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Making Room(s) for Autism
Although I’m not there yet, I’m told it’s incredibly difficult to watch your kids grow up and move away from home for the first time. But for families of adult children with special needs, independent living is not a standard milestone. I came across this article from The Portland Press Herald that tells the story…
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Fire in the Hole
Okay, so it wasn’t exactly on fire but I was in a hole and it was well over 40 degrees with humidity. That hole is the crawl space below my front porch deck which, of course, needed to be stripped out and, of course needed to be almost entirely rebuilt. It was my window of…
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El Sicario: The Autobiography of a Mexican Assassin
When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the Jews, I…
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The Secret Life of Houses and Other Buildings
Don’t know why exactly it has taken so many years for me to finally attend the Doors Open Ottawa event. Whatever the reason I suspect it would also explain my lack of participation to date in the glorious Jane’s Walk events, too. Seems the dates never make it onto my calendar and then poof! they…
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I Smell Summer
Today was, without a doubt, a great day verging on perfect. It was hot, the blue skies were deep and I bore witness to the indubitable arrival of summer. The grass was trim, my twelve ‘Madame Lemoine’ lilacs saturated the air of the formal fragrance garden, the peonies and iris waited with bated breath…
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A Modern Man’s Opinion
I like a good debate. Not the lunkenhead talk radio scream-a-rama sort, but the interesting, informed, progressive kind. I not only want to hear about the flip side of an issue, I actually want to be convinced by the opposing argument in order to shed my current belief around a topic or at least see…
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Living in the Shelter of Robots
It’s kind of like a mirror we hold up to ourselves. Whatever robots turn out to be, will largely be a function of us and the decisions we make. – Mark Rowlands, D.Phil. Professor of Philosophy, University of Miami from Honda’s Living With Robots Part of the fascination of robots is just that. It’s just…
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We Are What We Sit On
Between birthday party pickups, Husband and I popped into our favourite used bookstore this weekend, walking out with full arms and empty wallets. The store is literally crammed floor to ceiling and floor to floor with untamed stacks of fascinating, and often very unique, books. I fantasize about one day walking in and asking Mr.…
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House Porn
Hey buddy, can you spare $90 million dollars? The housing industry in the U.S. may have imploded but it doesn’t mean that the uber-luxe houses have simply gone away. They’re still there waiting for the buyer with pocket change equal to the GDP of a small African nation. There have always been super-sized houses (they…
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The Season of ‘And’
I love living in a place with distinct seasons. Theoretically, it means putting aside certain activities every few months in favour of fresh, new-sounding ones. In Ottawa we have three distinct seasons – summer, fall and winter. Spring jams its foot in the door, churning out a last ditch attempt at snow immediately followed by…