I hate autumn -- that is until now. Autumn was the dreaded finale to glorious summer days and a preview to the long months of winter. It was as if I skipped the season altogether and was already in the depths of winter.

As a child, autumn ended my freedom and heralded the start of change. It also summoned yet another birthday. I dreaded autumn more as each year rolled by and my depression levels worsened.

Whenever friends waxed lyrical about colder nights, sweaters and hot chocolate, I felt like a party pooper wanting to go home early!

This year of all years with all the changes that... Continue Reading

5:23 p.m. Wednesday

The phone rings in my office with a bleep, bleep. That means an outside call is coming directly in. Most of the front office was gone so they come through.

I pick up.

“Hello, this is John McIntyre”
“Where is my Damn paper,” a scruffy sounding female voice bellows out.
“I am not sure. What does it look like?”
A long pause.
“I am Mrs. M (shortened by me) and I usually get my paper on Wednesday and It didn’t come.”
“You must live in Delmar Mrs. M. We had a problem at the post office last night, but everything is fixed and you will have it... Continue Reading

There's nothing like being in the great outdoors for a few days to refresh and renew the spirits - and leave you with a sense of undying gratitude for the man who invented flush toilets and hot showers.

Labor Day weekend marked the fifth annual Wilderness Camping Trip for Cormac and me, along with my brother-in-law Michael and his son Tadhg. This trip evolved from one to Thompsons Lake six years ago that included spouses. Caitlin made it one more year to the first really roughing it trip, but Chris has forever declared he'll spend as much time outdoors as the rest of us, but he's sleeping in a clean bed at night. Continue Reading