Thanks Giving

Posted on 07 October 2018 by Isabel Gibson

Two weeks after the tornadoes bypassed us, and as the smell of red cabbage and turnip fills the house, I am reminded of the many good things in my life and moved to give thanks for a few of them from this past week. When I’m up to my elbows in my ritual fight to the death with the turkey I might not feel as thankful, so I’d better do this now.

Generosity & New Technology

The week before Thanksgiving, two professors at Carleton University sponsor an annual butterfly show, and I (along with 11,000 of my closest friends) have free (albeit slightly squished) access to enjoy 1,300 individuals of 41 species. And although I’m not a professional photographer or anything close to it, I also have the chance to take photos that my grandparents couldn’t have dreamt of. Continue reading →

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Feeling Clearly, Photos of Built Stuff, Photos of Fauna | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Beams of Light

Posted on 06 October 2018 by Isabel Gibson

A Canadian woman was one of three scientists jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics this week, “for creating groundbreaking tools from beams of light.”

Not literally groundbreaking, you understand. At least, I don’t think so, but I can’t rule it out. Let’s take a quick look at what I do know: It’ll be quick because, as with all branches of Physics, what I know isn’t much.

Strickland’s collaborator, Gérard Mourou, a French physicist, shares their half of the monetary prize. The Guardian notes that their seminal paper came out 33 years ago, in 1985.

[Their] work . . . paved the way for the shortest, most intense laser beams ever created.
Their technique, named chirped pulse amplification,
is now used in laser machining and
enables doctors to perform millions of corrective laser eye surgeries every year.

Continue reading →

Posted in Laughing Frequently, New Perspectives, Thinking Broadly | Tagged | 6 Comments

Border Collies & Their Charges, Ireland

Posted on 03 October 2018 by Isabel Gibson

On our recent trip to Ireland, we saw sheep everywhere.

3-photo collage of sheep jammed together Continue reading →

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Photos of Fauna, Through Space, Travel Videos | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Paid Already for the Confusion

Posted on 30 September 2018 by Isabel Gibson

We . . . (Oh, let me help. What are you trying to say? We have? We had? We were?).

No, we went . . . (Are you sure you want went? Maybe it was want? Or sent?). Thanks, I’ll stick with went.

We went . . . (to/through/into?). To it is.

We went to . . . (to/too/together?). No, thanks, to it is. And don’t be disturbed by that noise: It’s just my teeth grinding.
 Continue reading →

Posted in Language and Communication, Laughing Frequently, Wired | Tagged , | 20 Comments

Stone Pillar Face, Lismore

Posted on 28 September 2018 by Isabel Gibson

Another first: my first Irish face. Sort of a quizzical expression, no? It makes me want to smile back.

Serendipitous face on stone pillar at Lismore CastleThe antithesis of quizicallness (quizicallity?), these guys in the same spot might still have been inspired by the stone pillar. Certainly their expressions were impassive, maybe even stony . . .

2-photo collage of dogs at Lismore Castle

 

Posted in Laughing Frequently, Photos of Built Stuff, Photos of Fauna | Tagged | 6 Comments

To Bee

Posted on 27 September 2018 by Isabel Gibson

Adding to my collection of bees; herewith my first Irish one.

Honey bee with head stuck into pink fuchsia flowerFor context, this bee had its head stuck into a fuchsia flower, on a hedge of fuchsia as tall as I am. The hedge was in the expansive gardens of Kylemore Abbey, one of Ireland’s premier attractions. Continue reading →

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Photos of Built Stuff, Photos of Fauna, Photos of Landscapes | Tagged , | 11 Comments

You Don’t Like the Weather?

Posted on 26 September 2018 by Isabel Gibson

You don’t like the weather?
Just wait 15 minutes.

That was the line in Calgary when I was growing up. Since then, I’ve heard the same comment about the weather in many places, often with the timeline shortened. Continue reading →

Posted in Laughing Frequently, Photos of Landscapes | Tagged | 10 Comments

Peace Bridge, Derry/Londonderry

Posted on 23 September 2018 by Isabel Gibson

The roots of the current conflict date to 1347.

That’s a half-remembered quote from a briefing for Canadians on the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The year cited was the defeat of a Turkish fleet by the Knights Hospitaller. I might have the year wrong. Or the event. It might have been 1463, for example, when the Ottoman Empire conquered Bosnia. But it hardly matters. Continue reading →

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Feeling Clearly, Photos of Built Stuff, Through Space | Tagged , | 4 Comments

A Rocky Place

Posted on 21 September 2018 by Isabel Gibson

The word ‘Burren’ comes from an Irish word ‘Boí­reann’
meaning a rocky place.

We came to the Burren about a week into our tour of Ireland. We had seen many fine things by then — Belfast’s streets, Derry’s walls, sacred hilltop sites (from neolithic burial sites to medieval cathedrals) — and oodles of the rolling green hills for which Ireland is justly famous. All wonderful stuff. Continue reading →

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Photos of Landscapes, Through Space | Tagged | 6 Comments