Last night on CBC’s The National there was a story about off-shore oil resources in Nova Scotia. There’s an on-going fight between the federal and provincial governments over who will get the revenues from the millions of barrels of crude oil being pumped from hundreds of metres below the ocean floor off the Nova Scotia coast. While the reporter told the story, the TV showed the massive rigs on the water with tall steel frame towers aflame at the tips with surplus gas. It occurred to me to wonder how we got to the place where we fuel our society with rotten compressed plant matter. It doesn’t make a lot…

Suzy and I are looking for a car. It makes me sick. There’s no worse investment, and few industries more driven (excuse the pun) by vanity over function. And the worst thing is, I would LOVE to have an SUV, for the power and comfort and the tent-trailer tow potential, even though SUV drivers are killing the planet (like guns, it’s not the object that does the damage, but the user). My neighbour Barb drives a minivan but covets a Hummer, mostly so she can have Bite Me written on the back. We really like Barb. So, being compelled to shop for a car under these circumstances, with this kind…

With the five-week campaign wrapping up, everyone was relieved, if tense. The media was speculating about an upset or at least a minority — the Liberals in free-fall under a new leader. Nobody saw it coming. Just a couple of months earlier, the Liberals seemed untouchable. Then Brian Mulroney won 204 seats, the largest Progressive Conservative majority in Canadian history. The Liberals were reduced to 40. It was September 4, 1984. That night I was pumping gas at MacLean’s grocery in Winsloe, PEI. MacLean’s was a family-owned, one-cashier spot next to the Lion’s Club on Highway 2. We lived across the road and bought all our groceries there. So did…

Please contact me if you feel good/inspired/hopeful about Monday’s federal election. I would like to understand you. You’re probably in the minority. But minorities rule here. Consider the fact that the Liberals have governed Canada for 11 years with just over 40% of the popular vote. More people voted against them than for them. And if you factor into the equation the fact that only 60% of the electorate voted last time, 40% of that is an even smaller cheering section. No wonder we no longer see the big hockey arenas packed with the placard-waving public. And who votes? It seems that young people have given up (only 18% of…

Still no baby. Anticipation is quickly turning to anxiety as “two weeks overdue” approaches this week. Today we have an ultrasound scheduled, to check on the baby’s condition and to assess things like the amount of amniotic fluid. The results of the ultrasound will determine the next course of action — whether to induce labour, or continue to wait! The prospect of going to the hospital for a diagnostic ultrasound makes me want to hurl. It’s too horribly familiar (after 20+ such tests that preceeded Jasper’s birth at 4 months premature). Suzy is also tense, though stoic. I’m angry. Stress and anxiety related to birth is miserable, and I’m resisting…

Baby Update Check out the Simon Eye for a picture each day. Simon’s First Web Album. Renovation 2004 OK, OK, here are the kitchen photos. Click on a small pic to see a larger version. Aware Today’s the first day of summer. We’re half-way to 2005, which is half-way to 2010. I’m still getting used to this decade; it still needs a name. “The Ohs?” I read somewhere last week that DNA starts to break down at age 35, age spots appear, bifocals follow. That explains the faint brown blotch on my right hand, but I’m actually seeing better than ever lately. It’s only this spring that I noticed that…

I fell asleep at the breastfeeding appointment today, with Simon also asleep on my lap. I have faint memories of Suzy and lactation consultant Lana squeezing the areole (too tired to look up the correct spelling), of a nylon “kit breast” into the mouth of Armand, the afro-haired cabbage patch kid newborn. The heat was up in the consultant’s office, a south facing room in a suburban house, and the door was shut to keep out the poodle. When I woke up I noticed a dusty Christmas snow globe on the window sill and a sticker asking fire fighters to please, please save the poodle and the rabbit. Bunny was…

Can’t get this song out of my head Does anyone remember this music? I never imagined I’d be singing it to my wife to distract her from screaming labour pain… The Simon Eye NEW: Daily pics are back! The cam site page needs to be customized, but for now it just does what it needs to … show a picture! A big thanks to Elizabeth in TO for being the Simon Eye tester! Simon Tenzin Fraser Hickox was born Tuesday, June 15 at 3:38 p.m. Ottawa time. His arrival was greatly anticipated and nearly two weeks late. He is a big guy, weighing in at a whopping 9 lb 7…

One of these days there will be a birth announcement here. Sooner rather than later, hopefully. Suzy is now a week overdue and we’re starting to think this little bundle is never coming out. Last week was full of nervous anticipation. This week we are kinda bored. But there is exciting news! I’ve discovered that Mini Wheats cereal is now available in brown sugar coating, not just white. Oh, and the Green Party is now polling at 7% nationally.

So we have a choice this month between the old familiar Liberals, and the “New” Conservatives. Oh, yeah, and the Decades-old New Democrats. Is it any wonder why people are tuning out? Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear some new ideas? The Green Party has 6% support in the polls and candidates in all 308 ridings. They have a credible national platform, and offer a balanced and middle-of-the-spectrum approach. If you are surprised to hear this, it’s because The Media Doesn’t Want You To Know. This week, a consortium of executives from the main TV networks has decided that the Green Party should not have a place in the upcoming…

“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…

Grandpa gripped my hand as I leaned over his hospital bed. There wasn’t much time. With the back of his other hand, he swept aside his oxygen mask and struggled to speak. “Remember: Love!” he said. His grip loosened. He was gone, and I didn’t understand. Until now. Ninety years earlier in south Wales, a six-year-old boy died. The death rippled through three generations and across the ocean to Prince Edward Island. In its wake were sadness, longing and doubt. Love had a limited meaning and we had forgotten why. The secret was buried in Wales, and is now set free. This is a story about the meaning of unconditional…

I write less here when I’m meditating more. Not sure what that means. I think it was Mordecai Richler who said that writing was his meditation. My meditation technique is Vipassana, a non-sectarian lifestyle practice that is connected to Buddhism but not beholden to it. (I don’t have a jolly fat man idol in my house). Vipassana strives to help people see things “as they are, not as you want them to be.” It’s a tough challenge. Essentially, what you do is sit or kneel in silence and start by monitoring your breath in and out of your nose. Then as the noise and clutter of your mind settles, you…