Musings on a Birthday, Life, and the Squeezing of Balloons

| September 3, 2018

Goode Reader, I flatter myself in the expectation that my absence here of late may have been noted with some modicum of longing for my return, and should you find yourself in the throes of such paroxysms I cry, fear not! This time of year calls upon my personal, creative, and professional energies on a […]

Masculinity is a Guided Hunt

| July 28, 2018

When last we spoke, it was on the subject of Masculinity and Rites of Passage through the personal experience of soloing an airplane. In case the point eluded some of you, the instrument of transformation — the airplane — didn’t actually need to be what it was. It didn’t hurt in teaching a young Man […]

Masculinity and Rites of Passage

| July 21, 2018

One fulsome morning in the late autumn of my 16th year, I was a student pilot at the controls of a Piper PA-28 “Cherokee” in the afterglow of the rollout from what had to be the best landing I’d ever accomplished. That took an epiphanous turn when I heard my Flight Instructor telling me to […]

Looks Like I Picked a Hell of a Day to Take Up Smoking

| July 8, 2018

Title notwithstanding, today we started testing the Little Chief smoker by Smokehouse Products of Hood River, Oregon. For this first trial run, we’re doing a short flavour smoke on marinated pork chops and beef patties. Taste testing reports and a product review in a week or two as comprehensive testing proceeds.

Canada Day 2018

| July 1, 2018

You can keep your bit coin mining. It’s a well known fact that nickel mining is an important component of the Canadian economy. Less well known is that the one in Sudbury, Ontario, is the biggest we’ve ever found. This is Canada Day up here in the Great White North, on which all and sundry […]

Your Head is Covered in Moss Again

| June 23, 2018

In the Universal scheme of things, your life will have the duration and meaning of a gnat’s fart, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy the view as long as it lasts. Take a moment to share it from the vantage of Hew and Kew. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum Gentlerocks.

Risk: Nothing of Value Happens Without It

| May 27, 2018

“In 1866, a book was published titled Readings for Young Men, Merchants, and Men of Business. Fortunately for the world, this tome has been unearthed and scanned by Google bringing it back just in time to prove my point. “This is a world of excuses where everybody needs to have one foot over the safety […]

Death and the Child

| May 20, 2018

    “A dragon lives forever but not so little boys. Painted wings and giant’s rings make way for other toys. One grey night it happened, Jackie Paper came no more, And Puff that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar. “His head was bent in sorrow, green scales fell like rain. Puff no longer […]

The French Will Eat It

| April 22, 2018

The production of cheese predates recorded history. It originated through the transportation of milk in bladders made of ruminants’ stomachs due to their inherent supply of rennet. There is no conclusive evidence indicating where cheese-making originated. However, it may have originated either in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, or the Sahara. Cheese-making was known […]

Sometimes That Is Your Circus, and Those Are Your Monkeys

| April 15, 2018

I first met Katherine (Kat) Finck back before the turn of the century in my capacity as an épée coach with the South Shore Duellists Fencing Club where I had the great pleasure both of fencing her, and contributing in my own small way to cultivation of her innate killer instincts. Of all the firsts […]