@DaveDickeyYall will probably be the first to let me I haven't been very weekly with the Zekely and am long overdue. For newer followers, the uninitiated and forgetful stoners, I like to look back through the pictures on my phone and share with the #Hive community for inspiring conversation and gigantic crypto rewards.

I will likely catch up on months gone by over the next while but will start with this 7-day slice of winter which took so long to arrive in these parts.

Hockey!

The story behind this picture will have to be told in more detail when I help relaunch our @town-crier https://towncriermarketing.ca Hive Business Blog. The abridged version is that this is local hockey team The Fighting Irish https://www.stratfordirish.com/ on the night dedicated to local youth hockey players. Kids from across the community attended for free, won prizes, and even got to skate with the team between periods in a shoot out competition.

Hockey really is a community thing when done right. In Canada and across the globe. $3 beers aren't bad either!

Business Bash

More along the lines of business, as it is when you work to launch strong at the beginning of the year, we are visiting one of our clients Spirit Leaf https://spiritleaf.ca/locations/stratford/, a local marijuana retail store. They are a family run business who opened pretty much at the dawn of the legal dispensaries and are celebrating their 2nd anniversary. We are helping them build a brand tied to the local marketplace and having a fun time doing it!

Please find locally owned retail stores where you are and link their business on your Hive Blog. Fantastic for SEO with all the linkbacks!

International Food!

Our small city is blessed with an overabundance of unique, find dining restaurants. The theatre season brings in a million tourists a year so these businesses are rather plentiful even during the slow times.

I was treated to a delicious newly-launched Raja Fine Indian Cuisine https://rajastratford.ca International Buffet the other night. All I had to do is shoot a bunch of photos to be used in social media, and enjoy a fantastic meal as one of the first few to enjoy it.

As nice as it is to have dishes from around the world on this buffet, I was there for the Indian! If I could pick a single cuisine to exist upon, it would either be sushi, Thai, or Indian. I will have to create a review for this buffet as we do that on Hive too!

The Age of Aquariums

For the last couple years, I let my freshwater 75 gallon grow wild. It started as a couple java fern with plenty of light and flourished into a cube of green where I didn't even know how many fish I had left. I finally got around to a little pruning and rooting of the extra green to the Mopani wood I have been collecting.

Turns out I have 3 firemouths, a fancy bristle nose Plecostomus, a coridora catfish, and this nice red oscar. I should have done it earlier as it is nice to have an aquarium with entirely real plants.

Live Music!

I am very lucky to be part of a circle of friends who love live music. We travel to attend concerts, host them in this fantastic venue https://revival.house, and occasionally perform on stage. This particular concert was Mob Barley and the Railers https://www.facebook.com/mobbarleyandtherailers/ Winter Warmup Concert celebrating Bob Marley's 78th birthday.

Fantastic night with friends turning up from all corners of the city and a nice number from out of town for this sold out show. It may be winter but we were warmed by the sounds of the islands that night.

Dogging

One habit I have developed in my stead the last few months of autumn and winter is taking sir fuzzyface to Dogwars. I try and head to the dog park every day to let him run, play and wrestle with dogs for an hour. This is generally the department of my better half but I think I started filling in on days she worked late.

An hour a day may seem like a time sink when you have so many other professional, leisure and family things to perform. This is until you get out, watch the happy little guy bounce and run all over, breath some fresh air and enjoy the outdoors. Then you remember this is what life is really about and it is a perfect way to disconnect from the business day. You might just see him regularly on the Zekely.

That's probably as good as a peek at the last week as you need at this point. Feel free to share for all the new people I may have missed meeting over the last few months. Telling stories and remembering the fun from a busy week is a nice way to be thankful and share in a blog.

Thanks for checking in and thanks for the warm welcome back!

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How's 2023 starting for you?