Restless moon
Two poplar trees, each a car width in diameter, stand along the shore of Lake Ontario, near Lake on the Mountain. The trees rule the surroundings as wise and stalwart guardians. It is estimated that the giants were already a half century old on the eve of the Loyalist landings. At a bend in the […]
A Word for Gordon Sondland
I feel sorry for Gordon Sondland. Sort of. Mr. Sondland donated a million bucks to Donald Trump’s inaugural committee and was rewarded with the ambassadorship to the European Economic Union. Little did he know at the time that he was to be called upon as the point man in Mr. Trump’s scheme to squeeze the […]
Hearts, Redux
It could hardly be the month of February without thinking of love, loved ones and hearts. Since 2004, hearts have been on my mind. Big old internal organ “hearts” not the Shoebox greeting card hearts on the shelves of the local drug store. As you may remember, I wrote about my father undergoing open heart […]
Impeachment grade broccoli
The late George H.W. Bush put his foot down at broccoli. “I do not like broccoli,” he said. “And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!” President Bush would […]
Can we talk?
January has been here and now it’s over and done. It rolled by so quickly, I missed having a word or two about mental health. I don’t believe mental health has a specific time, but what do I know? The thing is, like a lot of all y’all, I’m a bit concerned about the language […]
The missing candidates
So Andrew Scheer saw the writing on the wall and stepped down as Conservative leader. And so far, eight people—including party co-founder Peter MacKay and last time’s third place finisher Erin O’Toole—have applied to replace him. The other six declared candidates are Aron Seal, a former director of policy for two cabinet ministers; Rick Peterson, […]
Untitled
Call me irreverent, but I’m not comfortable addressing anyone by a title. I’m not into “Sir” or “Your Honour” or any of the royal titles rolling around these days. I never was. I likely never will be. And, if you know me, and one or two of you do, you know I won’t be taking […]
Sans frontière
Without borders: I think it was the piano stool that prompted the thought stream; maybe yet the blue jays and their acrobatics through the lacework of tall pines. Whatever it was, it got me going on the notion of divisions within society. Okay, a fairly heady topic, especially early morning when the long-absent sun has […]
Losing the village perk
Councillor Mike Harper proved at his Town Hall meeting on January 9 that he is adept at juggling. He ran a brisk two-hour meeting that covered a lot of bases—including the great clear garbage bag experiment, the future of the Wellington Town Hall, the water supply situation with its $100 million cost estimate, the offloading […]
The eve
Last night “the boys” were in 1960s music nostalgia mode. While jamming, my brother (a much younger-than-us person) suggested they play “that battle-slash-anthem-song about the War in Vietnam. “I can’t remember the name or the artist” he said. “Eve of Destruction”, I shouted from the sofa. And so they did. They strummed so nice, they […]