Last Saturday morning was a worrisome time in the house of Spice the wonder-cat. He wouldn’t eat or move and our social little critter wasn’t interested in us. The vet’s office got us in for 10:40 am and although my brother-in-law was here to assist, I had no trouble pouring our beloved feline into his carrier. He had no fight in him. …
It’s Family Day, a statutory holiday that seems to be doing, for me at least, what it was designed to – give us a happy long weekend in the dead of a crummy winter! Enjoy! …
Some laughed at me when I told them I had purchased a DNA test via Groupon. …
Poppy sales and donations are up this year and it’s not hard to figure out why. The murders of Cpl. Cirillo and Warrant Officer Vincent put faces, families and tangible heartache on the vague, “people who serve our country”. …
Every year, The Grand Theatre in London devotes its stage to a production put on by the best the city’s high schools have to offer. The result is as professional, and as well-attended, as any of the other shows at The Grand. It’s been a launching pad for many professional careers because these kids, who audition and rehearse just like any other performers, are the cream of the crop from local performing arts courses. …
It was unexpected, as these incidents always are. Â London’s southwest Costco, jammed with Friday afternoon shoppers, suddenly ducking and covering from raining shards of glass as a vehicle backs through the front doors. Â How it missed the posts that hold the huge panes of glass, how it ended up going backwards into an area full of people, are still under investigation. Â …
If you’re a regular visitor to these pages you might recall previous family reunions with the name “Sharonstock”. …
Ryker, the son of my Little Sister Tabitha, is ten months old now. I can hardly believe it. He’s big for his age, taking tentative steps and scooting all over the place. Â Apparently he said “Da” the other day so father Nick is pretty pleased! Â …
Maybe it’s because this winter has been so relentless and it has felt like it’s beating me down that I had the most unlikely thought the other day about how I could emerge from this season victorious. I could take on winter and slap it into submission with my leather glove.  Maybe that’s why I had the crazy and powerful urge to go tobogganing. …
Some people say it’s insane to spend hundreds of dollars on an operation for a cat when you can replace him with another one so much cheaper.  None of those people live in this house. …
Dr. Seuss once said, “Don’t be sorry that it’s over. Be glad that it happened.”  That’s how I remind myself to feel about my time at 680 News when another year passes since I left, and I feel wistful about leaving a job and a work family I loved so much. …
Or as they say in the US, Canadian Thanksgiving! Â …
During a Facebook chat with my 21-year-old nephew yesterday I jokingly told him that the older you get, the older middle age gets. …
My cousin BA, Aunt Wanda and I scooted over to Strathmore from Calgary and picked up two more cousins, Mike and Wanda and Wanda’s boyfriend Dave, for our excursion to Drumheller. …
On my plane ride to Calgary my seatmate, a man who had retired at 27 and somehow escaped without me strangling him in a jealous rage, said “You HAVE to go to the Columbia Icefield!” Â Apparently it has receded tremendously in the decades since I last saw it. I vividly recall running toward the plain of ice and recoiling in horror as a stranger next to me suddenly began urinating on its edge. Â …
Ah Calgary. It’s the Canadian city of exponential growth and recent, devastating flooding. It’s also the home of my closest cousin, my sister-from-another-mister, Barbara-Anne and her family. …
Mamasita.  Matka. Mamoo. Moo. Ma. Helen. Mrs. H. …
Everyone, meet Darby. Darby, everyone. Â Darby is Spice’s cousin! She’s the fur-baby of a brother and sister-in-law on hubby’s side. Â …