Tossing Pebbles in the Stream: 03/01/2006

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Can Green Grass Be Far Behind

A patch of bare ground and some lovely Spring temperatures bodes well for the end of the Winter season. This is what I am leaving to travel to Florida to drive back with my friend Veronica who looks forward to planting a big garden and whipping my house (and me, no doubt)to shape. I already have about 400 tomato plants started in my "greenhouse" of an attic along with 100 pepper plants.

We will b driving back from Florida visting friends and family along the way. You would think it would be easy but it is very complicated. Everyone has a life into which our visit must fit. As one who has always been home for the last 25 years, this is a great adventure for me. My memories of urban living and air travel are faint memories. Some of those I hope to visit I have not seen in 25 to 35 years.

I hope to post some comments and photos here as we enjoy the drive from Florida to here., about 2500 miles as we zig and zag our way home.

Here hoping they let me back in the US. If not my next posting could be a very interesting one.
Here is hoping my FBI file is boring and they have forgotten illegally wiretapping my phone.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Blessed Are The Peacemakers

Tom Fox the American Christian Peacekeeper is dead. It appears he died because he was an American while his three compatriots; Canadian, Jim Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden and Britain, Norm Kemper may still be alive. Apparently, those who held him hostage chose not to differentiate between an American who came in peace and those who are Occupiers who came as crusaders.

One wants to grieve at the unnecessary death of a man who willingly put himself in harms way in order to do good by answering the call to be a worthy Christian. He was that. We can celebrate his life and efforts. He was willing to risk death in a World which heaps honours on those who risk their lives to inflict death.

His work was to help Iraqis to locate and communicate with their relatives imprisoned by the US military and the nascent Iraqi government. The Christian Peacemakers lived with and accepted the daily risks of all Iraqis in order to do their work.

Ironically, those who took the Christian Peacemakers as hostages called themselves "Swords of Righteousness Brigade". They are anything but righteous. Those they have harmed are in fact among the righeous. That they should victimize non-combatants who come in peace to do good brings shame on them and their "cause". They are coward and brigands who live in the shadows attacking the weak in the face of their real enemy the Occupiers.

On the other hand, the leaders of the Occupiers also claim to be righteous. In the name of God and Christianity they support a criminal occupation and destruction of a people, using "all means necessary". They bring shame on themselves, their great Nation and Christianity.

One wonders if those who believe God speaks to them have ever read the Beatitudes. Apparently, the Christ never existed for them and they only know the God of vengence of the Old Testament.

There is much to grieve over these days. "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God." Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

Friday, March 10, 2006

Signs of Spring

Oh! for the first signs of Spring. Everyone you meet these days mentions what they consider their first sign of Spring: the Robin, the half load going on, farm animals giving birth, geese heading North, doing taxes. . . on it goes.

I have my own list. ( They are reflective of who I am. I am a bachelor, living on the edge of Society, economically and geographically.

1. My first sign of Spring is the fact that parts start falling off my old truck. They were held on by the ice and snow. I know I am not alone for I see other's car and truck parts along the roads.

2. I spit a lot less outside. I can resist the temptation to spit to see if it is cold enough to have it freeze before it hits the ground.

3. No longer when I come into the house do I look like papa Smurf with ice in my beard from breathing. I don't miss the painful raking of this out so I won't drip around the place for an hour.

4. Using the outhouse is more of a pleasure. Dropping your draws outside is pleasantly cooling on your butt that has been trapped in long johns all Winter in an overheated house. One finds oneself lingering a little naked from the waist down without fear of your testicles painfully retracting into your torso (It's a man thing!)

5. That plump young woman around town you admired bundled up in layers of Winter clothes appears in Spring attire. She is not plump but pregnant!

6. Young nubile girls appear in short skirts and cropped tops. I find out once more how lovely they are. And, I am reminded how old I am. It is like standing in front of the bakery admiring the lovely desserts when you are on a diet. If they pass close to me, I am reminded how wonder women smell. Like fresh baked bread!

7. I no longer have to get up in the middle of the night to keep the woodstove going. The mornings are cool but not shivering cold with the fire out.

8. Fewer cats want to share my bed. Some will even go outside.

9.One does not have to worry about going somewhere without a kit of survival items in case your vehicle breaks down or you get lost in the bush.

10. You give up the idea of seeking the poisonous bloodroot plant ( the first to bloom in the forest). Life looks a lot more hopefull. Is this not the message of Spring!

These are my ten signs of Spring. I am sure we all have out unique private list.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Late Winter Dreaming

The trail into our cabin by the river. While the snow is so good to travel on I decided to go and check out the cabin and dream a little of the summer fun there. By next Winter I expect to be able to stay over in the cabin.

The cabin, such peace and quiet!

Ben came along to enjoy a romp in the snow and check out the river nicely filled with water.
I have an obsession with rivers and always feel much blessed to live on the Temagami which is pure, clear and cold. It is also safe enough to drink untreated, which I have done for 25 years. To wash your hair in this soft water is a joy and contrast with the hard water pumped from drilled wells around here, that may smell of sulfur.

Meanwhile, my cats remain indoors just dreaming of summer days. The river behind this cat is the wallpaper on my bedroom wall that is part of my obsession with rivers. I is very much a typical river in the rugged Cambrian Shield area of Canada. Would you like to join me on my bed and we can bob up and down and pretend we are floating down the river? Watch the chute we are going to get a little wet!!

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Waiting for Spring

Looking upstream on the Temagami River. Only a fring of ice on the sides.

Looking downstream on the Temagami River. Our cabin is barely visible on the right side up against the cut of the river.

My humble farmhouse on the Baie Jeanne Road.

Looking up the road. Waiting for the Spring melt to begin.
A week from now the half load goes on. Heavy trucks will not be able to travel on the gravel roads except with a half load, no more than 5 tonnes per axle. This means no logging trucks until June.

The weather is hovering around 0C and they are calling for upwards to 7C and some rain by the end of the week.

I dream of gardening these days and the warm days of summer.

Tossing Pebbles in the Stream

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Friday, March 10, 2006

Thursday, March 09, 2006

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

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