The Right Tool

| June 4, 2023

The current news abounds with dramatic images of intrepid firefighters on the ground and water bombers in the air, attacking forest fires around the world. Here in Nova Scotia, the drama is centered near the capital city of Halifax, and near the southwestern town of Shelburne. With the weather having turned cool and wet in […]

Timely Advice is Never Too Late

| June 4, 2023

I once wrote … “When a person achieves what passes for success today, it is said that they have “arrived”, as though their journey has ended, and their status is to be admired. The yardstick that measures such success is made of treasure and property, and the power they represent is the power to consume, […]

The Sixth Year of Maksim

| May 23, 2023

Six years ago today, Maksim Cezary Whynacht presented all 8 pounds and 1 ounce of himself fit for duty as third in line to the Chieftainship of Clan LFM. Time does not permit utterance of the creative outburst such an occasion inspires but until that gets unleashed upon the world, today’s pictorial essay will have […]

In Recognition of Most Excellent Service!

| May 14, 2023

If you have learned anything about us by now, it should be obvious that Mrs. LFM and I are very Old School. Notwithstanding what Tools and technologies we may choose to enable us in a task, First Principles will be the guiding influence in their application. Another guiding principle seeing heavy use around this Household […]

On Hunting

| March 18, 2023

“Everything in Nature encapsulates as part of its being certain dictates that are beyond its control. These exist first and foremost to facilitate the perpetuation of its kind in keeping with all that is desirable in progressive mutation — the kind that makes something better at what it does, and at sticking around a while […]

A Long Winter’s Night — 2022 Edition, Day 2

| December 22, 2022

Winter, in latitudes where sub-freezing temperatures can occur, brings with it harsh realities that only frantic and organized preparation in the months prior can meet with any hope of success, leading to the passing down of parables such as the story of the ant and the grasshopper, and the legend of the Wendigo. This is […]

Dark Sentiments Season 13 — Day 25: Life and Death

| October 25, 2022

“I attended elementary school at Lunenburg Academy, a massive, brooding, castlesque pile completed in 1895 on a windswept hilltop in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The school grounds are bordered on two sides by the Hillcrest Cemetery, and my walk to and from school passed first in front of the local funeral home before following another two […]

Dark Sentiments Season 13 — Day 23: Who’s Hungry?

| October 23, 2022

Cultures the world over have funeral customs involving food. Food for the dearly departed to take on his or her journey into “the afterlife’, and of course food for those left behind. Relevant recipes abound and some funeral services will even provide suggestions for the menu. In these parts, and setting aside the still uncommon […]

Dark Sentiments Season 13 — Day 22: Der lästige Kavalier

| October 22, 2022

It was long enough ago that I can’t remember when I started referring  to them as “Fruit Flies”, but it’s become part of the LFM family lexicon. They’re males, generally older but on those occasions when not, youth is mixed with social ineptitude yet no lesser amount of self-entitlement, and I commonly find them buzzing […]

Dark Sentiments Season 13 — Day 21: Of Thorns and Roses

| October 21, 2022

“The thorn defends the rose, yet it is peaceful and does not seek conflict.” As you will surely know Goode Reader, I make little attempt to keep my appreciation for cold steel and those who deftly wield it any kind of a secret around here. Tonight, please join me in revisiting a representative rhyme from […]