When Donald Trump made fun of sexual assault victim Christine Blasey-Ford, I knew I was close. When he walked up the steps of Air Force One with toilet-paper stuck to his shoe, and no one told him, my laughter created a little bit of room for more. But the confirmation of undoubtedly biased Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court nailed it. I’m out of f***s. …
Ever since that time I bought the big house in Toronto and found myself waist-deep in a much higher cost of living, I’ve been seeking out ways to make it all smaller. The big house coincided with the big job so the bills were manageable. But as fun as it was to decorate the place, the whole lifestyle went against my core values. …
For years, my Blackberry was my constant companion. It was provided to me by Rogers radio and I loved it. I was lightning-quick on the physical buttons on the keyboard and rarely made mistakes. It went with me to Europe and turned out photos that were plenty good enough. It’s not like I was entering them in a contest. …
For a few years, alternating them with my then-husband, I went to Country Music Fan Fair in Nashville as a working journalist. It was always held during the hottest week of the summer, roughly 105F in the shade. I got to interview country’s up-and-coming stars while freelancing for the now defunct Country Wave Magazine. …
Not chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies. Cookies on the Internet that capture a bit of data from your visit to a website only to use it against you later on.
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As we explored the St. Stephen-St. Andrews-Calais area last week, we took the advice of anyone who offered it. If someone said we should go see something, we went. That included my brother’s suggestion that we head up to McAdam and see the old train station. …
There are places in North America where you can stand in Canada and the US simultaneously. A massive, historic home straddles Stanstead, Quebec and Plain, Vermont, for example. You can enter the house from both countries. …
Anthropologists probably have something deep and insightful to say about why Derek and I are drawn to water. All we know is that we feel calmer and happier around a body of water of just about any kind. Bigger than a puddle but not necessarily an ocean. …
Full tank of gas? Check. GPS? Check. House/pet sitter? Check. Blog posts for next week? Um, uncheck. There might be one or two.
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Translation: It’s been ten years since Derek and I visited England and France. We also went to Monaco but didn’t quite make it to Italy. I’d love to spend a couple of years visiting tiny pockets of Europe. The only other European country I’ve seen is Iceland. …
Throwback Thursday – Une Dizaine D’annees, Mon Dieu!Read More »
When I was a kid, I loved the poems of Robert Service. They told stories of the Yukon gold rush in a musical cadence that included lots of alliteration and rhymes. Service didn’t bother with subtleties in his most famous works. You knew what you were getting with The Cremation of Sam McGee, The Ballad of Blasphemous Bill and hundreds of others. He also wrote six novels, two autobiographies and even acted in the 1942 film, The Spoilers, with Marlene Dietrich. Visiting his restored cabin in Dawson City, Yukon – a preserved historical site – is on my bucket list. …
Derek and I have been looking around to invest in a vacation retreat. Something modest to match our budget. A little place near water we can spruce up and customize. Our summer home when we’re ready to become snowbirds. We’re looking everywhere – from other provinces to other countries. Nothing is off the table. If you’ve explored the cottage areas of Ontario and you don’t have a million dollars to spend, you know how difficult it is to find something affordable close to home. …
We like to get out and explore on our own. One of our favourite side trips from Las Vegas was to Oatman, Arizona. They call Oatman a ghost town because it’s settled in the Black Mountains of the Mohave and once boasted a population of 3,500. That was in the gold rush days. Now about 100 people live in the old west throwback town year round and wild burros roam freely through the streets. …
It’s impossible to visit Memphis without getting a repetitive earworm of Marc Cohn’s 1991 hit “Walkin’ in Memphis”. (If you don’t know it, get thee to YouTube and check it out.) Cohn’s autobiographical, Grammy-winning song brought Beale Street – and most of Memphis – to the masses. Walkin’ in Memphis mentions many of the city’s highlights, from catfish on the table to gospel in the air.  …
There’s no need to park in downtown Memphis and walk ten city blocks to your destination. We know that now! Looking back, I can’t remember why we did this on our second-last day in the city. It wasn’t the only time we paid for parking when a free spot was available at our destination. Tourists, eh? …
It had been about twenty years since I first visited Graceland. Elvis purchased the mansion, on nearly 14 acres of land, in 1957. The sellers doubled the price to about $100,000 once they found out who the buyer was. The King’s parents moved in and Elvis joined them once he finished filming Jailhouse Rock. Graceland was named for the original landowner, not for Elvis’ beloved Mother, Grace. …
I hope you have your traveling pants on. This week, I’m taking you on our road trip where we visited (or at least passed through) eight US states, brought home some contraband (you can lie by omission at the border, right?) and had a thoroughly great time. …
I’m taking a two-week hiatus. No radio show. No news-hounding, at least not like usual. And no blog posts. …