Canadians are known for being polite and apologetic. Which may be why there are t-shirts that say, “I’m sorry if I offended you with my common sense.”

Throughout history, we have used words against each other, dickering with aplomb to get away with murder. Or we don’t bother to define our terms…

The first thing I do when someone I love is in pain is to “help”. I give advice. Share a pithy quote from a beloved author. Pass on information passed on from somebody else who is a supposed expert on the topic.

This story will make you smile. A general store was held up, and a brave cashier hit the guy with her labelling gun. The police are looking for the would-be robber and say there is now a price on the man’s head.

A grandparent handed her grandson a book and explained, “It’s called reading. It’s how people install new software into their brain.”

I have seven floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in my apartment. I try to keep them organized according to themes and subjects so that I don’t waste my day hunting for that great book…

As I write this it almost feels like I am doing something wrong putting laughter in the same title as the word grief. It does raise some questions doesn’t it?

I’ve been carrying this quote around in my head for months now. It’s from “Black Elk Speaks, The Life of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux,” as told through John G Neihardt.

Someone said, “I received a phone call saying I won $35,000.00. To complete the transaction, they needed my bank details. Certainly, I replied. It’s a big building on Main Street.”

Pulling out of my sister’s driveway in Medicine Hat, I am on the last leg of my journey home from a sojourn on Cortes island with my brother who suffered a stroke two months ago.

There’s an old saying: “If you ask a question, it makes you look stupid for five minutes, but if you don’t ask - you stay stupid for 50 years”.

I am looking at a picture of my brother the first day he walked among his garden beds after leaving the hospital. He has a white beard, deep smile lines radiate from his bright, shining blue eyes.

After downing half his glass of milk, the ten-year-old declared, “I am an optimist; the glass is half empty.” His mother corrected him and said looking at a glass as half empty is a sign of pessimism.

It is said that there are really only two emotions. They are love and fear. Love encompasses all the pleasant emotions that we feel such as joy, peace and gratitude.

My sister, my brother and I are looking at his MRI. It’s a sobering moment. It’s also fascinating. Despite how annoying it is to hear doctor after doctor say: “You’re very lucky”…

A dad handed his son a book and said, “It’s called reading. It’s how people install new software into their brains.”

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the federal government to reject the unaffordable and unsustainable demands from the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

My father-in-law possesses a wealth of stories and sayings. He shared a recent anonymous quote: “If two people always agree, one of them isn't necessary.”