Morris (Moe) Shore has a two-apple-a-day habit and he’s proud of it.

That’s the easy part of what the 75-year-old retired accountant and financial planner does to stay lean, fit and active. He bikes, he runs, he swims, and performs so well for his age that he is now in Beijing to compete in the ITU World Triathlon Championship, in the 75-80 age category.

Thousands of elite and age-group athletes, including those with a disability, are participating in the event from September 7-11, including 140 Canadians.

When we met Shore recently he was sitting on the 24 bus, munching, you guessed it, on a crisp apple.

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Any woman looking to throw rocks in good company this winter should consider joining the Ladies’ Branch of the Royal Montreal Curling Club.

“Arg!” bellows one plaid-kilted member after thrusting forward from the hack and releasing her stone down the ice. It knocks her opposing team’s rock out of the target, or house, and she and her team members quietly celebrate.

“The reason I like curling is I really like the strategy,” skip Gerry Bain says. “It’s like a chess game on ice.”

The skip is the key strategist for a team of four, and Bain, 76, has played skip since she was 40. Curling is part of her family heritage, and she began in her 30s. She makes some modest comments when asked why she plays that position and finally manages, “It’s usually one of the better curlers.”

Membership is not just for the practiced. New players are met with smiles and conversation and coach Ray Barnes is generous with training.

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Future of the PQ and beleaguered Marois threatened from left and right

This is the summer of discontent for Quebec sovereignists. Every time you turn around, another splinter group is meeting to proclaim how to best achieve independence.

So far as I can tell, these groups have one thing in common: They want to get rid of Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois. The beleaguered Marois is hoisted on the petard of the sovereignist movement’s fatal split. Going back as far as the days of its founder, René Lévesque, the PQ has never clearly decided whether its primary objective is to separate or to govern.

The first group, whose real leader is Jacques Parizeau, want to promote sovereignty and prepare for a referendum.

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