Last week sucked. It wasn’t 100%-sucking-every-moment suck, but it sucked overall. The death of my Dad was off the charts of the Suck Scale, of course, and it doesn’t get any suckier than that. Then on Friday, I got into an accident at Horton St. and Wharncliffe Rd. in London. My pretty little red Kia took the brunt of the suckiness, although the other guy’s vehicle didn’t fare much better. …
Sucky Suckerson of Suckville Read More »
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. …
Crying With Laughter Read More »
Too soon and yet after too much suffering, my father has died as the result of complications from Parkinson’s. It’s a horrible disease. An eventual life sentence of deteriorating motor skills, loss of independence and dementia. He was 82, but in the past year, he aged to look ten years older. He was my Daddy and no matter what illness did to him, he somehow kept a glimmer of his sense of humour, a testament to his strength.
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John Ernest Hubbs – 1935-2017 Read More »
There were a few years when we were kids that people mistook my baby brother and me for twins. I wasn’t growing at all and he was growing fast. We’re sixteen months apart but we looked alike. …
Throwback Thursday – My Brother, My Twin Read More »
We’re lucky that my Dad is mostly in a good mood while Parkinson’s eats away at his mobility and dementia claims more of his time. As I’ve posted previously, we just go along with whatever reality he’s in. It’s as if he’s literally seeing things that we can’t see, which I suppose he is. He was recently in hospital for eighteen days and we thought we’d lost him. Now he’s back in his long-term care home and re-adjusting pretty well. But he fixates on things for a day or two at a time and on the weekend, he was seeing – or wanting to see – grapes.Â
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A couple of weeks ago I put out a request on social media for coffee mug recommendations. Not ordinary mugs though, travel mugs, or something that would keep my coffee hot. I have a cheap, ordinary mug at work and my coffee turns ice cold within minutes, or so it seems. I take coffee pretty seriously and hosting a live talk show means I don’t have time to run around and heat it up again. I googled for solutions but I wanted real-life experiences with specific mugs. …
In our house, I’m the technology expert. Once we walk out the door, I’m basically a dummy in this area.Â
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A Pirate’s Life is Not for Me Read More »
Lately I’ve been making fairly regular trips back to my hometown. Well, I have three hometowns, and I’m traveling past or to at least one of them on these road trips. I drink coffee. I always take along a bottle of water. When nature calls, I’m caught in that all-too-familiar state of wondering how to answer. A stroke of genius hit me on Sunday. Â …
Our family is going through a personal, painful reality that so many have experienced: a beloved family member has dementia. My Dad now lives in two realities. The one we share, and one all his own.
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All Canadians know about the 1972 Canada-Russia hockey series in which the NHL proved its supremacy via Paul Henderson’s last minute goal. In 1974, the upstart WHA took on the Russians with a different outcome. The World Hockey Association was attempting to prove it was as good as the National Hockey League and better than the Russians. It had some of the great players but it didn’t have the preparation time that the NHL had enjoyed two years earlier. …
Throwback Thursday – The Hockey Series in the ShadowRead More »
Throwback Thursday – The Hockey Series in the Shadow Read More »
My head is full of details about news stories past and present. We all suffer from information overload but I think it’s different when that info is about your passion, say, competitive quilting. When it concerns the heinous and horrible things people do, it’s not as easy to store. …
Less (Information) is More Read More »
Oh, the treasures I’ve found while going through my grandparents’ stuff that was tucked away for more than three decades. They kept every wedding invitation they ever received, letters from the 1920s and 30s and so much more that must have seemed important at the time. But there were a couple of photos that had me vexed. I had to get in touch with second and third cousins in order to find someone who knew who was in them. …
Throwback Thursday – Great Relatives Read More »