This is the best & most important thing I've ever written. (...Of course, I always say that. What's the worst they can do - check?)

@nichecanada.bsky.social has just published my "5 minute read" about the reduction/closure of #ParksCanada library services. Take a look. #envhist #cdnhist niche-canada.org/2026/03/16/i...

"Late in 2013, we used the NPSHistory.com model and began the process of converting Parks Canada publications into electronic editions." - Randall D. Payne and Harry Butowsky niche-canada.org/2014/05/20/a... #envhist #parkhistory #parkscanada #cdnhist

If only AI had been around when Spandau Ballet was writing "True."

Time for another round of "name that Timothee Chalamet Movie™️" "I don't want to be farming okra, or things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this thing alive,' even though it's like, no one cares about this anymore. All respect to the okra farmers out there."

My book came out almost 2 years ago - 4.8 on Amazon, 4.7 on Goodreads, but who's counting? - & I just got word the 1st (& only?) review of it will come out soon.🙄 www.mqup.ca/Books/B/Beco...

Pleased as punk to see that the @cndhistassoc.bsky.social & @lmmipei.bsky.social 2026 conferences both have papers, by different scholars, that seem to be built around greengablesdiary.ca. #cdnhist

try 50+ years: 8 double-0, 565, 7421 That’s the magic number, free to everyone, Phone today & sail away to the island in the sun, 8 double-0, 565, 7421!

One offshoot of being on a Cormac McCarthy kick is that I start wearing corduroy shirts & tight jeans to work. Honey, where are my cowboy boots?

That time I watched the first half hour of this 1944 musical comedy, thinking it was the Terry Gilliam one, & that making it seem like a 1944 musical comedy was classic Terry Gilliam.

Spent some time just now touring @westernu.ca sites commemorating the American annexation of Canada. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/28/w...

Join us on Friday, March 6 as we welcome Prof. Jennifer Bonnell to our graduate conference. Prof. Bonnell's keynote will be on, Foragers of a Modern Countryside: Honey Bees, Beekeepers, and Changing Agricultural Landscapes in the Great Lakes Region, 1880-1940. history.uwo.ca/graduate/his...

Elegy for a golden goal. Do you remember where you were when you read "Do Your Remember Where You Were?"? Still the greatest thing that I, or anyone, ever wrote about hockey, or anything. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/do-y... or try smry.ai/proxy?url=ht...

Girl just walked into this room & yelled, “Snoopy!”

We look forward to welcoming guests on zoom from the Ministry of Natural Resources, Oil Museum of Canada, the Petroleum History Institute, Lambton County Archives, Oil, Gas and Salt Resources Library, Billman Geologic Consultants, Inc., Double B Well Services, & more! @maryeb.bsky.social

Change is coming to the Ontario conservation authority system, but is it the change we need? In this @nichecanada.bsky.social post, I look at the history of the agencies that have been the "primary care providers" of our relationship with our watersheds. Thoughts? niche-canada.org/2026/02/14/o...

One of the things A.I. has taught me - truly - is that I’ve got to be more positive in my feedback to students.

In 2016, as @westernu.ca History grad chair, I had a pot of $ to offer incoming grad students. In 2026, all Social Science grad programs (Psych, Econ, Anth, Soc, Geog, PoliSci, Hist) combined have less than what I had 10 yrs ago. But, hey, we're still @u15ca.bsky.social. We'll be fine.

It’s disgusting to watch the United States choke the life out of Cuba & its people.

Join us for our upcoming Graduate Conference - Spaces and Places: Exploring the Physical and Conceptual Environments of History - Friday, March 6, 2026 -Western University. The schedule may be found here - history.uwo.ca/graduate/his...

Today! For those who wish to join online, here is the zoom link westernuniversity.zoom.us/j/91063003930 Meeting ID: 910 6300 3930

1st time above freezing in, what, a month? 🥶

It’s like witnessing the origin of a Swiftie.

You let your dog pee on a snowman, I’m going to throw a snowball at you. A man’s got to have a code.

There’s likely a German word for that feeling of dread when someone has sent an email to a large group of people but not bcc-ed it, & you’re poised for the reply-alls to start, asking people not to reply-all.

Started up reading these again and the words are like a red dark that bleed across the page without sign or mercy and they tell of the heart’s mirific hunger and of the world that is a cruel fire that burns the young most of all, a beautiful and terrible thing, recumbent in its own cold truth, and

Happy Groundhog Day, to all who celebrate! The bear, not the groundhog, was historically Canada’s foremost forecaster. So imagine my shock (shock!) to find this Ottawa Citizen piece from 1867 – the earliest 2 Feb groundhog reference I’ve seen, by more than a generation.

Like every (?) #skystorian, doing a little Groundhog Day research in the run-up. Haven't seen this before: An 1879 Chicago Daily Trib article connecting the holiday not to Pennsylvania Germans but to "our colored brethren."

Spider causes earthquake. Like the butterfly effect, but creepier.

January

Love it when you find a photo for your book. There's 1/2 a page done.🙂

Just put a bottle of red wine in the fridge to warm it up.

We talked pareidolia in #His1840 Graphic History! & now students are sending me faces they see in the world. My email is more fun than usual.

“It’s a pleasure – and a duty – to be with you at this turning point for Canada and for the world. Today, I’ll talk about the rupture in the world order, the end of a nice story….” Required reading. www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/spee...

RB Bennett radio address, 1935: “The old order is gone. It will not return.”

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, February 10th at 12:00pm to listen to David Seston, MA student speak on, The Canadian Golden Age: Celebrating the 85th Anniversary of WECA Comics. #westernu

Geopolitically & seasonally apt.

It was one of those moments when everything seems to have been said, when it suddenly feels like the present has been used up and nothing is left but a threatening future. ~ Daniel Kehlmann, The Director

People ever use this site to share when good things happen? Every couple of months, I've been getting lovely notes from strangers who stumble upon Becoming Green Gables. Got one today from an American author. Recharged.

7 January 1926 ~ Fine in AM. Snow storm after dinner. Keith went to Stanley with cream. Marion went to Wesley’s to practice. Blowing a gale and bitter cold to-night. Keith and Anita up at the Cosy Corner Rink. greengablesdiary.ca/diary/2_1924...

The Canada Impact+ Research Chair feels like a big middle finger to homegrown research talent & expertise. It turns out that we DO have public $$ to support research & faculty hiring. BUT, if you're a Canadian PhD who actually lives in Canada, tough luck. Nice.

My evening’s locked & loaded.

Well, it's better than anything I came up with.

God grant me the serenity to use AI in my own research, the courage to keep students from using it in theirs, & the wisdom to justify the difference.

Shared an elevator with Manute Bol. Bonus mark: In the Grand Hyatt, when it was the 1st & only hotel Trump owned.

Betwixtmas, illustrated.

Ever come across a website so delightfully weird you want to share it? Know your comic book sound effects: www.comicbookfx.com/fxlist.php #His1840