Category: Life
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@coffee_dad: between the lines
Have your read @coffee_dad on Twitter? About 60,000 people have subscribed to his feed. At first I wondered if it was a spam account like @horse_ebooks, because most of his tweets are just a few words about coffee… but occasionally there’s something else entirely. A painful story, slowly revealing itself. driving down the road where…
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Still missing you, Murph.
It’s now four years since the death of my chubby little butterball to cancer. While I’ve since lost another one that I arguably loved even more, Murph was the first loss I experienced for any of my “adult” pets. It was both unexpected and isolated from any comparable pain. It was difficult to endure, but…
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Forget About Forgotten Ideas
That brilliant thing you were thinking yesterday… that idea that was really clever and that tickled you for a moment when it popped into your head? That thought you can’t remember anymore for the life of you? Forget it. Yes, the one you really meant to write down but you were too busy at the…
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The Real Magic of Holidays
It’s Easter Sunday and I consider myself extraordinarily fortunate to have an 8 year old child that still believes in the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Santa Claus. The future may try to prove me wrong, but I think it’s better to preserve Magic in children’s lives for as long as possible. There is…
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The Folly of Man
The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, said: “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live…
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Growing older
I’ve finally reached that time in my life where it’s become tempting to lie about my age. While this has long been an accepted if not celebrated custom of women, it’s not been as popular among men. Of course, consider that men have benefited enormously from the (probably male-perpetuated) notion that age on a man makes…
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The Bad Samaritan Chronicles – Episode 1
I was out for a coffee over the lunch hour with a friend of mine. On the walk back to my office I noticed the parking patrol was on the prowl. The officer slowed, came to a stop, then started backing slowly to put himself in line with a black SUV next to an expired…
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Phase IV – Ottawa/Gatineau Time Warp
IMAG0047, originally uploaded by toddlyons. I love the architecture of Place du Portage IV. It’s still so unabashedly 1970s; evocative of a time and place out of childhood where Ottawa was remote and near-mythical. I never believed as a child, nor as a young adult, that I would ever live or work in the National…
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Children Really Are Animals
IMAG0030, originally uploaded by toddlyons. I walk past this sign every day on the way to my office. Am I the only one that’s struck by the amusing juxtaposition of children and animals? Thankfully, my kids are allergy-free, but just the same I’d prefer if they weren’t fed by passing strangers.