Recent Columns

We lose things in our family. Swimming goggles. Socks. Our patience with each other. We’ve almost lost Jon twice. The first time was at our Ugandan university home, which is generally safe except for the snakes and wild monkeys and irritating birds that tend to hang around such institutions of higher learning. ‘So, where is […]

So, apparently 90 per cent of 18-29-year-olds sleep with their smartphones. This, one more reason why having a phone with a low IQ isn’t the worse thing. And one more reason why it’s not a great idea to get a kid a phone. Being active in bed too young has its consequences. One is you go crazy. […]

We’re at the park that I built across from our house https://thomasfroese.com/find-the-unexpected-playgrounds-in-your-life/ She approaches me slowly and notices that I’m having a quiet moment. I’m at the picnic table under the canopy, beside the jungle gym, over from the trampoline. It’s a moment of calm that I like to have in the mornings. She has […]

Sometimes I’m asked, ‘Hey, Daily Dad, where do you get your incredibly fantastic ideas from?’ I say, ‘Well, the best ideas, the ones that will put me on the front of the supermarket tabloids, find me.’ Take right now. I’m having lunch and the tunes here include Chicago. I mean Chicago, the band, right in […]

We have no television in our African home, by choice as much as anything. But there are plenty of DVDs on the living room shelves, including The Waltons, something we watch as a matter of routine on Sunday evenings. Liz and Jon are especially eager to find what happens to their namesakes – Elizabeth and […]

It was Sunday morning. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked. Not very conversant in English, he said something that I eventually understood – he was clearing bush to make room to park a car. ‘Oh,’ I said. The space was across from our house here at the university in Uganda. The house itself, built on […]

On the other side of this blog, there’s a new post about Obama, the Prez. of the United States — thomasfroese.com/2013/will-barack-obama-come-to-africa/ It’s a piece about Obama’s relationship, or lack of, with Africa. Which is interesting, I think, because he’s a half-child of this continent, as his father — his absent father, that is — was […]

‘A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.’ This is what it says, the cup I’m drinking my herbal […]

So Jon went with the neighbour kids to see crocodiles in a place called Mpigi, a few hours away. Back home for dinner, this was the conversation. Jon: ‘And, Dad, did you know that there was one that was 63 years old and another that was 84!’ Me: ‘Come on, really?’ Jon: ‘Yeah, Dad, really!’ […]

Faithful Reader will recall that My Bride is a movie star. You can read all about that here at www.thomasfroese.com/my-wife-the-movie-star/ At that time, I mentioned the clunky lights and big cameras and probing questions that were brought into our Canadian home one summer day, all so that I could also talk about my own story: how I was […]

(The Hamilton Spectator - Saturday, February 16, 2013) KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ It was YouTube and it was Barack Obama talking to the neighbours in Kenya. You may have heard that they’re about to vote. The last time the Kenyans did this, six years ago, 1,000 lay dead on the bloody streets. Another 600,000 were displaced, including here to Uganda where UN shelters near the airport are still up.

Due to the huge readership (Mom, Dad – God bless both of you) of yesterday’s special Valentines’ post … https://thomasfroese.com/royal-weddings-are-the-best/  …  following are a few excerpts from the noted Royal Wedding news story that announced when My Bride and I were engaged. “To be announced is a July 29 wedding, ending speculation that has swirled around […]

On that particular Valentine’s Day, I bought a dozen red roses and hid them. Each had a question attached (like, ‘Will you play racquetball with me?’), to which, after she found each , she had to yell a loud ‘Yes!’ She, My Bride-To-Be, was doing quite fine, finding one rose in this corner, another under that bed, […]

People sometimes ask me, ‘Hey Daily Dad. How did you get such a hot wife?’ I say, ‘I sang her a song about a cow. She seemed to like that. Nothing has been the same since.’ The story is as follows: My Bride – she was only My Date at the time – invited me […]

‘Dude,’ I said. ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I’m putting on my shirts,’ he said. ‘I’m going to put on 100.’ This is Jon. 100 shirts. We have 42 seconds to get into the vehicle and drive to school and Jon is on a mission to put on 100 shirts. He stood in his closet, pile […]