Noisy neighbours “Good fences make good neighbours” – Robert Frost “Hell is other people” – Jean-Paul Sartre We had been living in Paradise…until the new neighbours moved in. Before coming to France in the fall of 2021, we had never resided in a dwelling without at least one adjoining wall. And we paid the price..
Gender-bending for Halloween “Girls will be boys and boys will be girls It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world…” – Lola, The Kinks Born in 1952, I grew up in what was then a small southern Ontario municipality called Georgetown, an epicenter, I decided later, of what has been dubbed the Southern Ontario..
The Library saved my life: the chronicles of a brand-new denizen of the Ottawa public library scene Did you know that October is Canadian Library Month? Here’s a little story in honour of Library Month… “A room without books is like a body without a soul” -Marcus Tullius Cicero Growing up in Georgetown, Ontario in..
Ode to the Zamboni: in honour of the new hockey season For my friend, the writer and Zamboni expert Mark Oshinskie By the time our first son was a pre-school tot, he was a rabid hockey fan. Growing up in Quebec City, he lived in a hotbed of hockey frenzy where the local media blared..
Willy Loman : I don’t want a change! I want Swiss cheese! Why am I always being contradicted? – Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman For Daniel MacDonald, the finest Willy Loman ever For his birthday, June 27, 2024 Getting old is no piece of cake Getting old is no piece of cake; The feast..
Upside down mothering A cinquain: five lines for five newborn kittens Mother’s Day 2024 Feline Matron upside Downside… woes…parenting Small mewling kittens…small problems, Soon…big! https://www.masterclass.com/articles/cinquain-poetry-guide First line: The first line of an American cinquain has two syllables and one stressed syllable. Second line: The second line of an American..
A few pops Returning to Canada after spending well over two years in France – and moving to a city where English is the predominant language – have been quite a shock to say the least! (So have the incredibly high prices here in Canada…but that’s a whole other story for another day.) ..
Weetabix Each and very morning, my wife needs a quick fix; She’s compelled to devour her Weetabix. Breakfasts in her native Slovakia were much more eclectic; When she came to Canada at age 10, out went the authentic. A ship without mooring, she ingested every sort of North American comestible; Her parents, non-plussed, found..
Seen but not heard My father’s attitude toward children was simple: They were to be seen but not heard; Or preferably not seen… nor heard. That was the simplest solution of all for Jim McBryde. Dad had a particularly hard spot For rambunctious boys, Especially from my mother’s side of the family; Cousins Johnny..
Still Life Georgetown, Ontario, Summer 1961 His name was Mr. Inglis. We called him the Merry Mailman. He delivered every envelope with the warmest of smiles. I would meet him in the streets of our neighborhood, especially during summer, As he made his daily rounds. He was also my baseball coach. So we..