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?”.
Introducing Rowe Patricia Penton
“Rowe Patricia Penton” she said in her gentle Sophie voice. We’re calling her ‘Rowe Patricia Penton’. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. ‘Rowe’ was my mother’s maiden name and ‘Patricia’ is Mac’s given name, ‘Patricia Ann”. What an honour. My mum died some time ago but I could feel her smile shining down on little Rowe, so honoured she would have been in that moment.
‘Alpha’: A Love Story. Ainsley’s Version
Ainsley never knew the story her grandfather told her. Her great-great grandfather Sir Archibald Kirby-Macdonell had perished in 1900, drowning in the waters off Chrome Island near Deep Bay BC. He was trying to join the greatest love of his life.
‘Alpha: A Love Story. Fumiko’s version.
Fumiko Watanabe never new the story Mr. Tanake told her. Her grandmother Asami Abako had died in Deep Bay, BC. Some said it was of a broken heart after her true love perished in a terrible storm off Chrome Island in 1900.