Not on the bucket list
The term “bucket list” has wormed its way into our vocabulary. We’ve had the 2007 movie featuring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, and a surge in the sales of a new category of books with titles like 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: A Traveler’s Life List. The way I see it—and call me […]
When push comes to shove
Bullies. Like most of you, I’ve been the victim and I’ve been the aggressor. When I was a kid, bullying most often happened in the school yard or on the playground. If you complained to a grownup about it, you were called a tattletale and told, “life ain’t easy” or to “suck it up, buttercup” […]
Winter woods
The restless moon shifts again and again, and the land shifts with it. Then, a dawning in my head: as the earth begins to warm, one thing about winter that I’ll miss—trust me, the list is short—is the mood of the woods in winter. Chickadee-dee-dee! The late afternoon sun lights up the naked forest; skeletal […]
The old ball game
About a week ago, I received a phone call from Michael Murray, a Picton resident and recent transplant from Ottawa. He wondered whether I would like to accompany him to a Spring training game in Fort Myers. He did not have to ask twice. We had met at a Florida Everblades game and discovered we […]
Sensual persuasion
We eat to survive. On special occasions, we may treat ourselves to a home-cooked dinner or shared dining experience with a loved one or with friends. Eating provides us tactile feedback—from the presentation on the plate, to the aromas in the air, to the taste on the palate. We respond in a fundamental, basic way […]
Keeping the D.L. waiting
I used to play the darn thing because I was addicted to it. Sudoku, that is; the number puzzle, a form of which appears in the Times every week in the Diversions section. It appears today on this page. You could have heard, for example, how I arranged a personal audience with, but then stood […]
Magically delicious
I am appalled by the cost of real, fresh food. Is it any wonder folks who are living close to the edge are surviving on a diet of frozen pizzas, boxed macaroni dinners, chicken nuggets, frozen French fries, crappy cereals and fruit-like drinks? Those foods tend to be much less expensive but often have little […]
Who wants to go in net?
A little more than a month ago, I was privileged to sit at a dinner table on the ground floor of the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida, home of the Florida Panthers. The room is a bit of a hangout for hockey folk before the puck drops. I had entered with Nick Polano, a veteran […]
Heritage
Much the same as we are the product of our life experiences— both good and bad—modern Western society is the sum of the knowledge of its early civilizations. The early empires of the Fertile Crescent benefited from the flood plains between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which were rich and ideal for growing crops. These […]
Riding the Ritz cracker
Did you see the news photograph a couple of years back of Vladimir Putin, shirtless, astride a horse? And—without meaning to draw you out as to your age—do you remember the infamous 1974 photograph, taken during the federal election campaign, of Robert Stanfield dropping the football—although nothing was published showing him make several successful catches? […]