Here's to the tree...

...who gives its life blood so that we may sweeten our pancakes, and then, in its death throes, drained of chlorophyll -- donates its scarlet image to the flag that celebrates our nationhood.

Thanks, mighty sugar maple! And Happy Canada Day to all. 140 years a nation, and still in the first flush of our youth. Remarkable.

From maples to apples -- or more properly, Apples. My computer is driving me crazy these days and I am considering switching teams and moving to a Mac. Anyone with words of wisdom on this front is welcome to share. My sister, a serious journalist (unlike her more flighty sibling) has always had one, and I believe the time has come for me at last.

I'm off to CWC Summer Writer's Camp and will try to blog from away, if I can find a connection.

But before I go -- a new feature: writing tip of the day. Let's see if we can do that with a bit more style...

Writing Tip of The Day

Hmm. Not many options for striking change of title...

Regardless -- let's move to the tip. Every writer needs a good thesaurus. And no, I'm not talking about the one built into Word. I have quite a pile of them on the shelves over my desk. A few of my favourites: Roget's Pocket(of course), The Oxford Thesaurus, and goofily enough, The Highly Selective Thesaurus for the Extraordinarily Literate. Whatever your need (and lately mine seems to be 'tip of the tongue' syndrome, when the word I want is ...almost ... there), if you are a serious writer a thesaurus should be one of your most basic tools. If you have a favourite you'd like to share -- let me know!

~kc