by Sue Horner | Dec 22, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
In December 2016, Facebook memories showed me a photo of my black Lab, Jake, staring at my son’s Christmas stocking. That photo was taken during what turned out to be Jake’s last Christmas. With the famous clarity of hindsight, I thought, and wrote about,...
by Sue Horner | Dec 20, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog, Writing samples
This year, I had the privilege of writing for the 80,000+ mostly retired members of RTOERO and their magazine, Renaissance. RTOERO has its roots in the Ontario Teachers’ Federation although not all members are teachers. They work in or are retired from the...
by Sue Horner | Dec 9, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
This last month of the year, many of us are getting ready for family gatherings. Some have lost or are estranged from loved ones. Some just don’t have the heart after the past few years. Maybe it all reminds you, as it does me, that life is short. That reminder...
by Sue Horner | Dec 2, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Tomorrow is the first Saturday in December, and that’s National Christmas Tree Day. It’s a perfect day to find out facts about, well, Christmas trees. I’m taking you back to the blog vault for “Fun things to know about Christmas trees.” The post shares an...
by Sue Horner | Nov 23, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
In the old days, a handshake was your contract. Today, the hands involved belong to lawyers, and they are all over the simplest of contracts. Unfortunately, as Ohio Judge Mark P. Painter says, “Most legal writing is atrocious.” Forget short, crisp sentences. One...
by Sue Horner | Nov 15, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Hello friend, it’s time for another roundup of links you might have missed from posts I’ve shared on social media. This time, our focus is email and our sponsor is Elon Musk. Well, he doesn’t know it. But Twitter’s new overlord inspired me to share a collection...
by Sue Horner | Nov 9, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
All the Halloween decorations are stashed for the season. American Thanksgiving is on the doorstep. Warm weather on the weekend had neighbours putting up their Christmas lights. Someone I know (not naming names) had a Christmas tree up on November 3. So, it’s time for...
by Sue Horner | Nov 3, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
“Text studded with abbreviations is hard to read and unsightly,” says The Canadian Press Stylebook. “Avoid when an option exists.” It’s true you’re being kind to your reader when you explain abbreviations and acronyms.* But too many is, well, too much....
by Sue Horner | Oct 25, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
Brown bears are big. I mean, BIG. You probably have to guess at the size, but would you guess “seven times the average American adult”? That’s Chunk, at 1,200 pounds the runner-up in the annual Fat Bear Week, October 5 to 11 this year. The winner, Bear 747 (shown...
by Sue Horner | Oct 17, 2022 | The Red Jacket Diaries blog
The latest “Data Never Sleeps” shows the breathtaking amount of data created every minute on the internet: (See the full infographic here.) We’re asking Google questions (5.9 million every minute), uploading to YouTube (500 hours), sharing photos on Instagram...
