Checkered Lounge Pants

I have been in Boston for almost a week. Weather is coolish and wet but no snow. I will be here for 3 weeks and then fly back to Winnipeg to get me car. I hope to spend a month or so golfing (if it doesnt snow) and then drive to Ahmerstburg and settle down for the summer. I got a tip on a little small house in town and will get my stuff out of storage and make that my summer home.

I have been struggling for a meaningful publication this month or miss my first monthly post in 10 years. "Today is the day"...as the line goes in the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I got all my to do tasks completed over the last few weeks. Condo renos and deco completed and Visas, permits and licenses have all been renewed. I also attended my first committee meeting since retiring from the union almost 10 years ago. Roberts Rules of Order yay. It was the condo committee that is embroiled in a conflict with the past committee members and the present. It was comical watching an inexperience committee struggling to keep order in a meeting full of multilingual condo owners and bitter past members promoting chaos. I was hard pressed to remain silent while the walls of order slowly crumbled around a committee chairperson without a gavel. There was lots of finger pointing and blaming by old members and new that fueled the flames of conflict, besides the obvious jealous...

Hey there.... I have come to that time in my winter home to get all my dux in a row. I have to renew my retirement visa and my motorbike license and my automobile license before I head back to Canada. Its all been done before so its not like its new ground to walk. Speaking of new ground I bought some property this trip. I purchased a modest condo and will be giving up my leased condo after this winter. I hope I enjoy owning one as much as I enjoyed this one. The Thai family here ran a very quiet, serene and tranquil little complex of apartments and condos and treated us very well. I will miss them and the ladies that do the domestics. Talk to you in March. Cheers.

"It's becoming increasingly clear that the aroma of bigotry infuses the whole operation, and anybody who aligns too closely will end up sharing in the stench,"  David Brooks  

The Con Bigots and the Quebec City Massacre I wonder how Kellie Leitch, our sad Trump impersonator, is feeling today. Not so good I imagine. Or should I say, I hope. For on Saturday as I told you yesterday, she attacked a private member's bill designed to crack down on violent Islamophobia. Only to look like an idiot or a beast the very next day.

Hi there. Well it's been almost 6 weeks since getting to my home in Thailand. Great to see my Ning again. We video chat everyday we are apart and she works so much that I feel like I see her more when apart but it is good chemistry for us. We spent a week up in her village for rice harvest and that was fun. Weather seems cooler than I remember from last year but still over 30C everyday. Nights go down to 24C and that seems cool once I am climatized. Still haven't broke out the golf clubs. Talk to you later. Cheers.

David Suzuki Slams Conservative Party's Trump-Like 'Rejection Of Facts' Article Byline Information Posted: 11/21/2016 7:08 pm EST Updated: 11/22/2016 8:36 am EST Much like climate change, the effects of Donald Trump's election will not stay on the southern side of the U.S.-Canada border. There have already been hate crimes since the American election results and, as David Suzuki told The Huffington Post Canada, Trump's anti-diversity and "frightening" campaign rhetoric is being echoed by Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch and her party. "Trump's campaign really was based on the rejection of facts and rationality," Suzuki said, connecting U.S. Republican candidates' climate change denial during their primary season with a similar stance by Canada's Conservative party leadership contenders. "We had the recent debate among Conservatives and Michael Chong got up and said he favoured some kind of carbon tax and he ...

Edited time: 22 Nov, 2016 01:52 Cranes are seen at the No. 3 reactor building, next to the No.4 building, at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (Tepco) tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture. © Kimimasa Mayama / Reuters The cooling system of the third reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant has stopped circulating water following a powerful 7.3 offshore earthquake. TEPCO said it managed to restart the system some 90 minutes after the failure. LIVE UPDATES: 7.3 Fukushima quake & tsunami The cooling system servicing the Unit 3 spent fuel pool was not able to circulate water to cool the nuclear fuel because of a broken pump, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Agency. The temperature in the pool went up to 28.7 degrees Celsius. It takes up to seven days for temperatures to rise to 65 degrees Celsius, which is the upper operational limit, Japan’s national nuclear agency said. According to NHK, cooling equipment ...

Happy October to all my golf buddies and winter friends. I am getting in the last few good weather golf days in Essex County before heading to Winnipeg next week. I met some new golf friends and renewed old ones. I have a fully slated week of teetimes and close out Saturday with a reverse scramble golf tournament and banquet and a Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday with my host family. They have been so gracious and kind for the last 5 weeks it will be hard to say goodbye but goodbye I must OR as my grandkids so prophetically say "see you later". Goodbyes are so much easier that way. I see snow in the forecasts in Manitoba so I hope I dont have to raise a shovel or a scarf before I fly out to Asia. I do hope I get a few golf days in with my cousin Archie Grift before the snow falls. As Buddha says "Do not dream of the future. Concentrate the mind in the present moment." My brother asked me to house-sit for him and Gloria while they go state-side for a holiday. My c...

Hello to you... Spent the last month in Essex County as planned. Could not procure a house but I rented a loft studio (old gym) from old VIA Rail buddy Joe LeBlanc. It's primal minimalistic but it has a TV and satellite and jacuzzi shower and futon. I rescued my AC out of storage and Joe graciously installed it while I got a router to connect to his server with wifi. I Will hunt down a residence this spring.  Getting in lots of golf and caught up with friends.  Will head back to Winnipeg very soon and make my rounds before heading to Asia for the winter to see my Ning and tend my cattle..  Cheers. 

Hi there, I spent the summer in New England and it was a blast. Spent a lot of time wandering the ocean shores along Marblehead and Nahant and got to hop the ferry and wander Martha's Vineyard too. Also had a great time in New Hampshire at the RV trailer with the kids. After 5 weeks I headed back to Canada. I plan to stay here until the end of September and then start the journey back to the winter condo. I haven't done much golfing since June but perhaps I will find some golfers here in Ontario's Essex County. Cheers.

It's been two months back home in Canada. Crashed at Moms coop condo and caught up with brothers. I borrowed some golf clubs and brushed up on the game. It nice golfing when it's only 27C. Got the game back down to 20ish handicap. Lol.  This week it's road trip to Boston in the new car. Love the zippy  Chevy Turbo charged fuel grinch 1.4 l Eco. Looking forward to seeing the kids and the beach.  I'll be in touch. 

"It’s a routine that feels darkly familiar: Republicans blame radical Islamic terrorists, Democrats blame lax gun laws, and everyone sends thoughts and prayers."

I flew back to Canada 3 weeks ago and been visiting with friends and family and getting reacquainted with climate and time zone (noon here is midnight at my condo in Asia). I came in from a two hour hike yesterday to the plan to go see a Pow Wow. ( noun   pow-wow.  a North American Indian ceremony involving feasting, singing, and dancing.) That was my first time I witnessed a Pow Wow. It was an international gathering of First Nations and sponsored by the Manitob Ahee council. The drum groups were shivering and the dancers were of all ages and shook the entire floor when the entire nations assembled. It was spectacular.  I had a very good time for two hours and felt more than welcome but then started to feel outside so I left. Nonetheless I would enjoy attending again in a more natural aboriginal setting if the chance ever arises.  Two memories will stay with me from the PowWow. They are: 1. a quote that went "Religion has all the good answers ...

I am, by any reasonable measurement, old. And yet, more often than not, I feel ageless. Not young, mind you. Ageless. Without age. Nevertheless, the two things create a sort of cognitive dissonance--when the fact of something doesn't sync up with the experience of it. Of course, it's possible that what I'm feeling is the fact. Ageless is some kind of basic spiritual truth, and being old is simply an experience that we choose to have. We could, for instants, pee often and slowly; make odd, involuntary grunting noises while getting out of the chair; have difficulty seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, copulating, remembering, bending our fingers and breathing, while remaining a field of awareness that exists outside the illusion of time. We also could complain all day and take lots of naps. As I said, it's a choice.

Well ...after almost two years it's time to head home to Canada. Flying out in 3 weeks by Bangkok Shanghai Vancouver Winnipeg route.  Much different here in the resident mode from the tourist mode. The daily ritualized routines become no different whether the groceries are gathered at the Thai market or Sobeys, or the coffee run at the local Benjits or Tim Hortons regardless of where home is. Imagine if you will, being a tourist at home. I am looking forward to it ...besides the criminally expensive mobile charges and the outrageous cable TV packages and the Internet limitations however.  I rented an apartment for my Ning (and my golf clubs). She has stayed at the massage shop every summer I go home so this room will be long overdue. It sounds very extravagant but prices here are not comparable to back home. My monthly storage fees at U-Hail are almost as much as an apartment  here. Crazy eh? I posted an ad in Kijiji  for a farmhouse ...

Got back from Hanoi last week. That was a great adventure for this old guy. Three of us flew out of Bangkok and bussed from Hanoi to Sapa for three days. We biked to the Hmong villages in the mountains and drove to the China border and waved. We reconnoitered back in Hanoi and then went to HaLong Bay  and went for a two hour cruise. Great scenery but boat ride was soured by crew pushing to sell schtick most of the time. Toronto Gerry yelled at crew lady to sit in the galley and let us have peace and quiet.  Bad news...Ning got her reply from Canada embassy and her visa was declined. Back to the drawing board.... Ill be in touch.

Went to Bangkok on Monday and saw the folks at visa application center that EMBASSY recommended for visitor visa for Ning. That went much much much better than expected. Navigated my way through Bangkok public transit system and found the VAC on the 28tj floor of sky scraping office tower. They had a specific canAda office and provided missing forms And polished up my pile of documents with Ning and filed the application to Canadian embassy Fly to Hanoi on Saturday. Got hotel booked for two nights then bus up to Sapa. Rent motorcycles and ride to China. Should be a gas.

‘Refrigerators, Towels, Whatever You Want,’ Residents Say DETROIT—Emphasizing that its workforce and facilities were just waiting for the go-ahead to start up production, the city of Detroit pleaded with the American people Tuesday to just give it something—anything at all, really—to manufacture. Mayor Mike Duggan, addressing reporters on behalf of a municipality where the unemployment rate remains above 10 percent, repeatedly asserted Detroit’s willingness to turn raw materials into finished products of any kind, be they plastic goods, textiles, electrical equipment, industrial supplies, metal products, paper, chemicals, heavy machinery, biomaterials, processed foods, or something else entirely. “The city of Detroit is eager to build anything and everything for the American people—seriously, whatever you guys want,” said Duggan, who recently sent a press release to thousands of CEOs nationwide explaining that tens of thousands of employees and many millions of square ...

Hello there....this marks 10 years with CLP. I have taken great care to launch a monthly, bi-monthly or multi-monthly post over the last 10 years. I have met, rekindled, resurrected many valued and treasured friendships, acquaintances and loves and linked the CLN to cover the last decade of my monthly thoughts, pleasures, joys, passions and peeves to share with friends and foes alike. I have resided in, the last 10 years, Winnipeg, Windsor, the Erie Shores (alongside the wineries-hic), Montreal, Thailand, and visited China,Vancouver, Boston, South Bend, Burma, Laos and Vietnam. I take great pride in being entrusted with the voice and privilege of presiding the Canadian rail workers' elected choice and voice, nationally for the best part of the decade until I was allowed and granted their permission to retire my services and watch from afar. Colleagues and adversaries were always a vibrant and challenging measure to achieving the will and pleasure during that time in my career. ...