If you are not an Albertan, or someone with a tie to Alberta or its people, please bear with me for one more trip into the separatist wilderness. I hope to tie this discussion into something broader. WHAT IS SEPARATISM ABOUT? I have yet to encounter a coherent, rational foundation
In just a few weeks Janet and I will mark 50 years of marriage. We celebrate many things - births and birthdays, graduations, marriages and lives lived by those who have passed - but anniversaries are the fainter stars in the constellation of celebrations. The years accumulate slowly, without much fanfare, until
A few random thoughts that must be set free so that I can think about the things I'm supposed to be thinking about (spousal hint noted): When is a Referendum Not a Referendum? Politics has become the art of making everyone equally disgruntled, unhappy or just mad as
While driving from Victoria to Tofino, we decided a refreshment stop was in order. Google told us that on our route, Duncan B.C. had an excellent bakery/cafe about 2 blocks off the Trans Canada Highway. So we made a stop. Not only was it an excellent bakery, full
I have resisted writing this post for months, hoping that the subject would die a natural and boring death. But ignoring the drumbeat of Alberta separatists is getting harder. There may be relatively few people beating on those drums, but they're big, noisy drums being beaten by energetic
That best of days: you've just finished a book and now you get to choose a new one to read. How do you decide which book? For a few months now I have been thinking about how, exactly, I come to read the books I choose - how did
An unusual day today. It started with a reminder of a memorable dinner hosted perhaps 10 or 12 years ago by our friends Doug and Peggy (in the above photo blissfully unaware of risk of rising sea levels in the Irish Sea). When we got to their house they had
Many months ago Janet proposed a pre-Christmas trip to one of our favourite places, London, to experience the British Christmas season: lights, decorations, markets, food, entertainment, all infused with English traditions. As a bonus we would escape a bit of Alberta winter weather and recover from the the frenetic
Four very different events have caught my attention in the last few days: 1. AXE THE AUDITOR. Alberta's Auditor General has been told that his contract, which expires next April will not be renewed. Coincidentally (maybe), he has just released his report into the losses taxpayers suffered as
When I started this writing project in May, my first post was an explanation of our decision to sell our vacation home in southern California. That didn't happen quite as quickly as we had hoped - this place has a very short selling season, and now Canadians are almost
In 2005 a British author named Lynn Truss wrote a book titled "Talk To The Hand: The Utter Bloody Rudeness of the World Today." Though arguably somewhat whiney and thin (an essay stretched to book length) and tending towards the obvious, the book made the point that it
I mentioned in Post No. 9 that we converted half our vehicle inventory to electric this spring. If you live anywhere other than Alberta, the chances are that you've wondered if the switch to an electric vehicle makes sense, or is starting to make some sense. If you