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AUGUST

 August has arrived with a pang in my heart. It is still officially summer, but already there is a change in the air. A palpable difference to the atmosphere. The flowers are wilted - their leaves drooping with lack of rain. We are having a hot, dry summer, with little precipitation. And it is showing. The pink hydrangeas on the corner of the deck showed off only one small flower this year. The blue rose of Sharon's are barely blooming; the mallows have already given up after two small burgundy flowers emerged yesterday. And the strawberry-vanilla hydrangea tree is reluctantly offering up only small white blooms; it should be in its showy abundance this time of year. It has been a tough one for the garden. The grass is burnt yellow, the hosta leaves are brown, the tiger lilies are drying and crisp. Thankfully the air is still warm, and the cool chill of autumn has not yet begun. But the end of the season is nigh, it is everywhere and yet nowhere all at once....
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Recent posts

From Terminator To Motivator

 Arnold Schwarzenegger is having a moment. I wouldn't call it a comeback. He never really went away. He has always been there - always pumping out movies, advice, his opinions, books, and now a tv show, a comedy action genre shot right here in Ontario. And today, as he celebrates his birthday, I have to admit, I am fan-gurling over the 78-year-old bodybuilder/actor/politician/author/activist/fitness advocate and now motivator.  I somehow stumbled across his latest book, Be Useful: Seven Tools For Life, and I had to read it. His grizzled face on the front cover, almost in a Terminator scowl, not hiding anything, his wrinkles and grey hair there for everyone to see. It is part memoir - part instruction manual to live one's best life. To contribute to society, to make good choices, to work hard and have a servant's heart. One could argue that he took his own advice, having a servant's heart, a bit too literally, after he fathered a child with the househol...
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The Napoleon Month

  February seems innocuous enough. A nice little month, just 28 short days, 29 on a leap year. Hosting St. Valentine's Day for all the romantics, and home to "Heart Month", an awareness campaign for The Heart and Stroke Foundation. Short and sweet. A nice stopping point between an excruciatingly long January and March, which heralds the arrival of Spring and other fun activities such as St. Patrick's Day and Lent. However I have come to believe that February is not as nice as it would lead us to believe. In fact, it has a devious side, a dark part, which has shown its face over the years. A sociopathic, covert narcissist with underlying bipolar and borderline personality disorders, covertly waiting for the least right time and right place to reveal itself. Perhaps I am being a little harsh. I am for certain a little biased. As I look back upon the years, I am struck by how many tragedies have struck in February. I am talking about my own person...
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Spring WILL Come!

 When the days seem oh, so dark and dreary And it's difficult to not feel old and weary When the daylight seems at best so bleary And the short, dark days have you feeling teary Remember Spring will come soon, deary And make us all feel oh, so cheery!
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The Custodian

  One of my favourite morning routines is watering the potted plants and filling up the bird bath. As I do so, I stare in wonder and awe at all the trees, shrubs, plants and flowers that have taken up residence at our house. Most we have planted, replacing dead ones, and creating new spaces. Others have mysteriously, miraculously appeared on their own; no doubt the result of a bird or squirrel or chipmunk unknowingly depositing the seeds of flowers and trees. There is a new Rose of Sharon along the side of the house now, a new cedar at the edge of the back deck, and a couple of lilac bushes too that are pure happenstance. Numerous Blanket Flowers have found their way into our perennial gardens too, along with Black Eyed Susans and White Daisies; none planted or planned by us, purely Mother Nature doing her thing. And if these plants bring along a flower or two, they can stay. And as I marvel at these new entities appearing each year, I humbly realize I am only their...
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Pillow Talk

  I would like to talk about the fact that I just shelled out over a hundred dollars for a pillow. An orthopedic pillow. Yes, I am at the age and stage where I invested in a special pillow to help with alignment and posture. The instructions, (yes, it came with instructions), say it could take two to three weeks to get used to it. And they are right. After years of sleeping on a very soft pillow, which has become so flat that it allows my head to virtually be horizontal or even worse, I figured it's time to be kinder to my neck and spine, head and shoulders. And so I went to a special health and medical goods supply store and paid over a hundred clams. They saw me coming. There were many more that were much more expensive. I couldn't believe it. However, it is made of some soft memory foam or something that offers firm yet supple support. There is a roll or ridge that fits under the back of my neck, firmly supporting it indeed. Almost too much so. It...
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Happy Tax

  The Danes are at it again. Making me re-obsessed about what makes them consistently among the Happiest Countries In The World. After reading numerous books on hygge, lykke and what it means to actually live in Denmark, I have come to the conclusion that it is because they are so heavily taxed. They, like all Nordic countries, and even us here in Canada, to some degree, pay a large amount of taxes. It is perhaps a coincidence that all of those countries are extremely cold for a part of the year. As I understand it, they pay so much in taxes that it virtually levels the playing field as far as income goes. For example, if you make not very much money, say under $10,000, you pay no taxes. If you make a bit more, you pay some taxes. And if you make a lot more, you pay a lot more taxes. That is it. It makes everyone more or less equal. There really is no have and have not. It is really everyone has. At social events, in neighbourhoods, community gatherings,...
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