“Nothing frightened me more than the faith in my young children’s eyes. How many men deserve that kind of trust? One by one, the mentors I’ve mostly admired eventually revealed chinks in their armour, cracks in their facades and tired feet of clay.” (Paraphrasing a favourite author, Greg Isles, in “Natchez Burning.”) We have two critical…

Now I completely understand if you are dead set against hunting – that is your prerogative. While this story is indeed about hunting, it is more about the folly around two seemingly intelligent human beings being toyed with by Mother Nature. It was humbling! I have hunted in the north since I was 17 years…

American standup comedian Tom Papa, talks about his children. Paraphrasing, he says: “You know, we all say we love our kids the same. But that is utter bullshit! Come on, be honest! We all have that one kid, that if he/she were to get lost in the woods, we would take just a littttttle more…

I knew him as Cookie before I knew him as John. On meeting this contradiction of a man for the first time, you might come away with the impression that he was this irascible, grumpy, miserable, chain smoking old coot. I think he liked it that way. The reality was that under that tough façade…

**Warning. If you are offended by the questioning of religious doctrine, please do not continue reading. Apologies to Cotton Eyed Joe – this isn’t about the song lyrics “Where did you come from and where did you go?” Though my wife Karen often screams that vociferously when she sees a spider scurry across her line…

He reminded me that it was time. When was I going to visit? We had exchanged emails or phone calls a couple times a year since we first met in 2010.  March 28 2023 was his 80th birthday. I called to wish him a Happy Birthday as was my habit. After a brief but cordial…

Love means many things to many people. Love of a child or a grandchild. Love of a partner. Love as companionship. Love of a friend. First loves. Lasting love. We use the word love to express our affection for food, for travel, for art, for music etc. In a relationship between adults, love is often…

Ahh, the joys of aging. If you are a man, you will know what I am talking about. You suddenly discover a 2 inch hair growing out of your nose. Where did that come from? It wasn’t there yesterday! Oh and that eyebrow hair that is wrapped around your glasses? That happened overnight. How does…

I made a conscious decision when I was about 17 years old, to focus on the positive rather than the negative. Of course I am human and have lapses from time to time – however, it was life changing for me. Real or perceived, I have found that “things have a way of working out”…

The Arrival Where does the time go? You would have been 71 next week. Born on March 16th 1952, she was the raven haired, hazel eyed, beautiful child my parents had craved since they were married 7 years earlier. They had tried unsuccessfully to have a baby for several years, but for one reason or…