Monthly Archives: August 2025

I have probably played close to 500 rounds of golf since retiring 15 years ago. Yes it is an addiction. Recently I went on a 3 day golf adventure with the golf buddies.

It was fab. We journeyed from Arnprior to Huntsville, ON to play the highly ranked Deerhurst Resort Highlands golf course. Tucked into the Canadian Shield, this is a spectacular course with steep hills and gorgeous views and fast greens. We loved it.

Moving on the next day we played the gorgeous Parry Sound golf course. An equally spectacular course with the Shield poking through again but much less hilly. I loved this one even more. On our way home on the 3rd day we stopped at the Homestead at Wolf Ridge GC in Killaloe, a nice country course we have played several times before.

We stayed in beautiful Parry Sound the home of Bobby Orr, just off Georgian Bay at a condo owned by one of the golf buddies. It was an all round great trip. We ate at several superb restaurants including a Cajun spiced fresh pickerel meal I will not soon forget.

Perhaps the best part of golf is the social contact we have together. Chatting about health ailments, electric cars, places we’ve travelled to, jokes and career experiences, we really bond. Golf is a bonus.

We are slowing down now. Playing 3 days in a row was a challenge for me. I hope we can to do it again next year. Thanks golf buddies for all the fun, the great memories and all those gimmies on the green!

Almonte HS teacher, historian and friend Terry Currie wrote and self-published this book in 2009. At the time it was the first comprehensively researched complete story of this cataclysmic event.

On August 17, 1870, locals woke up to yet another hot day. Since there had been no rain since April, Carleton County was a tinder box. That day, a work gang was clearing brush near Blakeney in the process of extending the rail line right-of-way from Almonte to Pakenham and beyond.

They would pile up the dry brush and burn it off. Suddenly a strong southerly wind caught the flames and blew them north across the line into the woods. The fire was immediately out of control heading north and NW towards Carp and Pakenham.

No one in the path knew what was happening until they were nearly engulfed in flames. As Terry explains in detail, the Press were very limited in their ability to find out what was going on and inform everyone. People and animals fled but there was nowhere to go. Farm families would put a ladder down their wide diameter well and climb down to escape. Those who ran back to the farmhouse to retrieve some heirlooms often died.

Can you imagine the terror – a wall of fire several kilometres wide – and nothing you can do! There were no rural fire departments in those days. The fire burned all day and night advancing as far as Arnprior and Fitzroy. On the 18th the wind changed to westerly with gusts as high as 140 km/hr. This carried the fire all the way to Dows Lake in Ottawa, south to Westport and into Quebec by jumping the Ottawa River at Britannia.

My home town Arnprior was saved by the Madawaska River and shifting winds. All told 3000 farms were completely destroyed and as many as 20 people were killed creating 8000 refugees. Ottawa was saved at the last minute by flooding Preston Street. Places like Bells Corners and Stittsville were completely wiped out. The fire continued to smoulder until the mid-September when heavy rains finally came.

In the aftermath, governments were very stingy in assisting people to rebuild. But gradually, farms and infrastructure were rebuilt until today, you would not know. There is an area south of Almonte called the burnt lands where the soil was burnt down to the limestone. Will have to check this out.

Thank you Terry for this interesting if tragic bit of local Valley history.

I’ve spent some of this summer meeting up with friends I met 45 to 70 years ago. I had not seen them for many years. It was awesome. The memories, the stories and even the pain.

The thing is, we appreciated that we were able to do this. Many of our childhood friends have passed.

With a few exceptions, most did not do well school. Many had their own small businesses and followed a different track than me. They are very smart people and always were.

Despite our life differences with all its ups and downs, we are still friends. I am proud of that.

I’ve had a battle with ChatGpt lately. The popular AI platform says KPLZ 101.5 Seattle never had a program called Friday Night Jazz. Well I happened to have recorded this program on 6 separate occasions way back in 1982 when I was living in North Vancouver.

So here is the proof. It’s a short sample of the full audio cassette recording I made of the program on April 2, 1982.

So I uploaded this file to ChatGpt and it now has adjusted its database accordingly. It really was a great radio program playing crossover jazz and fusion artists like Bobby Caldwell, Maynard Ferguson, the Yellowjackets, Grover Washington, Spyro Gyra, etc. Tom Reddick was the announcer.

In case you don’t know what music I am talking about, I leave you with a couple of samples. It really was groundbreaking music at the time – the precursor I suppose to Smooth Jazz which I don’t really like. Yes, I know, this is all trivial pursuit but great memories nevertheless.

Dave