Banana Republican of the Year?
You have to ask yourself what award Doug Ford is gunning for: Banana Republican of the Year, perhaps? Mr. Ford can’t seem to keep his hands off Hydro One, even though the government’s share in the company is less than 50 per cent and its shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Ordinarily, the […]
And, hee hee hee Holidays
Most of us have read the articles, or watched the lifestyle shows about how to survive the holidays. My dad once told me, “liquor helps”. But there’s got to be a better way. Right? You know I am. I know from personal experience that booze is just a Band- Aid. Oh sure, if you’re a […]
A pedestrian subject
Over the next year or two, it’s going to get busier than ever in downtown Picton. The Royal Hotel will open. The renovations to the Picton branch of the PEC Library will take place. Condos will be developed in the upper and lower parts of downtown. It all promises to be very urban-chic. And yet […]
Ha Ha Ha Holidays
Christmas is picture-perfect, I wonder just how much tinsel they snorted over the holidays. The perfect holiday celebration happens on the pages of magazines and in Hallmark made-for-television movies. I can honestly say it has never happened at our house. Nor did it ever happen when I was a kid. I’m not saying my parents […]
Hiding in plain sight
I’ve fallen for two ladies recently, a singer and a novelist. And the thing is, I’ve known of both of them for a long time, but ignored them. They were hiding in plain sight. The singer is Dionne Warwick. I first heard her in the early 1960s, when I resented her appearance on the British […]
One candy cane or two
I’m back! It’s December, and “You’re welcome”. I heard your pleas. I didn’t bring the Manitoba weather back to this part of Ontario. I understand folks here don’t like minus numbers, especially on the thermometer. I don’t know about you, but being cold isn’t my idea of a good time. I spent a month shivering […]
The Conversation Books
It was mostly when I pulled into my driveway and got out of the car that I heard something less familiar. I oriented to the sound of the small rapids of Slab Creek, a stone’s throw away from where I stood. It winds through a clay ravine woven with spent lilac, heaving Manitoba maples and […]
My tiny island beachfront paradise fixer upper
There comes a time when a man is ready just to sink into his chair and watch television, mindlessly, on his own. Actually, if you ask a spouse familiar with his habits, she will probably say that time seems to arrive whenever there is a game of some sort on, or failing that, whenever a […]
Weather or not
This might be my last Sunday in sunny Brandon for a wee while. It’s been a real eyeopener, here on the Canadian Prairies in the “near winter”. The good folks of Manitoba seem to take the cold and the snow in their stride. It’s an adaptation thing, I suppose. What surprises me most is the […]
Salt: 2B or not 2B
Now that we’re getting into oatmeal season, I am reminded of a domestic experience I had at the start of last year’s season that shook me up. I developed an ‘oatmeal for the winter’ approach to breakfast a few years ago. And I’m not afraid to a admit that I like a dash of salt […]