The big 'isms' - nationalism, socialism, communism, capitalism - of the 19th and 20th centuries have failed or are failing. New challenges have emerged - radical religious fundamentalism, climate change and environmental degradation, populist nativism in the democracies of the west, corruption, inequality on a national and global scale: where is the new and creative [...]
Month: August 2016
Seasonal contrasts, Prince Edward County
I wrote yesterday about Prince Edward County; I omitted to say that we love it in both summer and winter. In winter PEC is a veritable chocolate-box of Christmassy images (I know, getting a little sentimental here, but if you visited, you'd see what I mean) while summer is pure pastoral simplicity. Here are two [...]
Sandbanks, Prince Edward County
About two or three hours to the east of us lies Prince Edward County, an ink-blot of inlets and bays, valleys and hills, joined by an isthmus to mainland Ontario. It is one of our favourite places in the province, more rural and bucolic than Niagara and quite a bit bigger. There are some excellent [...]
Joshua Kroukamp attends his first barbecue
One month old, Joshua Kroukamp attends his first barbecue, with parents Eve and Sean, and the family dogs. A true South African.
US election: Nobody is talking about climate change — FT.com
In a post-factual world, where the term 'expert' is derided, people believe what they want to believe - which means believing what suits their education, their belief systems, their prejudices and their wallets. Yet climate change isn't something you vote on. It's a fact, and it's coming to a place near you, near me, and [...]
Dance of the Machines
We were walking home from dinner at Live the other night, on Rob's birthday, when we passed Leal's Rental: out front in the yard were multi-coloured boom lifts (I had to look that up, okay?) and they looked like they were dancing. Fortunately I had the Leica D-Lux with me. Colour or B&W? Your choice.
Can progress on climate change keep up with its quickening pace? – The Washington Post
We should apply the precautionary principle: this generation should not put off for the next generation what it can and should be doing today. via Can progress on climate change keep up with its quickening pace? - The Washington Post
Anniversary Reflections
It was Tolstoy who wrote that all happy families are the same; all unhappy families are unhappy in their own way. One might add, in less literary and philosophical, more mundane terms, all of us have to deal with our own circumstances. In our case, Rob's and mine, a relationship that started ten years ago [...]
10th Anniversary
Rob and I have been married for five years, but it is ten years since we met, on 25th July 2006, and started dating. We know the date, because I had to look it up in my diary for my application for permanent residence. We haven't, as a rule, made much of this - perhaps [...]
A boat on the lake
There are other boat builders on the Muskoka lakes, in addition to Dukes, and Rob and I visited some of the smaller ones in the course of her scouting. Here is one old lady of the lakes, all by herself in her dock, watched over - I think - by the company's founder.
