Randy | December 30, 2011
Mahone Bay is a tiny and picturesque town on the south shore of Nova Scotia with a population that has been steadily shrinking for decades, mostly due to natural causes. On the thirty-first day of January 2001, a landmark business in that town, Bills Department Store, closed for good, but not before it had borne […]
Randy | December 29, 2011
As promised yesterday, here we are for a romp on the dark side. What else is new? Northern Europe is home to a rich cornucopia of mythology centered around the doings of entities, deities, and personalities that practice their own rituals at this time of the rolling year. Born of harsher times, these are naturally […]
Randy | December 28, 2011
Every time I embark on a series of articles that connect with a theme, for example Dark Sentiments that runs the entire 31 days of October each year, and now A Long Winter’s Night which will likewise be an annual event running from 21-31 December, my fevered brain generates content that far o’erflows the allotted […]
Randy | December 26, 2011
Last evening Mrs. LFM and I did something that’s an annual tradition for some people, but we’ve never done before – I took her to the Christmas Day opening of a movie. Specifically, we viewed the 2011 incarnation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Clicking on the embedded link will take you to the […]
Randy | December 25, 2011
Whether you be celebrating or just suffering through it, here we are on Christmas Day! Most of you probably are at a point where reading one of my usual diatribes will be impossible because you’ll be scanning the same line repeatedly, so I’m going to spare you in favour of a brief introduction to some […]
Randy | December 23, 2011
If you’ve ever met anyone who watched even one episode of Seinfeld, you’ve heard of Festivus, AKA “A festivus for the rest of us”. If you’ve dug a little further, you’ll also know that today is the day. The origins of Festivus are not lost in antiquity. They lie in the writings and family practices […]
Randy | December 21, 2011
If there is one thing to be learned from history, it’s that from a practical standpoint, people don’t learn anything from history. The winter solstice – the interval of time that surrounds the shortest day, and likewise the longest night of the annual cycle, has held deep spiritual meaning for human societies as long as […]
Randy | December 6, 2011
About 15 years ago, long before I ever heard of Game of Thrones and the Stark family motto, I was working late into the night alongside a leathercrafter of great skill who was kindly assisting me with a project that exceeded my own abilities and equipment to complete single handed. As we worked, our conversation […]
Randy | November 27, 2011
“In considering how much you should care about the reaction of another to your own behaviour, it is always best to assume that they are armed, lethally skilled, and prepared to kill you at the slightest provocation. If the desired outcome of your course of action outweighs that risk, then you must proceed without delay; […]
Randy | October 30, 2011
The inspiration of this poem came from a story I was once told by the Woman it happened to. Her name is not Stella. Stella By LFM Stella was an ugly girl, At least that’s how she felt. Her mirror’s cruelty exposed The cards that she’d been dealt. Her parents were so beautiful It made […]