“Sometimes in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise till noon, rapt in a reverie, amidst the pines and hickories and sumachs, in undisturbed solitude and stillness, while the birds sang around…” (Henry David Thoreau. Walden) Jasper and I are back from the cabin in PEI. Watch for pictures soon. A few days in the woods is good for the soul. We rebuilt the bath house step, raked, and cleared out the spring. Friends brought us casserole with elbow macaroni in Pyrex. On Saturday afternoon we were in the side yard by the stream when I asked Jasper (4) if he’d…

Sometimes I dream I’m back in the south of France. It’s 1987. I have just two changes of clothes, a 10-speed bike that is four sizes too big, no money, and a forged rail pass for an 8 month university year in Nice. Not a great place to be cashless and clueless, but I wasn’t alone. There was a clutch of Canadians from the poor side of the tracks. We drank wine from tetra pak boxes and ate Baguette for all meals. Paté was our protein. I was anxious then, but not worried. And that’s a big difference. Life stretched before me like an untouched tapestry and we didn’t care…

Sunday was my wife’s birthday. She’s 34. Jasper wanted to give her something, so I thought I was so smart when I remembered that in my office closet was a bonus gift pack of Givenchy perfumes that I received when I bought Suzy a bottle of Amarige for Christmas. I remembered that someone had told me at the time that I could give the bonus gift to someone else — two gifts in one! The thing is, the person who told me was Suzy when she opened it at Christmas. Cadeau dejà vu. Lowell and Sharon are expecting. My brother and his wife, who live in Calgary, are due in…