Glenn Kubish

Focus. The weekend is in sight. Here are three things that left tracks of happiness and gratitude this past week. Three Things from Edmonton, episode 144:                        1.   The universe and the fundamental attribution error   Chocolate almonds are a weakness. From way back. From the days back behind the Esso station on 66 Street in Steele Heights where we’d put our bikes down next to a telephone pole in the alley and eat the chocolate almonds instead of trying to sell them door to door to support the school fundraising campaign. I was never meant to be a salesperson. I took a no, thanks, or a door closed in my face, or a dog barking a goodbye way too personally.   Andy’s IGA   is a much better chocolate hawker. The shelf stockers there simply pile up plastic tubs of chocolate almonds and, without a word, wait for me to come apart and buy one, which, last week, I did and then did.   I walked up...

I try, no matter what is happening in the world, which is a mess, or in my bronchial tubes, which are, too, to notice what I noticed made me happy or grateful.  Three Things, episode 143:                               1. Weather map   I saw the weather map in a new way last week.   The visual grammar of the TV weather is familiar to all of us of a certain vintage. A personality with effervescence and expertise stands in front of a map printed with the names of local communities—Edmonton, St. Albert, Leduc, Sherwood Park, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, and all the smaller places, too, like Veg and Whitecourt, Smoky and Westlock—and this expert, like the great Josh Classen, or the great Bill Matheson before him, narrates a story of how the meteorological forces, the high pressure systems, the low pressure systems, are vying above to make their presence felt in our little lives below. It’s mythical stuff....

Ciao, ecco tre cose della mia piccola vita che questa settimana hanno lasciato tracce di felicità e gratitudine, or something like that. Here's Three Things from Edmonton, episode 141:                                   1. Italy      Shelagh is off to Italy soon for a couple of weeks. It will be a belated milestone birthday vacation celebration with her friend Sheryl. I’m staying home to keep an eye on the tomatoes. If it frosts, someone has to cover the plants. Italy as a holiday destination makes deep sense for Shelagh. She took night-class Italian lessons a decade ago at Ainlay. Her accent is a-pretty good. She studied the literature and the architecture of the country as an undergrad. She spoke real Latin, actually. She made me watch Don’t Look Now with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland. She shops at Spinelli’s in Little Italy. She knows Moonstruck by heart. A favourite exchang...