I am so pleased to help my writer colleague, Norma Hill launch her new book A Summerland Stories Scrapbook at a special event on Sunday night, May the 4th at 6 p.m. in the โStoneโ Church on Prairie Valley Rd in Summerland. Years in the making, Norma has assembled, transcribed, edited, and arranged literally hundreds... Continue Reading →
Stop, and smell the roses
A sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour Anglican Church, Penticton BC on the fifth Sunday in Lent, April 6th, 2025 โ The Very Rev. Ken Gray It is said by those who teach writing that every paragraph should start with a strong opening sentence. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens opens with... Continue Reading →
Blue Jays Baseball โ Letโs play ball
John Yates was mad about baseball. Having lived much of his working life in Ontario he was one of many loyal fans who would make the trek down to Florida each February for Blue Jays spring training camp. He later moved to Sooke BC where we met in the early 1990s. From our house just... Continue Reading →
Hobbies and side-hustles
I am looking forward to visiting with others who graduated from Victoriaโs Oak Bay High School fifty years ago, the Class of 1975. As interest spreads my guess is that around fifty of us will show up at a Victoria hotel in early June, hoping that we are recognizable and we will recognize others. I... Continue Reading →
Pay attention, and fall in love โ Honouring Phil McIntyre-Paul
By Michael Shapcott Phil McIntyre-Paul is practically royalty in the beautiful Shuswap in the central interior of British Columbia. He helped create the Shuswap Trail Alliance more than two decades ago. Over that time, he has helped nurture more than 350 greenway trail projects โ drawing in fifteen Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, three levels of... Continue Reading →
No Dog for Donald โ Ten reasons why Donald must never have a dog โ by Juno
Juno is very popular five and a half year old labradoodle who lives in Summerland in the Interior of BC, Canada with his owner-friends, PawPaw Ken and MawPaw Kathie. Juno is a prolific blogger and astute political analyst. Answering the question I was asked the other day, โshould Donald Trump have a dog?โ I answered,... Continue Reading →
The return of Jazz Vespers
Jazz Vespers returns to the South Okanagan, in Penticton on Sunday March 2 @ 4 p.m. at St. Saviour Anglican Church, 150 Orchard Ave. in Penticton. Church or no church, newcomer or longtime jazz enthusiast, friends of the band, whatever gets you off your couch, come on out. As for the band, Justin Glibbery is... Continue Reading →
Words matter
James Murray, circa. 1879 in the scriptorium In 1992, a Lutheran Bishop joined a group of us Anglican clergy for a supper meeting at the local golf club in Sooke a short drive from Victoria. While my memory of the discussion is somewhat hazy, at one point during the meeting he simply said, โwords matter.โ... Continue Reading →
Tariffs, Trump, and Trouble
Following the publication of our collection last fall of US election political memes, weโre back with a new and fast-growing growing collection of protest memes covering ignorant Trump phrases, tariff travails, fact checkers (not a game for the gentle-hearted), monuments on the move, thinking inside the boxing ringโthe naughty PP interfering, a taste of moral... Continue Reading →
Juno on and off the wall
Five year old labradoodle is a remarkably insightful dog blogger with a growing following. I donโt understand why everyone is so grumpy right now. I am basically a very pawsitive labradoodle. Life in designed to be fun, playful, exuberant, creative. I love the image above that celebrates the beautiful in life, on and off the... Continue Reading →