Getting Back Into the Swing...

It's been a while since I published a new book. It's been a while since I wrote a new book, too. And it's time to correct that. I'm feeling the writing itch again, and I want to get a few books written this year. I can think of four off the top of my head that I need to get done by the end of the year, maybe five. But jumping right in isn't feasible when you're busy in a bakery, so let's get something small in to get the juices flowing again, shall we?

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GRAND CENTRAL STATION

“Grand Central Station!” came the announcement over the loudspeaker system. “This train route ends at this station. Please disembark quietly, and enjoy your stay.”

I grabbed my laptop case as I waited for the rest of the crowd to slowly make their way to the platform. The porter was polite, but bored; there are only so many times you can say ‘thank you’ and ‘have a nice day’ before it becomes monotonous.

When I finally got to the platform, I saw a pile of suitcases being unloaded from the back of the car. I waited in line with the rest of the travelers until I finally saw my suitcase join the pile. I showed my ID to the porter, who nodded and let me relieve him of the burden of watching over my property.

I remember being excited as I left the platform to join the throng of people in the streets. I saw a fleet of cabs taking on passengers, and I thought that hurrying to the street might give me a better chance to catch my own. I looked at my watch as I dragged my suitcase to the end of the line; I had half an hour to make it to my appointment.

I was in luck! There was a cab still available at the intersection, and no one else around to grab it. I quickened my pace; there were other people coming up behind me, and I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.

Then I heard a tremendous roar that sounded like a hundred airplanes at once. Whirling around, my blood congealed as I saw a huge dragon land in the middle of the cross street. Cars blared their horns and tried to turn around to get away from the monster, but it ignored them all, focusing instead on an armored figure astride a horse on the other side of the intersection.

“Hey, there’s another one,” said a man behind me, a businessman in a three-piece suit.

“Wonder if he’ll do any better than the last guy,” replied the guy next to him. He wore workman’s clothes, a belt of tools around his waist.

The dragon roared again, and the knight lowered his lance and charged as pedestrians and cyclists hurried out of the way. The knight crossed the intersection, aiming the lance right at the dragon’s heart.

Before he could drive the shiny point into the dragon’s breast, it took a deep breath and spewed out a volcano’s worth of fire, smoke and ash, engulfing the knight. When the smoke cleared, the horse and rider were black and charred like a Chicago-style steak. A moment later, the dragon spread its wings and took off, flying between the city buildings.

“Guess not,” said the first man.

“You’d t’ink they’d know better by now,” remarked his companion. “It’s always the same thing with them guys; charge right in, get roasted. You catch the game last night?”

I turned to them. “What’s wrong with you people?” I demanded. “You act like this happens all the time! That was a freaking dragon! Doesn’t that freak you the hell out?!”

The two men looked at each other, amused. “Tourist,” observed the businessman as he got in the cab I had been aiming for.

The workman just turned back to me, grinning. “Welcome to New York City, pal.”

Worst Bad Day Ever...

Just a quick little something I wrote a while ago.

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As he let go of the hissing snake he had thought was a vine, Todd reflected that after surviving the mudslide, escaping the quicksand, frantically fleeing through the jungle from a native tribe that belonged in a Tarzan movie, narrowly avoiding the slavering jaws of the hungry tiger, and riding the rockslide that had somehow managed to not kill him while dropping him into a watery moat surrounding an ancient ruined city, he not only had ruined his expensive clothes and shoes while climbing out of the muddy water, but he had also lost his passport and camera to the many dangers that had plagued him since arriving in the jungle, and now that he found himself falling out of the tree and over a waterfall that plunged a few hundred feet into a canyon below, he quickly pulled out his cell phone, speed-dialed his mother, and just as he was saying, “Mom, you’re not going to believe the day I’ve had,” he lost the signal as the phone’s battery died, and as the reeking sweat under his armpits reminded him that he had used a very poor anti-perspirant, his final thought before hitting the water was that he was going to give Adventure Tours the worst review in TripAdvisor’s history when he got home.

And That's Why We Call Her Spider-Cat...

Actually, that's Sylvester. Spider-Cat is the one identifying as an owl.

Cracking the Whip

Yes, it's the weekend, which means more work for us. The Saturday market is the culmination of a week's efforts to bake a bunch of bread and baked goods in order to convince people that it's the most delicious stuff they've ever eaten, and they should buy as much as possible. Running a family business like this takes a lot of work, but I have to say, the rewards are pretty sweet.

First of all, we're working from home. No getting up to drive to a job. I get up in the morning, brush my teeth, get dressed, and head to the kitchen to make dough or bake loaves. Simple, easy. I can take breaks at any time and spend time with my boys or the dog, or just chill out and relax for a little while. Best of all, I get to spend time with my wife. We don't spend all of our time together, but we work as a team to make this a success. It's a full partnership, and it's the best thing we've done since our kids were born.

In this day and age, it's tough to find gainful employment, particularly for someone who has just started getting senior's discounts. Jobs are not quite scarce, but jobs that pay enough to support a family on a single income are as rare as hen's teeth. So, the only workable solution is to go into business for yourself. Is it easy? Hell, no. In the run-up to Christmas we were preparing about 30 Christmas boxes that required bread and baked goods, and I pulled three straight days of 16-hour shifts. In half a week I got overtime. I fell asleep on the stairs with my head leaning on the wall at one point. Dannielle and Ashton got a good laugh out of that.

But even though it's a lot of work, the rewards are more than worth it. We don't have to pay rent since we work from home, we get to claim nearly everything as deductions, and we are selling pretty much everything we bake. And we get free bread and treats. Sure, it's usually the stuff that doesn't pass quality control, but it still tastes great even if it doesn't look quite as beautiful as we would like.

So, all in all it's something I would recommend to anyone who is struggling to find their place in the rat race: find your niche and monetize it, turning it into a business. You'll be surprised at how much it can change your life. It's not easy, but it's worth it.

Reason #215 Why I Love It Here

I was watching a video on the top 10 National Parks in Canada, and I was pleasantly surprised to find one that I've been to. Most of the parks are out west, with the Rocky Mountains being a prominent feature in many of them. But #9 on the list was none other than PEI National Park.

I remember going to this park a couple of years ago with friends of ours; we made a day of it and toured a few spots on the eastern side of the island. This was the capstone of the day. When we got there, we were given a few options for walking through the park; there was a shorter walk, and a longer one that was several kilometers long. Dannielle wasn't thrilled about it at first, but it turns out that the walk was worth it.

The main part of the walk was the long wooden boardwalk/bridge that wound through the woods before continuing on through a marshy area, ending in a flight of steps that led over the dunes to the beach. It was a hike, but totally worth it in the end.

It was unexpected, but beautiful. Mind you, it doesn't quite look the same now as it did then; Fiona hit the dunes hard, flattening them out. I haven't seen it lately, but I'm sure there's plenty of new landscape to see. If we get the chance to go back this year, I think it would be a great idea.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that; it's yet another reason why I love it here. One of the most beautiful parks in this huge country, and it's just an hour and a half away from my house. Awesome.

A Classic Comic Story

I recently read this classic two-part story in X-Men 141 and 142, cover-dated for January and February 1981 (but on spinner racks in stores in the fall of 1980). I've never been a huge X-Men fan, though I do prefer the original team (Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl) to the more popular team from the 70s and 80s with Wolverine, Nightcrawler and Storm. But while I've heard plenty about this particular story, I've never actually read it before.

The super-quick rundown: The story starts in the far-distant future of...2013. The Sentinels run America and are threatening the rest of the world; they've killed off almost all the superheroes and villains, mutant or otherwise, and mutants are forced to live in camps. A small group of survivors from the X-Men have a desperate plan to send one of their number back in time and stop the events that led to this grim dystopia. That one is Kate "Shadowcat" Rasputin, wife of Colossus. The plan is successful, and Kate's mind is sent back in time to possess her younger self, who just happens to be the newest recruit of the X-Men. She tells the current team what is about to happen, and they rush to DC to stop the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants from killing Senator Kelly, Professor X and Moira McTaggart, which is what triggered the really bad future. While the X-Men are fighting the Brotherhood (led by Mystique and consisting of Pyro, Blob, Destiny and Avalanche), in the future the X-Men are trying to infiltrate and shut down the Sentinels base inside the Baxter Building. It...does not go well for them. Even Wolverine gets killed in this one. But in the present, the X-Men do stop the assassination. At that point, we don't see anything more in the future; all we do see is the aftermath of the assassination attempt, which sees the US Government start up the secret Project Wideawake, which is of course related to dealing with 'dangerous muties'.

John Byrne plotted this story out; Chris Claremont wasn't really into this, so Byrne got co-plotting credit to go along with his outstanding artwork. Byrne never intended for this to be anything more than this two-part story; the question of what happened in the future was left unanswered. Maybe that timeline was erased, or maybe it was an alternate timeline that still continued on; Byrne's preference was that it just vanish.

Of course, Marvel went back to this well time and time again. The mutant hysteria thing was always at the forefront of Marvel Comics throughout the 80s and 90s, even in books that didn't have anything to do with mutants (such as the Avengers or Spider-Man). One of the characters from this story, Rachel Summers, would reappear later on as a time-traveling hero. And, of course, one of the most popular X-Men movies was based on this storyline, although it was set in the early 70s rather than the early 80s, and Wolverine was the star (naturally).

So, what did I think of it as a story? Well, it was a grim tale of power gone amok and what happens when the government sets loose super-powerful AIs with adaptable robots that can kill any opposition. It's bad. Very bad. And the future X-Men did not fare well in their efforts; all but Rachel and Kitty are dead by the end of it before the timeline is changed, and as I said, we don't learn their fates at all once the present X-Men succeed in their efforts to stop the assassinations. I've never been a fan of grim stories, really. But the desperate plan to change the past and the contrast between the child Kitty Pryde and the woman that possesses her is well done. The X-Men are just as I remember them; Wolverine is a savage who isn't afraid to kill; Storm is a new leader, unsure of her position and abilities. Nightcrawler and Colossus are heroic enough, and Angel was always my favorite anyway. Professor X doesn't have much to do in this except learn that the possessed Kitty is telling the truth, and get knocked out by Mystique.

As I said, it's a classic story, and I think it works well as a standalone story. I don't think they needed to revisit it so often, although I won't lie and say it was unexpected. It was a very popular story at the time, and popular comic stories always get a boatload of unnecessary sequels, prequels, and expansions. It's just the way of things. So, as a story I'll rate this a solid 8 out of 10; as the beginning of an endless parade of mutant hate stories, I'll drop it to about a 6.

Spring Planning

Last year was a rough one for the farm. We had to get rid of our pigs because my health precluded taking proper care of them. They were quite tasty, though. And I didn't do any gardening at all, so we didn't even have our own fresh produce to supplement our groceries. The result, of course, was a much higher grocery bill for the year. So, I want to get back to the gardens this year and get some real food growing.

I learned in 2023 that I couldn't push too hard; I just don't have the time to fill the gardens the way I originally wanted to and take care of them properly, especially not with our bakery business taking off. But that doesn't mean I can't do something. And I will.

Obviously, I can't do anything until the spring thaws out the ground and gives me the chance to actually dig. But most gardeners and farmers are already planning things out, so I'm going to have to do the same. Even if I just stick to the smaller garden, there's plenty I can do in that space to give us some excellent fresh veggies.

So, I'm going to stick with the simple stuff to get myself back into the gardening groove. Root vegetables are a good choice; carrots, onions and beets are popular with my family. Turnips, not so much. Potatoes are ridiculously cheap on this island, but last year's crop was not very good due to the lack of rain we got. So, I might put some potatoes in the ground just in case.

My wife really likes tomatoes, so I'm going to get some of them planted as well. Tomatoes have to be done early; I'm going to try to get them started in the house so as to get a head start. I could just buy some seedlings when the time is right, but I have tons of seeds here, so I see no reason not to try to do it myself. I can always buy the seedlings if my attempts fail.

The biggest issue I'm going to have with the gardens is the chickens. While some of them are fenced up, the ones in the barn are free-range and love to play in the garden in the summer, regardless of what I'm trying to grow. So, I'm going to have to put some sort of fencing around the gardens to keep the birds out. Something else to think about as the seasons change.

Oh, yes...squash. Dannielle loves squash, and I would like to grow some this year. And a part of me wants to give corn one more shot; I've tried it three times and gotten nowhere with it, so I might wait until next year to try again.

So, there's plenty to think about and prepare for as spring approaches. As long as I don't overdo it and put too much on my plate, I think it will be a great year for the gardens. I certainly hope so, anyway; that's one of the main reasons we moved here in the first place.

But we'll see. There's still lots of time until then, so I've got the time to put together a good plan. I'll share it here once I've got it figured out. But until next time, stay warm. Because it's -18° out there right now, which is just wrong.

The Early Church Fathers

Last year, I put together a comprehensive reading plan of the three programs that I've been following in my collective Catholic study: The Bible in a Year, the Catechism in a Year, and the Rosary in a Year. It's a very handy spreadsheet, but I added something of my own: the writings of the Early Church Fathers, starting with the Didache, the first-century catechism of the faith. I finished three volumes of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, and read through Clement of Rome, Mathetes, Polycarp, Ignatius of Antioch, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, The Shepherd of Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, and the majority of Tertullian's works. All the aforementioned writers (except Tertullian) are now recognized as saints by the Catholic Church. Yes, it's a lot. But I learned a whole lot about the beliefs and teachings of the early Church in the process. I'm now working on Volume 4, which will conclude the writings of Tertullian along with Minucius Felix, Commodian, and the first and second parts of Origen's works; that should take me through to April.

So, what have I learned from these men? Well, first of all, they were Catholic. They taught the hierarchical structure of the Church, the real presence of the Eucharist, the primacy of the See of Peter, salvific baptism, the importance of Mary, the Trinity, the importance of relics and honoring the saints...it's all there. It's been said that 'to be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant', and Cardinal Newman was correct. There simply is no distinctly Protestant doctrine anywhere to be found in the early centuries of Christianity.

The second thing is that these men were committed to the faith; many of them (most of them, in fact) were martyred for the faith. Ignatius of Antioch wrote his seven letters on his way to Rome to be killed in the arena by wild animals; Polycarp's martyrdom is recounted in one of these oldest documents (he was burned at the stake). But they refused to compromise what they had been taught; Ignatius, Clement of Rome, and Polycarp were immediate successors and students of the Apostles themselves, so their words have a lot of weight when it comes to understanding what the early Church believed.

Third, the doctrines they taught, while not formally codified as dogma, still show how the Church developed and understood those dogmas. For example, while the Trinity was not formally defined and codified until the Nicene Council in 325, it was still clearly taught earlier than that:

Our teacher of these things is Jesus Christ, who also was born for this purpose, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea, in the times of Tiberius Caesar; and that we reasonably worship Him, having learned that He is the Son of the true God Himself, and holding Him in the second place, and the prophetic Spirit in the third, we will prove.” Justin Martyr, First Apology, 13 (A.D. 155).

“[T]he ever-truthful God, hast fore-ordained, hast revealed beforehand to me, and now hast fulfilled. Wherefore also I praise Thee for all things, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee, along with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, with whom, to Thee, and the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and to all coming ages. Amen.” Martyrdom of Polycarp 14 (A.D. 157).

“For God did not stand in need of these [beings], in order to the accomplishing of what He had Himself determined with Himself beforehand should be done, as if He did not possess His own hands. For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, ‘Let Us make man after Our image and likeness;’ He taking from Himself the substance of the creatures [formed], and the pattern of things made, and the type of all the adornments in the world.” Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 4,20:1 (A.D. 180).

“Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other. This statement is taken in a wrong sense by every uneducated as well as every perversely disposed person, as if it predicated a diversity, in such a sense as to imply a separation among the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit…Happily the Lord Himself employs this expression of the person of the Paraclete, so as to signify not a division or severance, but a disposition (of mutual relations in the Godhead); for He says, ‘I will pray the Father, and He shall send you another Comforter. … even the Spirit of truth,’ thus making the Paraclete distinct from Himself, even as we say that the Son is also distinct from the Father; so that He showed a third degree in the Paraclete, as we believe the second degree is in the Son, by reason of the order observed in the Economy.” Tertullian, Against Praxeas, 9 (A.D. 213).

As a Catholic online, I do get into a lot of discussions about the faith on different sites, and it's good to know that I'm not alone in standing up for these truths; I'm standing on the shoulders of giants who literally gave their lives in the pursuit of the truth. And that's why I am, and always will remain, Catholic.

Ruminations on a Favorite Game

I recently finished a series of posts on reading through the 1st edition of the Champions game. Unlike my Traveller series, I've played Champions before, and I own quite a few products including a complete set of the 4th edition Champions books. I am missing some of the other genre books for the edition, but when it comes to the superheroes, I've got the lot.

Champions is currently on its sixth edition, and I...well, I'm not a fan of the 6th edition. It changed a lot of stuff that had remained unchanged since the first edition. Characteristics were changed; Comeliness was taken right out, and the Figured Characteristics are no longer linked to the Primary ones. The base character is built on about 400 points, the game's premier villain, Doctor Destroyer, is built on 3,200 points, and the core rules are split into two books. One of them, about five hundred or so pages, is strictly on character creation. That's all that's in there. Five hundred pages to create a character. Even 3rd edition D&D did the same thing in less than 100 pages. The second core book is all about how to actually play the game.

Now, I liked 5th edition when it came out; there was a lot of detail in the core book, but again, it was massive and took up hundreds of pages just to create a character. I find the 5th edition to be extremely wordy, too. Explanations take a lot of space on the page even for simple things. And 5th edition made some questionable changes as well, removing some of the game's simpler powers and overcomplicating them in replacing them.

For example, way back in the 1st edition was the power 'Instant Change'. You can figure out what that power does pretty easily, right? It's Billy Batson shouting 'Shazam!' or Clark Kent ducking in and out of a phone booth and emerging a second later as Superman. Simple, easy to understand. And that power was still there in 4th edition, unchanged from first edition: 5 points to change from one set of clothes to your costume and back to the same set; 10 points to change into any set of clothes. Simple, easy to understand. But in 5th, it was dropped and its function taken over by the Transform power. Here's the 5th edition writeup for the 'Instant Change' power:

"This is the classic superhero ability to change clothing into a costume, and vice-versa. It uses the Standard Effect Rule. Because the character merely Transforms his own clothing, no Attack Roll or Effect Roll is necessary, and Instant Change should be considered a Zero-Phase Action. Cosmetic Transform 2d6 (one set of clothing into one costume and vice-versa; method of healing back varies based on character) (10 Active Points); Limited Target (clothes, -½). Total cost: 7 points (or, to Transform a costume into any clothing, add Improved Target Group (+¼) (12 Active Points); total cost 8 points).

That's a lot of words to say 'you instantly change into your superhero costume.' And the entire fifth edition is like that. Incidentally, that paragraph appears in a sidebar on page 152 of the 5th edition rulebook; the character creation section ends on page 224. Did I mention the part where you can find videos online of people shooting bullets at the 5th edition book and not going all the way through? That's right, the 5th edition book is itself the Armor power (with a low Activation roll).

Anyway, that brings me to the 4th edition, which I think is the best edition of the game. It's a one-book RPG, meaning you can buy just a single book and have the complete game handy, ready to play. The D&D equivalent is the Rules Cyclopedia. While I also bought the previous edition's rulebook, I didn't really get into it at first. But when I saw the 4th edition book on the shelves with a blonde ninja going at it with a Doctor Doom-type of villain drawn by none other than George Perez, I knew I was going to be taking a closer look at it. And I loved it.

The 4th edition was a collective ruleset that compiled all the different genres that made up the Hero System. First there was Champions; a couple of years later, Hero Games released Espionage!, which was later redone as Danger International. Justice Inc. and Fantasy Hero soon followed, as did Star Hero and the more esoteric Robot Warriors. All of these used the same basic ruleset; 4th edition finally brought them all together and put out a rulebook that allowed you to play in literally any genre you wanted to, from medieval fantasy to superheroes to the far-flung future. Spies, pulp heroes, mecha warriors, anything you wanted to play could be done through the Hero System.

The other thing that grabbed my attention in the 4th edition Champions was the sample hero team, the Champions. The game did originally have a team of heroes that appeared on the covers and were named in the books, but they were never statted out in any official product except (maybe) the Champions comic book from Eclipse Comics in the 1980s.

But these characters were...different. They weren't generic 'brick, powered armor, energy projector, mystic, martial artist' types. Instead, they were distinct in their personalities, and some of them played against type.

There's Defender, the powered armor rich genius (I know; wait for it) who was born into a heroic lineage and built his armor because he felt it was his duty to follow in his ancestors' footprints. His armor was notable in that it didn't have any blasty weapons, just an Entangle.

Obsidian, the nine-foot-tall alien prince, exiled from his homeworld to Earth for a twenty-year sentence. He's not only the team's brick, he's also one of their scientists, having advanced knowledge from his own culture's advanced scientific achievements, and he has the value of noblesse oblige, the idea that as a ruler, he owes protection to those beneath him.

Jaguar, the Latino detective who bears a family curse that turns him into a savage beast. He acts as a reluctant hero, preferring to use his brains rather than his powers to deal with criminals. He's a pretty laid-back guy when he isn't all fur and claws.

Quantum, the team's energy projector. Her powers revolve around manipulating nuclear bonds, but it still boils down to 'she flies, has a force field, and blasts things'. However, she's not the happy-go-lucky type; she is a vengeful demon when it comes to street criminals; her older brother was a drug dealing gang member, and her family was wiped out in a revenge attack on him. So, she's more like the Punisher than the Human Torch.

Solitaire is the team's mystic and mentalist; her backstory (thoroughly developed in later products) is that she was raised by a cabal of mystics who trained her as an assassin while convincing her that she was in fact an agent of good. On her first assignment, she made the mistake of confronting her victim (a politician) face-to-face, and he was able to thoroughly confuse her, causing her to flee instead of carrying out the assassination. As a result, the cabal now considers her an enemy and a target, and she joined the Champions in order to do good. However, she's still learning what 'doing good' actually means.

Finally, there's Seeker. The most controversial member of the team in fandom, I absolutely love him. He's that blonde ninja on the front cover of the rulebook. And he's a swashbuckling Australian ninja. Yes, you just read those three words in combination. It's such a wild mixture, but it works. He's always the life of the party, but when things get serious, so does he.

The 4th edition book clocks in at a mere 346 pages, and that includes the full rules, a 60-page section on creating a superhero game, and a 70-page sourcebook with the aforementioned Champions heroes, about twenty villains, an introductory scenario, and a full-blown adventure to get the players into the game. Oh, and character creation ends at page 134. Still lengthy, but manageable. Meanwhile, the 5th edition rulebook is 380 pages, and that's just the rules; there's no campaign material whatsoever.

So, here's to the 4th edition of one of the best RPGs of all time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have another character idea to create. Safe travels, everyone, and game on.

Resolutions

Yes, it's that time of year when we all make sincere commitments to goals we want to achieve, commitments that usually last a few days or weeks at most. But that doesn't stop us from making them every single year, does it? So, here are some of the things I'm working on for 2026.

First...more consistent blog posting. I know, that's not my overarching priority in life, but for the purposes of this blog, it's important. I am running two blogs at this time; for those who haven't seen it yet, please check out my 3rd edition D&D retrospective, 25 Years Later... I completed my review of every D&D product released by Wizards of the Coast in 2000 starting with the Player's Handbook, and now I'm moving on to 2001.

For this blog, I'm going to try to focus more on two subjects that are very important to me: family and faith. I'm an outspoken and committed Catholic, and I want to talk more about that going forward. However, politics is right off the table; I will not discuss politics. Not Canadian, not American, not European...none of it. Politics is a surefire way to piss off half of one's potential audience, and I'm still trying to build this blog back up after taking nearly eighteen months off. So, no politics.

Second...more reading. I've got a decent-sized library of books, many of which I haven't finished (or in some cases, started) yet. I have a tendency to collect a series of books even though I don't read them for months or even years later. For example, I have a hefty collection of Pierre Berton's Canadian history books on my bookshelf; I've only finished two of them and am currently on the third. That leaves thirteen more, not counting the ones I don't yet own. So, I want to get more of them read, and do some reviews along the way.

Third...our home-based business is taking off, so I'm spending quite a bit of time on that. I worked for about twelve hours in total today. And this is a holiday. I just have to remember to take the time for some balance in life. Spending more time with the kids before they are all grown up and gone, for example. Spending quality time with my wife that doesn't involve flour and ovens would be nice, too.

Fourth...as I mentioned, my faith is vitally important to me, and I want to go even deeper into that faith in my studies. I've committed to listening to three separate podcasts this year (although I'm actually watching them on YouTube): The Bible in a Year, The Catechism in a Year, and the Rosary in a Year. I've done all three of these; I just finished the Rosary in a Year yesterday. But I haven't listened to all three of them simultaneously, so I think that would be an excellent project to work on for 2026. The nice thing is that I spend so much time in the bakery that I have plenty of time to listen, time I might not have to sit down and read as I did last year. Oh, and I'm working on my second year of reading/listening to the writings of the Early Church Fathers. I finished three volumes last year, from the Didache and Clement of Rome to Tertullian; I'm now in Volume Four, which finishes Tertullian as well as starts on Origen, so it's going to be quite a journey. If it's anything like last year, I'll be starting Volume Seven by this time next year. It's a lot, but most of it is available on YouTube or Librivox, so it's all good.

Fifth...I don't want to do a fifth.

Sixth...Nah, I think the four I already listed are going to keep me quite busy all year long. So, we'll leave it at that for now.

I wish you all the very best in 2026, and I hope you all find success and happiness in your endeavors. Be good, and keep the faith.