Autumn Musings
‘Tisn’t the season to be jolly!
FLOATER’S THOUGHTS by Corliss Buenavida – October, 15th, 2026
The title tag line says it all.
Here in Toronto, all that glorious heat and those sunny days of summer have left us for early nightfall preceded by cold, grey days. That doesn’t make me jolly at all!
I know some of you can’t handle the heat but I’d rather sweat in a pair of shorts than inside a parka.
Not an issue though for me. My tickets are booked. Instead of Halloween in Toronto it will be Day of the Dead in Mexico before continuing further south to The Villa in San Juan Del Sur, so I’ve been having some wet dreams.
What there’s another meaning for ‘wet dreams?’ Hmm, never knew that.
I was referring to getting in the pool with my newly tested lounger float with an ice cold Toña in hand. You can read about my examination of this big buoyant seat in my recent Floatie Test blog.
But I haven’t left yet, ergo I am riding my bike more and floating less. The following musings are from my many cycle trips around town and beyond.
First of all, I saw a guy walking down a path in a park that is as close to complete wilderness as you will find in a city ravine. He was staring at his phone as he walked down the centre of the somewhat narrow gravel trail blocking me from cycling in the opposite direction. He is clearly out enjoying nature. Not!
I was curious as to how he would react as I stopped about 10 meters in front of him also in the middle of the path, unnoticed. He continued his steps in my direction while focused on his digital device until I assume in his peripheral vision he caught a glimpse of my bike wheel just in front of his knee. He stopped abruptly, looked up at my grinning face and merely stepped around me to continue his ‘could be anywhere’ streaming.
Maybe I should have told him about the pack of coyotes I had just passed? Nah!
One weekend not long ago, I witnessed a young boy playing tennis with his mother. He made an underhand serve because he’s just a beginner, but her return shot hit the edge of her racket sending the ball sideways out of play because she is clearly a beginner too.
The boy hollers with excitement in a “yay, I got a point” manner which was so disappointing to see. The reaction I would have liked to have seen would be more of a celebration that they are out playing the game and just cheer on sportsmanship as opposed to winning. A kid with that attitude at that age is a terrible thing to have. Perhaps what he should have said was, “Oh well mom, you’ll get it next time!” No one should applaud an unforced error. Wait until your better, then cheer when you get a point because it was a great shot.
_________________
More societal woes…
I used to work with a guy, Joe, who had one adjective in his vocabulary to describe anything and everything in his life and he used so often that we started calling him Fuckin’ Joe.
When you say “fuckin’ this” and “fuckin’ that” all the time this key expletive in our vocabulary loses emphasis. It’s like crying wolf and displays a very lazy lack of imagination – find some more interesting adjectives!
_________________
Earlier this month I noticed a poster which promotes the anti-abortion cause.
I’m sure you’ve seen something similar, an ultrasound image of a fetus in a womb and mentioning the ‘right to life’, equating abortion to murder.
I was blessed with not being brought up in a religious household. Is that an oxymoron?
In any case this means I didn’t have a cult driven mentality force feeding me an opinion on the matter, leaving me open to formulate my own thoughts.
So, here is my thinking.
I figure if you are going to be anti-abortion then you should also be a vegetarian. I eat meat, not as readily as most North Americans but I do enjoy it. In fact, that week I made and enjoyed ‘Pork Chops with Peaches’ and ‘Sloppy Joes’. Both were delicious, and recipes are available upon request.
Therefore, with my line of thought I should not be anti-abortion.
So, what’s the connection between being anti-abortionist and also vegetarian? I assume those who are anti-abortion are concerned about killing a human being so I would also imagine they would not want to do that with any living thing at least if it has some form of cognizance.
Perhaps the anti-abortion meat-eater would say, “It’s just a chicken.”
But do they know an adult chicken is far more cognizant than a 2 month old fetus, the age of the average pregnancy termination. In fact, multiple tests indicate that adult chickens have complex cognitive, social, and emotional intelligence that rivals that of certain mammals, such as dogs, cats, and even human toddlers.
So, there you go!
If you are an anti-abortion vegetarian - good for you! Now can you tell me why we have canine teeth and our bodies produce meat digesting enzymes?
During some long bike rides this summer from my residence in Toronto’s city center to some of the distant surrounding suburbs I noticed a peculiar difference at many of the residences between weekdays and weekend days. On Saturday and Sunday many of the homes have a lot of cars parked in their driveways while from Monday to Friday it was as if nobody lived there with empty parking spaces and nary a soul in sight. They had all driven those cars away from where they lived to get to work or school or whatever. The point being it is a car society with one for each adult in the house.
I realize the city has grown rapidly but the problem is sprawl. It’s crazy that our society has chosen to build out, not up! Our culture has everyone trained to try to achieve the American Dream. Everybody wants their little eighth of an acre lot so they can mow a green lawn every week. They saw it in the movies and obtaining that makes people feel good. Once again, consumerism rules the day, and you get to endure two or more hours of commuting each workday.
Of course the American Dream has recently become the American Nightmare thanks to Daffy Donald.
Here is an example of his doings within a few hours one day last week. First, he makes a deal with Russia to obtain diesel fuel for the United States because shortages are putting the price up on the cost of almost everything. The primary reason for the worldwide oil shortages are two wars; that started by Putin against Ukraine, and the one Trump started against Iran. Of course, buying this fuel will afford Russia’s war machine resources to continue its onslaught. So that’s Donald Trump involved in two wars!
Later in the day, he goes on a rant complaining that he did not win the Nobel Peace Prize – duh!
Enough about the crazy man (mis-)guiding the most powerful nation in the world, now I need to rant on religion.
I really enjoy religious holidays; they bring out the mischievousness in me, or at least the Devil’s Advocate and from what I understand the Devil is a fallen angel, but never-the-less an angel.
This past weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving and although it is not associated with any of the big churches, I was still able to manage to turn talk with a friend and fellow guest at the gathering we attended to a religion conversation.
I asked her what makes her a Jew, because from what I know about her, she doesn’t follow any religious aspects of Judaism. While she agreed with my assessment, she still considers herself Jewish. Her emphasis was on the social gatherings and wanting to identify as a spiritual person. I figure you can do both of those things and completely ignore any association with a religious entity, but it was her indoctrination as a child that left this imprint upon her. I did some research and determined she might fall under the Humanistic Judaism umbrella.
I have no comprehension of why anyone would want any religious label attached to them. It all seems very clique-y to me. Religions are called ‘belief systems’ for a reason; because you need to believe something which has no proof. I prefer science and fact.
I suppose from my limited education on the matter, being Jewish isn’t just about religion but more of belonging to a borderless nation. I guess if you have the history of roaming tribes who never had a home, this makes sense. However, with the formation of Israel in 1948, they are now getting around to conquering territory in the name of their faith like the good old Catholics and others did eons before.
Now for some lighter fare…
If we do ever get around to opening the Church of the Beerfloat (for tax purposes only) I think I might enjoy helping with the decorating.
“What do you say to someone who has diarrhea often because of poor dietary choices?”
“Get your shit together!”
Speaking of poop, do you ever wonder what a dog is thinking as it’s owner is stooped over collecting its recent droppings?
Here is something you don’t see every day.
Finally, this just in, I have some news regarding our Koozie Contest.
I’m writing this down as best as I can as the office gang read it out to me, “Our first winner with the quickest response is, Otto Reepli!”
What’s that? It is an Automatic Reply from someone who is not available to answer emails.
Oh, that’s disappointing.
I guess you’ll have to wait a while longer.
Remember, you don’t have to have 365 friends all born on different days to give you a reason to celebrate every day.
Corliss
beer float.calm = beerfloat.net not beerfloat.com
