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The Shakespeare sonnet project is a personal, rainy day thing and it's now  summertime in Victoria. Back at it in October. But you can send me your best-remembered one-liners and I'll see what they inspire when the rains return. Here's my own latest:

The Tempest, Act 4, Scene 1

Rare age demanding all resourcefulness

t'ensure survival, granting entropy

eroding everything in raw distress,

enacting chaos where was certainty.

Our plans for happiness and some control

over the puzzle pieces of our lives

dissolve where intellect cannot console

the hope that random consequence deprives

Before dispassionate and primal force

we plan and hope and try our best

though impotent to alter nature's course

though effort, with what skills we have, invest.

Though destiny, at distance, we would keep

our little life is rounded with a sleep.

In January Beverly responded to my whining about no one wanting to publish the poetic ramblings of an old man and in her typically endearing fashion, said, "Sit your old ass down and write stuff and keep submitting." At least that was the gist of her message. Now, fifteen submissions along, I have six publication credits. There's no money you understand, but the ego is salvaged. Would that I could have a similar happy relationship with my sourdough bread.

Glue I can make. I have produced concoctions that would anchor SpaceX rockets to their launching pads, and that bake into dangerous projectile-shaped creations, inedible unless soaked in broth for a goodly bit but even then a digestive hazard given their consistency. Never fear. Daughter has given the science lesson in the biochemistry of gluten production and Gina has provided an alternate recipe and my starter mix is still sitting in the fridge - giggling or tinkling at me whenever I open the door.

Travel we can also still do, and like many of you, we find a real sense of reconnection with old friends and places every time we pack our lives into a small suitcase and take ourselves out of the ordinary. It's also nice to return with some new stuff. Our up-island salmon fishing jaunt in a few weeks should hopefully restock the freezer with specimens for smoking. Drop by in September and we'll be in production.

And Europe! Here we come. B is off for a sculpting retreat (although what she's retreating from is a question) in Paris and I will be compelled to keep her company to make sure her failing memory doesn't lead her astray. It will give me a chance to practise French if I can persuade any of the local shopkeepers to engage with more than a "Deux croissants, M'seur? Mais oui."

Letters to politicians got less attention. Hoesksta has got to go. I told PM Carney as much and I understand someone has a petition to that effect going 'round. Put me on it. Chris sent me a clipping, Hoekstra in Holland from 2015 Netherlands to show how speech modes are so similar from US Republican-trained political hacks. There's the link underlined and here's my letter if you want to send one of your own.

Sir,

I have grave concerns regarding interference by foreign powers in Canadian affairs, most specifically the Alberta question.

At a time when our national security is being threatened by political forces in the US, I believe it is imperative that our government act to protect our information distribution systems from interference by entities such as the Internet Research Agency of Russia and the Republican Party of Alberta. Their history of disinformation campaigns in service of entities hostile to our national security have been well documented.

I ask that you have Anton Boegman, the newly appointed Foreign Interference Transparency Commissioner, investigate the situation regarding Alberta's security breach in the leaking of voter indentification data, and to monitor the ongoing threat to Canadian sovereignty posed by the aforementioned groups.

I believe also that it is time to request the dismissal of the US Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoeskstra, as his open disregard for our country, even advocating its incorporation into the US, certainly violates the expectations of his position.

Thank you for your attention to this matter which should be of some concern to all of your constituents.

Derek Peach

Victoria, BC

copies to Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs

Sean Fraser, Minister of Justice

David McGinty, Minister of National Defence

Will Greaves, Liberal member for Victoria

Avi Lewis, Leader of New Democratic Party

Jenny Kwan, NDP member for Vancouver East

I received a reply to one I sent last year about Canadian industries profiting from arms component sales to Israel, and it was from the NDP office. I have no illusions that Avi sat down and composed a chatty response, but someone passed the letter along and told someone to write back and say what the party was doing about it. And they did.

And today the prime minister got back to me, promising to forward my letter to the Honourable Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety. Wonder of wonders; I'm encouraged to keep writing. Next topic will be my grocery bill, but it probably needs a separate blog entry of its own. It will also need a lot of education in basic economics on my part, so it may take a while.

Nope. Right now I gotta tell the Big Guy in Ottawa to stop saying nice things about the TACO Terror next door. The Iran war conclusion has been a fiasco of literally (and I mean literally, not figuratively) global proportions and silence would have been a more acceptable response than praise. I'm gonna exhaust my printer ink supply yet.

But the bread is back. Lookit. Thanks for the science lesson and suggestions. It's all in service to worthwhile endeavours. Doctor says B is losing weight too quickly so I'm working to fatten her up. If I'm collateral damage, well, I'm willing to suffer.

Finally, I should have taken more time to learn about economics, both micro and macro. It would have kept the family solvent through the early 80s bust when I thought we might be on the streets for a while and it would certainly have forewarned me of the coming "enshittification" of everything commerce. But that's another topic and I have Margaret Atwood's Massey Lecture and Corey Doctorow's analyses as guides and they're both Canadians. Stay tuned or tune out.