Council of The Wise
I think there should be a rule. No one over seventy can run for political office and there should be term limits requiring retirement if an elected politician turns seventy while still in office.
The Goat People of Deep Bay
From May 1st to September 30th each year my wife Mac and I live in a small conclave of about one hundred senior citizens, about an hour north of Nanaimo, BC. It is also the summer home to the wildest congregation of characters I have ever known. It’s where Schitt’s Creek meets a seniors home.
Oh, Canada!
This was me at eight. Wide eyed and uncomplicated. I wish all of you could see our country through the eyes of a naive eight year old immigrant English boy. It was a sight to behold, special in the moment, special in my memory. I remember when we were getting ready to leave for Canada, […]
The More Things Change
I’m yearning for some sameness, something universal that all humans understand and seek. Something that has never changed and never will. And I may have found it in Canmore, AB.
Life is Like a Cello
Do you think a concert cellist got it right the first time, or the one hundredth. Or the thousandth? Of course not, that would be unreasonable. A cello is so hard. AND so is life! And making mistakes is all a part of it. But do we stop trying? No, of course we don’t. We try again. The cello is no an easy instrument.
My Best Friend
A year ago my best friend died. Not a day I don’t think of David Larsen. No man, save my father and my two sons has had more impact on my life. No man, save my father and my two sons have I loved as I have David. On the anniversary of his death I am feeling reflective. I miss him.
In defence of Grumpy Old Men
You know here’s the thing. God Bless Us and all our failings. Grumpy Old Men have spent our entire lives navigating a changing social, political, cultural and economic landscape. Now don’t get all up in my face, I get it. The changes were decades in the making and long overdue. But it has been overwhelming at times for my generation of men and the Grumpy Old Men we have become.
Wake up. Wake up!
You can’t be woke, until you can see. And you can’t ‘see’ until you wake up. It’s the challenge of every generation. Mine was no exception.
Change. Good Lord do you ever stop!?
Life’s three certainties? Death, taxes and change. Well, Mark Twain coined the first two. I might have added ‘change’ but hey, who among us can’t relate. And it’s relentless as well, sometimes smooth and easy in the transition, other times convulsive and tectonic but always, always change. At least as I reflect back upon my path.
Hello!
“Hello”, I addressed a woman sitting on the next lounge chair. It was January 2019 and we were in San Pancho, a small ocean side town in Mexico about twenty minutes north of Sayulita on the Pacific coast. I had not yet met the woman, it was just a polite non-intrusive salutation that would, I knew, unlock the answer to the unstated question, “Would you like to talk?”.