In today’s blog post I am going to share what I have been up to recently. To be honest, it isn’t as exciting as it sounds, but perhaps you will find some things interesting and maybe some words of wisdom will come to mind as I proceed.
Let’s first step back to Christmas Day. As you may remember from the last blog post, we had a larger family gathering on the 21st and a small gathering on Christmas Day – just Denise and her brother, and me and my mom. I took a couple photos of Denise and her brother as we visited and I found that they turned out quite nice. Leonard is a half-brother – same mother, different fathers. Denise’s birth father, Morris Mitchell, was killed in a car crash when Denise was just 13 months old. Some years later, Denise’s mother, Celeste, married Les Evans. Les adopted Denise as part of the deal, and later Les and Celeste produced Leonard. Leonard is six years younger than Denise. Denise and Leonard grew up together as most brothers and sisters do. Ask Leonard about “the washing pan incident” and he will tell you how Denise hit him in the head one day when he was making a pest of himself. If that’s not sibling love, I don’t know what it is! 😊
Leonard & Denise – Christmas Day 2025 – Photo by Don Cheke
I just love the look Leonard is sporting these days, and I told him so on Christmas day. I said that he looked like a famous writer, or perhaps a wizened university professor. Those who know Leonard, will know that he is a fine man, although he might be considered on the autism spectrum by today’s standards. Leonard is very personable and loves to tell a good story, just like his father Les. His life of poverty, which started on day one, has continued throughout his life, even having had to live through a stint of being homeless, but his take-life-as-it-comes attitude never seems to falter. I felt privileged to hear Denise and Leonard talk this Christmas, when she asked him many questions about his philosophies and his coping skills. Theirs was never a close relationship, due to the family dynamics in the early years of life when Denise was forced to raise him, and when she left him behind to escape the dysfunction when turning 18. After all these years, Denise maintains a distance to protect herself, but she also keeps the door open and loves him in her own way. I have always liked Leonard, so I am glad that we have the occasional visit to get caught up. Looking at the picture now, I can sure see the family resemblance – definitely brother and sister! Note that while Denise was reviewing the blog post she groaned loudly from the other room and called out “we don’t resemble each other at all!” I chalked that up to sibling rivalry, or something like that.
Just the other day I created the image below. My intent was to show a reflection of Leonard as he peers out the window, reflecting on how his life has unfolded, and where he stands today. I think he sees himself as having a good life. I am very proud of Leonard!
Leonard Window Reflection – Created by Don Cheke
On January 14th my beloved Denise turned 71. We celebrated her birthday by having lunch out with Emma, baby Luke, and my mom. Later in the day Denise and I had supper at home, just the two of us. It was a great day! Many of Denise’s family and friends made contact to wish her well and make the day extra special.
When Denise turned 70 last year, it really hit me that she is aging. Not so much in looks, because she is as cute as always, but because of the number – and here we are again adding to it. Yes, it is good to keep adding on, as that means they are alive, as opposed to not adding on, which means they are, well, dead.
I have known many people outside my family that have died in their 70’s, and although sad, it is not as hard as losing family members. As I was thinking about this, I thought I would list the ages of those in my family who have died, many in their 60’s and 70’s. To be honest, it is a bit scary.
Mom’s side – Grandpa Bazylak at 60, Grandma Bazylak at 75, Uncle Frank at 69, Uncle Walter at 72, Uncle Ron at 69.
Dad’s side – Grandpa Cheke in his 60’s, Grandma Cheke at 89 – although she was pickled due to alcoholism. Then there was Uncle Howard at 60, Uncle Allan at 45, and my father Brent at 48 – the last three dying prematurely due to alcoholism. Obviously, my mom is still alive at 87, and she represents longevity through healthy living. By that I mean that she has lived a life of spiritual and psychological growth. She spent her life being kind and giving – having worked a wholesome productive career, all the while being free from any kind of addiction that all the other family members suffered from. Based on that, my brothers and I should live as long as her since we all followed her lead in that regard. That said, I will probably stroke out in my 70’s due to my weight. I put $5.00 on 72 years old in the “croak pool” we have set up. LOL!
Denise’s side is much longer lived, especially on her mother’s side, but she did lose her mom at 71 and her adoptive father at 71. I am hoping that Denise takes after her mom’s side where almost all her aunts lived into their 90’s. Perhaps you have heard me say, on more than one occasion, that I have made Denise promise me that I get to die first, since I don’t think I could live without her. She has promised me that, and always adds that when I go, she will get a cat. Nice, hey!? 😊
Let’s talk about health a bit.
About a month ago, Denise’s neurologist added a new drug to her already heavy load of pills. Unfortunately, the new medication caused her to have extreme nausea all day long, every day. I tried to convince her to stop taking them, but she didn’t want to do so until she talked to her doctor. After my constant prodding her to make an appointment, she finally acquiesced, and he told her to stop taking the new medication, and instead, increase the one she was already on. The nausea passed after a couple days, and she is finding some benefit by taking more of the original drug, which she takes five times a day, as opposed to four. It was nice to see a bit of a win after watching her suffer the last bout of rough health.
Speaking of health, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two or three years ago. Treatment to get my A1c level down a bit was/is to walk more and watch my sugar intake. Being me, this was never easy and I failed more often than not. Late last fall, my family doctor suggested I take a commonly prescribed medicine called Metformin. Although she was a bit hesitant to do so, due to my life-long battle with chronic ulcerative colitis, she said that I might benefit. Having mentioned that one of the side effects was weight loss, I decided to give it a try. I started with a very small dose but after three days I knew this was a mistake. The resulting pain and diarrhea was so severe that I thought I was going to, excuse the language, shit out my anus and my large intestine. While sitting on the toilet most of the day(s) I decided that Metformin must be to diabetics what Antabuse is to alcoholics. In case you are unfamiliar with Antabuse, it causes nausea and vomiting if alcohol is ingested. For Metformin, it seems to me that if a diabetic eats anything with sugar or fat, or carbs, the effect is the same. No wonder weight loss is expected – who wants to eat with results like that. Unlike Denise, I quit right away and I will just complain to the doctor the next time I see her. As a side note, I had initially asked my doctor about a new medicine called Ozempic, which is supposed to be the new miracle drug to treat type 2 diabetes. It turns out that it is a weekly injection, but it is only for the rich, due to the cost. Definitely not an option.
Moral of the story is that weight loss means eating less and moving more. Ugh!
To add insult to injury, I have noticed that I am getting to the point where I need to up-size my shirts. Like most women, who blame the clothing size change to shrinking due to washing and drying, I know that is just a myth. Yep, I am growing, my clothes are not shrinking. I really hate the thought of upsizing my shirts and my continuing growth. If only I had been addicted to walking instead of eating, or all the other addictions that came before. At least with the others, I could just quit using, but with food, the same cannot be said. Although I really don’t want to die, I still go to bed occasionally hoping I will die in my sleep and be done with this weight BS. Perhaps you remember the cartoon below that I created in 2024 as part of my Loaf Dubronovich cartoon series. Yep, I still think that is a very sweet result! 😊
Cremation – Created by Don Cheke
In the last blog post, I said that I would talk about what I have been reading and watching. It seems like I do a lot of that during the winter months but I think it helps keep me sane. Looking below, it will seem like a lot, even to me, but heck, there are a lot of hours in the day to fill. 😊 I don’t intend to discuss them all, but I will mention the odd thing that moved me or gave me pause to think.
TV Shows
Note that I get all my TV and movies via Amazon Prime, along with a subscription for Acorn and BritBox. Like most streaming services there is so much garbage, but occasionally one can stumble across some pretty good stuff. I watch a lot of them on my computer by myself. If I come across something I think Denise will like, we will watch it in the future together on the living room big screen. We do this daily; it’s like a movie date every day.
- Fringe – 2008 to 2013 – 5 seasons, 100 episodes
I loved this series! I originally watched it as a boxed DVD set many years ago and took the time to watch it anew on Prime. In a nutshell, it is a sci-fi thriller about an FBI team that investigates bizarre phenomena linked to parallel universes, advanced and dangerous science, and shadowy corporate conspiracies. It is similar to X-Files, but much better in my opinion.
One of the things I found fascinating about the show was how the producers integrated the show into the real world. A bit of background first. In the show, the main character, Walter Bishop, who plays the loveable mad scientist, is known to have loved the 60’s and 70’s. He worked his scientific genius while doing drugs and listening to music from his large vinyl collection. Walter’s favorite band is Violet Sedan Chair, and their album Seven Suns. Here’s the kicker – during the production of the show, the producers created the album for real, using anonymous musicians and had a limited number of vinyl records pressed. They hid the records in a few real-world record stores. Although songs were played in some episodes, the album was created, I believe, with episode 10 of season 3 (The Firefly) in mind where the connection becomes literal. As ChatGPT describes: Christopher Lloyd guest stars as Roscoe Joyce, the former keyboardist of Violet Sedan Chair. Walter meets him and confronts memories tied to the band’s breakup — which, within the show’s lore, resulted from personal tragedy involving Roscoe’s son. The albums apparently had clues about the episode hidden within, thus connecting the fiction of the show with the real world – a Fringe event of its own, I would say.
The album can be found on YouTube, and in my opinion, it’s a mighty fine 70’s-style album. 10 terrific songs that I have listened to many times. While the album cover lists band members, they are fictitious and the mystery behind the album remains – nobody is spilling the beans about who the musicians were, even after all these years. Give it a listen!
- Law & Order – UK – 2009 – 2014 – 8 seasons, 53 episodes
One of my favorite series ever was Law & Order. My favorite character was Lenny Briscoe, the loveable recovering alcoholic. Somehow, I have always had a soft spot for those recovering alcoholics with their struggles making amends for their past mistakes.
The UK version of the series looked at the same cases the original series did, adjusted for the UK justice system. Ronnie played the role that Lenny did in the original series, and I developed a soft spot for him too, but not as deeply as I felt for Lenny. The series was well done, some better than the US versions, while others not as good. Definitely worth a watch if you are a Law & Order fan.
- A Remarkable Place to Die – 2024 – 1 season, 4 episodes
This was a short series, maybe the first season with more yet to follow. A Remarkable Place to Die is a crime drama about homicide detective Anais Mallory returning to her hometown to solve murders while uncovering the mysterious deaths of her father and sister, blending weekly cases with a personal mystery rooted in family secrets, as described by ChatGPT/Wikipedia. It was pretty good, in my opinion.
- A Place to Call Home – 2013 – 2018 – 6 seasons, 67 episodes
According to ChatGPT and Wikipedia, A Place to Call Home is an Australian period drama (2013–2018) set in the 1950s. It follows Sarah Adams, a nurse returning to Australia after 20 years abroad who becomes deeply involved with the wealthy Bligh family, uncovering secrets and navigating love, class tensions, and social change in post-World War II society. It is a very well-done series, with the cinematography and setting in the top-class style of Downton Abbey, if you are familiar with that series. I really enjoyed it for the most part. What caused me grief was all the stress I felt with the family dysfunction and the never-ending revenge schemes. All-in-all, I recommend this series to those who love British TV, and don’t mind the added stress to one’s already stressful life. Remember, it’s just a TV show – it’s fiction! 👍😊
I will be watching this series again with Denise after we finish watching the very long series called McLeod’s Daughters. I know, it’s just a small step up from a daytime soap, but heck, we are enjoying it. 👍😊
Movies
- Stargate Origins – Catherine – 2018
I have watched a few Stargate movies. Truthfully, I think they are very low-grade movies. The producers couldn’t decide if they were supposed to be sci-fi or comedy, and because of that, they leave a lot to be desired. The premise of the movie was interesting and would have been great if they could have settled on sci-fi only. I don’t recommend any of them, unless it’s that or jumping off a building, if you get my meaning.
- The Philadelphia Experiment – 1984
My older brother once stated that he watches old movies that he enjoyed in the past because he knows they will be good. He knows how much garbage gets produced, so instead of sifting through dozens of selections to find a good one, he settles on the previously viewed ones. I feel the same and occasionally I come across an old title that I will watch again. I selected The Philadelphia Experiment knowing that I would enjoy this classic. One good thing about getting older is it is surprising how much one has forgotten, so watching something again is almost as good as watching it anew.
- Conclave – 2024
Conclave was a very popular recent movie that folks raved about. I decided to give it a look and found that I liked it very much. That must be due to my Catholic upbringing and my stint as an altar boy in my early years. I was offended as always by the pomp and wealth of the church and I found many of the movie characters to be hypocritical, but I suppose one or more antagonists are required to make a good story. I loved the surprise ending of the movie. It provides something worth pondering. Give it look, it might be to your liking.
- The Lost King – 2023
This was a cute story, based on reality, about a woman looking for the grave site of King Richard III.
- Prisoners of the Sun – 2014
A slightly better than B-grade movie about a British archaeologist and his team who uncover an ancient Egyptian pyramid buried beneath the Egyptian desert, only to awaken a long-sealed supernatural threat tied to the sun god Ra. (ChatGPT) I chose this movie because I love sci-fi, but it left me wanting, as that saying goes.
- Ford v Ferrari – 2019
Sometimes to help find movies I look up actors I have liked in the past and stick their name(s) in the Prime search field. Matt Damon is one actor I have enjoyed and Ford v Ferrari was one of the movies that popped up in a search. It was a good movie based on the real-life Le-Mans competition between the Ford Motor Company and Ferrari in the 1960’s. It is very well done. Throughout it, I continually thought “expensive toys for rich boys!” It is well worth a watch in my opinion, if you like racing and good character development.
- The Adjustment Bureau – 2011
This was another movie with Matt Damon. It is a sci-fi movie about a group of “agents” that ensure the lives of people are unfolding as designed. It was interesting enough and made me ponder the philosophy of fate and free will. After having watched Fringe, where a group of observers watched the world dressed in black suits and fedoras, I found it strange to see the agents in The Adjustment Bureau dressed similarly. I asked the Google AI if they copied one another, but it said that there was no known copying going on, but that it was likely coincidental since such a look has been common through time, such as in the movie Men in Black. It even referenced something regarding Jewish culture, but I forget exactly what that was.
- The Great Wall – 2017
Yet another movie with Matt Damon, this time him playing an ancient Irish mercenary traveling China during the Song Dynasty. It is a fantasy story about him joining Chinese forces at the Great Wall of China to battle beasts that threaten to destroy the world. This is not the type of genre I gravitate toward but I watched it because of Matt Damon. The movie kept my interest well enough.
- Gorky Park – 1983
I haven’t been doing much art lately but I did the piece below while experimenting to see if I could get paint to drip down and around a previously dried painted circle. With a bit of digital magic, I was able to do so. When I finished the painting below, I was reminded of the movie poster for Gorky Park. It is a black and white abstract that shows a row of trees. My painting, although color, provides the same kind of feeling, at least to me.
Drips – Created by Don Cheke
With Gorky Park in mind, I did a search and found it on Amazon Prime. I remember watching Gorky Park years ago. It was/is a great Russian cold war murder mystery thriller with some great girl-meets-boy, intercourse I was going to say, but that sounded pretty strange. Let’s say some great boy-meets-girl adventure instead. The movie is well done and was well worth watching again.
- Relay – 2025
I watched this movie because I like the actress, Lily James. I first saw her in Downton Abbey where she played one of the younger Grantham sisters. I later watched her in Darkest Hours, Yesterday, The Dig, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, maybe others.
Although I enjoyed the movie Relay, I found the character Lily James played to be quite surprising. No spoilers though! Give it a look.
- A Brilliant Young Mind – 2015
I just loved this movie about a young autistic boy with a genius mind for math. It follows his story from a young age to his high school years where he participated in the Math Olympics. It is a very moving story that made me think about my own autistic granddaughter who is not math-genius, but shines in many other ways. It also made me think about myself and my desire to be thought of as a genius in my own right. I have often asked Denise if she thinks I am on the spectrum, but she has yet to confirm or deny. I think I border on it in some ways.
To be honest, I typically don’t like movies about youth, especially those with superpowers or those thought to be wunderkinds. I hate how smart they are and how it has all come without all the effort the rest of us have to put in. Seems awful unfair to me! I suppose, though, that there might be some drawbacks to being that gifted. We see some of those struggles in A Brilliant Young Mind.
Books
- Cutting for Stone – 2009 – Abraham Verghese
Such a wonderful writer, Abraham Verghese is. He writes long family sagas based, from what I have read, in India and Africa. They take you in right from the start and from then on it is hard to put the books down. I first read Covenant of Water (2023), and now Cutting For Stone (2009). I recommend both!
- The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell – 2018 – Robert Dugoni
This is a good story about the life of a boy born with red eyes. The book takes you through the struggles he faces as a boy and later as a man. It is a great piece about facing life on the periphery with such a notable difference.
- No Relation – 2013 – Terry Fallis
A good read. I talked about this book in my blog post What’s in a Name.
- The Midnight Lawyer – 2025 – J.J. Miller
This is a very typical defense lawyer story with a big city lawyer moving to a small southern town to face his demons and make changes in his life. The story line too, is very cliché, but it is written well and worth reading. I am currently reading book two of this series, The Midnight Witness (2025).
- The Heart of Everything – 2026 – Marc Levy
This is cute story about a French pianist whose father appears to him as a ghost five years after his death. His father has a request that his son begrudging tries to fulfill. It is quite a funny story but has lots of depth in some ways. I found myself thinking about my own father through most of the book. Of course, there is the usual boy-meets-girl stuff in it, but that adds nicely to the story. I most definitely recommend this one.
I have had a hard time for the last few weeks finding the motivation to pursue my art. That said, I haven’t given up completely and have come up with some pieces. It hasn’t been easy.
The feature image, seen below, was just something that came to be through experimentation with color and texture. It hasn’t evoked anything in me, but I do like the colors and overall look. I hope that you do too.
Abstract 010926 – Created by Don Cheke
You saw the Gorky Park piece earlier, so I won’t go into that one again.
The piece below is one I did on the 12th of this month. It was more experimentation with brush creation, texture and color. Once the background was complete, I selected another of my drawings from years ago to place on top. Again, I like the result, and hope that you do too.
Abstract 011226 – Created by Don Cheke
I must say that this blog post turned out to be a lot longer than I expected. I hope that you found something interesting in it and I hope that life is treating you well.
Donald B. Cheke – Saskatoon, SK