September 2025 Newsletter

Life in Canada

What, Me Worry?

If you’ve never been to the Badlands in Drumheller, you’re in for a treat; the valley, gouged out of the surrounding farmland by glacier meltwater, resembles a landscape more suited to the moon than Earth.

But the Royal Tyrell Museum in Drumheller, which has been welcoming visitors since 1985, is an even bigger delight; a major restoration in 2024 has turned it into a must-see destination for anyone visiting Canada.

Using the latest exhibition technologies, kids of all ages are treated to an experience that is both fun and educational. Instead of just static displays, visitors can interact with maps and even create their own dinosaur, choosing from a selection of morphologies to sculpt fang-toothed monstrosities.

The theme of the museum is ‘life on earth’, and it follows the evolution of organisms from cyanobacteria to modern man. But one of the biggest goals is to explain the death of the dinosaurs during the end of the Cretaceous 63 million years ago; everything from a meteor impact to massive volcanic eruptions is explored in detail.

Personally, I think Gary Larson of The Far Side got it right;

Subscribers to Prime Unlimited can read all my books for Free!

Recipe; Breakfast Muffin Sandwich

This is a great way to start the day – just don’t tell your doctor!

Ingredients

1 egg

1 slice of cheese

1 slice of ham

1 English muffin.

Mayonnaise

Directions

Fry the egg in a pan, making sure you crack the yolk. Add in the slice of ham and top the egg with the cheese.

Toast the English muffin and coat it with a dab of mayonnaise. Top off with the ham, cheese and egg and serve with fresh fruit and coffee. Enjoy!

Movie Review

The Thursday Murder Club

Streaming on Netflix

I first read The Thursday Murder Club some years ago when it made a big splash on the best seller lists. Richard Osman is a well-known TV personality in the UK (and a very talented writer), who took the traditional English cozy and turned it into a publishing phenomenon that has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

The series is set in a bucolic seniors home located in the rolling hills of southern England. Elizabeth is a former spy who chairs a club that goes over cold cases in the hopes of catching the murderer. Joining her are Joyce, a widowed nurse, Ibrahim, a retired psychiatrist, and Ron, a former union organizer.

Naturally, un-nabbed murderers tend to resent meddling, and their efforts attract threats that are thwarted through ingenuity and cake baking until the miscreants are ultimately exposed.

With any adaptation, the question of which genre prevails always arises. Does the story leap from the page and gain new life on the big screen, or is it a so-so rehash? With the likes of Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan in the main roles, one might think the former, but the movie cuts too many corners from the narrative and leaves the result rather flat and pedestrian.

That said, The Thursday Murder Club is a delightful series, and I highly recommend you read the books!

TV Review

Wednesday, Season Two

Streaming on Netflix

OK, you have to be a fan of The Addams Family.

Created in the Sixties from the cartoons of Charles Addams, it featured Gomez, his wife Morticia, their children Pugsley and Wednesday, as well as a cast of misfits including Uncle Fester, butler Lurch and Thing, a dismembered hand.

The latest reincarnation is the brainchild of Tim Burton, and focuses on Wednesday (played in brilliant deadpan by Jenna Ortega), a Goth teenager with a penchant for necromancy.

In season one, Wednesday saved Nevermore Academy from destruction. Season two begins with her return to Nevermore, where a murder of crows begin pecking eyes out.

Mayhem ensues, with the body count quickly surpassing most Schwarzenegger movies. Wednesday perseveres, however, and all that is ooky and spooky is saved (presumably for Season three). Dig it.

Book Review

Nothing Ventured

By Jeffrey Archer

This is the first in the William Warwick series, a highly entertaining police procedural set in London. William Warwick is the son of a prominent barrister who decides to forego the family business and instead become a copper with Scotland Yard. He subsequently falls under the wing of Detective Hawkley, who soon has Warwick and his fellow officers hard on the trail of murderers, drug dealers and villains.

None of it matches the hijinks experienced in real life by its creator, however. Jeffrey Archer has been a UK Member of Parliament and a life Peer in the House of Lords. He was also a client of latex-clad ladies and a guest at HM Prison Belmarsh for fibbing under oath during a libel court case regarding his nocturnal hobbies.

Nothing Ventured follows William and the gang as they pursue Miles Faulkner, an international art thief and all-around cad. Faulkner manages to stay one step ahead of the police as he shuffles his collection of Masters around the globe, all with the aid of his salacious wife Christina.

The series is not, by any means, Daggers Award material, but it is engaging fun and Archer takes tremendous advantage of his intimate knowledge of trials and prisons to give the reader an authentic feel for crime and punishment. I highly recommend the William Warwick series!