Posted on August 13, 2025 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with no comments yet

A day at the beach

 

“Summer breeze, makes me feel fine.”

Summer Breeze – Seals and Croft

What is perfection?

Is it scoring 100% on an exam?

Is it a hole in one in golf?

Is it scoring a 29 hand in cribbage?

In the world most of us inhabit, perfection is unattainable. We probably all know someone who is a self-prescribed perfectionist. These people are hard to miss and to be avoided at all costs. Striving for excellence is one thing by trying to be perfect at everything you do is a sure-fire way to lose friends.

A few weeks ago, I decided to get away from the heat in town and took a drive to my brother’s summer home twenty minutes away. We are in the middle of one of those summers where it is sunny, hot and humid just about every day, causing serious water shortages and fire bans across the province. Similar conditions persist in many parts of Canada and around the world. Climate change deniers are busy checking their empty wells.

A hot coffee is not the typical antidote to slake one’s thirst on a hot summer day, but this is what I was carrying in a small thermos along with a book. I arrived at the beach and there was a beautiful breeze blowing. I found a spot in the shade and sat comfortably in an Adirondak chair. Oh my, how things have changed. Fifty years ago, I would be lazing in a lawn chair, in the scorching sun, slathered in baby oil with a six-pack at the ready.

There was no one else at the cottage. Off in the distance, I could hear peals of laughter from young children. A few birds chattered in the trees but other than that, it was perfectly quiet. The gentle wind kept small, annoying insects and bugs at bay.

As I sat there, I thought, “This is perfection.”

It is rare that any of us ever find perfect peace and serenity but in this fleeting hour, I came as close to it as possible. The book was terrific and the coffee divine. At one point, I got up to stretch my legs to make sure that I could extricate myself from the deep chair when it was time to leave. The public beach about 500 yards away was crowded with families enjoying a magnificent summer afternoon. Just a few steps down the beach, a clutch of children were having great fun trying to navigate their paddle boards. A few smaller tots, were building sandcastles.

My mind drifted back and there I was, playing on that same beach as a child, practicing sand shots with a golf club as a teenager and  sitting around the fire singing and playing tunes as an adult. Ah those “Lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer”.

When I wasn’t at the beach as a youth, I was in all likelihood at the golf course. In other words, I lived my days in the sun. Obviously, we didn’t know anything about the depleting ozone layer and the harmful effects of long-term exposure to the sun. The result is that many of us make an annual pilgrimage to a plastic surgeon to have a few more potentially cancerous spots removed from our bodies.

Knowing what I know now, would I do anything different? Of course, but we haven’t mastered time travel. Do I have any regrets about this seemingly rash behaviour? Absolutely not.

Helen Reddy said it best in her great tune, I Am Woman:

“Whoa, yes I am wise,

But it’s wisdom born of pain,

Yes, I’ve paid the price,

But look how much I’ve gained.”

My childhood was idyllic and if I’m a bit scarred as a result of my sun-soaked summers, then so be it.

Perfection. Imperfections.

I’ll gladly take the imperfections.

Sandcastles don’t last forever either.

Have a great weekend.

 

Posted on July 30, 2025 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with no comments yet

Ready for a parade

 

What’s on your bucket list?

The term “bucket list” gained widespread popularity after the release of the 2007 film The Bucket List starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The term is used to describe a list of things to do before dying.

Truth be told, I was never much one for having a list of “must see” or “must do” things. Early in life, I wanted to be rich and live to grow old. Sadly, I only achieved one of these! More by accident than anything, I have managed to see a handful of the world’s wonders including the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon, and The Louvre.

As we get older the bucket list shrinks. We either run out of time, money, or energy. And travel has become pretty much a royal pain in the arse.

A few weeks ago, I travelled to Halifax to visit with some family members. It just so happened that the Pride Parade was to be held while I was in the city. My daughter was quite involved with the parade, organizing the participation of the military and their families. In a casual conversation, she asked me if I would like to walk in the parade with the military families. It didn’t take me long to say yes. I can truthfully say that walking in a Pride Parade was never on my radar.

I cobbled together some colorful attire and on a day that could only be described as perfection, I arrived at the Halifax Commons where the parade begins. I shouldn’t have been surprised but it was still fascinating to see the dizzying array of floats and clothing options. It was a dazzling display of color and imagination. Every sector of society was represented including religious groups, financial institutions, political parties, grocery stores and everything else imaginable. The military contingent, featuring the Stadacona Band, was the second to last group in the parade. I had lots of time on my hand, so I spent an hour or so walking around looking at all the floats.

I ran into one of my students from school who was going to walk in the parade for the first time. The Junior School in my hometown has an active GSA group which meets regularly. The Gender and Sexuality Alliance provides a space where students can meet, have lunch, and share time together. I have been fortunate to sit in on these lunch gatherings.

The thing that struck me the most was the pure, unadulterated joy on everyone’s face. In a world fraught with so much discord and enmity, it was heartwarming to see diversity being celebrated. Not everyone is a fan of the Pride Parade and what it represents.

I am one of the fortunate ones. My parents taught us tolerance and respect for those who are different than us. Let’s face it. We’re all different and unique.

The parade route was lined with tens of thousands of spectators, and they showed their civic pride by turning out dressed for the occasion. Everyone had a smile on their face. The only thing that exceeded the collective joy than this parade was the recent Provincial Special Olympics held in Antigonish last weekend. Joy on steroids!

It turned out to be one of the very best experiences of my life. And it didn’t cost a penny.

The best things in life are free.

Is there anything left on my bucket list?

KFC!

With any luck, I won’t kick the bucket any time soon.

Have a great weekend.

Posted on July 23, 2025 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with one comment

BTO – It’s not what you think!

(Thanks to Pete for the photoshop)

 

Lud.dite

1. A person opposed to new technology or ways of working.
2. A member of any of the bands of English workers who destroyed machinery, especially in cotton and woolen mills, that they believed was threatening their jobs.

What makes the human species special is our ability to adapt. There is always something new on the horizon. We are creatures of habit and any change to our lives or routines can be upsetting but if we are going to navigate the modern world, then adapt we must.

We’re problem solvers. Long before computers came along, most of our problems were of the human kind. We learned how to solve these with face to face conversations which occasionally became fist to fist confrontations. I think my computer thinks it’s human the way I swear at it by times.

I won’t bore you with the details but after penning in excess of 1400 stories and posting them on my website, I have the drill down to a science. My stories are shared on a number of platforms including Facebook. Last week was no different except when it came to sharing it with Facebook, things went sideways. It appeared that FB was having a bad morning. Maybe it ran out of coffee.  Try as I might, it would not allow me to post my story in the usual way.

Now my loyal readers are also creatures of habit and a handful of them are early birds and they simply can’t get their day underway without reading my words of inspiration. And pigs fly. I was muttering to myself as I tried to troubleshoot. I did a few Google searches, and in the end, I uninstalled FB, re-installed it and created a shortcut so that the site would appear on the home page of my laptop. This took me the better part of an hour to figure out. A 5-year-old could have done this in under 2 minutes.

I was justifiably proud of myself. I shared this small victory with one of my daughters. She cheekily suggested that with my expertise I might win the Boomer Technology Olympics. BTO. Not to be confused with Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

I have a love/hate relationship with technology. When I got my first laptop and started to learn how they operated, I was easily flummoxed, to the point where I threatened on more than one occasion to stand at the top of a very tall building and toss my computer to the ground.

There was a time that I thought I had to physically be near my computer in order to post my stories. When I taught in the north where internet connections were spotty, I would stand outside my apartment at 5:30 a.m. with the temperature hovering around -45, to make sure my story got posted. I must have looked completely ridiculous to my Inuit friends.

I am fortunate that I have 4 children who grew up with this technology and more than once, they kept me from stepping off the precipice.

I have learned how to cut and paste. The only other time that I tried to do this was in Sister Mary Roderick’s art class at Morrison school. I know how to scan and e-mail. I can edit a post. I can create a Word document. I can create shortcuts although I have been doing that most of my adult life. I can refresh a page and can do track changes to a document. I can make a PowerPoint presentation AND… export it to a USB drive. (flash drive, thumb drive, memory stick – take your pick).

Bravo, Len!

I’m not convinced that any of these remarkable achievements will guarantee me a podium finish at the BTO’s but surely, I will garner a participation medal.

I am not a Luddite, but I have a warm spot for those woolen mill workers.

“And I’ll be taking care of business (every day),

Taking care of business (every way).”

Takin’ Care of Business – Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

Have a great weekend.