Author Archives: Lorne Anderson

Sometimes Sitting Is Not An Option

This is a post about excrement, or at least its disposal. And especially about public washrooms. Thomas Crapper, an Englishman, popularized the flush toilet in the 19th century. His design hasn’t been changed much – but has never caught on in some parts of the world. (I always thought Crapper had invented the flush toilet, […]

And They’re Off!

The writ has dropped. For those of you not familiar with Westminster tradition, that’s just a formal way of saying the Canadian federal election is underway. I am a political junkie. But this is not a political blog and I will for the most part steer clear of this election campaign. I may, over the […]

Beach Reading

I don’t have anywhere near as much time to read for pleasure as I would like – except when I am at the beach. You can get through a lot of pages in those daily 12 hours. When I am on vacation I usually get to the beach (weather permitting) just after 6 a.m. I […]

Under The Pier

I went for an early morning walk in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. I don’t usually go under the Pier and thought the view was different enough to share.

The Guns of America

In Canada we take government restrictions on the possession of weapons as the norm. There is a general agreement, even among gun owners, that possessing firearms is a responsibility, not a right. There is from time to time debate about how intrusive governments should be in regulating firearms, but the basics, such as criminal record […]

Rhyming Thoughts

I love the English language – just because it is so weird!

Sand Castles

I walked by this sand castle on the beach while it was being constructed, when it was finished and again after it had been washed away completely by the incoming tide. It was a big one, took a couple of adults several hours to construct. I have made my share of sand castles over the […]

More Random Thoughts From Bluesfest

The 2015 RBC Ottawa Bluesfest is now over. I promised some impressions, but it seemed like during the festival there was never time to do more than jot down a few notes. Time to get caught up, with some mini-reviews of the artists I had a chance to see (or at least hear) perform. Interpol: […]

What If Orange Was A Swear Word?

Being subjected to a fair amount of hip-hop music at RBC Ottawa Bluesfest has me thinking about language and its usage. Hip-hop comes out of urban black culture, the inner-city ghettos of the United States. It is folk music in the true sense of the term (which has been expropriated to usually mean relatively mild […]

Kanye West – Beyond Bluesfest

Kanye West is the headline performer at the closing of the Pan Am games tonight. He’s a controversial choice. Before his appearance at this year’s RBC Ottawa Bluesfest and England’s Glastonbury Festival there was also a fair amount of controversy over his upcoming performances. People seemed evenly divided into two camps, either loving of hating […]