National Treasure #147: Harry Wasylyk

Posted on 19 June 2017 by Isabel Gibson

He gets one of of those really short Wikipedia entries: Harry Wasylyk, Winnipeg inventor, sort of, of the plastic garbage bag. Other sources are a little more expansive.

Enter Winnipeg inventor Harry Wasylyk who, after the Second World War, began experimenting with a new material called polyethylene. Harry made his first plastic bags in his kitchen and supplied them to the Winnipeg General Hospital to line their garbage cans. He quickly moved his kitchen production to a plant. – Library and Archives Canada

Continue reading →

Posted in Through Canada | Tagged , | 4 Comments

The Only Things

Posted on 18 June 2017 by Isabel Gibson

Stay home.  Go out.
Sit still.  Exercise.
Tolerate clutter.  Tidy up.
Stay awake. Sleep soundly.

These are the things, the only things.

Walk smartly. Drive safely.
Read a book. Write a blog.
Plan a meal.  Choose take-out.
Talk freely.  Keep quiet.

These are the things, the only things.

Think without drifting.
Talk without babbling.
Laugh without crying.
Breathe without aching.

These are the things, the only things
That I can’t do while my mother is dying.

Marjorie Mae Gibson died 10 June 2017.

 

Posted in Feeling Clearly, Mortality | Tagged | 24 Comments

National Treasure #146: Geological Survey of Canada

Posted on 16 June 2017 by Isabel Gibson

Other than being a set of acronyms you’ve never heard of, what do these three things have in common:

  • CNSN
  • NATMAP
  • LITHOPROBE

If you guessed that they are all initiatives involving the Geological Survey of Canada, you’d be right. Continue reading →

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Laughing Frequently, Through Canada | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Gambel’s Quail, Gilbert AZ

Posted on 15 June 2017 by Isabel Gibson

Gilbert Water Ranch has been the site of many hours of photographic fun, mostly chasing water birds.

But it also has its fair share of the regular occupants of the desert and sometimes they’re close enough to warrant a picture. I usually see these guys zooming along the ground, in and out of cover, top-knot feather bobbing, but they do sometimes hang out – and sit more-or-less still – in the trees.

Profile view of Gambel's quail in a tree of bare branches

 

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Photos of Fauna | Tagged | 2 Comments

National Treasure #145: Theodore Witte

Posted on 14 June 2017 by Isabel Gibson

Who? The inventor of the caulking gun, that’s who. In 1894, that’s when.

Drawings from 1894 patent application for sealant gun.

Depending on your work, this invention – or the various iterations and improvements over the years (see one example here) – might be a wonderful or an irrelevant thing.

But if your day-to-day work or your occasional home repairs have ever called for caulking, you should bless the name of Theodore Witte, even though I find no evidence that he ever did anything else of particular note or ingenuity. Like many other inventors, Canadian and otherwise, he toiled in relative obscurity but we are the better for that toil.

 

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Through Canada | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Gecko, Gilbert AZ

Posted on 13 June 2017 by Isabel Gibson

At the same resting spot as I executed my leaves-through-time project, I saw something only after it moved on another nearby tree. It was not a spider or a snake. Hurray.

These little guys (and gals, I presume) move fast enough and are skittish enough that I have trouble getting close enough and focused enough before they’re off again. But it’s fun to try.

Brown gecko camouflaged against rugged tree bark.

 

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Photos of Fauna | Tagged | 4 Comments

What It Is

Posted on 11 June 2017 by Isabel Gibson

At age 12, I was mildly startled to learn that French-speaking animals can make different noises than English-speaking ones. While cows sound about the same in both of Canada’s Official Languages, Francophone mice don’t make a (perfectly reasonable) squeak, they make a (perfectly ridiculous) wee, wee, wee noise.

What, I wondered, was with that? Continue reading →

Posted in Language and Communication, Laughing Frequently | Tagged | 22 Comments

National Treasure #144: William Stephenson

Posted on 09 June 2017 by Isabel Gibson

“James Bond is a highly romanticized version of a true spy.
The real thing is … William Stephenson.”
– Ian Fleming

“Inventor, businessman, master spy.”
– The Canadian Encyclopedia

Born in Winnipeg in 1897, Stephenson served as a pilot in WWI and earned medals for bravery. He invented the wirephoto and made his fortune in London in the 1920s, developing the market with newspapers. He “served on a royal commission in the 1930s to plan the development of India’s natural resources.” Continue reading →

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Through Canada | Tagged | 6 Comments

American Wigeon, Gilbert AZ

Posted on 08 June 2017 by Isabel Gibson

I remember my excitement the first time I saw this bird in the sense of realizing it was a new bird for me.

I still enjoy watching them at the artificial fishing pond about a block from our winter rental hone, and trying out various photographic techniques on them.

American wigeon landing on pond, wings outstretched and water spraying.

 

Posted in Appreciating Deeply, Photos of Fauna | Tagged | 4 Comments