One of the first things asked after meeting someone for the first time, is “Do you have any children?”. I used to answer by saying that I have a daughter. But in the past few years, I usually respond by saying, ‘no’ because I find it too difficult to talk about her with strangers. Previously,…
Category: The 60’s
Ramblin’ Thoughts
Although I never write about religion or politics, and I try to avoid expressing negative thoughts in both my written and spoken words, I’ve decided to share one of my pet peeves with you – namely, self-service checkout counters at grocery stores. What mental lightweight came up with the idea of reducing lineups at cashier…
Sticks and Stones
“Show me your friends, and I’ll know what you are!” ~ Grandma Puffer I remember hearing my dear Grandma Puffer telling me that, and I always believed her. I can’t say for sure, but I’ll bet that she never told a lie. And her daughter, who was my dear Ma, had lots of sayings, too. …
Not a creature was stirring…
Originally published on December 24, 2012 It was the morning of Christmas Eve, and once again it didn’t feel like Christmas. It had been years since I last celebrated Christmas – but I remember it well. It was in 1983 at my parents’ place in Midland, Ontario. My family always got together to celebrate Christmas…
On the Nickel
A few weeks ago, I saw a nickel during my morning walk at the Promenade, in White Rock. However, I didn’t realize the significance of that five-cent coin, until today. It has awakened a quiet voice from within – which has been silent for too many months. It’s not that I’ve been sulking or feeling…
Moonshine in the Maritimes – The Final Chapter
Readers of this blog will remember my original Moonshine in the Maritimes story from November 8, 2016 – a blog that was both painful to write and impossible for me to complete a final chapter. But all of that changed this morning, and now my heart is racing, and my legs are shaking, and I can’t…
My Last Visit
Sometimes a tiny, almost-invisible spark appears in a girl’s eye when she is about to say ‘yes,’ but even the eldest boys at the dance often miss this critical signal. As a young boy, all of the kids from the block would gather on the street and teams would be formed by Teddy Healey and Bobby…
The Last Trick or Treat
He and his buddy Doug had almost finished filling their shopping bags with tricks and treats and were excited about getting home to see and sort all of the goodies. On previous Halloween’s they had both dressed up the best they could – but they couldn’t remember ever scaring anybody. But this Halloween was different,…
Last Night’s Awesome Concert
There aren’t many singers still alive or rock bands together that I currently have on my bucket list to see live in concert, but Reginald Kenneth Dwight was definitely on the top of the list. So having a great seat at last night’s show at Rogers Arena in Vancouver was excellent! I had already graduated…
Another Surprise!
This morning I got a pleasant surprise – a comment from one of the readers of my blog. And although I am always thrilled to receive comments about my stories (good or bad), they usually only come from friends or family members. I mean, who else reads my blog? Who else would even be interested…