Frogger Game of Life

            Last night, while driving home in the pouring rain, I saw a brownish-yellow leaf on the road, highlighted by my headlights. As the car drew nearer, the leaf seemed to be lifted by the wind and carried in two arcs to the side of the road. In fact, it looked almost like it was hopping.

            The idea was still forming in my mind that it may have been a frog (or toad) when I saw another one. This one was sitting on the edge of the road and I was able to distinguish that, yes, this was some type of amphibian, and it confirmed my suspicions about the previous ones I’d seen.

            Having identified the first two frogs, I was then able to spot more – and there were a lot along this particular stretch of road, all trying to get to the other side. Luckily I was able to avoid hitting them, but it did get me thinking about the situation.

            Had it not been for the specific lighting provided by the combination of the rain and the headlights, I never would have seen those frogs. And while some of them expertly dodged the car, Frogger style, there were others that I actively steered around – those ones would certainly have ended up squished and I never would have known. Perhaps they ended up flat anyway, courtesy of another car with a driver who didn’t notice their presence, or perhaps one who did notice and simply didn’t care.

            It struck me as a perfect metaphor for the relationship between humans and the natural world. For centuries we’ve blundered around, shaping the world to fit our needs. Sometimes, some of us notice that we’re causing harm and we do what we can to stop it. Others of us never even notice the harm, or refuse to believe harm is being caused. Some people are aware of the harm and just don’t care.

            The greatest threat to the frogs are the people who don’t even know they’re there. We could, of course, tell them that the frogs are there, but we humans are a skeptical lot. We like to see things with our own eyes. What we really need to do is provide the correct lighting conditions so people can see the frogs for themselves. Then it’s up to them what kind of person they want to be.

            Personally, in life’s great game of Frogger, I want to be the type of person who helps get the frog safely across the road.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Introvert Vacation

            It’s been a very long time since my last vacation – three years, I think. Well, I guess now the counter is down to one day, since Colleen and I just got back from a lovely two-week vacation (you didn’t even notice I was gone, did you?) up in Collingwood, Ontario.

            We stayed at a place called Georgian Manor, about a ten minute walk (if you don’t mind crossing a busy road) from Georgian Bay in one direction and the Georgian Trail in the other. It didn’t take long for me to suspect that there was a theme for naming things in the region.

            Now, some people, when they go on vacation, go looking for a place with resorts, theme parks, and loads of things to do. For this vacation, though, Colleen and I were looking for a nice, quiet, relaxing time that would be perfect for a couple of introverts like us. Instead of looking for things to go out and do, we brought along a bunch of books, movies, crafts, and games. It was wonderful – we got to work on a lot of projects that we never seemed to have time for at home.

            We weren’t entirely reclusive, either. Every day we managed to get out for a walk – most of the time the weather was good for it. Sometimes we drove to one of the parks by Georgian Bay, were there were plenty of pokestops so we could play Pokemon Go as we walked (and we met up with some local friends one day), and other days we walked to the Georgian Trail – a complicated procedure, because the trail that led to it was quite waterlogged. Luckily someone had provided stepping stones and planks for the most impassable areas, but even so we had to turn back a couple of times after it had rained.

            The first morning though, after we had awoken early almost early enough to watch the sunrise (some hours early than we were used to waking up – but, oddly, the early rising persisted throughout the vacation), we walked to the park closest to where we were staying. We only walked there once, because we needed to cross a busy road to get there, but that morning we were up early enough that there was almost no traffic.

            It was a pretty little park, and we never even would have found it if it hadn’t been for the pokestop that led us there. It had a fantastic view out over the Georgian Bay, of which we took a few pictures.

            Being who we are, the vacation wasn’t entirely work free, of course. I had brought along a commissioned scalemaille shirt to work on as one of my crafts. This turned out to be quite fortunate, as the person who the shirt was for had family in Collingwood, and leaving it with them would save us six hours of driving to deliver it normally. That put a little pressure on to get it done before we left, resulting in a blister on the palm of my hand (and a nasty pliers-stab on my thumb), but I think it was worth it.

            There’s not much else to tell. A chorus of frogs sang us to sleep each night. Overall, it was quiet, fun, and relaxing – exactly what a vacation should be.

To finish off, here are some pictures of the wildlife that frequently visited us, right outside our back door.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

What Were Those Mysterious Sounds?

            I don’t get out to as many medieval fairs and renaissance festivals as I’d like to – I mean, after all, they’re a ton of fun and it’s where chainmaille sells the best. However, of the ones that I know, I have a particular fondness of the Royal Medieval Faire that we were vendors at last Saturday.

            What makes this event so special? It has a new theme and storyline each year. I've never seen that anywhere else and I've gotta say, the organizers have a lot of fun with it.

            Last year, the faire was invaded by Vikings (also a drunken lady asking people to kiss her stuffed frog). This year was something unique and – I felt – very clever. It was a mystery. In fact, it was such a good mystery that I still don’t know what was going on. All I know is that throughout the day, we kept hearing the oddest noises. I also observed two shady looking characters dressed all in black offering a child a gold coin in exchange for information about the strange sounds.

            My best guess is that it was a snoring dragon. While that only accounts for some of the sounds, it’s the best I've got.

            Story line or no, medieval fairs are great fun. If you've never been to one, you should find one near you and go. Beware of dragons and Vikings, though. Also drunken ladies with kissy frogs. I'm not sure I’ll ever recover from that on.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.