Friday 7 January 2011

Back to the good old days

My spring bulbs grow, coffee at hand
I loved sitting in the morning and reading the newspaper. At least, that was the theory. Usually I was at school at 7 a.m., and home by 3, perhaps out having a workout to relieve stress. Maybe, in my clouded, out of focus rear mirror, it was in the evening I read it!

When we moved from Ottawa (Nepean) to Bala, Muskoka, we were out of luck. I mean no newspaper delivery. Not the Globe & Mail, not the National Post, not the Toronto Star, Toronto being a mere 2 hour drive south. None of them.

The local Metroland paper came in the mail, with many inserts, but not the closest major paper, The Toronto Star. We would buy it on Saturdays. But with an entire section devoted to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), it really didn't apply or interest us.

In Perth, just to the north of us, one of my clients gets the Globe delivered. I was excited. No luck. I decided to go for broke and have the Ottawa Citizen delivered. I cannot abide reading a newspaper online. Is it just me?

Snowy morning, traffic speeds to work
I like sitting there, discussing issues with my beloved, cutting out interesting pieces, researching it later. For example, the day before we had ordered the paper, an article was printed about the wild turkeys introduced to build up the extirpated species. I was shocked. I might not have spotted it, being labelled a 'science' issue, and buried in the subpages of the online edition. Now, I don't know about you, but I failed science. My daughter has her M.Sc., and so I don't feel too badly. She is my resources for things scientific. She mentioned this article as she knew we had had 28 turkeys on Christmas day.

Surprise - who was under the spruce tree
This morning, since hubby goes out to feed the deer, who are usually standing staring in at us, heads hung, with an empty feeder, I figured he might as well go down to the end of our drive and fetch the paper. Mind you, this was my gift to him. And it was a good gift. We can go back to the good old days when we discussed issues in the paper, debated politics, and drank that first cup of coffee in the day.

Oliver was not amused. He sat, slowly turning from black fur, to white snow waiting for that dastardly red squirrel, then went after the birds. All he caught was snow.

5 comments:

Yogi♪♪♪ said...

I read the online Wall Street Journal and New York times every day and that's great but I love reading the old school Tulsa World while drinking coffee in the morning. Reading the real paper is just so much more informative and quicker. You can do quick scans and you notice items that you might have missed.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Totally agree with you on on-line newspapers. Even when traveling we hate to not be able to find a local paper. We used to rate RV parks based partly on how easy it was to get a morning paper; a few delivered one to your doorstep free! (I'm sure we paid for it in the nightly fee, but it felt great anyway!)

Good to have a daugther who can be a resource for a subject you're weak" in.

Cloudia said...

At least you have coffee :)


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Rusty said...

Online is great for searching for stuff, but I too simply can't read what I find directly off the screen. If I have to, I end up printing it. Not exactly the 'paperless' dream.:)

Kay said...

You live in such a different and interesting area. I think it's so neat that you've got wild turkeys running about.

I used to grow Paper White Narcissus in the winter, too. I loved how they looked but didn't care for the smell.