Musings
About retirement… and random other things!
These blogs first appear as weekly columns in the Red Deer Advocate
Those early driving experiences
My great-nephew is working towards getting his driver’s license. Strange, isn’t it? That I’m old enough to have a 16 year-old great nephew? Really, what I meant to say is that it’s strange to think of just starting out in what is truly an overwhelming undertaking. He didn’t quite make it on his first appointment, but that first driver’s test was...
Sweet nostalgia
Candy is the food that most readily takes me back to a childhood memory. That might be a sad statement for people whose first thought goes to spiced cookies or Irish stew or glass jars of preserves lining the cellar shelves. I have those wonderful memories, too, but the rainy afternoons when my oldest sister made a batch of fudge or our Friday...
A trillion creepy crawlies
Does the thought of one trillion insects emerging together from the ground bug you? In a rare dual emergence of two different kinds of cicadas, that is precisely what is happening this spring in midwestern and southeastern states. It’s a complex mix of nature, science and timing that hasn’t happened for 200 years. While lots of people are...
We should all be dancing
Okay, it’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon and the place is packed. People in festive wear are dancing up a storm to the strains of a rock & roll band, and the drinks are flowing like it’s 5 o’clock somewhere. Sound like a Jimmy Buffett party? Actually, it’s the Mayor’s Garden Party for seniors’ week! Sure, the drinks were lemonade (and not the...
Ghost towns whisper many stories
Have you ever explored a ghost town? If you’re one of the many people who pack into the Last Chance Saloon at the Wayne Hotel you have. Wayne is a ghost town near Drumheller where an estimated 28 people now reside, but that population balloons substantially when the popular saloon has a shindig going on! I once made a couple of friends of mine...
Dubble Bubble trouble
Well, that was a fun visit! I had caught up with a dear friend for a drink to celebrate her very last day of work after a long and successful career, which was fun enough. But then, when the waitress brought the bill, she also plopped down a handful of Dubble Bubbles on the table along with it! Oh the glee. Just like the complete fixation when we...
Making writing accessible
Image by BillionPhotos on Freepik I used to think it was only writers who were extra aware of the different markets that welcomed us in, but I’m coming to know that readers also share that priority. Readers have supported independently-published books for a long time now, so that’s not new. What is new (or new to me, at least) are the number of...
Small boxes of cookies, big buckets of memories
How many boxes of Girl Guide cookies have you eaten so far this spring? Don’t you love the moment you answer the door and realize it’s that special time of year, when you get to debate which is best – the chocolate or the vanilla. Or, for you outsiders, if this year’s supply will be those peppermint flavoured ones. Those ones are always a slight...
Is donating a Kindle odd?
I seldom re-read a book and I don’t like to accumulate things, so I jumped on the early days of kindle to ‘stock my bookshelf’ without adding things to dust. I now read a combination of gifted books, some borrowed from the library, some bought at the used bookstore and some on kindle – which means my kindle library doesn’t represent the extent of...