More original fiction from your humble scribe “I know we’re not all here yet, but let’s start anyway,” Gladys announced. “The others will arrive soon, I hope.” Awkwardly spaced between uncomfortable pews, we gathered upstairs in the church sanctuary, an uncomfortable though convenient rehearsal space, huddled around the one-manual, four-stop pipe organ donated by someone,... Continue Reading →
Another in a series of original short stories. Enjoy “Between the vestibule and the altar, let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.” (Book of Job) I wasn’t weeping, but I felt a little funny. There I was, dressed in Alb and Stole, standard clerical dress for ministers of many Christian denominations, on a... Continue Reading →
Readers of this blog are well aware of my newfound interest in writing, not just non-fiction but most recently fictional short stories, a practice that may lead to longer forms in time. I am surprised how much fun I have in creating characters who participate in dramas f my own design based on memories of... Continue Reading →
Another in my series “Larger Than Life Characters in our little town of Summerland” Dick Spencer and I met shortly after Kathie and I moved to Summerland in the fall of 1994. With his wife, Lois, he was a member of the Anglican congregation I served as priest from 1994-2004. A talented woodworker and carpenter... Continue Reading →
I walked onto the rooftop patio of Victoria’s Strathcona Hotel to meet almost one hundred members of my high school graduating class. Now fifty years after the actual 1975 graduation ceremony at Victoria’s Oak Bay High School I wasn’t really thinking about the effects of the passage of time. Temporarily befuddled, a server pointed me... Continue Reading →
You can still buy them because more people than you think still use them. They were ubiquitous office organizational tools before the advent of digital contact managers. The brand still exists offering a wide variety of office management tools and devices. The one device however that put Rolodex on the product map was the folder... Continue Reading →
I am looking forward to visiting with others who graduated from Victoria’s 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 →
Your editors at takenote.ca continue to search out every aspect, every nuance, every outrage generated by the Hitleresque antics of Don-Old 2.0. Today we turn our broken hearts and curious minds to the topic of White House interior design, specifically to Don’s redecoration of the historic Oval Office itself. We are assisted in our quest... Continue Reading →
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 – drawing in fifteen Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, three levels of... Continue Reading →
Ours is not the first generation to take up the cause of the protection of liberty. Whether Canadian or American, we are likely not the last. We typically associate such struggles with failed states often in the global south and elsewhere--Myanmar, South Sudan, Russia, El Salvador, China. We have memories of two world wars from... Continue Reading →
Take Note - Reflections on life, music, politics, retirement and more by Ken Gray 