It’s been three months since my last update, so much keeps changing that it is hard to keep up with on a weekly or even monthly basis. This blog will be just a condensed summary of the events over the last three months – going forward I hope to be posting on a bi-monthly or monthly basis 😊. The weather back home has been … horrible ☹. This is probably the worst winter that I have ever seen in the last 30 years in Ontario. It started in November and has just started to warm up 6 months later ☹. The cold temperatures have been severe and up north the Bruce Peninsula and area have been buried in snow. Every now and then in the past month we have had a couple of warm days in the ‘20’s, but they have been quickly followed by sub-zero temperatures ☹. Last week we had 3 days that the temperature reached 21C – today, and for the next week we are back in the single digits with rain and possible snow – and May starts tomorrow!! Looking back over my blogs over the last year I see that I have been spending way too much time on politics and political views … this will be my last time. From now on I will concentrate on food, movie and series reviews, and travel – travel stories from the past, and hopefully future travels and cruises to come 😊.
The Ukraine / Russia war continues … and continues … and continues … Apart from some prisoner exchanges nothing has really changed over the winter in terms of agreement between Russia and Ukraine over ceasefire or end of war conditions. Both parties play the game saying that they are open to discussion and treaties – but these are just pretences to keep the U.S. happy; which in itself is a farce – Trump is only interested in doing business deals (selling weapons to the EU for transfer to Ukraine) – and covering his ass with Putin (God only knows what blackmails threats he holds over Trump). Russia continues large force attacks against Ukraine in the East and targets civilian and public infrastructure (power plants, hospitals, schools, marketplaces) with large scale drone and missile attacks; Ukraine targets military bases, airfields, and oil refineries deep into Russia. See the difference? Russia uses brute force terror and psychological tactics against civilians – Ukraine uses strategy to break down Russia’s military and support infrastructure to divert offensive and defensive from Ukraine’s occupied territories to facilities deep into Russia. In the last two weeks Ukraine has struck at least 10 refineries (from the Baltic to the Black Sea, to Perm and Orsk (1500km from Ukraine’s border), etc.) resulting in about a loss of 50% production capacity of oil and crude for Russia – a severe economic loss that countered the temporary lifting of sanctions against Russia by Trump due to the Iran war. The war is at a standstill with no end in sight, although I estimate two more years with Ukraine winning due to a change in American leadership and the Russian economy tanking. The Russians are losing more manpower than they are recruiting (over 1.3 million casualties in last 3 years to about 400k Ukraine’s forces) although they are now recruiting mercenaries from 134 other countries – 80,000 alone from Africa.
…And now, some of the latest from ‘The Greatest Show On Earth”, uh, President Donald Trump and his batch of clowns:
- 2 weeks after the Winter Olympics he invades Iran along with the help of Israel purportedly to change the regime and to completely eradicate Iran’s nuclear capability
- The invasion (not deemed a war at the time) was to be complete with regime change in 2 days, possibly a week’s time
- Two months later it is still going on
- Trump keeps insisting that it’s over and the U.S. has won – Iran begs to differ
- Trump keeps insisting that Iran turn over their uranium stockpiles and shut down their nuclear facilities
- Hmmm, didn’t he say back in June 2025 that the joint U.S. / Israel strikes had completely obliterated these facilities?
- The Iranian regime is still intact, stronger than ever
- There are some cracks in the regime’s leadership lately but mainly due to the economic crisis that is currently happening there
- Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz (responsible for 20% of the world’s oil and crude supply)
- And they reopen it, and then they close it again due to Trump’s idiotic blockade of the Strait
- Ceasefires are constantly made, and then broken due to broken promises by both the U.S. and Israel
- Israel continues to attack, terrorize, and bomb Lebanon
- Isn’t it amazing how Netanyahu continues to manipulate Trump into doing what Israel wants? – must be more blackmail material over Trump
- He still plans to invade and take over Cuba
- This keeps coming up – maybe to distract from the Iran fiasco?
- An ‘assassination attempt against him’ occurred at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner
- Conspiracy theories abound about this, the whole affair looked set up and amateurish – maybe done to distract the public from Iran, the economy, the Epstein Files, and his other blunders?
- Two months later it is still going on
- The invasion (not deemed a war at the time) was to be complete with regime change in 2 days, possibly a week’s time
There are way too many other idiocies to relate about this clown, I am tired of talking about them ☹
On the cooking front: over the last three months we have had a lot of home cooking: Steaks; Hamburgers; Chicken Curries; Chicken and Pastrami Paninis; Smoked Leg of Lamb; Smoked Ham, Smoked Beef, Cabbage Roll Soup; Liver and Onions with Sweet Potatoes; Meatball Subs; Philly Steak Subs; Italian Subs; Shepherd Pie; Ham and Cheese Quiches; Rendangs; Tamarind Pork and many other dishes 😊. More recipe to come in the near future
On the Netflix front: we’ve watched a few series in the past month - We finished Season 2 of ‘The Pitt’ – it was excellent but it left a lot of questions unanswered, we will have to wait until September to see if they are resolved in Season 3 😊. We finished watching Seasons 1 and 2 of ‘Pulse’ – another medical drama like ‘The Pitt’ but set in Spain. Another medical drama that we have been watching is ‘The Resident’ – it’s not bad but the storyline is almost split 50/50 between ER drama and personal life; almost like a Telenovela but with better acting 😊We have just finished Season 4 and started Season 5. We watched all 3 seasons of ‘Mr. Mercedes’, based on 3 Stephen King novels about a retired police detective that is trying to solve an old serial killing – it’s a little slow to watch at first but well scripted and well acted (the first 2 seasons anyways – Season 3 feels hurried and unnecessary). We watched a limited series, ‘His and Hers’, a police murder mystery about killings in a small town outside of Atlanta involving a police detective and his estranged wife (a former news anchor) – quite good with lots of twists and turns that will keep you guessing the identity of the murderer to the very end. Just started watching ‘Unchosen’, a British series about a secluded Amish/Mennonite like cult – well acted and gives quite a few insights into how cults are organized.
More, complete reviews are coming in the near future
On to Sports:
On the NHL front –the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t make the playoffs ☹. Seattle Kraken didn’t make the playoffs ☹ Golf courses in both respective areas are fully booked 😊. The only Canadian hope left for the Stanley Cup are the Montreal Canadiens – they should be gone by the time I do my next blog update 😉.
On the MLB front – Regular season started at the beginning of April - 😊.
On to golf … The regular 2026 PGA Tour is almost half-way through the season – Canadians for the most part haven’t really being doing well with the exception of Sudarshan Yellamaraju from Mississauga. The rookie PGA golfer has made 10 out of 11 cuts (5 finishes in the top 25) and having started the season with $0 in PGA earnings now sits at $1.829K U.S. and is well on his way to becoming PGA Rookie of the Year 😊. The Masters Tournament was won for the second year in a row by Rory McIlroy 😊. Upcoming tournaments include this weeks Cadillac Championship in Miami – a signature event with 4 Canadians participating – Taylor Pendrith, Yellamaraju, Nick Taylor, and Corey Connors.
NFL news – Not a lot going on in the offseason with the exception of a few major free agency changes for the Seahawks. Departures: Coby Bryant to the Bears; Boye Mafe to the Bengals; Kenneth Walker III to the KC Chiefs; Tariq Woolen to the Eagles; and Dareke Young to the Raiders. Notable ‘Hawks retained: WR Rashid Shaheed; CB Josh Jobe; WR Jake Bobo; and RB George Holani. Seattle still looks pretty good for the upcoming 2026 season although the LA Rams are Superbowl favorites. In the NFL draft the Las Vegas Raiders had the #1 pick and went with Heisman Winner QB Fernando Mendoza 😊. I am betting that the Raiders will get to the post season this year 😊. Go ‘Hawks!! 😊Go Raiders!! 😊
Have a great and safe month … we will see you in a bit!! 😊