'Perils' of Air Travel

With all the travel going on this time of year, perhaps you, or someone you know, has met with air travel problems — ticket glitches, baggage loss or damage, weather and other delays.

Big inconvenience.
Big hassle.
But imagine you work in show business; you probably must travel constantly, during all seasons, you just HAVE to be in St. John’s or Winnipeg for tonight’s 9 p.m. show.
Your livelihood and your reputation depend on it!
We can recall the famous 'United Breaks Guitars' incident and musical follow-up with musician Dave Carroll of a few years ago.
Imagine, too, that that some travel situations can be hilarious.
Here's one of these stories, as related some time back by Jerry Lewis on the 'Larry King Show' on CNN.
Transparency: I’m a big Jerry Lewis fan, particularly for his decades of tireless work for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I have one of the 60 forms of muscular dystrophy. By the way, his comic and cinematic talents are no slouches, either.
One day, he was on a 747 British Air bound for London,

2016: 'Like or Dislike?'

At this time of year, news sources feel compelled to feature survey stories 'looking back' ... and 'looking ahead.'

Opinions are widely mixed this year, to put it mildly!
I offer the following four excellent examples:
1. CBC News website has posted an 'Opinion' piece by Scott Reid, for CBC News: 'Think 2016 was bad? 2017 will be worse; Four reasons to despair about 2017.'
His four categories are not surprising:
-- President Trump
-- Global Economy
-- Prejudice
-- Journalism
Perhaps, Dear Reader, some folks might claim that Reid was just getting started!
His closing is sombre: 'It's not a very rosy outlook and human nature runs contrary to much of this analysis. We're wired to look ahead with hope, to dismiss the naysayers and expect that things will somehow work out for the best. But reason tells us that can't always be so. Now and then, the outlook is every bit as grim as it appears.'

Was it really all that bad?
Is it going to get worse?

TV Technicians

My goal from an early age was to work in TV, either in a technical area or even perhaps in front of the camera.
Throughout my high school years during the early 1960s, I had gathered quite a library of written material from a variety of TV sources, near and far.

Most items were related to my fascination with the technical side:
-- catalogues of studio and control room equipment (Marconi, RCA, G-E);
-- detailed yearbooks (from BBC, WGN, Chicago, and CJIC, Sault-Ste-Marie, Ontario);
-- with even a running subscription to the monthly 'Canadian Broadcaster' magazine, full of news from around the country!
I could watch a bit of U-S TV, especially duruing the summer,

Bucket List -- 'Music Producer'

I wanted to produce a record (with the video).
What used to be called 'goals' is now called your "Bucket list."
The closest I came to being a record producer occurred when I was teaching high school. A group of the senior students had formed a musical group to enter a local talent contest.
Some of them knew I had done radio production and had some background in music. They asked me if I would help them get their band together.

I proposed one condition: they could submit musical numbers, we would work on them and then I would make all final decisions.
Agreed!
At our first rehearsal, I discovered:
– Many of them could read music (while I had only the basics).
– Their musical choices were rather limited: Two guys, both guitarists, wanted to sing material by (Carlos) Santana, who was quite popular at the time, but were not avid followers of other musical styles.
– The gals were into folk music, and wondered how that style would fit in with the Rock material.
– Our excellent bass guitarist was an "import," a young man in his mid-20s

'Conclave' - A Novel

This book's theme is short: The Pope is dead.
The one hundred twenty members of the College of Cardinals from all over the globe will gather to elect a new pope.
Over the next seventy-two hours one of these holy men -- who also have political and other ambitions -- will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.

This process, held behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, is the world’s most secretive election.
Many of us of an age, Dear Reader, can recall the news coverage in 1978 of the election of Pope John Paul I, his mysterious death only a few weeks later, and the election of John Paul II.
(John Paul's death has never been solved, though many [conspiracy] theories, crime reports and even several books have been advanced.)
One of these, 'The Vatican Murders,' states the case. "The political infighting that goes on when a pope is elected is often fierce. There have been times it has turned to murder ... ."
The most recent papal election led to the global -- almost 'rock-star' -- phenomenon of Pope Francis, who continues to shake the cobwebs around the papacy and the entire Catholic Church.
I first heard about this book a couple of months ago,

Radio and Me ... 38

My Fave Radio Apps:
I am an avid radio listener. (Understatement!)
The local Halifax radio dial ... now all FM ... contains the usual Canadian urban stations: 4 CBC / Radio-Canada, 7 rock, 2 country, 1 news / talk, 4 community (including one in French, and a new one in Arabic), 1 Christian, and 1 easy listening.

But, of course, Dear Reader, that's never enough!
After dark, I seek out some of the big 50,000-watt AM stations on the East Coast, such as WCBC-News 88 and 1010 WINS, both in New \York, or Bloomberg, in Boston.
But the sound quality on those is hit-and-miss most of the time.
So, I've collected a number of radio apps.
You can click on their title for the URL, listen if you wish.

Awesome Autumn Colours

The time has sped by, and we're already in mid-October.
Here in Nova Scotia, that means we're experiencing: farm markets displaying great varieties of fruit and vegetables from a bountiful harvest -- despite a very dry summer -- frosty nights, and spectacular multicoloured forest foliage.
Here is a photo from one of our favourite Autumn scenes in the Musquodoboit Valley, about 50 kilometers east of Halifax:

This year, however, we drove west, to observe the Autumn Colours arrayed along the Annapolis Valley, along routes 1 and 101.
To help celebrate our 37th Wedding Anniversary, we enjoyed a huge Thanksgiving Dinner, at Old Orchard Inn, in Greenwich (near Wolfville).
And once again, the Valley and the chef did not disappoint: