Indelible Adventures

I dropped Zach and Sami at sleep away camp earlier today…    This is Zach’s eighth year and Sami’s sixth attending Camp Arowhon so they are “old hands” now.   This year Zach is considered a “senior” boy and hence has the luxury of sleeping in the senior boys cabin “on the point” – a small peninsula that juts into the lake, with everyone being barred entry unless you live in the cabin…    Apparently it’s a rather prestigious place and so he was pretty pumped about taking up residence there.   Sami was especially excited to see all of her friends again and reconnect – she’s such a social butterfly (yes, I mean that in the best possible way, in that she makes soooooooo many friends its hard to keep up!). Camp Arowhon This year like most they are going to camp for a month .   Let me tell you it was very hard for me as a parent the first few years that they attended, especially me being without the camping background, all I could do was miss them ...

Isn’t it funny how a simple word can be so confusing to almost 90% of the English speaking world yet in Australia is one of the most common words spoken.    The word “ mate ” is a bit confusing for those not born in Australia but to an Aussie it’s used universally for both men and women without thought or bias…   Perhaps that’s the part that’s so confusing to everyone else outside Australia – how can a woman be a mate, unless you ARE the “mate” if you know what I mean?  (L-R) Craig, his mum Bon and brother Alan whom we also shared a house with during College St Arnard - Australia - 1978 This weekend I’m heading to New York City (Again???   Yes, I can hear you - that’s your outside voice!)    Perhaps I should just surrender to the pull and get an apartment in the “city that never sleeps” or the “big apple” as most people affectionately call it. Well the planning for this weekend all started about six weeks ago when my best mate Craig called ...

Over the past couple of years I’ve become an “Apple guy” and I’m clearly not alone with a global phenomenon of Apple and the breadth of cool products.   Now what - once it dies?   My specific technology issues started this past January when one Friday night deep in the winter I had finished working on my blog (just like tonight), and after packing up turned in for the night.   When I woke in the morning all of my Apple products including my MacBook Air , iPad and iPhone had all been wiped clean, apparently there had been some global cyber attack and all my Apple units had been affected. I’m not sure if you understand how disconcerting it is to wake in the morning and be faced with blank screens from all of your devices, which effectively have been completely wiped.   Noooooooooooo I cried! I remember thinking OMG – what now?   Fortunately for me it only took a couple of hours to restore both my iPad and iPhone and got my email accounts and applicatio...

I guess I should be so disparaging but really this summer has been a total and complete bust!   Now, that wouldn’t be so bad except that last winter was nine months long, so in actuality it’s been almost a year without any really decent weather to speak of…with no sign of a break.    As I write this week’s blog, grey rain clouds loom overhead as it begins to rain once again.  The air is as thick as a wet blanket and generally quite miserable, both rainy and humid – the worst combo of all in the summertime don’t you think? The view from my front porch today...   I watch the traffic pass along my street, the cars partly lost in sheets of spay as they pass by, I observe my neighbour rocking her newborn baby on her front porch safely out of the rain…perhaps the sounds of rain are soothing to both her and her baby.  It also doesn’t seem to affect the sparrows as they jauntily hop around on my front lawn picking and pecking at the myriad of small and unse...