What brings you out here?
We were out at the airport on Friday picking up Ethan and Catherine when I spotted our next door neighbours, Bob and Dorothy.“Oh, hi there… what brings you folks out here today?”, I greeted them.“We’re...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Benefit for Morley Pinsent
Twenty-one years ago, Morley Pinsent was the first person on Prince Edward Island I ever talked to on the telephone (also, via ye olde campinse@atlas.cs.upei.ca on the old UPEICA*Net service, he was...
View ArticleWhat is Friendship?
There’s a book that Oliver and I are quite fond of called The Survival Guide for Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders (And Their Parents). We found it in the book shop at the Ontario Science Centre in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Ethan the Lubricator
Right there on the Autism Assistance Dog page at Dog Guides Canada it says this about one of the roles that Ethan might play in our lives:The bond that develops between the Dog Guide and child allows...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The One Where the New Bathtub Pays for Itself
It’s coming up to the end of East Coast Music Week here in Charlottetown, a yearly celebration, showcase, and conference for the music industry in eastern Canada and, for those of us lucky enough to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The place you go where old people aren't old anymore...
I turned 48 on Saturday, which we celebrated with breakfast at Kettle Black followed by an enthusiastic shovelling session to extricate our car from the ice and snow. I could swear we were picking...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lubricate often.
It suddenly dawned on me, after a year of use, that I hadn’t been properly lubricating my Golding Jobber No. 8 letterpress. I’d been greasing the axel, yes, but I’d completely ignored the little...
View ArticleGabrielle Papillon
After four days of wall-to-wall music at East Coast Music Week, and a few days to let it all sink in, my favourite discovery has emerged as Gabrielle Papillon, a Nova Scotia singer-songwriter I had the...
View ArticlePersonally, I blame Wendy MacDonald...
Back when Oliver was in elementary school I resolved that if any member of our household was to become involved in the Home and School association it would be me; Catherine is an inveterate, dedicated...
View Article"Why have you started drinking milk in your coffee, Nana?"
My paternal grandmother – we called her “Nana” – died in 1999 at the age of 84. We were fortunate to have her visit us here on Prince Edward Island several times after we moved here, and it was so long...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fox Creeps into Province House
Here’s my new Prince Edward Island license plate. I paid the $10 premium to support conservation (hence the red fox) and get the special 3-letter variety (the standard is 5); the LHO was what got...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sadat's Cuisine
Sadat’s Cuisine is a new restaurant in Charlottetown just opened at the corner of Grafton and Cumberland, across from Holland College. It’s located in a space occupied by various convenience and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Is Charlie Brown a Good Man?
For several weeks now we’ve been subjected to entertained by rehearsals for You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown here in the Reinventorium, another fringe benefit of having an office colocated with PEI’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
375 Bodoni 14 pt.
I’m working on a tiny part of a 2014 Sesquicentennial Public Art Program piece with artist Brenda Whiteway. Ironically, Brenda and I came together by way of Papeterie Saint-Armand in Montreal, where...
View ArticleFiring up the Cruise Ship Boilers
Another cruise ship season starts next week – May 8, 2014 – here in Charlottetown. Over the period from then until November there are 68 scheduled visits by 12 cruise ships.The Charlottetown Seaport...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The best way to get intimate with a typeface...
Remember that Bodoni 14 pt. that arrived earlier in the week? Well type is useless if you don’t have a holder for it, and so today the solution to that issue arrived: two California job cases from Don...
View ArticleKrisis
You may recall that four years ago I found myself spending 3 weeks sorting type, the result of having purchase 30 pounds of Bodoni 12 point that came to me slightly out of sorts.One of the things I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Letter to Canadians
The krisis set aside for the moment, I’ve moved on to setting Jack Layton’s “Letter to Canadians.”Now that the cabinet itself is springing to life I feel the hot breath of urgency on my neck.Next up:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lost in the Barrens
I have never been one of those Canadians wrapped up in the romance of the North. Except that I have been: when I was a kid, Farley Mowat’s Lost in the Barrens was a transformative book for me; I truly...
View Article