Late Bunny

The fish trumped the bunny and so my family missed Easter this year.

Fishin' season weekend was the same weekend as Easter, a rare event, but since the calendar fell that way, there was absolutely no chance of getting together for a family dinner. For some people, like my sweetie, fishin' season weekend is New Year's Eve, their birthday and Christmas all wrapped up in one chilly, yearly camping experience. Family Easter dinner on his side was two weeks ago, and ours will be this weekend. But not before we do the most optimistic thing I've seen in a long, long time. Well, it's my mother's doing.

She is (well, we are, OK, my brothers and husband are) planting trees today on the farm my grandfather bought in 1921. My grandpa was a prodigious tree planter, and when I was growing up there, the grounds were covered with the plum and apple and pear trees he had planted. Over the last dozen years, though, a lot of the fruit trees have died off or fallen down. Today's replacements are sugar maple saplings, apparently with trunks about an inch in diameter. My mother is 69 years old this year, so she will never see these trees full grown. But they're going in anyway, a legacy on the land. I don't know if the property will remain in the family, but I sure hope the trees do well and find their way into a bright future.

Interactive

What's with the things the British ladies put on their heads?
It's just plain strange.
But what a bride! What a perfect dress! Grace Kelly meets Snow White, with a dash of humor and boy, I hope the marriage sticks.

What I found fascinating, beyond the fascinators, is how many people wanted to be part of the wedding. I don't remember anyone having a party with hats and scones when Chuck married Di. So many people wanted just to be part of it somehow, even in their jammies at home with a weird thing perched on their heads. It seems we aren't content being mere spectators anymore.

Undecided

What a fascinating turn the election polls have taken, and how fun it is to watch the pundits work themselves into a tizzy over the possibility that the NDP might be something more than a lefty sideshow at the House of Commons. (by the way, isn't there a surge in support for the NDP at just about this point in every election? Not this big, maybe, but a surge nonetheless?)

I think what the pollsters are hearing is that we're sick to death of negative advertising, especially after four solid years of it from the Conservatives. With the Liberals now in on it, too, the NDP are looking like the only ones who don't have their own personal Glen Beck or Karl Rove in the background, pulling the strings. I feel a little dirtied every time I turn on the TV, and frankly, the negativity has infected nearly everything about this race.

Nearly everyone I talk to says one of three things 1) they are trying to use their vote to block the candidate they don't want, or 2)they are trying to use their vote to block the party they don't want, even if they don't much care for the candidate or3) they are trying to use their vote to block the leader they don't want, even if they don't care at all for the candidate.

So, here's my question (and it really is a question, not a suggestion): what would happen if we all stopped trying to predict and negate what our fellow voters were going to do, and simply picked the person or party whose priorities we believe reflect our own desires and beliefs?

Imagine it: instead of trying to use your one measly vote to block 'them damn other guys', voting for the candidate you actually like. Instead of picking the candidate you think has been 'dun wrong', choosing the one you think might do something right?
Instead of voting against something or someone, voting FOR something or someone?

Seriously, what do you think would happen?

Random Thoughts from the All Candidates

What I noticed at last night's all-candidates debate in Collingwood (in no particular order):

A handsome clean-cut guy standing against the far wall looked like he was a secret agent. I half expected him to talk into his watch. It turns out, he was a cop, on duty after threats were made against one of the candidates.

Kellie Leitch seemed to me to make the exact same opening speech she made at the Conservative nomination meeting. Leitch also nodded emphatically when the Christian Heritage candidate said abortion should be outlawed in this country.

Helena Guergis appeared to me (and to my media colleagues gathered for a debrief (ok, drink) afterwards) to be the winner of the evening. This is not to say we agree about how she'll fare on election day. But last night, she was calm cool and collected, and managed not to cry, although I did think at one point she was going to slip a few tears into her closing remarks.

Alex Smardenka of the Liberals read most of his answers to the media members' questions from talking points he had brought along. However, he wasn't reading when he went after Leitch, accusing her of being a parachute candidate. He got booed heartily for that.

Jace Metheral was impressive, and has already grown as a candidate since his second-place finish in Clearview's Ward 3 in the municipal election. If the Greens can continue to attract candidates like him, you can expect them to have seats in the house before long.

Peter VanderZaag, the Christian Heritage guy, seemed like the smartest guy in the room at times. Katy Austin lives up to every stereotype you might hold regarding the NDP. The Action Party guy, Gord Cochrane also seemed reasonable.

The crowd on hand reacted very positively each time a candidate talked about electoral reform. Neither the incumbent nor the Conservative candidate appeared in favour of proportional representation.

Quite a few people I've talked to express frustration, saying they're worried that if they vote for the party they believe in, the candidate they don't want will be the one that gets in, so they feel they have to hold their nose and vote for someone else they don't really want in the seat, to block the one they vehemently don't want. They feel they're in a position where their negative beliefs outweigh their desires. But hasn't it always been that way?

I was very impressed with how many people turned out.

I still don't know who will get my vote. I may have to consult the Magic Eight Ball at Espresso Post.

Throwing Out the Baby

Helena Guergis almost got my sympathy today. Almost. Until she used her kid as a prop at the news conference she called to call out the Prime Minister.

I could get behind trotting out the cute four month old if only she had brought her much talked-about husband, too. But just the kid and not Rahim Jaffer, who was apparently also cleared by the RCMP? Why not? If you choose to play the family card, you really should play the whole family, unless there's something to hide.

Stephen Harper wouldn't even say Guergis' name today. But I bet he saying it behind closed doors, and I suspect it might come surrounded by a few other words.

Guergis said today, the polling she's doing puts her in the lead in Simcoe Grey, and she might be right, seeing as how Conservative candidate Kellie Leitch has been trotting out cabinet ministers and senators, and being quite friendly with the media, unlike the party leader and frankly, Guergis herself when she was still a Conservative.

But two weeks is a long time in politics. A lifetime.

And hey, watch for me on tonight's Global TV news; the very tall and fluently bilingual Mike Drolet asked for my 'inside the riding' opinion. I wish I could remember what I said. If I wind up on the cutting room floor, at least look for my mic flash at the podium, right there in the middle.

Mid-Election Publicity, Clearing the Air or Both

It's not every day I get to ask a politician whether they snorted cocaine off a hooker's bosom.

But I guess that's my lot in life today at Helena Guergis' news conference.

I'm actually kind of looking forward to it, since Guergis was so feisty with me when I interviewed her recently on 97-7 The Beach.

Now, Guergis didn't send me the documents she managed to get from the Prime Minister's office about the allegations that led to her being fired from the caucus. She sent them to the CBC, and Peter Mansbridge dutifully made them the top story last night.

The way the story has gone so far, it does keep alive questions about her treatment at the hands of the PM.

Several people I know claim they'll vote for Guergis strictly because they feel she got short shrift. Some of them claim she could have done pretty much anything wrong if only she'd been a man, or had married someone else.

Others say Guergis could have done anything she wanted and stayed in caucus if only she'd been a good Minister, or a good member, for that matter.

Oh, elections, so fun, bringing out the very best in all of us.

A little tube of hope

What is it about a new lipstick that inspires us so much? I probably have about ninety of the things lost in various drawers, pockets and purses scattered throughout my life. My husband says about sixty of them are the exact same colour which I swear they are not. (Well, maybe some of them. What are you going to do on 'bonus days' at Clinique?)

Canadian women buy about $115 million worth of lipstick each year. It's the most-often purchased item in our cosmetic bags.

Of course, the reason is the huge difference it makes to our faces! More than any other product, a quick sweep of colour on the lips is the fastest and most effective pick me up you can get for your mug.

The thing is, I buy lipstick, but I almost never remember to put it on!

But not this time. The one I picked up yesterday is different. Its name, African Sunset. It's smoother and creamier than most, with lots of gloss built in, soft and sheer but still with a substantial amount of colour. Oooh, I love it. I'm wearing it right now.

I hope my lunch date appreciates it as much as I do. Here's hoping I remember to wear it.

And I swear it's nowhere near the same damn colour as all those others...

Top Ten

The top ten things never to ask your wife:

1. Is that time of the month coming up?

Actually, that's numbers 1 through 10.

No need to write down any others.
'nuff said.


Seriously....dude!