As Ian Sees It

Sometimes it is just fun to belong to something.  A group, a club, a fan base.   That isn't even really a "sometimes" thing.   I am pretty much a rural kind of guy.  I as born the son of a farmer turned oil man.  I grew up in a small town.   And no offence to those I shared that experience,  but I couldn't wait to get out of there.    So I joined our national police force and said goodbye to our little town of four thousand.   Six months later I was posted to Pelly Saskatchewan,  population 300.  It wasn't until 1989 that I lived somewhere larger than my home town.  Karma? Not being a city kid sure didn't make me a farm boy.  I was a townie.  Townies, some would consider the living breathing proof that there is indeed a purgatory.   "And where is this going?" you ask.  Well why don't we get to that.......  All those years in those smaller places you discover that in order to have the things that th...

    On June 6th 1944 my dad made his first trip to France.  It wasn't very welcoming.   I have told his story before.  My dad came home from the war in better shape than many.  He was wounded on D Day which may have actually saved his life.  Those who landed on Juno beach with him that morning were eventually captured and murdered.  He was a good man all his life.  Honest, hard working, sincere but with a razor sharp sense of humour.   D Day and the war shaped his life, and had a lasting effect on all of us.   Which had an effect on the communities in which we lived.   There were lots of vets of World War II around when I was a kid.  Some of them were like my dad.  Some of them were unable to unsee and unfeel the horrors to which they were exposed.   So when on June 6th. our Premier tweets out a salute to the veterans of D Day "Which marked the beginning of World War II"  I am so offended.     ...

 I don't think I have ever denied that I have been every bit as lucky as I have been deserving in my life.   That is simply a fact.  I have eluded to my good fortune and privilege many times to you my online therapists so there is little need to detail just how good my life has been.   I live in a corner of my home and native land where we work and play and plan and dream  over top of a huge glut of oil.   Oil that has produced fuel and plastics and numerous products on which our global society relies upon heavily.   And although many locals believe differently of me,  I am very proud of the contributions our Province and my family and friends have made to modern improvements of the globe.   These people,  my people work hard.......and I am talking very hard to provide the globe with the substance that has changed the world for the better in so many ways.   My dad came out to Alberta in 1953, shortly after I was born to work for a w...

 Here it is,  the middle of April,  and our taxes are done.  Seems late, doesn't it?  It may have crossed the mind of some of you that we must really not need the refund if we waited that long.   While we could have used the refund in February and every day since,  we were out of country for a couple of months.  So there's that.  And for the first time in my adult life,  we owe the tax man what amounts to a tidy sum.  Tidy enough to strike the whine bone.   Yup.  Here I am,  a golden aged old dude on a fixed income having to pay the man.   So, here's the surprise.  I was taking my daughter to the airport in Calgary when I got the text from our family accountant who I often refer to by name:  Carol.   She needed to share her denial, frustration, anger, grief and acceptance and couldn't wait till I got home.   That was likely because she hadn't got to the acceptance thing yet.   So there I ...

      Know what?  It feels like forever that I got a chance to sit down and do this:  Consult with you, my online therapists.  Sometimes life gets in the way.   And lately?  Well we've been away.  Only six short days ago we arrived home from California.   We spent two months just outside San Diego in a beautiful rural setting.    A place where the Canadian Snow Bird reigns supreme.  Now it did happen to be what locals called the coldest wettest winter in modern California history,  but I am not at all sure Californians should even be allowed to use the word "winter".         We have escaped the Western Canadian winters numerous times.  It started the year I retired with a two ween trip to Hawaii.  I remember February 1st 2009 walking on the beach in Honolulu in bare feet and a tee.  I giggled all day.   We've done Hawaii four times since then.  Florida two times.  Port...

We are closing in on the last half of January.  I don't do the New Years resolution thing any more cause frankly,  new years resolutions just made me feel like there was one (or several) more things on which I missed the mark.  And that feeling would always sink in right about this time of year.  The third Monday in January is indeed a significant day:  On that day every year regular Gym goers get the use of their equipment back from the thousands of people who have spent on millions of dollars on annual gym memberships that were used about four to six times.  Since I gave up the resolution thing, I have been a far more glass is half full type a guy.  Well except to when it comes to beer.  Come to beer the glass is full or it isn't.  And apparently that is okay.  I mean a fondness for beer certainly won't stop you from...Oh I don't know.......say......getting appointed to the U.S.S.C.   (The odd cheap shot still sneaks out).   ...

  Well it's been awhile.  And perhaps we could all share a laugh at my expense.  I lost my old blog.  However a very good friend who is your neighbourhood retired I.T. guy helped me research a new place, with a new name so I could continue my online therapy.  That was three weeks ago.   And in those three weeks I have sat here in front of my computer only to discover the one thing my Mac and I have in common........ Blank screen and a blank mind.      I have never felt so blocked.    My I. T. guy is away at the moment.  We will be seeing him soon and there are a host of things he can assist in making this whole thing a little more normal.   For instance,  When I was going through the whole composition menu, I typed the title first.  Nothing wrong with that,  but then I noticed under the title line was a "Bold" button.  So I thought "what the heck" and clicked on Bold.  For the life of me I a can't ...