Before you conclude I have finally lost it (and not without evidence), the title is actually a close approximation of a Scots English rendering of “How now, brown cow?”. And a wonderful example of what has happened (and continues to happen) with English pronunciation. Interestingly enough, Middle English pronunciation was much closer to the current…
Those who had a father or grandfather who served in the Canadian military during World War Two are likely to have heard the word “buckshee”. My Dad used it all the time. I’m not sure I ever used the word, and my kids probably have never heard it. With the passing of his generation, the…
If only it were always Saturday night. But that’s not how life works, especially in economics. John Maynard Keynes was a British economist, perhaps the most influential of all times. He lent his name to an entire branch of economics, the Keynesian approach, likely the most durable of all economic theories. Keynes was troubled by…
There are a bunch of things about which we don’t like to talk. Death, certain bodily functions, taxes, for example. Another thing which rarely gets much press is poverty. I mean economic poverty. We live in a rather privileged society. Even the poorest Canadian lives better than the majority in many other countries. It’s rare,…
When I was about forty-two years of age, my Dad dropped over to my house one winter Saturday morning, looking rather troubled. “What’s up, Pop?” I asked. “We need to talk” was his answer. So, I put on a pot of coffee and we took our seats at the kitchen table, Dad looking like a…
Maybe it’s age, but as the years whiz by I find myself reflecting back over life, my fifty-plus years with Karen, my kids, my relationships with parents, friends, and even adversaries. Two wonderful careers, and now well into my third. The memories are more often than not happy and positive, but from time to time…
Most readers know about Meic, my Border Collie. Less known is Holly, Karen’s Shih-poo, a Shih-tzu and Poodle cross. (Yeah, I know, you’re expecting me to make some bad joke about crossing Bull Terriers with Shih-tzus, but I won’t.) Border Collies are generally considered to be the “smartest” of all dog breeds, and frankly, they…
As someone who lives within a kilometer of Highway Seven, I can write this with equanimity, with friends and fond memories on both sides of the line. And to those readers from “away”, let me explain that Highway Seven runs from Ottawa to Toronto, hugging the Canadian Shield mostly along the way, bifurcating Eastern Ontario…
They met at a servicemen’s dance in wartime Britain, the handsome young Canadian soldier and the petite girl in WAAF uniform, her massive dark curls hinting of her Welsh ancestry. For him, at least, it was love at first sight, and soon enough she too began dreaming of a life together after the War. In…
Most Ottawa Valley towns have a Carnegie library, and almost everyone knows they’re named after Andrew Carnegie, who endowed such libraries all across North America, and even beyond. But although Pembroke, Renfrew, Arnprior, Almonte and Carleton Place all had O’Brien theatres (only Renfrew remains, I believe), few are aware of the pioneer business magnate who…