I didn’t watch a National Hockey League game all season. My hometown team, the Ottawa Senators, finished last in the league. Why would I join a playoff hockey pool? I asked myself that when I got the email. Years ago I took part in a pool, so now I’m on a list. Thousands of dollars […]
Early last week I was wondering about the stalled construction for the new apartment building at the edge of town. I asked my wife how the construction company could afford to keep a crane up and idle for the past six months. I guess they couldn’t anymore. Thursday it was dismantled and removed. I just […]
When it rains…no-one shows up. The Spring Flomarkt, or flea market if you prefer English, took place in the Sulzburg market square yesterday. Or a pale imitation of it. This is usually a big event. But the weather played havoc with the attendance. I had hoped for some bargains; instead I was underwhelmed. I was […]
It was one of the pivotal events of my teen years, one that shaped my attitudes towards government and the place of protest in society. Every year, on May 4, I remember the Kent State killings. The original of this post ran on this date in 2015. Forty-nine years later their names are a footnote […]
There are soldiers in the streets in Canada. This is not a coup. This is democracy in action. I’ve been in countries where the sight of soldiers was never good news, places where the military was an alternative government, just waiting to seize power. It isn’t like that in Canada. Our transitions from one government […]
It’s a holiday today in Sulzburg. Last year I was out of town and didn’t know what I was missing. I really don’t know anything about May 1 celebrations – we don’t have them in Canada, at least not that I have ever seen. When we signed the lease for our apartment in Sulzburg we […]
We’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. I hope.
Whether it is killings at a mosque in New Zealand, church bombings in Sri Lanka or the mostly unreported violence against Christians in the Middle East, the attacks have a common theme. The perpetrators are motivated by hate. Maybe it is coincidence, but the Lutheran churches in Lippstadt, Germany (and elsewhere for all I […]
What would a visit to Lippstadt be without the world-famous pigs? Never heard of them? Google “Lippstadt” and “pigs” and you’ll see what I mean. Some years finding the pigs on the Langestrasse (Long Street) can be difficult. They are mobile sculpture, and anyone who wishes can move them. I don’t know if there […]
I saw this cash register at Uncharted Grounds, the coffee roastery in Kandern, Germany, where some friends work. It brought back memories. When I was a child cash registers looked very much like this one. There were no bar codes or scanners. Each item in a store had a price sticker, and at checkout […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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