2023

It was a tea house and I was having, funny enough, coffee, and the woman waiting on me was pleasant. She brought extra cream and looked at the book I was reading. It was my birthday, a summer day. The book was, “Count Your Blessings.” Then she said somewhat indifferently, “My father would

Here’s something for young people. Who you marry will have a larger impact on your life than your career. I’m reading about it in The New York Times and The Atlantic. There’s a new wave of research. Marry and be happy. This is what it says. It’s interesting because it’s easy to assume

It was in the park at a picnic table and the talk was about food and the GTA’s Metro grocers strike. This and record profits for Canada’s largest grocers juxtaposed against thinning pay of staff who help you and me with our daily bread and everything else. The man made a

Today I’d like to give some advice to Canada’s soccer players. But first let me say that I’ve decided to finally start that rock-and-roll band. We’ll call ourselves “The Barenaked Feet.” This is because “The Barenaked Ladies” is taken and “The Barenaked Men” conveys certain images

Let’s see now: Cynthia, Cloe, Cindy, Carole, Cassandra, ah, here we are. Cathy. The first girl I ever kissed. (Or did she go by Kathy?) (This doesn’t include the failed kissing venture in the park trees involving Penny and Patty with myself and my boyhood buddy, Paul, on that summer day

Time for something about faces. I realize that some of us aren’t enthusiastic about this. We easily compare our noses and eyes and brows and such to the perfectly-contoured face of some knockout celebrity, or glamour ad, or airbrushed

I know Canada as much as anyone. I’ve tasted its vastness. Live long enough with even a half-curious mind and you’ll get out here and there. I’ve spent time in each of our provinces. Even today I’m in the mountains of Banff with my boy, Jonathan, celebrating his 18th birthday.

“We’re losing Jonathan.” I blurted out the words in the backyard to my sister during a recent gathering. Jonathan, that’s Jonathan Thomas Froese, is Child #2. The boy. It felt strange to hear the words tumble from my mouth.

The life of my mother-in-law, Mum Chamberlain, is now marked in a burial plot near the shade of old trees. Recently it’s been celebrated in various ways. It reminds me of fireworks. Not that “celebration” is a perfect word for these matters. Death can still drag in its bag of

She’s the mother of my bride, Mum, or Mum Chamberlain, as I like to call her. I’m at her bedside. The children and my wife, Jean, are on live video from across the ocean, from East Africa. “We love you, Grams!” Jean shares greetings from the team of Save the Mothers, the Ugandan

Today’s offering is about roots, and where we come from, and these sorts of matters that run under the surface of our lives. My father appreciated roots. And what’s not to appreciate? Roots bring nutrients. They stabilize plants and trees: tap roots for depth, lateral roots to anchor, sinker roots

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about running for president of the United States. I told the family. Everyone got quiet and looked at each other. Then my boy said, “You’ve got this, Paps. I’d vote for you.” That’s all I needed to hear. I’m off. I’m running. I know the way. Follow me!

It’s April Fools’ Day so let’s talk about fools. And hippies. A fool is someone who can’t reason. The dictionary tells us. A fool is a simpleton. An idiot. We understand the idioms and usage. He made a fool of me. She played the fool. A fool and his money are easily parted.

A dream is something imagined for the betterment of humanity. “I have a dream,” is what Martin Luther King said 60 years ago in a prophetic speech about justice and racial reconciliation. We remember because, as Solomon put it 3,000 years earlier, “Without a vision the people will

The interesting thing about Elvis is that he crossed borders. With the Oscars approaching – “Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis has eight nominations – it’s something to think about. Not those sorts of borders. And not that I was really around. I was 12 when Elvis died. My mother-in-law