Posted on October 19, 2015 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

VOTE TODAY

 

 

Do you remember when you played schoolyard games and when you were on the losing end, you yelled “uncle.? “ This meant that you surrendered, gave up, waved the white flag. So, here’s what I want everyone to do. Stop what you’re doing and yell “uncle” at the top of your lungs. If anyone asks you why, just tell them that you can’t possibly tolerate one more political promise or one more inane ad and that the pain and suffering will be over later on tonight. Unless, of course your poll is in Florida, in which case you might not get the results until a judicial recount in three weeks or so. Please tell me that we don’t have hanging chads. As Terry Fox said on his marathon of hope… “ somewhere the hurting must end.”

Having said this, I will be staying up way beyond my normal bedtime ( 9:30 p.m. !) until I know the results. As much as I love sports, nothing gets in the way of my beauty rest. Agreed. I need a lot of beauty rest. I am a political junkie and election night trumps all other television events. I thought of doing a “Trump” pun but the groan would be too loud.

So, here’s the deal. I don’t have the persuasive power of Rick Mercer but please, get out and vote today.

It would seem that you were as amazed as I was with the story that I posted on the weekend about my friend Judy. The response was great and left many of you shaking your heads as to how someone is able to deal with so much adversity and come up smiling. Judy is something else and has a big fan club. I am a charter member! If you didn’t get a chance to read it, go back and take a boo. It’s called “Judy’s Joyride.” You can find it at the bottom of my home page. You can always search other stories as all my posts are archived.

My story about the Marian Boychoir was pre-empted by my tribute to Benny Druhan and will be published next week. I am in discussions regarding the writing of a book about the Boychoir. It looks like it might be a go. By the way, I continue to be stopped on a daily basis by people who read the story about Benny ( 15000 and counting ). He was enormously popular. I had a chance to walk The Landing with his wife Charlene… and Bailey, early the other morning.

I am expecting big traffic problems in the town of Guysborough this Saturday, October 24^th. around 2:00, in the vicinity of the library. Is there another big “chase the ace” jackpot, you ask? No. It’s my book launch, silly! My third book, “ Tales, Trails and Tunes” is being printed and I will have them in my hands later in the week. Why don’t you drop down and see me and while you’re at it, grab a bite at one of the fine eating establishments in this great town. I will even have a few seats in the car if you want to travel down with me.

Happy election day!

Posted on October 12, 2015 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Just “stringing you along”

( Peter MacDonald photo )

 

 

If I promise to never talk about nutrition and exercise again in this space, will you humour me and read this brief paragraph? I am 5 weeks into my new regime and I think that I have eaten every vegetable grown on the planet… or so it seems. I still walk about the same amount as I’ve always done. My energy level has improved markedly and the weight keeps coming off… 15 pounds and counting. I read an article the other day that really resonated with me. The line that jumped of the page went like this: “ You can’t exercise your way out of poor nutrition.” Exercise is such a small part of the equation. Had enough? Yup, thought so.

The story ideas keep on coming. The story about the Marian Boychoir is ready for publication. I have at least four others in the works. Last Friday, I paid a visit to some old friends who live in South Harbor. No, not South Side Harbor but South Harbor. I’ll save you from scurrying around for your atlases. Oh right, you’ll just Google it. Old people still use atlases! It’s somewhere between Neil’s Harbor and Cape North. Dr. Ken Murray has been practicing medicine there for 43 years. He and his wife Linda were born and raised in Halifax but found their piece of paradise in the Cape Breton Highlands. I’m going to write a story about this wonderful couple which I’ll publish in the Cape Breton Star and on my website. Look for “Hidden Gems” coming soon. BTW, any of you expatriate Cape Bretoners, The Casket keeps a supply of these papers ( free ) in the lobby of their building.

I will conclude by commenting on the outpouring of emotion on the death of Benny Druhan. His wake was held at his beloved St.Joseph’s Community Centre. I stood in line with hundreds of people for close to two hours to pay our final respects. As Benny would want and expect, there were lots of stories and plenty of laughter.

I wrote a short tribute on the weekend to Benny and close to 12,000 of you took the time to read this, with several hundred of you leaving comments. It’s hard to estimate the impact he made on people but based on what I witnessed on the weekend, he has left an indelible mark on the community. I was very proud to count him as a friend.

I hope that you all are having a great Thanksgiving weekend. There has been a lot of sadness visit our community lately. Please count your blessings.

 

Posted on October 5, 2015 under Monday Morning Musings with 2 comments

Ripley’s Believe it or Not

 

 

I have been reporting in this space for some time now about my personal “makeover.” I could NEVER have imagined eating the following for lunch: cottage cheese, sweet potatoes and a mixture of steamed veggies. I am a month into my new healthy eating regime and hope to have found something that I can sustain over the long haul. It’s a lot of work and a lot of discipline but I must say that I feel much better and my energy level is as good as I could hope for at this point in my life.

The other morning, I went for my daily walk. Nothing new about that. However, it was raining at the time and I decided to walk in the rain without rain gear or an umbrella. It was one of those very unseasonably warm mornings. I knew I was going to get wet ( duh ) but funny thing, once you’re wet, you can’t get wetter. As I was making my way up the long stretch of highway from The Landing towards St. Martha’s Hospital, I felt pretty lucky. You see, I have a friend in St.Martha’s who is dying of cancer and I know that he would like nothing better than to be out walking too. I reflected on a forum I attended the night before on the topic of end of life issues. I also thought about two recent sudden deaths in our community. It reminded me that life is not a dress rehearsal. We have one kick at this and need to make the very best of it.

Ok. Enough of the serious stuff. I have so many stories in the works that I scarcely know where to start. Quickly, looking back, many of you enjoyed my story called “The West End.” Actually, this story easily got the biggest response of any piece that I’ve written over the past 3 years. I guess we’re all suckers for nostalgia. Life wasn’t perfect by any means growing up in the 60’s but it was a much simpler time. We were innocent and our lives were uncomplicated.

In that piece, I made reference to the Marian Boy Choir. They were a world class boy’s choir that started in 1952 under the direction of Fr. Terry Lynch. A few people commented on this so I decided that the choir deserved a separate piece. So, bright and early yesterday morning ( 5:30 ish! ), I penned a piece called “ Oh, How They Could Sing.” As part of my research, I met with seven former members of the choir on the weekend for coffee. It was fascinating to hear their stories. I have been asked to consider writing a book about Fr. Lynch and the choir. I have been loaned tapes of many of their performances. They really were that good.

Coming up later this week ( Wednesday ) is a story called “ An Incurable Condition”. A light hearted look at the trials and tribulations of married life.

A friend of mine recently took a road trip to visit friends in Ontario. Her new car broke down and the resulting story was a comedy of errors. Well, it wasn’t funny but the story is so unbelievable that I’m going to try and retell it once I’ve met with the protagonist. Coming soon, “Judy’s Joyride.”

And what if you were taking part in a very important video conference with people across the country and right in the middle of it, your dog walks by you and farts? Luckily, the technology for transporting smells through the computer hasn’t been developed…yet. I was chatting with the young woman who was taking part in the call. I think this deserves my full and undivided attention.

Finally, check out the cover for my third book. It’s on my home page. www.week45.com. And while you’re there, scroll to the bottom and enter your e-mail address. That way, you won’t miss any of my incredibly stimulating (!) posts. Facebook is simply not a sure fire way of getting my stories out there anymore.

Have a great week.