Modern is expensive
Staying current with the ever-changing technology world is challenging most of our lives. That is why earlier this year, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark announced that some of Ontario’s small and rural municipalities would be receiving modernization money. A grant to address the limited capacity to plan, modernize and improve the way […]
It’s not easy being green
I recently overheard a person complain about those individuals and businesses that are trying to eliminate singleuse plastic straws from their lives and their businesses. Her problem, which I’ve heard before, was there are so many other problems in the world that straw-shunning won’t fix. True, there are a lot of other problems. But singleuse […]
Bioluminescent
I named this piece after a new word I just learned: Bioluminescent. The word’s a gum ball of a thing to get your mouth around, so I don’t recommend uttering it as a first thought out of your head in the morning. Wait ‘til at least you’ve brushed your teeth and loosened jaw muscles. We […]
Extracting my thoughts
I clipped an article out of the New York Times a few weeks ago that staggered me. Scientists in San Francisco have developed a ‘prosthetic voice’ or ‘virtual vocal tract’ that has the potential to enable people who cannot speak to speak. All a patient will have to do is ‘think out’ what he or […]
The good old days
Where are the “good old days”? Life is a struggle for just about everyone. We’re living next door to a country run by an misogynistic, racist, ignorant, bigot. Our planet is getting warmer by the second. We snipe at each other on social media over our ideologies and we make it all worse by pining […]
Giant-this and Largest-that
There are very few people who would care to stick their necks out and pontificate on what constitutes ‘good’ art—and I am certainly not one of them. But I am prepared to say that if art, regardless of its intrinsic merits, makes people laugh, that is a good thing. Case in point: the 14 statues […]
Take a moment to find a moment
Where were you when? This is a great summer to play this game. On July 20, fifty years ago, LOML and I had spent the weekend at the cottage with a couple of close friends and were heading home on the 401. Along the way, the news of the moon walk hit the airwaves. Without […]
Halcyon days
What seems to happen at this time of year is a search for words to interpret the flood of treasured moments that unfold. Think about your favourite expression to describe the scent of hay, freshly cut, gathered and marching as round bale platoons seemingly calling to the sky just as they vanish, rolling over crests […]
The good karma year
I went to my optalmologist for a test last week and came out holding an appointment card for my next visit—in January, 2020. Yes, my eyes finally opened to the fact that a big bus stop year is almost upon us. The next big bus stop after 2020 will be at 2050—if we make it […]
Baby proof
On Saturday, LOML and I spent a bit of time looking for baby gates. Do you believe it, baby gates! Don’t get me wrong. I’m not the kind of person who likes to create barriers to keep wee-people out, but a free-range baby is heading our way and due to land in Picton this week. […]