Today I have three books ready to give away and before I do that I thought I would write a short review of each of them. Where I live, the libraries are currently closed as are most retail stores, but thankfully Indigo (aka Coles, aka Chapters) bookstore is available online. I sometimes also get books […]
There are a lot of workers in Alberta who are without jobs right now. Aside from the cutbacks due to Covid-19, the resource industries are in decline. In January 2017 there were 297 active drilling rigs but by June 2020 there were only 11. (Government of Alberta) That number has gone up slightly since then, […]
My eldest son introduced me to yet another wonderful park in Edmonton today. Rundle Park is huge and provides lots of amenities for families to enjoy. I was very impressed by the IceWay which is a wide pathway of ice that meanders around trees and alongside picnic sites. It was getting a lot of use […]
There are many ways in which you might obscure a message that you are trying to send. One of them is by burying the main idea somewhere in the middle of a body of text instead of at the beginning or at the end. Another is by providing too much background information. Similarly, being too […]
This is a hilarious blog post from Notes From The UK by Ellen Hawley. It made me laugh so I thought I would share it. If you ask the BBC about dwile flonking (and who doesn’t at some point?), you’ll find them asking a question of their own: Does dwile flonking really date back to […]
Edmonton has lots of great parks and yesterday I visited one that is a popular site for festivals, walks, skiing, skating, and picnics. Hawrelak Park has hosted ice castles, Shakespeare festivals, Heritage Days, and the International Food Festival. It is named for a popular Mayor; William Hawrelak who was quite a character. He was mayor […]
It is always pleasing to see the public engaging with art, and when the public displays a sense of humour in their engagement it feels as though all is right with the world. Back in November, I shared some photos of a new art installation near my home. I think of the work as Red […]
Just suppose for a moment that you want to find out the price of a new car. Not a loan for a car; just a car, outright. But, when you ask, the dealership does not give you a dollar amount. Instead, they ask you first to tell them how much money you have saved, how […]
Yesterday my eldest son introduced me to a park I had not visited before, and it was a treat. Capilano Park provides walking trails, skiing trails, and an off-leash dog park. It also has great views of the city of Edmonton and the North Saskatchewan River. I was a little nervous that I might slip […]
Parts of me keep leaking out. Nothing terribly embarrassing, exactly, but leakage nonetheless. One of the things that I have been revealing inadvertently is my California connection. You might think this would show itself as a penchant for surfing or a lack of winter clothing or, oh I don’t know, maybe a fondness for marijuana. […]
The moon seemed larger and brighter than usual this evening. Here are a few pictures and a little Bing Crosby.
After several days of bitterly cold weather, today was a balmy 4 C (39F). The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the North Saskatchewan River was white. It was a perfect day for a walk, and I took lots of pictures. Here are some of them.
Everywhere we go in any city in the western world, we are being video-recorded. In stores, outside banks, at intersections, and anywhere near a doorbell camera or security camera. We have become so used to it that we don’t even think about it any more. Yesterday, though, I was given a reason to think about […]
There is a word in the English language that is a kind of verbal Get Out Of Jail Free card. It is also quite delicious to say out loud. The word is ‘notwithstanding‘. It means ‘in spite of’ and is used when you want to recognize that something can be true regardless of the fact […]
I felt guilty yesterday because I watched from my car as a woman tried to walk across an icy parking lot, and I smiled. Well, to tell the truth, I actually laughed. Yes, I am a cruel unfeeling human. But, between you and me, it was really quite funny. Edmonton has had at least three […]
A couple of weeks ago I reconnected with Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. I had stopped using them in early 2018 and 2019 and restarting those connections has kept me away from this blog. It has also kept me from reading other, favourite, WordPress blogs and I apologize to those bloggers for my absence. I probably […]
