This is the time of year for remembrances. For the past few weeks, I've been reading and hearing about soldiers - distant and recent past, as well as present - and reminded of their honour, duty and sacrifice, and the freedoms I have because of them. This year of course has been all the more... Continue Reading →
Item #5 – Denali Mug
Mugs are familiar keepsakes from tourist locations and travels everywhere. I have a few, but this one is my most precious and the oldest. As shown, it comes from Denali National Park, the centre point of my 6-week road trip in 1993 from Vancouver, through Yukon and around Alaska, and back through Alberta to home.... Continue Reading →
Item #4: Highlighter
Alternate title: the purloined pen. I've had this highlighter since 1991. I keep it now for sentimental reasons, but also out of astonishment - it still works. The highlighter comes from the lab where I worked. Back in those days, highlighters were a standard tool for project chemists, reviewing data outputs and identifying key results... Continue Reading →
Item #3: Jumping Dog
You've probably seen one of these before: a plush, mechanical dog that walks a few steps, slowly sits down and then - WOOSH - does a backflip, lands on it's feet and starts again (occasionally, it lands on its side or head, and then just flails its legs about until you rescue it). In earlier... Continue Reading →
Item #2. Stork figurine
It was the summer of 1979. We had moved to Souris, PEI, at the beginning of July, and all of us kids were getting used to small town living. Pop worked at MacDonald Pharmacy in town - one of those stores that was much more than a drug store. In hindsight, it reminded me of... Continue Reading →
Item #1. Gumby
Since Gumby was neither man nor beast, doll nor figurine, this thing of mine is just simply Gumby - both who and what it is. Gumby is on my desk, or more accurately on my lamp. In my peripheral vision whenever I'm at my desk, its omnipresence is both strange and comforting. Strange because, well,... Continue Reading →
More than a few of my favourite things
Inspired by a friend's post and chat about things with meaning, I've been thinking about our need for things. Beyond the modern-day needs for owning stuff and consuming conspicuously, there is a need for people to have specific things that have meaning beyond their utility. Like icons or totems, these things become imbued with special... Continue Reading →
Tea for one, two or more
I've been a tea drinker since my earliest years (back in the days when moms didn't pay as much attention to the caffeine intake of their children). The early tea comrade in my life was my Aunt Jan. I remember when she used to visit and my mom would make a pot of tea in... Continue Reading →
Someone took my Kodachrome away
These ancient relics discovered in a box of (equally ancient) light bulbs, reminded me of my epiphany about the loss of the printed photo. It happened in 2011, when a good friend was leaving to live overseas for a year or two. I was inspired by a photo that came up on my digital picture... Continue Reading →
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