COVER FINAL JPG

October 2024 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in Calgary

It’s back to Manzanillo this month; we’re looking forward to seeing old friends and enjoying the great (post hurricane) winter weather!

In the meantime, we’ve had a wonderful time in Calgary; it’s been over a decade since we lived here, and it’s grown and matured in so many ways.

Our neighborhood in Eau Claire is now surrounded by summer concerts and events that feature music and culture from around the world. Here’s a small sample;

The Mexifest with wrestlers and tacos!

Beaches the Musical playing at Theatre Calgary!

Book readings by authors who really appreciate you buying their books (ahem).

Crystal Ball is now Available on Amazon!

FBI AGENT JACK KENYON is back! When a bomb in Myron Buckstar’s software lab kills an innocent woman, Jack and the crew are called in to find out if terrorists are targeting the flamboyant billionaire. They soon discover that the victim was a member of Scotland Yard working undercover on a mysterious case. As Jack pursues her murder, he uncovers a race to steal the Crystal Ball, an invention that allows its owner to peer into the future. Follow Jack from San Francisco to London as he pursues a host of murderers, conmen and criminals who will stop at nothing to achieve their goal.

Recipe; Zucchini Stuffed Italian Boats

A big thank-you to our wonderful friend Wilma for supplying us with her home-grown zucchini for this tasty recipe. This is a delicious meal and easy to make – your family and friends are going to give you plenty of compliments! By the way, this recipe is keto, vegan and no kittens were harmed.

Ingredients

2 large zucchinis,

1 Tsp of olive oil.

1 cup of tomato sauce

1 tsp of salt

1 Tsp of Italian seasoning

1 cup of tomato sauce

1 cup of mushrooms, chopped

1 Tsp of butter

1 cup of grated cheese.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Cut the zucchinis lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Rub them with olive oil and place on a cookie tray. Bake for 20 minutes.

Fry the mushrooms in butter in a medium-sized pan then add the tomato sauce, salt and Italian seasoning. Let simmer on low while the zucchini is baking.

Fill the zucchini boats with the sauce then cover with cheese. Bake in the oven a further 5 minutes, then turn on the broiler and toast the cheese for two minutes.

Let them cool for a few minutes, then serve. Enjoy!

Book Review

The Briar Club

By Kate Quinn

Quinn is an American author who has written a series of tremendously enjoyable novels about brave women who defy the Nazis. If you haven’t read The Huntress, the Rose Code or The Alice Network, then you’re in for a treat.

Her latest work, The Briar Club, is set in Washington, DC, in the 1950s. It veers from her focus on WWII, but I think it’s her best work yet.

The story takes place in the Briarwood boarding house, set in the neighborhood of Foggy Bottom.

Mrs. Nilsson and her children Lina and Pete are hosts to a bevy of women who have come to Washington in search of jobs. They include Nora, escaping her cloying family, Bea, a former player for the All American Girls Baseball League, and Felicity, a young mother whose husband is fighting in Korea.

Into their midst strolls Mrs. Grace March, a widow who soon captivates everyone with her worldly manners and Thursday night potluck. The author unfolds their individual lives and the manner in which they become a family with skill and insight.

And did I mention the prologue features a grisly, blood-spattered corpse? This ain’t no pedestrian stroll through the Eisenhower Era; someone in the boarding house is a cold-blooded murderer. I highly recommend The Briar Club!

TV Series

The Tragically Hip No Dress Rehearsal

Streaming on Prime

This is a four-episode documentary on one of the most original bands to ever come out of Canada; The Tragically Hip. From their origins in Kingston, Ontario, to Gordon Downey’s tragic death from brain cancer at the age of 53, the documentary traces the many potholes and detours on their journey to success.

I have never been a Hip Head. As we stood in line waiting to see its debut at the Calgary International Film Festival, however, I had a chance to talk with some devoted fans. They mentioned how, even in the biggest arenas, Gord would make them feel as though he was personally communicating with them, reaching out to their hearts with his poetic lyrics.

(By coincidence, we met the band in the mid-80s while staying with friends in Toronto. Alan Gregg, their manager, invited the band over on New Year’s Day for a drink and we were charmed by their youth and good manners).

But back to the doco. There’s a lot of shots from the picturesque Lake Ontario city of Kingston as the group walks through the events that brought them together and formed life-long friendships.

There’s lots of footage of the band on the road, performing the day-to-day tasks of hanging out in laundromats and noodling with lyrics and instruments.

And there’s lots of live performances of their most famous songs, with Gord writhing around the stage like a poor soul possessed by a demon as he performs.

The final episode covers the country-wide tour after Gord has been diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Rather than being maudlin, however, it captures the beautiful relationship that the band had with both themselves and their fans. I highly recommend No Dress Rehearsal!

Bonus Book Review

Here One Moment

By Liane Moriarty

Liane Moriarty is one of our favorite authors. She is an Australian writer who lives in Sydney and writes about the lives of ordinary suburban Ozzies in such an extraordinary manner that she captivates you from the very first page.

Even if you’ve never read Moriarty, the chances are that you are very familiar with her work, as her book Big Little Lies was made into an award-winning mini series starring Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman.

Big Little Lies was my favorite Moriarty book until I read Here One Moment. The premise of the book is audacious; during a routine flight from Hobart to Sydney, a 70-year old widow named Cherry walks down the aisle predicting everyone’s cause of death and age of death.

Some of the passengers are amused, while others are thrown into profound anxiety. She tells one young woman that she will die in a car accident within the year. She predicts that the infant sitting in a mother’s lap will drown at the age of seven.

Turmoil erupts when her predictions begin to come true. The young woman does indeed die in a car accident, and others pass away as stated. Suddenly, Cherry has become the mysterious Death Lady, with a website tabulating her prophesies.

Moriarty writes following a code; no ghosts, divine intervention or phantasms ever determine the outcome of her books. So it was with great anticipation as I read this novel; how would she resolve what clearly appears to be a paranormal phenomenon at the heart of the story without compromising her inner tenet?

She pulls it off brilliantly, and, I promise, the ending will delight you. I highly recommend Here One Moment!

2024 04 09

April 2024 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in Paris

Sigh. It’s snowing like hell in Calgary so I thought I’d dig through the vault and find a bit of happiness in Paris. This is the El Vecino Mexican Restaurant located near Place de la République. We didn’t eat there, but the sign out front caught my eye and I couldn’t resist a selfie. Fu*K your Diet is the name of their signature German ginger beer.

Life in Mexico

Years ago, the area around Club Santiago was a castor oil plantation. The beans from the plant were used to make plastics, varnishes and paints. When cheaper alternatives were found, the plantations were abandoned. But the plant itself is quite hardy, and descendants can be found growing in ditches along roads throughout the area.

Unfortunately, the beans contain ricin, one of the deadliest poisons known to mankind. Even a speck as small as a grain of sand can kill you. Casual contact with the skin can also lead to burning and blistering.

The reason I’m calling it to your attention is because the plant grows around the Club Santiago golf course; you can see them in profusion along the third and fourth fairways where they border the highway.

If the beans are inadvertently ground up and dispersed by the ground crews mowing the fairways, you can accidentally come in contact with traces of ricin.

Soviet agents have used ricin to poison their foes, so you should avoid them too. (That’s Xenia Onatopp, the deadly spy from Goldeneye, in case you’re wondering.)

Should you break out in a rash or blisters, treat it with over-the-counter cortisone cream or Calamine lotion.

TV Review

The Gentlemen

Streaming on Netflix

I’m not the biggest fan of film producer Guy Ritchie. He loves to do British crime gang movies with lots of Cockney low life and grisly shot-gun duels. So it was with trepidation that I approached The Gentlemen.

On the surface, it’s much like his usual fare. A career officer by the name of Eddie inherits a dukedom from his father Lord Halstead when the latter prefers him over his dissipated eldest son Freddy. Freddy is flamboyantly aghast at this turn of events, mainly because he owes 4 million to a nasty bit of business to whom Theo must cough up lest his brother suffer defenestration

That’s not the worst of Eddie’s problems. It turns out that a gang run by a carbuncle named Bobby Glass has established a grow-op on the estate and isn’t about to up sticks. His daughter, the delicious Susie Glass, must play intermediary as various shenanigans, including heists and murder, complicate matters.

What makes the TV series so much fun is the fast-pace, plot twists and general eccentricity that seems to permeate every character. It’s a lot of fun to watch, and I highly recommend The Gentlemen!

All my novels are available to Kindle Unlimited subscribers!

You can also buy eBooks and paperbacks on Amazon!

Movie Review

The Holdovers

Streaming on Amazon Prime

It’s a quirky premise; a cranky professor at a prestigious prep academy is forced to stay on duty over the Christmas holidays along with a stranded student and a grieving school cook.

So, why did this period piece set in 1971 receive 5 Academy award nominations, including Best Picture of the Year?

Paul Giamatti is reason number one. The award-winning actor brings his rumpled everyman persona to the role of Paul Hunhan, a life-long bachelor who has dedicated his career to nurturing the pampered spawn of America’s elites. His efforts at Barton Academy in the face of supreme apathy has completely depleted his passion for teaching, leaving a bitter husk of a man.

Angus, the student (played by Dominic Sessa), has been abandoned at the last minute after his mother and his new step-dad elope to St. Kitts.  He vows to make the holiday as miserable as only an angst-filled teenage boy can do.

Mary, the head cook (brilliantly portrayed by Da’Vine Joy Randolph), has lost her drafted son in the Vietnam War. Her grief and anger toward the deferred boys who attend Barton is palpable.

Together, the three form an unlikely alliance in an effort to survive their odious fortune. Slowly, they forge bridges between their emotional isolation. Each character grows in self-esteem and maturity, achieving the gift of Christmas that no mere present beneath the tree could achieve.

Although the only winning Oscar went to Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Supporting Actress, all of the nominees, including Giamatti as Leading Actor and David Meningson for Best Original Screenplay, are highly deserving.  This is a gem of a movie; I highly recommend The Holdovers!

Recipe: Roast Pork Belly

Cooking dinner literally doesn’t get any easier than this. You can pick up fresh pork belly at any Chinese butcher (a big shout-out to T&T market in Calgary!) and make this tender, succulent dish in under an hour.

Ingredients

1 kg of pork belly

Instructions

Score the top fat layer in a diamond shape pattern. Place in a shallow tin pan (I line the pan with parchment paper to make the clean-up easier).

Roast for 40 minutes at 400F.

Slice and serve with baked sweet potato and corn. Enjoy!

Book Review

Table for Two

By Amor Towles

Creating a short story is undoubtedly one of the most difficult tasks a writer can face. You have to create the main characters, setting, story and outcome to the satisfaction of the reader, all in a fraction of the space that a novel allows you. In addition, you have to include a twist in the plot, one that is both totally unexpected and, at the same time, totally believable.

I’m not an avid short story reader for that reason. I find that contemporary writers fall short of the mark when compared to O. Henry.

The exception is Amor Towles. We’ve always enjoyed his novels (A Gentleman in Moscow), so I didn’t hesitate when his latest fictional effort, Table for Two, was published. It’s a set of six short stories set in New York, and a novella set in Hollywood. The short stories are crafted like a fine Swiss watch, every word and phrase so exact that each tale captures the frailties and aspirations of the characters with exquisite precision, and each ending comes as both a surprise and a wish for the story to continue.

As an aside, people often ask me where I get my ideas. As any writer will tell you, it’s a combination of observation and inspiration. I’ll give you an example of the former. I was driving down McLeod Trail adjacent to the Stampede Grounds one evening when I glanced over and spotted a woman sitting at a bus shelter clutching a giant stuffed panda and crying her eyes out. Now you know there’s gotta be a story there.

Well I didn’t write about my observation, but Towles did. I will Survive involves a happenstance encounter that the author must have made while walking in Central Park that was so unique that it inspired him to cut a fascinating tale out of imaginary cloth. I won’t tell you and spoil it, but you’ll recognize immediately what I’m talking about when you read it. I highly recommend Table for Two!

2023-11-03

November 2023 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in Mexico

Life’s a Beach

We live a few blocks from Santiago beach, a beautiful, 6-km stretch of coffee-colored sand situated in a protected bay.

The beach is deserted most of the week, but come Sunday, several thousand people flock for a day of rest and celebration. Here are some of our observations about the unique way that Mexicans enjoy a day in the sun.

Bring Beer. Anyone who thinks Mexicans are lazy has never seen one carrying three flats of warm cerveza on their head.

Bring the family. When it’s time to take the clan to the beach, they rent a bus. Even Grandma, dressed in black and sitting in a wheel chair, comes along.

Bring a life-vest. There are no lifeguards, rip markers or swimming lessons; if you get carried out to sea, you’re crocodile buffet.

Bring a skin tumor. The favorite sunscreen is coconut oil, with a melanoma-rating of +50. Smells great, though.

Bring a bikini. Not so bad when they’re 17, but when you see a Big Momma toting a few decades of tacos only one phrase comes to mind; Lycra torture test.

Book Review

The Exchange

By John Grisham

Linda and I have been reading John Grisham’s legal thrillers for decades now, and we’ve enjoyed them a tremendous amount. Unfortunately, in The Exchange, the author has taken a couple of detours from his usual winning formula that are, to say the least, distracting.

The Exchange is a follow-up to a tremendously enjoyable book, The Firm, which followed the misadventures of a young lawyer. After graduating with distinction from Harvard, Mitch McDeere joined Bendini, a prominent Memphis firm. At first, he and his wife Abby found themselves enjoying the life and sudden wealth that the position promised. Soon, however, they found themselves embroiled in a nefarious world of money laundering. With the FBI closing in, Mitch and Abby fled the country one step ahead of murder, abandoning their lives.

Now, decades later, Mitch has established a career with Scully, the world’s largest law firm. Settled in New York, they are intent on raising their twin sons and putting the nightmare around Bendini far behind.

Their lives are shattered, however, when a mysterious terrorist gang based in Libya kidnaps one of their associates, the sultry Giovanna Sandroni, while inspecting a client’s engineering work in the middle of the desert. Mitch finds himself scrambling to put together the $100 million ransom before she is executed.

So, what’s my problem? I enjoy Grisham because he doesn’t generally wallow in gore. The Exchange, however, features several grim torture/executions of terrorist captives; I can get all of this I want from reality, thanks.

Secondly, this isn’t a legal thriller, with all the court twists-and-turns that normally propel Grisham’s narrative. It’s essentially a ‘will he get the ransom together before the deadline (and presumably icky death) of the beautiful victim’ thriller.

Finally, when you do a sequel, the core of the conflict is associated with some ‘unfinished business’ (one of the guilty parties gets out of prison and comes looking for revenge, say). Except for the fact that it features the two primary protagonists from The Firm, the two books don’t really have anything to do with one another.

My suggestion; if you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend you get a copy of The Firm!

Read all my books with a subscription to Kindle Unlimited!

You can also purchase eBooks and Paperbacks on Amazon!

TV Review

The Crown

Streaming on Netflix

We were living in London in 1997, about one km south of Kensington Palace. The morning of Sunday, August 31, dawned sunny and warm, and we decided to go for a jog in the park.

As we made our way north along Gloucester Rd, however, we noticed several strange occurrences. A cabbie was parked at the curb, weeping as he listened to his radio. People were solemnly exiting the Gloucester Rd tube, each clutching a bouquet of lilies.

When we reached the park, the normally-cheery warden wore a solemn expression and a black armband. It wasn’t until we reached the gilded south gate of the palace, already strewn with a pile of flowers, that we realized what was going on.

“Diana died last night,” a tearful mourner explained.

The sixth, and final season of The Crown focuses on the death of Diana. Even though half a lifetime has passed, the events remain riveting. Although it is a dramatization that pigeonholes many of the participants (the scheming Mohamed al-Fayed, his weak-willed, acquiescent son Dodi), the episodes nonetheless capture the visceral fascination that the world held for one woman and her tragic death.

Days after her demise, we stood in veneration as her gun carriage was drawn through the park, mourning with the millions watching at home.  It is a feeling that I shall remember for the rest of my life. I highly recommend The Crown!

Movie Review

Nyad

Streaming on Netflix

NASA had a goal to reach the moon; it was a massive, coordinated scientific achievement.

Sir Edmund Hillary had a goal to scale Mt. Everest, the tallest peak on earth.

But when does a goal become an obsession?

Diana Nyad, an American marathon swimmer, had achieved notable success early in her career, swimming the circumference of Manhattan, a distance of 28 miles, at the age of 26 in 1975. She went on to achieve a world open-water distance record in 1979, swimming 102 miles from Bimini in the Bahamas to Juno Beach, Florida.

Her ultimate ambition was to complete an open-water swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys, a distance of 110 miles. Although the feat had been previously done by swimmers using shark cages, she wanted to do it unprotected. It took her a total of five attempts, the final one in 2013 at the age of 63.

Each of the attempts were aided by a small army of volunteers, including the captain of the support boat, played by Welsh actor Rhys Ifans (who, as you may recall, did a wonderfully-comic turn as the goofy roommate to Hugh Grant in Notting Hill).

In the end, Nyad succeeds, although her achievement was shrouded in controversy due to a lack of independent verification that ultimately motivated Guinness to revoke her feat from its Book of World Records .

The movie stars Annette Bening, who plays Nyad, and Jodie Foster as her coach Bonnie Stohl; two incredible actresses portraying two strong women working to achieve a near-impossible objective. The movie is both riveting and touching; I highly recommend Nyad!

2023 02 06 small

February 2023 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in Mexico

Driving in Mexico

Driving in Mexico is a delight. It’s like traveling 50-years back in time, when you could ride in the back of the station wagon with the dog or stand on the rear seat and stick your head out the sun roof. Here are some invaluable tips:

  • When you are approaching an intersection and the light changes from yellow to red, hit the gas. Otherwise, the driver behind will rear-end you.
  • Throw your baby-seat out. That’s because the safest place for children is in their mother’s lap (especially if she’s driving).
  • Don’t waste money replacing burnt-out brake lights. Your budget is far better spent on 300-watt speakers for the rear window ledge.
  • The four-way hazard lights are an invaluable tool when you spot a taco stand on the other side of the highway. If you miss your turn-off, flicking them on also creates a new law that allows you to back up on the shoulder for up to one mile.
  • Cut the seatbelts off and throw them away. If you are in an impending accident, the best way to avoid injury is to roll down the window and leap out.
  • Texting while driving is mandatory. That way your next-of-kin will know your last location.
  • In case you missed breakfast, the beverage holder in the console is designed to hold a large can of beer.

That’s just a few helpful suggestions! Readers are invited to write in and share their own observations.

Joan the Saint now Available at Amazon!


Another amazing book by Gordon Cope!

Amazon 5-star Review

Joan of Arc, born in northeast France during the Hundred Years War between England and France, arose from obscurity to become her nation’s greatest hero. Guided by the voices of St. Margaret and St. Catherine, she defeated the English army at Orleans and crowned Charles VII king of France in Reims.

The year is 1431. Joan of Arc has been captured by the English and is being tried for heresy in their stronghold of Rouen. Abandoned by the French, Magnus the Magnificent sets out on a quest to foil her fiery fate.

Joan the Saint is available free with your subscription on Kindle Unlimited!

TV Review

Mom

Streaming on Amazon Prime

The creation of Chuck Lorre (Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory), this comedy series set in California ran for eight seasons through the 2010s.

The story revolves around a newly-sober mom Christy (Anna Faris), trying to raise her two young children under the interfering eye of her mother (Alison Janney, The West Wing).

The series won several Emmy awards during its run, primarily for the excellent cast and scathing comedy. The insults and one-liners are reminiscent of Lorre’s earlier work on Roseanne, but with much more mature subject matter.

If you happen to have a lewd sense of humor, you are guaranteed at least one laugh-out-loud moment every episode.

I highly recommend Mom!

Book Review

Daisy Jones & the Six

By Taylor Jenkins Reid

Taylor Jenkins Reid is an amazing chronicler of the hedonistic California lifestyle, and this is one of my favorite books by her.

Written in the oral-history style made popular by Rolling Stone, the novel tells the story of a young singer named Daisy who comes of age in the late sixties. Her talent for creating and singing unforgettable songs is paired with the on-stage presence of Billy Dunne, the front-man for the Six. They create sparks – both on and off stage – that becomes the stuff of rock-n-roll legend.

The story has been made into a series, currently scheduled for March release on Amazon Prime. Riley Keough, the grand-daughter of Elvis Presley, plays the title role. I have no doubt that the new production will be excellent, but if you prefer to read about it before you see it, I highly recommend Daisy Jones & the Six.

Recipe: Creamy Chicken Marsala

This is an excellent dinner meal when you’re having guests over; it’s easy to make and absolutely delicious!

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts

1 cup mushrooms, sliced thick

¼ cup of flour

2 Tsp olive oil

2 Tsp butter

1 tsp salt

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup of Marsala wine (or Sherry)

½ cup of cream.

Cooked pasta

Grated parmesan

¼ cup of chopped parsley

Directions

 Cut each chicken breast in half thickness-wise. Pound with meat tenderizer.

Coat each piece with flour. Fry in olive oil and butter 3 minutes per side, until brown. Remove and tent.

Fry mushrooms for several minutes in oil, butter, salt and garlic, until brown.

Stir in Marsala and simmer.

Turn off the heat. Slowly mix in cream while stirring. Simmer gently until it thickens.

Return chicken to pan. Simmer for another five minutes.

Serve on cooked pasta with parsley and parmesan garnish.

2023 01

January 2023 Newsletter

by Newsletter

Life in Mexico – Brr!

We’ve lived full time in Manzanillo for over a decade now, and don’t regret a single moment. Sure, southern Mexico can get hot and muggy in the summertime, but the winter months are a pure joy.

The two photos show the Peace Bridge in Calgary and the wonderful Oasis restaurant on the beach near our home in Manzanillo. At one point in December, there was a 60 C difference in temperatures, from -30 to +30. Everyone in Calgary was scrambling to clean up snow after a blizzard; the only thing I had to clean up on my back patio was the tequila shot glasses.

Movie Review

Glass Onion; A Knives Out Mystery

Streaming on Netflix

This is the second installment in the Knives Out series, starring Danial Craig as the private detective Benoit Blanc. In this latest episode, the southern gentleman travels to Greece at the invitation of an egomaniacal billionaire.

The host in question is Miles Bron (played by Edward Norton), an internet tycoon who made his money under mysterious circumstances. His guests are all old acquaintances who are now in thrall to his fortune.

The occasion is a murder-mystery evening. The venue is not, in this case, a haunted manor on the Moors, but a modernistic mansion on a private island in the Aegean Sea. The mansion is dominated by a futuristic ‘glass onion’, a Buckminster-like dome full of glass sculptures.

Right from the get-go, the intrepid detective sees through the billionaire’s façade and is soon on the trail of the murder of Bron’s former partner Andi Brand, who mysteriously shows up very much alive at the party.

While I enjoyed the first move, Glass Onion is a much more entertaining film, with a faster pace and more twists and turns in the plot as the detective digs deeper and deeper into the shenanigans. Thanks to a campy performance by Kate Hudson and a slew of cameos (Hugh Grant, Serena Williams), the show has a much lighter, more entertaining tone.

I highly recommend Glass Onion!

Books Available on Kindle Unlimited

All of my books are available on Kindle Unlimited, a monthly Amazon subscription service that allows you to enjoy over one million books, including Joan the Saint, Magnus the Magnificent, The Hotel Seamstress and the complete FBI Agent Jack Kenyon series. It’s a great deal!

Book Review

Killers of a Certain Age

By Deanna Rabourn

If you’re a fan of the Thursday Murder Club mysteries that feature a gang of septuagenarians hunting down evil-doers, then you’re going to enjoy Killers of a Certain Age.

Rather than a cozy murder mystery featuring amateur sleuths, Killers follows the fortunes of four retired assassins, Billie, Mary Alice, Helen and Natalie. The quartet were recruited in their early 20s by a mysterious organization known as The Museum in order to kill former Nazis. Their remit eventually evolved into international criminals and corrupt officials, until they were retired and put out to pasture.

Now, apparently, The Museum wants them dead. A hitman is sent to snuff them out during a retirement cruise. Unfortunately, the hunter becomes the prey when they get wind of his intent, and they go on the lam.

Written in a tongue-in-cheek manner, the women use all their training and wiles to keep one step ahead of the opposition. It’s a delightful, how-to extravaganza in ways to off your enemies.

I highly recommend Killers of a Certain Age!

TV Review

Harry & Meghan

Streaming on Netflix

This 6-part documentary follows the lives of a young couple who fall in love, get married and have a family.

The couple, of course, are Prince Harry, an heir to the British throne, and Meghan Markle, a mixed-race American actress.

The documentary is a very sympathetic look at the hostility that they encountered, both from the British press and the royal family. Prince Harry is furious at the paparazzi, who pursue them in a manner that resulted in his mother’s death. Meghan is left bewildered and hurt by the negative reaction from the royal family that their marriage caused.

It is the latter, especially, that resonates with North American audiences; why did they treat her so poorly? The confusion, I suspect, arises from where you grew up.

In England, the monarchy’s role is extremely pervasive. It epitomizes the heritage, culture, ethos and the institutions of the nation. You mail your letters through the Royal Post and pray for Her Majesty’s health every Sunday (she’s the head of Anglican Church). While no official ‘caste’ system exists in the UK, your Lincolnshire accent immediately puts you in your place. There is a pecking order, and the monarch occupies the apex.

I was born and grew up in Canada. As a child, I attended Princess Elizabeth Elementary School and carried currency featuring the image of the queen in my pocket. As head of state in Canada, she was the symbol of our heritage.

But that’s pretty much where it ended. Nobody passed personal judgement based on how lordly your parents were; everyone was treated (and mistreated), relatively equally.

The same goes for people like Meghan who were born in the US. While she grew up well aware of the prejudices her mother faced, she also grew up with the expectation that anyone, regardless of their background, could succeed on merit. The unspoken social mores that pervade much of British life (such as deference to royalty), were entirely alien to her.

The result is a documentary about two loving, kind people who ran into an impenetrable wall that literally forced them into exile. It is equal parts illuminating, infuriating – and sad.

Coconut Attack!

A Club Santiago couple was shaken up when an unidentified palm tree flung a coconut against their windshield. The assault took place during broad daylight as the male driver was pulling up adjacent to the large Las Hadas sign at the corner of Audiencia and Miguel de la Madrid roads. Angry witnesses split the coconut open with a machete before a motive could be determined. Police are warning motorists in convertibles to exercise caution at the intersection.