It’s been 3 months since my last update – I keep meaning to do updates but life and work keep getting in the way … and the time has passed so fast 😊!! …And there always seems to be something going on – in the last three months we have had Labour Day, National Indigenous Day, Thanksgiving, and Remembrance Day. Events that happened in the Aylmer area included the ‘Aylmer & Area Heritage Festival’, classic car shows, Remembrance Day Ceremonies, Christmas Crafts at the Old Imperial Farm Market, and last weekend the Santa Claus Parade. The World Series was followed, the NFL regular season is well on it’s way, the NHL regular season started (darn Maple Leafs ☹) and the FallFedex PGA tournaments took place – all kinds of sports to watch on TV 😊 !! The weather has been extremely weird this fall – heck, this year has been extremely weird for weather – we’ve had extreme heat and extreme cold, lots of rain and even our first two snowfalls of the year, the leaves didn’t come off the trees until mid-November (although they have all been bagged for recycle – Kelly and I filled 130 bags 😊 ), and even the neighbours corn didn’t get harvested until last week!! It has been extremely cold the past few days, -4C feeling like -8C, very unusual for this time of year and the weather people are already forecasting a ‘Polar Vortex’ for the upcoming week!! The temperature will be dropping soon and a little snow and rain is expected for the next week. But the temperature is expected to rise …for Kelly and I anyways … as in less than two weeks time it will be time for our 12 day cruise onboard the Zaandam to the Sea of Cortez and the Mexican Riviera 😊 Three of the ports we have never been to before so we are really looking forward to seeing and exploring new destinations. And two weeks after that will be an 11 day cruise to the Caribbean on the Konigsdam 😊. I will do an update after each cruise 😊.
The Ukraine / Russia war continues … and will probably continue indefinitely. Although Trump has presented a 28 point peace plan drawn up by the U.S. and Russia to Ukraine and demanded that it be accepted by November 27 it is… again… unlikely to be accepted as is. The demands are pretty much what Putin has demanded all along: Donesk and Luhansk turned over completely to Russia; Crimea recognized as Russian territory; reduction of the Ukrainian military to 600,00 personnel; banning of long range Ukrainian missiles; and Ukraine being neutral and renouncing it’s intention to join NATO. In exchange Ukraine gets pretty much nothing – security guarantees that Russia will ignore; and a little territory that it already has control of. For Ukraine to agree to this would be complete capitulation and Ukraine would cease to be a sovereign state within a short time. These terms would require the Ukrainian Constitution to be changed – and there is no way that Ukraine would ever accept these terms. This ‘Peace Plan’ is nothing more than political maneuvering to postpone ‘Peace’ or ‘A Ceasefire’ ever taking place. So…. What happens now?
- Ukraine doesn’t meet the deadline – result:
- Putin will say that Ukraine rejected an attempt at peace and will continue to wage war on civilians and non-military infrastructure
- Winner: Putin – he knows that his terms would never be accepted and he will continue his plans for the complete takeover of Ukraine and then prepare for attacking the Baltic Countries, Finland, and Poland
- Loser: No one really – the terms are completely unacceptable to both Ukraine and the EU and no one expects Putin to keep any promises that would have been made
- Trump will say that he has done everything possible to create peace and Ukraine rejecting the terms will result in Trump having a way out of continuing ‘peace’ proceedings and may result in not providing any more military and intelligence support to Ukraine
- Winner: Trump – he gets out of any future negotiations and he has already achieved what he wanted: billions of dollars injected to the American economy by the EU and NATO countries buying weapons and armaments from the U.S. in order to provide the weaponry to Ukraine – no direct sales of armament from the U.S. to Ukraine but they profit from the manufacture.
- The EU will reject the terms as well and continue to support Ukraine
- Winner: Ukraine – they will continue to receive armaments, weapons, financing, etc. from the EU and Canada
- Ukraine meets the deadline and accepts all the terms – result
- Sorry, just joking with you, it will never happen
- Putin will say that Ukraine rejected an attempt at peace and will continue to wage war on civilians and non-military infrastructure
Breaking news today (24 November) – President Zelensky and President Trump have agreed on an updated version of the proposed ‘Peace’ plan. The specific points of the updated proposal are not yet available but Ukraine needs a real peace and guarantees that aggression will never happen again. The American side is listening to Kyiv’s proposals and taking them into account. In particular, this concerns reservations regarding specific points of the peace plan. In a report from ‘The Financial Times’ the peace plan has been reduced to 19 points from 28. To no one’s great surprise the Kremlin has already objected to the US and EU peace plans. In a response to the new proposed peace plan Russia attacked Ukraine with 22 missiles and more than 460 drones. During the attack the drones violated the borders of Moldavia and Romania.
Meanwhile all these talks of peace are going on Russia is continuing heavy missile and drone attacks on Ukraine – Russia continues to attack civilian infrastructure, schools, hospitals and residential buildings; Ukraine continues to attack military installations and oil fields and refineries.
…And now, some of the latest from President Donald Trump:
- His decision to call in the National Guard to protect Washington D.C. has been overturned by a Federal District Judge – other appeals are forthcoming in Portland Oregon, Chicago, and Baltimore.
- The Supreme Court could overturn Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports from nearly all countries – although this will probably succeed it will take months to implement – and how does the US return the tariffs that have already been paid
- Trump has basically declared war on countries that are supposedly fronts for ‘narco terrorists – primarily Venezuela and Columbia. Boats have been attacked and sunk and many supposed ‘cartel operators’ have been killed. A US navy task force has been deployed to the Caribbean including thousands of troops and the Navy’s largest warship – USS Gerald Ford – and 5 other warships.
- Impossible to keep track of his idiocies so I won’t even try … the man is plainly crazy.
The tragedy of the war in the Middle East is still ongoing – although a tentative peace plan was put in place back in October there have been numerous clashes between Israel and Hamas resulting in many Palestinian casualties. In the month of October alone more than 260 attacks by Israeli settlers resulted in Palestinians being injured or having property damaged. Last week at least 22 Palestinian were killed in a series of Israeli air strikes across Northern and Central Gaza in response to a ‘armed terrorist’ firing at soldiers. Both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire deal agreed on six weeks ago.
On the cooking front over the last three weeks we have had: Pork Tenderloin with Udon Noodles and Oyster Sauce; Hoisin Pork, Peppers, and Noodles; Lamb and Cheese Pasta Casserole; Lamb, Bok Choy, and Noodle Soup; Ravioli with Spinach and Cheese Fillings with Bolognese Sauce; Italian Meatballs with Fresh Pasta; Steaks; Hamburgers; Chicken Curries; Chicken or Pastrami Paninis; and many other dishes 😊
On the Netflix front: I’ve watched so many series in the past three months that it is hard to remember which ones I have seen 😊. So.. I will list the ones that I remember: Criminal Code – Brazilian Police Drama – very good; Dept. Q – British Police Drama – very good; Black Rabbit – British Mystery Crime Drama – Excellent; Alice In Borderland Season 3 – Japanese Fantasy Thriller – Excellent; Dexter Seasons 1 -7 – American – Police/Murder/Serial Killer – Excellent; Boots – American – Marine Boot Camp Drama – Excellent; A Man On The Inside – American – P.I. Detective Comedy/Mystery – Very Good; Nobody Wants This Season 2 – American Family Comedy – Good; and just started watching ‘Landman’ on Paramount – a drama about the Texas oil industry, drug cartels, and crime – Excellent. There might have been others but as I get older my memory tends to slip 😊.
On to Sports:
On the NHL front – the regular season has been going on for about 5 weeks now. The Toronto Maple Leafs are off to a horrible start (9-10-) and are in last place in the Eastern Conference 9 points behind the leaders Carolina Hurricanes. The Seattle Kraken (9-4-5) are in 4th place in the Western Conference 9 points behind the Colorado Rockies.
On the MLB front – it was a thrilling World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the Toronto Blue Jays in game 7 in 11 innings. Probably one of the best World Series ever 😊.
On to golf … The FedExCup Fall event has one last tournament to play at the RSM Classic – this is the last chance for golfers to earn enough FedEx points to retain their PGA tour cards for 2026. Those golfers who finish in the top 100 retain their PGA Tour cards for the year; those finishing from 101 to 125 will earn conditional PGA Tour status; those finishing over 125 will lose their PGA Tour Cards for the season unless they have medical or special exemptions. The 4 Canadians finishing in the top 100 are Corey Connors (T4), Nick Taylor (T19), Taylor Pendrith (T33), and Mackenzie Hughes (T69). The 3 Canadians finishing outside of the top 125 and in danger of losing their Tour Cards are Adam Hadwin (139), Ben Silverman (140), and Adam Svensson (167). The regular 2026 PGA Tour season begins the week of January 5-11 with The Sentry Open in Hawaii.
NFL news – The regular NFL season is well underway having just completed Week 12 – the leader in the standings for the AFC is (surprise!!) the New England Patriots and for the NFC the Los Angeles Rams. Seattle has done fairly well so far and are in second place in the NFC West at 8-3 😊. The Los Angeles Raiders are doing horribly and are last in the AFC West at 2-9 ☹.
Have a great and safe month … we will see you in a bit!! 😊