June in Edmonton seems to be THE busy month – and for good reason. The weather is typically not very nice until June and by July and August people are taking summer vacations. So if you are planning a function, June is the month to do it. June is also one of my favourite months, [...]

“Does Grandpa Hal speak Yiddish, dad?” “No, but great Grandma Esther used to speak a bit of Yiddish. Why do you ask?” “We are learning a Yiddish song in school.” If I pay attention, I learn something new every day from my kids. Today, it was the song Oyfn Pripetchik. Not being raised with much [...]

Making their second appearance in the recital hall at Don’s Piano Warehouse in St. Albert, Ben and Ella wowed the audience with heartfelt renditions of some of the classics of the piano recital circuit.

According to Wikipedia, Home on the Range is the official song of the state of Kansas. I’ve always loved that song and it’s come to feel like a bit of an anthem for our new life here on the central Alberta range lands. So when Ella started playing the song in piano lessons, I was [...]

This past week, Maddy was accepted into the WISEST summer student program at the University of Alberta. The program hires grade 11 students to assist university researchers in the areas of science and technology. The application process is fairly rigorous and applicants are required to have excellent grades. So, Maddy’s first real, paying summer job [...]

You blog and you blog and you blog and sometimes you wonder if there is anyone out there. Well, someone is out there. And they have been concerned about my anguish over the whole role definition of the primary parenting father. So today, at the urging of one of this blog’s most dedicated readers, I [...]

These days, if I’m not helping my teenager learn how to drive, I can be found in a nearby field helping my almost 7 year-olds learn how to ride their new bikes. I’ve been riding a bike for 40 years and, like driving, most of the skill associated with it is unconscious after that much [...]

This is LA’s Mother’s Day dream. Fresh coffee just as she likes it (that is, 140 ml of milk heated in the microwave, then added to the hot coffee with just the right amount of sweetener). Delivered to her in bed, with a breakfast of freshly baked banana walnut muffins and strawberries. Snuggling with her [...]

As a confident and competent driver for 30 years, I am never as comfortable in the passenger’s seat as I am in the driver’s. So at least part of the anxiety that floods my body when my 17 year old daughter Maddy takes the wheel has to do with sitting on the right (i.e., wrong) [...]

Remember the exceptionally bad hair day I was having? Well, I will have you know that not only did we change our city, but I changed that hair style that I had basically had since I cut my pony-tail in 1996 or so. Today, I was making some changes to the blog design and I [...]