It is with great sorrow that I write this last blog post on behalf of my father. Tim passed away on Wednesday, January 22nd, in Charlottetown, PEI after a short and quickly developing case of brain cancer. He was lucid and pain-free until very near the end, and very grateful for the many comments, voice … Continue reading Last Blog Post

Glasses no longer required, but it is me! Book six ... from hospital, with love. So here we are. December 8th, and I'm still with you. With great pleasure I can tell you that I'm in pretty much the same position from a medical point of view—still waiting as these brain tumours work their way … Continue reading (and) Found

Well, there was a poem written by Robbie Burns, a Scot, something about things always going awry, or as John Lennon put it, “Life’s what happens when you are busy making other plans." That’s been life this year, a bit up in the air, a bit mixed, and now an ‘annus horribilis’. Most of you … Continue reading The Lost Blog

“Seems like a lot has happened since my last blog.” This has become a bit of a refrain. Last time I wrote I was still recovering from having a pacemaker put in. I’d written at length about being ‘wired and waiting’, not sure what was going on. Then once in the system, moving from inpatient … Continue reading Blindsided

Well, it’s that time of the year again. The last summer concerts are taking place, the kids are all going back to school, and I’ve just spent the day making tomato paste. This year we had a bountiful crop of tomatoes. There was a slight problem with the first ones, which developed the dreaded ‘blossom … Continue reading A dollop of memory

When you study educational administration and management, which I do, you often come across the work of Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), who wrote The Prince (1532) and other ‘handbooks’ for leaders. “Avoid inconsistency,” we are urged, and “always mask your true intentions” when trying to achieve a specific outcome. Most of my students are aspiring principals, … Continue reading Sprezzatura

So, here we are: three weeks on from all the drama of the end of June, and a week away from the Garden Party. I’m doing OK, thank you. I got the all-clear from my family doctor, and am driving again, and managing to walk around a bit. I’m still a bit restricted in that … Continue reading Looking forward to looking back

The saga continues … During the afternoon, an anesthesiologist came by for a chat. He told me that I would not be under full sedation, just in a ‘twilight sleep’. I said that I really didn’t want to watch; he laughed and said they would put up a little screen, and give me an oxygen … Continue reading Geordie

Friday 28 June, 11:00 am I’m sitting in a hospital bed, wired up and waiting. Last evening I was admitted, via Emergency, and today they’re going to give me a pacemaker. I’m not scared, not like when I was on the boat out to see the iceberg—that was only a week ago! But I am … Continue reading Wired and Waiting