As Ian Sees It

 We got past Grey Cup and American Thanksgiving.  And far be it from me to pass over a chance to bring up that the Saskatchewan Roughriders are the Grey Cup Champions...... but I digress..... Tomorrow is December first.  There are no more hurdles or barriers between my favourite time of the year and me.   We are small town folk.  I grew up in Drayton Valley, Alberta. Population 4000 for almost the whole  time I was a resident.  My first posting was Pelly, Saskatchewan population 300.  There isn't even a detachment there anymore.  My better half was a city girl until we tied the knot.  Since then the largest place we lived was about 20,000.   When you're a kid in a small town, there is nothing better,  and I do mean nothing better than the big city department store toy department at Christmas.  The Bay, Simpson's Sears, Eatons.  All were huge four story department stores in downtown Edmonton.  The decorations were...

 Well it's been a while.  Almost half a year and for that I am truly sorry.  Truth is my blog seemed to go the way of the Bay.   There is a bevy of reasons that I haven't been keeping up on the blog front.  Well, excuses really.   But instead of giving a long long list, why don't I just try to do the honest thing and tell the truth.   When I started writing a blog, I basically did it pour moi.  I just liked to sit down and rant a little about the things in the world I loved, and didn't love so much.  To recognize some of the people in my life who have done great things large and small, famous and ignored.  To vent a little about the loneliness of being a liberal thinker in a solidly conservative environment.   It was therapy.   I discovered I loved writing and it gave me a safe place to do it.   What happened way back when was I somehow developed a following.   People actually read my stuff and I shamelessly began to ...