Posted on March 5, 2015 under Thursday Tidbits with one comment

Her glasses match the sign

( printed with permission )

 

Isn’t this simply the best sign …ever? I bumped into D.T. yesterday and she was toting this sign around with her. It seems like every other post on Facebook has someone holding a glass of wine or talking about having a glass of wine. By the way, for you other boring teetotalers like me, there is a very good non-alcoholic wine that you can get at the grocery store. It’s called Carl Jung. In case you think Carl was/is a vintner, think again. Mr. Jung was a noted psychiatrist and psychotherapist who developed, among other things, the notion of “the collective unconscious.” Stands to reason that a brand of wine would be named after him.

I noticed that it snowed somewhere in Florida the other day . Can you imagine the depths of despair you would be feeling , to finally escape the icy death grip of winter only to find snow on the beach at your resort? I would be quickly hurtling the bottles of Carl Jung into the garbage and going looking for something much stronger like a Sigmund Freud Merlot. ( there’s no such thing so don’t bother Googling it ) . Or paying a visit to old Sig who is known as the father of psychoanalysis.

There. Glad I got all that off my chest.

As most of you know, my long suffering wife edits most of my work with the exception of Monday Morning Musings and Thursday Tidbits. She takes what I have and polishes it up making it fit for human consumption. Occasionally she changes a word here or there and sometimes entire paragraphs ( see “Heat Wave” ). I did a story the other day about the challenging weather we’ve been having. She changed the ending and the title so for those of you waiting to see “Littering The Ice”, the new ( and much improved! ) title will be “ Don’t Rain ( or Snow or Hail ) On My Parade.” I love what she did and I think that this will be one of my favorites. ( Book # 3 material? )

I was chatting with a rabid Montreal Canadiens fan the other day. One thing led to another and I told him about a train trip to Montreal to see a game back in 1971. Hands up. How many of you took a train trip from Antigonish to Montreal or Toronto to see a hockey game? Thought so. Follow up question. How many of you got off the train in Truro for the station stop and picked up additional fuel at the NSLC just a few paces down the platform? Thought so. Oh my, but those trips were so much fun. The trip to which I refer was memorable for two reasons: we encountered “the storm of the century” and Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Sinclair were married the day we arrived in Montreal. The story is called “Whether The Weather.” Not sure what it will be called when Betty gets through with it.

And, no, I haven’t had a senior’s moment. I will be publishing the story “When I’m 64” soon. It’s about aging and memory loss… among other things.

Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead this weekend.

And have a great day.

Posted on February 19, 2015 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

Spring will come… promise!

 

 

Everybody,  I mean everybody,  has a weather story or ten from the last couple of weeks. People who have lived in these parts all of their lives have never witnessed the strange weather patterns. We’ve had really snowy winters before and we’ve had winters that were quite benign. We’ve had rain and we’ve had freezing rain and ice pellets. We’ve had stretches of bitterly cold weather and some winters that bordered on tropical. But rarely, if ever, have we seen the odd sequencing of weather events. Never have I felt more like an old geezer than lately,  trying to navigate the sidewalks. And, we haven’t even had the worst of it. Some of the pictures and video clips from around the Atlantic Provinces are quite amazing. I have a relative in P.E.I. who is still snowed in. Spring will look particularly good this year.

I have decided to publish the story of my transcontinental trip with my son, Peter,  in chapters , commencing this Saturday. When I look back, we were incredibly lucky to drive 9700 kilometers and not see a single flake of snow. If we had left two weeks ago, we could be stuck in a snowdrift in New Brunswick. I have also pitched the entire story, all 5300 words of it, to a couple of publications. I am hearing through the grapevine that it might get published.

I would like to shamelessly make a plug for our library. This Friday,the 20^th. at 4:30, the People’s Place Library will receive its plaque in recognition as one of the “Great Places in Canada.” The public is invited to attend. I plan to be there so drop over and say hello… and bring your chequebook while you’re at it! I am a board member with FOAL ( I am not a young horse, by the way…more likely  an old war horse ). The acronym, stands for “Friends of Antigonish Library.” You may not be aware but libraries are chronically underfunded. We are a group whose mandate ( among other things ) is to raise money for the library so that they can purchase books and other supplies. We are embarking on a modest fundraising drive ( $7500 ) and you can help by making a tax deductible donation to our campaign. Thanks.

More stories in the works. Stay tuned.

Have a great weekend.

Posted on February 5, 2015 under Thursday Tidbits with 2 comments

Our new digs. Even has air conditioning.

 

 

After enduring several snowstorms, we managed to get moved over the past five days. It was certainly a challenge but I am mindful that there are lots of very sick people who would love to have only the weather to complain about.

We love our new home. ( see picture above! ). The only complaint I have so far is that people keep bringing us fresh baked goods. Because Betty can’t eat any of it ( gluten issues ), I have the daunting task of eating all of it. Maybe I’ll have a story writing circle one of these days and have you all over for tea.

It only took me about 24 hours to lock myself out of the apartment. Our first visitors were my daughter and granddaughter. Betty was at the dentist and I was unpacking. Betty endured an awful toothache all weekend long during the move.  After the visit, I decided to go back to our old house for another load. I was out in the hallway bidding Betsy and Alison adieu and closed the door behind me with the keys in my jacket pocket in the closet.  Luckily we have a hassock in the hall and last week’s  Quad Counties Extra was by the mailbox so I chilled out.

I had fun writing a new story called “Photographs and Memories”  during the move. We were going through a box ( several boxes ) of old photographs. Our parent’s generation was much more organized than us when it came to photo albums. Our plan is to sift through the pictures and try and get them in albums. Once again, the passage of time continues to shock. You look at baby pictures and wonder where the time went.

One of the paragraphs is about that special drawer that we all have that is the repository for all manner of odds and ends. You know, the one with string, thumb tacks, a few coins, duct tape and a half consumed package of stale cough drops.  I could write an entire story about this and I bet that you could too.

Coming up soon is the story about a young couple from Cape Breton who travelled to Arizona on their honeymoon some fifty years ago. The story is called “Honeymoon Heat.” Get your minds out of the gutter… that’s not the heat I’m referring to! I recently travelled through Arizona and the climate at this time of the year is wonderful but in the summer, it can be brutally hot.  This story will also appear in an upcoming edition of The Casket in the bridal section .

Not everyone is a sports fan, particularly football but for shear excitement, the Super Bowl last weekend was remarkable. Sports always delivers the unexpected and this game was no exception. Sorry to you Katie Perry fans but I just don’t get her and her brand of entertainment.

Have a great weekend.