October 17 looms
I just can’t get excited about the new pot legislation that extends people’s right to voluntarily downgrade their sobriety level. I accept, however, that you can’t legislate against the human condition—we’ve already gone through that with alcohol—so recognizing widespread marijuana use as a fact seems to be sensible. But I won’t be doing any cartwheels […]
Fire up them generators
As I sit here, on my side porch tapping away on my arthritic laptop, I wonder if I might be hard-of-learning when it comes to our dependence upon fossil fuels? In my mind’s eye my computer power cord is snaking its way below ground to a power grid near a crude oil field in the […]
Fighting the cucumber war
There really is nothing funny about a tariff war. Once one side starts it, the other matches, and so it goes until an economic slump results and people start losing their jobs. All the same, you’ve got to find something mildly amusing in the targets selected by our government for a retaliatory 10 per cent […]
It’s all weekend
To borrow, and fine tune, a sentiment of Fozzie Bear’s, “Patriotism swells the heart of the Canadian Bear.” Indeed, if you happened to have spent a few moments in the Village of Wellington on Canada Day, you’d know exactly what I mean. A great wave of red and white washed through the downtown of Wellington […]
Choosing to cheer
Every four years, from mid-June to mid-July, I down tools and immerse myself in the FIFA World Cup of Soccer. It’s just as well the fire alarm hasn’t gone off recently, because I would probably be oblivious to it. The pre-tournament playdowns reduced the field of contenders to 32, excluding along the way such perennials […]
Nice or Kind, or Kinda Nice
I can’t think of a time when I’ve been more confused, offended, offensive, defensive and apprehensive. Well, I can think of one time, but that’s another story. All of the “-ives” and “-eds”. I no longer trust myself to make decisions without second guessing my choices. I’m not talking about making a fuss over the […]
Smarter or dumber?
Is humanity getting smarter or dumber? It’s a question that has bugged Intelligence Quotient researchers for years. And the jury has not yet rendered a definitive verdict. The prevailing view has been that we are getting smarter. A recent ‘study of all the studies,’ that measured four million people in 31 countries found an average […]
Dear ole dad
Sunday, was Father’s Day. My own father passed away in 2009. During the last year of his life, he was lonely and missed his “girlfriend”, my mother. Mom died the year before and for just over a year, we stood by watching as Dad slowly sank into a heartbroken and heartbreaking kind of depression. Patrick […]
Finding the silver linings
It’s been a tough week, what with celebrity suicides, an unpredictable neophyte cost-cutter elected as premier, and Donald Trump turning nasty towards our Justin. It calls for some silver linings to be found. I nominate three of them. The first silver lining came last week at the County’s information session on the way ahead for […]
Goodbyes and the perfect meal
So many witty, wise and thought-provoking things have been written about suicide. Some say suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness. Others believe it is our ultimate right to decide when we’ve had enough. Anthony Bourdain ended his own life. He’d had enough, I suppose. And we’ll never know what his tipping point was, and […]