Category: Personal Reminiscences

Musings on Housework

Blog & Blogging / Daily life / Musings / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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Susan lugged the laundry hampers down to the lavandería we often used in Zihuatanejo when we vacationed there; a small shop on the sidestreet where laundresses would weigh the hampers, quote a price, and a time to come back to collect the cleaned clothes. The relentless Mexican sun made the streets and sidewalks an oven as she walked back to the house where we stayed. She wondered if it was too early to open a cold beer. Meanwhile, I walked through the tall grasses on the plain, bending under an equally fierce sun a continent away, pushing my staff ahead ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on Art and Taste

Arts / Collingwood / Culture / Daily life / Philosophy / Pop CultureOne Comment

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Many years ago, I had a lengthy correspondence with a friend in another part of Canada about what constitutes art. His basic argument was that art was not neutral or generic, but was the final product of high achievement: real art was “good” art. That is, art was defined by recognized masters and their works. Mona Lisa was art, Picasso was art, Monet was art — solely because they hung in galleries. It took cultural recognition or at least acceptance to make the change from simply a “work” to being art, according to my friend. You could, according to his ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on Cats and Philosophers

Books & Reviews / Cancer / PhilosophyLeave a comment

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British philosopher John Gray thinks cats can “often teach us much more about living the good life than philosophy ever could.” As a lifetime cat owner, I can vouch for cats serving as metaphors for all sorts of things, but not usually as philosophers outside some children’s books. That statement intrigued me because my prior association with cats and philosophers had been mostly limited to Michel de Montaigne‘s musing about animal consciousness and the thought experiment of Schrödinger’s cat. Gray was interviewed on the CBC, recently about his new book Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life,  in which ……… click below for more ↓

The Cancer Diaries, Part 28

Cancer / Daily life / Personal ReminiscencesOne Comment

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This month marks a year since my biopsy that indicated I had an aggressive form of prostate cancer. It’s been quite a year for me, easily the most stressful and challenging of my life. The challenges of dealing with cancer were compounded by the pandemic that spawned lockdowns and restrictive access protocols that soon became a regular part of my and everyone else’s life. This anniversary is not a celebration, simply a recognition, although Susan and I have raised a glass to my having survived. There are many more people who have not survived their cancer. I am one of ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on Downsizing Shakespeare

Books & Reviews / Daily life / Musings / Personal Reminiscences / Shakespeare2 Comments

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While downsizing my library earlier this spring (25-30 boxes of books already removed from the shelves and some titles still left to cull), I had to think about what books to keep. This was tough for me, what with my passion for books and reading, parting with any book, especially one I’ve had for decades, can be like losing a child or a pet.  But I persevered with my purge (with Susan making sure I did…). I looked at every shelf to first decide which titles no longer served a need (used previously for my work, but now I’ve retired ……… click below for more ↓

When Did I Become My Parents?

Humour & Satire / My Writing / PoetryLeave a comment

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When Did I Become My Parents? When did I stop listening to new music, and change the dial to something familiar: oldies, classic rock; comfortable tunes? When did I stop driving a standard, shifting gears with practiced precision, and buy an automatic, with power windows, and heated seats? When did I stop riding a motorcycle? When did I stop remembering what’s on the grocery list?

PS: I’m Making Theme Changes

Blog & Blogging3 Comments

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I may be updating this site and changing themes sometime soon. I’ve been exploring alternative looks for this blog and, although I have not decided on a particular one yet, am interested in switching to a layout that has some features this one lacks. If you see changes to the look and layout, it’s because I’m experimenting. It may abruptly change to look radically different, too. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Plus the host service I use plans to migrate content to a new server, but has not identified a date for that. I expect it ……… click below for more ↓

The Cancer Diaries, Part 27

Cancer / Daily life / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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I didn’t really expect the hormones to be so disruptive of my daily activities, but there are times when the “hot flashes” interrupt everything. They tire me out, sometimes making even simple tasks a chore, making my breathing more difficult. And, of course, they wake me at random times during the night, during which I throw off the bedcovers as I toss and turn until I cool down again. And along with the covers any cat or dog who was sleeping against me. Then I flap about to pull them back up when the heat has passed and I cool ……… click below for more ↓

The COVID-19 Vaccination Screw Up

Daily life / Personal Reminiscences / Social Order & Disorder5 Comments

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For a long time during this pandemic, Susan and I were in the “not eligible” age bracket for the COVID-19 vaccination (65-79 years old) here in Ontario. Why our age group was left out I have never been able to uncover. Maybe some politicians felt we were more expendable than other groups. But late last week, the provincial government finally announced it had expanded eligibility to our group. Whoopee! So we immediately went online to book a slot. The Ontario government site, however, directed us to book through the local Simcoe-Muskoka health unit (SMHU). So we went to its website ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on Poets and Poetry

Books & Reviews / Books about books / Musings / Poetry / Poetry & Lyrics / Shakespeare / ShakespeareOne Comment

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For me, reading the American literary critic, Harold Bloom, is often like wading in molasses. Intellectual molasses, to be sure, but slow going nonetheless. His writing is thick with difficult ideas and difficult words. Bloom’s historical reach, his knowledge and his understanding of the tapestry of literature far outstrip mine, so I find myself scuttling to the Net or other books on my shelf for collateral references, for critical commentary, and often to the dictionary. Bloom’s commentaries and essays are a challenge to me because his terms of reference are so much greater than my own. Hence my appreciation of ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on Computer Gaming, Storytelling, and Seniors

Computers & Programming / Daily life / Games & Gaming / Personal Reminiscences3 Comments

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Every day, for an hour or two, I kill demons. Or I build houses and shopping malls. Sometimes I command armies in battle. Or fly an airplane into a foreign airport. I might manage a hospital, build a settlement on Mars, lead a band of survivors after a nuclear holocaust, hunt Nazis as a sniper in WWII, drive a tank onto the sands at Omaha Beach, move Roman legions around the Mediterranean, build an empire, sail with a fleet of starships into the vastness of space, trade for equipment with aliens on a far distant planet, craft my own Jurassic ……… click below for more ↓

Lichens of South Georgian Bay

Botany & Paleobotany / Collingwood / Environment / Personal Reminiscences / Science & Technology / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”19″ display=”basic_thumbnail” thumbnail_crop=”0″] In recent months, I have developed an interest in lichens: wondering what species live in our area, how and where they grow, which plants are their competitors or companions, why they grow where they do, what they live on for nutrition, how they reproduce and spread, what lives on them, and their microbiology. Small, innocuous plants you may mistake for a discoloration on rock or even a disease on a tree, they are nonetheless very common throughout our local environment. In fact, lichen have been found on every continent, including Antarctica, which has earned some ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on My Father

Cancer / Family history / Musings / Personal ReminiscencesLeave a comment

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That rather handsome, 17-year-old young man to the left was Watts William Chadwick. My father, although he wouldn’t become that for many more years. So serious, so formal looking. A lot more so than I was at his age (I can’t say for sure that I even owned a tie or sports jacket at 17!).  I was remembering my father of late as I go through my belongings for downsizing. I’ve been putting aside to keep anything that might continue to connect me to my family. There’s not a lot of it. And I was also thinking about the recent ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on Downsizing, No. 2

Books & Reviews / Daily life / Personal Reminiscences / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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In the film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, there’s a memorable, somewhat spooky scene towards the end where astronaut Dave is pulling the chips from the memory banks of HAL, the ship’s AI computer. HAL begs Dave to stop while his memories recede: Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave? Stop, Dave. I’m afraid. I’m afraid, Dave…Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I’m a… fraid… I felt a bit like HAL while I ……… click below for more ↓

Musings on Downsizing, No. 1

Books & Reviews / Daily life / Musings / My Writing / Personal ReminiscencesOne Comment

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Downsizing seems to be all the rage among people our age. It’s so popular, it might be classified as a sport or a game for seniors. Assuming someone could codify the rules, that is. I’ve been told it’s all over the TV, too, but since we haven’t had cable for a decade or more, I am only going on hearsay for that. But the topic shows up now and then on the front cover of grocery-store checkout magazines, (along with headlines about glitterati of whom I’ve never heard), so perhaps it is a popular activity outside our age group, too. ……… click below for more ↓

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