Category Family
The Family Churches
I went to services at two different Anglican churches last Sunday, which is not my usual practice. I wanted to experience a bit of family history. My father-in-law came to Canada from the UK, but had during his lifetime also lived in India, Ireland and Palestine. He was an inventor, working primarily in the automotive […]
A Canadian Tradition
For his first Christmas I bought my grandson some Mini -sticks. He was too young for miniature hockey sticks of course, but I was looking to the future. And it isn’t as if his parents could buy them in Africa. For his second Christmas I bought him another stick, figuring he needed one to go […]
Ghost At The Door
It was Family Day in Ontario earlier this week, and I was looking at some family photos. This one reminded me something I wrote here in 2016, but at that time I didn’t have this picture, taken in 1896, to go with it. I thought it might be nice to go with a repeat today […]
The Ghosts That Haunt Me
I wrote this one this past summer and never got around to posting it. Looking at it again on New Year’s Eve, the reflections seemed appropriate to start the new year. These are the ghosts that haunt me as I stare at the sea and listen to the waves crashing on the shore. My paternal […]
Time Flies
Been a while since I went with a rerun here, but I thought today would be a good one. This post is from eight years ago today. Back then I hadn’t thought about the longevity of this blog – I was hoping to chronicle my summer vacation, and hadn’t thought of what would come next. […]
A Christmas Tradition
The emails from friends started coming at the beginning of December. The theme was the same: is there a new picture of Willow in the Christmas tree. Willow’s annual appearance in the tree has been popular here too. Last year though, we never caught her climbing the branches for a new snoozing place. We thought […]
A Century Later
When time stands still it can be pretty impressive. My sister dropped off an envelope of family photos she thought might be of interest. Included was one of my paternal grandmother, Isabelle Anderson, taken on a visit to Parliament Hill in October 1922. Given that date, I think I can say with confidence that my […]
Remembering in 2022
I took time today to remember those Canadians who fought and died for democracy. Two minutes of silence at 11 a.m.isn’t much, but it is gesture with huge symbolic meaning. That sadly seems less fashionable as the years go by. Earlier this week I was walking on the campus of the Royal Military College in […]
Seven-Year Reflection
It seems like it was yesterday. Nerve-wracking doesn’t begin to describe it. Seven years ago today I was at the Ottawa Heart Institute, waiting for my wife to come out of surgery. The doctor had said this was his specialty, that he had done the procedure a thousand times. Never lost a patient. Reassuring yes, […]
Keeping Warm
I remember the patched holes in the celing, one in each room. I didn’t think much about them. It was the house my grandmother lived in, the one where my father was born. I spent a lot of my childhood visiting. Small-town Ontario was a different world for an urban dweller. The holes, I realized, […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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