Cal's Journal

Fiona lashed her way up the Atlantic seaboard. Without emotion or feeling, she wreaked havoc upon everything in her path. Behind her, she left devastation. She left the Maritimes in chaos. They said she would be coming with a fury few storms ever had. They were right. Reports have come in about homes being washed away. Livelihoods are in tatters, and people’s dreams are in ruins.  As our climate changes, the intensity of storms has increased. Winds as high as Read more

Bright sunshine bounced off the white caps that chopped the water of Okanagan Lake. I had my new battery and I was early for my morning boat ride. The girls from The Blind Angler were going for lunch at The Landing, a lakefront restaurant at The Cove Lakeside Resort. The boat fired right up and everything seemed good as we set out on the breezy waters of the Okanagan. The last time on the boat I’d suffered a dead battery Read more

I heard the motor sputter and stall. I looked back at the Mercury 150 at the back of the pontoon boat and noticed it was shaking. I looked at the fishing rod sticking out the back and saw it shake as well. Could it be a fish? The shaking stopped. And so did the engine. The strong northern breeze continued to push our pontoon boat but the motor no longer was running. What the…?  “Hey, this isn’t good guys. The Read more

Dave stood in the doorway and greeted his friends. They smiled and shook hands and he embraced them with relief and joy.  “Happy Birthday Dave, nice to see you, and thanks for having us here.” Barrman slipped off his shoes and put down his cooler. Eighteen months ago no one would have thought Dave would be here shaking hands, let alone standing. It was a testament to the human spirit. “Glad you could make it,” Dave grinned wide at his Read more

I received an email telling me that my daughter has school off next Monday, September 19. At first glance, I didn’t understand why.  Then I found out that the Queen’s funeral was going to be on September 19, 2022. Now it made sense – sort of. They have closed the schools because of her funeral on Monday. Canadian federal government employees now have a paid long weekend as well. That’s right, Canada has taken a holiday to honour the Queen’s Read more

911 – the numbers for emergency services. Also, the date was when one of the biggest emergencies ever faced by a western nation took place. It is a day that will live on in the history books like the ides of March from ancient roman times, and Oct 14, 1066, when the battle of Hastings occurred and Britain was conquered by William. Or in more recent times, October 29, 1929, when the stock market crashed, and December 7, 1941, when Read more

Blood pumped through my veins and my fingers tingled with the excitement of the day. My favourite new band was only hours away from taking the stage and I couldn’t wait for the show to start.  We met our friends in front of the VRBO place we’d booked in the middle of downtown San Diego. We chose the closest most affordable place to The House Of Blues and hoped that it would be ok. Thankfully it was a good place Read more

The Queen is dead, God save the King.  A sentence years in the making. And all the more bizarre every time I read it and think about the meaning behind the words. For over a thousand years Great Britain has been ruled by a monarchy of some form or other. Essentially a dictatorial form of government that employed the feudal system and ensured the survival and success of a small group of people – in perpetuity… Will the Queen’s death Read more

The last hot days of August faded into memory. Only to be welcomed by the first days of an unseasonably warm September. What a summer it has been. A summer free of restriction and smoke. Free of fear and the threat of impending doom – mostly. It was a glorious end to a summer of resurrection. Despite the media’s cries of recession and war – my life has been filled with promise, with hope. The last Monday of August was Read more

I stood in the rafters of Prospera Place in downtown Kelowna and surveyed the scene below. The chains dangled while the motors climbed them and the speakers were assembled. It was a satisfying feeling seeing the rigging turn into a stage. Cauldrons were rolled onto the stage and the lights were lifted to the ceiling of the arena. A setup that has been done in dozens of venues across North America was completed. And I was a part of it. Read more