This, that and the other thing
November first. Yep, here we are rushing toward the end of 2020. You know, 2020, the year we woke up all excited about this, that and the other thing? We were barely into February we found out “the other thing” would just about the only “thing” we’d have on our minds for the rest of […]
Ditching the Ranked Ballot
Let’s get right to the big news. Doug Ford and his Ontario Conservative crew are planning to repeal paragraph 3 of subsection 7(3). I know; it’s a shocker. That would be the paragraph and subsection of the Municipal Elections Act that allows a Municipality to hold an election using the ranked ballot system of voting. […]
Bookmarks and other treats
To paraphrase a good friend, “It’s a sad day when the garden furniture gets put away for the winter.” Maybe she feels the way I do about the changing of seasons, this year. It feels as if we didn’t really have enough summer and here we are, knee-deep in fall. This summer afforded us an […]
Partiendo el pan—breaking bread
It’s late on a recent Wednesday afternoon when I climb the stone steps near a building appropriately known as the Ridge, a structure that is the heart of the Closson Chase Winery. On the lower level, the grape harvest is pressed and prepared to be aged for later savouring. The upper storey, my destination today, […]
A Net Negative
day. And in doing so, I just about lost my mind, as well as the goodwill of my family. I noticed it was missing last Thursday morning, just as my wife and I were going out to run a few errands. It wasn’t in its usual place in the outside pocket of my shoulder bag, […]
Nice work
Our family has a little “joke” about my mother. As Mom got older, she’d occasionally forget where she was going with something. For example, one day when I was visiting she told me she was going to bake a raisin pie. My favourite pie is raisin. I didn’t know if she’d remembered the connection between […]
Entering the lexicon
lexicon After a significant and prolonged event such as the 2020 pandemic, there are going to be words and phrases that enter our lexicon on a semi-permanent basis. So let’s look af a few candidates in the early running. “Covid belly” denotes the acquisition of a spare tire as a result of nine months of […]
Pandemic thankfulness
Ah, Thanksgiving!! I love a long weekend holiday excuse to cook, bake and be with the family! Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday, as far as I’m concerned. The fall weather is usually co-operative. It’s warm enough for walks and cool enough for a bonfire. The food is plentiful, and that’s a bonus. The drinks flow, […]
The Big Pivot
You’ve got to hand it to Doug Ford. He has used the gift horse of the COVID crisis to transform his image from that of ‘angry old guy’ into ‘benevolent Uncle Doug’—a regular sort who just happens to occupy the Premier’s office and who has no special knowledge, but who asks lots of questions of […]
I love the smell of sanitizer in the morning
Looks like another lockdown is just around the corner. Double dang. We, obviously, haven’t learned our pandemic lessons. The lesson to continue social distancing, mask-wearing, hand washing and non-essential contact seems to have flown out of the window for a lot of people. Speaking of lessons, I understand it takes a great teacher to deliver […]