A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 11: Ode to Twenty Sixteen

| December 31, 2016

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state for Commonwealth nations, including Canada, and now at 90, well past the finish line in the race for longest lived and still reigning British monarch (Queen Victoria died at 81). Now, at the end of this year of death and dishevelment, there is something that […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 10: Bifröst

| December 30, 2016

“Haakon Haakonsson (c. March/April 1204 – 16 December 1263) (Old Norse: Hákon Hákonarson; Norwegian: Håkon Håkonsson), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his son with the same name, and known in modern regnal lists as Haakon IV, was the King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 years, longer […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 9: Offspring

| December 29, 2016

Study of life reveals how powerfully energetic it is, and how it comes with its own sort of momentum. In raising a child, from the moment of birth the child’s life energy, bestowed by its parents, is literally a force of Nature. This force grows as the child grows, and as physicality outstrips understanding, will […]

A Long Winter’s Night – Day 8: Winter as Weapon

| December 28, 2016

If you’ve heard of the Napoleonic Wars and World War II, you’ll have heard how anyone who invades Russia and doesn’t wrap up business before the snow falls is asking to have their ass handed to them. The Russians, we’re told, are the masters of Winter, but today we’re going to look at an engagement […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 7: Ice Capades

| December 27, 2016

“There’s an old joke about a Boy Scout who, one bright Saturday morning, puts on his uniform and declares to his Mother that he’s off to do good deeds all day long. When he returns a few hours later, with a black eye and looking like he just escaped from a dude ranch by being […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 6: The Best of Yourself

| December 26, 2016

“Think of your death now. It is at arm’s length. It may tap you any moment, so really you have no time for crappy thoughts and moods. None of us have time for that. The only thing that counts is action, acting instead of talking. “Our death is waiting and this very act we’re performing […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 5: A Toast to the Day

| December 25, 2016

As you might expect, the LFM Household is somewhat engaged today, but not so much as to stop me from reminding you of this snippet of wisdom from the lips of Major Sidney Freedman, sporadically appearing psychiatrist to the 4077th MASH. According to my late Mother, this was a popular toast for any time of […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 4: Pickled Bollocks, a Tale of Hospitality

| December 24, 2016

Pickled Bollocks By LFM To speak the sins deserving death Calls not for but a single breath, And of those few, that hated most Falls hard on who betrays his host. ‘Twas in the dead of Winter’s grasp My callused hand released the hasp Upon my door near end of day To find a man […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 3: The Tomten Revisited

| December 23, 2016

Systems of human belief that formed absent any Abrahamic religious influence tend to share the common trait of including people as being one among Nature’s creatures instead of above all by divine edict. They seek to understand the forces and phases of Nature within the context of motives and behaviours shared by Humans and other […]

A Long Winter’s Night 2016 – Day 2: Commitment

| December 22, 2016

“As long as you have a safety net you act without commitment. You’ll go back to your old habits once you meet a little resistance. You need the samurai’s desperateness and his insanity. Burn the bridge. Nuke the foundation. Back yourself up against a wall. Have an opinion one way or the other, get off […]