As Ian Sees It

      I was in my mid 40's when we entered the millennial.  It was the difficult time that wasn't.   Mostly because of the promise of failing technology.  I didn't go back and do a lot of research here so I will go from memory.     Although computers were not yet in every pocket,  they pretty much owned us.  And when IBM and Texas Instruments and the gang manufactured the computer that regulated everything in our power grids and stored all our data on just about everything,  they installed the date with a 19__.         A couple of years before the Apple dropped in Times Square to bring in the year 2000,  those who should know suggested that when the AI that controlled everything would have no where to go when it reached the end of 1999,  it simply shut down.       I was employed with the national police force back then.  I had a friend who worked in Head Quarters at the tim...

 Nineteen Days!  Just 19 sleeps!  I do love Christmas.  I think my better half loves it at least as much.  In truth Christmas for her is a little more labour intensive than it is for me.   I do the exterior lighting, and I decorate the basement.  I bake two pans of brownies ( I use a mix and substitute water with Kahula or  Irish Cream.)    Carol Does the serious decoration on the main floor.  She does the rest of the shopping, the rest of the baking, the prep for our annual Christmas Party,  The tourtieres for both the party and Christmas Eve.  She does the turkey dinner Christmas day for a full house.  She does the special recipe egg nog.   And I don't think she would have it any other way.   I can remember Christmases a long long way back.   As a kid I loved toy soldiers.  Every  year I got a fort set.  A fort set was what I wanted every year.  I got the Alamo, Fort Apache, Fort Y...

     It's the start of the season.  The Happy Season.   My favourite season.   I love the lights, the music, the food,  my wife's home made egg nog.  I love the first Christmas story.  I love Christmas movies like Scrooge, Home Alone, Last Christmas.  I even love some of the Harlequin formula movies...... one of them features my cousin's daughter Tess.  I love fruit cake.  I love the dickens out of Christmas.  I love the Dicken's Christmas for that matter.  I think I have made my point     And then there is the other side:   The season of too much.  The season of too expensive.  The season of expectation that inevitably has some kind of let down at some point.  The season of togetherness that is oh so lonely for so many.   And seriously?  I know all those things about Christmas.  But the Happy Season trumps all of them.   I spent a couple of Christmases alone. ...

  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 ...