Spring was in full bloom today. It started with a brisk chill in the air but as the sun warmed the earth the air felt fresh and new. A new season was in full bloom in our amazing Okanagan Valley. I stood at the top of the new thirty-six-story high-rise condominium building. I embraced the thrilling view from three hundred eighty-feet above the glistening Okanagan Lake. The brand new tower is in its finishing touches and the penthouse suite sits Read more
“They cancelled Dr. Seuss,” so rang the battle cry. They are cancelling everything. Who is this infamous ‘they’? Why do ‘they’ want to run our lives? Or do they? Did ‘they’ even cancel Dr. Seuss in the first place? I thought I should find out exactly what was going on. It turns out this mysterious ‘they’ had very little to do with cancelling the beloved author of children’s books. Six lesser-known books by the famous writer have been taken out Read more
Barrman’s brain fell deep into strange dreams of a world long past. He struggled to escape the days long ended, dreams of working in Calgary twenty-years-ago. Why, why, why was he haunted by dreams of cleaning windows in the city by the Bow River in Alberta? It was no longer his home. His eyes pushed their lids into the recess, he pushed his dream back into the depths of his mind. He remembered seeing fresh snow in the middle of Read more
Addiction, is it an illness or an affliction? There are all kinds of addictions that people can suffer from. Some are innocent; some seem like no big deal, most forms of addiction cause problems and pain. The worst of addictions cause death. I have some experience with addiction. I would admit that I am addicted to my phone and caught up in many forms of technology. I struggle to battle my addiction to the internet. I fight a daily battle Read more
It was another Monday in the coronaverse. Another Monday in a strange year of Mondays. A year ago the world had a glimpse of a possible future. China was in a lockdown, had been for two months. That kind of thing could never happen in Canada? Could it? Little did we know what would happen only two weeks later. We were having fun, we were carefree people. No worries in the world. Our biggest problem was how much snow would Read more
The Big Boarder smiled at his friends as he pushed away from the top of the Ridge Rocket express. The snow was covering his boots and he looked at his friends as they whooped in delight. It was another day of fresh snow and deep powder. Unexpectedly, Big Boarder and Barrman were back on the slopes. It was a day that they invoked the twenty-centimetre rule. The two friends bailed on work and the so-called real world. They met two Read more
A crisp wind blew across the fourth-floor podium of One Water Street this morning. I looked at the flags fluttering in the breeze. The cool February winds pierced my coat and sucked the warmth from my core. The wind was not helping my plans for the day. My buddy was coming from Vernon. We were going to fish our way from the Hotel Eldorado to the west Kelowna boat launch. Serendipity, my Campion Biltmore, needed to get home. Finally, after Read more
I feel the power of music surge through my soul. It holds me in its grip, My foot races to the beat, my body involuntarily flows with the rhythm and energy of the music. It is an awakening experience. I turn up the volume and feel the sounds surge through me. The Pretty Reckless has finally released their new album, Death By Rock and Roll. I have listened to it for the last week. It has filled my airwaves since Read more
“Where’s Marijke?” my wife’s voice broke into my dream. “What do you mean? She’s in bed.” I groaned back at Krista. Of course, she was in bed. I looked at the clock and saw the display, ‘3:12’ it was in the am I was sure. Where else could my daughter be in the middle of the night. I rolled over and pushed back at her energy. “She is not in her bed.” Came the sullen reply. “Go look for yourself.” Read more
MMMM chocolate, luscious, delicious chocolate. A dark whiskey truffle from Daniels chocolate melted in my mouth as I savoured every second. I resisted the desire to bite down; I held my mouth still and allowed the flavour to seep into my senses. It was five minutes of pure decadent enjoyment. Even after the last drops of chocolate disappeared the flavour remained. Echoes of deep chocolate taste coated my palate and I wanted more. The box of chocolates remained close but Read more