Another Can Lit Giant Falls: Farley Mowat Dead at 92
The past few months have been tough for Can Lit: Alistair MacLoed and Mavis Gallant both dead, and now Farley Mowat falls. The Globe and Mail’s obituary quotes him as…
Mary Soderstrom
Dancing Is Important in the Grand Scheme of Things
Jeanne spent part of the dinner hour dancing around the dining room (with Thomas cheering her on from his highchair) to a variety of jazz pieces. Her dance technique veers…
Thomas Piketty and Inequality: The Video
French economist Thomas Piketty’s best selling Capital in the Twenty-first Century is sold out–not bad for a 1000 page treatise on what’s wrong with current economic thinking. But if you…
The End of Mirabel, Or Another Mistake That Shouldn’t Have Happened
While I’ve been revelling in postive health things (new eyes!) and negative ones (shingles!) I have been somewhat insulated from reacting to the increasing number of things that are going…
Report from the Front: Full Binocular Vision
And the patch was removed this morning so I can see in the world in full binocular mode, with colours gorgeously clear and all the details vibrant. A little discomfort…
Getting the Other Eye Done Today…
The kitchen is just about clean, after my new eagle (left) eye uncovered all the grime. Today is the day the right eye (formerly my better eye) gets done. Back…
Yup, CBC/Radio Can Budget Cuts Will Affect Enquête
The Charbonneau Commission into corruption and illegal political party funding has started work again after the Quebec provincial election. Just what it will come up with when it’s finished its…
Alistair MacLoed Is Dead: Far from No Great Mischief
The news this weekend was that Alistair MacLeod, short story writer and novelist, is dead at 77. As it happened, his only novel No Great Mischief was the focus of…
The Down Side of Good Vision: Seeing All the Grime
Too busy to say much because I realize just how dirty everything is around here, now that my eyes are working as they should. People had warned me that I…
Why We Need a Strong Public Broadcaster: Radio Canada’s Enquête
The knives were out last week at the CBC and Radio Canada: 657 jobs will be cut and $130 million slashed from the budget. This is just the latest in…
Rainy Day, But At Least Our Winters Are Sunny, Or What To Do Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine
Came across this in The New York Times today: a town in Norway which now has mirrors beaming sun down into the town square. It’s not a first: the BBC…
First Robin of Spring Sighted…Or At Least, My First Robin
Out walking this morning and sighted the first robin so far this spring. The grass is mostly free of snow, but now yet green here, nor are there any leaves…
We Have Seen the Future and It Is Beautiful (and Brazil Was There First)…
Missed this because our National Geographic subscription has been transferred to the grandkids, which is probably quite fitting: given the rate of racial and ethnic intermarriage in the US, by…
Not Pleased about the Liberals, But Glad the PQ Got What It Deserves
Let me say right off, that 18 months ago I was ready to give the Parti Québécois some slack as it won minority government status in a provincial election. Bringing…
Saturday Photo: Coming in the Not Too Distant Future–Snow Drops!
The snow is retreating in front, and a sprinkle of little leaves are pushing up from the dirt. Spring is late this year, but very soon I expect the new…
Sitting Out an Election: What’s Happening to Volunteers?
This is the first provincial or federal election in years that I haven’t worked hard for some leftish candidate. Usually I do a lot of telephoning, or some door to…
The View from the Other Side
Not much action lately because of various things, like cataract surgery on Monday. But now I’m delighted to report that I’m seeing better than I ever have. Anyone who’s been…
End of Winter Blahs….
A combination of sick grandkids who share their microbes with their grandparents and my own interesting health sitautioin (cataract surgery on Monday) means that there haven’t been much in the…
Simply Because Thomas Loves This…
One of the joys of children is how they introduce you to new things. On this day when a winter hurricane is pounding Eastern Canada, they’re digging out after a…