Family
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Ghosts in the rain
There was a moment, last year in France, that I imagined my Grandpa standing near me, not as a young soldier, but as the man I knew, a man revisiting a place filled with ghosts from his youth. Forty years ago he returned to Vimy, fifty-one years after the battle that must have been a
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Magical Mushrooms
Much to my surprise I received a package in the mail today, that had a couple of plastic bags of dried mushrooms in it. No, not those mushrooms (I just lost half of my readers from the west coast), but dried morels. They are a culinary delight. Growing up in Roblin, every spring would bring
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Cream Pie Reminiscences
I got baking tonight. The urge overtook me. That and Leah and Travis have both been after me to bake an Apple Pie. The thing with baking, is if you’re going to bake one pie, you might as well make more. The kitchen is going to be a mess anyway, and your return on your
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Some new family pictures.
I thought I’d share with you some photos of us that I received by email today. I really need to credit the photographer but (I hate to say it) I only remember his first name, Alex… They are pictures from our visit to the CCGS Louis S. St. Laurent. The first is my new favourite
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Remembrance Day
There was a point, this past April in France, that the numbers of graves overwhelmed me. After the ceremonies at Vimy, after visiting my Grandfather’s front lines at Vimy, after Hill 70, I tried to get to as many Commonwealth War Grave Cemeteries, where men from Roblin were buried, as I could. Cemetery after cemetery
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Vimy Underground
Early in the film Vimy Underground (The History Channel – Nov. 6th, 8pm ET) Lt. Col Shane Schreiver descends into a Cavern near Neuville St Vaast France. The cavern, originally constructed by french farmers to hide in in time of war, was used by Canadian Soldiers during the Great War in the days leading up
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And yet another is gone.
When I was still a member I never thought much about not coming home from a call. I thought a lot about officer safety, about what I needed to do to keep safe. Ultimately though, it was rare that you would think to yourself, there’s a chance I might not get out of this alive.
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Giving thanks
I’m a lucky man. I’ve known it for some time. I’m blessed with so many things in my life, that it is hard to enumerate them all. Some are easy to speak of. In a world where many people never find great love, I’ve found it twice. I have two amazing children (and I know
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Gracias a la Vida
I’m sitting here, listening to Tish Hinojosa singing, fingers poised over the key board, thinking about a young man in Hay River who I never knew, thinking about family, and thinking about the many things I have to be grateful for in my life. I’m also thinking about a wife who is living through her
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You ought to be in Pictures. Or not.
Part of my dearth of blogging on late can be attributed to the fact that I was actually out of Arctic Bay for a week, and actually got to go home to Roblin for a short visit with my family, and to introduce Hilary to them. The unfortunate thing is I can’t blog about my