Jane stood on the stage staring at the world in front of her. It felt surreal. She wanted to pinch herself, was she dreaming? It was the culmination of everything she had worked towards in the last year. And it was real. In front of her sat Simon Cowell, Heidi Klumm, Sofía Vergara, and Howie Mandell, the four judges for America’s Got Talent. Behind them sat a live audience, the most people she had ever sung in front of in Read more…
The air was thick and the darkening sky glowered ominously overhead. The pervading smell of moisture greeted Barrman as he stepped out the door with his daughter Mia. It was a Sunday in the Okanagan and some much-needed rain threatened to dampen the day. He smiled at the odour that wafted in the breeze. ‘I love the smell of fresh rain.’ The fifty-ish-year-old man dropped his kid at her job and returned home. Through the rain-spattered windshield, he stared at Read more…
“Something’s at the edge of your mind, you don’t know what it isSomething you were hoping to find but you’re not sure what it isThen you hear the music and it all comes crystal clearThe music does the talking says the things you want to hear I’m young, I’m wild and I’m freeI’ve got the magic power of the music in me” I heard this magical musical piece from the Canadian rock band Triumph this morning and it brought me Read more…
Vegas is open baby! This week Las Vegas, Nevada announced all restrictions have been lifted in sin city. No more lockdowns and people are free to gamble in the casinos and no longer have to wear masks. Thursday night the Vegas Knights hockey team played in front of a full crowd of mostly maskless people and watched their team dispatch the Colorado Avalanche from the NHL playoffs. The next round takes them up against the Montreal Canadians. It will be Read more…
Need for speed. That is something I feel in every fibre of my being, I love the adrenaline when I roll on the throttle of my motorcycle or carve a fast turn on my skis. It is therapy for my soul when I feel the wind on my body and the rush in my veins. This time I had to go to Kamloops and it was the perfect chance to ride my machine and connect with a piece of myself Read more…
Gail stood at the side of the road and stared at the border crossing. It marked the beginning of her next adventure. She was on Highway 97 and the road south was blocked to her. The USA – Canada border has remained closed for over the last year, so north was the only road open to the retired widower. At eighty-one, many people her age would be settling down in a care home or some other retirement facility. Not Gail. Read more…
“Come on, try a littleNothing is foreverThere’s got to be something better thanIn the middleBut me and CinderellaWe’ll put it all togetherWe can drive it homeWith one headlight” The band The Younguns played the Wallflowers song One Headlight and I sang along filled with joy. I swayed to the musical rhythm that filled the air. Everyone could feel the songs as the energy flowed from the band on the stage. It was amazing to be surrounded by sounds that caressed Read more…
Melting heat scorched the roof of One Water Street this week. I stared longingly at the crystal clear blue waters of Okanagan Lake. How I wished we could be floating in the serenity of the glacial waters. Instead, I was standing atop the highest man-made structure between Calgary and Vancouver, and the roof seemed to magnify the scorching temperature. It was 33 Celsius outside but I am sure it was close to 40 at the top. I could have worse Read more…
It was another Monday in the coronaverse. Sixty-three Mondays ago I began my journal. It has been a journey of self-discovery writing down my observations since the beginning of the pandemic that swept the world In early March 2020. The world ground to a halt back on those fateful first days as Covid19 circled the globe. Fear stalked through the planet as the strange new viral infection took lives and changed history. Confusion took over and the unknown viral foe Read more…
Joe cried out for his mommy. She wasn’t there. He woke up in fear and turned over to look at the kids next to him. The darkness hid the pain and the tears in their eyes. Still, he could here the sobs in the night. Sobs of fear and anguish. All caused by the oppressive instructors that took them from their homes and held them virtual prisoners of a foreign way of life. Joe turned over and closed his eyes Read more…