My mother’s people were aboriginal. To be sure, they were the Welsh, the people who inhabited Britain long before the Romans, these were the ancient Britons who gave the islands their name. Surviving the colonisation by the Romans, the Saxons, and the Normans, they clung to their language, their culture, and their identity in the…
Peter’s Restaurant is one of the loveliest spots on the planet, albeit one of thousands of such places across Canada and much of the world. Twenty or so tables and booths, gallons of hot coffee, sweet servers, hearty menus, what’s not to like? Karen and I show up most Sunday mornings for a late breakfast…
Canadians know quite a lot about David Thompson, the Welsh immigrant who mapped more of Canada and the United States than any other cartographer, and he was, frankly an amazing human being. We don’t know as much about his life partner, Charlotte Small. Charlotte didn’t know the first thing about cartography or the fine instruments…
I’m currently working through Mark Carney’s book Value(s), and I’ll confess it’s a tough read. Takes me back to postgrad economics classes, almost that kind of textbook reading. Interesting and valid, but not Tom Clancy, either. You really have to read, stop, contemplate, then move forward. Carney lays a careful bedrock of the history of…
General Tao had a pet chicken of which he was very fond. As a pet, that is. The chicken went everywhere the General went, on campaigns, going shopping, and even sleeping perched on the foot of his bed, its head tucked under its wing as the General softly snored. Until one day. The General returned…
If you go Down East and ever want to sound as if you belong, learn to say “Some good!” Better still, learn to say, “Right some good!” The first means excellent, the latter means “the very best”. Now, to be sure, your “good” has to sound more like “gooooood”, and “right” falls somewhere between “rite”…
It’s getting to that time of year for students: the horror of final exams. So, for my grandchildren and others who will soon be filing into examination theatres, or staring at their computer screens, a few tips. That I graduated cum laude from law school doesn’t tell you I’m smart, it just tells you that…
It’s that time of the year again, isn’t it, when we all decide that this year, this year, is when we’re going to become gardeners. I know it’s been a fantasy of mine for longer than I care to remember. Flowers and veggies aren’t my thing, but I do love to grow trees. Since we’ve…
Within a few kilometres of our home, there must be a dozen eagles’ nests, great tangles of sticks, often on platforms provided by the conservation authorities, but not uncommonly on high tension electrical transmission towers. The bald eagle, once nearly extinct, has made a remarkable comeback. Eagles are lucky that two key dates in American…
I know not all my friends will like my saying this, but the evidence seems pretty clear that American munitions killed 168 schoolgirls and their 14 teachers in a strike in Minab, Iran, February 28, 2026. Donald Trump admits to hitting the neighbouring naval base, but maintains that destroying the school was Iran’s own work,…