Excitement is Simple

At least it's simple for some of us. Being such a homebody, it doesn't always take much to excitement me. Little things ... mastering a recipe; finding a lost earring; getting mail (real mail, the kind that gets delivered to your mailbox), getting a delivery ... ah, and that's what happened today.  I have to go back a bit to explain it. For years I've been collecting pieces for my Christmas village ... back when I started they were small. Villages came as "sets" with 4 to 6 buildings and a string of lights that fit up inside the building to light them up.

As the years went by, different manufacturers came out with slightly larger buildings, and often they were purchased as individual pieces, not all at once in "sets".  As I started buying one or two of those every year, I began giving away my older, smaller and medium, buildings.

A Christmas Letter

It's that time of year again ... Christmas. The season for goodwill, peace, and joy ... and for Christians, the celebration of Christ on earth.

For many, it's also a time of sadness. For some, moving forward from loss seems impossible to do. For others, it's a time to remember the Ghosts of Christmas past.

Dear Mom & Dad, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends long gone ...

W.A. Porter C.I. - Remember When

Over the last few days I've been lucky enough to be able to connect again with some of "kids" (well, we're all grown up now, but I still think of us as kids) from highschool. It isn't the first time since we all left, but for me, only the second time in the 42 years (omg, really that long) since I flew the coop.

The first reunion was held at the C.N.E. grounds (for the non-Torontonians that's the Canadian National Exhibition ... at least it was then) and was an amazing day for me. Some of them (most of them actually) looked (to me) exactly as they did the the last time I'd seen them.

The Colour of our World

What is the colour of your world? Does it matter to you if one, or more of those colours disappear? Do the colours in your world melt and blend to create new shades and tones of both colours?

My world is multi-coloured, though I tend not to notice the colours. Of more importance to me are the feelings I get from my world.

If any single colour disappeared, my world would seem a little less bright, and a little more dark ... that seems to create it's own shade of grey, doesn't it?

The Grill to Beat

Last weekend my daughter I headed out to an estate sale being held by some friends just outside of town. Outside was mostly bigger things like a car dolly, riding mower, (... mostly guy stuff) and went on inside. We started in the basement. Some furniture (my house is pretty full) and a couple of long tables with kitchen stuff, some camera equipment (that held my interest for a bit, being a photographer that stuff, even older, is hard to pass up), and some tools.

My daughter pointed out a toaster oven with attached coffee pot. I hadn't seen one of those before. I already have a toaster oven but it was worth a look just because ... although the coffee pot only held one cup. It would be great for a student, or even camping.

Hurricane Season in Florida - Irma, Jose, Katia

Like everyone else this last week, I've been watching the events surrounding #HurricaneIrma as they've unfolded, from the time it began in the Caribbean up til today (Sept. 9th). What happens from here is not yet set in stone (10:00am), and Irma's path has changed several times over the course of the last few days.

First reports were that Irma would hit the eastern side of Florida; subsequent reports showed it striding purposefully up the direct center of Florida; and then, the path predicted was for the western seaboard of Florida. At this moment, it's set to come down on the southeastern part of Florida (outer edges of the Miami area), but hurricane warnings for Eastern Florida have been cancelled by the National Weather Service, and warnings for the western side of Florida were issued.

The Date that Wasn't (Sort of)

hahahaha, yes that is a weird title, isn't it? It's been a long time since I had a date with my best beau ... oh, wait, not that long but it's only the second one since we arrived home from Florida in April of this year. Two dates (one was only half a date ... I don't suppose that makes it a raisin?) in 4 months ... well, I guess that a date every 2 months is perhaps not that bad for on old married couple right?

The Winnonah II

We planned to take an hour long cruise on a old-time steamer in a town about half an hour north of us (Gravenhurst, Ontario ... the ship being the Segwun). As long as I've lived in Orillia (over 40 years) I've never taken a ride on the Segwun or the Winonnah II.

Ontario's Minimum Wage - Good or Bad?

First, I want to warn my readers ... this post is so unlike what I usually write about. I'm normally one of the most non-politically motivated people - I still am really, but what's been happening in our province has to be of concern to anyone who lives here, whether you have a political leaning or not.

The minimum wage in this part of Canada (Ontario) is currently set at $11.40/hr and scheduled to go up to $11.60/hr in October of this year. What some people may not realize is that there isn't a standard minimum wage for every occupation, so what you do to earn money can make a difference in what the minimum wage is (see the link above) and what industries or people are exempt or have exemptions applied (see the Employment Standards Act).  To understand it all, you almost need to be a lawyer... but really, none of that is what this article is about.

It's about the changes coming to the minimum wage here, and the increase to $15.00/hr. Sounds like a big increase, right?  It's not going to happen all at once though - it is stretched out between now, and 2019, and while some seem to think it's going to be great to have a nice increase like that, you also have to look at the other side of the playbook.

Immigration and Culture Clash

Canada

Opinions on immigration (regardless of the country from or to) of people are usually very personal, but each country and their government have differing policies. Even just between individual human beings the treatment of immigrants (individual, or families) vary a lot. Oddly, even in one single individual their own opinions can fluctuate wildly. I'm not against immigration or immigrants - after all, if most (not all) of the inhabitants of North America (the US & Canada) look back in our past we'd discover many of our own families were once immigrants. If our countries hadn't openly accepted them, we wouldn't likely be here either.

My parents were both born here in Canada, but their parents were born in Scotland (maternal side) and Italy (paternal side). If they had been turned back when they came to Canada, my parents would probably have never met. Funny how that works, isn't it?

An Out-of-the-Box Opinion

Today I'm going to step away a little from the usual type of posts I make; partly because I'm getting pretty tired of undocumented medical and health articles that appear on my Facebook feed. Mostly, I block the crap using FB Purity (awesome FB app you can find on Facebook) but these posts are usually shared by my friends, and I'm picky about who I friend or let see my FB page.

The issues really come from the fact that too many people simply believe everything they see - if it's on the web it must be true, but ... there is nothing further from the truth than that. So many of the headlines we see are nothing more than clickbait, and contain partial truths, total untruths, or no useful information at all. When you see headlines blazing "YOU WON'T BELIEVE..." or "CURE CANCER (or Diabetes or Alzheimers)" or "SHE DID THIS AND THIS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT..."  you know it's going to be clickbait.