-
My 10th Anniversary Of Being Diagnosed With Cancer
Originally published January 8, 2019 Ten years ago, I received some life-changing news – I was diagnosed with having stage 3 throat cancer and was given only a 40% chance of surviving. At the time, I was 59 years old – and I remember thinking that I probably wouldn’t survive because I had never in…
-
Today I Took My First Step On Route 66
Originally published January 13, 2016 I looked at the time – it was precisely 4:58 AM, and my dog Holly Golightly was curled up at the foot of the bed. I turned off the television and excitedly took my first step on Route 66 – as a sixty-six-year-old. But I almost fell in the…
-
Yesterday’s Memorable Visit In Montreal
Originally published October 26, 2015 I arrived in Montreal on Saturday night and had an early evening. It was the first time that I had been in Montreal since the early ’70s – except for business trips with General Motors. However, those meetings were usually at airport hotels in Pointe-Claire, not in downtown Montreal, and…
-
Who Says That Sixty-Five Is Old?
Originally published January 9, 2015 It was going to be a quiet 65th birthday, and I asked myself, “Who says that sixty-five years is old?” Not me! When I was 59 years old (in 2009), I was diagnosed with stage 3 throat cancer and given a 40% chance of surviving. At the time, I hoped…
-
A Surprising Update From My Friend Laura
Originally published October 19, 2015 On Sunday morning, I got up and made a cup of coffee to enjoy while reviewing the latest news via my email accounts and Facebook. I was just about to take my first sip when I noticed her smiling face in the pictures she had posted the night before. …
-
Why Our Being Together Again, Warmed My Heart
Originally published September 22, 2015 In the last three years that I’ve been writing these stories (blogs), I have never written anything about my younger brother Ricky (Eric), until we got together again in Oakville, on Labor Day in 2015. Despite a University education, a promising career, a wife, and two awesome kids – Jennifer…
-
The Legend Of A Great White Shark
Originally published September 8, 2014 The crowd of onlookers grew by the minute, and it was only a matter of minutes before the Great White Shark made her first appearance in the Pacific Northwest in more than five years. Some believed that she had died long ago, but they had shown up anyway – in…
-
Here’s Why I Volunteer For Cancer; It’s Payback!
Originally published April 7, 2014 Someone once asked me; What are you going to do when you retire? Without hesitating, I answered: I don’t know! From the first day that I started working in 1968, to support myself, I told myself that things would get more comfortable if I worked hard. And if things got…
-
Terror & Tremblin’ in Langley
Originally published March 25, 2014 Readers of my blog know that Holly Golightly, my dog, is one of the loves of my life. She is seven years old and intelligent, but at times, stubborn. Yesterday, her stubbornness almost led to tragedy. I had just returned from the States early in the afternoon and was getting…
-
My Best Newspaper Job Ever!
Originally published December 13, 2013 I remember my first newspaper job; I was eight years old. So, that was 1958. It was not a job in those days – it was called a paper route. A truck would deliver a bundle of Oshawa Times newspapers daily to the corner of my street. The bundle was…
-
My Family’s Early Years on Video
In 2001, several months after my dad’s passing, I had a VHS tape made up of the many super 8 mm film reels that my parents took of our family during the 1956-64 era. Yesterday, I had the tape converted to a digital file, and I am watching the video as I write this short…
-
Seagulls, Beer, and Sparkplugs
One of the first things I heard when I went outside this morning was the screeching sound of seagulls flying overhead and the smell of the ocean. In fact, it is what I see and feel every time I go outside of my new digs in White Rock. I sound like a person who has…
-
Needles and Pins
You would think that after eleven years, I would not be nervous about seeing the doctor, but I guess it’s just my mind fighting with my heart and leaving my body feeling like being pricked by ‘pins and needles.’ But that’s not until this afternoon at 2:00. Until then, I plan to go for a…
-
Why Sometimes TGIF Is Really POETS
Most people know TGIF (Thank Goodness It’s Friday), but I created a new acronym for some Fridays POETS (Piss On Everything Tomorrow’s Saturday). And I came up with the idea early Friday morning when Holly’s wet lick on my lips woke me from a sexy dream. My dog Holly Golightly is almost deaf and visually…
-
The Lemons-to-Lemonade Sagas
The first of the lemons-to-lemonade sagas is about comedian Dave Chappelle. He used to have a popular television show, but he quit it in 2006 and wandered in the standup wilderness for about fourteen years. Some of his critics rejoiced at his absence from the world of television comedy but not his fans. We patiently…
-
What’s In A Name?
Connie MacLean and I had been friends for a couple of years before learning one of her best-kept secrets. But I would never share her secret with anyone because I, too, had a similar secret. And when you’re forced to share your secret with another person – it is natural to want to know one…
-
Yesterday’s News
I had just pulled into the Langley Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery’s parking lot when my phone started to ring. I glanced at the call display – it was the veterinarian’s office! I’d been anxiously waiting to hear the results of Holly’s ultrasound test to see if the Cushing disease was in her adrenal gland or…
-
A Threesome Happy Hearts Reunion
The happy hearts of the threesome reunion are Cathy Clearie, Danny, and Donna Misner. The three of us met ten years ago when I was diagnosed with stage 3 throat cancer and was only given a 40% chance of surviving. At the time (2009), I was fifty-nine years old. As I left the oncologist’s office,…
-
A May Day Call
Today, I did what I swore I’d never, ever do. I was sitting in the waiting room of the cancer center in Vancouver, waiting for a good friend, who was having her radiation treatment and I was cursing to myself at this terrible disease. I have known too many people who have suffered from this…
-
A Ghost in Campbell Valley
Although I have been living in the Vancouver area for many years, I only had a vague idea of where it was when I started on a walk this morning. But I was determined to find the remains, if any, of the old Langley Speedway (1965 – 1984). I knew that the track was somewhere…
-
POETS (again)
If you’re a regular reader, you may have already seen this POETS acronym before – it stands for Piss On Everything Tomorrow’s Saturday. I often say it on Fridays, and it never fails to leave a puzzled look on the person’s face until I explain – and then I’ll get a chuckle from them or…
-
A Wet Kiss
This morning, I awoke to a tongue licking my face and it made me smile. If you’ve never experienced a wet, wake-up kiss before – I recommend that you get a dog. Cats are okay but they’re ‘wired’ differently than dogs, and they would rather ignore you. And today, Holly let me sleep until 5:00…
-
An Empty Bucket List
In January 2010, I got a call from David McDonald, who was a film student at Simon Fraser University. At the time, his graduating class was producing their final film project, and David wanted me to be in their film. I was in his class’s first-year film project ‘Dead Air’ which was my first film…
-
My Animal Friends, Care Dog Heroes, and Cancer Patients
Whether you are a friend or a regular reader, you know that I love all animals, particularly dogs, and many are my animal pals. And if you’ve walked with me, you know how much I enjoy taking pictures and videos of my animal friends. I feature my animal pals on Danny’s Videos page and cancer…
-
Ramblin’ Thoughts
Although I never write about religion or politics, and I try to avoid expressing negative thoughts in both my written and spoken words, I’ve decided to share one of my pet peeves with you – namely, self-service checkout counters at grocery stores. What mental lightweight came up with the idea of reducing lineups at cashier…
-
When A Fifty Dollar Walk Is Worth It!
It was a brand new downtown route that the Vancouver ‘Venturers Club scheduled, and I wanted to be among the inaugural walk’s first participants – but I needed to determine the best transportation mode during Vancouver’s dreaded rush hour. I had no idea it would cost me $50 to get from the Sky Train station…
-
Skagit River Park Walk
I was standing near the corner of the street, with three of my gal pals, in downtown Burlington, Washington, when I suddenly noticed something I had never seen before – a solar-powered garbage can. Now you’re probably more interested in why I was alone in the States, with three gal pals – more than hearing…
-
I Never Gave Up On The Tooth Fairy
There is often a situation when I’ve thought seriously about giving up on a particular dream, but there has always been a reason for continuing the chase – because ever since I was a little boy, I never gave up on the Tooth Fairy. I remember a saying I learned when I was little Danny,…
-
A Thousand Words…
Yesterday, at the Blackie Spit Park in Crescent Beach, I saw something that I’ve never seen before in my life. Fortunately, I had my cell phone camera with me to take a video of the scene. There’s truth to the saying, ” A picture is worth a thousand words!”. When I approached the shore, I…
-
Why I Never Got Up on Wrong Side of Bed
When I was growing up, if I were ever sad or in a bad mood, people would often ask, “What’s wrong with you – get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?” Because back then, I shared a bedroom with three younger brothers. I mention this only to point out that in…