(Spoiler alert: being a princess is not all it’s cracked up to be!) Nearly every little girl dreams of being a princess, and there are very few daddies who don’t play along. Living in a castle, wooed by dragon-slaying charming princes, eating what you want when you want, and having sleepovers with all the other…
It’s hard to read the news these days without finding at least one story in which Donald Trump or one of his pure-hearted freedom fighters isn’t claiming privilege in order to avoid testifying. One would think that rather than hiding behind a technicality, they would be racing to lay out their evidence of innocence, but…
This isn’t what you’re expecting. You know that I adore border collies, and you know that they are probably the brightest dogs in the world, and all that. I’ll admit to a bit of bias. But the truth is that once a border collie gets too excited, all bets are off. Any trainer understands that…
A great idea, right? The notion that every ballot in an election be electronically tagged in such a way that each voter can later follow up to ensure that their ballot was properly counted. How very democratic. How very reassuring. The good folks who brought you fake news, stolen elections, Italian spy satellites and Jewish…
You know what drives me wild? Legalese. And I’m a lawyer. Let me be clear– carefully used legal language is not only necessary, but in good hands can be an art form. But in the hands of legal hacks and wannabe lawyers, an awkward pidgin called legalese passes for communication when in fact all it…
You know the feeling: you have a critical delivery and you have to strut your stuff. It may be a long-wished-for and hard-earned sales presentation, your first time at the Court of Appeal, or your first big job for the city. But no matter what, you just can’t get it together, and the closer the…
Soon after we moved to our little corner of paradise on the Tay River, just outside Perth (Canada, not Scotland!), we set to work rehabilitating our woodlands. After decades of neglect, the former woods, orchards, and meadows had been overrun by invasive buckthorn, prickly ash, wild juniper, and wild grapevines. While each of these species…
My grandfather almost always voted Conservative, but many (perhaps most) of his values would not square with the modern right-wingers who pass themselves off as conservative. Above all else, conservatism and conservation mostly overlapped in my Grandad’s view. Personal and government thrift were important to him, but so was being frugal with nature, taking no…
Back home, there are two kinds of people. The locals, and those who come from away. The CFA’s, as they are called, are nice enough folks, it’s just that, well, they’re from away. Don’t get me wrong. There’s no place more courteous, more welcoming, more accommodating, or just plain lovely than Down East. The Broadway…
The black walnut tree is one of the loveliest hardwoods of our part of the world. Tall, majestic, their leaves a lush emerald green, they are true landmarks. And for the craftsman, nothing compares to the richly coloured, finely grained, pleasant-smelling wood. As you might guess, the black walnut tree produces black walnuts, with meat…