Erin's Journals

Just a thought… Be careful who you trust. Salt and sugar look the same. [Author unknown]

As always, you can watch a video version of this journal on my Facebook page, or here on YouTube.

Well, this is a big week…so we’ll start with the sugar! I mean, first full week of July, yes, but we’re taking our six-year-old grandson Colin away for two nights to a spot “up island” just a bit.

You’ve undoubtedly heard about the deadly heat that BC has been under; fortunately, here on Vancouver Island we’re now firmly in the upper teens and lower 20s since breaking all records a week ago. Also fortunately, the smoke from the countless mainland fires is staying on the mainland, but we’re just a wind’s change away from it affecting our air quality too. So, as in all things, we live day to day and hope for the best. If we get to cycle and have windows open, “Yay.” If not, we stay inside and stay as safe as we can.

But not all dangers come in the window. Some are on your phone and I’m here to tell you about a call Rob got the other day. Pass the salt, ’cause here we go.

He got a robocall from a 1-519 phone number. Cautiously, he answered. It launched into a recorded spiel saying they’d detected two suspicious credit card purchases: one for about $400 for eBay and a gift card in the amount of $3500. Okay, we knew we had made neither of those buys.

Then the recording went on to say we should press 1 to allow and press 2 if these were not our purchases. Before Rob’s trigger finger could hit 2 (as mine likely would have), we stopped and he hung up.

Right away, we called our bank’s 1-800 customer service number (seen on the back of our credit card). We followed the prompts to lost or stolen credit cards and spoke to a real live customer service rep – yes, on a statutory holiday. She was able to confirm that there were no such charges, which was a tremendous relief after having had similar but legitimate troubles earlier this year.

She said that fake phone calls usually cite an eBay charge and a gift card purchase. That’s the first red flag. The second is that our call display showed a phone number with an area code other than 800 or 888 (from Wingham, ON in case anyone cares). Our experience is, if there’s been a suspected fraudulent charge, a live person calls (not a recording) and they ask you about the charges in person, or they leave a message and ask you to call back. In our experience, again, they never ask you to do anything on the phone (i.e. press 1 or press 2).

So there you go. Like I said, danger comes in all shapes and sizes and, in this case, it was just a Canada Day phone call from a number in our country. Or so they’d have us believe. Share this message if you would, please, so that your parents, kids or friends are made aware that this is happening. By the way, it felt really good to let the bank know the phone number of these scam artists. I’m sure it’s a lot to hope for, but maybe we helped get somebody in trouble?

I’ll be back with you Thursday with sand in my shorts and stories to tell. (Which might well be the name of a new country album LOL!)

Just a thought… The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. [Ralph Waldo Emerson]

You can watch a video version of this journal on my Facebook page (where you can also scroll down to catch Monday’s Facebook Live about our AMA Waterways European river cruise with Mike Cooper and me next spring!) or here on YouTube.

Here we are, coming to the end of the first half of 2021 and heading into what we HOPE is a new year, all over again. But today is also a day for cake and celebration in our home.

It’s two years today since I said, “Okay, no more” to the endless bottle of wine or vodka that chilled in the fridge or freezer. Since I said good-bye to the icy deliciousness of a frozen Margarita or the salty perfection of a dirty Martini. Ah, I make it sound so enticing. But in reality, it’s two years since I got my life back.

Now, you may recall, either from here, or if you’ve read Mourning Has Broken: Love, Loss and Reclaiming Joy, that I had 10 years’ sobriety until I left radio and moved out west to answer to no one and just see if I had an off-switch for my drinking. (Spoiler alert: I didn’t.)

It was two years ago this coming month that I checked myself into rehab and did six really tough weeks, getting into my head this one big message: I had to fire myself as CEO of my life, because I was doing a terrible job at it. Imagine having to set aside an ego and admit that?

But since I did, look what’s happened. You’re here. I’m okay to be on camera without that constantly tired face that accompanies drinking and poor REM-deprived sleep. Thank you.

I’m hosting my own dream podcast (Drift) – an idea that would come to me late at night because I wasn’t falling into bed in a comfortably numb stupor every night. I am able to take on project after project (often to Rob’s chagrin; he was hoping this “reWirement” was going to mean a lot more “us” time, but didn’t imagine that “us” would be a production team) and doing two other podcasts.

Most importantly, though, we have our family here. Our grandchildren and their parents live within a six-minute drive of us, because we were able to step up and be there for them when they needed us. The joy, the fulfillment, the busy-ness and the immense satisfaction that we find in our days and even those nights when I can’t sleep for ideas pounding at me…they’re all thanks to sobriety.

I know that this past year-and-a-half, a lot of people have slid into heavier drinking; it’s called by some “the other pandemic.” And liver disease among younger Canadians is off the charts. If you think you might have a problem, then you probably do, and I’m just saying that online AA meetings are 24/7 around the world. I went to one in New York City a few weeks ago, online of course.

They’re fantastic and you can Google one if you’re the least bit curious. No strings. Just stories. No driving, no makeup, no nerves, no nothing. You just log on, camera on or off, sit and listen to how sobriety has changed people’s lives – one hour, one day at a time. I just happen to have two years of them now. And counting. And I am, oh, so grateful.

Be safe and I’ll be back with you on Monday. And again, if you’re on Facebook, do be sure to watch our Facebook Live event from Monday. We have a gorgeous AMASerena River Cruise all ready to go next May 30 to June 6 and ships are selling out like crazy, but we really, really want it to be just our group. So watch the video and you should get all the answers you need and, hopefully, Mike Cooper and I will see you after being cooped up – we’ll get you Erin and Cooped up in 2022!

Just a thought… A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions. [Oliver Wendell Holmes]

Welcome to a new week and one that will undoubtedly include some sombre reflection. This Canada Day takes on a much different tone, as it must; as it should.

Today, in the place of a written journal, I wanted to share with you a brief video that not only captures some of the natural beauty of this land of ours, but also shows what the last leg of a long voyage should look like: serene, restful and simply gorgeous.

I shot it as we returned from the mainland to Vancouver Island last week. How blessed we are to live in this country, on this island, and on a mountain perfectly named by its original Indigenous inhabitants as “place of refuge.” 

It has been exactly that for Rob and me, and we are grateful. Click here to enjoy this brief moment on the water.

And if you’d like a LONGER stay on the water, join me tonight at 8 o’clock EDT or 5 PDT for a Facebook live event at www.facebook.com/erindavispage! Mike Cooper is hoping to join in, plus we’ll be updating everyone on our river cruise plans for next spring on the Rhine – from amazing Amsterdam to glorious Switzerland.

Join Gerry from New Wave Travel and Neil from AMA Waterways as we take you on a half-hour vacation of information, hope and scenery – and all the info you need to decide to make plans to join us on the Rhine next spring! Talk to you this evening.

Just a thought… I smile because you’re my father; I laugh because there’s nothing you can do about it. [Author Unknown]

Today I have for you a very special video. After a few hours of tearing around his retirement condo cleaning, tidying, sorting and shredding, we snuck in a brief – but funny – chat with him about something extremely dear to him that I found in his undies drawer.

I need to point out that this is NOT a product endorsement (I show the label because I didn’t mention its name – and I can’t even tell you if it’s any good) but enjoy this video – right to the last drop when Dad does his same sign-off as he does with his regular calls to his four daughters. I think you’ll love it.

Click here and smile and have a great weekend!

Just a thought… When I was little my dad had me convinced that the ice cream truck only played music when it was sold out. Well played, dad, well played. [Author Unknown]

As usual, you can watch a video version of this journal on my Facebook page, or here on YouTube.

On those notes, I have to share with you something I learned about one of the season’s sweetest sounds.

So we’re sitting in the backyard of our grandson and his family a week or so ago, watching the little ones enjoy the perfection of a BC summer day, when suddenly I hear it. Not the tinkling, but a sort of computer-generated version of Frank Mills’ old piano hit, “Music Box Dancer.”

So I say to Brooke, our daughter-in-law: “Is that what I think it is?” And she says, “Yeah, it’s the ice cream truck.” She said it with such nonchalance that the words hardly computed.

I moved like I was going to leap to my feet and she reminded me that we had just had ice cream treats on a stick. “I know,” I said, “but ICE CREAM TRUCK!”

Maybe it’s because we didn’t live in many places that had them come by; perhaps it’s because I tend to be, shall we say, easily in touch with my inner child and the joy of surprises, but I was ready to run out to the street…and pay with what? I only use my phone now to Visa “Tap” this and that and never carry cash. Okay, sit down and just breathe.

So I said to Brooke, out of curiosity, I assure you, because yes, we had just had a treat, “Do they take Tap?” She was pretty sure they do. But here’s what she told me that knocked me sideways: according to the moms on Facebook, you can track the truck and – wait for it – text him or her to come to you. Wait, what?

That’s like getting notification from Santa about what time he’s coming to drop stuff off, what time you should have cookies ready for, and just exactly what you’re getting.

No, no, no! I mean, I understand everyone’s busy and the ice cream guy or gal is probably really getting a lot of business this way, but isn’t the sheer randomness of the truck, of hearing that cheesy little tinkling theme, of leaping off your chair, grabbing your wallet and calling the kids…isn’t that what the ice cream truck experience is all about? And isn’t the ice cream truck experience part of the magic of what summer’s all about?

I’ll never forgive whoever the investigative reporter was who talked about bacteria and so on in the spigots of ice cream trucks. I don’t want to know. If I’m going to die, let it be on a hill of soft serve.

Enjoy the day and may it include ice cream – soft serve or vegan, on a stick, in a cone, in a cup…anything but upside down on your lap. And please, don’t ever let your inner child feel like you’ve forgotten her or him. There’s still so much sweetness to life.