It is testimony to the alacrity and pertinacity of the membership of Mississippi Golf Club that when we arrived there before 9 o’clock this morning, in spite of the parking lot being already filled to capacity, we were the only ones sitting on the flagstone patio awaiting the arrival of our breakfast. Presumably all the others were hard at it on the links. Meanwhile as we nestled in and prepared to put on the nose bag, the view from the patio adjacent the first tee was divine! The greens had just been manicured. The river sparkled in the distance sedately wending its way ’round Glen Isle and through the Village of Appleton.

Continue reading →

L. G. William Chapman, B.A., LL.B.
Jamieson Mills
Almonte, ON K0A 1A0

August 16th, 2022

My dearest Fi,

Given the nature of your most recent correspondence, involving as it did grandchildren and sterling silver, I thought it most appropriate to reply in kind; that is, embracing the gravity of familial matters and inheritance.

Allow me first to say that you have – perhaps unwittingly – flattered me exponentially to suggest I have any especial acquaintance with these delicate matters. They are heady subjects with which frankly I have had but little confluence other than professionally as in estate administration generally, representing executors and dealing with banks. Upon reflection however it appears that I am entitled to some authority upon the very subject. When we effected our downsizing about a decade ago we auctioned everything. We dealt with auctioneers in Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal. I recognize that auctioneers do not necessarily address biological and related testamentary issues but as you clearly esteem their services may be or become apt.

The singular consequence of dealing with auctioneers is that nothing sells for what you think it is worth.  Indeed my experience is that some of them go so far as to investigate popular prices which they then reduce by 25%, insinuating it could probably be had for less (unless of course there is a reserve bid feature attached). And when it does sell, the auction fee of between 35 and 50% is deducted. What remains is yours or your grandchildren’s. Also, you have the memories of seemingly ephemeral ownership and/or possession. Remember those special dinners when it was such gasping delight to lay out the sterling silver flatware which you had so gleefully polished.  Best not to recall what I am guessing were the subsequent instances when the identical flatware lay in the lower drawer of the sideboard, perhaps wrapped in soft cotton swabs, becoming in any event appallingly tarnished.

Jumping ahead – since I realize I needn’t persist in this mournful account – I spoke today with Dupuis Jewellers who in turn directed me to Waddington’s. If I am to adjudge by my dealings with Dupuis, you will find Waddington’s helpful.

Best wishes to you and His Lordship! Looking forward to our rally in September!

Billy
Hugs & Kisses

https://www.waddingtons.ca/

If I had my druthers an ideal evening meal would be a compound of simplicity and traditional fare (as I have outlined below). And because this is entirely phantasmal and I no longer drink alcohol, I have added my former tipple choices as well.

Continue reading →

Though I don’t typically adjudge myself superstitious, the mythical inclination is on occasion oddly spirited by effervescence, a contradiction which I can only relate to some broader vermin in one’s life. It’s almost a chastisement reminiscent of religious training. To be blunt, the chilling illusion of despondency is by peculiar irrationality never far removed from affecting moments of cheerfulness. Nonetheless I resist the putative elevation of hesitancy and so-called worldliness to contaminate a perfectly desirable circumstance.

Continue reading →

What it is that compels perfect strangers to cast the mustard seed of their evangelicalism upon the infertile territory of my being I shall never understand. Nor in the meantime have I any intention to withstand the impropriety and trespass. I am strictly apostolic in that regard.  I accept that my determination to preserve my individualism and personal identity renders me close competition for those blackguards who insist upon remaining unvaccinated as though the recommendation were a violation of their entirety. Apart from that inconvenient and otherwise inapplicable likeness I persist to ride my bicycle without a helmet.

Continue reading →

Picture this: six hedonistic gentlemen in Provincetown, Cape Cod late September; nestling into a cultivated ambience of maritime antiquity, dissolving from the Tea Dance at the nearby iconic Boat Slip; dining upstairs in a restaurant on Commercial Street overlooking Cape Cod Bay.  The customary perfect, dry, warm weather abounds, the declining sunset over the dunes. After dinner at table, Johnnie nudges me, inviting me to retreat with him to the quiet bar adjoining. We do so. No doubt I lit a Winston cigarette en route to the dark mahogany bar to signify my retirement from the present scene.

Continue reading →

Our little country town has been overtaken by swarms of people erecting numerous large tents in the centre of town in preparation for the “Puppets Up!” weekend. And the weather could not be more perfect!  The air is decidedly fresh and breezy; the temperature 72ºF and the same is forecast for tomorrow.

Continue reading →

Endorsement of anyone for anything is to be contemplated cautiously. Although endorsement in the political arena is a public proclamation of support, it is more significantly an assertion of validation.  When appraising the pros and cons of an individual for public office, it helps to know more than the advertised credentials (such as the library board, the textile museum, the HUB, Almonte Centennial Celebrations and 2008 Mississippi Mills Cultural Volunteerism Award – all of which just happen to apply to Mary Lou Souter). The acid test however is more personal.

Continue reading →

“It isn’t the first time I’ve fallen off my bike!”, I cheerfully exclaimed from the ground as a young woman approached to ask if I were Okay. Seemingly I was of the opinion that the frequency of my bicycle accidents somehow diluted the embarrassment of struggling to remove my right leg from the bicycle which had collapsed onto the ground, throwing me onto the sidewalk.  And all this commotion while merely stopped – in the middle of town in the middle of the morning at the most prominent intersection directly across from the Town Hall – to press the button to activate the pedestrian crosswalk. I had lost my balance. I augmented my mortification by continuing my effort to remove my right leg from within the central crossbar of the bicycle. Meanwhile the curious woman babbled on about my having to rest and other matters about which I lost the thread.  Finally I succeeded to put myself upright and to ask the woman to elevate the downed bicycle to my awaiting grasp.

Continue reading →

“The traditional position of the Roman-Catholic church was absolute monarchy by divine decree, meaning the king has absolute power by the will of God, and that God gives a country the king it needs or deserves. At the end of the 18th century, this idea was being replaced by the Age of Enlightenment which used reason, scientific rigor, and reductionism – examining the differences in philosophical positions and reducing them into simpler statements.”

Excerpt From
War of 1812: A History From Beginning to End
Henry Freeman

Continue reading →