Have you ever looked at a simple little gizmo and thought, that can’t possibly work? That’s how I felt about my motion sickness wristbands until a pal told me they kept her stomach from trying to leave her body when she flew. Now I don’t go anywhere without them. Â …
No More Queasy Rides Read More »
It seemed that the Emerald City hop-on-hop-off trolley tour of Seattle wasn’t running yet last week, so Erin and I set about finding alternatives. At check-in, our hotel receptionist told Erin that the Smith Building was a better deal than the Space Needle for an overhead view of the entire city. A little Googling turned up Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour, so first, we went under the sidewalks to see the original Seattle. …
From the Bottom to the Top Read More »
Seattle, Washington. Home of the Seahawks and the Mariners, the grunge music scene of the 1990s, fresh seafood that will make you moan and a long, pretty shoreline. It’s not surprising that they have tourism down to an art form. You can fly in, as we did from Victoria, via Alaska Air. You can take a ferry, as we did back to Victoria. They have light rail from the airport into downtown and bus rapid transit in the core. Uber and Lyft both operate legally alongside traditional cabs. Seattle gets it. Visitors want choices. …
Steepness in Seattle Read More »
Where to begin? At the beginning, I suppose. At my wonderful friends’ new home in Victoria, BC, with a panoramic view of the harbour and mountains, in the corner of our country that doesn’t experience weather extremes.
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Glorious Victoria Read More »
A week away was planned some time ago and here it is. …
Leaving on a Jet Plane Read More »
Whenever I thought about having a child, a rare occurrence, I always imagined I’d have a son. His name would be Brandon and he would play sports if he wanted to or be a geek if he wanted to or be gay or straight or blond or have dark, curly hair. None of that stuff mattered. I could imagine the unconditional love one offers to a child. …
Throwback Thursday – The Child I Never Had Read More »
I used to own sleeplessness as a part of my personal profile. Because I get up so early, retire so early and nap in between, I felt my complicated relationship with sleep was special. We’re on-again, off-again. Sometimes sleep turns into a total bitch and won’t even text me back. Sleep crank-calls me in the middle of the night and just breathes and stands me up on a regular basis. …
I love motivational quotes. When someone captures the essence of a feeling or a moment in a short phrase or sentence, it’s not only energizing, it’s made for Twitter’s 140-character limit. I believe I even coined one myself one day but I didn’t write it down. I remember the feeling, though, of nailing it, whatever it was. Maybe the feeling is enough. …
Motivation in Context Read More »
Last week sucked. It wasn’t 100%-sucking-every-moment suck, but it sucked overall. The death of my Dad was off the charts of the Suck Scale, of course, and it doesn’t get any suckier than that. Then on Friday, I got into an accident at Horton St. and Wharncliffe Rd. in London. My pretty little red Kia took the brunt of the suckiness, although the other guy’s vehicle didn’t fare much better. …
Sucky Suckerson of Suckville Read More »
I hope you’ll indulge me as I share some of the funnier moments my Dad created in his life. There’s no visitation, service or ceremony for him. That’s how he wanted – actually insisted – it should be. I might not feel like writing here for the rest of the week, but I feel like it now, so here I am. …
Crying With Laughter Read More »
Too soon and yet after too much suffering, my father has died as the result of complications from Parkinson’s. It’s a horrible disease. An eventual life sentence of deteriorating motor skills, loss of independence and dementia. He was 82, but in the past year, he aged to look ten years older. He was my Daddy and no matter what illness did to him, he somehow kept a glimmer of his sense of humour, a testament to his strength.
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John Ernest Hubbs – 1935-2017 Read More »
There were a few years when we were kids that people mistook my baby brother and me for twins. I wasn’t growing at all and he was growing fast. We’re sixteen months apart but we looked alike. …
Throwback Thursday – My Brother, My Twin Read More »
We’re lucky that my Dad is mostly in a good mood while Parkinson’s eats away at his mobility and dementia claims more of his time. As I’ve posted previously, we just go along with whatever reality he’s in. It’s as if he’s literally seeing things that we can’t see, which I suppose he is. He was recently in hospital for eighteen days and we thought we’d lost him. Now he’s back in his long-term care home and re-adjusting pretty well. But he fixates on things for a day or two at a time and on the weekend, he was seeing – or wanting to see – grapes.Â
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A couple of weeks ago I put out a request on social media for coffee mug recommendations. Not ordinary mugs though, travel mugs, or something that would keep my coffee hot. I have a cheap, ordinary mug at work and my coffee turns ice cold within minutes, or so it seems. I take coffee pretty seriously and hosting a live talk show means I don’t have time to run around and heat it up again. I googled for solutions but I wanted real-life experiences with specific mugs. …
In our house, I’m the technology expert. Once we walk out the door, I’m basically a dummy in this area.Â
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A Pirate’s Life is Not for Me Read More »
Lately I’ve been making fairly regular trips back to my hometown. Well, I have three hometowns, and I’m traveling past or to at least one of them on these road trips. I drink coffee. I always take along a bottle of water. When nature calls, I’m caught in that all-too-familiar state of wondering how to answer. A stroke of genius hit me on Sunday. Â …
My niece is looking for a prom dress. This dress is the most important article of clothing in the world. It must be perfect. It must not only flatter but enhance and beyond that, it must meet with the approval of the Wardrobe Committee – her girlfriends who have individual veto power over each contender. They’re not shopping with her. They’re receiving selfies, one at a time, as she shops with her parents who are nearing their wits’ ends. One gown almost made the cut until one of the Committee members responded to it with a text that read, “Ewwwww!” Â Â …
Throwback Thursday – Prom and Circumstance Read More »
Our family is going through a personal, painful reality that so many have experienced: a beloved family member has dementia. My Dad now lives in two realities. The one we share, and one all his own.
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