“We humans are witnesses to each other’s suffering and celebration. Helping when we can… through our solace and support, or through our mere persistence in being present is how we defy life’s absurdity. This is how we fill our lives with meaning.” open.substack.com/pub/bobmaund...

The first substack in a new series: Finding Meaning in Illness and Healing open.substack.com/pub/bobmaund...

We saw our first long tails of this winter, down from the Arctic. Pictures didn’t turn out at all so here are two from same place on Lake Ontario last December. 🪶

CMA stands up for patients and opposes politicians interfering with gender affirming care

Green wing teal gives a flap as snow starts to fall 🪶

Looking forward to seeing cover art. In the meantime, Coping: Fix Problems, Find Meaning, Feel Better, due out in 2026, is now listed for pre-sale on Amazon #writersky

I was in doing outreach psychiatry in Northern Ontario this week (thanks for having me Weeneebayko) so missed my birthday present Neil Young celebration concert - but family got the T-shirt for me and a dozen video clips - looks like it was amazing #masseyhall

Our #coping book will be released in 2026. The catalogue notices have started to appear - so getting real. share.google/0dS5irpgxKij...

Toronto Concert History: 60 years ago today - November 9, 1965 (2nd night of Nov 8 also listed) - James Brown plays The Mimicombo Roller Rink. Apparently 1st Toronto area show/s. This "Roller Rink" at 2487 Lakeshore West had a bowling alley and roller rink/dance hall.

Green-winged teal today. Beautiful sunny day at McLaughlin Bay Wildlife Reserve in Oshawa, Ontario, 🇨🇦 🪶

Go Jays! 🪶🪶

Vladimir Guerrero Jr arriving at the stadium in a Marie-Philip Poulin jersey (courtesy Toronto Blue Jays)

Rusty blackbird #🪶 today near Lake Ontario

Celebrating 35 years service at my hospital with the “deep respect” of my peers

American Wigeon with Mallard for scale 🪶

Greater Yellowlegs and autumn reflections 🪶

Eastern Phoebe in autumn pond colour collage 🪶

Kingfisher on the lookout 🪶

#notabranch 🪶

I am preparing to pitch a book I have been working on for three years. There are few things in my experience that make one feel as exposed as pitching a labour of love. #writing

A wood duck in the duckweed 🪶

Red-tailed hawk today. Looks young, maybe? 🪶

Osprey scanning Lake Ontario for lunch 🪶

Spotted Sandpiper at Frenchman’s Bay, Lake Ontario on Sunday 🪶

New species to me: Red Knots. Very sharp-looking shorebirds 🪶

It is always a treat to see a tiny Piping Plover on north shore of #princeedwardisland. 🪶

Layers of #princeedwardisland colour and a heron fishing 🪶

Willet pair in perfect camouflage. 🪶

Willets in #princeedwardisland 🪶

Least Sandpipers frolicking 🪶

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As we approach an AC flight attendants strike, I think of my grandfather leading the CPR firemen in a strike in 1957, to save jobs threatened by new diesel trains. His home and family received threats. It lasted 9 days but accomplished little. Trains & unions are part of my #colonial #familystories

Rev. J.S. Woodsworth, the “conscience of Canada,” supported equity, social obligation, and civic responsibility as a CCF MP. However, his Strangers Within our Gates was a plainly racist warning of the dangers of unassimilated immigrants. His Methodist roots resonate with my #colonial #familystories

My GG grandfather was >60 when he married his 3rd wife, my GG grandmother at 16. He was tried & acquitted of assault once, admitted sick to a workhouse several times & was a street vendor of old tinplate in a London slum. His sons came to Canada looking for something better #colonial #familystories

Least Sandpiper on the red sandstone of #princeedwardisland 🪶

Moon tonight

Women’s baseball was big in Winnipeg in the 1930s & 40s (A League of their Own years). My grandfather managed a team. When the African American Chocolate Co-Ed’s came from Chicago to play they were segregated in a different hotel from other teams #colonial #familystories

Black-bellied plover looking handsome on north shore of #PEI 🪶

My great-great-grandfather borrowed $200 to buy his Saskatchewan farm from the Temperance Colonization Society in 1887 and paid his debt. The TCS had bought the land from Canada. But evidence suggests Canada had not acquired the Treaty 6 land in good faith. #colonial #familystories

Northern Gannets off #PEI shore today. Magnificent, estimate ~5 ft wingspan. 🪶

Elizabeth Hooton (1600-1672) was the first woman Quaker preacher and was beaten and incarcerated for heresy. From jail, she advocated for just treatment of prisoners. She is my 10x great grandmother (thru a line of mothers and grandmothers) and kicked Reformation era ass. #colonial #familystories

Raven on the beach 🪶

Raven on the beach 🪶

The CPR track was laid rapidly at the cost of 3 Chinese lives/mile of track in BC. My grandfather (4th from R) worked on trains from age 17. His union only accepted men who were “White born, of good moral character, sober and industrious, sound of body and limb” until 1944. #colonial #familystories

My great grandfather joined the Natal Volunteer Ambulance Corp as a stretcher bearer in the South African (Boer) War, where 50K died in 🇬🇧 concentration camps. He was brave & patriotic, but a pawn of Imperialism. His service in 🇨🇦 WWI Medical Corps gave him PTSD for life. #colonial #familystories

Local bald eagle surveys its territory 🇨🇦 #princeedwardisland 🪶

Greater yellowlegs on the beach yesterday 🪶