Rockin’ at Murphy’s Point!
What a great weekend to be camping! (5) Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Family
My grandfather taught me how to build a dam instead of islands
When we were kids, and we were lucky, it would rain. And the parking area of my grandfather’s mountain farm would fill up with streams and rivulets. The farm house…
Chores
How to Get Your Kids to Stop Bitching About Doing Yardwork: Ask politely. Ask politely again. Ask firmly, but politely, for the ungrateful turds to pitch in once in a…
Prom Night and Father’s Day
Skimming my home-town newspapers’ web sites I noticed that this is Prom weekend for some of the high schools in the area. Tomorrow is Father’s Day. I’m not sure if…
I had a grandfather
My grandfather, Opa, would be celebrating his 104th birthday today if he hadn’t been killed by an irrational fear of surgery. He died in a hospital in Hollywood, Florida, as…
Women’s Rights in Bosnia: An Interview with Aleksandra Petrić
In the 1990s, Bosnia-Herzegovina became synonymous with the horrific violence, ethnic cleansing and genocide which characterized the country’s experience within the broader dissolution of the Yugoslav state. In particular, the…
Dad’s back at large
Out of hospital, back at home. With a couple more bottles of pills, two, possibly three appointments to line up and a whack of new gadgets – oxygen dispensing –…
Michael Rafferty gets the book
Three words: Big. Fucking. Riddance.
Obama’s flip-flop for the good
I never thought I’d live to see the day, but finally a sitting US President — Barack Obama — has stated the obvious: Gays and lesbians should have the right…
Craig`s timing
When Craig died five years ago today he could not have ordained that his memory would loom large during this week each year as the award in his name is…
Harper is a DeceptiCon!
Owen, after watching Rise of the Fallen. Daddy: Is Stephen Harper a Decepticon? Me: I think so. He likes to blow up things and doesn’t like people. Owen: Daddy, I…
Disabled Parents Fight for Rights
I recently read about new parents, Maricyl Palisoc and Charles Wilton, who suffer with Cerebral Palsy and are fighting with Children’s Aid to keep their child. This couple isn’t even…
Are Canadian Women Also Radical Enemies of the State?
In an orgy of axe swinging and program bludgeoning last week, the federal government set their sights on taking a clean shot at the health and well-being of Canadian women.…
Cowards of Oxford County
There really is no other way to describe the killers of Tori Stafford. And I use the plural because it takes at least two to engage in a conspiracy that…
To what possible end with …
… the “human life” thing? Yes, I’m pro-life. Yes, I have argued here in the past there is a need to open up a debate — not necessarily on banning…
A Handmaid’s Tale: Intended as Fiction, Not a Guidebook
I have become very weary of being perpetually assaulted, all day long, and being utterly helpless to defend myself from the onslaught. If it isn’t advertisers shoving things I don’t…
Deconstructing the Wildrose Effect
So what happened in Alberta’s election yesterday, other than people telling pollsters that they want change, then chickening out when it came time to mark an X. The Politics, Re-spun…
My camera survived!
This was the last photograph I took on Sunday before going ass-over-tea-kettle into the waters of the Tay River’s Grant’s Creek at Allan Mills. I then walked across the arched,…
Newspaper clipping from Mom: “A GAY JOCK TAKES OFF THE MASK”
It was on the front page of the Ottawa Citizen’s March 17 “Saturday Observer” section. The paper sat on a table beside Mom’s comfy chair, where she keeps anything she…