Hit and Miss #234: War in real-time, in all its ugliness

February 27, 2022

Hi there. It’s been quite a week, eh? The overwhelming story, in print and online, has been Ukraine. “Overwhelming” applies, in every sense: it is...

Hit and Miss #233: Goodbye (?) to the occupiers

February 20, 2022

Hello! It’s been (yet another) interesting week in Ottawa. A few reflections, for posterity: Over the last few days, downtown Ottawa has looked very...

Hit and Miss #232: Savouring silence

February 13, 2022

Good evening! I returned to my apartment on Monday to find the street below mostly clear of vehicles, and enjoyed, for the first time in a few weeks, a quiet...

Hit and Miss #231: Acoustic assaults

February 6, 2022

Good morning! An opening note: when I sent last week’s newsletter, it was titled “Honk honk”. I later learned this is a dogwhistle phrase. There’s no need to...

Hit and Miss #230: Occupied

January 30, 2022

Hi folks, I hope you’re doing well. I’d planned to follow up last week’s newsletter, saying “But we can’t do it alone” and examining where the public service...

Hit and Miss #229: Playing for team public

January 23, 2022

Good evening! It’s been a lovely weekend—I hope the same for you. This week, The Globe and Mail ran a number of articles on outsourcing by the federal...

Hit and Miss #228: Where have the snow days gone

January 16, 2022

Good afternoon! It’s blustery here in Ottawa, and it looks like we have an enormous storm headed our way. I miss snow days, whether staying home from school...

Hit and Miss #227: Melancholy and drama, but peace

January 9, 2022

Good afternoon. Something about an overcast winter day, gloomily raining after a day of sunny but freezing skies, causes feelings of melancholy and drama....

Hit and Miss #226: Digging roots

January 2, 2022

Good evening, and a good new year to you! I just jolted out of bed, realizing I hadn’t yet sent this newsletter—blame it on a day of driving. I haven’t had...

Hit and Miss #225: A few books feed us well

December 26, 2021

Good morning! Today’s the last Sunday of the year. It’s been a head-turning few weeks, capping off months full of ups and downs. I’m trying to take what...

Hit and Miss #224: Staring down the barrel, at least the memes are good

December 19, 2021

This issue is just COVID. There’s a gallows humour quote at the end, if that’s your jam; if you’d rather keep your mind on other things, sit this one out and...

Hit and Miss #223: Fragments

December 12, 2021

The paper didn’t arrive five out of six days this week, so I didn’t read as much as I normally do. When this happens, I turn often to Twitter to feed my need...

Hit and Miss #222: What we lose

December 5, 2021

Hi! This post is going out scheduled, as I’m on the road back to Ottawa today. T and I were up visiting her mom in northern Ontario, which was a splendid...

Hit and Miss #221: Outrunning the food coma

November 28, 2021

Good evening! I’m racing a rapid onset food coma, so will keep today’s newsletter pretty short, focused on the links, which we’ve aplenty. (Tonight’s food...

Hit and Miss #220: Stories within stories

November 21, 2021

(non-disaster links at the end of the email!) If you’re in Canada, there’s a good chance you heard of the terrible rains, floods, and mudslides that came...

Hit and Miss #219: Silent commemoration

November 14, 2021

Richard Wagamese’s Embers, a book of meditations shared in beguilingly simple language, opens with a chapter called “Stillness”. It includes this passage...

Hit and Miss #218: One week down

November 7, 2021

Good morning! Thus far, November is going pretty well, contrary to last week’s expectations. It’s been sunny, friendly, lovely—no complaints, really. Spent...

Hit and Miss #217: Surviving November

October 31, 2021

HELLO! I’m writing to you late, after a nourishing weekend of housework, walking, and friends (new and old alike). I’m leaving October on a high. With luck,...

Hit and Miss #216: Registering intent

October 24, 2021

Good morning! It’s sunny and my heart’s full. Even before physical distancing, I tried to give space while out and about. I walk at a brisk pace, which can...

Hit and Miss #215: Leaves pass to soil

October 17, 2021

Good afternoon! Isn’t fall grand? Fiery trees give way to a satisfying crunch underfoot, ultimately yielding the musty smell of decaying leaves. Leaves pass...

Hit and Miss #214: A brief rom-com review

October 10, 2021

Good afternoon! Last night, I started watching Beverly Hills Cop, thinking I’d do a few sudokus while tuning in and out of the action. A few minutes in, I...

Hit and Miss #213: Truer histories

October 3, 2021

Hello! Somehow today’s starting off even more drizzly and grey than yesterday—we (I, and hopefully you) fought off the gloom by baking biscuits and bopping...

Hit and Miss #212: Star Trek days

September 26, 2021

Hello! A friend’s visiting this weekend—it’s been a lovely change from routine. We bonded long ago over a shared love for Star Trek, so the weekend’s been...

Hit and Miss #211: Paths (not) taken

September 19, 2021

Hello! It’s a wonderfully sunny Sunday here in Ottawa. The political folks are out on the hustings across the country (don’t forget to vote tomorrow, if you...

Hit and Miss #210: Little reading

September 12, 2021

Hello! It’s been a quiet vacation week for me. It included a visit with a friend to Laurel Creek Conservation Area (a history of which I wrote up a few years...

Hit and Miss #209: September, it’s finally here

September 5, 2021

Though it’s been a while since I traded the arbitrary requirements of professors for the arbitrary requirements of checks notes bureaucracy, part of me still...

Hit and Miss #208: Reading and movies

August 29, 2021

Hello! It’s slaloming between drizzle and downpour here. I spent the morning catching up on Star Trek: Lower Decks. Nothing quite like cozying up with...

Hit and Miss #207: August free fall

August 22, 2021

It’s the part of the season when I start liking summer. (Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”, on not knowing what you’ve got ’til it’s gone, comes to mind.)...

Hit and Miss #206: Democratic event(s)

August 15, 2021

Hello! I’m writing you from my kitchen, where I’m nursing a temperamental batch of stock. (Only one boil over, we’re in good shape.) This morning, the Prime...

Hit and Miss #205: Let’s get nerdy

August 8, 2021

Good afternoon! How are you? I hope this finds you as well as can be. Links for you this week: I’m still scratching my head over this bizarre story. Men in...

Hit and Miss #204: Cool sunsets

August 1, 2021

August!! Welcome to the summer-y month where we start to get a hint of that most wonderful of seasons, fall. There’s heat yet to come, but the last few days...

Hit and Miss #203: Parables

July 25, 2021

Hello! I spent most of the weekend reading Parable of the Talents, by Octavia Butler, for a book club early this afternoon. It’s so good—better even than the...

Hit and Miss #202: Boredom, boiling frogs, and miscellany

July 18, 2021

Boredom. A mind searching for things to think about, for things to do. Webster’s 1913 edition characterizes it as weariness “by tedious iteration or by...

Hit and Miss #201: Summer dreaming

July 11, 2021

Hello, and a happy Sunday to you! My week was filled with family time, which has been wonderful. Such time reminded me of the quiet reassurance that comes...

Hit and Miss #200: “You give me life”

July 4, 2021

Good evening! Somehow, I’ve been writing this newsletter for 200 weeks in a row. Half the archive ago, I wrote about my principles for living. Happily, they...

Hit and Miss #199: Loading

June 27, 2021

Hi friends! It’s been a busy weekend for me—packing things up, cleaning, and more of the above. I’ve accumulated a fair number of links to share, but they’ll...

Hit and Miss #198: Cooking, staying hungry

June 20, 2021

Hello! I’m writing this from the kitchen, a comfortable, cheery spot. I’ve just finished reading Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner. If you’re not...

Hit and Miss #197: Responding to violence

June 13, 2021

Hello! I hope this finds you well. It’s warm in Ottawa, but compared to the heat we had earlier this week, it’s rather nice. It’s sometimes difficult to know...

Hit and Miss #196: Doors Open (online)

June 6, 2021

Hi there! This weekend is normally one of my favourites in Ottawa: Doors Open, when numerous interesting organizations, big and small, open their doors to...

Hit and Miss #195: 215 children

May 30, 2021

This week, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir shared the heavy announcement that the bodies of 215 children were found on the former...

Hit and Miss #194: What’s on the mind

May 23, 2021

Hello there! The weather here in Ottawa is all over the place. Scorching yesterday during the day, a hot breeze in the evening, then we barely touched 20...

Hit and Miss #193: Lilacs

May 16, 2021

Hello! We’re solidly into spring, now—it certainly feels so outside. The days heat up, though they’re not too muggy yet—here’s hoping for a gradual...

Hit and Miss #192: The world is cool

May 9, 2021

Hello! Just a few links for you today. I spent much of the weekend reading, finishing Dune for a book club this afternoon. I realized that most of the books...

Hit and Miss #191: Anniversaries

May 2, 2021

Hello! I hope you’ve enjoyed a proper weekend. It’s a week of anniversaries for me. May marks the anniversary of my joining the Canadian Digital Service...

Hit and Miss #190: To what grounds us

April 25, 2021

Somehow, inexplicably, this is the last weekend in April. (It is explicable, of course—it’s the inexorable march of time.) This is the same week the budget...

Hit and Miss #189: Furious, heartbroken—but not surprised

April 18, 2021

Hello! Well, it’s been quite a few days, hasn’t it? There’s been a lot of gloom. But today my family gathered on Zoom today to wish my Nonna happy birthday...

Hit and Miss #188: Daydream believer

April 11, 2021

Cheer up, sleepy Jean Oh, what can it mean To a daydream believer I spent much of yesterday afternoon lazing about, basking in the sun and feeling a cool...

Hit and Miss #187: Sunshine escape

April 4, 2021

Allo! We’ve the gift of gorgeous weather on this extra-long long weekend, and I’m indulging in it. Also I’m hiding from the news, which SUCKS. Briefly, some...

Hit and Miss #186: Rainy day people

March 28, 2021

Hello! It’s a drizzly day here in O-town. This afternoon, I’ll flop on the couch, read the paper, maybe play some video games—I’m aiming high, in other...

Hit and Miss #185: Spring—change, or not

March 21, 2021

Yesterday was the first day of spring. I woke relatively early, layered up (these edge weeks are so odd—chilly mornings, “hot” afternoons), and ventured out,...