"You know what my biggest fault is." I asked Linda.

She was concentrating intently on a painting she has been working on for some time. It's close to being finished but something about it just isn't right and it bothers her.

"Interrupting me when I'm concentrating on something else?" she guessed, continuing to study the painting, gently cocking her head from side to side.

"No, of course not," I laughed. What a sense of humour she has. "I mean my biggest fault."

"Persisting in interrupting me when you see I'm concentrating on something else," she guessed again, her gaze wavering only slightly from her work.

"No my biggest fault. You know."

Linda sighed and put down her paintbrush. She looked at me with an expression I couldn't fathom and sighed again. Then with a look of resignation on her face, she asked, "Walking too fast when we're together so you leave me walking two or three feet behind you?"

"No no."

"Telling my stories when we're at a party, so I have nothing left to say."

"No, that's just being helpful. I mean an actual fault."

"Making me guess things you already know the answer to?"

I laughed again and shook my head. I really love her sense of humour.

"Forgetting to pick up the simple things I ask for at the store? Taking me out to see movies you love and I don't care for? Forgetting to give me messages from my friends when they phone?"

"Not lovable idiosyncrasies, I mean that thing I do that really, really annoys you."

Linda shook her head. "So I haven't guessed it yet?"

"You're not even close!"

"Okay so maybe you'll have to remind me. Obviously this is such an annoying trait I've blanked it out." She cast a longing glance at her painting out of the corner of her eye.

Some of the fun went out of the game for me. We were having such a good time playing. Women, can be such spoil sports some time.

"You know," I finally told her. "It's when you ask me to do something and I do it right away."

It was Linda's turn to laugh. "Alright, well you're going have to give me some examples of that happening!"

"You remember when your dentist told you we should be using an electric toothbrush, and I ran right out the next day and brought one and you were really annoyed."

The light dawned in Linda's eyes. "Yes, well I wanted a say in the choice of brush we got."

"Yes, yes, I was annoying right! And when you wanted that bookcase taken down and I ripped it out the next day."

"I was just wondering what the room would look like without the bookcase. I wasn't sure I wanted it removed."

I was triumphant! "There, you see, it's my worst trait!"

"Well, that's annoying of you alright. But what about it?"

"I promise not to do that any more."

Linda was startled.

"I thought I should make some changes in my life," I explained. "And get rid of some of my bad habits."

"And that was the bad habit you planned to get rid of?" Linda shook her head in wonderment. "Actually doing something I ask you to do as soon as I ask you to do it?"

I could see the light of understanding in her eyes. "Exactly! I thought that would please you."

Linda shook her head. "Men," she said, along with something else I didn't quite catch.

I guess she was marveling at what wonderful creatures we are!

It really feels good to know you've made your wife happy.

After his Canadian Idol win Kalan Porter has been constantly on the road and making CDs. Now 22 he has developed as a performer with humour and terrific vocal skills drawing crowds of over 22,000

According to Wikipedia--

Kalan's first single "Awake in a Dream" was released on October 5, 2004 and debuted at number 1. It spent a total of 8 weeks at the top of the charts and has become the best selling debut single for a Canadian artist to date as it was certified 8x Platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association in November 2004.

Kalan's debut album 219 Days, released November 23, 2004, reached number four on the Canadian charts in its first week. The album title, 219 Days, refers to the number of days from his first audition to the release of his debut CD. It has been certified 2x Platinum.

Kalan completed a cross-Canada, 65-date tour in 2005. Most of these shows were sold out.

On 15 February 2006, Kalan Porter received three Juno Award nominations in the following categories: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for 219 Days, and Pop Album of the Year. In 2006, Kalan presented at the 2006 Juno Awards in Halifax.

In July 2006 Kalan announced to fans through his official website that BMG was giving him time off before recording his second album. He returned home to his family's buffalo and cattle ranch to be with his mother, who was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, and his grandmother, who faces surgery.



One of the hottest acts in Canada, here is his latest single. Porter's sophomore album, Wake Up Living, was released on 28 August 2007 and debuted at number 7 on the Canadian albums chart. The first single, "Down in Heaven" (which Porter wrote as a tribute to his mother) was available to radio stations from 4 June.

The music video for the second single from the album, "Destination (where I Belong)" premiered in November 2007. The track "Walk on Home" From the album was used as the contestant elimination song for Canadian Idol's fifth season.



He is still searching for that distinctive breakout song that would move him onto the international stage.

One of the advantages to being Canadian (there has to one at least one) is that Canadian Idol begins the week after American Idol ends and dominates Canadian Television through the summer.

This years show is still broadcasting all the auditions that have been held across the country, so I have no idea what may emerge from this years crop.

But there was one year when Idol struck gold with some powerful performances. It was way back in the second season and the top three are still going strong in solo careers. For those who may have missed it I want to share some of those performances with you, especially the songs from the night when Gordon Lightfoot was the guest.

Here's the Canadian Railroad Trilogy performed by the top six:



And here is Saskatoon's Teresa Sokyrka the runner up, sorry the sound and visuals are slightly out of synch.



And here is that year's winner Kalan Porter, a 17 year old classical violinist and cattle rancher from Alberta, with Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind"

When you stand on the bluffs overlooking Lake Ontario the water seems to stretch on forever, like some vast inland ocean. We've had visitors from England mistake the lake for the sea and tell us they didn't know Toronto was so close to the ocean.

Yet Lake Ontario has the smallest water surface of any of the Great Lakes, but due to her vast depth, she beats Lake Erie in shear water volume. And somewhere down there in the black depths, more than 800 feet below the surface, close to the southern shore of the Lake, the intact wreck of the HMS Ontario has been discovered.

On the weekend a search team announced the discovery of the oldest ship wreck ever found beneath the waters of the Great Lakes, a 22 gun British War ship from the time of the Revolutionary War. The Ontario went down in a storm without firing a single shot in battle.

According to the Toronto Star--

"British Admiralty records list 88 people on HMS Ontario when the ship went down — 74 crewmen and troops, among them Lt.-Col. Masson Bolton, commander of Fort Niagara; four women, including Bolton's wife; five children; four Indians; and a civilian merchant.

"But letters from Fort Niagara, where the ship began its final voyage, indicate that it also carried about 30 American prisoners, bringing the death toll closer to 120.

"Bolton reportedly was in poor health and heading for England to have the rotten teeth removed that were thought to be poisoning him.

"Fort Niagara, near Youngstown, NY, was ceded to the Americans at the end of the War of Independence in 1783 but remained under British control for several years and was recaptured by British troops during the War of 1812. It was eventually handed back to the U.S."

The loss of the Ontario was kept secret so news of the largest British Battleship on the Lakes would not reach George Washington.

Bothered by something, I read the story twice before I got it. Due to a tooth ache Bolton was on his way to England to have his teeth removed. He would be traveling the length of Lake Ontario by boat, transferring to an ocean going vessel in Montreal, and making a further two month voyage across the Atlantic, just to see his dentist!

If I have a toothache and can't get in to see my dentist that afternoon, I'm outraged.

And what if his dentist was on vacation when he got there? There was no phoning or e-mailing ahead to let him know you're coming.

He might have been the only one smiling when the ship went down, thanking God his agony was over.

As I walk Lindsay along the beach at the far Eastern end of the Scarborough Bluffs, to the West of us, in the extreme distance, another man was out walking his dog "Archie".

He was at a popular access point for the bluffs called Bluffers Park where there are many marinas, yachts, fine restaurants and excellent beaches.

But as he rounded a corner of the bluffs he suddenly found himself in India. An entire little Indian Village was laid out before him.

It turned out to be a movie set created for the Mike Myer's movie "Love Guru". Since the man had his movie camera with him he took the following behind the scenes shot of the set. It lasts 40 seconds.



Meanwhile, even further West of both us and him, a young woman was out video taping riding her bike along the bottom of the bluffs and as she came East she also stumbled onto the movie set, startled to find what she took to be a Tahitian Village at the rugged bottom of the bluffs. This is a 2 minute video of her trip and her discovery.



Mike Myers was born here in the Scarborough area of Toronto, and the road he was born on has been renamed in his honour. He lived about 5 km away from Jim Carrey. Two of my brothers and their wives are going with us to see the Love Guru in two weeks, although none of the clips I've seen so far look the least bit funny.

Maybe its me.