Today, I listened to a speaker talk about the need to connect with your uninhibited, playful inner child in order to access your creativity and confidence. She spoke of childlike curiosity—I don’t think she was referring to the way kids explore the insides of their noses–and opined on the ease with which the very young mix with their peers.[1] No… Read more »
Decaffeinated Bless me, Tim Hortons, for I have sinned. It has been eleven days since my last coffee. What has been the cause of this, my guest? I have been sick, TH. But surely a loved one could have helped you partake of the holey sacrament—coffee and a doughnut ring? My wife did offer on numerous occasions, but… I declined…. Read more »
Man Flu is a joke. Or at least, that’s what it started out as—a humorous dig at “wimpy” men, by women who believe the male of the species doth protest too much when it comes to minor ailments. Some of those women might even go on to say that nothing compares with childbirth for pain and suffering, which is why… Read more »
Do you get a song stuck in your head and just can’t shift it? Of course you do! If you listen to music and have at least one musical bone in your body, you can’t fail to. And if you’re musically-inclined, you likely suffer more than average. The phenomenon is known as “earworm”. I should reassure those of you who… Read more »
Please indulge me. I wrote this piece on the fortieth anniversary of my mum’s death, and yes, I still miss her. It’s coincided with me trying to cull the “sentimental crap” that Mrs. H. and I have held onto over the years, and the coincidence screamed out for a column on the topic. It’s the cull that’s the focus of… Read more »
Here in North America, this weekend was “fall back” time for the clocks. Everyone does the dance of joy because there’s an opportunity for an extra hour’s sleep… and then stays up extra late because they can sleep in. But what should we do with that hour that we’re borrowing from spring? Sleep? Work? Relax? Do we even really have… Read more »
I don’t know if squirrels abound where you live, but I can tell you that they abound here. Seems they’ve done a lot of “abounding” this year—the fruit of their loins has been particularly bountiful. More seeds and nuts around than normal, perhaps? And the curious thing is that they all seem to have chicken fixations. It’s not that they… Read more »
Mrs. H. and I recently returned from our longest vacation in thirty-plus years. It was a road trip to the Ottawa area and back, with a ten-day houseboat trip on the Rideau Waterway system in the middle. (Let’s face it, it’d be pointless driving there and back and then doing the houseboat trip, wouldn’t it!) Eight thousand kilometres of driving… Read more »
I hang my head in shame! One of the cardinal rules of blogging and generating an audience is that you blog regularly, and if there is to be a break, you let your audience know ahead of time. Bad Kelvin! Bad, bad Kelvin! But let me tell you why the break, and then you can decide if it’s excusable or… Read more »
Three weeks ago I wrote about Mrs. H.’s descent into silence, a state prescribed by an ENT specialist as penance for having developed small nodules on her vocal cord. Except for a few lapses (usually when she’s awoken from her slumbers, and which utterances are invariably followed by a “s#!t” as she realizes she broke her silence), Mrs. H. has… Read more »