So here’s the good news. Kathie and I are off to Ontario for some holiday and a Blue Jays game. Go Jays, sigh . . . We are leaving Juno at home with some trusted friends who are also house and dog sitters. And burglars take note, if you decide to break in I guarantee... Continue Reading →
I’m not a country fan, but if I were, he would be my guy
From 940 CFCW, London, ONT Tommy Hunter, one of the most beloved figures in Canadian television and country music, has died. Born Thomas James Hunter on March 20, 1937, in London, Ontario, Hunter passed away on July 2, 2026, of natural causes. He was 89. Known to generations of viewers as "Canada's Country Gentleman," Hunter... Continue Reading →
My personal tips for low-vision photographers
So great to find an article recently on Photoblogger.com about low-vision photography. With other “legally blind” photographers, (<20/200, uncorrectable) I am not alone in facing challenges using my digital mirrorless camera (Fuji XT-5), a machine designed with fully sighted photographers in mind, though increasingly responding to the needs of us living with sight challenges. Chris... Continue Reading →
With thanks to Bill and Anne
I lost touch with Bill and Anne Osborne many years ago. An online search tells me that Bill died in 2018; Anne is likely still living in Victoria somewhere. (Please forward this blog to her if you are in contact with her.) We shared music, church, and the arts together in the mid-1970s. Bill was... Continue Reading →
Dogs live with humans — What we already know, and then some — A cross-cultural study
by Max Planck Society, edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Robert Egan A new study by an international research team led by Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig) has revealed striking similarities in the way humans and dogs interact in very different societies. The research is published in... Continue Reading →
Faux Fan Fun (Or should I say, fury?)
FULL DISCLOSURE: I am not a true-blue Toronto Blue Jays fan. I am a “faux” fan, a “sort-of” fan, one who checks the score online before watching game recordings, one who seeks to avoid what the historic ABC Wide World of Sports called, “the agony of defeat.” I remember watching that poor skier crash down... Continue Reading →
Liberation, law and Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten conducting a rehearsal for the opening of the Snape Maltings Concert Hall in June 1967, with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch the second cellist on the right. Photograph: Hans Wild/Britten Pears Arts Three months after Bergen-Belsen was liberated, Britten and Yehudi Menuhin performed there. Survivor and cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was ‘transfixed’ – as she told the... Continue Reading →
Pooling our thoughts — The Algae pool in popular discourse
[Ken Gray] I do wonder how Trump lives with all his failures. Of course, I know. He simply creates more disasters elsewhere hoping we will forget the present trauma. Well we don’t and we won’t. And with the new mess created by his “restoration” of Washington’s reflecting pool we have a marvellous opportunity for a... Continue Reading →
A very personal Dictionary of Quotations
Not everyone has their own personal Dictionary of Quotations, myself included. It is time, however, to rectify that omission. I love hunting down quotations, for sermons, articles, or blogs. So often, others can say things better than I can. So I will use their words, with attribution. I remember buying my first Oxford Dictionary of... Continue Reading →
Thumbs UP; Thumbs DOWN
So help me out here, please. Roman visitors today can tour the Colosseum for just under $50 CDN. Described by one reviewer the tour is “very informative. Fascinating history. Very thorough Worth the price, and the Colosseum is awesome to actually be inside and see it.” As they say, when in Rome, do as the... Continue Reading →