The Squamidian Report – May 24/03
Also in this issue:
North Nova News
Ryan & Emily’s Trip
The Ontarion
The Melbourne Report
A Note From Ewan
Hi All,
This is a pretty long issue so be patient and read fast.
Warren and I went hiking in behind where a new golf course is going in just north of where we live. He was looking for bent wild wood to use in his projects. We came across an Engelmann Spruce tree that was the biggest one I’ve ever seen. There are lots of Douglas Firs here that are larger, but for a spruce, this one is really something. It is about 7 ft in diameter and very straight. Using the old 45-degree angle trick, we calculated the height to be something over 225 ft. That is a tall tree. I actually dragged Sue and her mother in to where it is so they could see it.
The marshy areas are covered in skunk cabbage. It’s a plant that the bears like to fill up on when they wake up in the spring. By this time of the year these plants have leaves about 3 ft high and a foot wide. If they didn’t smell so bad you could use them as umbrellas on a rainy day.
I had my GPS running while we were hiking and when I got home I downloaded the tracks and waypoints into my computer. Using the map program, I can then run the tracks. As the location box moves over the map, the readout gives the co-ordinates, heading, grounds speed, distance traveled and elevation. You can set it to real time or multiples of real time. Therefore you can re-trace your rout in, as an example, 1/10 of the time it took to walk it.
We dropped the in-laws off at the cruise ship dock on the holiday Monday. Sue was sad to see them go. On the way into the city we sat for an hour on the highway. There had been a collision near Lions Bay and the traffic was backed up all the way to Squamish. Good thing we had left with lots of extra time, I’d have hated for them to miss their boat. The ships dock at Canada Place. It is quite impressive and can be seen from both the north shore and the Lions Gate Bridge. The structure is supposed to look like a giant sail boat and it sort of does. That whole area of down town Van is impressive. Even I don’t mind going there once in a while.
The ever elusive Sue had a ruff week. Might have been better if she had been a bit more elusive. She was doing an audit in Vancouver this week and wanted to get home at a decent time on Thursday. However, there was an accident on the Stanley Park approach that tied up traffic for 3 hours. She was stuck in that traffic. Then she was in a mad dash to straighten up the house for some silly wife type reason. I very seldom purchase lottery tickets but for some reason I bought some on my way home when I gassed up. You know, sometimes it just feels right to buy a lottery ticket. Anyway, they were in the pocket of my shirt which she scooped up and dumped into the washing machine. My tickets are now a little pile of lint sticking to all the cloths.
Then, on Friday morning as she left the house to go into the city, she somehow triggered the garage door to close as she was backing out. She now has a scratched roof on her car. Then, latter on Friday she lost a filling in a tooth. We’ll just keep out of her way for a while.
The Kids got here Thursday afternoon; I’ll let them fill you in on their road trip from Kitchener to Squamidia.
****
Well after 4 and ½ days of putting up with one another we finally arrived in Squamish…
We left at 6:30am on Sunday morning. (About 8 hours before we usually wake up.) We packed our luggage and morning hair into the car and hit the road. Southern Ontario was very Southern Ontario-ish. (As Northern Ontario was very Northern Ontario-ish.) After 14 hours of driving/escaping we stayed the night in Longlac at an expensive (for our budget) motel with a French name.
We left again at 6:30am, as a cruel joke on ourselves. We headed west towards Manitoba to avoid the sun in our eyes. Emily saw various creatures including a Moose. I saw various bugs as they splattered across my windshield like squishy green rain. Speaking of rain, we had lots. I could barely see the road so instead I stared at my foot and guessed. We finally got to Manitoba in mid afternoon. Manitoba was much kinder and gave us some sun. The scenery abruptly changed from rocks and forest to flat with lots of green (and more bugs). After 15 hours of driving we stayed in a nice motel in Brandon with Organic Soap.
Day 3… Prairies… We crossed two borders that day. Manitoba/Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan/Alberta. We saw many stumpy cows with strange hair. Parts of the prairies were very pretty but we were glad to make Alberta. We stayed the night in Calgary with a nice view of the Rockies.
We left late that morning thinking we’d stay the day in Banff but they kicked us out after finding out we were poor. (Actually we kicked ourselves out. It was cheaper that way…) We drove through the Rockies determined to get to Squamish. (We failed.) We stayed the night in Merrit at a very nice motel with a pool. It was a relaxing evening full of swimming and hot tub goodness.
On our final morning we had an over-sized mountain breakfast, which neither of us could finish. We then headed out towards the Big Apple. After consulting our map we determined the Big Apple and Squamish were on different pages and it was a bit out of our way. It was very cloudy and rainy through the mountain passes. (It’s hard to drive in that considering the road and clouds are at the same level.) We finally made it to Vancouver where we stopped for grapes and Orange Juice. We finally got to Squamish at 2:00pm BC time. (3:00pm Alberta time, 4:00pm Prairie Time and 5:00pm Ontario Time.) We still had 1 and ½ tires turning and the muffler made a great makeshift break. We are very happy to be here. It is beautiful here with flowers and slugs everywhere. It will be hard to come back to the big O. (We’ll have to read the maps backwards…)
Ryan and Emily.
****
The more time I have off work, the more I
try to accomplish. I've heard retired people say they don't know when
they would have time to work. It seems my interests are starting to take
over. This past Monday, Zane and I, decided to take a hike on our
bikes. He doesn't get to go far from home usually with his bike and he
was anxious to do some traveling. All the old railway beds around here
have been turned into trails so we hooked up with one that crosses his
road. All terrain vehicles have pretty much abused them for their were
many large holes and a fair number of old parts from snow mobiles laying
around. Otherwise the trip was great. We stopped to see a muskrat
eyeing us from his watery hole. An old man with a cane stopped to chat
about the trail and the upcoming regulations that will be put on these terrain
vehicles. Something does need to be done as they are wrecking the beauty
of the land. We even meet them screaming down the roads at high
speeds. The trail eventually leads to Pictou and follows the water for a
good distance. The plan was to bike to the Pictou Marina where Peter was
working on the boat. Well we made it in an hour and enjoyed every minute
of it. I hadn't ridden a bike in awhile but had no trouble, in fact, I
remembered how much I used a bike as a kid and what freedom it gave.
For years now we have been hearing about a
hermit living far up in our hills named Kitchener MacDonald. The story
goes he jumped off a troop train in 1943 because he was a pacifist and has
lived there ever since. He is now 86 years old and still hunts and fishes
to stay alive. Hunters have befriended him by bringing him cans of food
and fruit. The locals even built him a proper cabin from his unspent
pension cheques so he wouldn't have to crawl through a hole into his make-shift
shelter he called home for over 40 years. But he refused to move
into the cabin since it was so close to a road and he may have to deal with
more people. Well this week his home was burnt in a 35 hectare fire and
now so much for privacy, he is on the front cover of the Halifax
Herald. As he was interviewed by a reporter he sat peeling an
orange with blackflies swarming around his head. He is still not sure if
he will move into that 2 story cabin, preferring to be deeper into the
woods. He is probably not the only hermit in this country but it's not
often you hear stories like these. He is likely better off than most
people, he has pride, freedom, a home and his health.
Well I am off to the curling club. We
are having our annual auction in June and they need trucks to pick up items
that members are donating. I've only been to a couple of auctions in my
life since I always worked Saturdays. But things are different now!
Until
next time,
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
May 24, 2003
Hello again everyone! I just finished
reading Carol’s comments about the past weeks reports. I guess she has a point
about getting Digger on Survivor. He’s too nice a guy to be put in the position
people on that show find themselves. It seems that on every season’s show there
are a couple of decent people that finally have to resort to some form of
backstabbing to survive. However, now that I think of it, isn’t that the name
of the show, “Survivor”. I’d be willing to bet that most if not all of us would
not be able to resist the twists and turns of that situation if we were
committed to 39 days as castaways. Especially with the possibility of walking
away with a million bucks at the end of it all for the cost of smudging our
reputations a tad with a few white lies. After all, it’s only a television show
and at that, just a game. We would all get a chance to come clean and make
amends for our temporary sins at the end of it all anyway. I guess none of us
will ever have that chance anyhow. I think we’re all much too mature and
sensible to be involved in something so…….well……Hollywood, if you know what I
mean. So on to bigger and better things in life.
It’s raining here right now and is supposed to continue to do so until at least Monday. I thought only the Asian countries had Monsoon Seasons! Jeepers, will it ever straighten out and turn into a nice warm Spring? I’m sure it will it’s just that I hope it happens before the Summer is over! Hahaha! Carol asked if I was one of those dandelion hating people. YES, I hate them with a passion! I’ll keep on spraying them as long as my wife Carole keeps telling me to! I say there’s nothing like the sweet smell of “weed n feed” in the early morning air! Especially if it keeps my lawn looking like a green velvet blanket. If I have to sweat my buns off mowing and trimming the damned stuff every three days all summer long, I want it to look like a million bucks!
Besides, there’s only one good thing ever
to come out of the dandelion plant and that’s dandelion wine, or so they tell
me. I’ve never tasted it but they say it’s quite good. I remember using them as
a kid to make yellow stains on your friend’s chins. Kids can find more uses for
dandelions than grown ups ever could. I remember also my mother having a devil
of a time getting the stains from the yellow scourge out of the knees of my
pants. I guess my dislike for them goes way back to those days in the North
Ward where Breithaupt Park was a virtual sea of yellow. When we were kids, we
did everything from sliding on our knees in the fields of dandelions to picking
bouquets of them to take home to our mom’s for a centerpiece on the kitchen
table. I also remember my dad cursing them as he spent hours on his knees digging
dandelion plants out of the lawn one at a time. Thank goodness we’ve progressed
to being able to get rid of the “yellow plague” while standing upright with a
sprayer in one hand and a litre of “Killex” in the other. Our lungs may be a
poisoned mess after a few years but at least our knees aren’t as sore.
Actually, Carol may have a point there. Why is it that we can’t just appreciate
the beauty that Mother Nature has placed in the dandelion and allow them to
succumb to their natural demise each year? Once again, I can answer that.
BECAUSE THEY SPOIL THE LOOKS OF MY BEAUTIFUL GREEN VELVET LAWN!!!!!!! THAT’S
WHY!!!!!! That’s why God invented 3M and Scott’s and all those other lovely
chemical companies isn’t it?
I should mention at this point, that the
city of Kitchener has decided not to spray any kind of weed this year. I think
actually this is the second year of the sprayless program. I guess this is a
step in the right direction. They are trying to keep the chemicals from
leaching into our drinking water. However, their “not spraying” only makes each
householder spend twice as much time spraying than they would if the city
stopped the spread of weeds by continuing to spray. Does this make sense to
you?
Oh well, I’m only going to live another 20
to 30 years and by that time when all the clean water is gone, someone will
have invented healthy synthetic water anyway. Everyone will be vacuuming
“Astroturf” on their lots instead of mowing lawns. Then the problem of spraying
will be solved for sure. Our kids will have nothing to worry about when it
comes to spraying chemicals. The respirators they will all be wearing will
protect them from air pollution, the chem. Suits will protect them from being
splashed with acid rain from the puddles formed after each storm and they won’t
have to worry about sunblock because nobody will be allowed outside during
daylight hours since the Ozone Layer will be completely gone as well! Wow, this
is really starting to get me down! Is this really what we are leaving for our
kids to inherit? I certainly hope not! I guess I should be thinking about the
consequences of spraying chemicals next time I go out and notice a dandelion
that has sprung up on my “green velvet lawn”. Maybe letting nature take it’s
course isn’t such a bad idea. Now all I have to do is convince my wife that the
lawn wouldn’t look so bad with a few hundred yellow dandelions growing in it!
Fat Chance of that! Oh well, I can see the beginnings of an environmentally
conscious X civil servant at least. I wonder if Carol has a centerpiece made of
dandelions on her kitchen table? Hmmmmmmmm maybe Al could make a few points by
bringing her home a nice bouquet of yellow lovelies this weekend. If you do Al,
better make sure all those grass fleas are out of them first.
Wow, this has been a strange few
paragraphs even if I do say so myself! I guess that’s what writing is all
about, food for thought! Take care all and I’ll talk to you again next week.
PS: The New
Dundee garage sale was ho hum! Nothing worth writing about. Maybe next year!
GREG.
PPS: Something to Think About>
Apology….Politeness too late!
****
Melbourne Report
G'day everyone,
hope you all had a great week. Mine was at least half good - or is that half bad?
Well, I never like to talk about he bad stuff. At least not in this column.
Highlights of my week were:
Talking on the phone with sis: (Monday)
Well, trying to get a hold of my big sister,who lives in Scarborough, isn't always easy. She has two jobs, and therefore is either at work, or too tired to write or talk. So, thanks to the long weekend in Canada, she actually had a day off, and by collaborating with her partner Dave, I managed to find a time slot which would be good for both of us.
Why talk so long, you may ask? Well, it is not as insane as it might seem, since we do have a very reasonable phone plan. Get this - we only pay $6 for up to 3 hours. It is actually better value to talk longer because the plan states that you pay for the first 35 min, which is about $6, and you get 2 hr 20 min free. So it pays to talk longer.
Well, I won't get into what we talked about. Obviously we talked about everything, including Karl's impending visit to Canada this summer (July and August). Let's just say it is always interesting and fun to talk to Chris. Those of you who know her, understand why we end up talking so long. It's always a good laugh, and there was so much to catch up on.
Arts and Crafts class:
As always, I was feeling a bit anxious before going in, because it is one of those things where you never know what to expect. I wasn't feeling very well, either, but decided I'd go in anyway.
I'm glad I did, because it turned out to be a lot of fun. When I first started teaching the
arts and crafts I didn't have any experience in the field of teaching. It was really overwhelming for me. I had all the responsibility of planning the projects (including buying materials). I found it very frustrating, because it was limited money wise, and by what the clients could do. Most things I planned, some of them couldn't do because they had trouble with their vision, or dexterity, or because it was too complicated, etc. So it was a very steep learning curve for me in the beginning...and very stressful at times.
On top of that, they wouldn't give me a budget, and I didn't have any real help. Finally they realized it's a job for two, and it is a lot to ask for one person. So now there are two of us doing it and we have a small budget for buying supplies. Since then it has been really great most of the time.
The other thing about the clients is that they need a lot of one on one attention, so it is great when we have extra volunteers.
Last Wednesday we had three new volunteers, who were just there for observation. (two were young student nurses, the other one was a volunteer who wanted to join the program). Well, these ladies joined my table, where we were painting watercolour, and they started trying some painting themselves. Everyone really enjoy it, and two of the ladies asked me if I teach art classes, as they were interested in taking a class. I had to say that I don't yet, but am planning to in the near future.
It did make me feel good that everyone had a good time in class, including the clients. It is always a positive experience lately, so I really want to do similar kind of work and get paid to do it. Teaching a small class would be ideal.
I just haven't decided if I want to teach a small class at home, or teach a bigger class at a community centre. I would prefer at home, but lack the space and am reluctant to give up my studio space for the purpose.
Watercolour class with Nicole:
On Wednesday night (same day as Art and Craft), I left for my watercolour class, which is just down the road, a 5 min drive. I would walk, except I would have to schlep my art things, so I drive.
Well, silly me, I forgot to fill up the gas tank, and my car stalled on me of course.
Let me explain about my car. It is a Mitsubishi Magna (a very old model), and has "dual fuel". Most of the time it runs on LPG gas, but it also can be switched over to "petrol" which is what Canadians usually refer to as gas. So, anyway, my LPG gas tank was empty, and there is a little switch which switches it to petrol. But since my car had stalled 1/2 way on the road, in the dark, I got a bit flustered, and didn't switch the switch all the way over to petrol, so of course it didn't start because it was getting neither gas nor petrol. (confused yet?)
Some good Samaritan came up and asked if I needed help, as I tried in vain to get it started so I could get off the road. Mind you it was dark, and the switch was in a dark area where I couldn't see, so after this nice man helped to push me to the side (poor guy), I realized the switch was in the neutral position, which you are supposed to switch it to when you switch from petrol to gas, but not from gas to petrol. Being still flustered I accidentally switched it back to Gas again and started puttering off, only to stall again (since my gas tank was empty).
Finally realizing what I did, I tried to fix it (groping in the dark), when a nice young man came along and asked if I need help. (he offered his cell phone). Anyway, with his help, I finally got it on the petrol setting and finally was on my way to Nicole's.
When I finally got to Nicole's I apologised for being late, and went to get out my painting so I could work on it. Well, I had my painting, but not the book I was copying it from. So I had to work on something new, which was a bit frustrating.
I was kind of disappointed that Ria wasn't there. She had called in sick. So I had a one on one with Nicole. The two hours went really quickly and I learned a lot - fortunately I had brought another painting (a watercolour portrait), which I'd started at home, so it wasn't a total loss.
Early days in Australia:
Ten years ago, when I first left behind winter in Canada and a couple of days later experienced the hight of summer in Australia, I believed that I had come to a tropical wonderland.
It didn't take me long to realize that life rarely turns out the way you expect. For one thing, I had expected a climate that was warm all year. Well, initially I got this, but by June, which is the official start of winter, the cold weather came, with rain. It was miserable; it was depressing and I was homesick.
One of the other things that caused me a lot of anxiety over the years, was the pokies which are everywhere. Pokies is what they call the many sports clubs where they have slot machines. Let me tell you, there are a lot of them in our area. There are more pokies here than there are churches, or at least as many...
Back in 1993 they were still a novelty in Victoria, since gambling only became legal in Victoria in 1992.
It would not have been a problem for us, because I don't like gambling. Unfortunately Karl really enjoys "playing the pokies", so there were times it caused a lot of tension between us. Gambling, like anything that's potentially addictive, can be either a harmless pastime, or for some people it can lead to financial ruin.
Over the years the gambling industry has grown over here. They have built a Casino in Melbourne.
It has it's good side, as it attracts tourism, and does make Melbourne a more glamorous place to visit. On the other hand, if you have a gambler in the family it can put a lot of strain on the family. I've seen it happen close to home.
I don't like the gambling industry in general. It's an industry built on greed that prays on people. But if you don't have a gambling problem, it can be a fun night out with friends. There are a lot of fine restaurants inside the Casino complex, and it is in the city, accessable to everything that's fun about the city. So it has it's good side.
I'm not a gambler - don't even buy lottery tickets. Aussies are supposedly the biggest gamblers in the world. Collectively they spend billions gambling, including the lottery , horses, pokies and Casinos.
Mind you the government is all for it, since they reap the benefits in the form of high revenues, so it is a fact of life which is here to stay...
Finally...
On a brighter note, I just read Carol's newsletter, and once again her weekly input is a delight. As always, thanks for sharing your thoughts, Carol.
Wish I could write as well as you. It would certainly come in handy when writing this column.
As it is, writing this column is sometimes a time consuming chore for me, so I have decided to cut back. I would still like to contribute, but perhaps once a month, rather than weekly. I think this way it should be a more interesting segment and I can write when I feel more inspired (I do feel inspired at least once a month, so it should be OK..)
Perhaps someone else can take over for a while....
Of course, I will still enjoy reading the Squamidian and hope to continue receiving it. I will likely add my commentary as does everyone else. I do enjoy that very much.
I have included a couple of links below, so you can check out Jenn's new projects in her website, which she's done at school, as well as some of the greeting cards which she has created over the past few years. Also I've included a couple of articles from The Age. (just click on the links if you are interested).
Have a wonderful week!
Karin
Jennifer's school projects: Jennifer goes to TAFE, which is short for Technical And Further Education. She is studying Illustration.
http://www.8ung.at/jaztoons/tw.html
Jennifer has some new stuff in her projects page... these are her greeting cards.
http://www.8ung.at/jaztoons/cards.html
Article about twister in Bendigo
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/19/1053196525072.html
Article about Cane Toads in Kakadu.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/19/1053196523688.html
****
Hi
Doug, and everyone,
It's another late night at work! I'm done now, and none too soon. I did
eventually make it back to my original job in Toronto. The SARS thing
has more or less passed, and things are slowly getting back to normal.
Each day I would take the subway and two busses out to Mississauga. I
MUST get a car, and more driving experience! But it wasn't too bad, and
the Mississauga people tried to make us feel at home. We had to be
careful not to come across like snobs from the main office. I kept
complaining because I had to give up my UNIX terminal and a PC for a
slow lap top. I never really understood windows. It has some things that
I like, but most of the time it just makes me angry.
When I got back the gym had been expanded, and I joined again. They're
still working on it. I'm still working on it too! It doesn't matter how
long or how hard you exercise, once you stop for a little while the
small gains just vanish. Oh well, it still helps me blow off a lot of
steam. Another thing that had changed was that the salad bar had gone,
and everyone had to use individually wrapped plastic cutlery. I hate
plastic cutlery. But, things have returned to normal, more or less.
I can't complain about anything, I didn't catch a potentially deadly
disease!
They say the Rolling Stones might come to play again in Toronto, to
boost tourism. A bunch of other bands too. I hope I have time to go!
Things have been tough on the city, because it relies heavily on
American tourist dollars. Can you imagine coming to Canada and only
seeing Toronto? What a waste! I think it's a fine city but... I'd have
to say that there are a great many places that have more to offer
someone on vacation.
I just couldn't believe it when the mayor retaliated when the Premier
of Nova Scotia released a statement about how Canada is a big place, and
most of it is SARS free. Why not visit Nova Scotia? Or Old Quebec city,
or Squamish? Sometimes people in Toronto see the rest of the country as
a thin outer layer around the city.
It's also been harder than normal because of the Holly Jones story. I
guess one of the ways they hope to catch the killer is to hit them with
remorse and guilt. They always show her face, everywhere. It's really
just very sad. I guess it shouldn't matter that she was such a cute kid.
It would be a tragedy happening to anyone. It just seems to make it even
more depressing somehow. As calloused as we city dwellers are, sometimes
the news is tragic enough to knock everyone back.
No one has come around to ask me for a DNA sample yet, even though she
disappeared about a ten minute walk from where I live. I guess that's
because I'm always at work! They say that there are more than 200 known
sex offenders with 3 km of her home. Great, this is the nicest area that
I've lived in since I moved to Toronto! I guess that doesn't matter,
there are just so many people in the city. Most of them are decent
people, and it isn't a bad place at all.
I just wish that I had stories about sailboats, walks on the beach,
vintage cars, water colours or trees in the clouds! Sometime I'll have
to tell you about Allen Gardens, High Park and Jillian. This one is long
enough!
yours,
Ewan
P.S.
I'm not a fan of "reality T.V." I don't have a T.V., and I
consider
reality to be highly overrated. But the ultimate reality T.V. show would
be one of those studio houses, with three or four couples. Every one of
them would be a smoker. They would all be on diets, with no coffee,
alcohol or cigarettes. Sure they could win a single smoke here and
there, just enough to keep them edgy. The couple that stays together,
quits smoking and avoids being strangled wins the cool million!
****
Told you it was a long one.
Have a good one.
the
doug