The Squamidian Report – May 3/03
Also in this issue:
North Nova Views
The Ontarion
The Melbourne Report
Hi All,
I think we can all agree that it is fun to hear about life in other parts of the world. Each of us has their reason for living where they do. As we point out the things we find neat about our particular neck of the wood, we do so to inform and educate the rest of us. I babble about the scenery or the wild life or the fresh air because it is different from what someone in Kitchener or anywhere else is experiencing, not because I think it is better. (The air is better for me but that’s a personal thing). So I always look forward to reading about Nova Scotia, Melbourne and yes, even Kitchener. Majestic stands of hardwood forest and rolling farm fields are now a novelty for me where once they were everyday mundane background. So keep up the good work everyone, and lets face it, the replies and follow-ups are just as interesting and informing as our newsletter.
Well, I’ve been working at my new job for 3 weeks now. It sure is different from working in Whistler. It is enjoyable and relaxed. My input and advice are welcome and valued. And I am only minutes from home most days. This small company is set up very much like I was back home.
In Whistler everyone is cold, arrogant and money mad. They do things poorly and very inefficiently. Most of the working population in Whistler couldn’t keep a job anywhere else. I guess I was lucky to get out before I became tainted.
And speaking of enjoyable, I did a job this week where we had to find and uncover a septic tank so it could be pumped. Sounds simple enough. However, the job site was in a run down trailer park in the grungy section of town and the tank location was between two trailers. To make it more interesting the tank was made of wood planks. I’d never heard of a wooden tank before. That meant digging very gently as I didn’t want to crush the thing with the excavator bucket.
That part went OK but finding the tank in the first place was a bit frustrating. The only thing you have to go on is the rather poor memory of someone who thinks they know where it is. When I did find it the liquid part of the contents began squirting up through the cracks between the planks. The weeping field is also plugged so there is know where for the stuff to go. Sure cleaned out the old sinuses. And you thought banana slugs were interesting.
And hey, it is one year ago right now that we moved into our house here in the land of Squamidia. It has been an interesting year and it went by pretty fast. Pulling up stakes at our age and moving all the way across the country is quite scary as well as a very big adventure. Not knowing where or even if you will find a job can be a bit hard on the old confidence. However, things always seem to work out. I think all the guests from back home have helped our adjustment as they have kept up in contact familiar faces.
We are still getting used to all the things here that are different. The weather, the terrain, the people. It is very much like living in a different country. Mind you, a lot of people in the Windsor - Toronto - Ottawa corridor think anything west of Sarnia is a different country.
****
North Nova News
Speaking of slugs, I have a couple of gruesome stories if you would
like to hear them. Many years ago while
visiting my brother Dennis at Lions Bay not far from Squamish, I learned all
about slugs. We had spent the day
touring the side of the mountain subdivision where Dennis lived and discovered
many of these strange creatures. I was
fairly repulsed by them, especially by their size, but managed to put them out
of my mind, or so I thought. That
night, while sleeping on the floor, (Dennis had very little furniture) I awoke
to feel something large and clammy beside my body. In horror I thought it was a slug but soon I realized it was my
own arm that had fallen asleep and had no feeling. At first I felt relieved, then stupid and then I laughed myself
silly. It must be that mountain
air!! Last summer while camping in Cape
Breton, we walked a very damp trail to a lake.
Everywhere there were slugs, not
as large as in B.C. but just as repulsive and slimy. Zane decided to catch some and use them for fishing bate. The only container we had available was a
Tim Horton plastic cup with a lid.
We thought it was perfect because it even had a very small hole for
the slugs to breathe. Later we found a
fishing hole and went to get the slugs. To our surprise the cup was empty. They
had made themselves small enough to crawl out that tiny hole. Searching the car for slugs amongst all our
camping gear was definitely not the highlight of our trip and no matter how
many times I have washed that cup I cannot drink out of it!
Well it’s that time of year when the earth starts to beckon us. Gardening has become one of my
pastimes. It must be something to do
with age. I don’t remember even
thinking about gardens years ago except for out at Uncle Lorne and Aunt
Vivyan’s place where we used to have big corn boils and tomato fries. Three years ago I started a garden club in
Scotsburn and it has grown each year. We meet once a month from May to
September and all we do is exchange plants and do garden tours. There is no president, secretary or
treasurer and absolutely no cost or obligation to attend or even join. Most people hate joining an organization
because it may cost them or they get stuck with a job so we kept it really
simple and I’m sure that is why it is so popular. Some in our group have old established gardens with tons of
plants that need separating. I come
home with trunk loads of perennials.
It’s a good excuse to dig up some new earth. I found it interesting to hear from Karin about the plants in
Australia. It sounds like a gardener’s
dream!
I enjoyed reading Ewan’s letter very much. I hope he will contribute whenever
possible. He’s my buddy from way back.
I also loved the picture of Doug and the music playing in the background on
Clyde's photo gallery. Great
stuff!! Last Sunday we dropped down to
the Caribou Wharf where most of the fishermen around here keep their
boats. The lobster traps with all their
identifying colours were lined up high along the wharf. What a beautiful sight. The boats, hidden by
the stacks and stacks of traps, were getting their final touches done before the
big opening day which turned out to be delayed because of gale force winds
predicted. The first part of the week
was absolutely beautiful even into the evenings. We spent them down at the
marina getting our boat ship shape for the season. The water looked so tranquil and inviting. It won’t be long now.
Until next time,
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
May 1, 2003
Holy smokes its
May already! I guess that explains why the calendars around the house no longer
say April. We have had almost “0” rain during the month of April. You know the
old poem “April showers bring May flowers” well I think we had all of April’s
showers last night. We had the longest thunderstorm last night that I can
remember. It started as we crawled in to bed (11pm). It was so loud that it
rocked me out of the sack no less than 5 times through the night. Each time, I
looked at the alarm clock to see if it was time to get up. Midnight, 2am,
3:30am, 4am and again at 5:20am. I’m sure the flowers will be in great
abundance the minute I step out the door today. If not, they won’t be long in
busting out all over! We actually needed a good downpour to wash away the dirt
left on the roadsides by he winter snow buildup. Lord knows the city wouldn’t dare
send a street sweeper around to clean it up. Someone might accuse them of doing
something constructive! Carole and I commented I don’t know how many times this
winter about the snow plows going buy our house plowing dry pavement. I’m lost
as to why they do this. It’s usually on a Saturday or Sunday as well. I guess
the attraction is the “overtime” pay that the drivers get if it’s done on a
weekend. Funny, I worked weekends for 29 years and never got a penny of “overtime” pay! Hmmmmmmm! I wonder why that
was!
Oh well, there
are more important things to occupy my time now that I’m retired. It’s amazing
that we never seem to have a minute to spare now that I have all the time in
the world! People have often said that once you retire, you’ll wonder where you
found the time to get all your personal stuff done when you worked. They’re
right it’s surprising how busy we seem to be. We are now planning to build a
pond in the back yard. I think I mentioned that in a past Ontarion. There are
actually seminars being held at the local gardening centers on how to build a
garden pond. I think we’ll take in one of the sessions this weekend just to
make sure that we do this right.
Along with spring, the crazy’s are out on the roads again. We have just had a second major car accident in Kitchener in as many days. In the first one, two guys were racing and the driver of one of the vehicles lost control and crossed the median. He died in the resulting collision. He also put 4 other people in hospital with serious injuries. The Police found the second driver, who had left the scene, dead in his Corvette in his garage. He apparently couldn’t deal with the tragedy he was a part of and committed suicide. The second accident was a single vehicle driving at excessive speed when he lost control and hit a tree not far from the Freeport Bridge that is pictured in Doug’s website. The passengers in both the front and rear seats on the right side of the vehicle died at the scene. It’s a shame that bad judgment on the part of some drivers ends in tragedy. I’ve seen all too much of this carnage in my 29 years on the Fire Dept. I just wish the young people would learn from these well publicized events. They seem to have the feeling that it will never happen to them. WRONG! Speed Kills!
Don’t get me
wrong I’m not pointing a finger at only “young” drivers. It can happen to
anyone that makes the mistake of driving too fast. However, in my career as a
firefighter I can honestly say that the majority of fatal accidents that I
attended involved people under the age of 25 years. Most involved speed and
some involved impaired drivers. I don’t specify alcohol because I have seen
drivers impaired by pot and other drugs as well. It’s a sad situation when a
parent answers their doorbell to find a Police officer standing there with his
or her hat in hand. It’s unfortunate that this is another happening brought on
by the coming of Spring. People have the urge to step on the gas a little too
much when the roads are clear and the weather is nice. I know that the majority
of drivers are sensible but it only takes one careless one to bring tragedy
into many lives. I guess I’m getting off on a tangent here but this has always
been bothersome to me. If I never read of another fatal car accident, it’ll be
too soon. Here’s wishing you all a safe and happy summer this year. Enjoy your
good weather wherever you live and drive carefully. See you next week.
GREG.
PS: Something to Think About>
“ The important thing about your lot in life is
whether you use it for building or parking.”
****
G'day everyone
Well, it's Saturday, and what to write!?.....Jennifer is kind of hanging over my shoulder, distracting me a bit, but at least Karl is at work, so mercifully, the TV is off.
Well, I just got back from a short walk through the neighbourhood and took some awesome pictures. On yesterday's walk I actually noticed that one of my favourite Australian natives is now flowering, so I thought I would send some pictures along with my report.
You'll see why I like them so much, when you see the pictures. They are just so amazing, and unusual.
They are called Hakea laurina, but the common names discribe them better - also called pincushion bush or sea urchin. I also managed to get some pics of some bottlebrushes, and gumnut blossoms I told you about last week.
Well, Jennifer did get my website up and running, so I will pass the website address along. (below)
I must warn you that the host server seems to have occasional problems with it. For instance a couple of times we went to look at the website and it wasn't working. So, finger's crossed, that you can view it if you wish to do so.
Well, it's been a pretty good week. I don't know where it went, but it went fast.
When you have a family and house, and a studio and lots of paints, etc, you never run out of things to do, even without a job. Wednesday was my busiest day. I taught the Arts and Crafts class in the morning. It went quite well, considering my teaching partner, Sally, was away sick. Fortunately, we had a new volunteer that day, who really knew what she was doing, so it actually went very well.
We did some painting with watercolour. (just very simple and basic stuff). The Irony is that in the morning I was teaching painting and in the evening I was learning watercolour.
The same evening (7 to 9 pm), I started something new and exciting. I went to my first watercolour painting class. Nicole (the teacher), moved here from Sydney about a year ago. She lives only a 15 walk from me, so the classes are handy. (she is teaching from her home).
She has the room for up to 6 students and has just started to advertise the classes. Eventually she wants to build up her classes to teaching watercolour full-time in her home, so she can give up her day job.
Wednesdays she only had one other student, besides me,so it was just the three of us.
The other student, who is a hairdresser about my age, was really nice and funny. Ria (short for Maria), is originally from Czechoslovakia, or someplace like that. She has a heavy accent, a bit like Zsazsa Gabor (is that how you spell it?). I think it is going to be fun to get together with these ladies once a week.
Anyway, so I had my first watercolour class, and I didn't do too well. I decided to copy a very difficult painting, because that's the method she uses to teach, and I just could not get into the drawing mode. I found it hard to draw in this new situation. I was more in the mode of wanting to chat and socialize. So I didn't get as much done as Ria. She chose something more simple, and was a lot more confident with her drawing. Still, I think this watercolour class is just what I need to help me improve my watercolour skills. And it's nice just to be around other artists, and people who share your interest in art.
I learned a lot from Nicole, and will probably apply a lot of that when I teach my own art class, which is something I plan to do very soon. I will be doing the watercolour classes with Nicole, two hours a week, for 10 weeks. Should be fun...
Well, the weather has been a bit on the coldish side. I remember other years it usually doesn't get this cold until June. It makes it hard to keep warm some days, especially since the old houses here are so poorly insulated. We do have central heating, (gas heating), but it seems you have to keep the heat going constantly to keep warm. (since we built the studio just recently, we made sure it had insulation, so it's pretty cosy).
I mean it doesn't get anything near as cold as Canada, of course, so they don't really need as much insulation, but still, I think it wouldn't have hurt for them to put some in. It would also keep out the heat in summer.
Our house is typical of this area. It's 20 years old, and was build as cheaply as possible. So a lot of the workmanship is really shoddy. No basements and attics either. Just very basic. I don't know why hardly anyone has basements here. The houses are just built on a concrete slab. I guess it's a different climate, and so totally isolated from the rest of the civilized world (but not so much any more with all this modern technology).
One down side of our area is that there is a lot of industries here, including some oil refineries. So it is not the ritzy part of Melbourne, but the Industry actually provides funds for beautifying the area, and building parks and wildlife reserves, so they do their bit, to make this a pleasant area to live.
The local council (Hobson's Bay), really developed and are still developing the recreational areas around here. In the past few years they have built bike trails,(including a new foot bridge) and picnic areas all along our coastal areas. They have spruced up the local beach, and keep it well maintained.
We used to have a garbage dump near by, but they shut it down and turned it into a great look-out point. It's got 100 steps going up to the top, and they have landscaped it and put benches and sculptures on it. So they have taken a pile of rubbish (Aussi for garbage) and made it into a beautiful place. The best time to go up there (the locals call it Mount Altona), is either early in the morning for the sunrise, or late to see the sunset. It's a gorgeous view. It also gives an awesome 360 degree view. On a clear day you can see for miles...you can watch the weather in the distance. It has a great view of the city too...
Well, I think I'd better wrap it up for
now. (running a bit late as usual).
Hope you can have a peek at my website. Keep in mind it is not exactly
the way I want it. Jennifer worked on it fairly independently, and did a
lot of decisions on her own (bless her). She did a great job, and worked
really hard on the site, but ultimately, being a perfectionist, it is not
totally what I want yet...It will hopefully evolve over time, and will be
constantly changing. (like my garden).
You might also want to check out www.theage.com.au for the latest Australian news. If you decide to go there, scroll down, and look for the picture link called My Melbourne. There are some photos of Melbourne in there, sent in by readers. This week I found one in there which my son (Kris Zeller), took. Kris has just acquired a new digital camera (about a month ago), and also posts his pictures on the website listed in my website under links.
Finally, here's my website address: http://www.8ung.at/karincharlottezeller
That's all for now folks !
Have a great week.
PS. Doug and Clyde, I put your website addresses on my links page. Hope that's OK. I figured you would feel left out if I didn't .... By the way, Doug, thanks for putting my pictures from last week (sailing), on your website. I just noticed them there yesterday...
****
I have posted Karin’s latest pictures; they can be seen at http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/Zeller/Zeller.htm
Just look for the flower picture links near the bottom of the page.
Have a good one.
the
doug