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.

 

Posted on June 2, 2014 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Pondering my next story on the ferry to P.E.I.

 

 

 

We had a great weekend on the “Island.” We attended the Newspapers Atlantic awards dinner on Friday night. I was one of three finalists in the category “Best General Interest” story. Some other old fart won the prize. He was probably a little bit older than me but don’t you find when you’re in your sixties, that other people in their 60’s look old… and you don’t? And you just know that they’re thinking the very same thing.

I can assure you that there was no skinny dipping at Brackley Beach, P.E.I. on the weekend. It’s amazing that it’s only about a 30 minute drive from Charlottetown to Brackley,  yet the temperature was probably 15 degrees lower. But as we Maritimers know, any time we’re near the ocean, we’re happy.

By the way , if you have a chance, go and see the movie just released last weekend called “The Grand Seduction.” It was filmed in Newfoundland. It is funny and warm and the cinematography is stunning. We had a “date night” which is a movie and dinner. I think the last movie we saw together was ET. We’re hardly film buffs. You can tell how important tourism is on the Island. They have that one down cold. Everywhere we went, the service was first class.

On my way home, I stopped into Pictou to hang out with some pipers and drummers. Two bands have joined forces and will be performing later this summer. I am planning on doing a story about this group. The band members span the years from a 14 year old to an 80 something piper. What I found so interesting is that these bands have decided that the two are better as one, while maintaining their identity.  Sounds like a formula for municipal reform. ( Sorry. I couldn’t resist the temptation! ). They come from as far away as Great Village. I’ll tee this one up before the Highland Games.

And what do I know about the bagpipes? As much as I know about menopause and I wrote a story about that.

You seemed to enjoy the story “Hide and Seek.”  I had a big response and several of you commented about your own nightmarish experiences with Tupperware. One of you even threw out all of your containers and lids ( which no longer matched ) and completely restocked. Two years later , 75% of the lids wouldn’t fit. If anyone has conclusively figured this one out, let me know.

My gardening story is edited and ready to go… probably on Tuesday.

Ok. What would you do in this situation? You’re staying in a 100 year old hotel. Your wife is in the washroom , dolling herself up for date night, when the door knob mechanism of the bathroom door falls apart and she can’t get out. The first cry for help is met with a stony silence ( on purpose ). Someone wasn’t amused. I had just begun doing the New York Times crossword puzzle. It usually takes me 3-4 hours to complete. Should I stop and help a damsel in distress or move on to the clue for 5 down?

We had a great laugh and I will stretch the truth even further with a story about this.

If you happen to be in Cape Breton this week ( or live there ), you might want to pick up a copy of the Cape Breton Star. They are doing a special edition this week in conjunction with William Davis Memorial Day which honors miners who have fallen in the line of work. I have penned a piece called “Toil and Tragedy.”

Hope you all have a great week.