Animals

Spice looms over Sugar looking unhappy

Throwback Thursday – Sibling (Cat) Rivalry

It took a long time to figure out what Spice and Sugar were to each other. Were they reluctant spouses? Roommates? It was about a year into their relationship before they cuddled up but they still have little spats. Spice still dominates her in little ways. He’ll shoo her away from the food bowl if he feels like it. Sugar will back up and sit patiently until he’s feeling more like sharing. We’ve determined they’re brother and sister.  …

9/11 2001-2017

This September 11th will forever be the anniversary of the day Floridians and others in the path of Hurricane Irma weathered – or perhaps didn’t weather – the massive storm. We’ve felt empathy and sorrow for the people who have lost so much and had to flee. We’ve shaken our heads at those who decided to stay, including a group of young partiers who gathered on Miami’s South Beach yelling “F— you Irma!”, and claiming the dead friend they were there to honour would protect them from harm.  …

Steepness in Seattle

Seattle, Washington. Home of the Seahawks and the Mariners, the grunge music scene of the 1990s, fresh seafood that will make you moan and a long, pretty shoreline. It’s not surprising that they have tourism down to an art form. You can fly in, as we did from Victoria, via Alaska Air. You can take a ferry, as we did back to Victoria. They have light rail from the airport into downtown and bus rapid transit in the core. Uber and Lyft both operate legally alongside traditional cabs. Seattle gets it. Visitors want choices. …

Crying With Laughter

I hope you’ll indulge me as I share some of the funnier moments my Dad created in his life. There’s no visitation, service or ceremony for him. That’s how he wanted – actually insisted – it should be. I might not feel like writing here for the rest of the week, but I feel like it now, so here I am.  …

Oh, Baby

Like tens of thousands of other people, I got a little caught up in the excitement of April the giraffe giving birth. The live webcam went up so early, it started to seem like they were streaming the goings-on in her pen far too early. Was she even pregnant? Had she lied to her much younger partner Oliver about the baby? It was the animal world’s little soap opera courtesy of the Animal Adventure Park and YouTube. 

Our Little Amputees

Someone else declawed Spice and Sugar. Our senior furballs were 11 and 10 respectively when they became members of the household, and their lack of claws was a characteristic I wanted, actually. They had to fit into the family and one of the ways they could do that was by not tearing up our furniture. It’s one of the reasons we didn’t want kittens. The other reason is that everybody wants kittens so we chose to adopt the underdogs (sorry cats) and give them great lives while improving our own. 

REVISED – Droning On

Somehow, in the midst of preparations for one of my favourite days of the year, I also forgot about it! Bell Let’s Talk Day dominates my work life on a Bell/CTV radio station, but I overlooked mentioning it here for some reason. As I was arranging interviews and input from Michael Landsberg, Bob Ezrin, Dr. Michael Goldbloom from CAMH and others for our radio show, I totally forgot to write a blog post about it. Now I’m correcting that.  …

Sickly Spicey

Our 15-year-old Head of Household Security isn’t well. In addition to hyperthyroidism, he has pancreatitis and a bit of kidney disease. It’s thought that once we get the pancreas sorted out, the kidney will improve. We certainly hope so.Â