Circa 1975 Sense and Nonsense Limericks are a lot of fun. All my life, I have been trying to write at least one very bad limerick. I understand a limerick has to be really bad to be good. My limericks are either too good to be bad, or more often they are so bad they…

Circa 1980 Sense and Nonsense The following is a very corn y play written while perusing through the seed catalogues.  The scene is the front porch of an old farmhouse set in the bush miles from anywhere.  The daughter of the house Rose is being courted by a city slicker named Brad. BRAD:  “Rose, you…

1980 01 24 Sense and Nonsense Nineteen-eighty is the beginning of a whole new decade. The soothsayers and fortune tellers are very busy predicting trends and events, not only for the coming year but for the next ten years as well. It seems to me there are a lot more soothsayers laying out their tarot…

Circa 1980  Sense and Nonsense A strange new phenomenon has entered into ordinary, everyday human communications. It is affecting people on the streets, in the stores and in their homes. Someday it may even play a role at hockey games. My friend, Oscar the Grouch, is deeply concerned about this mysterious outbreak of “niceness”. The…

Autumn (circa 1980) Sense and Nonsense During the past few months there have been some dramatic goings-on down at the lake. Large numbers of migratory birds interrupted their southbound journeys to browse and dine in the exposed weed beds in the water. It quickly became obvious to the observing human eye that these birds practice…

Circa 1975  Sense and Nonsense I have discovered a new way of cooking – pressure cookery! I realise pressure cookers have been around for years but I have had very little to do with them. In fact I used to admire the courage of the people who admitted to using them regularly. I recall years…

Winter 1977/78  Sense and Nonsense Monday: Phoned the dentist’s office. As the operator dialed the number I realised I could not remember the word that described the procedure I wanted. The word “impressions” escaped my mind completely! I panicked as the number rang a second time. What could I say? I wanted an appointment to…

1980 02 07 Sense and Nonsense Many parents of small children find themselves subjected nightly to the ritual of reading the “Bedtime Story.” Our five-year-old has a drawerful of Little Golden books, the content of which is not exactly stimulating to the adult mind. Recently I have taught myself a little trick. I have learned…

  1978 03 02  Sense and Nonsense We seem to be going through a social era of reminiscence. It is almost as if everything happened yesterday, or possibly the day the before. To-day, we are merely “chewing the cud”, so to speak. The fabulous fifties and the psychedelic sixties seem to have faded into the…

circa 1975 Sense and Nonsense “I really should lose some weight,” I make that statement regularly, hoping desperately that some kind soul will contradict me… If I am lucky a friend will gush, “ Oh, no, you’re just right!” I take that to mean I am only a few pounds past the critical stage. Or…