SELF-PORTRAIT Age is just a number.  Hmmm. This wisdom in this idiom may be true, but my age of 73 is a real number. And that number, 73, signals that I am in the winter of my life. According to the statistics, males in my area of the world have a longevity of 78 years. Yikes! (So far, I have managed not to think of that number much, unless of course I am writing about it as I am doing right now.) There must be loads of others like me, who do not seem to pay that much attention to that number designating their age. In just a Google away I can read about an American folk ar ..read more

  Dear Donald, From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of the Korean peninsula, from the fields of Flanders to the streets of Kandahar, we have fought and died alongside you during your darkest hours. We have built the most successful economic, military and security partnership the world has ever seen. We were always there, standing with you. During the Iran hostage crisis, when a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage, six American diplomats escaped and sought refuge at the Canadian embassy, leading to a joint CIA-Canadian ..read more

  FAMILIAR STRANGERS AT THE SKI RESORT Most of us notice the same people who regularly ski at the same mountain, wait at the same bus stop, regularly shop in the same marketplace, or regularly work out in the same gym as us. Most of us recognize other people in our routines that we frequently notice on a regular basis but with whom we do not interact. Psychologist Stanley Milgram, in 1970, coined such persons as “familiar strangers.”    During my daily routines, I am very cognizant of many familiar strangers. In the mornings in my building I share the same passenger el ..read more

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” I love this oft-cited but not-quite accurate quotation of Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland! I love it because I believe that none of us really know where we are going, and none of us really know where we came from. On the grandest of scales, we are continuously questioning the origin and fate of our universe, where we are from and where we are going. This has been a continuous search, both scientifically and philosophically.   Factoid: For such answers, there are several theories. WILL MY BOOK SALES EXPLODE ..read more

  HIKING BUFFALO POUND, SASKATCHEWAN TO LIVE IS TO SUFFER, begat in the 5th Century BC teachings of an Indian religious teacher, Siddhartha Gautama. TO LIVE IS TO SUFFER was reiterated by the English playwright, William Shakespeare, who wrote, “Count no mortal fortunate till he has departed from this life free from pain.” TO LIVE IS TO SUFFER surfaced yet again in the “1800s” with German philosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, who wrote that “All life is suffering,” and with another 1800s German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, who wrote verbatim, “To live is to suffer; to surviv ..read more

  It is time for my 2025 resolutions, resulting mainly from my regrets for 2024. Yes. Regrets, I’ve had a few but then again, too few to mention. Yes. Regrets, referring to Ol’ Blue Eyes, I’ve had a few, of which I will mention later. As I am typing this, I am looking out my window in the surfin’ village of Sayulita, Mexico. Just a five-minute walk from my Airbnb, and I will be on a beach amongst at least 100 surfers. SURFIN’ USA (THE BEACHBOYS) and SURFSIDE 6 (TROY DONAHUE) are ever on my mind when I’m down on Sayulita beach. Staying here for a few days during Christmastime, I ..read more

WTF?! My usual designer XMAS CARD took a turn for the worse this 2024. When opening the card my caricature of Donald Trump immediately piques curiosity. Here is the annotated edition of that card: Drumpf Note that on his left collar I labelled him “Drumpf.” Drumpf is a German surname that dates to the 16th century and is most known as the predecessor to the family name, Trump. According to research author, Gwenda Blair, Donald’s ancestor, Hanns Drumpf, was an itinerant German lawyer in 1603. Back to the future in 2024, Donald Drumpf is the quintessential emasculated New Yorker soci ..read more

  MY BUSKING AVATAR For me, one of anything is usually enough, whereas two of anything can oftentimes be a treat. And when I state, one, I am commented on both time and content. In reference to time, one hour shall suffice for my length of engagement for anything (except for my work contract), whereas about content, one portion shall suffice for practically any product being indulged. For example, I’ve the morning habit of reading the international news from CNN, Al Jazeera, and Fox. (Hmmm. Fox may be more intergalactic than international, because its writers and followers are s ..read more

1860 ORGAN GRINDER Buskers, such as I, have been around for yonks. The term, busking, was first coined (pun intended) in the 1860s, from the Spanish, buscar (to seek), in reference to the Roma as they trekked along the Mediterranean Coast, singing and playing their lutes and harps for the Spanish and French and any others who would listen along their way. Whenever I busk, I stand as a proud member of the buskerhood (pun intended), having an aggregate of antecessors: In 11th Century Russia, we were known as the Skomorokh. SKOMOROKH We, Bhavai, a popular folk theatre in India a ..read more

  ON PUMPKIN WAY, WASCANA CENTRE Hallowe’en is over and so is my busking. I am not a brutto-tempo busker. When those Canadian winds blow cold, my guitar busking is fini until springtime. Sad? Yes and no. “All good things must come to an end” (Geoffrey Chaucer, 1374). Like reading the last page of a good book, or like watching the very last episode in a popular television series, good things do end. This I know from personal experience. In my efflorescence, my academic youth, I was a member of the Time-Life Book Club. Each month a little-known work by a great author, or a great ..read more