Three Things from Edmonton

Thanks for dropping by the podcast! Hope things are good at your end. This week's three things:

CN -- one day I'll take a couple of youngsters with me to the CN Tower. The one in Edmonton, I mean.
Time signature -- I've been listening to the old-new Beatles song.
Gaslighting -- A good book and a good movie came together.

Th original music in the podcast is composed and performed by Brendan McGrath of Edmonton. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

Take care. Imagine peace.

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast this week! It dropped a bit late. This might be the new drop date, we’ll see! This week’s troika:

Grim Reaper – Our door was darkened last week.
Fellowship of the rinks – My mom got to remembering!
Alliteration – Dylan is to be heard, not just read.

The original podcast music is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com.

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Hello, thanks very much for dropping by the Three Things podcast. Predictably, here are the three unpredictable things that made for some happiness and gratitude this week:

Goalies – I was struck by the generosity of the answers given by Winnipeg Jets’ netminder Connor Hellebuyck.
First snow – First snow means first questions here in YEG.
Cross-examination – Under the influence of cough syrup, I got my eras mixed up a bit.

The original podcast music was composed and performed by Edmonton composer and performer Brendan McGrath. The end bells in the podcast are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech. Josh Classen doesn’t know he appears.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast! This is where I try to notice little things from my life that left behind tracks of gratitude and happiness. Basically being a shut in and still fighting whatever it is that has taken up residence rent free in my chest and throat, I was a bit more introspective this week.

Confirmation bias – the universe didn’t unroll as I thought it might
Waiting in line – a psychological thriller set at Rice Bowl Deluxe
Above the fold – my big accomplishment while Shelagh was away in Italy.

The original podcast music is from Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for checking out the little podcast. And it is little. Piddly little. I mean, three little things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude when the news is what it is? Come on, I sometimes answer myself. But, other times, there is a quieter voice that says, keep going, don’t be blind, but take a few minutes to put some stuff on the other side of the scale, too. This week’s other things, then:

Weather map – watching all the cable TV this week provided a welcome perspective on local weather
Shelagh in Italy – that’s it: Shelagh in Italy. Shelagh in Italy!
Class reunion – it wasn’t the best of times, but we got through high school.

The original podcast music is from Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton humanitarian and metal artist, Slavo Cech.

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Thanks for dropping by to give the podcast a few minutes of your time. The gift of your time is appreciated. I started the podcast as a way to force myself to notice the things of my own life, a reaction, perhaps, to all the noticing the attention merchants are doing for me. I have nothing against them. I just need some counterweights. Three counterweights each week. This week:

Wedding – Aimée and Steve got married, and it was a musical event.
Margaritaville – Sometimes you’re still in Margaritaville at 4 AM.
Friendly face – A welcome hello in traffic.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks from dropping by the podcast. Here are three things from the week gone by that left behind traces of happiness and gratitude.

Italy – Here comes Shelagh!
Garages – Strange places, garages are.
Long play – Dylan and a few of the Heartbreakers surface unexpectedly in Indiana. How does it feel?

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

Find me at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello and happy end of summer 2023 from Edmonton. Here, fall lasts between 14 minutes and about three weeks. We’ll see!

While waiting for autumn’s rapid or less-rapid transition into pre-winter, it’s a decent use of time to make note of things that make for happiness or gratitude in our lives. So the winterweathermongers don’t win the day. For me, this week:

Experts – I don’t miss all of them, but I do miss some of them.
Tomatoes – A bit of a ode to the backyard varieties.
Relay – It’s baseball season. Every pitch, every out matters. Some outs are gorgeous to witness.

The original podcast music is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

Go, Jays.

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Hello and thanks for dropping by the podcast. Here are three things that left behind notes of happiness and gratitude last week:

Sounds of summer – They are in their final days.
Replay – There are some benefits to attending a conference in our dining room
Poets – RIP, Jimmy Buffett.

The music in the podcast is original. It is the work of Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

Take care.

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Back to school is in the air! I trust that you all have your duo-tangs, hole reinforcements for binders and your inky-pink erasers. Or have helped others get their school supplies. Here are three other things from the past (week) that left behind traces of happiness and gratitude, with a nod to good teachers and their enduring effect on us.

Microscopes – Plant or animal, that was, and wasn’t, the question.
Jacknife – The right tool at the right time is a small joy,
Drama – Junior high school drama helped me.

The original music in the podcast is from Brendan McGrath. He’s a talented Edmonton composer, pianist and music teacher. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and O’Leary class of ‘82 alum, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com. I have been thinking about that probe from Ryan Adams:

Are we really who we used to be?/

Am I really who I was?

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Welcome to the Three Things podcast, it’s cool that you’re here. From each care-worn week, I try to steal a few minutes to notice three things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude, remember those things and then record those things. So keep some kind or record of those noticings. This week’s offering:

Small world – There are people you know who bring people you don’t know together. This is what I learned again last week, this time at the Sugared & Spiced bakery.
Licence plates – Bored? Make up a game, my mother would say. It’s advice I use when sitting in LRT construction.
Destinations – Happy & Olive is open in Crestwood. All aboard.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. Dude is talented. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metals artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

Shop local.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for stopping by the podcast! It’s just a bit longer this week, but it’s guaranteed to make you laugh. If you haven’t laughed by the start of the third thing, then the guarantee failed and you qualify for a full refund. Let’s get the show on the road. This week’s three things are:

Remains – Finding a bit of meaning in the stream of things, some semantics in the signals.
Laughter – See guarantee above. I’ll say no more. Shelagh?
Blue Rodeo – It wasn’t our first Blue Rodeo, but it was one of their best.

The original music in the podcast is from Brendan McGrath. He is an Edmonton pianist, composer and teacher. Smart dude. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Thanks to each of you!

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. It’s a tradition here to devote the episode after the Edmonton Folk Music Festival to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. And, so, in keeping with podcast tradition, this week’s three things are:

Tarps – a connection between the iconic look of Gallagher Hill and a library book reader I came across in line
Food – on site, off site, the story of two great meals
Darlingside – I lose my mind…

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metals artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com. See you on the hill!

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Hello from Edmonton, thanks for dropping by my little podcast. It’s an experiment in trying to preserve my meager noticing equipment before it rusts over from lack of use. This week’s noticings:

Baseball – a Riverhawks game is a very Edmonton experience.
Roots – What do you do when you find a root on your route?
Body – A hand-addressed thank you note is still worth the effort.

The original music in the podcast is the work of Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian and O’Leary 82 grad, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

I am the Folk Fest if you read this before Sunday night!

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Hello from Edmonton’s Parkview neighbourhood, thanks for dropping by the podcast. Here is this week’s menu of three things that I noticed I noticed made me happy or, if not happy, at least, grateful:

Oppenheimer - I love going to the movies when the movies are this big and this epic and this contemporary. Shelagh and I went to Oppenheimer twice. That’s six hours with the popcorn.
Magpies - I have been thinking about a rare sight and sound of magpies in North Glenora.
Close calls – Let’s hear it ( and see it!) for close calls that let us correct course.

The original music in the podcast is my fave part of the podcast. It is the work of Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells come courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech. Cameo audio appearance is also courtesy of Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Take care. Go to the movies!

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Three Things from Edmonton – Episode 132: cemeteries, electricity, witness

Hello from the crystal gondola in the palatial main studios of the Three Things podcast! Thanks for dropping by. I had started noticing that I wasn’t noticing as much. Certainly not every changing wind, which is the Isbell Test. So I set about trying to do a better job noticing with my stock noticing equipment. Before it rusted out. That’s how the podcast started. As it progressed, I noticed the obvious: it is quite good enough to do a better job noticing what others notice about the world, too. This week, I noticed that I have thanks to:

Lyle Lovett – for making me think about cemeteries
Bob Dylan – for helping me think about electricity
Shelagh M. Kubish – for showing us how to protect public places

I remain grateful to Brendan McGrath for the original podcast music, and to Slavo Cech for the end bells.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Thanks!

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Thanks so much for dropping by the Three Things podcast! Here is where I try to hit the pause button on the flow of time (can’t be done, but the illusion is worthwhile) and fish out three things that made for some happiness and gratitude. This week, those little beings were:

Language – I listened while a young father relayed an old truth in language to his young daughter.
Movies – I got lucky last week. I went to the movies without the lineups or the cost or the butter product.
Trains – Some backtracking to explain an emotional reaction to a crime story on the news.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist, composer and teacher, Brendan McGrath. The end bells that punctuate each episode are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast, friends. I try my best once a week to preserve the time it takes to notice, remember and the make a record of three things that made for some happiness and gratitude in my little life. This week those three things are:

Le Tour – the Tour de France is my favourite kind of TV.
Sleep – sometimes, you get the sleep you need.
Ruins – some squash, some thunder and an old clothesline pole.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metals artist, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Welcome back to the podcast, friends. Thank you for the gift of your time. Here’s this week’s short list of three things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude in my little life up here on latitude 53:

Double play – I love baseball. Can’t play it. But love it.
Poe at Faraone – Just like that, Baltimore’s favourite literary son turned up at our weekly Coffee Outside gathering.
Real scoop – There’s a great little ice cream shop in Westmount.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. Shelagh and Aimée went to listen to him last week at the Chateau Lacombe. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com.

Have a good week.

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Thanks for stopping by the podcast. This is where I try to live out a promise that I made myself to tone down the algorithmed default anger (saving the emotion for the real outrages, and there are many) and, instead, use whatever meager noticing equipment I have to make note of things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude. This week’s offering: 1. Noses – thoughts occasioned by a face-to-surface encounter with the front street 2. Life sentence – I collect sentences that stop me. The latest in the collection is from Dr. Heather Young-Leslie. 3. Leftovers – Those turkey meatballs were superb the next day! The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. If you are reading this on Thursday evening, June 29, he’s playing tonight at the Chateau Lacombe as part of Jazz City. The end bells in the podcast are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech. * Here’s the Facebook post from Dr. Young-Leslie that made me see the giant neighbourhood trees, and giant scholars in our midst, a bit differently: The Killams are the Nobels of Canada. Hokey background music aside, this is a great* episode of CBC Ideas, demonstrating amazing, world-changing Canadian research in _health sciences_ (Pieter Cullis, UBC, for the nano-lipid delivery system that enables MRNA vaccines and cancer cures), _humanities_ (Ajay Heble, UGuelph, for theorizing how musical improvisation works, and how the deep listening required for jazz improvisation and creative writing models the skills for negotiating difference, trust, therefore for building community, pedagogy and societal change), _natural sciences_ (Sarah 'Sally' Otto, UBC, for her mathematical modelling for evolutionary biology, especially developing the math to show why species have 'sex', aka recombine genetic materials, and power the evolutionary adaptations underlying population adaptation and, essentially, life), _social sciences_ (Charles Morin, Laval, for his critical psychological analysis of sleep, stress, leading to medication-free cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia), and _engineering_ (Praveen Jain, Queen's, for his research and electronic inventions, including high-frequency switches used to regulate electric currents, thus enabling power converters that don't waste energy, eg, in cases of smallholder farmers using solar micro-inverters, but also astronauts using the Canadarm in the International Space Station). It's hearing professors like these people (and my university colleagues here at UofA) talk about the research questions they ask, the solutions their research provide, and impacts of their research on the 'real world' that keeps me inspired to work, and committed to the academic mission and research-intensive university endeavour. I know my university colleagues will enjoy this episode, but I wish my non-university friends would also listen, to hear what their (and our parents' and grandparents') past tax-dollars and political choices have enabled. I hope we all recognize what is at risk when we stop funding public universities, and public radio, or think of them as only job-preparation mills converting students into employable workers, and unfair competition to commercial radio. And I hope this will rekindle some Canadian pride, an antidote to the damage created by the convoy/covidiots/Ottawa occupyers, going into Canada Day. We're not a perfect nation, but we do have a lot to be proud of, these Killam Prize winners' research, their careers and contributions included. That CBC Ideas podcast.

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Happy summer from Edmonton, where it’s been smoky, sunny, windy and rainy. It’s an elemental place. While we’re waiting to see how bad the mosquitoes will be, here are three things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude.

Meow! – The day Fred Penner came back to Edmonton.
Red – The internal debate continues, this time with some communications theory.
1 – That’s how old Little Buddy is!

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are sounded, as always, by Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast. It was tough this week to watch former colleagues get the axe from Bell. I admired Tom Walters, especially. Great writer, great newsman, went where the story asked him to go, always willing to confront Pocklington with a unexpected question. Just want to put that on the record, as they used to say.

Back now to regularly scheduled podcasting, and three things that left behind, in my little life, tracks of happiness and gratitude.

Strong ads – I admire good ads. Like IKEA’s latest pics.
Squeak – I was stuck in a traffic circle. Darlingside kept it real.
Cats – I come to terms with our sons having become cat people. Almost.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton humanitarian and metal artist, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for checking out this week’s Three Things podcast. Last week, Shelagh and I were in Vangroovy, as our friend Fitz calls it. Along with our checked baggage, I brought home three pieces of thankfulness and gratitude:

Bridge lights – you run into former ATB Financial boss Dave Mowat when you least expect it.
A stick of butter – or, an ode to Rhiannon at Whole Foods on Robson Street.
Flying home – an eye- and heart-opening exhibit at UBC.

The original music in the podcast was composed and performed by Edmonton pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist, humanitarian and O’Leary Spartan (‘82), Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast! This is where I practise stopping to remember and record three things from my little life that left behind tracks of gratitude and happiness. This week, for your consideration, those three things were:

Soft rain – These are elemental days in northern Alberta
Hard Rain – It’s been a-falling for sixty years now.
Chainsaw – Teething pains after a simple request to borrow the chainsaw.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist, piano teacher and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello and thanks for dropping by the podcast. These have been difficult days here. Forest fires not far away have put people in flight. Property is cindered. The smoke has been in the city, you could taste it inside the house, it’s awful. These are elemental days. Again, we talk of fire, water, earth and wind.

The Red Cross is accepting donations for fire relief.

Here are three things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude this week:

Classics – what happened when I emailed a classics professor at Harvard.
Filling stations – what happened when I stopped at a Circle K in the north end.
Going Dutch – what happened at dinner out at OTTO

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech, who, did you know, came up with the idea of the Christmas tree lights on the Telus building all those years ago? True story.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, and thanks for stopping by the Three Things podcast. This is where I try to keep some kind of record of the little things that made for some happiness and gratitude while the maelstrom keeps doing what it does—maelstroming. This week’s offerings:

Tulips – Audrey Hepburn in Crestwood.
Infidelity – A short reflection on a valuable bit of TV news theory I still carry with me. It helps in these tricky times.
Chalk – A few lines about lines at this time of year in Edmonton.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist, humanitarian and O’Leary Spartan (‘82), Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, and thanks for dropping by the podcast, my weekly/weakly (Differs By A Letter was a Jeopardy category this week) effort to insert into the maelstrom a few bits of countercyclical force—things that made for some happiness and gratitude, I mean. This week those mundane things were:

Old film – not the celluloid stuff, but, rather, the memories that friends play back.
Bottom line – What’s the most valuable currency in the world? was the question Iannick asked the crowd.
Anemone – How do you pronounce that sea creature?

The original music in the podcast is the work of Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

I hope you have a good day.

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Hello, happy spring to all friends and buds, thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast for a listen to a short collection of three things from the week that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude. This week’s offering:

Teamwork – Thanks to some great work in the truck, TV audiences got to see leadership in action from Oilers capitán Connor McDavid.
Statue – The legend lives on.
The wind – An ongoing, elemental conversation between me, my bike and the wind.

The original music in the podcast is the work of Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@edmonton.com

Other sounds

Don Quixote (Live in Reno) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=924e8ojWv0c

Los Lobos La Bamba ( Original video clip) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLAWPrCUQQ0

Zamboni on Ice District outdoor rink, Three Things, episode 101

Gretzky scores his 50th goal in 39 games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE_G7i2F0So

Censor beep sound effect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lP44fii7Kw

Oilers' Stuart Skinner Gives The Kings Life With Mistake To Gift Danault Shorthanded Equalizer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q-X60ylnMU

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast, now a healthy 119 episodes old. Once a week, the task is to stop to notice having noticed three things from my life that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude. In case I ever, like, tomorrow, need markers for the way back.

This week:

The Stoics – I spent some time talking to our son Alex about our game, hockey.
The winter – What are you doing next February? Consider riding your bicycle here!
The dead – Mid-afternoon musings of mortality at MacEwan.

The original music in the podcast is the work of Edmonton pianist and composer, Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Other sounds in the podcast came from:

Ref’s whistle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hboA_JXKslc

The Band, When I Paint My Masterpiece – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq2e7DPhyHg&t=3s

Hockey Night in Canada

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Thanks so much for dropping by to give the podcast a listen. In trying to notice what I noticed made me feel happy or grateful, and then remembering those things, and then recording them, I am trying to remain true to a promise I made myself to do those three things once a week. I remember when I made that promise. What ever happened to the part of you that noticed every changing wind? I made that promise to myself when I finally heard that line from Jason Isbell. This week’s offering:

Special sauce – A pizza from a vending machine? Sure, I’ll give it a try once.
Youngsters – Some notes from an evening at the Winspear.
Percussion – A trip to Southtown Automotive took me back to the northeast end.

As always, the original music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Go, Oilers. I see the Skip The Dishes logo on the ice and remember fondly the Oilers playoff run in 2006 and how much fun it was to watch the games and talk about the games with the late Skip Kerr. The hockey itself is for the players.

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Hello from our basement in west Edmonton, and thanks for dropping by to take a listen to the podcast. The entire editorial and production team appreciates the gift of your time. Here are three things from my little life that left behind still discernible tracks of happiness and gratitude. As the great Tyson said, get it all done before she goes.

Scrabble – I’m trying to find the words to describe the joy it is to sit down across from Rob with a Scrabble board between us and a couple of hours that can’t get us.
Colour – Dessert for Easter dinner is not a trifling affair in Shelagh’s kitchen.
Reading – There is always a better way for me to do things. I rely on characters to bring that lesson home.

The music in the podcast is original—the work of Edmoton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells were made and are played by Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast. Edmonton is in the season that many people wait endure the winter to get to: playoff hockey season. The hometown Oilers are playoff bound. And, yes, McDavid has been elevated to a minor deity in this city, but, come on, have you been watching Draisaitl lately? And, so, this week, Leon Draisaitl goals

49, and

in one game against the Ducks are this week’s three things.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of the Rogers Place horn and Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

I do wish Skip and Billy G and Marcus were still around to swap theories with about how deep the Oilers will go in the playoffs this year.

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Hello from west Edmonton, and welcome to the Three Things podcast. The premise of the podcast is straightforward, and easily replicable: try to notice three things from my own life that leave behind tracks of happiness and gratitude. Turn down the loud speakers, try to ignore the algorithms and just try to notice what I notice. This week:

Downtown vibrancy – some notes from a concert at McDougall United Church
118 Ave – some notes after a trip to the music store
Water in the house – some water music

The original music in the podcast is just the best. It’s the work of Edmonton composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist, jewelry hider and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, welcome to spring, bonjour from Edmonton. For those who still follow the French Republican calendar, bienvenue à la saison Germinal. For those who follow Ian Tyson, we’ve made it through another on the Northern Range. Here are three things that left behind some tracks of happiness and gratitude as we did:

Resources - What I have learned teaching.
The East - What I found at the Nova Scotia Archives.
The West - What I heard on Edmonton AM.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton musician Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks so much for dropping by the podcast. It’s a little experiment, going on 113 experiments now, to see, if, in the maelstrom that is life in 2023, I can invoke the stillness to name three things that made for some happiness and gratitude each week. I am always grateful to hear from you, especially when you share your own stories of happiness and gratitude. This week’s offering from me:

Digging – The CN Tower still has a great pull on me. No, not that CN Tower!
Building faces – Have you seen the giant cat of MacEwan University? How about the nearby giant emoji face?
Music room – For the record(er), we owe a lot to music teachers.

The original music in the podcast is from music teacher and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, and thanks for dropping for the podcast. I remember the day 112 episodes ago I realized I wasn’t realizing enough. I noticed more was being noticed for me than ever before—the algorithms, the politicians, the news media, the general anger out there. So I resolved to try to notice more of what I was noticing, and, to boot, try to notice things that made for some happiness and gratitude. I get immeasurable help along the way. This week’s offering:

Medium/message – My buddy Barry pointed me to a bridge on Facebook.
Curling – It remains a hard, hard, hard, hard sport to understand, but I love watching it.
Liner notes – Sure, reading about music is like dancing about architecture, but it still helps me see things better.

The original music in the podcast was composed and performed by Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, and thanks for dropping by the podcast. This is my ongoing effort to trust myself when it comes to noticing things that make for happiness and gratitude. It’s some kind of record, as is asked of all of us. This is what came up the top this week:

Socks – On some days, I have a tight connection to my socks.
Serious dream – An account of some time in the shadow kingdom.
Maracas – The music of the seed display at the neighbourhood grocery store.

The music in the podcast is as original as its composer, the talented pianist, Brendan McGrath. The end bells again sound thanks to the faithfulness of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, and thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. This is where I keep a promise to myself to try harder to notice things for myself, at the expense of having things noticed for me by the algorithms. Specifically, things that leave behind tracks of gratitude and happiness. This week's noticings:

Timing – I admire people who not only say the right thing but say the right thing at the right time. There’s an extra dose of the bliss of being alive when the timing is perfect.
Specifically – Saul Alinsky, George Saunders, Mark Connolly and Tom Petty, specifically.
Sounds of home – An ode to the furnace and the other infrastructure of living here in February.

The music in the podcast is original. It comes from the original Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello and thanks for checking out this week’s Three Things podcast, which is made up of three things from my little life last week that left behind tracks of happiness or gratitude.

Boss – Springsteen is coming back to town.
Belief – Having a beer at Aradia, looking forward to Ted Lasso, season 3.
Bike – A few words in thanks to my bicycle.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are supplied, as always, by Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech. The sun is now up at 7:51 am.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast. Each week I try to do three things: notice, remember and record three things that made for some happiness and gratitude in the maelstrom. This week:

Waves - in the live stream of traffic in Edmonton
Radio - the kitchen counter feels more complete now that we have a radio again.
Resonance - I hear this alot: "that really resonates with me." A print helped me understood the root of things.

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer, pianist and teacher, Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for giving my little podcast a listen. It’s a continuing experiment to see if each week I can notice and remember and then record three things that left behind tracks of gratitude and happiness. Just stuff from my little life I share with Shelagh up here on latitude 53 in Edmonton, Canada. This week:

Print – reflections on a wonderful dinner at Filistix that left a kind of stamp on me
Dolphins – the night Hawksley Workman ascended from the deep
Crunch – putting the i back in kitchen

The original podcast music is from Edmonton pianist, teacher and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells of gratitude are the gift of Edmonton artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Welcome to this week’s Three Things. Once a week I try to notice in the maelstrom three things that made for some happiness and gratitude. Rising to the top this week:

Comma – The first punctuation mark in Crosby, Stills & Nash hit home last week
Streeter – What do you think about the person on the street interviews?
Jerky – A serving of memory from the deli counter.

The original podcast music is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells, the gift of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for checking out the little podcast, I appreciate it. Frustrated by the various other approaches to things, I decided 105 weeks ago to try a little gratitude and happiness. Each week, stop, reflect and record three little things from the gratitude and happiness side of the ledger. This week:

Magic - I was reading a New York Times Magazine article about a Spanish magician when one thing led to another and I had a thought about a very curious Dylan song. Welcome back to the podcast, Señor Bob.
Misdirection - I was thinking about the Dylan song when I recalled my friend Graham’s touch with misdirection jokes. I gave him a call.
Observation - I was thinking about something Graham said about misdirection when asked Shelagh to pick a card, any card, and, then, surprise!

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal sculptor and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello and thanks for dropping by the podcast. The podcast is my way of trying to notice what I notice. There are more than enough politicians, algorithms, advertisers and artificial intelligence prophets who are too happy to do my noticing for me. I mean, I can press tab to have the computer finish my sentence. This week’s offering:

Snow dome – Driving north with Sibelius on CBC radio
Statues – A key change here, but am grateful for the work of photojournalists in war zones, and was reminded of that last week
Sheet music – I just don’t have the words for music

The podcast music is original. It is the inspired work of Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal sculptor and humanitarian and Telus building Christmas lights designer, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Homework: Jean Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 (Orchestre de Paris, Paavo Järvi) https://youtu.be/2lHncn68uyQ

Peace.

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Thanks very much for dropping by the Three Things podcast. Here, once a week, I try to stop to consider three things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude. This week

Palimpsest – Things fade, like autographs on guitar straps.
Family history – A new story from my mom!
Long view – RIP Ian Tyson.

I am not a cowboy. I don’t once a year pretend to be a cowboy. Not even a fan of the rodeo, gotta say. But on Friday, November 13, 1987, I danced a polka with Shelagh McAnally at a nightclub in downtown Edmonton. Since then I have been an Ian Tyson fan. (I was a Shelagh McAnally fan already.) I have known Harold Munsons who have helped me get through lean times. I have known what it’s like to hold my tongue at borders. I have thought about the buffalo. I still like to strum and play Night Rider's Lament.

The original music in the podcast is composed and played by Edmonton pianist and piano instructor Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Happy New Year to all of us who have made it across the Great Divide into 2023.

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Hello and welcome and thanks for checking out this week’s podcast. I try once a week to notice things I notice, especially the things that made me feel happy and grateful. Then I try to jar those things in a podcast. Like making pickles. This week those three things were:

Sliding home – Our Christmas Eve family gathering featured some ghosts on the wall.
Strings – And a newly tuned piano.
Intersection – And a print that took me to a place I have both been and never been to.

The music in the podcast is original. It is the composition and playing of Brendan McGrath of Edmonton. Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech contributes the end bells.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Happy New Year to all!

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-30-

That’s how newspaper reporters would indicate the end of their copy. Remove the second hyphen and it’s how Edmontonians this week indicated the temperature. Yikes. Robbie Burns is outside? Yes, yes, come in, please, get warm, sir! What's this now? You have some winter music for us? A dirge? Yes, the floor is yours:

The wintry west extends his blast,

And hail and rain does blaw;

Or, the stormy north sends driving forth

The blinding sleet and snaw:

While tumbling brown, the burn comes down,

And roars frae bank to brae;

And bird and beast in covert rest,

And pass the heartless day.

The sweeping blast, the sky o’ercast

The joyless winter-day,

Let others fear, to me more dear

Than all the pride of May:

The tempest’s howl, it soothes my soul,

My griefs it seems to join;

The leafless trees my fancy please,

Their fate resembles mine!

Thou Pow’r Supreme, whose mighty scheme

These woes of mine fulfill,

Here, firm, I rest, they must be best

Because they are Thy will!

Then all I want (O, do Thou grant

This one request of mine!)

Since to enjoy Thou dost deny

Assist me to resign.

Thank you, sir, here are three things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude in my little life in the cold and snaw and -30 weather:

Family – Shelagh is ninth of nine, and has a lot of cousins. She encounters them regularly.
What a drag! – What happened when my bicycle broke in the cold and the dark.
Zamboni – Why I always stop to watch a Zamboni do the rounds on a sheet of ice.

The music in the podcast is original, the work of Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are played, as always, by Edmonton metal sculptor and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, happy holidays. Thanks for being out there, friends. Jeff, the baking from Sugared & Spiced is next level again this year.

Peace.

Can I sneak in a fourth thing? When it gets this cold, I listen to the Skydiggers. Thank you, Skydiggers.

-30-

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Hello from snowy Edmonton, thanks for dropping by the podcast. Once a week I try to do three things: notice what made me happy or grateful, remember what made me happy or grateful, record what made me happy or grateful. As a bit of resistance against the politicians and the advertisers and the algorithms that are only too happy to do my noticing for me. This week:

Wherewithal – I saw Connor McDavid live. So did Leon Draisaitl.
Professors Plumb – What do we want? Plumbing! When do we want it? Now!
Reunion – A special delivery

The original music in the podcast is just the best. It is the work of Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. Edmonton sculptor and humanitarian Slavo Cech provides the end bells, as always.

I am at glenn.kubish@edmonton.ca

✅ I am not a robot.

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Welcome and welcome back to the Three Things podcast, recorded and sent out to the world from the basement of our bungalow in Edmonton’s Parkview neighbourhood. It’s been cold this week. Here are three things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude during a bike ride through that cold. Cold is a preserving agent.

Cold comfort – some thoughts about base layers in this weather
Theory – some thoughts about thinking
The Indy scene – dada da-daah, dada daaah!

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech. Siri is from Cupertino, California.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Stay warm.

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Hello from Edmonton where it’s been cold enough lately for the snow to stay snow for a few minutes after getting tramped into the house. Yes, this, too, shall melt. Here are this week’s three things that left behind tracks of happiness and gratitude.

Hope and feathers – a routine trip to the grocery story that ended in verse
Soccer balls – a soccer naif connects a few points
Building lights – the short story of the tanks in Prague and the lights in Edmonton

The original music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are sounded, as always, by the young boy in bedroom of the Avord Arms who grew up to be the artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com.

Probably a better idea to spatula the snow back outside. On it.

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Hey, thanks so much for giving the podcast a quick listen. Once a week I set myself the task of stealing time away from whatever pressing priority is pressing to reflect on things that made me happy and grateful. It beats the alternatives. This week’s three things:

Taxes, El Paso – Some Montaigne, Bacon, Dylan and Robbins
10 minutes - Some Sam Baker
Artist’s vision - Some Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts

The original music in the podcast is from the heart and piano of Edmonton composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist, humanitarian and designer of the Christmas tree lights on the Telus Building in downtown Edmonton, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@edmonton.ca

Happy Thanksgiving to friends and fam south of the Medicine Line.

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast, hope you enjoy it, hope you’re noticing the stuff that leaves behind tracks of happiness and gratitude in your lives. On the hunch that we’ll need those tracks some day, or in the next five minutes, to make our way back.

This week’s three things from me:

Well, well, well - what do you call those masses of snow and ice that barnacle to the underside of wheel wells?
Whale, whale, whale - one day in 1970, a dynamite expert walks onto a beach in Oregon…
World, world, world - some loose thoughts on Jesus Christ Superstar at the Jube.

The original music in the podcast is the work of the talented composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells, as always, are courtesy Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

Here’s the exploding whale story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax7kENH-A7s

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast, it’s nice to know you are here. 95 episodes ago, I sensed something had happened to the part of me that noticed every changing wind. Jason Isbell is a main reason for this podcast, yes. Since then, once a week, I have tried with whatever stock-issue noticing equipment hasn’t been occupied by the algorithms and the advertisers, to get back to what, for a long time, was quite good enough: to notice things I notice that make me happy or grateful, remember them, put them down.

This week’s three things:

Fables – the evening Aesop dropped by our place in Parkview
Encounters – or, why curbside pickup grocery shopping isn’t my jam
Nothings – let’s not forget all the little stuff that didn’t happen, too!

The music in the podcast was made for Three Things by Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. Dude is really talented. The end bells that punctuate each episode are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist, humanitarian and O’Leary grad, Slavo Cech.

What are you noticing out there? I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

🌺 Lest we forget.

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. I try once a week to notice three things I noticed that made me happy and thankful. Doing so helps keep the noticing equipment from seizing up. This week, the attempted habit of noticing things from my little life served up:

Franciscans – Vic Gobeil and the Jawas return at this time of year.
Basilians – James Keelaghan and the Ukrainian Platters take me back.
Ursa-lines – A few lines inspired by a walk back from the alley via the constellations and planets.

The podcast music is original. It is the work of Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

What are you noticing? I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Peace and foresight to all.

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Thank you for dropping by the Three Things podcast. This week’s episode was inspired by events that took place in our upstairs living room, on our downstairs TV and in Row G at the Winspear Centre in downtown Edmonton.

Crisis communications – Little Buddy comes to visit
Leverage – the LEGO Knight aims for the far shore
The Milk Carton Kids – the band brought the hill to the Winspear.

The podcast theme music is original. It was composed and performed by Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. I met Slavo Cech in high school in the north end. He contributes the end bells that close each episode.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

I hope we all have a good week of noticing good things about our lives. It’s the only life we’ve got.

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Hello, and thank you for dropping by the Three Things podcast, recorded once a week from the crystal gondola in the palatial basement studio in our bungalow in Edmonton’s beautiful Parkview neighbourhood. The bill of fare each week consists of three things that left behind tracks of happiness or gratitude.

This week:

Big smiles – it was a good concert downtown at MacEwan
Roaring 20s – it’s been a really pleasant October temperature-wise, as they say
Alphabet – it’s good to stop and read and stop and read

The music in the podcast is original. It is composed and performed by Edmonton pianist Brendan McGrath, whose mother we stopped to talk to in the Alphabet chapter above. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech, O'Leary Class of '82.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Take care!

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. This week’s collection of three things from my little life that left behind tracks of gratitude and happiness has no unifying thread. There’s a little bit of skateboarding, some geese honking and some Bob Dylan listening. So, yes, a Bob Dylan Alert has been issued for this episode of the podcast*.

Skateboard – this one’s about the teacher
Sound – it’s a good time of year in Edmonton to have your ears on
Cabin door – see * above

The podcast music is original. It comes from Brendan McGrath. This week, there’s a few bars of original music from Michael Kubish. Musicians, what would we do without them?

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Go, Jays, go.

In 2023.

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Hello from Edmonton, and thanks for sharing a bit of your time with the Three Things podcast. Once a week, on a hunch, I put the podcast together. The hunch is that by kinda forcing myself to make note of the things that make me happy and grateful, I will find it easier to notice more of what is waiting to be noticed. On the model of the Oscar Peterson statue in Ottawa. The music is always playing. You just have to wait for the sound of the traffic to die down to hear it. This week:

That delicious moon – the night the Perogy Moon visited Edmonton
Mavericks – the night a really good band visited Edmonton
Lotería – the day in México I found my heart

The music in the podcast is original. It is the work of Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Go, Blue Jays!

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Hello, and thanks for dropping the Three Things podcast, the wrap-up episode from my eye- and heart-opening trip to México. The podcast is my way of keeping some kind of record of things I notice that I’m happy and grateful for. This week:

The oilers – the three hours we spent with the virgin at a farm outside San Miguel de Allende was an answer to a prayer.
Viva México – it’s an emotional place, México.
Art – it was everywhere, basically, from the gutter to the galleries.

Speaking of art, the original music in the podcast is from the Edmonton artist Brendan McGrath, as are the end bells, the weekly gift of the Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Back to Edmonton next week, y’all.

Take care.

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Hello, buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas noches from our temporary vacation hideout in México, the holiday that Covid couldn’t cancel twice. I have stopped flinching at the sound of daytime fireworks. I am getting used to the place. In the podcast, I try to notice what I notice makes me happy or grateful, in case I have to retrace my steps. This week: 1. Seasons in the sol – or, gracias, Terry Jacks! 2. Life on the road – would you believe a tomb shaped like a giant sombrero with a trailing ceramic serrape? 3. Outside the box – still the super middleweight champion of the world, and a good translator at breakfast…. The music in the podcast is original. It comes from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. Four of the five end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech, and the fifth comes from the Church of San Miguel Arcángel in San Miguel de Allende, a city where Slavo should set up shop. This is an emotional place. I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com Viva México!

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From our little patch of planet Earth here in Parkview in west Edmonton, hello! and thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. I am trying to build up a pile of things I noticed I noticed made me feel happy or grateful that gives me a place to stand to see a bigger picture. This week:

Flash of time – I was 14 when I took a picture of the Queen. I’m 58 now, and still have it nearby.
Balls of fun – So, a guy walks out of the trees at Victoria golf course…
Good ears – A short story in green and gold from the University Farm.

My favourite part of the podcast is Brendan McGrath’s original music. Talk about a good ear. As always, Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech contributes the end bells.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, and thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. It’s where once a week I try to stop, notice, notice I’m noticing, remember I noticed and then put down three things I noticed made me happy or grateful. This week’s haul: This time of year - I do love being alive in September, gotta say. 1. Tracks - Trains, train songs, Willie, etc. 2. Sky - It’s up there with the things I seem to keep forgetting. 3. The music in the podcast is original. It’s from the original Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech. I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Happy end of the week, friends, and thanks for stopping by the Three Things podcast. Isbell has a line in 24 Frames. What happened to the part of me, the singer sings, that noticed every changing wind? There was a time when I would have heard that line and focussed on the wind. Those were different days. Now, I notice that Isbell testifies that there is part of him that brings what is out in. It is a registering part, a recording studio of some kind. To keep my own noticing equipment from being mothballed, I try to notice three things each week that left behind some happiness or gratitude. This week, a story in three parts:

Freedom 55 – how my Physics 10 mark was a big deal.
Equations – the enduring appeal of physics
Homework – a passing thought on displacement

The music in the podcast is original. It is the work of Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The Hephaestus of Edmonton, the metal artist Slavo Cech, again contributed the end bells.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

v = Δs/Δt

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Happy end of the week, y'all. Hello from my little corner of the big picture. Each week, I try to slow down, remember three things that made me happy or grateful, put them down and send them out there on their own. Thanks for listening. This week’s three:

Cutlery – Shelagh called to mind a fragile memory.
Habitat – “Grid happens” came back to mind.
Lost and found – A misplaced item was replaced.

The music in the podcast is as original as its maker, Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Have a good week noticing what you notice.

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Happy summer from my little patch of Edmonton. It’s been decades since, as a student, I was imprinted with the rhythm of the school year, but September is still back-to-school time, July and August are still summer holidays, summer holidays are still about reading books. And reading is still about great sentences. The Summer Reading episode of the Three Things podcast presents three great sentences from the life sentence collection.

One from Bob Dylan.

One from Maya Angelou.

One from Daniel Behrman.

The music in the podcast is original. It was authored by Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks so much for dropping by the Three Things podcast. Each week from my basement hideout in west Edmonton, I put together an unremarkable list of the three things I noticed I noticed that left behind some happiness or gratitude. It’s a way to keep noticing those things. Kinda circular.

This week’s list:

Sounding familiar - Hear ye, hear ye! The Edmonton Folk Music Festival is back. The sounds of the professionals were, as always, wonderful. But there were other welcome notes, too.
Segments – I am still trying to piece together where my thoughts went at a construction site. .
Whales – After a few days in the sun at the Folk Fest, you start seeing things!

The music in the podcast is original. It comes from the composing heart and mind and the piano-playing hands of Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal sculptor and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Boom.

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast, which, I hope, is still what it started out as—a way of keeping some kind of record of little things that left behind traces of happiness or gratitude as they passed me by. This week those three things were:

Flowers – Good things can happen when you stop to look at flowers.
Documentaries – Behind the making of a summer bicycle short.
Timelines – A reflection on rain in the gutter.

The podcast is set to original music by Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are the gift of metal artist and sculptor Slavo Cech.

This week’s take-home assignment is: https://www.nfb.ca/film/60_cycles_en/

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

If you’re in Edmonton through Sunday, see you on the hill.

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Thanks for stopping by the Three Things podcast, coming at you from our little bungalow in west Edmonton. The little idea of the podcast is to notice, remember and record three things that made for some happiness or gratitude. So that not all my noticing is done for me. This week:

Big world – the Pope’s plane arrived with some new thoughts
Tracking shot – sharing vacation photos can take you places
Transfers – of buses and transfers and Joni

The music in the podcast is original. It was composed and performed by pianist Brendan McGrath. The peal of the end bells is, as always, performed by Slavo Cech, sculptor, humanitarian.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, welcome, and thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. It’s nice to have you here. The idea of the podcast is to keep me, keep us, in the habit of noticing what we notice. Each week I try to notice, remember and then put down three things from my little life that left a residue of happiness and gratitude. This week:

Local news – I didn’t know cicadas are in Edmonton. I thank Taproot Edmonton and reporter Brett McKay for breaking this news for me.
New old road – I didn’t know that piece of 142 Street existed. I thank my friend Dub and Google Maps for the revelation.
Notes of appreciation – I didn’t know how much I appreciated the backyard tomatoes. And, so, deep thanks to water.

The music in the podcast is original. It comes from Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells toll every week thanks to Brother Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com. I love to hear what you’re noticing.

See you out there.

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Thanks for stopping by the Three Things podcast. Once a week for the last 78, I’ve tried to notice a few things I’ve noticed that made for some happiness or gratitude. This week:

Breaking news – a shattered light bulb threw some things into relief
Squirrels – a short defence of the disparaged rodent
Honeybees – a wild scene downtown

Here is the script and some photos.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

The podcast music is original. It comes from the composing heart and piano-playing hands of Edmonton’s Brendan McGrath. The end bells, as always, are the sonic gift of Slavo Cech the Hephaistos of this city.

Peace.

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Thanks for checking Three Things, which drops once a week from the podcast’s palatial main studios in west Edmonton. The idea is to get into the habit of noticing what I notice makes me feel happy or grateful. This week:

The pelicans – they’re back! Their fronts! Their gullets!
Floor wax – how a buddy who wasn’t there got me out of a bad place
Kite tails – one in France, especially.

The original music in the podcast is the work of Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy metal artist and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

🇫🇷

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Thanks for checking out the Three Things podcast. It’s where each week I try to notice, remember and then make note of three things from my little life that made me happy or grateful. This week:

Stopping - it’s what a bike in the city is for!
Skin in the game - my mid-life discovery of my own legs
New old stories - why Auntie Shelagh was, as a little girl, bathed in the sink

The podcast music is the original work of Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal sculptor and humanitarian, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Peace.

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Welcome to the Three Things podcast where I try to notice what I notice that makes me happy or grateful. It’s an exercise in protecting the noticing equipment we all have, and that others want. Little things, like, this week:

Taking readings — a trip from the mailbox to the container garden
Game in the skin — my temporary tattoos are back
Introducing…a little fellow in our life

The podcast music is original, composed, arranged and performed by Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech, fellow Class of ‘82 grad, O’Leary High, artist and humanitarian.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Peace.

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Thanks for stopping by the weekly Three Things podcast. The idea here is to cling to what I notice I notice so that I don’t revert to host shell of a body filled by what others notice. It’s not expensive. No membership fees. This week:

Pop music – Da Doo Ron Ron ran away with my week.
Pillows – some bedroom talk for y’all.
Puddles – it can be surreal out there!

The podcast theme music is original. It’s from the talented Edmonton pianist and composer and record-store-bargain-hunter Brendan McGrath. The sleep music is from Neutrin05. The end bells are from the Hephaistos of Edmonton, Slavo Cech. .

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Take care.

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Thanks for checking out the Three Things podcast, which returned this week to its recording headquarters in the basement of our house in Parkview in Edmonton’s west end after the week Auntie Shelagh and I spent in the American west (or was it the southwest? or midwest? or the south? what is Oklahoma?)

This week’s three things came back with me from our visit to the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa.

Making an entrance – 10 steps inside the Center door and you’re in the centre of it all.
Fellow travellers – Reading the signs at the Bob Dylan Center
Taps – A good reminder from the Center’s executive director.

The music in the podcast is from the creative Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, metal sculptor Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, y’all. This week’s podcast comes to you from the 21 ½ Boutique Hotel on Reconciliation Way in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We are holidaying with great friends Dave and Patty, who live and teach here. Three things this week that delivered some happiness or gratitude are:

Maintenance – I should make maintenance more of a thing.
Manuscripts – Some thoughts after some time with Bob Dylan.
Your captain speaking – Some advice from our pilot on the flight from Dallas to Tulsa

The podcast music is original. It comes from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Peace.

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast. If you’re returning, thanks for returning. If you’re checking it out for the first time, welcome. The idea behind the pod is to do three things once a week: notice what I notice that makes me happy or grateful, remember it, record it. None of it is meant to be groundbreaking. More holding my ground, actually. There is more than enough money and power out there aimed at making me notice what they notice.

This week:

Fried eggs – I followed a recipe in the New York Times that took me places.
What the actual puck?! - Connor McDavid made a move with the puck that is worth thinking more about.
Solitaire - My grandmother played the game. She cheated a bit.

The music in the podcast is original. Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath composed it. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal artist Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@edmonton.com

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Thanks for checking out this week’s Three Things podcast. The idea behind the pod is straightforward and personal and transferable. Do a better job of noticing the things I notice that make me feel happy or grateful. Remember them. Write them down. A couple weeks of Covid have meant life has been pretty slow here. Lots of sleep. Lots of TV. Same thing sometimes. I am grateful for getting to watch Connor McDavid when he’s in full flight. Like in the Game 7 win against the L.A. Kings that delivered:

The pass
The goal
The pic

I don’t have a good feeling against the Flames. I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Happy May long weekend!

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Thanks for stopping by my little podcast. In an effort to not get swept along by the tides, I try to do a better job noticing some of the things I notice from my life. It’s the only one I’ve got. Three things from it this week:

Away – My friend Richie got my thinking about vacations.
Debate club – Lay the tie around your neck with the wide end hanging 12 inches lower than the narrow end. Then cross the wide end over the narrow end…
Over the hill – Sometimes a stranger has the goods on you.

The music in the podcast is original. It’s from the piano of Edmonton composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells, as always, are courtesy Edmonton metal sculptor and humanitarian Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Peace to the people of Ukraine.

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Thanks for spending a bit of your time with me in the Three Things podcast. I find it helpful, as a counterweight to all of the crap that the algorithm would have me notice, to try to notice what I notice for myself, especially things that make me happy or thankful, even if they are small things. Especially if they are small things. This week:

Airshow – the moment a dying tree came to life In time - a tuba and a trombone where I didn’t expect to find them All aboard! - any time is train time. And, apparently, winter time

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com if you want to toss any bricks or bouquets. Enjoy your time out there.

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. The original music is by Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy one of the greatest metal artists in the O’Leary High School graduating class of 1982, Slavo Cech. The rest of the podcast recasts three things from my little life that delivered some happiness or gratitude last week.

Jazz - you find it in bike shops, too.
First person plural - some thoughts about that most penetrating of questions, Where are we, Lionel?
Twitter verse - how did a poem come to be written about a bike crash that didn’t happen? There is an answer.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Have a good day.

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast from Edmonton. I try to follow Dylan when he says not to trust him, but, rather, to trust yourself. The podcast is an experiment in noticing what I notice. Not big things. Things like, this week:

Bubbles - the day a desperado and his sister opened fire
Puddles - one particular puddle on the bridge over the MacKinnon Ravine
Cubby holes - you know, those square-cut holes in schoolyard fences

The music in the podcast is my favourite thing. It’s performed by Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, the infernally talented Slavo Cech.

I am glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Happy Passover, Happy Easter, Happy Holidays.

Blog, transcript, pics, vid.

Peace in Ukraine.

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Thank you for stopping by the Three Things podcast. And, now, a word from Hannah Arendt:

“Since the decay of their once great and glorious public realm, the French have become masters in the art of being happy among ‘small things,’ within the space of their own four walls, between chest and bed, table and chair, dog and cat and flowerpot, extending to these things a care and tenderness which, in a world where rapid industrialization constantly kills of the things of yesterday to produce today’s objects, may even appear to be the world’s last, purely humane corner.”

This week’s three things:

Lottery – in the beginning was the Wordle.
Long Covid walk – 14,000 steps returned me to an old companion.
Final word – good obits deliver life sentences

The music in the podcast is original, the work of Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal sculptor Slavo Cech.

Blogs/pics/transcript

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for spending a few of your minutes with the Three Things podcast. Each week I try to notice things I notice from my little life that made for some happiness and gratitude. To stay in that key. I feel sometimes that so much is subtly noticed for me. I want to protect my point of view.

This week’s list:

Help from above – how a new, composite being kept the game going
Here and there – musings from the airport
Help from below – how a new transplant kept the game growing

My favourite part of each episode is the music. It is original, it comes from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath, whose 4 Improvisations is #2 on CJSR Radio’s Top 30 Chart. The end bells are courtesy of Slavo Cech, who remains #1 on the list of Edmonton metal artists who graduated from O’Leary High School in 1982.

Blog/transcript/pics

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Thanks for stopping by the Three Things podcast. Each week I try to protect a little bit of space from which to notice what I notice about the things that go by, things that, to boot, make me feel happy and grateful. This week’s list:

Eyes and ears – two friends took their noticing equipment to the people
Arms and legs – my bicycle helps me put some shape to things
Hands and feet – “15-2, 15-4 and the rest don’t score…”

The music in the podcast is original. It comes from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, the metal artist Slavo Cech.

Pics/transcript/blog

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, welcome to the Three Things podcast. Somewhere along the line, maybe while staring out the window on an LRT ride back to Belvedere Station as a university student, I decided it was good work to try to notice something for myself and try to write a sentence about it. I’m still that kid. And these are still trying times.

This week, the three things that brought some happiness and gratitude were:

Jars – they hold more than jellied chicken.
Curling - I don’t understand it. It doesn’t matter.
Canadas - just a heads up that they’re on their way back, baby.

Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath supplies the music in the podcast. Edmonton metal artist, sculptor and humanitarian Slavo Cech supplies the end bells.

Blog/pics/transcript here soon.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

🇺🇦

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It’s probably the truth that there’s something wrong with you if there’s nothing wrong with you these days. This little podcast’s aim of making stand still each week three things that made me happy or grateful means only that, as Craig Finn has said, there’s comfort in the ritual. Nothing more, but nothing less, too. And, so, this week:

A proposal – it was windy on that walk
Outdoor movies – admit one, no charge
Slightly unzipped – why does the universe participate in trying to humiliate me? Oh, it doesn’t?

The music in the podcast is from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath,. The end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, Slavo Cech.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Blog/transcript/pics

🇺🇦

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Welcome to the Three Things podcast. Thanks for dropping by for a listen. I feel that if I don’t make the effort to realize, remember and record three things that made me feel happy or grateful each week, I will end up noticing only what the algorithm wants me to notice. That won’t end well.

This week’s three things:

Evolution - I’ve been walking upright a lot lately.
Banner Day - It will be great day, even though I won’t be able to race a canoe down an icy hill.
Art of Spring - A bit of Picasso in the MacKinnon Ravine.

The podcast music is original, the work of Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are pealed by the brilliant Edmonton metal artist, Slavo Cech.

Transcript/blog/pics here soon.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Take care. 🌱

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Welcome to the Three Things podcast. Unhappy end of the week, friends. It feels silly to fiddle around with three little things that made me feel happy or grateful this week. But I am grateful for my little life, and I hope it stays little. This week’s list is shared in the full knowledge of the fear and despair felt by those whose everyday lives are being shredded by the machines of war. It is so wrong.

This week I am grateful for friends who show up at the front door. And for invisible coffee mates. And for a Canadian curler and the shooter who captured him.

The music in the podcast is original. It’s from Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy an Edmonton original, Slavo Cech.

Blog/pics/transcript.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Welcome to the Three Things podcast. This is where the three episodes or events or conversations (or emails) from the past week that made me happy or grateful get framed. Frames do good work. This week’s crop of good things from my little life are:

Showtime - what goes into one of Battista’s calzones?
Story time - what goes into a short, sidewalk story?
Freeze frame - what goes into a photograph, or a cupboard, or a photo of a cupboard?

I enjoy hearing from you. Throw your bouquets (or bricks) at me at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

The podcast music is by Brendan McGrath. Dude can play.

The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech. Dude can forge.

Pics/words/transcript here soon-ish.

Peace to all.

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Hello and thanks for checking out this week’s podcast. 57 episodes ago I started the podcast out of equal parts fear and gratitude. I was afraid the stuff I was noticing was the stuff the powerful—algorithms or people—wanted me to notice. At the same time I sensed I was not living as if all of this was a gift, which is the best explanation for all of this that I have come across. So, I tried to notice the things and people in my life and be more thankful for them. Not because there isn’t other junk to notice out there, but because some of my attention has to be saved for things like, this week:

Fish – the aquarium at a west end library plunged me into thought
Farewell - some parting words as a good friend leaves Facebook
Food - why we go to our go-to restaurant

Dig it: the music in the podcast is original. It’s from the brilliant Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metal artist Slavo Cech.

Blog/words/pics here soon-ish.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Peace.

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Thanks for stopping by the Three Things podcast. It’s a short recap of a few big things from my little life that made me happy or grateful. This week:

Sign of summer - a sign that took me back, and, fingers crossed, ahead.
Bill of goods - my friend Bill Gattinger has been dead for almost two years. He was a good guy.
Sign of spring - an exseedingly welcome sight at the neighbourhood grocery store.

Blog/transcript/pics

The music in the podcast is original, the work of the original Edmonton pianist, composer and teacher Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy another Edmonton gem, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Welcome to the Three Things podcast, and thanks for dropping by. The podcast is how I try to notice the things I notice that make me happy or grateful. Not letting those things get away is the whole game. This week we travel via pod to 95th Avenue and 170th Street, to the 1980s, to the Jasper Place Library in Edmonton and to Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. This week’s three things are:

Pop music. With thanks to Kirsty MacColl, Tracy Ullman and Auntie Shelagh.
The book drop. With thanks to the idea of a library in the first place.
Sunrise, sunset. With thanks to Janet for her note(s).

The music in the podcast is by Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. His brother, Eamon, has a new album out. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech, whose father recently turned 81.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Blog/transcript/pics

Three Things, episode 55, dropped on Thursday, January 27, 2022, which was International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

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Hello, thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. The one thing I know I can do better, the one thing that's up to me, is to do a better job noticing the things, the little things, especially, that make me happy or grateful—and then noticing that I noticed them. That's what this little podcast is about. I think it's the task we all share. And can share. So, this week, it's:

The good word -- how I've learned not to make my case.
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 27 will get me for as long as I live.
The music file - a friend sent me a kind note last week.

Blog/transcript/pics to be posted soon.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

The best part of the podcast is the original music from the original Brendan McGrath. Check him out. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of Edmonton. Portion of Dippin', by Lloyd Lewis, used with permission. Real life sound from the lovely and Auntie Shelagh, not so much.

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. It’s nice to have you here. It so is.

This is where I try to do the three things you have to do to keep memories alive. Make them. Remember them. Write them down. This week:

Showing your routes - a bit involved, but a tribute to newspaper reporters who keep our attention, and don’t assume we’ll just stop reading.
Showing your roots - thank you Jared Quinney and your trees.
Mailing it in - a stamp of approval for the posted letter.

The music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. Get to know him! The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of Edmonton.

Throw your bricks or bouquets at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Blog/transcript/pics.

Peace to all.

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Hello, thanks for spending some time with the Three Things podcast, Happy New Year!

This new episode, the first of 2022, drops into a time that does not feel very new. The pandemic is still with us. Uncertainty of all kinds still plague us. Democracy still feels under attack. And so on. Why add into the mix three puny things that make me happy or grateful?

Good question.

I was unexpectedly asked a version of it today in a medical centre waiting room (more details in the pod about why I was there) by a fellow sufferer. "You seem jolly and pleasant, how do you stay that way?" he said. I didn’t see that coming. I thought about it for a second. I came up with three things. I eat healthy food (thank you Auntie Shelagh), I sleep not great but okay, and I try to notice the things that make me happy and grateful. He was then called in for his MRI. I won’t see him again. I will see him always.

So, why add into the mix three puny things that make me happy and grateful? Because they help me give an account of myself? Because they’re not puny? Because we need words more than ever?

This week’s three things:

Cemeteries
Trains, and Chekhov
Infrastructure (aka my neck), Arendt, Dylan

The music in the podcast is original, from the original composer and pianist Brendan McGrath. Each week I am grateful he replied to my text. The end bells were recorded live by Edmonton metal artist Slavo Cech. I am grateful the cleavages of international politics deposited Slavo in north Edmonton, where we met in high school.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

I’ll add the transcript/blog post as soon as I can.

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Happy New Year from everyone at the Three Things podcast! This is where once a week I break down three things that made me happy or grateful. It’s good exercise. They’re mostly little things, like toys.

Toys that contain childhood
Toys that save memories
Toys that excavate the past

The real playing in the podcast’s original music is from pianist and composer Brendan McGrath of Edmonton. The end bells are courtesy metal artist and philanthropist Slavo Cech.

Blog, transcript, pics.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

🥂

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Thanks very much for stopping by the Three Things podcast. Episode 50. 🥂

Each week for five minutes or so I try to notice three things that made me happy or grateful. Not that there aren’t other takes on our predicament that are more profound and more needful. There so are, and we should listen. But there other things, little things, too:

Sardines
Ribs
End credits

The music on the podcast is original, the work of Edmonton composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Edmonton metals artist, and O’Leary High School Class of ‘82 grad, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Peace to all.

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. Once a week here I try to notice three things that made me feel happy or grateful, things I noticed I noticed, so the shabby noticing equipment doesn’t completely rust over. This week, let’s hear it for

Spruce trees (take a bough)
Editors
Crokinole

Or:

🌲🌲
📰 👀
🟤 💨 ⚪👌

The music in the podcast is from Edmonton composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech, “the guy who puts art in the woods, right?" according to Auntie Shelagh’s California-based niece, Janet.

Blog, transcript, pics.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Happy holidays! Merry Christmas!

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Hello, happy holidays and thanks for stopping by the Three Things podcast. I remember the Humanities Building on the University of Alberta campus and what Professor Bishop told us there in English 309 on those mornings long ago: go out and notice things and write them down. This week the three things I noticed that made me happy or grateful were one thing in three stanzas.

A quiet house - it’s back to an oral world when the battery is dead
The Singer’s House - one of my fave poems from Seamus Heaney
A neighbour’s house - or, how a poem came to life.

Speaking of the origin of things musical, the podcast music, from the original Brendan McGrath, is original. The podcast end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, the original Slavo Cech.

I hope you find your favourite sounds, or, better yet, they you.

Blog/transcript.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, and thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. This is where, once a week, I try to notice three things from my life that made me feel happy or grateful, so, the algorithm gets a day off. Things like, this week:

Tail lights: Battery-operated gloves. The dishwasher at night. A highway through the Rockies. The connection.
First Aid: I learned that you learn First Aid to apply knowledge as much as bandages and gauze.
Let it bean: The Beatles documentary, a phone call from Manhattan, soup from Lynnwood. The connection.

The music in the podcast is original. It’s from the overflowing talent that is Edmonton pianist and composer Brendan McGrath. Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of Edmonton, chipped in with the end bells, as usual.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Blog post.

Happy holidays.

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Hello, thanks for checking out the Three Things podcast. This is where at each week’s end I look back at three things from my own little life that I noticed I noticed made me happy or grateful. To take a little noticing work off the shoulders of the algorithm. This week:

Minding the gap 📡 👼 So, we’re not angels!
Talking the talk ☕ 💬 Stopping for coffee v. Going for coffee
Reading the room 👻 🔖 The joy of reading alone—sort of.

The original music in the podcast is from an Edmonton original, Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of Edmonton.

Blog

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Have a good week, friends.

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Hello, and welcome to the Three Things podcast. This is where I try to make a record ("Hope you're keeping some kind of record." - L. Cohen) of little things I noticed that I noticed that made me happy or grateful. Not big things, not things that make like there's nothing wrong out there, just things to keep my own noticing mechanism working. Not the algorithm's.

This week's Three Things:

Frazil ice - it's a gorgeous piece of living on latitude 53 this time of year
My feet - that pair, plus the poetic versions
A spectacle - Commonwealth Stadium in the north end cold for the victory against México!

The original music in the podcast is from an Edmonton original, Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of this city.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Three Things blog.

Stay warm, take care.

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Hello, and thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. Each week I try to notice three things I noticed, things that made me happy or grateful. Not because it's blue-sky perfect out there. Not a chance. I had just started to notice that I wasn't doing enough of my own noticing. That vital power was being usurped by the algorithm, by politicians, by those up the food chain.

So, it's not that each week's three things are momentous noticings. But they're mine. Or mostly mine. Or somewhat mine. This week:

Reliable sources - I went riding with Hogey and was struck by his mental recall equipment.
Magpie culpa - Magpies and me. It's complicated.
Darkness - It's that time of the year in Edmonton, again.

The original music in the podcast is from the original Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of Edmonton.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. Once again, it's a 5-minute+ look and listen back at three things I noticed that I noticed that made me happy or grateful. A bit of resistance against all the technology that would do my noticing for me, and then sell it on the market.

Things like:

Healthy injection - 60 remarkable seconds during a World Series broadcast
Sophie - Last time it was cucumbers. This time, we talked beets.
Jack (Frost) of Diamonds - A chance encounter with the poet in an empty field in southwest Edmonton.

The truly original part of the podcast is the music of the truly original Brendan McGrath. As alway, the closing end notes are provided by Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of Edmonton. Ye, forge he's a jolly good fellow.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Blog.

Historica Canada’s new Heritage Minute: The Discovery of Insulin

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Hello, and thanks for stopping by the Three Things podcast. I am still under the directions of my undergraduate expository writing prof, Ted Bishop, who would send us out of the classroom to notice things. Record them. Consider them. It's always felt like freedom to me.

This week's Three Things:

Tree of life - reliably, there's a tree full of birds just off the 102 Avenue bike lane in Edmonton, near 121 Street.
Water bottle music - I happened to see something on my bike that isn't really there, but either are the coyotes I saw on Ravine Drive.
Instant replay -- I am trying to apply the visual grammar of the televised World Series to my little life here and there.

The original music from the podcast is from an Edmonton original, Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the sculptor Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of Edmonton.

I'm at glenn.kubish@edmonton.ca

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Hello, and thanks very much for dropping by the Three Things podcast.

Each week I try to notice and make stand still three things that I noticed made me feel happy or grateful. Because...because the option is obliteration by algorithm.

This week:

Hauling dolly - the question was how to get the dolly downtown.
Auntie Shelagh with a knife in the kitchen - a tribute to the love cooked up at our place.
La bella luna - watching the moon from the MacKinnon Ravine bridge.

The music in the podcast is original. It's from Edmonton composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, the large-hearted Slavo Cech.

Take care.

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Hello, thanks for stopping by the Three Things podcast. The podcast is an experiment in the discipline of noticing things by myself. The algorithm wants me to notice things. Politicians and advertisers and marketers, too. I want to try to secure, in my way, the bastion of sensation, as Heaney puts it. And, if I can, notice what I notice makes me happy or grateful, just to, in a little way, confound the merchants of anger and outrage.

This week:

Instrument light rules -- getting going at this time of year up here means we're left to our own devices
Popcorn - my love of popcorn goes way back
Artifice - I've been thinking about how we talk about nature

The podcast's original music is by Edmonton composer and pianist and chill dude Brendan McGrath.

Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of Edmonton, provides the end bells.

Blog.

Throw your brick or bouquets at me, glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Take care.

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Thanks for stopping by the Three Things podcast.

Here's my bet, and maybe it's a long shot, but if I can do a better job noticing what I notice that makes me happy and grateful each week, and then say those things out loud, that won't be a waste of time.

This week's Three Things:

Firestarter - A found lighter triggered a the memory of an illuminating conversation.
Tomatology - I'm not alone.
Family - Tweetin' with Lyle Lovett.

The original music in the podcast is from Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, Slavo Cech.

Blog.

Take care.

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Welcome to the Three Things podcast. It's my attempt to make stand still each week three things I noticed I noticed made me happy or grateful. This week:

Autumn magic - it's time to thank the people who plan parks.
Baseball errors - oops, whaat?, that didn't happen, did you see that?!
Delivery day - new book day is still special.

The podcast's original music is from the mind of Brendan McGrath. The end bells are from the forge of Slavo Cech, Edmonton's Hephaistos.

Blog.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com.

Peace.

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Hey, thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. I use it to gently force myself to do a better job noticing the things I notice that make me feel a bit happy or a bit grateful these days. Because, these days.

This week:

Snap! We lost a big tree in the front yard.
Crackle! I got lost looking into the flames.
Pop! A container of memories found me.

The music in the podcast is original. From the original Edmonton pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, Slavo Cech.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com if you want to toss bricks or bouquets.

Transcript/blog post.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast. 🙏

Each week I try to make stand still three little things from my little life that made me feel happy or grateful.

Things I noticed I noticed to counter the algorithm and the algorithm politicians; things that made my happy or grateful to counter the cruelty and meanness around the table.

This week:

A gift of coffee - an unexpected what-happened-next to a throwaway question.
A Mandelstam reading - my friend Brian was kind enough to share his voice.
Tomatoes - the garden is talking to me again.

The music in the podcast is original. It's from the original Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Blog with transcript and pics.

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This week's Three Things is a bit different.

Those who know me know I am fascinated by graveyards. I'm no fan of death, no fan of dying, but I do enjoy a good cemetery.

Because:

They're like stamp albums.
You find interesting people there.
Puns happen there.

Thanks for dropping by and giving this week's episode a listen.

The podcast's original music is by Edmonton composer Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com if you want to toss bricks or bouquets!

Transcript in blog: https://glennkubish.blogspot.com/2021/09/three-things-from-edmonton-podcast_10.html

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🚨 Understatement Alert: These are strange and troubling times.

I find it helpful to go small, and, while not ignoring the latest giant outrages, and reacting to them, I try, too, to notice what I notice that makes me happy or grateful. To secure the bastion of sensation, as Heaney might say. It might be the only way to preserve myself.

Thanks for stopping by the Three Thing podcast. This week’s three things:

Fashion statements -- listening to the sisters.
Autumn leaves -- five fall leaves, no, four.
Single track mind -- listening to The Raven and Silver Fox.

The music is original. It's from the mind of Edmonton pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the artist Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of Edmonton. Thanks to John for quick use of a recording device to capture the sisters. :)

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Hello, and thanks for stopping by the Three Thing podcast. I try once a week to notice without the help of advertisers or algorithms three things that made me happy or grateful. This week:

Life & Death valley -- The MacKinnon Ravine is a place to stop and read the plaques.
Casting a spell? -- Some second thoughts about a piece of campaign literature.
Venn diagrams -- The real life version, that is.

As always, the music is the best part of the podcast. It's from Edmonton pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy of Edmonton's Hephaistos, the sculptor in whom the forge remains strong, Slavo Cech.

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Thanks for dropping by the Three Things podcast and considering the donation of 5 minutes and 5 seconds of your time. Each end of the week here, I look back and try to make stand still three things I noticed I noticed last week. Not mind-blowing or life-altering things. Just things that I noticed; that is, things that weren't noticed for me.

This week, these are the kind of things I mean. It's a bit all over the map.

Sibilance -- I listened to the second verse of a new Killers song over and over again. And again. And over again.
Hopping a fence -- We used to be so good at getting over fences. I remembered those days.
Flossing my teeth -- Flossing. Dig it.

The music in the podcast is original. It comes from Edmonton pianist Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy metal sculptor and all-round-Hephasitos-kind-of-guy, Slavo Cech. Shelagh Kubish appears in character as Auntie Shelagh.

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Thanks so much for dropping by the Three Things podcast. I wanted to find a podcast that celebrated the small things we notice that make us happy or grateful. So, I made my own. Which is kinda the point. What we give our attention to, what we notice, that's the whole game.

This week:

Bon Ton mots - I noticed something different at my fave bakery last week
A sign of laughter - More proof that words are forces unto themselves.
Writing out the storm - What to do when you're left to your own devices in a summer storm.

So, as you can see, these are not groundbreaking noticings. They're just mine, and they rely on a lot of good brought into the world by others.

The original music is by the original Brendan McGrath of Edmonton. The end bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, Slavo Cech.

Have a good end to the week, y'all.

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Thanks for checking out the Three Things podcast. It's where I share things I noticed that I noticed, things that made me feel happy or grateful, things like:

A musical email composed by a brother-in-law
Some confusion about what was real and what was a dream
Coffee outside as a movement against social isolation

The main music in the podcast is from Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy the sculptor Slavo Cech.

(I still can't believe I dreamed I fell off a bridge and then, when I could first fall off a bridge in real life, I fell off a bridge in real life. See #2 above. So strange.)

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com when I am not falling off bridges.

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Thanks for listening to the Three Things podcast. Each week, I try to notice the things I am noticing, especially the things that make me happy or grateful. So many people and algorithms want to do my noticing for me. This is a bit of resistance, and it's open to all of us.

This week, those three things are:

A play by Sophocles set in a garage in Parkview. Ours.
The sky. It's good when it makes itself felt.
Cucumbers and crocodiles and Sophie from Spedden.

I remain grateful to and in awe of the talent of Edmonton pianist Brendan McGrath, whose music is the best thing about the podcast!

End bells are courtesy the Hephaistos of Edmonton, the metal sculptor Slavo Cech (O'Leary High School, 1982).

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Hope you're keeping some kind of record, said L. Cohen. And, so, once a week I spend five minutes or so keeping track of three things I noticed that made me happy or grateful. Not big things, not things in the news, just things from my little life seen from whatever point of view I am able to hang onto.

The happy couple - Michael and Aleasha are married
Resilience - Professor McIntosh shares a lesson
Shadow Kingdom - Dylan checks in from somewhere beyond

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Music is by Brendan McGrath. End bells are courtesy Slavo Cech.

Thanks for listening.

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Happy end o' the week, friends! I try, each week, to notice three things that made me happy or grateful. So, there's someone other than the algorithms doing the noticing.

This week:

Dough - making bread will be a habit that outlives the pandemic.
Deer - we saw each other last week.
Two pioneers - Bergie and Morton on their bicycles.

Thanks for listening.

Original podcast music by Brendan McGrath. End bells courtesy Slavo Cech, the Hephaistos of Edmonton.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Peace.

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Each end of the week, I try to save a little of my attention for the little things I notice that make my feel happy or grateful. There's not business model there. Which is kinda the point. :)

This week, these three things stuck:

Tomatoes
Rain, finally
France on stage

Thank you for listening.

The original music is d'après Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Peace.

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Thanks for dropping into the Three Things podcast! I am now 25 episodes into a weekly experiment to notice three things that make me feel happy or grateful. Not big things. Just things that I noticed from my little life in my little part of Edmonton where there is a lot to notice. This week: 1. An inflated bicycle tire that gave me a perspective on problem solving. 2. The public music of a spray park. 3. Moving slower, seeing differently on a bike. It is hot in Edmonton this week. Maybe the hottest ever. Just not as hot as the piano music on the podcast from Brendan McGrath. End bells courtesy Slavo Cech. I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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Welcome to the Three Things podcast. Each week, in a quick pod, I think out loud about three things that made me happy or grateful.

Little things, usually. Things that I notice I notice. Like, this week:

Little trees—It took us awhile to plant those seedlings. A more than 20-years awhile.
Atari Pong—The game from 1973 reappeared in downtown Edmonton in 2021. Here's my hack animation of the Pong Building.
Philosopher-mechanic—Kevin at Redbike knows his stuff.

Thanks for giving it a listen. Have a good weekend.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

The original music is from Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech.

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Each week, from the collection of the little things that happen in my little life, in a little part of Edmonton, I make a little podcast.

This is the Three Things podcast, and this is this week's list:

Crossing paths on a neighbourhood street.
Watching butterflies outside a bakery.
Enjoying live music, finally.

Thanks for checking it out. Means a lot to me.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

The music is the best part of the pod. It is the work of Brendan McGrath. The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech. We went to high school together.

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Summer, even a summer that hints at a return to social-ness, is a season for reading books.

Recently, I caught up with my friend Peggy. She talked books. I listened.

Music by Brendan McGrath. End bells courtesy Slavo Cech.

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Happy end of the week. It was a tough week. As Billy Bragg says, headlines give you headaches when you read 'em.

This little podcast is an attempt to keep my heart open to the little things I notice that make me happy or grateful. While the cardiovascular bombardment continues.

This week those three things are:

Reading tips I get from my friends
Old toys I can't get rid of.
A not-so-healthy glimpse into how someone thinks for me.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com. I blog glennkubish.blogspot.com

The music you hear in the podcast is from Brendan McGrath. The end bells, the signal that the weekend is upon us, and that another week of life is behind us, come from the artist Slavo Cech.

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Thanks so much for giving this little podcast a listen.

The focus on spuds, squirrels and steel doesn't mean very difficult things didn't happen this past week. I am trying to build a habit of noticing what I notice. I notice I notice little things, I suppose.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com.

The podcast music, easiest the best part of the production, is by Brendan McGrath.

The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech. His dad was injured a bit this week. He's getting better. That's great.

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Thanks for listening to my little podcast!

The idea, which I hope becomes a habit, is to notice and name three things that make me happy or grateful each week. Little things from everyday life, like, this week:

Family archives, including a pic of Sinatra.
Watching strangers from a safe distance.
Honouring Bob Dylan @ 80, with a bonus Sweetwater Cafe regret.

Hands down, the best thing about the podcast is the original music by Brendan McGrath.

The end bells are courtesy Slavo Cech.

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Thanks for dropping by the podcast.

I try at the end of each week to make note of three things I noticed that made me happy and grateful. Little stuff from my little life.

This week: harmony while making Spanish rice, the music of a red-winged blackbird, and fireworks where I didn't expect to see them.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Music by Brendan McGrath.

End bells courtesy Slavo Cech.

Blue Rodeo used with permission.

Have a good week, y'all.

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Thank you for listening. It means a lot.

The idea behind this little podcast is kinda simple. I want to do a better job noticing the stuff of my own life. Mundane stuff, like, this week:

Sharks, with a little bit of Rob Ford. 🦈
Phones, with a little bit of poutine. ☎️
Matches, with a little bit of sound. 🔥

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

TheMalibuArtist is at https://www.youtube.com/user/MalibuArtist

Original music by Brendan McGrath.

End bells by the original Slavo Cech.

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Happy end of the week, everyone. Each end of the week I drop three things that made me happy or grateful. Not because the grim out there doesn’t register, but, because, it does.

This week:

The Spelling Bee 🐝
Bicycle gears ⚙️
Eggs 🥚

Thanks for listening.

I’m at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Music by Brendan McGrath 🎹

End bells by Slavo Cech 🔥

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A matinee movie where I didn't expect to watch it...a pair of old shoes nearing their sad end...the making of morning coffee—these were the three things from my mundane life that made me happy and grateful this week. 📽️ 👟🔚 ☕

I am trying to do a better job of noticing things for myself, and noticing that I notice. Otherwise it's more of noticing what powerful people and their algorithms want me to notice.

Thank you for listening, and for your kind words. I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

Music by Brendan McGrath 🎹

End bells by Slavo Cech 🔥

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A sudden connection to Finland...a flashing stop light hand on a street corner in Edmonton...a lost and forgotten and resurfaced photo—these are the three things that made me happy and grateful this week.

Noticing three little things from my own life is the little idea behind this podcast. Doing that every week will, I trust, I hope, protect and grow the little noticing part of me that, I fear, needs some help against all the forces that would be okay doing my noticing for me.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

The end bells are courtesy the Edmonton artist Slavo Cech. I went to high school with him.

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Thanks for listening!

This little podcast is an attempt to take back for myself a little control over what I notice in my life. Each week, I try to notice three things that make me happy or grateful. Not that there isn't a full serving of anger to be consumed. It's just a gut feeling that noticing the little things will add up. Things, this week, like:

🕍 House guests, finally.

✍️ A boy on his bike.

🚰 Open water, finally.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

The bells at the end of each episode are courtesy the artist Slavo Cech.

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I am trying to build a new habit. Each week, I try to notice three things—small, mundane things from my little life—that made me happy or grateful. And say them out loud here.

Not because there isn't more to notice that is heart-breaking or unjust or unfair.

It's more that I feel if I don't notice the stuff of my own life, I am at the whim of whatever algorithm shapes my noticing into outrage and fear.

This week, it's small stuff, friends.

🌉 A bridge

👣 A bit of earth underfoot

😫 A few puns

Thanks for listening.

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

End bells courtesy Slavo Cech

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Happy end of the week, everyone. Thanks for checking out the Three Things podcast. Every week I make a short list of everyday things that made me happy or grateful. And then say it out loud here. Not to not see the other stuff that is wrong or dangerous or heart-breaking. But just to try to keep some control over what I notice. Algorithm of outrage, take that!

This week:

🌖 The moon.

🍤 The seafood.

📫 The gift in the mail.

I am at glenn.kubish@edmonton.ca

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Happy end of the week!

At the end of each week I try to notice, and say out loud, three things from everyday life that made me happy or grateful. So, I get back to doing my own noticing, taking that back from the algorithm. Things like:

The front-yard chickadees
Meeting Hazel
Pasta and teamwork

Thanks for dropping in.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

The end time bells are courtesy Slavo Cech.

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On Fridays I try to stop and make stand still, for a few seconds, three things that made me happy or grateful in the past week.

Not big things. Very not big things, actually.

Like, this week:

The ice.

The bike trails.

The pencils.

It's important for me to say these three things out loud.

So, thanks for listening. :)

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

End bells courtesy Slavo Cech.

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I have found that if I don't try to narrate my own life, somebody else does, and, all of a sudden, I have passionate opinions about the Royal Family, or whatever. :)

So, each week, I try to notice and hold onto three thing that make me happy or grateful. Not to be selfish. Just to notice that I am noticing. Little things.

This week:

Geese
Coffee mugs
Shoelaces

I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

End bells courtesy Slavo Cech.

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Since I started trying to notice and hang onto three things every week that made me happy or grateful, the world has not noticed.

I mean, the world has continued to pump out a glut of things that are wrong, sad and scary. But noticing three other things gives me a beachhead of hope and peace. And it messes with someone's algorithm aimed at keeping me sad, scared and mad.

This week those three things were:

Two Siberian Huskies
A scene in a mountain climbing movie
Bruce Hogle

Thanks for listening.

End bells courtesy Slavo Cech.

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Don't get me wrong. :) The reason I put together a weekly summary of things I am happy and grateful for isn't because I don't see and feel all the other stuff that makes me unhappy. (One too many negatives there?! You know what I mean!) It's more that there seems to be a default position set at anger and outrage that's good for somebody's bottom line, but not mine.

So I am trying to train myself to notice and hold onto three things every week. This week's resistance by listing includes:

Shelagh's laughter
The Mars rover
Saying hello on Earth

Thanks for listening. I am at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

End bells courtesy Slavo Cech.

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It's helpful to try to notice and then try to hang onto some things that make you happy and grateful each week.

This week for me: Masai Ujiri, Richard Ozero, and moose.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

End bells courtesy Slavo Cech.

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Don't get me wrong. There's a lot out there that's not good that needs attention. I just feel I also need to notice and hang onto a few things that make me happy and grateful each week. So that I find a rhythm besides the algorithm. This week: birds, dogs and a Nobel Prize winner.

End bells courtesy Slavo Cech.

I'm at glenn.kubish@gmail.com

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I try to notice and hold onto three things that make me happy and grateful each week. Not because there aren't important things that are bad news that need my attention. That is a pile by itself. I think there are forces and interests whose good is served by my being always in a state of frustration or despair or anger. They don't get me.

Enjoy this week's collection.

End notes courtesy Slavo Cech.

Three Things from Edmonton: Recent Episodes

Glenn Kubish