Thursday Tidbits

Posted on October 23, 2014 under Thursday Tidbits with one comment

Take a hike, Mac!

I was really desperate for a picture to go with today’s post so I went right to the bottom of the barrel and found this one. It was taken on the Cape George hiking trails awhile ago. Expect some different pictures shortly as Betty and I sojourn south, by car, for a vacation.

Yesterday’s events in Ottawa are very sobering for all of us. We all know that the world changed radically after 9-11 and terrorism has now found our shores. We all pause to reflect on lives lost and the loss of innocence.

Someone asked me the other day if I ever considered writing something more serious, with a bit more heft, as it were. I could,  and I have,  but choose not to. There are enough bad things to write about. Hopefully, the appeal to my stories is that I look on the brighter side of things, or at least find the humour in everyday life.

We all know ( unfortunately ) , that Nova Scotia’s greatest export is people. We have been sending our best and brightest abroad for a very long time. While we think the mass exodus to the oil patch is unprecedented, it is just another part of a cycle. I haven’t done an exhaustive study on this but I think the export of teachers would rival that of pipefitters and welders. I was mulling this over the other day after writing the story about my first paid day of substitute teaching. ( you liked that one, BTW ).

I decided to expand upon that theme and have just finished a new story about Maritime teachers plying their trade in other parts of the country. Let’s just say that teachers from the Maritimes are a spirited lot and have occasionally found themselves in some unusual circumstances. In “ Trouble in Paradise,” there are two teacher “incidents” that have come under the microscope. This story will appear in The Casket next Wednesday and also on my website.

My Halloween story is scheduled to be published this coming Saturday. It is called, “ The Case For Halloween.” As mentioned in an earlier post, the “joyless curmudgeons of political correctness” have tried to remove as much fun as humanly possible by calling this “orange and black day.” And don’t even get me started on Christmas. If I go sideways one of these days and start calling it something weird, please feel free to march me down to the lagoon at the end of Main Street and toss me in.

Three “never heard before stories” will be launched at the fundraiser in Heatherton on Sunday. Ticket sales are very good. Hope you can make it. I still have a few to sell so give me a shout .

Have a great weekend.

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