In my opinion, last Saturday was almost perfect. The weather all week was exactly what we needed to forget about the winter in which we shovelled and shivered and cussed the snowbanks. Tuesday evening was perfect for dragonboat paddling on Trout Lake and Wednesday was great for a motorcycle ride to Temagami. No moose or bears to be seen but I guess they were resting in the shade of one of those huge pine trees.
Thursday, friends from Southern Ontario gathered at the Pastor’s home on the lake for a barbeque and cool drinks – all in preparation for the Friday golf challenge game at a local course. (Actually, the Deacon isn’t a Pastor – he just runs his parties like a church service: shaking hands, accepting money, offering bread and wine, saying a benediction for the drive home . . .)
The only stain on a perfect Friday was the number of geese (and their droppings) on the golf course. If we can have a cormorant cull, why not a Canada goose cull? Okay, I apologize for that bad idea – it was just a fleeting thought as I cleaned my shoes and clubs. Lunch at the Bistro was excellent.
Saturday was a beach day, or if you lived in Callander or nearby and were a kid at heart, a splash pad day. Don’t be discouraged small Bayites, we’ll get our downtown splash pad running soon. Out in the hinterland in my home township, there were many bathers enjoying the beach at Wolfe Lake.
Saturday was the crown jewels of a sports day – Guerrero Jr hit a Grand Slam for the Jays in Detroit making it a 2-game winning streak. My Roughriders kicked butt in the CFL and across the pond Irishman Shane Lowry was leading the Open. My least favourite golf hero, Tiger, was nowhere to be seen. I still haven’t forgiven him for all the fist pumps and moving that 1500 pound loose impediment.
The breaking political news here in Canada was the announced return of Jerry Butts to the Liberal campaign. (My wife says he never left, steering Justin by the elbow over his cell phone). That cemented my resolve not to vote for Justin. Butts still smells of SNC to me, although at least he had the gonads to resign. However, if he was, and I suspect it to be true, the person behind the now broken promises in the last election, then I have no trust in what they will promise us this time around. Of course, we all ought to know that it is the backroom people pulling the strings, but one still has to have some comfort in your choice in the voting booth.
It is early days but Sheer (and his buddy Ford) scares me. I like Jagmeet and his idea of taxing the very, very rich because that certainly won’t touch my pocketbook. I was worried about the colour of his turbans because he seems to mix and match his headwear. I thought it might have some hidden religious message but Google says no, it is just a matter of choice. Maybe once the writ is dropped he will standardize on orange. Maybe orange with a nice Green motif running Independently through the cloth.
Saturday night, after dancing at the Golden Age to the singing and strumming of Keith, I retired to bed (after my dish of frozen yogurt) thinking it had been a really good week. I hardly thought about Iran and the Gulf of Hormuz, the Ebola in central Africa, that buffoon to the south, the twin IcePad in the swamp or what I was going to have for breakfast in the morning.
As I drifted off to sleep I wondered what I would write in my Perspectives column to offend the fewer number of people. Darn, I mentioned religion and politics. Thank heavens I didn`t say anything about sex. I have no public opinion about that.
