Posted on June 6, 2014 under News & Updates with 4 comments

THANK YOU

 

 

I would like to thank everyone who messaged me, e-mailed me or stopped me on the street to chat about the recognition I received from Newspapers Atlantic.

I am  amazed that people have made such  a big deal about this.

As this is “Gratitude Friday “ ( thanks, K.G. ), I would like to say how grateful and lucky I am. There are so many people who are dealing with struggles these days. The daily announcement of yet another friend or family member being stricken with cancer is just so appalling.

There are lots of hardships others are facing as well like affordable housing, loss of employment or the loss of a loved one. And mental illness.

My hope is that in some small way, I give people a reason to smile or chuckle a few times a week.

I am one of the lucky ones and I don’t take anything for granted. We all know how quickly life can deliver a swift kick in the arse.

If you are well fed, have a roof over your heads , have something meaningful to look forward to and feel half decent when you get out of bed, BE VERY GRATEFUL.

As much as I struggle with some of the things I encounter with social media, I believe the good outweighs the bad. Through my writing, I have been able to connect with friends I haven’t talked to in over 40 years. Every day feels like a big group conversation.

As long as you keep reading, I’ll keep on writing.

I truly feel blessed.

Posted on June 5, 2014 under Thursday Tidbits with 2 comments

A la cart… a shopping cart

 

 

I saw this piece of handy work at an apartment last evening in Dartmouth. The tenant, Chris, is a very talented woodworker and artisan and can make something out of anything including this amazing chair fashioned out of an old shopping cart. Some people are very creative.

Have you ever walked your umbrella to work?  Sure you have. You’ve heard that rain is in the forecast and when you step outside,  you can feel it in the air. So , you grab your umbrella and off you go. Despite what the experts have predicted , not a drop of rain falls. You are certain that it will come on your way home from work and lo and behold, the sun comes out. Now, you just know the converse of this axiom. The skies can be clear and that will be the time when rain will start to fall. One of the many things that puzzles me. Thanks, Gladys, for bringing this to my attention this morning as you watched me walk my umbrella.

For all you golfers, I have a treat this coming Saturday. I have been telling you about the story that appeared in last week`s Cape Breton Star called `Mind Games.“ My favorite golf course in the world is The Cape Breton Highland Links in Ingonish. My least favorite hole in the world is the first hole on that very same course. In the story, I try to explain the strange phenomenon of how that hole got inside my  head 50 years ago. Even if you`re a non golfer, I think you will enjoy it. I bet you have something that is your nemesis. Please don`t say it`s your spouse.

Once again, I humbly suggest that you arrange a date with someone special and get down to the Capitol Theatre this weekend to watch “A Grand Seduction.“  ( I am available if you’re not fussy ) The movie was filmed in Newfoundland and the cast is a who`s who of Newfoundland ( and CBC ) talent. You will have a good chuckle. I`m thinking I might go see it again I enjoyed it so much the first time.

So I`m on my way to Louisburg the other day. It is ten minutes before Shane is due to pick me up when I get a call from a real estate agent wondering if the house is available for a showing in forty minutes time. If you want to see what happens before a showing of our house, go back a few days and check out the story “ Hide and Seek.“  I have exactly 10 minutes to “ stage “ the house. I wasn`t able to hide everything but I gave it one hell of a shot. And speaking of Louisburg, the temperature dropped a full fifteen degrees between Sydney and Louisburg that afternoon… a distance of about 35 kilometers. As we approached the town, we could see the wall of fog hovering over the community.

Now that my editor is home after a three day love in with our granddaughter in Halifax, I will be asking her politely, after suitable caffeineation, to edit the story “ Privacy in the Privy.“ This is a true story ( some of it is true ). When we were in P.E.I. on the weekend, the doorknob fell off the bathroom door with Betty inside. What would you do if you discovered a damsel in distress? And what would you do if you got locked in for three or four hours while your knight in shining armour was out shopping ( unlikely! ) or golfing? Why, you would need an emergency kit and I have devised one that is perfect for the woman in your life.

Our company, Success’N Planning is the major sponsor of a golf tournament tomorrow. This should be good for a few stories.

Have a great weekend.

 

Posted on June 3, 2014 under Storytelling with no comments yet

Do you have garden envy?

 

 

“Inch by inch, row by row,

Gonna make this garden grow …”

The Garden Song – John Denver

 

Back in the 1970’s I lived in Victoria, B.C.   It is easily one of Canada’s most beautiful cities.  The climate is temperate, allowing people to do outdoor activities year round.  If you are a recreation enthusiast this is practically Nirvana.  You can walk, jog, run, and hike in some of the most stunning scenery imaginable.  And if you are a gardener you are in seventh heaven.

What I remember most about Victoria is that people were crazy about their gardens.  Within the city limits flower beds were the obvious choice, but you didn’t have to go far to see some world class vegetable patches.  And if you didn’t have a green thumb, you could always drive 30 minutes outside of the city and witness the ever stunning Butchart Gardens.

My first feeble attempt at gardening was in Whitelaw, Alberta.  I was the principal of a small, rural elementary school and I lived in the teacher’s house right next door.   Whitelaw is a part of the Peace River country, with farmers renowned for their prowess in growing varieties of wheat, grains and oilseed crops.  I thought I should demonstrate my community spirit by planting a small vegetable garden behind the house.  I carefully prepared the soil in late spring and was all set to plant what would surely be a bumper crop of peas, beans and potatoes.

And then black fly season unleashed all of its fury.  Rather than risk being carted away by man sized insects, I simply went out one evening, and instead of planting seed, I planted a white flag.  I went to Hemstock’s IGA the next day and bought my veggies there.

Not long after we were married and had moved into our first house, my wife suggested that we plant some flowers and shrubs and put in a small garden.  I have always been open to new things and tend to attack novelty with zeal.  The only thing lacking was, and still is, the commensurate proficiency to carry out the task.  Early on in the game I was relegated as a helper.  I was allowed to spread manure (still doing that!) and could safely scoop mulch into bags at the local nursery.  But anything requiring imagination and competence was left to my wife.

Did I mention cutting branches off of shrubs?  I think that I overdid the pruning a few times.  Scratch that off my list of skills.

I used to do some weeding but two things have conspired that have forced me to give up this form of honest toil: I can’t distinguish weeds from non-weeds and I have a bad back.  Now I can no longer kneel in church or in the garden.   Not that I am allowed to weed anymore as the following tale will explain.

 

A few years ago our kind and talented son-in-law built us raised beds for our backyard garden.  He planted the first round of fruit and vegetables for us – an amazing array of corn, peas, beans, tomatoes, greens, onions, strawberries and even watermelon!   I was mowing the lawn one day and noticed straggly weeds hanging over the sides of one of the gardens.  I thought that I would do the gardener a favour by pulling them out as I lifted them out of the way of the mower.  Ta ta, watermelon!

I was chatting about all things gardening with one of the staff the other day.  I explained my woeful ineptitude.  When I asked her about her knack for digging in the dirt, she looked up from her computer and said, “Our plants and shrubs have to have the will to live in order to survive.”

Suddenly I didn’t feel so bad.