Jane Goodall 1934-2025
When I was in second or third year Anthropology at UWO, I took a primatology course to satisfy the requirement of having a physical anthropology credit. We watched a National…
Trump Predictions
(Guest post by Jim Stewart) Prediction: Buyer's Remorse? By Remembrance Day this year (2025), the US will be experiencing the Mother of All Buyer's Remorse. The Reaganesque question "Are you…
Musk’s Legion
In normal times, this would be a headline only in the Weekly World News, not in pretty much every paper out there: “Inside Musk’s plan to make a ‘legion’ of…
Death at Greenway
Death at Greenway (2021) by Lori Rader-Day is a murder mystery set at the time Agatha Christie was writing her murder mysteries. It’s also set in a house she owned…
D-Day in 1944 NQ
Newfoundland Quarterly - June 1944 Review of the War - W. J. Browne Allies Invade France On Tuesday morning, June 6th, the Allied forces which had been preparing to invade…
What Trump said
It’s easy to forget things. But some things shouldn't be forgotten. So in case you’ve not been following Donald Trump news, and you’re looking back at his time as president…
Coronation 1937
My mother kept some newspaper clippings about the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937. They’re in what I think is her first scrapbook.
The Wolves of Winter
Novel by Tyrell Johnson, The Wolves of Winter, 2018 Simon & Schuster A young woman and her family had headed north from the United States, ending up in the Yukon.…
Meghan and Harry
(by Jim Stewart) Meghan and Harry: The real story, by Lady Colin Campbell. It's hard to believe that this book came out in 2020. It is remarkably prescient, as if it had been written yesterday. Anyone interested in British history, Hollywood, celebrity and popular culture, the effect of media and social media on our society
Vietnam Vets
Canada was part of America’s Vietnam War. Not officially, but in providing men for it and harbouring them from it. Anyone alive in the 1970s probably has had their life…
Elizabeth, 1951 Canada
A page from my mother’s scrapbook. For five weeks in the fall of 1951 Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip toured Canada. It was her first trip here. My mother kept…
Summertime
If you’d asked me two weeks ago who wrote the song Summertime, I’d have said the Gershwins. Music by George, lyrics by Ira. And I’d have been wrong. Well, half…
Prescription Points
As of today, we won’t get a small rebate on prescription drug costs in New Brunswick. The NB College of Pharmacists, in their wisdom, decided it was “unethical” to give…
Library Books
In January, when stricter Covid-19 rules resumed, the Sussex Library was open only for pickup of books ordered online. We had not realized this. So when my husband went there…
Dr. Elliott Leyton
Dr. Elliott Leyton, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, died in St. John’s on February 14, 2022 at the age of 82. He leaves a huge hole…
Queens and Consorts
Seventy years ago, in classrooms and public venues in the UK and Commonwealth, people sang God Save the Queen for the first time in 51 years. On February 6, 1952,…
Modern Pentathlon
This Olympics, I'm watching the Modern Pentathlon. I heard of it a few months ago, in a novel that mentioned that Gen. George Patton had competed in it in the…
Molly Ann Gell
In 1807 a Wolastoqiyik girl named Molly Ann Gell entered the Sussex Vale Indian Day School in Sussex Corner, New Brunswick. It was run by The Society for the Propagation…
Mrs. Elizabeth Keckley
Mrs. Elizabeth Keckley was fashion stylist to the stars of Washington DC in the mid-1800s. As dressmaker and companion of Mary Todd Lincoln, she worked in the White House during…
Prince Philip’s Horses
"If it doesn't fart or eat hay, she isn't interested." That, it is said, is how Prince Philip described his daughter Princess Anne. But if the amount of time he…
The Sussex Interview
Oprah's interview with Harry and Meghan is on a par with the 1995 BBC interview with Lady Diana. It asked for compassion, and got it. And, like Diana's, did it…
The Trump Goodbye
Every day there's something on the television screen that you've never seen before. Something that you want to capture for your own historical record. The departure of Donald J. Trump,…
General Jack and Warrior
Warrior was called "the horse the Germans couldn't kill." He was a war horse. The 15.2 hand Thoroughbred gelding was General Jack Seely's charger. Gen. Seely was a British career…
In The Army Now
Bill Stewart received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Minnesota on December 18, 1941 (See Pt. 2). That was 11 days after Pearl Harbor was bombed.…
The Birthday Lunch
Maybe it's because Sussex NB is now my hometown. Or maybe it's because Joan Clark wrote an amazing book about family and place. Whatever, I read her 2015 The Birthday…
English Channel 1944
William Stewart, a US Army Air Force Captain in World War II, tells about his flight across the English Channel on December 15, 1944. Enemy planes were a risk, yes,…
NB Regiment K.I.A. on D-Day
The North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment, part of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, landed at Juno Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. They landed at what was code-named Nan Red…
Jump!
I've wondered what real jockeys think about horse racing novels. Especially those where newcomers - human and horse - manage against all the odds to win THE BIG RACE. It's…
Rwanda 25 years ago
Lest we forget: 25 years ago a genocidal massacre in Rwanda started. Nearly a million killed in 100 days. Here is what it was like, a couple months after it…
A Great Reckoning
Usually I read an author's acknowledgement page first, even if it's at the back of the book. But when I started A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny, for some reason…
King’s Curse
The King's Curse by Philippa Gregory is about Henry VIII. It was published in 2014. Despite knowing this, I kept checking the publication date because of passages like this: Dear…
Roger Gonzales
A poster of a young man in Tegucigalpa's central square. Kidnapped April 19, 1988. It's in a photograph I just happened to take when I was there one year later.…
Honduran Contra Camps 1989
Donald Trump calls it "the Democrat Party led... assault on our country by Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador..." (Twitter Oct. 18, 2018). A caravan of migrants started in Honduras, headed…
World War I Reunion 1987
From the archives of my mother: the story of four men, and a bottle of Crown Royal, at a very special World War I reunion: Battery mates knock back last…
York and Mountbatten Weddings
A big year for royal weddings. Tomorrow, October 12th, Princess Eugenie will marry. In May, her cousin Prince Harry married Meghan Markle. Both large, lavish and televised. But, in between…
West Virginia
In 1971 my parents and I drove through West Virginia on our way from Ontario to Kentucky. We'd never been there before and it was stunningly beautiful. So we took…
Princess Harry
On Saturday, Meghan Markle will become Princess Harry. That is when she will marry Prince Henry of Wales, second son of the Prince of Wales and better known as Prince…
The Story of Seabiscuit
The Story of Seabiscuit was released in 1949, only two years after the great racehorse died. It is the story of his life - sort of. His son Sea Sovereign…
Ford Ontario
The Ontario Progressive Conservative party yesterday chose Doug Ford as its leader. That's Doug, brother and advisor to the late Rob Ford who has to have been the weirdest mayor…
One Trump Year
One Trump year is like one dog year - very long! Tomorrow, January 20th, is the first anniversary of his inauguration as the 45th President of the United States. A…
Halifax Explosion
Halifax Harbour, December 6 1917, two ships collide. An explosion, followed by a tsunami and a fire that burns much of the city. The next day, a major snowstorm. A…
Code Talkers
In the early part of World War II, the enemy was breaking every military code that was being used in the Pacific. This created a huge problem for strategizing against…
Passchendaele
The Battle of Passchendaele ended 100 years ago today. It is also called the Third Battle of Ypres and the "Muddy-est, Bloody-est of the whole war." The latter is what…
Ikea Chair
In honour of Ikea opening a store in Dartmouth NS, The Manatee published an article about a couple divorcing after a trip to the new Ikea. Very funny - the…
Diana 1961-1997
Twenty years ago today Diana, Princess of Wales died at the age of 36. She was the daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer and 15 times great-granddaughter of King Henry…
David Duke and Donald Trump
David Duke said "we're going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump" during the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville VA on Saturday. David Duke, former Imperial Wizard of the…
Canadian Songs
So, for Canada Day, I looked for Canadian songs that evoke a sense of place, of history. Those songs that everybody knows a few lines of, to sing at public…
Un-American Affairs
A selection from More in Anger (1958), a collection of essays by American social critic and satirist Marya Mannes. From 1904 to 1990, her life spanned most of the 20th…
King George VI
Sixty-five years ago today, Great Britain's King George VI died at the age of 56. The King is dead, long live the Queen. George VI's daughter became Queen Elizabeth II.…
First Hundred Hours
In his first hundred hours - from midday Friday to this afternoon, President Donald Trump has been busy. Signing executive orders: Directing all federal agencies to ease the "regulatory burdens"…
Four Strong Winds
I've been thinking about Ian Tyson lately. With the recent death of Leonard Cohen, the songs and the songwriters of Canada - and an era - have been heard a…
Royal Wedding Anniversary
Happy anniversary, Elizabeth and Philip. November 20th marks 69 years since their wedding. Four children, 8 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren. Three heirs apparent to the British throne - son, grandson, great-grandson.…
Secret Path
Chanie Wenjack died October 23rd 1966. He was twelve. He and two other boys ran away from their residential school, taking a secret path north into the bush. They wanted…
Trump Imagery
What is the appeal of The Donald as president? Trump imagery over Trump policy, I suspect. But why? Reading The Englishman's Boy, I got a clue from a 1923 fictional…
Pen Name Mysteries
The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith and Devoted in Death by J. D. Robb are pen name mysteries by famous authors I've never read. Robert Galbraith is J. K. Rawling…
Olympic Games of Chance
Two days to the Rio Olympics opening ceremonies, and the games of chance are still being played. The Zika virus, polluted water venues, and a bacterial risk to horses. Glanders is…
Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont Hamel
Below is a list of the Newfoundland Regiment soldiers killed at Beaumont Hamel on July 1, 1916. There are many more; those killed in the lead-up to the battle, those…
I’ll Have Another
This was first posted on my St. Thomas Dog Blog, May 10, 2012. This Saturday, May 7th 2016, it's Derby Day again. It feels different this year - it's the…
Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth celebrates her 90th birthday today. My mother, two years older, grew up with the Queen. From her teen years to adulthood, Mom kept scrapbooks about the Queen's life.…
Titanic: No greater love
Among the bodies found after Titanic sank was that of a woman, clinging to the body of a Great Dane. Ann Elizabeth Isham had a seat in a lifeboat but…
US: The New Brunswick Option
For disenchanted Americans, I have an escape plan that keeps with historical tradition - New Brunswick. In case of a Trump win in the US presidential race, Cape Breton has…
Earls of Grantham
Below is the lineage of the Earls of Grantham. The family name is Crawley, and their home is Downton Abbey in Yorkshire. It is a fictional family in a television…
Dr. George Park 1925-2015
Today, Dr. George Park died at the age of 90. He was a retired professor of Anthropology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He was my thesis advisor and he and…
Your Blues
If you want to do some social research on the USA of the latter half of the 20th century, read Your Blues Ain't Like Mine. It is a first novel…
Newfoundland’s Gallipoli
"Ptes Stanley and George Abbott of the Newfoundland Regiment were my grandmother's brothers. I remember that picture of them at her house. My Dad's sister has it now. They made it…
Nim the Chimp
Project Nim is a film by James Marsh about Nim Chimpsky, the chimp who was raised from infancy as a human in order to explore the learning of language in…
Rodeo Kings
From St. Thomas Dog Blog July 8, 2011. Sadly in this year's Stampede, 2 horses died in chuckwagon race crashes. William and Kate opened the Calgary Stampede and attended the…
Beaumont Hamel
In Newfoundland and Labrador, July 1st is Memorial Day. It's been that longer than it's been Canada Day. Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. But July 1st has had special significance…
Royal Charlottes
The first British royal Charlotte was George III's queen. She is best known as the founder of London's Kew Gardens and for perhaps having black ancestry. Born in Germany in…
VE Day 70th
May 8th 1945, VE Day marked the end of one part of World War II. Victory in Europe. War with Japan continued until two atomic bombs were dropped in July.…
Apples to Apples
TV writer David Shore was on CBC Radio's q (formerly Q) today. He was introduced as creator of House and Battle Creek, writer on Due South and originally from London…
Lotto Red Chamber
Is the Senate a place for 'sober second thought' or what, in 1985, then-reporter Mike Duffy called “a task-less thanks” for political party helpers? Senator Mike Duffy is on trial for…
‘Trifles’ of Creature Comfort
A 1916 play Trifles was written by American journalist Susan Glaspell. It is a murder mystery based on a real event in Iowa at the turn of the century. A…
World War I
It seemed like a good idea at the time. That’s the explanation I come up with for why World War I started. Virtually the entire world became embroiled in war…
The Uncles’ Great War
An uncle and two great-uncles are my touchstones for the First World War. The one I knew best was Charles Scanlon, husband of my mother's older sister Ada. He was 20…
Turcotte, the movie
If you live in or are from New Brunswick, if you’re Canadian, if you like horse racing, the NFB has a film for you: Secretariat's Jockey: Ron Turcotte (2013). In…
She Loves You
Some things you will never ever forget. One, for me, is Ed Sullivan introducing “these youngsters from Liverpool.” Hands clenched on head, pulling at hair, “eek, aah, oohh.” In the…
War and Peaceniks
“Where have all the flowers gone, and the young men gone for soldiers every one.” A Pete Seeger song. The death of that great warrior for peace made me think…
Mom, Christmas Postie
In the early '60s, my mother worked at London’s postal sorting station during the Christmas rush. It was for a few weeks when the volume of mail overwhelmed the sorting…
Ford Branding
Tobacco companies are probably heaving a huge sigh of relief. As far as we know, no cigarettes were smoked by Mayor Rob Ford. So they do not need to distance…
Baby Prince George
In the past three days, the royal baby has been born, brought home, had pictures posted on Facebook, and been named. A boy named HRH Prince George Alexander Louis of…
Queen’s Secret: Review
Last week I saw a book called The Queen's Secret by Charles Templeton. Curious to see if it was by the late Canadian journalist of that name, I pulled it…
Chinua Achebe
Today, the great Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe died at the age of 82. If you have never read his books, this would be as good a time as any to…
A Nation’s Songs
Whatever one might think of the US of A, they got good national songs. Watching Monday’s Presidential Inauguration, the high point for me was the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir giving it…
HRH Baby
With the expected Royal baby, there will be a kinship situation that hasn’t existed since Queen Victoria reigned. There will be 3 generations of direct heirs apparent to the throne:…
Idle No More
Our ancestors wanted this land Canada so damned bad that they crossed the ocean, crossed the country in wagon trains, fought each other, fought the indigenous peoples, and cleared forest…
Newtown CT
When smoking was still permitted in restaurants, you’d sometimes see signs: “No pipes or cigars.” That was because the smoke from those is much stronger. To me, this is a…
Newtown Kids & Dogs
A lot of dogs in Newtown, Connecticut will be working overtime in the solace department. There are children and adults who will need the love of their pets to help…
Library Science
Sometimes a simple thing happens that makes you realize what you should have done. One day at the library, I was reshelving books that had been left out. There were…
Mr. Otto Kelland
A while back, I was looking online for a family in response to a query. I found them. A note on their kinship chart said the wife was sister of…
Reading History
Well-written and well-researched historical fiction gives the reader a two-fer: a good story and a history lesson that you may have slept through during school. Recently, I’ve been living in…
Poppies
My dad had a whole collection of poppies. Mom kept the ones that we bought every year and pinned them on the top of a wallhanging in the dining room.…
Stompin’ Tom Revisited
Thank you CBC Radio! Just when I think I’ll never hear anything that I haven’t heard at least once already in any given day or week, you give me a…
Olympic Eventing
Trying to watch the Olympics Equestrian Eventing of the past three days, I’ve performed in my own olympic eventing. It includes the Stair Dash, Pet Hurdles and Speed Remote Handling.…
Spam
A lot of spam comes to blogs. That is why comments are screened: to keep the robot generated junk out. It’s held in a spam filter and must be gone…
War of 1812
In 1814 we took a little trip - Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip’ We took a little bacon and we took a little beans And we caught…
A Local CBC Solution
Stick with what you do well and others can’t do – that’s my suggestion for CBC Radio. An example, from this past week’s Sunday Edition, the story of The Investigator,…
RCI The Link
There’s a CBC Radio secret that night people in Canada know about. Radio Canada International’s The Link, produced in Montreal, airs from 2 to 3 a.m. Monday to Friday on…
Fanshawe Riot: Educating fools?
Last weekend, St. Paddy’s Day, London Ont. joined the ranks of cities of fools. Violent, vandalizing fools. Students at Fanshawe Community College in the city’s east end overturned cars and…
Dick Francis: A racing life
The back cover of Dick Francis: A Racing Life, a biography by Graham Lord, calls it “warm, affectionate, yet sharp and perceptive.” I usually read the jacket information before starting a…