Posted on December 26, 2013 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

Santa brought me this neat little box. Sort of like a jewelry box. A place to store the family jewels?  Get your minds out of the gutter.

If you look up the word “exhaustion” in the dictionary, it will probably be accompanied by a picture of a mother of small children, taken around 7:00 p.m. Christmas Day. I am always amazed at the emotional capital, physical capital, and yes, even financial capital that is expended during the Christmas season. And let’s face it men, women shoulder 99% of the heavy lifting at Christmas. I tip my hat to all of them because they embody the Christmas miracle.

This was my first Facebook Christmas. There is a lot of questionable stuff posted on FB but at this time of the year, it feels like you’re celebrating with an entire community of family, neighbors, close friends and people you’ve lost touch with who have re-emerged from the mists of time. The common thread is that everyone appears to appreciate their good fortune.

All this Christmas talk has not diminished my story writing. As a matter of fact, I’m on quite a roll. One of them has to do with New Year’s Eve. Quick. When I say, New Year’s Eve, what is the first thing you think of? I guess it depends how old you are. If you are young, it probably means going to a big bash and kissing everything in sight at midnight. This story takes us through the different phases of New Year’s Eve until we are older and relegated to watching re-runs of the Royal Canadian Air Farce. The story is called “The Longest Day” and will be published first in The Highland Heart on Jan 3rd. and will be on my website the next day.

Three other stories just fell into my lap… as most of the stories do. One of them is about women’s purses and yes, gals, I even know what a Michique purse is! Once in a blue moon, I am asked to retrieve something from my wife’s purse. This is where the story begins and ends. Coming soon: “Holding The Purse Strings.”

The next story happened innocently enough. I was wrapping my wife’s Christmas present. Sorry. Just kidding. Don’t shop and don’t wrap. Rap I tried once. I was doing laundry while Betty was away and we had a text conversation about which bedding went on which of our six beds. I have printed the exchange verbatim. Before you read this one, please go to Youtube and look for the Abbott and Costello classic ” Who’s on First.” While it’s a sports story, there are some scary similarities. Watch for “Laundry Quandry.”

I was getting my Christmas trim the other day  ( no snickering ) when I overheard one of the barbers talking about “Hair Miles.” A rewards program in a barber shop. I could hardly wait to get home to write this one. It’s simply called “Hair Miles.”

And finally, I wrote about a story  about an iconic Antigonish business that has survived fire and flood, competition from big box stores and on line shopping and just keeps on ticking. I know that you know who I am talking about. The story is called ” Where Everyone Knows Your Name.”

Happy Boxing Day and if you didn’t believe my story about the famous Boxing Day Street Hockey Game, stop by Hillcrest Street sometime after 1:30 today. You might even get a free beer.

Posted on December 19, 2013 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

I might change up my publishing schedule next week as I doubt many of you will have the time to be looking at my site anyway. You will be far too busy filling your faces… and your glasses! The Casket will be publishing Monday so I think I will do my Boxing Day story to coincide with this. There are so many wonderful Boxing Day traditions. My story is about the annual street hockey game that’s held at my old stomping grounds on Hillcrest Street. The pile of sticks in the picture above are still in my mother’s former house now owned by a brother of mine. I think there’s a stick that I used when I played for the Jr. Bulldogs back in the late ’60’s. I could easily have written several thousands of words on this one. Many times ( surprise, surprise ) , a fairly respectable party broke out after the game.

On Saturday, I will be reposting a story that appeared in The Casket last year. It is called “A Tale of Two Turkeys” and it centers around the preparations for a great feast in Victoria B.C. circa 1974. Victoria is my absolute favorite city in Canada. I would retire there in a heart beat, save for the outrageous real estate prices and the distance from my wife, children and grandchildren! Unless the grandkids move to the West Coast, we won’t be going anywhere.

With all of the wonderful developments going on at the Keppoch, my better half has instructed me to do a piece on the former ski hill. It was a huge loss when skiing on the hill came to an end a number of years ago. Many people spent a considerable amount of their childhood and adulthood at the Keppoch.

Ok. I’m going to let you go because I know you’re preoccupied with the last few days of prep before Christmas.

Here’s a little gem. At my launch in Port Hawkesbury the other evening, I read a story from my book called ” Ctrl/Alt/Del”. It’s a story about having “issues” with one’s computer. I once asked a friend in Halifax to tell me what is the first thing that popped into his head when he heard those words. ” I see myself standing in a ten story building with the window open and the computer leaving my hands.” A guest at the seminar added this: ” My computer beat me at chess… but it was no match at kickboxing.”

Have an awesome weekend.

Posted on December 12, 2013 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

THANK YOU!

My new website is up an running and I want to start by thanking my readers for the overwhelming show of support. It would appear that you approve of the new look and functionality of the site. And, lo and behold, within hours of the site being up and running, I received my first on-line book sale from a couple in Edmonton, Alberta. I am hoping that you will get the word out to your friends in distant parts of the world that they can easily access the book.

I also want to thank Crispin Cornect of Simply Ducky Web Development who masterminded this project. He was ( is ) very professional and had ( has )  infinitesimal amounts of patience dealing with a non savvy technical person like myself. I would highly recommend his work to anybody needing a website upgrade.

Coming up on Saturday, I will be posting my story titled “Leftovers.” The other evening I did some readings at a senior’s apartment building and I read this story to them. As you can well imagine, many of them came from large families and there was no such thing as leftovers. They really enjoyed it and I could tell by the nods that they experienced a lot of the same things.

I am putting the finishing touches on the story about the great Boxing Day street hockey game. I thought I had the final version ready for editing when my partner at work reminded me about the hard plastic orange balls we used to use for street hockey… before we came to our senses and started using tennis balls. This all ties into a theme about balls. We’ll leave it at that for now.

And boy, have I stumbled on a beauty. Just when you think you might run out of ideas, I got a brainwave today. I am going to go where no man should go … again. I mean, I have tackled bras and menopause so why shouldn’t I be given the right to discuss women’s purses. I carry a “man bag” most days so I am somewhat of an authority on the subject.

Heading across the Causeway later today to do my Cape Breton launch of the book. So far, I am sure that there will be three people there – Betty, Len and the custodian. I’m hoping there will be a few others.

And I will be back at the 5 to $1.00 again this Saturday for another book signing.

It’s all good.

Mentally strong people don’t expect immediate results.

Have a great day.