As Ian Sees It

  I knew about the snow.  Although I joke all the time about how often the Meteorologist is wrong and gets to keep a job,  he/she seldom misses on bad news.  So I got out and put my tombstones in the ground.  They are styrofoam tombstones that come with little two inch plastic holders you stick in the ground.  That doesn't work.    I don't know how others do it,  but I use gorilla tape and staples to attach a wooden stake to the back of each tombstone  and hammer it into the ground.    I got it done prior to the snow.  And although I have few decorations that are all starting to show their age,  I want some kind of decorations out.  Cause I really like Halloween....... A LOT!      Halloween in kiddom was like the second most wonderful day of the year.    Candy was indeed a huge part of it.  It remains very hard for me NOT to get into it.  We buy it as close to Halloween as possi...

       Last night something came to mind while watching T.V.   It was a Sunday night and Sunday nights we spend watching PBS.   Sunday nights are dedicated to English drama series that we really enjoy.   We were seated on our couch in the office when I asked Carol to move a little closer so I could put my arm around her.  " Just for a while. " I said.  "Just until you're uncomfortable."   And therein you have the difference between new love and old love.            In the days where you first meet someone who interests you and you have that opportunity to sit beside them and embrace,  you could pretty much be sitting on a thumb tack hours on end without ever risking moving away.   Eventually, and perhaps later than sooner you will be cognizant that what isn't comfortable for you likely is every bit as uncomfortable for the one you love.   That comfortability?  Well that may be what love i...

        Seasons on the calendar never reflect what we are living here in this corner of my home and native land.  If you have been with me for the last few years,  well you have heard it all before.  But weather shapes so much of our lives here.   As much as I love my country I have never been much for the six months of winter we have every year.    I am a fall guy.  I love the colours that are brought on by changing leaves and the lower sun.   Autumn is sweater weather.  It is corduroy and tweed and denim.  It is pumpkin spice latte and muffins.  And it is usually two weeks long before those dusty nasty winds steal the natural colours and bring on the snows.  This year we got a little extra.  I know what we used to call it,  but I am not sure that is appropriate anymore.  It is a little gift of extra summer that helps with the harvest and makes our thanksgiving celebrations happen outside. ...

     Living at what is arguably the premier resort in our province has provided us with a wonderful social life.  Social life...... truth be told,  we always had a pretty decent social life.   In spite of unending evening and night shifts and with one in every four weekends off,  we enjoyed many many great times with friends we met along the way.    We were looking to continue a social life when we came here in 2009.  We joined a golf club and I got into a Tuesday Morning Mens league.    It started there.  We have had a pretty solid group with whom we  have come to know and appreciate very much.  Golf, cocktails, movie nights, parties for all occasions.   As routine as our life of leisure can be,  there is always change.  These days, change comes in the form of health issues.  It concerns our children's adult problems,  and our grand children's triumphs and tribulations.  But change ...

            I don't need to go on about how much I enjoy this very quick time of year.   It is simply beautiful.  We just got back from a trip through the Rocky mountains to Vancouver where we witnessed our niece marry into a family that looks every bit as wonderful as the one she brings to the table.  We stayed in Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver in a very nice hotel on the waterfront and enjoyed the west coast life style to the fullest.  While Vancouver has its problems,  it remains a fascinating city.  Where the mountains meet the sea.    We took a different route home through the Crow's Nest pass and stopped at a couple of my favourite vineyards,  visited some fruit stands, and enjoyed a most beautiful route through the numerous mountain ranges of southern British Columbia.         We spend an awful lot of time concentrating on economic woes, political and religious differences, crime...

      I've always found this time of year a contradiction.   The end of August being the end of summer vacation when I was a kid meant the beginning of another dreaded school year.  Now I loved all the new blank scribblers and new pens and the new outfit Mom bought me.  So much promise in the coming year.  A faint hope that the tools for school would be used properly.  That they would be filled with the words, fractions, formulas, and theories worthy of my new clothes.   Feelings that barely lasted the day.     And it was September.  My birthday month.  Warm colourful days.  Cool evenings where darkness came early.  Playing in the darkness was rare in my home and native land as summer months saw the sun set long after bed time.   In the winter,   well it was winter.   Lots to love about this time of year.   And its shortness contributed to the urgency of our enjoyment.   An urgency t...

It is hard to sit here in the dark corner of my basement when the sun is shining and the air is warm.  I just felt the need to stay in touch.   It has been a pretty incredible summer here at the lake.  We have had some smokey days,  but we missed the wild fires.   It has not been a wet summer but we have not suffered from drought like so much of our Province has.  In fact, the crops here look absolutely fantastic.   We have been lucky so far.   Huge hail storms have been all around us.  When it does rain, it is usually at night.  We have missed perhaps a single day of golf due to weather.  And that says a lot,  cause we golf what seems like all the time. Our family dynamic has changed again with the addition of two new grand children.   Our daughter and her husband have taken on two foster children aged four and two.  Once again our house adorns baby gates,  scattered toys,  tiny finger prints, and sticky ed...