It's Hot, but I like it!

In the dead of winter, when it is freezing, I will fondly remember this ever so hot summer.

Heatwave!!!

What do you do when it is so hot it feels like the weight of the world on your chest? Well, what about kayaking? Nothing cools you like going down to the river to feel the cool breeze off the water. And the best part is there are no bugs!!!

We are so fortunate to live on the river, and each day (I lie. When I take a moment from my busy schedule) I give gratitude for my magnificent life.

Yesterday, I started a new blog! It is a simple blog about my plan to get fit and stay healthy using Ayurveda's 5 thousand year old health strategies for balancing the mind and body.

25 Second Shake

Yesterday, June 23, at 1:46 p.m., the earth moved beneath my feet for 25 seconds! It never occurred to me I would be in an earthquake when after lunch I decided to work from home and was sitting at my computer in my kitchen. Suddenly my house started to vibrate gently at first, then more violently. Accompanying the vibration was a loud noise that sounded like a big tractor directly outside my widow. Bloody hell, it was more like it was in the kitchen, really. I knew instinctively that it was an earthquake because I experienced my first earthquake a few years ago when I first moved here. But our mind at first does not want to accept this, and instead I thought it must be construction outside.

When I accepted that it MUST be an earthquake, my first thought was what should I do? Stay put, drop, cover, and hang on, or go outside? I decided to stay put (at the computer) but when everything is quaking twenty-five seconds can seem like eternity. Within seconds twitter was a buzz about the quake, knowing that I was not alone made me feel better. A shared experience can bring people together no matter how far apart they physically may be.

For years I’ve had a recurring dream about being in an earthquake. The earth opening up and me falling into it(what was missing in my dreams is the loud sound coming from beneath the earth during actual earthquakes).

The interesting thing is now that I live in an earthquake zone and certainly expect that in all likelihood the earth will shake my house again at some point, I no longer experience earthquake dreams. My dreams since moving here are about being under water, but there is no chance of this happening because we live at least 20 feet above the river. Where do these dreams come from anyways???

Who's There!!!

(This is not my video, but it is from somewhere in Ontario)

A few weeks ago my maintenance guy told me he found a couple of muskrats, a wild turkey, and numerous birds on the property completely cleaned. “I think you have a predator living on the property,” he finally says. My mind immediately jumps to maybe it is vampires? I imagine I have too much Twilight and TrueBlood on the brain to think clearly having witnessed the carnage on the property.

Today, he said he found a porcupine totally gutted. That is a big clue. Who can kill a porcupine without getting quills all over their face...a fisher, that's who.

When you live in the country one assumes there are things out there at night keeping the balance of nature. But there is something a little unnerving about a carnivore ripping apart little animals just a few feet from the front steps… even if it is a cute fisher!

Oprah is human, not an Icon!

Oprah represents all of us who have a dream, but what sets her apart from most of us is her tenacity and perseverance (Not to mention, she is rich beyond our wildest dreams). She never gives up until her dream becomes reality, and then she dreams some more…

In my head, I am Oprah’s best friend and like all friends we’ve have our disagreements. I’ve composed long letters in my head to her setting out my reasons for disagreeing with her and hopefully compelling her to see it from my point of view. For example, I had some serious concerns with how she was setting up her school for girls in South Africa. In particular, taking children from their families to give them "a better life" without any regard for their culture smacks too much like how the the residential schools in Canada were managed by the church.

Our serious conversations (in my head) are most often about how the boundaries between her public life and personal life are blurred. And as she becomes more isolated the two become one leaving little room for her to be her “authentic self” and who to trust becomes increasingly difficult.

Along comes Kitty Kelly Unauthorized Oprah Biographer. (interview with Matt Lauer and Erica Jong, Oprah, Kitty and Me)

I read the book, and by-in-large feel that Kelly did a balance job of writing about Oprah’s life in spite of the difficulty in getting sources. However, Kelly writes mostly the tantalizing and sensational bits of Oprah’s life, which are dated before Oprah became “Oprah”. Maybe that’s what she thinks sells, but it does not make a great book.

The argument biographers have in supporting writing about someone, especially if it is unauthorized, is that this person is in the “public” and the public has the right to know. I think this premise is wrong. I really don’t care if she (Oprah) had a tremulous and rebellious teenage phase, who hasn’t. Indeed, fragments of our past does not create a clear picture of who we are in the present.

I would much prefer to read an authorized biography than an unauthorized one for exactly the reason that it is their life and it is up to them what they want shared publicly. It is no wonder Oprah has to go to extremes to keep her life private. And in my head it will always be just Oprah and me, can't get much more private than that. We only have one life and she, my best friend (in my head), Oprah, is living her life, which needs no apology.

Darkness

Interview with Joe Hill

We all process terror and horror differently, what is scary to some, is just plain ridicules to others. Our reaction to what scares us I believe is deeply rooted in our psyche. Case in point, Horns, which I just read by Joe Hill and I kid you not, this was the most terrifying book that I’ve read. Initially I started reading it but quit after chapter one because I thought the premise of the story was pretty stupid.

However, I just could not get the main character, Iggy Parrish, out of my mind. He had taken root in the deep dark area of my brain and the only way to get rid of him I thought was to exorcise him by following him to the end. So I grabbed the book and finished reading it. I admit, there were still some sections of the story I could not get myself to read and glanced over them quickly before moving on to the next scene. By now you probably think I am some kind of wimp. It is just a story after all.

I think being raised Catholic has something to do with how I related to Iggy waking up as the devil. As a child, the devil was around every corner tempting anyone in his vicinity. There exist a struggle between what is right and wrong and in a perfect world the devil would always lose. But what if...

...the scariest thing imaginable happen, waking up as the devil like Iggy. Scarier still is how the other characters reacted to him. I don’t know but for me taking the reader to the darkest depths of unspeakable impiety is more terrifying than say invasions of aliens or vampires.

Regardless, I totally recommend reading this book, Joe Hill is a talented writer. Which is no surprise, after all he did learn from the most prolific of horror writers, his dad.

Another blogger reviewed the book here and the another review here.

NYC I love U!

I am not sure why it took so long for us to visit this amazing city, but it took over 15 years after living practically next door to finally go there. Although, I admit, I was aware that it is an incredible metropolis with a worldwide reputation for some of the most exciting entertainment venues and museums but somehow it always felt too far away. Really, it is no more than a seven-hour drive.

Going to NYC for Spring break was a spontaneous decision. After our son Andrew returned from NYC with his grade 7/8 class he suggested we go there the following week. After a brief discussion, we agreed to go and as it turned out was the best decision we made collectively as a family.
He was our tour guide and we spent the next three days following in the footsteps of his class, minus going to the UN. However, we added more tourist activities which he didn’t have time to do with his class on his previous trip. Here he is at the Empire State Building!

My first impressions of NYC was that it is clean, energetic, and friendly. I’m not sure if it was because it was one of the first hot, sunny days, but New Yorkers as whole are a pretty friendly bunch. We were there right smack in the middle of it all for St. Patrick's Day Parade. There were millions of crazy, happy, fun lovin people on the streets!

The only criticism I have is where are the public toilets! Fortunately, we found Starbucks had one but others found it too. The line up was about 45 minutes because it was St. Paddy's day and tons of people where in the same predicament.

All in all, it was a very memorable trip, the highlight of which for me was seeing Lend Me A Tenor, which was playing at the Music Box. After the play we went to the Empire State Building, by then after midnight, to see the city lights. It felt very ‘sleepless in Seattle’. Magnificent!

The following are some images (click to enlarge) of the trip…