Erin's Journals

Just a thought… I’m proud to say, we all make each other laugh. In my home, growing up, I learned that from my parents. They made each other laugh to the end, God bless ‘em. How great is that? [Catherine O’Hara 1954-2026]

Note: I had planned to answer a number of queries I’ve received about spending a prolonged period in Mexico – particularly in the Puerto Vallarta area. I have that blog written but it will wait until next Monday, if you don’t mind.

Today I’d like to stay here in my memories of one incredible Canadian woman, and I know you’ll understand.

Many of us are still struggling to make sense of Friday’s news of the passing of Toronto native, Canadian icon and comedic gift to the world, Catherine O’Hara. In leaving us at only 71, we can’t help feel like “Canada’s Mom” had so much more to give, so many more laughs to spark with that incredible imagination, spirit and talent of hers. How tragic for us all, but especially for her family and her close friends and co-workers.

Two other things stood out to me this weekend: it seems that every generation has a different version of the Catherine O’Hara they loved – from SCTV to everything up to and including Schitt’s Creek and, most recently, The Studio with Seth Rogan.

And there is not one person – not a single voice anywhere – who does not say what a fine, kind and generous person she was in real life, whether as a co-worker or someone they met in passing. What a legacy she leaves behind! This year’s Oscars In Memoriam is going to be unbelievably heavy.

Okay, now a confession: I really didn’t give CBC’s Schitt’s Creek (available on CBC Gem) enough of a try, largely because I found Chris Elliott’s character, Roland Schitt, gross and annoying. I’m told you have to stick with it past six or seven episodes, so when I get back to Canada in six weeks, I’m most definitely going to make it my comfort food viewing for 2026. Millions of fans and a near sweep of the comedy Emmys during Covid can’t be wrong. I can, and I know I’ll soon be admitting it.

As for films, the fans of Home Alone 1 and 2 are countless, but my absolutely favourites are any of the collaborations she made with the director Christopher Guest, from A Mighty Wind, to Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman. In so many of the scenes, the unparalleled cast (including Eugene Levy) was just allowed to improvise. And it is gold. Please indulge in these incredible gems.

I lost count of how many times Rob, Lauren and I laughed ourselves to tears while watching these quirky comedies. Lauren even picked up playing the autoharp after A Mighty Wind! We raised our daughter in a house filled with laughter and music, and anything helmed by Christopher Guest and featuring his stellar casts gets a lot of the credit for that. The connection is so strong that, yes, it’s going on 11 years since we could bring ourselves to watch any of them without her.

Rest peacefully, dear Catherine. You gave the world so much but we all got the feeling you were having just as much fun as we were. What a joy you were! I cannot imagine the loss those close to you are feeling, when we who admired you from afar are saddened so.

I leave us all with a prayer on this Groundhog Day: that February in its brevity offers us more grace and kindness than January did. My most fervent wish is for consequences where they are most deserved, and comfort where it’s most needed. We can hope, can’t we?

Just a thought… Gratitude doesn’t mean loving everything. It means recognizing what’s worth holding on to. [Carl Olsen]

What a week it’s been! I won’t even mention the absolute bone rattling cold and deluge of snow that you’ve been going through if you’re reading this in Southern Ontario or parts of the prairies; we do keep up with the weather even though “home” is BC and our current address is near Puerto Vallarta.

I check to see what the grandkids are enduring, and what my sisters see when they look our their windows in the morning. (Is this what it means to be in our sixties? The computer and phone weather apps taking the place of the weather channel that our parents constantly had, or have, on?)

It’s easier to watch the weather these days than the news, you’ll have to admit. Living through it all is painful, with the bright exception of our prime minister’s reception in Davos, Switzerland and his “if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu” speech. In case you haven’t heard yet, only two other speakers have been given the same standing ovation earned by Mark Carney last week: Nelson Mandela and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Some august company, to be sure, no matter what the bots, trolls and US-backed Maple Maga accounts try to say. We have every right to be proud.

It was, as I say, a happy moment in a week that was filled with despair. Another fatality at the cruel hands of ICE in Minneapolis, to name just the worst of the moments, which was then followed by a barrage of government lies making Alex Pretti somehow responsible for his own murder.

For me to be feeling sadness at the departure of my friend from our two week cocoon of closeness feels somehow, not just out of sync with the world, but downright selfish. Yet that’s how I feel as Lisa Brandt prepares to board her flight home to Hamilton after 7 pm today. (As of this writing she’s still due to go; watching the weather has taken on another more urgent purpose the last few days for reasons of her travel.)

But as we walked the dogs under the gentle glow of street lights, a half-moon and distant stars, we talked about how the moments we shared are the ones that we have to dwell on to keep going. To fight the darkness that comes, not from the setting of the sun, but from the destruction of our 250-year old neighbour to the south. Our world is changing and not for the better, but as we lean into the stoicism of changing what we can, we cling to happier memories and hope to make more of them.

And as always, we are grateful – as I am for you coming here today, my friend.

Safe travels, dear Lisa. Along with that suitcase and carry-on we lugged twice across a bridge and ramps to find our ride two weeks ago from the PVR airport, you take with you a piece of my heart, the scent of our dogs and a lot of wonderful moments. May they keep you warm as you step out of the airport in Hamilton and wave down a taxi, your blue words hanging frozen in the night air. And may the gods of travel shine down upon you, as the gods of friendship have for me.

Just a thought… Be the woman who fixes another woman’s crown without telling her it was crooked. [Amy Morin]

There aren’t many people to whom you can write a text asking, “Is this an okay time for a trauma dump?” and get an “Absolutely!” in response. Today I’m calling a ride to take me to the airport where I’ll wait for that person to come out of the long lines and crowded terminal. And there will be a big, big hug, right there in front of everyone. No trauma, unless it’s on her end, which it shouldn’t be, since she’s flying direct on Porter from Hamilton! No US stopovers, no sardine seating (or eating, depending on what her seat mate brings in their lunch).

That friend is Lisa Brandt. For the past three years she’s been my podcast partner, but I wanted to tell you a bit more about our relationship. Today seems a good day to do that; focussing on the positive is always a healthy thing, as challenging as it can be.

We first met in the studios of Toronto radio station CHFI. Lisa would pop in hourly to do information updates, leaving her desk down the hall at 680 News to do so. Eventually she’d be promoted to half of the morning news team there and Mary Ellen Beninger would come in, followed by the sparkling Steve Roberts who was let go while I was on vacation, for reasons I believe had to do with him having better chemistry with me than the guy who was supposed to be my new co-host. Petty, petty, petty.

But back to Lisa. With similar shifts and health aims, she and I would goad each other into going to the gym together even when we were too tired to lace up our sneakers. It was there that more of a friendship was forged: there’s nothing like puffing through your list of grievances on parallel treadmills to strengthen bonds and make the time pass quickly.

Eventually Lisa left Toronto radio altogether to pursue a gentler life with her love, Derek Botten. But we stayed in touch. She grieved with us when Lauren died; we cheered her on through every change and immense challenge in her career in smaller-city radio. She got on planes to come visit me, whether in BC, California or – today – Mexico, and welcomed me to her and Derek’s home when I’d make the trip east.

More than that, though, she’s been my sober second thought. Deeply rooted in Stoicism, Lisa’s ability to see trauma and drama from a different angle has helped me off more ledges than I can count. When we’re putting together our lineup for each week’s show at www.gracefullyandfrankly.com she tamps down my rage and moves the needle back more towards sanity.

The days I want to scream, I only seethe and, for me, that’s progress. I don’t always appreciate it, but I see the wisdom and remember the motto that’s virtually printed on every lineup: “What’s In It For the Listener?”- a perspective drilled into us since college and one that hasn’t failed us yet. It’s not about us, it’s about you.

I’ve had the honour of doing that one last read-over before she published her latest series of books (the Felicity & Mitzi series you can find at the G&F website). I’ve cheered her on but felt free enough to ask questions that I know won’t offend her. She has the emotional IQ to say that she’s aware I’m only trying to bring out her best. When one of us errs in spelling, grammar or a simple missed space in a social post, the other will point it out. She’s that friend who will quietly fix your crooked crown. Whisper to maybe dial it back a bit. Tell you about the toilet paper on your heel, or how you could have worded that better.

As she arrives today we’ll spend hours talking, laughing, raging (just a bit), and preparing for a Facebook Live event happening January 22^nd at 8 pm eastern time (www.facebook.com/GracefullyandFrankly). We’ll wander a mall, take countless dog walks and get that charcoal barbecue going, like the tough Wilderness Women we are. She’ll be here when I scan and sign the paperwork for Rob’s and my newest adventure, that cottage on Pender Island. And if our previous visits have been an indication, she’ll land a great big voice job while she’s with me. Honestly, I’m a bit of a good luck charm that way!

So perhaps that luck, our warmth, our friendship, are what make it safe for me to ask her if she’ll listen to me dump the contents of my broken heart on her that day. She never says “no” but if she did, I’d step back and wait until the timing was right.

Because that’s the thing about a really great friend: they don’t just find the time, they make the time.

And starting today, for two glorious weeks, we’re going to make this time OURS. I’ll be counting the minutes until my airport trip. There’s nothing like being greeted at arrivals by someone who is thrilled to have you there. Let the “SQUEEEEEEs” begin.

Just a thought… A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together. [Margaret Atwood]

Yesterday I saw a New Year’s-ish meme come into my emails with cheery inspiration for the year ahead. And my first thought was: REALLY??? Not today, girl. Not today. I usually enjoy these and sometimes share them on my sites. But we are reading the room and it is dark.

The world order is in the process of being tossed out like last year’s holiday detritus. The America that people thought they knew, after a long and bright and loud season, is now that tired, dried-out Christmas tree with a few sad bits of glitter still clinging to its browned branches, just waiting to be hauled off and chipped into something unrecognisable.

Today we continue to awaken from the mist of the shattered holiday peace, and the very real threat to all we as Canadians hold dear. There’s no sugar coating these burnt cookies. What happened in Venezuela is all about oil. If it was democracy, the US would have instated the rightful winner of the most recent election, not Maduro’s VP. Mexico has already been mentioned by the Mango Mussolini as the next target, with a side of Cuba, Colombia, Iran, Greenland and Canada thrown in for fetid measure.

I turn my thoughts to the stoics and wonder what we can do to protect ourselves. Well, the first thing is not turning off the news. That is, as someone said, “privilege disguised as wisdom.” It’s the “oh, I don’t do politics” people that got #47 in for a second time (if indeed he won it legitimately). Re-electing Trump has been as if the Titanic hit the iceberg, then backed up and hit it again. (I didn’t come up with that, but it fits.) And we’re the folks in the lifeboats paddling madly to get out of the suck when the big ship of democracy goes down. People cheerily say, “Oh, wait ’til the midterms.” Friend, there was never going to be another election. That’s the plan. He and his evil cadre are in the midst of a true dictatorship fueled by awful polling numbers, a full-on pedophilia scandal at the highest ranks and the fifth anniversary of Jan 6^th.

So, how to cope? There’s the question. We’re all in this lifeboat together and you’ll need a brighter bulb than I to be the lighthouse. In this case, we turn to our elected leader, whose response on Saturday was cautious, measured and heavy on the importance of following the rules. I choose to believe in the man we elected for these extraordinary times; if not in his particular set of skills, then in his ability to be a diplomat, and to surround himself with the wisest of women and men, and to listen to them.

The voices we must NOT heed are those of the trolls, bots, and foreign-funded influencers showing up in every feed in increasing numbers. Do your due diligence: watch for AI messaging (especially fake videos). Do not forward anything you have not personally verified. Do not respond to single-digit-follower accounts with no picture, a fake name and a bunch of numbers, who are telling you what you know to be wrong. The enemy is here, breaking down our borders and building supporters for Trump within our country.

This is who you’re arguing with online, by the way.

You and I may not be military fighting age, but we can be vigilant and careful and call out FAKE! when we see it. If someone you know and love sends you something that is false, answer them. Tell them it’s wrong. Yes, it can feel awkward, but don’t let them spread it to others who are more gullible than you. WE have to stop it. You. Me. Lisa and I will have details on how to spot a fake in this Thursday’s Ep 159 of Gracefully and Frankly.

Canadians made “Elbows Up” a national call of unity in 2025. It proves we are capable of so much more, we grandmothers and ordinary citizens, than they are, with their walls of phones and computers sending out disinformation.

Be aware. Be loud. And be unafraid to call it out when you see it. Our Canada is worth fighting for, even if these are not traits for which we are usually known.

Look, I know this isn’t the type of journal you normally hear from me, but we need to be reminded that inspiration can come in heeding bad examples and doing the opposite. It won’t come by closing one’s eyes, unless it’s to meditate and ask for peace within and strength throughout. Stand up now, my friend. Be loud and be heard. Trolls and Trumpers be damned.