Dog On A Root

Four Generations - jim Young "We didn't realize we were making memories. We thought we were just having fun." - anon We all have a tendency to look back on the proverbial “good old days” with fondness. Of course putting a time frame on when the “good old days” actually were would be impossible. Not only do the “good old days” fluctuate from person to person, but the “good old days” can refer to several different periods of time to even just one person.      It’s all relative. The “good old days” to a five year old might be “last week” or even “yesterday”. When seniors talk about the “good old days” they may be referring to any number of years over their accumulated decades of experience. It could refer to moments spent as a child, memories from their youth as teenagers, their days of wonder and discovery as they set out on their own to seek their fortune or even the happy days of their early years of marriage and raising a family.      In my recent article...

- jim Young “The devil is in the details.” - popularized by Friedrich Nietzsche This is a screenshot of part of a Math Quiz I recently came across on Facebook.  The first answer is wrong. There are actually 11 months (all but February) that have 30 days. Some months have only 30 days, but that wasn't the question, was it? Even using the premise that the question was “How many months have only 30 days?” the answer is still wrong.   There are only 4 months that have only 30 days in them. Remember the poem "30 days hath September, April, June and November…" ? All the rest (excluding February) have 31 days. Ie: January, March, May, July, August, October, December. However it is not incorrect to say that these months have 30 days as well. It's kind of like the adage, “take care of the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves”.* Learn to question even the small stuff you read on Facebook and the internet and you'll be less likely to get caught on the big ...

- jim young In the December 15 edition of the Great North Arrow, Issue 16, Volume 9 published in 2022, I shared with you my recipe for “Slow Cooker Stove Top Turkey Stuffing”. Who can’t use some extra stuffing with their Christmas Dinner? If you cut that recipe out of the Great North Arrow and saved it as I suggested, you’ll be happy to have it to use again this year. If you didn’t save it, you can either try to find a back issue of the Great North Arrow or you can find it here. Or you might want to try this “Stovetop Beer & Herb Stuffing” which is also very good. Serves: 8 - 10 Stuff Required: 5 stalks celery, chopped 1 large onion, chopped 2 eggs, beaten ½ cup butter, melted 1 cup chicken broth ⅓ cup chopped parsley 1 tbsp thyme 1 tbsp sage ¼ tsp pepper 1 ½  tsp salt, divided 1 clove garlic, minced ½ cup beer 600 gm stale bread cut into small pcs Do This: In a large frying pan, sauté celery and onion on low until soft, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhil...

- jim Young “Why doesn’t Schrödinger’s cat use Tinder? It’s already in a superposition of taken and single until observed.” - anon When Erwin Schrödinger visited Toronto he had tickets to the hockey game to see his favourite team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, play the Boston Bruins at the Scotiabank Arena. Just before he was about to leave for the game, Schrödinger's agent called to tell him there was a scheduling conflict and he was due to lecture at the University of Toronto instead. Schrödinger fulfilled his obligation to lecture at the U of T where he illustrated a paradox of quantum superposition through the thought experiment he designed that had become known as Schrödinger's cat. At the end of his lecture, Schrödinger looked at his watch and declared “The hockey game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins has just ended. Just to put my thought experiment of the cat in the box into perspective, as we are here and isolated from the game, it could be said that th...

- jim Young “If any of you cry at my funeral, I’ll never speak to you again.” Stan Laurel I once had an uncle who resisted going to funerals more than most. My aunt would have to cajole him into attending. When she finally broke my uncle down and got him to reluctantly agree to go, my uncle would inevitably say, “Fine. I’ll go. But I won’t have a good time.” To be fair to my uncle, “funeral ceremonies” of the day were sombre and sad events unlike many “Celebrations of Life” that are held in honour of the deceased today. Although the name itself might suggest otherwise, there was never much “fun” at any “funeral” I’ve ever attended. The Celebration Of Life concept on the other hand, became popular in the western world in the 1970s. Many believe it originated with the Irish and their custom of holding “wakes” which are often a happier celebration in honour of the deceased. The Celebration Of Life held this past Sunday in Newmarket for Rod (Talk Turkey with Urqey) Urquhart fit more into t...

 

Peace Candle Photo Credits: Ron (The Magician) Walker & jim Young for Janice, Christmas 2025 In the days of our youth, we laughed, we dreamed. The world was ours or so it seemed. We loved, we shared and vowed to stay, In touch until our dying day. But the paths we chose led us different ways And this is where we are today. Time and tide will wait for none But when everything is said and done, Not all is done, nor all is said Not all is written, not all is read. The memories that we shared together, May be as fleeting as a windblown feather. But it’s memories that we hold so dear, And it’s the loss of those that we most fear. Think kind of me, my friend and I… I will kindly think of you. As we remember those times we shared, and the things we used to do.  - jim Young