Dog On A Root

- jim young, originally posted March 9, 2013 "Well the girls are out to bingo, and the boys are gettin stinko, We think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday Night The glasses they will tinkle while our eyes begin to twinkle And we think no more of Inco on a Sudbury Saturday Night." - Stompin' Tom Connors Stompin’ Tom Connors recorded 48 albums in his lifetime, which lasted from 1936 to 2013. And that’s not counting the 10 albums of unreleased material that he left behind. To put that into perspective (even without the unreleased material), that’s about 4 times more albums than the Beatles released, 4 times more than Michael Jackson released and 4 times more than The Band released during their lifetimes. It’s almost as many as Frank Sinatra, more than Anne Murray, more than Gordon Lightfoot, more than the Guess Who, more than The Who, more than Led Zeppelin, more than Bruce Springsteen, and more than even Bob Dylan. And on the Saturday Night – not just in Sudbury, but acr...

- jim Young 20080519 Note: Much of the information found in this article was taken from an email sent to me from my friend Don Gillies.) I just got back from celebrating the annual Lionel Conacher May “2-4” Weekend with some very good friends at Severn Heaven. Now you may be thinking that I am referring to the Victoria Day Weekend and I guess technically you’re right. But really - just what is the relevance of Canadians celebrating the birth of an old fuddy duddy of a Queen who inspired the “Victorian Era”? Is it in Queen Victoria’s honour that our provincial parks ban alcohol on this weekend? Where’s the fun in that? What could be more uniquely Canadian than the May “2-4” Weekend - the first long weekend of the coming summer after our sometimes cold and harsh Canadian Winters? So why aren’t we celebrating this weekend in honour of a Canadian instead of an old and long dead English Monarch? And when we look for a Canadian who truly represents the Canadian Spirit – w...

- jim Young   originally published August 2012 updated February 2020 “Humanity’s a nice place to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there.”  – Terry Pratchett Just the very idea of living under a dictatorship or communist rule is so terrifying to most Americans that their answer to the question “would you rather live in Cuba or the United States?” would be based on a preconceived notion without even considering the facts. Why cloud the “truth” with facts? We could debate the pros and cons of a democratic/capitalistic society vs a dictatorship/socialistic society until the cows come home and never be any further ahead. As Sir Winston Churchill said in 1947 “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those others that have been tried.” To put it another way, one might suggest a democratic government is nothing more than the least evil of all the evils. And when you think about it, how much say does any individual really have in the running of...

- jim Young 19920613 This is an article I wrote in 1992 that was lost during the transition of my site to a new server. As it is Father’s Day today, I thought it was an appropriate time to reprint it here now. On this, the occasion of my first Father's Day without my father, I address the following letter to Dad. George Young 1925 - 1991 circa 1980s Dear Dad, There's no doubt in my mind that you knew how much I loved you, even if the words were never spoken. For that I will be eternally grateful. I'm sure Leah prepared a nice room for you. Did she make you some homemade peanut brittle? Were you able to eat it? Is it true that they take your false teeth and give you back your real teeth in heaven? A lot has happened in the short time since you left us but I probably don't need to tell you that. I've felt your guiding hand with me throughout most of it. We've moved to the country now. I think you knew that was in the back of our minds for some ...

- jim Young 20120515 “give me spots on the apples but leave me the birds and the bees, please… They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” - from Big Yellow Taxi – by Joni Mitchell I want Dandelions planted on my grave. Not that I want that to happen soon. But when the time comes, I want Dandelions planted on my grave. I think the Dandelion has gotten a bad rap. First of all – it’s a very pretty flower. Just look at the 2 pictures below and tell me the Dandelion isn’t every bit as pretty as the Marigold. I think dandelions are just as pretty as this field of marigolds. The dandelion has gotten a bad rap. You can make salad from the Dandelion leaf. Not that I would ever eat it. (Or any other kind of salad for that matter.) You can make wine from the Dandelion plant. That I WOULD drink if someone would put it together in a nice little Dandelion Wine kit like the ones I buy at Costco. Make a wish upon a dandelion that has gone to seed. And who ...