Weirdos

“I hope they’ve changed their roster of movies.”

Resigning myself to another flight, I’m grumping to the Big Guy. Having flown too many times since mid-April, I’ve seen everything worth seeing and a few things not.

My selection is limited from the outset, with most offerings targeting a demographic other than mine: young, male, and illiterate, judging several movies by the first five minutes. All dark hulking intensity with fifty punches thrown and one line of dialogue that might as well have been thrown away.

“Who you lookin’ at?” Whack whack.

Continue reading

Posted in Feeling Clearly, New Perspectives | Tagged | 8 Comments

Redux: GPS, Publishing, Rolheiser, and MosaiCanada

Today I introduce a new category: And Another Thing. These are posts that follow up on an earlier one with something published in an external article or blog. Frequency will be determined not by me, but by what the universe sends my way. Today there are four, starting (appropriately enough) with a Big Bang of sorts.

GPS

The original: I wrote about interacting with our patient, precise, intense GPS.

The follow-up: Smithsonian had a fun and informative article on maps and on what our use of (and reliance on) GPS might be doing to our ability to find our own way around. If we ever had any such ability.

Publishing

The original: I wrote (just last week!) in part about the joy of living in the age of being able to publish without intermediaries and at essentially zero cost.

The follow-up: Seth Godin, blogger extraordinaire and entrepreneur, had a short post today on this very topic.

Rolheiser

The original: I wrote about Ron Rolheiser as one of our national treasures.

The follow-up: Here’s another of his posts worth sharing. He doesn’t always hit it out of the park, but this week he did.

MosaiCanada

The originals: This week, I posted two sets of photos taken at MosaiCanada: here, and here.

The follow-up: Capitalizing on internet time travel, this interview with MosaiCanada gardeners was broadcast before I posted my photos, but I just found it today when I was looking in vain for a link to the 1983 CBC Radio interview with Pierre Berton that they rebroadcast this morning.

 


Feel free to send me links to topics covered in my blogs.
I don’t promise to post them;
I do promise to look.

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This Here Premise

It isn’t the first time I’ve seen this mistake, but it might be the first time with my phone to hand.

Security sign mis-using "premise" for "premises."

I get it, I really do. “Premises” looks so dagnabbed plural that for just one building it seems overwrought. Continue reading

Posted in Language and Communication, Laughing Frequently | Tagged | 12 Comments

Puffins, Gatineau QC

The MosaiCanada show fills Jacques-Cartier Park, adjacent to the Alexandra Bridge, and I’ve already commented on its merits (the show and the bridge).

These little gems made the show for me.

Two puffins in floral or horticultural art.

Single puffin in floral or horticultural art.

 

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Mid-Week Movie #2: Squirrel!

I’ve written movingly and at great length about my old adversary, the squirrel.

Well, OK, maybe just at great length.

I’ve never before shown this villain in action.


If you’re wondering about the link on “my old adversary,” it’s to a clip from “The Hunt for Red October.” Check out the 1:00 point of Captain Ramius’ address to his submarine crew.

Posted in Laughing Frequently, Nature Videos | Tagged | 10 Comments

Dragon and Mom, Gatineau QC

MosaiCanada is one of the Signature Events for Canada’s 150th, and the dragon was one of the signature sculptures therein, says me. Did you know that national celebrations these days require dragons in the street?

For that matter, did you know that Canada has a “horticultural friendship” with Shanghai and Beijing?

I thought not. Continue reading

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National Treasure #157: Muskoxen

They’re a tad short in absolute terms: That’s the first surprise.

They . . . stand about 130 cm high . . . (Ed’s note: The height of an average 8- or 9-year-old human, give or take ) – Canadian Encyclopedia

Moreover, they’re a tad short for their weight.

They . . . weigh 180-270 kg . . . (Ed’s note: That average 8 or 9-year-old human weighs about 27 kg)

Continue reading

Posted in Laughing Frequently, Photos of Fauna | Tagged | 2 Comments

Philosophy 101

What’s this?

A new subscription to my blog? And from a stranger? Hurray!

I knew I was doing something right. If I just kept at it, it was only a matter of time until I started growing my audience. Next stop? Not fame and fortune, exactly, but maybe fame: Isabel, Geriatric Blogger.

What a warm validation of what I do. Of who I am, really.

I am inspired to keep going. Continue reading

Posted in Laughing Frequently, New Perspectives, Thinking Broadly | Tagged | 14 Comments

National Treasure #156: Dempster Highway

Sign marking southern start of Dempster Highway.

All photos courtesy of John L. Whitman

I’ve never driven the 736-km Dempster Highway, but I know someone who has.

The Dempster Highway, also referred to as Yukon Highway 5 and Northwest Territories Highway 8, is a highway in Canada that connects the Klondike Highway in Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories on the Mackenzie River delta. – Wikipedia

Much of the highway follows an old dog sled trail and the highway gets its name from Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector William John Duncan Dempster, who, as a young constable, frequently ran this dog sled trail from Dawson City to Fort McPherson NT. – Wikipedia

I’m familiar with highways built on top of logging roads, but a dog sled trail? All right, then. The Dempster goes back a ways, but the highway as we know it today officially opened on 18 August 1979, making it 38 years old today. Officially. It’s Canada’s only all-weather road that crosses the Arctic Circle and it’s gravel. On gravel. Continue reading

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Photos of Built Stuff, Through Canada | Tagged | 2 Comments