for dead and gone about 10 years ago. I don't talk about it much because it's still very difficult for me to accept. My brother and sister-in-law do not exactly f...

Happy Easter Today, we are off to my brother's and sister-in-law's home in Chelsea, Quebec (30 minutes from our home) for a superb Easter dinner, complete with discussions about artwork (they're both amazing artists), dogs running akimbo, and lots of talking with different accents, and lots of laughing over stupid jokes that make no sense, because that's what we do when we get together, which isn't nearly often enough. I will take copious amounts of allergy medicine beforehand, and hope I don't have a full-out asthma attack. I'm allergic to their dog, it seems. And we'll eat lots of food, and go through photos of my mother because my brother wants to do a sculpture of her (did I say he's an amazing artist?), and just take it easy before we head back to the city, and our life of messy home, messy life, taxes, and lots of laundry and no dryer. This is the only family I have left, besides my own kiddies, and Mr. Handsome's mom and sisters, and I...

As is my job here, I need to let everyone know that Easter is just around the corner. What? You didn't know. I know, I just found out myself the other day. And with Easter comes delicious chocolate friandises, watching the kids hunt for chocolate eggs, and hiding chocolate from the dog so that he doesn't end up ingesting chocolate bunny ears and going into full chocoholic shock, and us ending up with a nice fat whopping bill for $4032 to save our dog from chocolate poisoning. Which, of course, we wouldn't. Because he's a poodle, and he's supposed to be smart, and if he's stupid enough to eat chocolate, then maybe this could be a way to teach him a lesson. Tough love, I call it. And saving a shitload of cash. Just kidding. My job this week is to find exquisite chocolate to give to my loved ones. Because that is who I am, and what I'm about. I wanted to go out Monday, but the flu had not yet let go of its heavy grip on my head, stomach and nethers, so inside ...