Musings
About retirement… and random other things!
These blogs first appear as weekly columns in the Red Deer Advocate
Our daily bread
Did you buy a loaf of bread at anytime between 2001 and 2021? Maybe you made some French Toast on a quiet Sunday morning, or put together a peanut butter sandwich for your child’s lunch, or stuffed a festive turkey. If so, you should add your name to the Canadian Packaged Bread Class Action Settlement before December 12, because someone was...
Challenge to self: Skate
I have skated a lot in my life. The whole of my childhood years was spent on community rinks, followed by teenage and young adult years gliding along the pond at Bowness Park in Calgary. We’d blast across the ice holding hands and playing crack the whip until the whole lot of us tumbled in a heap of laughter – and no broken bones. How is it that...
Small business owners believe anything is possible
It was small business week a few weeks ago and I am more and more aware of what that means. Partly because I’ve recently been asked to do some freelance work for the Chamber of Commerce at a town south of Red Deer and I’ve been interviewing business people about their goals and dreams. Also because some small business owners near where I live in...
A thankless job – many thankless jobs
Can you imagine being a receptionist at one of the UCP MLA offices right now? It would be a task almost as impossible as being a teacher in Alberta. I made my first-ever phone call to my MLA at 8:55 on October 28, the morning his party introduced Bill 2. ‘My constituency’ office phone rolled through nine rings before I received a message that the...
Halloween manners
A long time ago when my daughter was out with the throngs of other young trick or treaters, there was a bit of drama on the Halloween route and I needed to vacate my candy-giving duties at our front door to go run interference. It was those tricky few years when they were too old for a chaperone but too young to always have the world situations...
Childhood song is now an inventory list
Remember that song “head and shoulders knees and toes…” It was taught to us as kids and then we taught it to our kids to help them learn about their bodies. Now it’s a good jingle to carry into senior years because it’s a perfect inventory list when you’re doing your body scan to see if you should 1) get out of bed, 2) keep all the plans you made...
Lessons in democracy
Knowing that it takes all of us – men, women, children – everyone, from all walks of life, to protect and enhance fundamental human rights in this country, I have raised my daughter to clearly know the democratic process. It’s been important, but also sort of a blast, to bestow the knowledge. When she was a young toddler, thanks to the...
Challenge to self: Trying my hand at Bridge
Gramma won the gold medal at Seniors Card Olympics in the mid 70s, so I’m from a rich lineage of card sharps. We all learned Kings on the Corner from her and won many a nickel while we were growing up. Thing is, my card experience never extended beyond that and I’ve always wanted to see if I could tap into her love of cards. Why not try Bridge?!...
Little cakes pack big drama
I had a really good idea a few weeks ago, but it involved the kitchen so in retrospect I should have ignored it completely. Why not try my hand at creating little strawberry-shaped cake pops, I wondered, as one does from time to time. In fact, why not make some every week to sell at the u-pick farm where I work part time. I’m always looking for...