Category Archives: Free
Newspaper Names: Read all About It!
I sport some newspaper genes. Many of my McArthur ancestors were journalists, my father spent his career producing the very paper on which your daily is printed, and, I, in my small way, write a regular column that appears on newsprint. … Continue reading
Filed under Collections, Free, HeeHee, History, How Cool is That?, Library Card
Around the Ville: Trains, Bikes and Atom Smashers
I’ve been tooling around the ‘Ville on my bepetalled cruiser, congratulating myself that I had the brains to insist on a bike with no gears to shift, a coaster break, and a saddle and handlebars that allow me to keep … Continue reading
Filed under Body, Free, Growing things, History, Home, The 'Ville, The Great Outdoors
Charlene’s Exterior Design
There’s nothing cheaper and more cheerful than having a neighbour who imagines charming seasonal decorations, executes them with originality and charm, and pulls all eyes from her neighbor’s house – the one with the overgrown garden and the peeling paint. … Continue reading
Filed under Free, History, Holidays, Home, How Cool is That?, On the Street Where I Live, The 'Ville
Things I Learned This Week
It was a weather week and an insomnia week. Weather: grey skies, nearby tornadoes, humidity and temps in the sixties. The low sixties. Insomnia: Asleep by four am, though I’d been twitching in bed since midnight, then bolt upright at … Continue reading
Filed under Body, Books, Free, History, Into the Mystic, Library Card, On the Street Where I Live, The 'Ville
In the Weeds
For the first time today I recognized, deep down, what restaurant cooks mean when they say they’re “in the weeds” or “weeded.” I mean, I’ve known for years that it means being so behind on your orders that it feels … Continue reading
Filed under Free, Growing things, On the Street Where I Live, The 'Ville, The Great Outdoors
Friends Bearing Food
I’m not naturally nostalgic, but I miss the tradition of sharing food with neighbours and buddies. “Tradition” is too strong a word — perhaps I mean “custom.” Growing up, Mummy pressed a few brownies on a plate to my friends … Continue reading
Filed under Food, Free, History, On the Street Where I Live, The 'Ville
Four Generations of Wedding Headgear
I thought it was a beautiful wedding. The dress was lovely, the reading from Romans unfamiliar to me, the trees along the nave of the Abbey brilliant, the Bishop of London’s sermon first class, if you’re fond of sermons. The … Continue reading
Filed under Cool Japanese Stuff, Free, History
Spring in the ‘Ville. Again.
Spring in northern Illinois is a warmer version of spring in Quebec — three weeks earlier but just as maddening. We hit 84 one day, and a terrifying nighttime prairie thunderstorm later be were back in the thirties. T.S. knew what he … Continue reading
Filed under Free, Growing things, History, Home, Into the Mystic, On the Street Where I Live, The 'Ville, The Great Outdoors
Golf: Good Grief, I’m Turning Into an Old Guy
I have made fun of golf since I was twelve — the summer Linda Gautier and I hacked our way through the nine holes of the Metaberoutin, which was then a nine hole course closed to all but management of … Continue reading
Good Advice
This post isn’t about big life-changing good advice — I am zero qualified, as messy as my house, brain and life is. This is about non earthshaking advice that’s made my life better, from magazines sometimes, but mostly from people I know … Continue reading
Filed under Free, History, Into the Mystic, Uncategorized
