It is hard to admit failure, but I have to confess to something less than success in a history class. I have started taking classes in local history presented to seniors by a department of the regional university. It is called Elder College and it has all sorts of affordable courses presented both in-person and […]
A week or so ago some friends were talking about Spotify and how it had taken income away from musicians. I agreed, and added that both my children are or were musicians and they had found that they got more benefit from selling CDs at performances than from Spotify. Both of them had experienced that […]
This week’s hike with the Harbour City Newcomers was at Walley Creek Trail. It was a short but sweet walk, at first along a trail lined with aspen trees that were leaning in to reach for light. Then we enjoyed a surprise side-trek to an opening in the forest where trees had been harvested in […]
You know how it is when you try to do the right thing but it turns out to be the wrong thing? Well, maybe you don’t. You probably always do the right thing. But anyway, that’s what happened to me. Doing the wrong thing unintentionally, that is. Here’s what happened. In my apartment are a […]
My recent move has been a joy. Really. I love everything about my new place. As time goes by, though, I have come across a couple of peas under the mattresses. The first was the difficulty I had in receiving deliveries, but that is now resolved as effectively as possible. Not perfectly, but live-with-able. The […]
Tonight I succeeded it making the best french fries I have ever made. To be fair, I have to qualify that by adding that they were prepared and frozen originally by Western Family, the store brand at my local grocery store. I must also explain my claim to french frying brilliance by adding that I […]
I like puzzles. I like jigsaws, crosswords, cryptic puzzles, and even the New York Times Thursday Rebus puzzle. Well, maybe not that last one. But mostly I enjoy solving puzzles because I know that there is an answer just waiting to be found. Until today. Today I came across the impossible Jysk Ersmark dining chair […]
I am seeing colours here that I haven’t seen in any other place where I have lived, and I have lived in a lot of different places. Every morning and evening, the skies are so soft and pale that it looks as though Mother Nature threw water and Titanium White paint over her entire canvas. […]
A few days ago I noticed two ducks in the marina and I wondered what type of duck they were. Accordingly, I spent some time Googling “grey duck” and coming up empty. Yesterday, I decided to take some pictures and do a reverse image search. In the photos they look more brown than grey, so […]
I had assumed that the security panel at the front gate could be linked to my phone so that I could buzz people in. When I asked my landlord about it, he confessed to not knowing how it worked and then chatted with another resident who happened to be nearby about outdated names on the […]
When I moved in here on 10th, I thought I was being clever in arranging for the cable company to hook me up with TV and internet on the same day. I wasn’t clever enough, however, to realize that the technician would need access to the condo complex’s mechanical room. That requires a key that […]
White wine has helped to soften the rough edges of moving from Edmonton, Alberta to Nanaimo, British Columbia. It was one heck of a two-day journey. Actually to be fair, the scenery was magnificent, and the vehicles (a U-Haul truck and my aging car) performed brilliantly. The trouble we had was entirely down to Rogers […]
For the second time in a week, I am thankful for the kindness of strangers. A few days ago, I wrote about the good person at Jiffy Lube who checked the oil in my car, the fluid levels, and the tire pressures and who assured me that I didn’t need his services. In addition, he […]
We thought Roe v Wade was fixed in stone, but we were wrong. Clearly, it was only pencilled in. Today, though, I discovered something that does seem to be eternally fixed, and I doubt that even the US Supreme Court can change it. The Google logo and search bar are deliberately placed just slightly above […]
Any time that anyone mistreats, cheats, or defrauds one of my children, my momma bear claws come out. This week, Amazon turned me into a bear. My eldest son recently finished writing a novel. The work took over two years to complete and was created in the middle of the night on weekdays and during […]
This week I have been trying, multiple times, to change the address and phone number on my Bank of America account. You’d think that would be fairly straightforward, wouldn’t you? First I tried to make the changes online, but could not enter any edited data. So, I tried the chat line. The chat person was […]
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow was published in 2008 and, although it discusses computer technology that is now dated, it still has relevance today. It is a book intended for young adults and has teenaged characters who find ways to challenge and disrupt their dystopian world. Marcus is a tech-savvy seventeen-year-old who has figured out […]
I don’t usually promote products or services on this website, but today I am making an exception. After a recommendation from Judy at New England Garden and Thread a few weeks ago, I ordered a set of Yaktrax, and this week they have been the only reason I have been able to get out of […]
If you use Facebook at all, you will have seen some random questions occasionally. You have also, probably, answered a few of them. I once answered the question about how far I live from my birthplace, and the one about how many grandparents I can name. Mostly, though, I have resisted the temptation. These questions […]
Snowbird of Paradise 