The process for finding and meeting a psychologist isn’t hard, but when you are depressed it seems like a pathway strewn with obstacles. At each roadblock, it is easy to just give up. Having overcome some of those setbacks, I would strongly encourage anyone who is feeling unusually despondent to stick with it. With the […]
This morning I had a really good clear-out. Now, a bag of trash and two bags of recyclables are waiting for the garbage trucks. In addition, I just took to the thrift store two boxes full of miscellany, a bag of clothes, a recycling bin full of pots and pans, and a George Foreman grill. […]
At 2:30 AM last night. I was having a bad night because I had insomnia, so, when my next door neighbour’s motion-sensor light came on right outside my bedroom window, I noticed. In fact, I noticed enough to get out of bed and look out of the window. I didn’t see anything, so I went […]
The first pecking order I became aware of was in housing. My family lived in a semi-detached house (known as a duplex in north America). At some point I began to realize that I went to school with some people who lived in detached houses, some who lived in council houses (social housing), and some […]
For a few years I have tried growing shrubs and bulbs in our front yard, but have had very limited success. The soil quality is not good because it is mostly clay. In addition, there are bugs that are determined to kill almost anything that starts to look as if it might grow to bloom. […]
When you watch Independence Day celebrations and hear the patriotic songs, it looks and sounds as though the people of the USA are all celebrating the same thing, doesn’t it? Today, I’m beginning to think that the perception is wrong both for the observer and the celebrant. Yes, Americans are independent of British rule, but […]
Before the rush on the supermarkets got really bad, my family bought me some groceries that included a large bag of oranges. I knew I could not eat them all before they started to go bad, so I wanted to preserve some of them. The only way I know to preserve oranges is in marmalade […]
Until today, my major concern in relation to Coronavirus was to avoid contact with other people. I did not want to bring the virus home and I did not want to carry it to the people I love and live with. Before I returned to Canada I spent a week in self-isolation. I didn’t leave […]
In the last week I have gone from thinking “Oh, I’ll be OK” to “Oh, heck. I need an escape route.” There has been a rapid escalation in the number of cases of COVID-19 and, sadly, in the number of deaths both internationally and nationally. I have been following these trends but nothing has scared […]
My previous post described the train I took with some family members in 2017 on the Bluebell Railway from East Grinstead to Sheffield Park in England. The reason we were taking that train was, in part, to enjoy the nostalgia of riding on a steam train. Our destination, though, was more than just the cherry […]
The youngest member of our party is a bright 14-year-old who is very good at chess. He drew our attention to what is probably the most beautiful chess set I have ever seen. The pieces represent Mayans and Conquistadors, and the details are quite exquisite. The chess set is the reason we went to the […]
This is my first day in Playa del Carmen in Mexico and I am exhausted, delighted, and overwhelmed. I arrived here with my son Ken and his family, Julie and Hayden, at 7:15 AM local time which was 4:15 in our heads. We took a shuttle to our hotel and left our bags there until […]
I have been an avid user of Twitter for a couple of years. You might say I’ve been enamored or addicted. Today, though, I decided our love affair is over. It’s been good, Twitter, but you became abusive. Now I have chosen to leave. For a few months now I have been troubled by how […]
In Alberta our bottles and cans can be returned for a refund, so every once in a while we take them to the nearest bottle depot. There are four people in our household contributing to a collection of empties. We put them in blue bags and line them up at one end of the garage. […]
Yesterday, I saw a writing prompt from Bubble Bath Self-Empowerment that got me thinking. In fact, it prompted me to write, so it worked! The prompt was: When You Love Yourself First, Everything Else Falls Into Place. I can remember times in my life when loving myself was way down at the bottom of my […]
When the comedian Colin Quinn said “Never trust a socialist with a summer home,” I laughed. It’s a good joke. But, I am a socialist with a winter home, which amounts to the same thing, so that joke got me thinking about my kind of socialism. I learned socialism from my parents when I was […]
Yesterday, for the first time, I went to the Edmonton Folk Festival and now I am hooked. I will definitely go again next year. For this, I must thank someone who, until this week, I only knew by her Twitter name. She had a ticket she could not use and offered it up to the […]
Once, when my brother Philip was visiting my sister Vera in California, he asked her the names of the flowers in her back yard. Vera said she didn’t know, and Phil was shocked. How could she not name her own plants? Well, Vera explained, she didn’t care what they were called. She just liked looking […]
When I started this blog I had the idea that I wanted to write a book but needed to start with smaller writing projects. Snowbird of Paradise has been a good place for me to gain some writing practice, and I find that I like writing blog-size pieces about my life. The book I wanted […]
It is Pride month, but here in Edmonton the coalition of LGBTQ+ groups is showing signs of strain. They were not able to reach consensus on key matters affecting the parade, so the parade was cancelled. As I understand it, the concerns had to do with police presence and participation, increased commercial and political representation, […]
