The sun glowed in the distance. It was a red ball in the sky, shrouded in smoke. Smoke that covered vast tracks of Western Canada. The heat simmered in the valley and it felt like your typical August day. Except this was Mid-May. Northern Alberta is a blaze and the smoke has spread for thousands of kilometres. Reminders of a tragic time a few years ago when part of Fort MacMurray was consumed in a fiery inferno. Some people still Read more…
To all mothers everywhere, I hope you had a fantastic day. A day filled with love and connection. I lost my mother just over a year ago and lost my mom thirty-two years before that. At least I was lucky enough to have two mothers in my life. My adopted mom passed away when I was nineteen years old. She was only fifty-three, way too young. Then seventeen years later I met my biological mom. I had the great fortune Read more…
“Long live the king.” The call echoed through the streets of Britain this past weekend. There was pomp and ceremony, pageantry and opulence. Months after his mother died Charles from the House of Windsor became the newest King Of Brittian and the Commonwealth. After years of speculation and waiting he became the newest monarch in the world’s oldest continuous monarchy. It was a scene right out of a Disney movie. Some might argue that it belongs in the movies. Not Read more…
Happy Cinco de Mayo. What used to be another day in May has become a Canadian and American excuse for a Mexican holiday. An excellent excuse to drink Tequila and eat tacos. And why not? There is nothing wrong with finding a reason to party. I like Tequila and tacos, so for me, this is becoming one of my favourite celebratory days. But when did it become a thing? Twenty years ago I don’t remember ever having Cinco De Mayo Read more…
Hockey playoffs have arrived. They are full of surprises. Toronto is in the second round, and Boston isn’t. Who would have predicted that one? The Oilers made it past the first round as well. And my beloved(used to be anyway) Flames are playing golf. And today they fired the coach… again. What a crazy world the NHL is. Coaches take the blame because some whiney millionaire player says their feelings were hurt by the guy trying to motivate them. What Read more…
Spring is in the air. Finally. The weather has been warming up all week and the days are getting longer. Time marches on. I find myself trying to keep life busy and my days happy. Yesterday I was on a roof in Penticton and it was beautiful outside. The sun gleamed off the glassy water of Skaha Lake and the sun reflected the feeling of optimism I held onto. Summer is right around the corner and flowers are peeking up Read more…
Four twenty was celebrated in Canada. It is a day that weed smokers everywhere rejoice in the legality of their herbal enjoyment. It wasn’t always that way. If someone had told me ten years ago that Canada would legalize the demon weed, I would have laughed at the thought. Yet a mere two years later the country elected a Liberal government that campaigned on just such an idea. It was one of the few promises they kept. It has been Read more…
The division still exists. I wanted to think that it was over. With the last gasps of covid19, I thought we could return to a time of sanity. A time like before when we may have disagreed with other people but still respected their right not to agree. That seems to have disappeared. I stood outside the bar on Saturday night. We were having a safety meeting, in the shadows. Suddenly my companion started a rant about how Trudeau and Read more…
Sixty-two days on skis. Over six hundred times on the chair. Big White treated me right and I had a fantastic ski season—my best season in my life. I hope to have many more. We finished the season off in style. Although we never reached the top of the mountain for the T-Bar party, we enjoyed a final evening of music and connection at the Globe Cafe. After three trying years of the Coronaverse, we made it to the end. Read more…
Bradley Garret stared, entranced as the bees swarmed toward him. He’d never seen anything like it. In all his years as a beekeeper, the bees were always calm and peaceful. This time they came at him like an organized entity. The bees were out for blood. He had no idea where they came from. They were not from any of his normal hives, Bradley threw his arms up and tried to swat them away. They kept coming, and he ran. Read more…