A Long Back Cast

 President Jeff Docking I was bracing an 18-foot step ladder while son Scott swung his 30-pound hedge saw, cedar clippings cascading down on me.  For the last 10 years I've been Scott's clean up guy at the bottom of that ladder helping him out on friends and family hedge jobs. He stopped the machine in mid-swing to tell me that he received an email from Jeff Docking, the president of his alma mater, informing Scott that he was stepping down from Adrian College in December, after 21 years steady at the helm.  A tough balancing act to follow Adrian College is a small liberal arts college in southern Michigan where Scott obtained his business degree and played NCAA hockey for four years. During the summers he cut hedges for Trillium Trees to augment the international student aid package he received from the college. That  assistance made it affordable for Scott to pursue his education in the United States. At the time the Canadian dollar was almost on par with the U.S. ...

 At 21 square km, Lake Bernard is a geological oddity. It's the largest lake in the world without an island in it. Matt marries Vanessa, the love of his life, at a civil ceremony held at the Northridge Inn and Resort on Lake Bernard,  Sept. 3  Under steely-grey skies Matt Shackell, the last member of my brother's family to get married, tied the knot with Vanessa Jalbert Cuputo on Labour Day weekend while exchanging vows under a rose-draped arbour overlooking Lake Bernard. The rain held off and a gentle late summer breeze kept the wedding party and guests comfortable as the ceremony unfolded lakeside.   The Northridge Inn and Resort provided just the right backdrop for the gathered family members to witness the marriage.  Following the nuptials, the couple and guests walked off the promontory to a lavish reception held on the resort's front lawn.  In the lingering evening light we mixed and mingled over drinks with family members and friends b...

  A campfire glows over our Long Island camp site after sunset What began as an annual camping trip with my son, Scott, to Eastern Ontario's Crotch Lake over a decade ago has grown into a three generation guys trip encompassing both my sons-in-law, Charles and Justin and their boys, Theo and Fox. These energetic seven-year-olds though enthusiastic campers, are new to the realm of outdoor living. Wilderness camping with small children has its challenges. There are many potential dangers lurking in the outdoors -  uneven footing on the Precambrian Shield rock, the nearby lake, campfires, noxious plants, and biting insects. Thankfully, this year the bugs, both mosquitoes and horse flies, were almost nonexistent, and poison ivy was nowhere to be found at our camp site. Theo (left) and Fox (right) in conversation  The reward for me in camping with kids is to watch their youthful exuberance and sheer joy as they experience the wilderness, far removed from the daily distractions...

  In August 53 years ago, I discovered Algonquin Provincial Park for the first time. The awe inspiring landscape resonated with me and has kept drawing me back to the park for more than five decades. My affinity for the park was cemented at the age of 16 when high school friend Mike Turner invited me to join his family on a three-week vacation to their family compound on a pine-studded island in the middle of Cache Lake.  If my memory serves me correctly, the site consists of four rustic frame cabins, the original structure having been built by Mike’s grandfather in the 1920's, two boat houses and a pine needle-covered basketball court pounded into the dirt by generations of teenagers playing hoops. Propane gas provided the lighting and ran the cook stove, and water came from a hand pump.  The island has served as a rendezvous place for four generations of extended family, some of whom hailed from California, and an aunt  in her eighties who travelled from France eac...

  View of Black Lake from the safety of the         lower room as the first of a series of storms   blew through the area starting in late afternoon We just spent the better part of two weeks with various members of our family at Erin and Justin's Black Lake retreat. We had a wonderful vacation, except for Canada Day when a line of nasty storms blew through the area on a track headed further east.  Parts of west-end Ottawa were flooded out by historic levels of rainfall -- more than three inches of rain in less than four hours fell over the nation's capital.  After an extremely wet June, facing an already high lake level, Black Lake rose four inches overnight causing the boat dock boards to submerge and then pull free of the frame as waves from the storm pulled the retaining bolts through the metal frame.  Back-breaking labour aided by a windsurf board for extra leverage, allowed Justin, Charles and I to raise the dock by eight inch...

Fox with a big one. Wolfie is impressed!   Today is June 21st, the longest day of the year and the so-called beginning of summer, although the local weather sure doesn't feel like summer. It's a great paradox because just as summer is officially here, the days will begin shortening on the slow march toward December 21, the winter solstice.  For me, I mark the beginning of summer with the opening of the bass fishing season which is the last weekend of June.  The post-spawn bass are ravenous and the angling results are usually good early in the season -- sometimes even spectacular right off the dock, as my grandsons discovered last year.  Most of my bass fishing over the years has been at the family cottage. Our daughter and her husband bought the place on Black Lake from my parents about 15 years ago. They have renovated it over the years from a simple summer-only cottage into a four-season lake house that can accommodate our extended family. It is a beautiful propert...

                                                       Iconic Canadian R&D Institution on Death's Door The Shirleys Bay Campus The large building in the centre is the CSA's David Florida      Laboratory, recently closed. This facility performed pre-flight testing on most of Canada's satellites before space launch. While shopping recently I bumped into Lynell Wight, a former work colleague at the Communications Research Centre (CRC) who always has the scoop, and she asked me if I had heard the latest news. Now retired, she spent her whole career working in senior administrative positions including for the Director General (before there was a president), and for several of the research vice presidents. What she told me was shocking, but not unpredictable. Our old employer is in the process of axing another 100 positions and th...