Tag Archives: #SundayDigest

2330 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2330 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Well, aside from one post about a week ago I have been conspicuously absent. I wrote about it in that last post but still haven’t made it back to the blog. It really is just summer and family that has kept me away. When the weather turns nice and Nate is home from school it is more difficult to spend time in front of a computer.

Unlike some bloggers, I just can’t wrap my head around blogging from my phone. Sure pictures and the like are fairly easy to post but finding the train of thought to write on a small keyboard eludes me. Maybe it’s my age showing but that just sounds like an excuse. Many of the bloggers I follow who are older than me have no problems with their phones. So I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I mean I still carry cash, in a wallet, I think Twitter’s rebrand to X is ridiculous (oh wait so does pretty much everyone else), and I believe Facebook (Meta for the youngins) and Google are only interested in collecting my data to further line their pockets with my small amounts of gold. I still worry about privacy although I’m probably not very good at protecting mine. As for China, I make a conscious effort to not buy shit from the commie bastards (yep, they are the new Soviet Union) and TikTok even if they set up some independent American subsidiary is a massive no-go zone. They won’t fool me like they have fooled today’s youth.

Jesus, it sounds like I’m only one step away from pulling my pants up to my armpits, wearing Tilly hats and griping about everything, especially dem kids, and calling bylaw enforcement because I’m lonely.

On that same note, I appear to be living in my musical past. These last few weeks have been the 70s and 80s music nonstop. On that note, I have two tracks for you from Joy Division and their reincarnation as New Order following the suicide of Ian Curtis.

The week in review…

Actually it’s the last three weeks in review. Thanks to everyone who has participated.

Murder In the First
A homegrown courtroom drama that I penned myself.

The Reckoning
Paula at Light Motifs II takes us bloggers along on a WordPress fantasy scenario!

Embracing Triumph in the Laborious Jungle of Life
A thought-provoking journey through the Jungle of Life by Pankaj at The Inkwell!

Quantum Tapestry: Exploring the Intersections of Life, Time, and the Universe
A secret of the universe unravelled in this tale written by Pankaj at The Inkwell.

Under the Night Sky
A beautiful poem of renewal by Sadje at the snazzy new looking Keep It Alive.

Peter Dazeley / Getty Images

Breakfast
A dilemma indeed Paula. Check it out at Light Motifs II

Lost Bet
The perils of gambling by Fandango at This, That and the Other.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

Blog Update + Some Lottery Humour | Just an update from an absentee bloglord.

T-Shirt Wisdom | The most recent installment of this bi-weekly feature.

Next week…

Five Word Weekly and the return of Four Line Fiction plus another installment of T-Shirt Wisdom are on tap. Don’t forget your entry for July’s Creative Writing Monthly is due by July 31st. Yikes that almost sounded like homework!

Have a great week everyone,

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2327 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2327 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

As I sit down to write Sunday Digest late on this Sunday night it occurs to me that it has been a busy week. The blog itself started the week okay but as the activities and time required with my son ramped up my work here fell off. School is out and that means my days are filled with bike rides, Lion Safari’s and stopping at every park I see.

On Friday we took Nate to African Lion Safari, an animal rescue and reserve where you get to ride through the animal enclosures in your car. The lions and tigers are usually sedate. Mostly because they have been so well fed they cannot move. The Orangutans are Nates favorite. Especially the one who decided to jump up on our car and pee down the windshield. I know little boys and the things that excite them!

He also loves the waterpark they have for the kids to play in. It is a great spot on a hot day and he spent almost three hours in the water. Running on the play structures and riding the slide. He is a little Casanova too. The kid will talk to just about anyone but gravitates to the prettiest moms and starts up full conversations with them. Even at the mall or in a restaurant before we finish he has the clerks or waitresses gathered around while he holds court!

Also this weekend I have been busy canning strawberry jam and relishes. I also set a a crick with 4 lbs. of cucumbers. Hopefully in about a week I will have fermented dill pickles. In the meantime, I made a couple of jars of refrigerator pickles to hold us over. It was Nate who noticed the happy face in the jar of pickles.

I dug deep into my Madchester sounds record collection this week to find this classic. James were a Manchester band who are best known on this side of the pond for the title track of their 1993 album “Laid”. The track initially found success on U.S. college radio before peaking at No. 3 on U.S. Alternative Radio.

The week in review…

Choices
A tales of choices written by Paula at Light Motifs II.

Before I Could Close It: It Falls Out of Void, Treating Life Like a Dance
Life is a Dance, So, Why don’t we just Romance? Written by Rockstar Girl at Where Stories Can Spark Their Magic.

Unlocking a Secret
A secret comes to light in this story written by Sadje at Keep It Alive.

HP Koch via Unsplash

Weighty Matters
We should all be allowed to feel comfortable in our own skin. Written by Nicole at Momoetry.

A Bit of a Dilemma
Ooops, a dilemma that may expose the naked truth written by Fandango at This, That and the Other.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

Lost | Murder and Insecurities written for Sadje’s What Do You See? challenge and incorporating words from Fandango’s One Word Challenge.

Milestones | Just some stuff about my blog stats and some new records in 2023.

T-Shirt Wisdom | The most recent installment of this bi-weekly feature.

Next week…

Five Word Weekly has already dropped about 3 hours ago and Four Line Fiction is on tap for Tuesday. Don’t forget to get your entry in for July’s Creative Writing Monthly, July 31st is almost here. Have a great week everyone,

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2326 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2326 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

This week marked the 156 anniversary of Canadian Confederation. The British North American Act took effect on July 1st, 1867 and Canada passed from being a British colony to a member country of the British Commonwealth.

I for one refuse to forget that past. There has been a huge push against colonialism in recent years. The British now looked upon in an unpleasant light. Once again the statue of Queen Victoria in Kitchener’s Victoria Park was vandalized, doused in red paint in an act that has played out four times in the last two years. What I find most intriguing is that these former colonies, the places where we now try to erase people like Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister and deny our history, are the very places where people want to immigrate. As much as we want to abhor the blue-eyed devils we flock the places they built.

All I can say to Canadians, members of the British Commonwealth and those countries who were founded on British and European ideals, do not be ashamed of your history, embrace it. Many of the places our people have built are a beacon of peace and civility for the rest of the world.

As Google and Meta get set to turn off links to Canadian news sites I ponder an interesting question. The Canadian government passed legislation that would force content giants like Google, Microsoft and Meta to pay for content they display or link to on their platforms. Up until this point they have presented content from independent sources free of charge. In the process, making billions of dollars in advertising revenue that those providers will never see. The Canadian government has become the first to protect homegrown content providers by forcing these giant tech companies to properly compensate creators.

We could argue whether that is fair or even feasible but that is not the crux of my question. You see, for years these entities have claimed they are not responsible for the content they present and as such can’t or shouldn’t be held liable for it. They don’t believe they have an obligation to monitor or regulate the content to which they provide access. They claim it is too large a financial burden to expect them to build the apparatus to police content. Interesting that moment they have to pay for the content they present all of the apparatus to block it, the apparatus they claimed was too expensive to build, suddenly isn’t that costly and even more alarming already exists. All they need to do to ensure they don’t have to pay for content is flip the switch to have it blocked.

As we celebrate this Canada Day I have been listening to Canada’s greatest songwriter who passed away earlier this year. It was once said that the offices of SOCAN have one storage room (this was before computers) for all the songs written by Canadian artists and a second room for all the works of Gordon Lightfoot. I have previously featured The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. Here are some other faves, Canadian Railroad Trilogy, Sundown and Carefree Highway.

The week in review…

Who Knew
Proof from Fandango at This, That and the Other that Seniors love heavy metal too.

The MidSummer of the Nightly Mirror and Rose’s Hand of the Fortune
Written by Rockstar Girl at Where Stories Can Spark Their Magic

Metaphor
Be wary of the man in a fedora preaching a better future.

A Cold Case
A wild ride through the seedy world of the Mob by Nancy at The Sicilian Storyteller.

HP Koch via Unsplash

The Mangy Stray Cat
Fandango at This, That and the Other deals with a stray that has moved into the shed.

The Talking Dead
Sadje at Keep It Alive will have you hearing the voices of the dead.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

Glass Slipper | A fairy tale cliffhanger written for Sadje’s What Do You See? challenge and incorporating words from Fandango’s One Word Challenge.

Maybe… | If it weren’t for the voices. Written for Fandango’s Story Starter and incorporating words from Fandango’s One Word Challenge.

How Shite Is My Site? | Written for The Monday Peeve at Light Motifs II and incorporating words from Fandango’s One Word Challenge.

Next week…

Five Word Weekly and Four Line Fiction and another installment of T-Shirt Wisdom. Don’t forget to get your entry in for July’s Creative Writing Monthly, July 31st is almost here. Have a great week everyone,

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2325 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2325 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

This week has turned out to be a mixed bag. The solstice has come and gone ushering in summer in the northern hemisphere. Now the days begin getting shorter as we hurtle back toward the cold of winter. That said, I will enjoy the warmth for as long as it lasts.

Just as I was getting over a painful couple of months with plantar fascitis in my left foot, I was scheduled to attend training wearing heavy safety boots. My current job doesn’t require that I wear them regularly. However, to re-certify the training must be completed in full uniform. Now after one-half day, the foot is back at square one. It didn’t help that the next two days were spent standing on a baseball diamond.

Greg Glazebrook @ GMGPhotography

That was the good part of the week. The standing didn’t help my foot, but watching my little guy play in his season-ending T-Ball tournament was fantastic. He played well even through normal kid focus issues and a love for the dirt on the infield. Making an out at third and hitting the ball hard. Honestly, all the kids look so damn cute out there.

The beginning of summer had me listening to one of my favourite summer driving songs. The Kings are a great Canadian band hailing from Oakville, Ontario. Literally one town over from where I grew up. They have some great music in their catalogue but only one commercially successful hit, charting in both Canada and the U.S.A. That hit consisted of the first two tracks which are normally played together. “This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide” was taken from the band’s 1980 debut album “The Kings Are Here.” Take a listen and tell me you can’t feel the wind whipping through your hair as you drive much too fast along that lake road or up the coast.

The week in review…

Locked Diary
Revisiting a memory of Paris lifted from the pages of a diary written by Rockstar Girl at Is It Real or Fantasy.

The Calling
Did Dana find salvation? Just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean wasn’t there. A delightful alien (almost) abduction story by Paula at Light Motifs II.

New World Order
Be wary of the man in a fedora preaching a better future.

Patrick Fore via Unsplash

Out of It
Fandango manages to craft a short poem even though he was out of everything.

Grandad, where are the wires?
Sometimes the old ways captured a labour of love that is lost in today’s technological world. Be sure to check out Diana’s take on the prompt on the Writer Ravenclaw blog.

4 Line Fiction
Nicole Smith at Momoetry captures that feeling when you can’t find the words to own up to something terrible you’ve done.

Amazingly, Unexpected Happenings
Dare to dream and you never know what might happen. A success story by Sadje at Keep It Alive.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

I Didn’t Do It | A story of heartbreak written for Fandango’s Story Starter and One Word Challenges.

T-Shirt Wisdom Wednesday | Another bi-weekly installment of this humorous graphic design segment.

Next week…

Five Word Weekly and Four Line Fiction and the official launch of the Creative Writing Month challenge although the preview for the first month came out at the beginning of June. Have a great week everyone,

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2324 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2324 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Happy Father’s Day.

While there has been a trend in this country to eliminate gender-specific holidays I believe it is important to honour those who brought us into the world. Many schools and school boards have stopped the practice of celebrating Mothers and Fathers for fear of not being inclusive. This of course is about as ridiculous as it sounds.

As such my son did not have a hand-drawn tie or some other cute kid artwork for his Dad this year. I have to give him credit though, he knew it was Father’s Day and trumpeted in the occasion with a loud and boisterous Happy Father’s Day at 7am as he jumped on me in bed!

My Dad will celebrate his 84th in September. We didn’t always see eye to eye when I was younger. I remember making him feel like crap as a teenager because I was smarter and going to go places his blue-collar life could never have gone. Of course, I was wrong. My Dad was a great father and provider for our single-income family. We lived within our means but my sisters and I never wanted for anything. He and my Mom raised us the best they could and they did a great job, with my sisters at least. I’m sure they lay awake at night wondering what they did wrong with me. In all seriousness…

Thank You, Dad.

My Dad with most of the Grandchildren / Greg Glazebrook @ GMGPhotography

Father’s Day got me thinking about my favourite Dad song and the George Strait classic “Love Without End, Amen” was the first to come to mind.

And for all the ladies celebrating their Daddy take a listen to the Holly Dunn classic “Daddy’s Hands.”

The week in review…

Layer of Lies
A colourful take on a layered Poem by Paula at Light Motifs II. Now I’m hungry for cake and rainbow sprinkles!

Ripped Pages Out of My Diary
A work exploring the weight of hopelessness and despair written by Rockstar Girl at Is It Real or Fantasy.

Backwards
A time caper complete with a twist at the end written by Sadje and Keep It Alive.

Florian Schneider via Unsplash

4 Line Fiction
Four lines that perfectly capture the emotion of the image written by Nicole Smith at Momoetry.

It’s a Living
Fandango at This, That and the Other captures the lament of every subway busker ever.

Subway Tunnel Guy
Christine AT Stine Writing reminds us of the joy and satisfaction of doing something just because you love to do it.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

What Are the Chances? | A hitchhiker warning written for Sadje’s “What Do You See?” prompt and Fandango’s One Word Challenge.

Dad’s Lesson | A Father story written for Carrot Ranch’s #99words challenge.

Dystopian Sunset | Phone photography taken during the smoke storms caused by the Northern Ontario /Quebec wildfires.

Around the Blogosphere…

Allium Stipitatum White Giant | A beautiful image by Vova Zinger’s Photoblog.

Try New Beaver Slap | Couldn’t stop laughing reading this gem by Joanne the Geek.

Next week…

Five Word Weekly and Four Line Fiction and some new T-Shirt Wisdom, Have a great week everyone,

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2323 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2323 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Wildfires dot the northern landscape, dry conditions and an abundance of debris on the forest floor fueling burns that are raging out of control. Hundreds of miles away the sun is all but blotted out and the smell of smoke hangs heavy in the suburban air…

Sounds like one of Fandango’s story starters but it isn’t. It was actually the scene over many eastern cities from Toronto to New York as some 200+ wildfires burned across Northern Ontario and Quebec.

As the hellfires raged on it became increasingly apparent that the response from our cities and towns in the path of the smoke may have been blown out of proportion. That seems to be the norm in today’s world. For example, Nate’s baseball was cancelled on Tuesday, the first wave of the smoke storm to pass through, due to air quality concerns however by Thursday all the hype had died out and even though the air quality was worse than Tuesday the games went on. Even a joke I shared about the cancellation on the team chat drew gasps from outraged parents. Really, all I said was,

Like all things, the smoke blew over and everything returned to normal.

This week in music I’ve headed back to 1984. The Human League was known for lush synth-pop tracks with 80’s staples like Don’t You Want Me and (Keep Feeling) Fascination. I’ve reached back for something that was less successful but arguably stands the test of time better than the band’s more commercially successful works. It was rumoured that the band had a no-guitars rule, it was the 80s and they were a synth band after all. Whether that was true or not I don’t know but if it was, breaking that rule was a great idea for this week’s track – The Lebanon. The song was written about the civil war that raged on in Lebanon in the early 1980s.

The week in review…

Brand Management
The future of A.I. from Paula at Light Motifs II. Hope there is a wife model too!

In the Music Which Touches My Mind
An exploration of the connection between emotion and music by written by Rockstar Girl at Is It Real or Fantasy.

Our Party Platform
A fitting piece by Fandango at This, That and the Other considering the planet appears to be burning to the ground! Probably pie in the sky to think politicians will change though.

Inkwell
A powerful poem written by Rebecca at Is It Real or Fantasy

A Thorny Problem
Maybe they used the same A.I. Generator for the campaign idea? Written by the business-savvy Sadje at Keep It Alive.

Florian Schneider via Unsplash

No responses to this great image. I am going to keep it up/ reissue it for another week and see what happens.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

T-Shirt Wisdom Wednesday | You’ll need your wits about you for this one!

Creative Writing Monthly (2307) | The inaugural post for the new Creative Writing Monthly challenge. Get your submissions in before the end of July.

Empire In Decline: The New America | Some observations of America post-Trump, from an outsider!

Around the Blogosphere…

Next week…

Five Word Weekly and Four Line Fiction, Have a great week everyone,

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2322 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2322 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

How is everyone doing? Sunday Review is coming at you a day late as I was away in Columbus, Ohio for the Capital City Showdown. If you follow my blog you will know that my daughter plays fastpitch at a very competitive level. You may even recall seeing the Queens of the Diamond series of images that ran weekly last summer or more recently in last week’s Sunday Digest.

I did not take the camera out of its bag this week. I just sat back and watched in awe of these young women playing their butts off over four days.

The girls went 5-2 in the tournament. Not enough to advance to the final but a great showing nonetheless. For her efforts, my baby (she will kill me if she ever reads this) had a great tournament. I didn’t keep track in the first two games but I know she got hits in both games. In the last five games, she was 9-13 at the dish with three doubles and two home runs. The two dingers coming in the middle of a string of six consecutive at-bats with at least a base hit. She was on fire at the hot corner too. Solid defence and a hot bat earned her two Player of the Game honours over the seven.

Although our stay in Columbus was uneventful it was interesting. Not the America I remember but I will leave that for another post I’m working on. What I have realized is I really don’t like long drives anymore. Six and a half hours is way too long. Even with a couple of stops, I was so stiff I didn’t think I was going to be able to pull my @$$ out of my seat when we arrived.

The drive down and back meant my favourite radio stations weren’t available. That had me making use of the free Sirius XM promo I signed up for a couple of months back. (Note to self: Cancel before it goes to full price.) I ended up listening to 1st Wave, the 80’s Alt Rock channel. The classics of my youth. Not everything stands the test of time, but surprisingly a lot of my music is still relevant. In particular, I caught myself crooning (probably a bad word to describe my singing) to Australia’s Midnight Oil when they played it, remembered almost all the words my favourites too. The critically acclaimed Deisel and Dust was the Australian band’s most successful offering. Rolling Stone named it the best album of 1988, the year it was released in the United States. Did you know the lead singer (pictured at right) was a prominent politician who served in the Australian parliament? Here are a couple of my favs from Diesel and Dust…

The week in review…

Slipknot
Proof that it doesn’t have to be perfect when it’s made with love written by Diana at Writer Ravenclaw.

When the Flower Began to Rain
A stream-of-consciousness piece written by Rockstar Girl at Is It Real or Fantasy.

Friendly Banter
Come on guys we can all relate to the twins in this Fandango from This, That and the Other tale. Olivia just doesn’t understand!

Darrell’s Deadly Disposal
A disposal dilemma for the creepy Darrell written by Christine at Stine Writing. If you come across him remember it’s a slipknot!

Captive
A tale of greed, coverups, and dissenting voices written by Sadje at Keep It Alive.

SH Lam via Unsplash

Once Upon a Love Story
A story about a story that never gets written by Rockstar Girl at Is It Real or Fantasy.

A Slice of Space
A poem about freedom and the ability to escape into the heavens by Sadje at Keep It Alive.

Wear a Hat
A highly flammable situation brought to us by Fandango at This, That and the Other

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

It’s June | A Leave It to Beaver meme to celebrate the turning of the calendar to the sixth month of the year.

Around the Blogosphere…

Next week…

Five Word Weekly, Four Line Fiction, T-Shirt Wisdom Wednesday and for sure the launch of my delayed new monthly feature. Have a great week everyone,

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2321 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2321 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Baseball (and soccer) season is here. Not the pros, I mean for my kids.

Last weekend was spent following my daughter’s ‘Queens of the Diamond, tournament in Brantford. Man has she gotten good. Stellar defence and a beast (I’m sure she’d love the description) at the plate with four homers and a bunch of hits.

She makes me proud as both Team Ontario and Team Canada are scouting her to play for them. I don’t know how she does it. The time she spends practicing while maintaining grades in the high 90s.

Then there is my little guy. He is seven and plays t-ball and soccer. With my excellent guidance, he has the hardest and most accurate throw on the Cubs. Sometimes scarily so, it’s house league t-ball so there are a bunch of kids who have never played, can’t throw and can’t catch. When they are warming up or he’s making a throw to first I’m afraid he might maim one of them. Now if I could just get him to pay attention playing in the field. The dirt and gravel are like a magnet to little boys and girls and at any given moment 4 or 5 of the rugrats are playing in the dirt.

Between various kids sports, I managed to get my herbs planted and take a pile of garbage to the dump. The vegetable garden will have to wait until next week. The damned bushy-tailed rats a.k.a. squirrels have already dug up the parsley to bury nuts or something. They are a menace!

Another podcast listing week but I did find a great relaxation album to play at bed time. It includes the natural sounds of the great Dan Gibson. Gibson was a Canadian Environment Sound Recordist. His Solitudes series of recordings have sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Some contain the pure sounds of nature and others include relaxation music with the sounds of the natural world. A naturalist who turned his passion into a very successful business.

The week in review…

Fine and Dandy
Susan at Sillyfrog’s Blog gives us a tale of a grandson who unwittingly ends up in the middle of a row between his grandparents.

How I Almost Skidded Off the Path of Dreams
A reflection on how life has an uncanny knack of putting us right where we need to be written by Rockstar Girl at Is It Real or Fantasy.

Elixer
A fantastical trip into the world of wolves and magic and wolf by Paula at Light Motifs II.

By the Beach
Sadje at Keep It Alive gives us a poem that is a beautiful manual for life.

Was It You?
Fandango at This, That and The Other passing gas for our reading amusement!

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

T-Shirt Wisdom Wednesday | The bi-weekly feature poking fun at selective hearing this week.

Green Mountain Gold | Written for Chel Owens Terrible Poetry Contest for May 2023. Still one of my favourite WordPress challenges.

Around the Blogosphere…

Winner of the Terrible Poetry Contest | Lots of cheesy, and I mean that literally as this month’s theme was Vermont Cheddar, poetry hosted by Chel Owens.

Next week…

Five Word Weekly, Four Line Fiction are on tap plus the launch of a new monthly feature. Have a great week everyone,

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2320 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2320 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

As a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, I have been watching the drama at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) unfold. Kyle Dubas the General Manager is out it what appears to be an ill-advised and poorly executed grab at power gone awry.

If you believe the story as masterfully woven by team President and former player Brendan Shanahan it might have been the worst play, much like the team’s feeble on-ice powerplay during the playoffs. With a newly negotiated contract all but done, except for the signatures, Dubas held his year-end press conference against Shanny’s better advice. During that presser, Dubas whose contract was set to expire July 1st revealed that he might not be interested in returning to Toronto (or anywhere else) for family reasons. It was a real tear-jerker where he outlined how it had been a difficult year and the pressures of the Leaf’s GM job were weighing heavily on his family’s shoulders. That would turn out to be his first mistake, publicly sowing the seed of doubt as to his commitment to the job and organization. It certainly had Shanny raising a Spockian eyebrow from his perch in the President’s office.

Strike two came after two days of radio silence when Dubas’ agent delivered a new proposal that significantly altered the all-but-finalized deal Shanny and the Leaf brass believed was in place. More power, more money, or both – nothing has been fully confirmed but there is no doubt it was some combination of the two that clearly made the Monday press conference look like a powerplay where Dubas used his family as pawns in his high-stakes plan. Shanny and the MLSE board of directors would certainly have some decisions to make.

In the mids of that process, Dubas once again reached out to the Leafs, presumably realizing the gaff he and his agent had made and sent Shanahan an email saying he was ready to sign the original deal and get back to work as the Leafs GM. Later that morning Shanny drove out to Dubas’ office at the Leafs training center in Etobicoke and informed Dubas the MLSE had decided to move in a different direction.

And just like that the Dubas era was over in Toronto. Shanahan feeling as though the unknown guy from the Soo Greyhounds he took a flyer on nine years earlier had knifed him in the back. The fans who wanted blood were partially appeased after an embarrassing second-round exit from the quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup. Still, the structural problem Dubas leaves behind because of the dollars being spent on the “Core 4” (Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander) will be an albatross for anyone new stepping into the position.

My week has been spent in training at work. It has left me sore and aching all over. This out-of-shape guy is getting too old for that kind of physical stuff. I did certify for another three years so that part is good. And I did get a couple of new posts up as well. Woohoo!

This week wasn’t a music week. I spent most of my listening credits catching up on my favourite podcasts including Ologies, Startalk, The Bob McCown Podcast, The Gibby Show and Hidden Brain. As for music, I heard Louis and Ella singing Dream A Little Dream at Starbucks the other day. What a dynamic duo they made.

The week in review…

A Mother’s Fortune
A touching story of the joy our children bring us by Susan at Sillyfrog’s Blog.

Simply
A poem of reflection written by ve poem written by Rebecca at Is It Real or Fantasy.

Took Us Long Enough
A continued exploration of love in Rockstar Girl’s Love Part 2 series posted at Where Stories Can Spark Their Magic.

He’s My Brother
The family you are stuck with as demonstrated by Fandango at This, That and the Other

Buzzkill
The silence of missing bees creates quite a buzz in Paula at Light Motifs II story.

Unveiling the Power of Simplicity
A reminder of how effective simplicity can be in our lives by Pankaj Kumar at The Inkwell.

Good News
Sadje at Keep It Alive captures the anxiety of an old techie looking for work in a young person’s game.

William the Ant
A bad day for William and his fellow colonists written by Echoes of the Soul at My Tales Within.

Unknown

The Big Swim
Paula at Light Motifs reminds us of what it was like to swim across the pool on our own for the very first time.

They Ignored the Warnings
Fandango gives us a dose of reality if we don’t act to stop or even reverse the warming trend we’ve brought upon our world.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

Contextus Indignus | Written for Girlie On the Edge’s Six Sentence Stories and Fandango’s One Word Challenge.

Bowdlerizing-Is-Censorship | Written for Fandango’s Provocative Question.

Around the Blogosphere…

Ummm…

Next week…

Five Word Weekly, Four Line Fiction and T-Shirt Wisdom are on tap plus hopefully some new original content.

In other news, I am considering launching a new monthly challenge in June or July. Something to allow the writer freedom to explore and develop longer stories. Stay tuned.

Have a great week everyone,

Credits and Additional Information

2319 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

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2319 – Sunday Digest: The Week in Review

Driving into work on this Sunday, Mother’s Day I find myself listening to Levar Burton, yes that LeVar Burton of Star Trek and Roots fame. I have dipped into the show’s archive and found “The Paper Menagerie”, one of my favourite short stories from the LeVar Burton Reads podcast.

The Paper Menagerie is a gut-wrenching story of a boy born to an American father and his mail-order bride from Hong Kong. Although I can not relate to the struggles of being a “half-breed” in white America and all the negative connotations that come with that in late 20th-century America, I can understand the struggle between generations. The animosity between a child and a parent. Ken Liu crafts an emotionally charged world of sorrow and struggle offset by the magic of his Mother’s origami animals. This Nebula, Hugo and World Fantasy Awards winner seemed a perfect fit for Mother’s Day.

Speaking of Mother’s Day, in one of the more politically correct, woke, NO – just plain moronic twists one of the local school boards has ordered the removal of a Mother’s Day sign that Grade Six students had come up with.

Some including Gad Saad a Canadian professor and author who suggested “Mother’s Day is too exclusionary. Please be sensitive for community cohesion.”

Toronto Life

To appease the few at the expense of the many, the sign was replaced with a less offensive message.

Make this month count.
Accomplish your goals.
You can do this.

The school’s first attempt at posting the new message contained a blatantly misspelled Acomplish / Accommplish / Acommplish. Perhaps more time on reading and writing and less time on social engineering should be the order of the day!

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.

School boards across this country have cancelled Mother’s and Father’s Day over concerns of inclusivity. Corporations have opted to forgo advertising campaigns or allow subscribers to opt out of receiving such materials and governmental agencies, universities, and mainstream publications now frequently refer to “pregnant people” or even “birthing people” instead of mothers.

“As we continue to learn and recognize the importance of celebrating all people in our community, we have moved away from isolated observances of specific traditions like Mother’s and Father’s Day,” the vice principal of Kildonan East Collegiate, a public high school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, wrote in a memo.

Of course, this is all ridiculous. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. I am sorry that the generations since yours have messed this world up so bad that we can’t even show our appreciation for the person who brought us into this world.

I won’t trouble you with any Maple Leafs talk this week although I heard that Auston and Mitch (Marner) scored a combined three-under at Glen Abbey. That’s three more birdies than goals scored by Matthews against the Florida Panthers.

The Sam Roberts Band out of Montreal released some new music recently that I heard for the first time this week. The new single Picture of Love is a great listen.

The week in review…

Doing An Investigative
A naughty romance story penned by Paula at Light Motifs II

Splashdown
The perils of one of the most dangerous times for an astronaut, re-entry and recovery written by Fandango at This, That and the Other.

Better Sorry Than Safe
A stream-of-consciousness piece about love written by Rockstar Girl at Where Stories Can Spark Their Magic

Sol
Rebecca at Is It Real or Fantasy gives us a poem with some powerful imagery

Karsten Winegeart via Unsplash

Weightlessness
Experience the emotion of a Mother’s worst nightmare with Susan at Sillyfrog’s Blog.

Childhood Magic
A skillful juxtaposition of time and our youth by Sadje at Keep It Alive.

More highlights from Greg’s Blog…

T-Shirt Wisdom Wednesday

Around the Blogosphere…

Ummm…

Next week…

Five Word Weekly, Four Line Fiction and at least one original piece. Consider that last one a challenge to myself since it’s been pretty barren at the blog lately.

In other news, I am considering launching a new monthly challenge in June or July. Something to allow the writer freedom to explore and develop longer stories. Stay tuned.

Have a great week everyone,

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