From my wife’s country of New Zealand there was a sheep named Shrek that became a national celebrity in 2004. Shrek was not the world’s oldest sheep in the world. He was not the fastest or strongest in the world. What made him unique was that he really, really, really did not like getting his…
We live in a society where our lives are under the microscope than any other time in history. In banks, in shopping malls and on street corners our images are captured on surveillance cameras. Social network companies like Facebook (which owns properties like Messenger, What’s App and Instagram) collects data on each of it’s 2…
This Christmas season I had the privilege of attending an Ugly Sweater party. I didn’t have an actual Christmas sweater, but used a sweater my dear wife made for me 30 years ago. The host was the only person I knew at the party, and so I was a bit anxious. But there were so…
When I can find the time, one of my favourite pastimes is spending time with the older generations and allowing them to open up and share some of their life story. Growing up in rural Canada, their childhoods predated electricity, running water and the telephone. They lived their lives through multiple hardships and emerged much…
Over the past 150 years here in Canada the penetrating, vibrant ringing of church bells have sounded in large cities right down to small villages. And for centuries in Europe, church bells have played a prominent role in the history of countries, communities, and places of worship. Church bells are the biggest and loudest musical…
Following having my Corolla totalled in a car crash came the daunting task of shopping for a replacement vehicle. Living in an area with no public transportation, a car is pretty much a need. The advantage of car shopping in 2018 is I can go on-line to a site like auto trader and look up…
The words “It’s Father’s Day” can conjure a lot of mental images, depending on that person’s perception of fathers. I have always struggled sharing a message on Father’s Day. It is partly because I really miss my dad who died when I was 15, so fathers day is a difficult day for me. It is…
