My friend Michelle “threw off her mortal coil” in her 61st year last week. And I use that expression as the most apt I could think of in this circumstance. Michelle was a fierce defender of justice, a rabid protector of lost souls, a not-to-be-trifled-with trivia maven, a Fluevog shoe flaunter, a clawed defender […]
My Friend Michelle Read More »
At the cottage, we use our iPhone hotspots to access the internet. This works pretty well, except on summer long weekends or when it’s raining, when everybody and their progeny piles on to the cellphone tower. Are there other options to reach the world wide web? Kind of, but suboptimal for heavily wooded islands. But
I am pleased to announce that the Broken Appliance of the Month award goes to the dishwasher. Even though we’re not quite through July, I’m pretty confident nothing else will swoop in to claim the title. (I’m looking at you, stove replaced last October to salvage Thanksgiving dinner). The cottage dishwasher has lost its mind
Cottage Status Report 20240729 Read More »
As I have mentioned, I have experienced an unexpected reversal in my aversion to crossword puzzles. This is partially because they have evolved considerably from their previous incarnation, which was rife with clues involving Chinese currency and Biblical references. It’s true that Adam, Eve, and their progeny still show up with some regularity, but there’s
I’ve launched on a Marie Kondo-ish spree, decluttering closets and cupboards. My rule is if it hasn’t been touched in five years, its useful life is over, at least in my universe. Especially if it’s clothing. All of the suit jackets, even ones with exquisite buttons that look like intricate knots, even conservatively pinstriped ones
Dennis was born in a barn, or if maybe not exactly in a barn, born barn-adjacent on someone’s horse farm. But if he had put his elbows on the Sunday dinner table and his mother had said “were you born in a barn?” he would have said yes actually, I was born in a barn.
Like many of my boomer cohort, I am in deep denial with respect to my chronological age. In my head, I am in my early forties, officially grownup but still able to stay out way too late on a school night without dire consequences. The money the government sends me every month tells a different
In case the news escaped you, as of October 10 the Canadian Broadcasting Company is not longer airing the National Research Council’s official time signal every day at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time. In case you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll explain. For the past 80 years, at precisely one hour past noon,
In May, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said it will introduce 942 as Toronto’s new overlay area code on April 26, 2025. The new digits will come a year before all existing 416, 647, and 437 phone numbers are expected to be exhausted. As you may know, the reason we now run out
More and more, I’m noticing that the online version of something steals the thunder of the hardcopy version. Or even worse, online content manages to give the story away in the headline, making it completely unnecessary to read it. Herewith, some particularly egregious examples. As I have previously admitted, I subscribe to a healthy number
