I rarely say anything political on this blog, but I was saddened that the American President would fly all the way to Paris and then not go to Belleau Wood. These were his people – his Marines – who suffered and died and stopped the Germans cold in 1918. I am grateful that General Kelly and ...
Spam isn’t just about email these days. You may have seen a particularly egregious type of it in comments to news stories or occasionally in blogs like “Bluebird Banter” or “MLB Trade Rumors.” In addition to the legitimate baseball commentary, you’ll see a post about working from home and making thousands in the process – with a ...
Mr. Oates – or Oatesy as he is commonly called around here – will celebrate his 4th birthday on November 11. In cat years that makes him around 30, so he is still relatively young but quite a bit past kittenhood. He’s a handsome devil – as most ginger tabbies seem to be. It’s been ...
I was just thinking the other day about the ways I have listened to music over the past 60 years or so: 45 and 33 RPM records on portable record player. AM radio on old tube console from the 1940s. AM radio on Transistor portable. FM radio on Transistor portable. AM radio in car. LP ...
These lovely boxes are not speakers for a hi-fi system, but beautifully designed computer desktop units called Thelio. They are made by US computer maker System76. What’s interesting about them is that they are built from the ground up to run the Linux operating system. I have been a Linux user and techie for a dozen ...
We’ll be spending the month of November in Almonte this year. This hasn’t always been the case for at least part of this gloomy month. In 2007 we were in the Mediterranean, starting in Barcelona. In 2010 we went to Nassau. In 2011 we cruised to the Caribbean from New York. And in 2016 we ...
One thing about living in the Valley is you are not going to escape the specter of winter. However, October is a little early for the whole scenario. Snow at this time of year is possible, but with cool and rainy November on the horizon we don’t expect it to last for long. Besides, I ...
October is a major family birthday month with daughter’s near the beginning, younger granddaughter’s towards the middle, and Maria’s coming near the end. When we first met, Maria was nearing what we used to call “the age of majority.” It arrived later back then. She was already playing a number of recurring roles as daughter, sister ...
The last couple of posts were rather depressing. Let’s face it – nobody wants to live in the UNFriendly Town. And in spite of some bitterness over the election results on social media, the fact remains that by and large most folks you meet in Almonte will be kind today. The election day is just ...
Some men see things as they are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not. (Robert Kennedy) Mandy Martin and I go back a little bit – all the way to those group lunches at the Dutch Oven in Cobourg. That was in 1970, when she was a kid ...