-
6. The First and Last McTour

Notes on an old traveler’s first ever guided tour (April-May 2022) 1 In the approach of my wife’s seventieth birthday in 2020, I proposed a trip of her choice. In her footloose mid-sixties, she’d joined me in a couple of ‘Rough Guide’ style trips to South America. But at three score and ten, she…
-
5. Painting it Black

News last fall that Vancouver would be the only Canadian venue for the 2024 Rolling Stores tour was rather like hearing around the same time, about the upcoming eclipse of the sun. Both events seemed like last-in-a-lifetime opportunities. I am not a devoted Stones fan and only the rarest attendee of concerts. But I was…
-
3. Reflections on “the Farm”

Since moving to our Port Coquitlam neighbourhood a decade ago, the most common route of my morning dog walks has been through “the farm”. That seemingly mundane reference is to a two-block expanse of incongruously agricultural-zoned land fenced off from surrounding townhouses, a Home Depot and a golf course. The only resemblance…
-
2. Celestial Wonders Missed

‘Did you see the northern lights last night?’ My elder daughter asked in her text message from Toronto on the morning of May 11th. ‘I’ve seen tons of photos from my friends who just literally stepped into their backyards or onto their balconies and saw them clearly.’ It wasn’t that I hadn’t heard the prediction.…
-
1. Old Bones

The results of a recent bone scan confirmed what was suspected–– that the septuagenarian skeleton is losing density. The rheumatologist who proscribed the scan advised me to be careful in strenuous activities. He informed that within seven years of diagnosis of osteopenia–– bone density loss–– 10% of the elderly suffer broken hips. Most of those…
