![]() Friday, August 26th I arrived in Saskatoon on Friday, August 26th to help my “vagabonding companion” - Barbara - essentially - get rid of her belongings! A lifetime of collected “things” needed to be sold, given away, and favourite things, parcelled off to her two children. Her two-story apartment needed to be emptied in 3 days - we were scheduled to hit the road on August 30th. She had done most of the work in the prior 8 weeks, but there was still a lot of stuff to go. Her son arrived on Sunday with his truck and hauled a full load. Her daughter arrived from Calgary by air later that day and Monday noon picked up a U Haul. It was filled by 2 and off she went. Last-minute furniture and other items filled our time with the Marketplace shuffle - “Is it still available?” In the end, a few things were given away and Value Village did well. We planned to leave the next morning and drive about 500 kilometres a day. ![]() August 30 On Tuesday we headed out. Our first stop was still in Saskatoon - Wanuskewin Heritage Park. An hour’s visit and we hit the road in earnest. Our destination was Virden Manitoba, about 5 hours away. One thing I’d missed in the daily travel plan was the hours we would lose crossing time zones. We made another stop at the Yorkton Western Development Museum. Both places were interesting but we found it made for a long day, a tiring drive in the afternoon. We finally arrived in Virden and checked into the Jays Inn and Suites. I picked up the new menu item - rice bowls at the Subway next door. Subway is very popular in mid-west and northern Ontario. The landscape as we all know, is very flat and the day was one of a continuing series of record heat. We saw several large combines harvesting the wheat and a few very long grain and oil trains of 100 plus cars, sometimes running alongside us. ![]() August 31 We left around 10 am and headed out for a 5-hour 500-kilometre drive to Kenora. Having realised that we had to be careful stopping, we motored on. We took the by-pass around Winnipeg and continued on to the big musky. We checked into the Timberland Hotel and ordered Chinese food from their restaurant and watched a Jays game. The Timberland room was nice with its vaulted ceiling. ![]() September 1 Our destination was Kakabeka Falls! It would take the better part of the day to get there, about 5 hours, and then a short jaunt to Thunder Bay. The falls are beautiful and the weather was perfect for pictures. It was the first waterfall of many. Into Thunder Bay we went and checked into the old Prince Arthur Hotel with a second-story view of Lake Superior. We ordered some delicious food from the Thai Kitchen - just down the street. A very busy restaurant and we wished we could have experienced more from the menu. ![]() September 2 After a good night's sleep despite the grain trains marching out front, we checked out and headed east on 17 - destination Wawa. It was the first morning the weather was not bright and shining. In fact, a dense fog had rolled in off the lake and driving was touch and go for a bit. Eventually, it lifted but it was not till the end of the day that the sun returned. By now we were starting to get into the rolling hills and old weather-beaten “mountains” that the north shore is famous for. Slowly we entered a new world of rock, lakes, and pine - quite beautiful. Our plan was to visit an amethyst mine about 45 minutes out near the town of Pearl, but the signage was so poor and the fog was still pretty thick, we kept going. Next was Terrace Bay, about an hour down the road. We noticed a Provincial Park (there are lots along the Superior coast) called Rainbow Falls near Rossport. We needed a leg stretch and took the opportunity. It was not on our plan, but it was much nicer than the next falls - Aguasabon - which was disappointing. We made Wawa in good time. Wawa is pretty small and eating options are few. There is a nice place, but we - as usual - were too tired for a formal dinner. I drove into town and Chinese seemed the only choice. ![]() September 3 In the morning we headed over to the Magpie Scenic High Falls something we’d missed but I’d noticed when I went out for dinner. There was some interesting signage, informing us that Wawa was the special escape town for Glenn Gould. He would book the same room, at the same time every year, and the locals never knew who he was. The drive from Wawa to Sault Ste Marie could be one of the most scenic drives anywhere in the world. We stopped at The Lake Superior Provincial Park which has the most beautiful views - not to be missed if you pass that way. Further on we stopped at the Voyagers’ Lodge and RV resort for their famous apple fritters - and they are delicious! We drove around Sault Ste Marie without stopping and we finished our 2,385-kilometer journey in Sudbury. (A non-stop the drive from Saskatoon would take 25 hours.) Trip pictures here ![]() September 4th With an extra day before heading to the cottage, we went to Science North. First up was the Planetarium, a view of the night sky. It was the same day the moon rocket was to blast off - but it was postponed. Then to the current show - Virtual Reality. I think Meta is going in the right direction - Mark Zutterburg betting the farm on “holodecks”. Next was an Imax movie about climate change. Then we started on the fourth floor and worked our way down. The butterfly room was great! ![]() September 5th - Labour Day Woke up in Sudbury. We had checked the web to see which stores would be open on Labour Day, many said they would be but when we arrived, they were closed. In our “desperate” search for food, we forgot to get gas. Reaching our exit to Alban, on our way to the cottage, we noticed we were almost out of gas. It was touch and go but we made it to Noelville - on fumes. Still, without food, the station had the basics - bread, eggs, and milk - so we stocked up. On our way into the Dokis Reserve, we stopped at a farm that was selling vegetables - corn, tomatoes, and more fresh eggs. We would have to fish for our protein. My nephew had been entertaining friends over the weekend, and we had waited for the boat to arrive - it was there. Up the river, we went - making the cottage as planned. September 6 - 14 We had great weather for almost all of our 9 days. Three days after arriving we headed back into town to get food and other supplies. Again, we stopped at the vegetable farm on the road into the reserve. We spoke with the owner to express our love of her corn - so good. It turned out Kim (her name) came from the same small town - Kinistino Saskatchewan population 750 - where Barbara lived for all of her married life. One of Kim’s relatives used to babysit Barbara's children. Kim then introduced us to her husband and gave us a tour of their farm. We did a lot of maintenance work, cleaning, tossing, and organizing. We had time to fish - one outing catching (and releasing) 14 good size pickerel. At night we followed the Toronto Blue Jays (baseball team) and listened to “Ideas” on CBC radio. A nice change from driving 5 hours. Cottage pictures here September 15 We packed up and made Toronto by 5:00, staying overnight at my x’s place. A nice visit with my son James who told us of his surfing adventure in BC in July. he is developing the travelling bug! September 16 We had dinner at Papa Guiseppe’s with Anthea (my x) and elder son James, and then off to a Blue Jays game (riding the Go Train). Jays won (6-2 over the Baltimore Orioles) with two home runs compliments of Matt Chapman and one from George Springer. ![]() September 17 We left Mississauga around 11 and headed toward Stratford for a 2:00 pm show. Google maps said it was about 1.5 hour drive but traffic was stopped in a few places. We made the theatre with 20 minutes to spare (you can park at the theatre for $20). The play was Richard III starring childhood neighbour Colm Feore and was in the new Tom Patterson theatre. The play was excellent, and the venue is very cool. We purchased obstructed view seats ($20 as opposed to $120 to my immediate right). We stopped for a burger at A&W and then checked into the Shakespeare Inn in the small village of Shakespeare. September 18 We woke and ate an egg McMuffin (and getting tired of road food). We found a parking spot close to the Festival Theatre which would make for a quick exit. Then strolled along the river and took in the art show which is usually set up there. It started to rain so we took shelter in the Tom Patterson Theatre. A while later we returned to the main theatre and took our seats for The Mizer, again starring Colm Feore - a two-hour light comedy. We enjoyed it. There were lots of empty seats, so we moved to better ones. After the show exiting Stratford was easy as a result of the smallish audience. The final leg in the journey to Windsor. En route I bumped into my next-door neighbor - Jane Boots - at one of the highway stops! And so ends a journey that began August 26. (all that time living out of a suitcase) September 19 Woke up to watch the Queen's funeral. Back to Windsor Light Music Theatre and construction of the set for “A Christmas Carol”, which I designed - kind of. September 20 - 22 The week was spent bringing the garden back to a better level, cleaning, and organizing. I notice more things being done for the last time now. The house closes on November 30th. ![]() September 23 We went to the Detroit auto show. It had been 3 years since the last show (I attended) and this one was definitely inferior. Speaking with one of the exhibitors, he agreed, suggesting that the auto manufacturers are getting better dollar value elsewhere, and the days of the auto shows may be numbered. A few auto show pictures here September 24 The pool was closed for the last time. This came as something of a relief. The pool guys got away before I could give them a year-end tip so I later hand-delivered one to their manager (sealed envelopes). The next evening, I was back to Windsor Light for continued construction of the set for “A Christmas Carol”. September 27 Barbara has a few things to change regarding identification - driver’s license, health card, car registration, and car insurance - and they are not as easy as you would think. A safety check for the car was completed this day. No issues and $120. September Summary - Putin's phoney war on Ukraine continues and young Russian men are leaving the country in droves, rather than being conscripted. A third of Pakistan flooded displacing 33 million people and it will take months to dry out. Puerto Rico was hit by Hurricane Fiona which missed the US but became the most destructive storm to hit the eastern portion of Canada. Then there was hurricane Ian, which at this time is still on the move. It devastated Florida. Insurance issues will be next.
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![]() If you are widely read, you may have heard of Marianne Williamson. (she was a Democratic presidential candidate in the last election) You may not agree with her, but I believe she speaks truth to power. In a recent post (my edits) she writes: “The people who blow me away are those who say we just need some tweaking here and there because “things are basically okay" Things are not basically okay. From the 30 million Americans who lack health care, to out-of-control costs of higher education, to guns flooding our streets and menacing our neighborhoods, to suppression of voting rights, to the catastrophic prospects of climate change, to rampant police violence, to politicos seriously strategizing to steal the presidency in 2024, to a racially biased criminal justice system, to a minimum wage so low that at full-time employment it won’t be enough for a one bedroom apartment in any state in America, to our government obscenely corrupted by undue corporate influence, to a mental health crisis and high teen suicide rates, to white supremacists acting like brown shirts in towns across America - no, things are not basically okay. In fact, things are radically wrong. And the only solution to things being radically wrong is to make them radically right. The word “radical” is scary to those who seem to think incremental changes are always a reasonable and sophisticated way of handling our collective problems. At this point, however, incremental political change is like trying to put out a house fire with a measuring cup. A drip of a few ounces of water here and a few ounces of water there will not put out a multiple-alarm fire. A Protestant theologian once put an interesting spin on the story of the Good Samaritan. He said the Good Samaritan would see a beggar and give him or her alms, then see another beggar and give him or her alms, then see another beggar and give him or her alms, then see another beggar and give him or her alms. Finally, the Good Samaritan asked himself, “What are there so many beggars?” That is where America is today. It’s not just that so many people are hurting; it’s that the system which produced all that pain is so rotten. And why people like myself, who have spent decades helping people in despair, finally realise there’s no point continuing to help the broken-hearted if our system is going to just keep spewing them out. Trickle-down economics has not lifted all boats, in fact, it has left millions without even a life vest. For over forty years we’ve allowed short-term corporate profit maximisation to replace democracy as our fundamental governing principle, making the suffering of masses of people inevitable. It has created a massive transfer of wealth, leaving masses of people without opportunity or hope. And our Congress has become little more than a system of legalised bribery. Many of our political leaders are mere puppets that express the talking points of their corporate donors, overwhelming and outnumbering voices of conscience and ethics, and service to the people without which our democracy cannot survive. For more than forty years American democracy has not been delivering on its promises; it has not been functioning well for the vast majority of Americans, but basically only for a few. This has compromised our societal immune system and opened the door to the prospect of our political suicide. Make no mistake: it is our own government that did this to us. We went from having a healthy middle class to a decimated middle class; from a time when the average worker could afford a home, a car, a yearly vacation and send their kids to college, to a time when such luxuries are the purview of an ever-diminishing few. And none of that occurred by accident. These unfortunate facts are the results of a mendacious, predatory, anti-democratic corporate takeover that has successfully put our government in a choke-hold, giving precedence to the quest for corporate profits over our democracy, our people, and our planet. So here we are. It’s time for America to awaken to the emergency in our midst. We must overthrow our cynicism and complacency and show up at this critical hour to save our democracy before it’s too late. We need to stop pretending the situation will take care of itself. We need to do an intervention for ourselves before it’s too late. Wherever we can break the pattern of a soulless status quo, we must. We need universal health care now. We should cancel the college loan debt now. We need a warp-speed transition from fossil fuel extraction to clean energy now. We need a just transition from a war economy to a peace economy now. We need a spiritual revival and an Economic Bill of Rights. If that sounds fairly radical, then let’s be fairly radical. As Roosevelt said, at least for a generation. The same “forces of greed” and those with “lust for power” who hounded him are hounding and will continue to hound us. The “economic royalists” who couldn’t stand Roosevelt cannot stand us. But he said, “I welcome their hatred.” So too, perhaps, should we.” ![]() Housing Crisis Coming? We are in the process of selling a house in a down market. I had a meeting today with a business associate and the topic came up. He related his experience of the same. He got an unconditional offer on the house he was selling in May. He sold that house and purchased another. At closing, the purchaser of his old house walked away leaving behind their deposit. Now my associate has two mortgages and is faced with a possibly lengthy court battle. Perhaps not lengthy, but getting a court date could take a year. Now their old house is back on the market and they will not get the prior offer. Add to that the haircut he has taken on the house he purchased and now the prospect of having to sell the previous house in a down market - money lost at both ends. This will create a temporary (6-month) dip in housing prices, right at the time we are selling. In related news, when the house sells I will not pay to store my remaining paintings, so best to sell them - cheap. This not only puts a little cash in my pocket but more importantly puts my art on people’s walls. Marketing 101! Early in the month a local gallery - Artcite - had a “critic night”. They invited local artists to bring in one or two pieces and have the other artists comment. I took two down. People seemed to like the work and the Executive Director liked them so much, that he purchased both! ![]() Election Night in the USA Imagine for a moment Donald Trump again runs for the office of the President of the United States. Again, all during the campaign, he warns that if he loses, the election has been rigged, and has been stolen. And then he does lose again. What will be the reaction of the supporters? Riots may ensue. If so, I think the Republican party, especially those in the House and Senate must take responsibility for any violence, as they did not attempt to correct the rhetoric. By staying silent, they endorsed it. The raid on Mar-a-Lago is curious. Those who don’t trust Trump could assume that the documents he’d taken incriminate him. What else could they be? Selling the House The house went on the market in mid-June and it was not till August 17 that we received a conditional offer - almost two months. We did have two other offers, one which we ignored and one we signed back only to have it fall through. I’d started renovating (removing the wallpaper, repairing the walls, and priming) one bedroom prior to the offer, so was still working on it two weeks later. A 100-year-old house does have some wear and tear. As mentioned the offer is/was conditional on the buyer selling their house. August 26 Hopped a plane to Toronto and then to Saskatoon. I joined up with my friend Barbara and commenced clearing out her apartment. The Facebook Marketplace dance - selling just about everything. Then we will hit the road - we call it “vagabonding” Much more next month. ![]() Viewed The Burning Sea 2021 (subtitles) FTW "The Burning Sea” starts and finishes with a preachy but studiously inoffensive bookend sequence featuring chilly oil rig rep William Lie (Bjørn Floberg), who tells viewers—on-camera, as if he were the subject of a talking head documentary—about Norway’s complicated history with offshore drilling. There’s regret in Lie’s spiel, despite his pointed refusal to complain too bitterly (or specifically) about who’s to blame." See trailer here To Live and Die in Alabama On the same night, I watched two shows. The first (on Crave) was from a series done by the New York Times (originally on HULU) called “To Live and Die in Alabama”. Nathaniel West is on death row for killing 3 cops. He did not pull the trigger, everyone including the judge jury and prosecution agreed that this was true, but in Alabama, if you are involved in a situation where people are killed, you too are considered guilty. I don’t understand why the two charged having said it was a shakedown by the cops and this was not pursued. The drug dealers said they had been paying these three cops $1,000 a week for “two or three years” and the cops were upping it to $1,500 a week. I think the defence team should have gone looking for evidence of this - it does not appear they did. See trailer here ![]() The One and Only Dick Gregory 2021 The black comedian who became a good friend to Dr. Martin Luther King, who fought alongside King, went to prison, then became obsessed with physical health, fasted for almost two years (going from over 300 lbs to 88) invented the Bahamian diet (started the diet resorts for weight loss), ran from coast to coast (think Forest Gump), focused on world hunger, made and lost millions of dollars, had 10 kids, and in his old age returned to comedy. A life well lived. A man worthy of great respect. It would be fitting for the US to honor him with a stamp - one of his first jobs was as a postal worker. (I’d watched the first ½ of this a few weeks prior, but finished it after “To Live and Die in Alabama”) See trailer here Colossus: The Forbin Project 1970 FTW: “The film is based upon the 1966 science fiction novel Colossus by Dennis Feltham Jones, about an advanced American defense system, named Colossus, becoming sentient. After being handed full control, Colossus' draconian logic expands on its original nuclear defense directives to assume total control of the world and end all warfare for the good of humankind, despite its creators' orders to stop.” A favorite but I thought it ended differently - funny how you remember things. See trailer here ![]() The Man Who Would Be King 1975 Stars Michael Caine, Sean Connery, and Christopher Plummer. Shakira Caine, Michael’s wife played Roxanne in the film. This film deals with two fictitious characters who inspire Rudyard Kipling (Plummer) to write the book of the same name. Truth be told, Kipling based his novel on the true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker and the first American ever to enter Afghanistan. See trailer here The Night of the Generals 1967 Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence, and Charles Gray (think Ernst Blofeld in the Bond films). Fresh off Lawrence of Arabia, O’Toole and Sharif felt obligated to make the film. O’Toole’s performance is particularly interesting. See trailer here ![]() Sea Chase 1955 John Wayne, Lana Turner, and early roles for Tab Hunter, Claude Akins, and James Arness. Wayne plays a Geman ship captain trying to outrun the British navy and escape Australia and get his ship back to German at the outset of WWII. Wayne’s character makes it clear he does not support the ideology of the new regime but he is bound by his duty as a ship’s captain to get his crew safely home. See trailer here The Battle of the River Plate 1956 The film's storyline concerns the Battle of the River Plate, an early World War II naval engagement in 1939 between a Royal Navy force of three cruisers and the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee. See trailer here |
AuthorI believe we are what we think. What we think depends on what we feed our brains. This is a partial record of what my brain has been eating. Archives
February 2023
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