[Note to reader: I wrote this first part after a long, exhausting day in the sun at Heritage Festival. I wrote the post script after a shorter day today.] It doesn’t arrive until well into July and once it’s here, you’re trying to squeeze every last ounce out of it. Summer, in Edmonton, is like a marathon [...]

It all started with this weird letter I got from the synagogue. It was hand addressed to me. I opened it and discovered it was a notification for the Yahrzeit of my mother Patricia (z”l) – the annual memorial of my mother’s passing two years ago. It seems so long ago now. My mother was suffering [...]

It’s been almost two years since we moved in Edmonton from Toronto. Since arriving, we’ve visited Jasper and Banff, summered in Kelowna and wintered in California – all within reach from our new western home base. But the one thing I hadn’t done was spend any real time in Calgary. Now, this isn’t entirely by accident. [...]

Last summer was my first real summer living in Edmonton. In anticipation, I wrote a post about a number of Edmonton summer activities that looked like they’d be fun to do. The summer, which always seems so long in coming, disappears in the blink of an eye. I always get depressed by the fact that just [...]

Like many conversations in my adopted city, this post starts with the weather, but it isn’t about the weather. June in Edmonton is, in a word, extraordinary. The weather is finally superb. Twilight happens between 10 and 11 pm. And everyone, partially in response to the first two points, is in elevated spirits. This feeling of [...]

The question of kashrut – or Jewish dietary law – has been the topic of conversation in our home recently. So, I went searching for some guidance and I found a book called The Sacred Table, an anthology of 50 articles that examine a liberal rethinking of Jewish dietary law. In it’s pages, I am [...]

French philosopher Rene Descartes famously wrote: ‘I think, therefore I am’. I accept that premise – it always seemed to make fundamental sense to me. But what follows from the fact that I write? I write, therefore…I’m a writer? I don’t see myself as a writer. Writers study writing, they develop a method and hone their craft. Writers [...]

As we go to the polls today, I am filled with more questions than answers. I feel a strong obligation to vote, but for whom? And why? And all this talk about the importance of voting – such as Jennifer Fisk’s excellent voting post today – I don’t disagree with it in any fundamental way. But, [...]

I’ve just returned from a month-long relocation of life to the Californian desert. I know, it sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? And it was. Since we were away so long, I opted to drive so that we could have the vehicle and not have to rent one. And also so we could load it up with stuff [...]

After 30 days living in the Californian desert, we’re heading home. Me by van – the family by plane. As we leave and move on to the next chapter of our charmed life, there are a few things I will be missing as soon as I drive away from Palm Springs. The warmth of the air [...]