Like most people I’ve had my share of unexpectedly eventful days, like the time I found myself wandering around a darkened Palm Springs hotel parking lot, in the middle of the night, with only a towel to preserve my dignity. Or, the time I found myself sipping martinis in a backyard hot tub overlooking the California coastline at sunset, also in the buff, while conducting an interview about Walt Disney.

Neither of those events even remotely compared to those of Friday, January 6, 2017.

Editor’s Note: This story contains material which previously appeared in the SoCal Yanquee section of TheStorytellerCafe.com.—Kenneth [click to continue…]

“I don’t get it,” Jonny said emerging from the passenger side of my car, “this doesn’t make sense, it’s…it’s…surprising.”

I closed the driver’s door to the car, turned and headed back to the building I’d just come from.

“Nobody expects the Canadian Inquisition,” I muttered under my breath.

Editor’s Note: This story contains material which previously appeared in the SoCal Yanquee section of TheStorytellerCafe.com.—Kenneth [click to continue…]

Labor Day 2016 arrived and so did we, with the help of Jon’s step-father Al and his van, in Greater Grand Sudbury, Ontario. We set about setting up house, which was made all the easier, thanks to a series of items Steve, our host over the preceding summer, gave us as he methodically went about preparing his family home for sale.

Editor’s Note: This story contains material which previously appeared in the SoCal Yanquee section of TheStorytellerCafe.com.—Kenneth [click to continue…]

Following our first visit to Sudbury in early July I volunteered to check out the rental housing situation online. I didn’t know what I should be looking for, boarding situations like the two he’d had in Owen Sound, studio apartments, one bedroom, or two bedroom flats. [click to continue…]

I don’t need to tell you that from the moment Jonny said we could work out together if I spent the winter in Owen Sound, my life changed significantly, and for the better. [click to continue…]

Many Americans begin their Holiday decorating right after Thanksgiving. Canadians not so much; they tend to start after November 11, Remembrance Day, Veterans Day in the US.

Editors Note: You’ve probably noticed this is not the previously announced Hey Siri chapter of our ongoing story. Last week, in his haste to begin celebrating his first wedding anniversary, Chuck skipped this week’s installment, Christmas Comes Early. With any luck, Hey Siri should be next week’s story.—Kenneth [click to continue…]

I was awake early the next morning, before anyone else in the household. Jim, the senior of our two hosts, had a lifelong habit of being up and preparing for breakfast by five. So it came as something of a surprise to him to find me already in the kitchen with my laptop, especially in light of the fact that on my previous visit, I clung to my usual habit of staying in bed until nearly nine. [click to continue…]

“I’m not the problem,” I thought to myself standing there reading and rereading Jonny’s words. “I’m the trigger.” [click to continue…]

With the exception of a side trip to the country, it was as if my heart had fully expected events to unfold exactly the way they had that Sunday afternoon in that Owen Sound Tim Hortons. This time, however, on the long series of flights home, I wasn’t fighting emotional turmoil. [click to continue…]