Glenn Kubish

  “Andrew said to me, ‘Mom, have you played Wordle?’ and I said, no, don’t talk to me about Wordle! Every morning I get up and it’s just <bing, bing, bing, bing, bing> on my phone because all of my siblings have started to play, and they all share their results and then they all like everybody sharing their results, so I said, no, I’m not doing Wordle…” That was my sister-in-law Kathy recounting the story of her son making the case for Wordle, which she brushed off, but, then, changed her mind about. Good thing. Five-lettered Kathy is a natural at the game. A couple of weeks ago, she solved the puzzle in one try. Last week, she followed that up with what for her must have been a demoralizing, two-guess triumph, which she’s done a few times. “The day I got it in one guess, I put my word in, it was green, green, green, green, green. Oh, this is a good game, I like this. It’s like winning the lottery," Kathy said. H-A-P-P-Y end of the week...

  It’s probably the truth that there’s something wrong with you if there’s nothing wrong with you these days. Making note of three things that made me happy or grateful means only that, as Craig Finn has said, there’s some comfort in the ritual. Here is this week's Three Things podcast . 1. A proposal The wind blew and door chimes jingled madly. The wind blew and snow came unfastened in sheets from the street. The giant elm trees in the wind were just giant elm trees in the wind, but they were also, for a second or two, ancient pens, their top branches lashing back and forth like quills chasing turbulent thoughts. All around was wind. A siren rose in the dark. We were in the elements, Auntie Shelagh and I, as we walked down the aisles of snow on 148th Street. It was cold, this wind with teeth from the north. From the sidewalk, I saw people inside their living rooms. A man with the back of his bald head to the front window sat bathed in the blue pulses of his television. At a din...

Here are three things that delivered some happiness and gratitude this week, which is saying something. Podcast, episode 60 . 1. Evolution I’ve been doing a lot of walking. This is not an earth-shattering observation, but it is worth reminding myself that when it comes to walking outside at this time of year in Edmonton, as winter melts into spring, when it behooves all pedestrians to beware the ice of March, I am able to adapt and slow down and stay upright. None of this is to say that it doesn’t matter if people shovel their walks or not. It does. They should. Keeping public sidewalks free of ice in the winter isn’t about winter. It’s about kindness to others. Shovelling snow and chipping ice isn’t about the state of the concrete, it’s about the state of our hearts. And none of this is to say that I am not aware that I am able. I am. I am not as lithe as I once was, but am not yet deterred from heading out in any conditions, unlike many. But I had a breakthrough last week. Out walkin...