tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2052805125989948352024-03-06T00:08:25.855-04:00PeregrinationsJan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.comBlogger238125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-3983068933347996932023-09-19T08:51:00.000-03:002023-09-19T08:51:04.186-03:00Wettest on RecordI write on Saturday morning from the dry interior of the Bigador cabin where heavy rains beat a loud tattoo on the cabin`s metal roof (a million-dollar roof on a ten-cent shack, someone once quipped).<p>
CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon gives us a dispatch headlined `Summer of 2023 was the wettest on record for much of the Maritimes`. Neither Bigador resident has the least inclination to debate the headline. Jan and I leave it to others to defend Cape Breton against charges that in 2023 the Island has morphed into a sodden, mosquito-plagued swamp. And no wonder: many Maritimers have seen more than double the average rainfall in June, July, and August. Our current run of weather best loved by ducks is into day 6, with Hurricane Lee about to grace us with a further deluge that will last two or three days. We only vaguely remember blue skies and sunshine.
<p>
We express frequent gratitude for that metal roof and something else. Good books. What would I do without the services of the North Sydney and Sydney Mines libraries? How would I cope without the opportunity to binge on Dennis Lehane, Daniel Silva, Michael Connelly? Kelly’s Mountain is often draped in cloud, fog and rain-squalls but as long as I have a worthy book in hand and another waiting in the wings, I can cope. In the presence of soggy air and absence of sunshine we rely on the woodstove and the woodshed’s stock of apple, birch, and maple—stored sunshine I call it—to get us through.
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We will depart on Monday—if hurricanes permit—with mixed feelings about leaving. Ordinarily I quit Boularderie Island feeling unhappy to go. This year will be somewhat different. As Boularderie Islanders have enjoyed the joy of relentless rains, residents of Victoria and south Vancouver Island have had to put up with drought conditions and watched their lawns and much of the landscape turn brown. I will not gripe should we get a spell of dry weather in Victoria before the Pineapple Express returns in November.
<p> On a single day in July an historic dump dropped as much rain in parts of Nova Scotia as normally falls in three months. That astonishing event washed out sections of our 600-metre road, leaving it inundated by as much as a foot of water. We had the road extensively repaired, and then another deluge flooded it again. Our road restorer returned; on Monday he installed a culvert and several additional loads of gravel. As we wait to see the hurricane’s response to the latest remedies I also wait to see the invoice for road repairs to date.
<p>
There is broad consensus among people having a functioning brain that climate change is real, and what we have witnessed this summer and last is just the tip of the iceberg—or should I say flood? I have no doubt the consensus is sound. If I live long enough to return for another Boularderie Island summer in my 78th year, what will Jan and I find? Will the road be washed away for good? Will heat domes and floods be worse than ever? Will wildfire smoke make Bigador’s clean air unbreathable?
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Fortuitously, by relying on something other than weather to supply good times at the margin of the Great Bras d’Or, there is some happy news. Good friends Judith (sometimes known as Sakamoto, for reasons I can share some other time) and Marc did us the honour of paying us a four-day visit. It was a note-perfect time. For many years Judith has shown her affection for the old place, and Marc, well, he fell in love with it at first sight. Judith is a fan of my pesto so—what else?—we savoured pesto pasta twice, introduced them to the abundant delights of the card game Euchre, rambled to Dalem Lake twice and shared a hike that was a ‘lifer’ for all of us, Red Island a little north of the Barrachois River.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBNuH8TAvpXrJFRmqdamOkrfuYA8waUJ2iYG6P3chDyXOvQztyz7bLdnPVMT0xhlkgjtAzmdP0YN3yBxum9S73w1cfJqE2VaifWeGk5zVAKBnUpiWaIeQAwQT0G8hHH31YgeLZuRX64CcgeYGc7qmYYxkfM649vJozUociMbBNNOB2YTEPxp0XIftMb8/s2200/macdonald%20big%20pond%20039.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="2200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBNuH8TAvpXrJFRmqdamOkrfuYA8waUJ2iYG6P3chDyXOvQztyz7bLdnPVMT0xhlkgjtAzmdP0YN3yBxum9S73w1cfJqE2VaifWeGk5zVAKBnUpiWaIeQAwQT0G8hHH31YgeLZuRX64CcgeYGc7qmYYxkfM649vJozUociMbBNNOB2YTEPxp0XIftMb8/s200/macdonald%20big%20pond%20039.jpg"/></a></div>
We also shared in the celebration of a milestone birthday in the life of my bride. I won’t disclose particulars of the milestone but I can provide a hint: in Mars years my Jan is a mere 37. When I disclosed that factoid early on her birthday morning you might have thought I’d just brought news of a big lottery win. The gambit wouldn’t have worked for me but Jan is still dining out on her Martian age days after the birthday. Whatever works.
<p>
I shall endeavour to post this somewhere en route to Victoria; in the meantime share my joy over the roof metal and the cabin’s well-stocked library. There are still blessings to count.
<p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-87641506527496775772023-09-05T12:39:00.000-03:002023-09-05T12:39:02.834-03:00Not for EveryoneIt is well established that your occasional correspondent is strongly convinced that ‘Bigador’ is the best, most beautiful place the world has to offer. Consider its frequent sublime quietude, its natural bounty of flora and fauna, its night time vistas of the Milky Way and naked-eye view of the rather more distant Andromeda galaxy, whose light has traveled 2.3 million years by the time it reaches the rods and cones of human eyes. Just for starters.
<p>
Most of the friends who visit from the west coast and see Bigador for the first time typically rhapsodize at the cabin’s view of the Great Bras d’Or and Kelly’s Mountain and demand to know, “Why would you ever leave this?’ My standard answer comprises a single word, winter.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGy-afurCte56Cs7F4uL1Slo-gByNYzMc0fBIZP90xg6pdDsMEc6AeUVHHTz0FRke6InmgTtL_OVfw45kBE9VpNShNI_U-c4OCim-7oCr0SBDjMmfc1WC5aUsY9W-ccQ0zQPgvzaxhJu0TkGeEUPaCNSDkW71oTB5Ilx4aGcS0ONJlazStg0MtlX5vek/s1881/main%20cabin%20005.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="1881" data-original-width="1411" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGy-afurCte56Cs7F4uL1Slo-gByNYzMc0fBIZP90xg6pdDsMEc6AeUVHHTz0FRke6InmgTtL_OVfw45kBE9VpNShNI_U-c4OCim-7oCr0SBDjMmfc1WC5aUsY9W-ccQ0zQPgvzaxhJu0TkGeEUPaCNSDkW71oTB5Ilx4aGcS0ONJlazStg0MtlX5vek/s200/main%20cabin%20005.jpg"/></a></div>For me part of its ineffable charm is that Bigador affords a small facsimile of a pioneer experience; it lacks almost all the amenities that make life bearable for most of my fellow North Americans. Yes, we have a good kitchen stovetop and propane-powered fridge but the facilities include no running water, no flush toilet, no reliable Internet connection, no electricity apart from the meagre allotment supplied by a single solar panel and pair of batteries.
<p>There is no mall across the road, no recreation centre, no swimming pool. We do have a fine swimmin’ hole down at the shore, but one has to scramble down a steep bank to get there and swimmers must sometimes share the water with a jellyfish or two, or the crabs that have made the bottom their home long before we ever showed up. Apart from a refreshing dip, the shore provides other attractions. Numerous Carboniferous fossils for an observer who needn’t work hard to see them. Kingfishers, the occasional sandpiper, gannet, and all the gulls and cormorants one could ever want to see.
<p>
To get groceries we must rely on the truck to take us to the Sobey’s in North Sydney, but there are opportunities in the woods and fields for foragers such as ourselves—chanterelle and bolete mushrooms, rhubarb, blueberries, blackberries, all in their season. There was once a thriving apple orchard on the old place. Their feral descendants abound, some are good eating as-is, others provide the base ingredients for apple sauce, apple jelly, apple whatever-you-like.
<p>
Most folks who come to see us during the summer seem to like what is on offer—or not—over the course of a several-day visit. A good number are repeat visitors. They have come after time, charmed by the same features that have lured me for half a century. But of course a stay of a few days is not the same as one of three months.
<p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4v-mFqPwjIwzRUdquo8QyxRaHcS-VFw4opNeucN7iG_Ltvxk0tFKCb3qXZJ7seH1jJJ0uw37hYcux6jqCsKA30iAx4-f1ekPbYXC9bw-GYsSr3kZeAfXwKicMRPYQDGQyoDB-2ehKtlvb_V1lZW_3TDLowb1kFjwzP9tgNNPUxNTapytULxriGwi0WM/s1880/best%20sleeping%20porch%20008.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="1343" data-original-width="1880" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV4v-mFqPwjIwzRUdquo8QyxRaHcS-VFw4opNeucN7iG_Ltvxk0tFKCb3qXZJ7seH1jJJ0uw37hYcux6jqCsKA30iAx4-f1ekPbYXC9bw-GYsSr3kZeAfXwKicMRPYQDGQyoDB-2ehKtlvb_V1lZW_3TDLowb1kFjwzP9tgNNPUxNTapytULxriGwi0WM/s200/best%20sleeping%20porch%20008.jpg"/></a></div>Recent events remind me that some folks are entirely unimpressed by my shangri-la—not for a week, or a day, or even an hour. No, I have to concede on inquiry, the cabin has not a single bedroom with a closable door affording privacy to someone ardent to have it. Instead, there is an array of ‘Murphy’ beds that can provide a restful, restorative night as long as one is not overly troubled by the occasional snore or the passage of a fellow guest headed for either of the two important out-buildings, one of which features the same composting toilet as graces the summer place of our highly regarded former governor-general, Adrienne Clarkson. If it is good enough for Adrienne shouldn’t it be fine for all the rest of us too?
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyAMw2uk5ne22uy9BhF_zGv__b2wz2p8XVDtU-fA2aZyPZthEvoOPsIpXlZtSfqnnx0E6M1WiI2UhA-tRLskBWqaMULt3k7Jv3pk3nToPVisrvby5ixYIw8yta5a2G9HzI26WX1uybm25iyyPa0Z_-MpDUTm7SlFYlBLBqkzxiGJMSy7DFXoJJjk23yHg/s1881/Sawyer%20interior%20001.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="1881" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyAMw2uk5ne22uy9BhF_zGv__b2wz2p8XVDtU-fA2aZyPZthEvoOPsIpXlZtSfqnnx0E6M1WiI2UhA-tRLskBWqaMULt3k7Jv3pk3nToPVisrvby5ixYIw8yta5a2G9HzI26WX1uybm25iyyPa0Z_-MpDUTm7SlFYlBLBqkzxiGJMSy7DFXoJJjk23yHg/s200/Sawyer%20interior%20001.jpg"/></a></div>Several years ago I built a workshop that has afforded me many hours of woodworking delight. In recent years the workshop has taken on a second duty. It is now serves also as the ‘Tom Sawyer Bunkhouse’. In its bunkhouse role the building’s centrepiece is a queen-sized inflatable mattress no one has ever grumbled about. And yes, it has a closing door that provides all the privacy a person could want, as long as one discounts the squirrels that run about on roof or deck, and walls festooned not with restful photos but a wide array of tools—clamps, saws, jars filled with screws and nails, et al.
<p>
Yes, there are spiders outside—and sometimes in—as well as snakes, toads, sow bugs, and other creatures not everyone embraces. Visitors who live their lives in cities are sometimes horrified to discover that they have to share the place with mosquitoes, black flies, no-see-um, deer flies, horse flies, and other biting delights that are, as Bob Nagel liked to observe, simply doing what they’re supposed to.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2DygLwyjh2SVIvRLuNnByq9X_Ihq_gqUdmTaAGQfDZSidYttWt69WhGrVfOfXlAzg5Y343ZoaPftMITFFehvfcvDk1BkOF4_pyOdjlpXg4X6fpUrB5mRSLrejuo0tFOVRIM4Fs0R54tG-I0oajjGo3-ejTh2_jQyI6MG1IrMZRY0OQlmCAWNXWEGUAbs/s1881/hangout%20028.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="1129" data-original-width="1881" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2DygLwyjh2SVIvRLuNnByq9X_Ihq_gqUdmTaAGQfDZSidYttWt69WhGrVfOfXlAzg5Y343ZoaPftMITFFehvfcvDk1BkOF4_pyOdjlpXg4X6fpUrB5mRSLrejuo0tFOVRIM4Fs0R54tG-I0oajjGo3-ejTh2_jQyI6MG1IrMZRY0OQlmCAWNXWEGUAbs/s200/hangout%20028.jpg"/></a></div>I admit to some regret that a few—just a few—of my fellow travelers see none of the charms that have seduced me all these years, but I still insist that Bigador is the best, most beautiful place I have ever experienced. Don’t bother trying to change my mind.
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-39399821693545217042023-08-08T13:03:00.002-03:002023-08-08T13:07:14.751-03:00Nobody Does Anything About ItIt was the late American weather forecaster Willard Scott who famously observed that
“Everyone complains about the weather, but nobody ever seems to do anything about it.” Mr
Scott’s observation seems more apt than ever—nobody does anything about it. UN chief Antonio
Guterres now informs us all that we have progressed from mere ‘global warming” to something
the UN labels “global boiling”. The announcement gathers headlines for a day or two, then much
of humanity shrugs and carries on with the important things in their lives.
<p>Once upon a time the planet Venus had liquid water oceans, like Earth’s. Today the Venus
surface temperature averages about 900 degrees Fahrenheit (475 degrees Celsius), hot enough to
melt lead. Humans cannot be blamed for the fate of Venus, but all serious scientists agree that
humanity is to blame for what is happening here on Earth: record temperatures, relentless heat
waves, catastrophic wildfires, unprecedented floods et al. We focus on the vital business of
arranging our affairs to suit immediate, short-term interests, like firing up the barbie, buying a
shiny new toy, or flying across the continent for a Cape Breton vacation. Are we collectively
hell-bent on turning Earth into a Venus lookalike?
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHAbwpIpnnPYWrtjXD903C5sAhnNeaPleAf2luJ9uqP6I6ALqO_fsc164ioZGDG1rBN1Cc3U6vfwnjnDspLWxUV8IPUa-bHK2lKYhSlZIdyOFFgmD8_VvE65DbijC4zsJZENaH3qUkit27Qn3WSXPnnc1kvccIvuDuQLArnoiupKNYAhI9_S36iEbwP4Y/s2101/flood%20001.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="1681" data-original-width="2101" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHAbwpIpnnPYWrtjXD903C5sAhnNeaPleAf2luJ9uqP6I6ALqO_fsc164ioZGDG1rBN1Cc3U6vfwnjnDspLWxUV8IPUa-bHK2lKYhSlZIdyOFFgmD8_VvE65DbijC4zsJZENaH3qUkit27Qn3WSXPnnc1kvccIvuDuQLArnoiupKNYAhI9_S36iEbwP4Y/s200/flood%20001.jpg"/></a></div>More than half way through our 2023 Boularderie Island summer we see plenty of anecdotal
evidence that Mr Guterres and his scientists know what they are talking about. Jan and I have
been here seven weeks already. We enjoyed a few fine, tolerable days at the outset and another
few just lately. Between the two interludes we had forty days of weather that fell into just two
categories—extreme rain, or extreme heat and humidity. Take your pick. Temperatures on our
shaded, screened porch routinely reached 90 Fahrenheit (32-plus Celsius). Activity as unstressful
as reading a book became burdensome. The enduring heat is not unprecedented: last summer a
long-lasting “heat dome” left life in the cabin similarly sticky and sweaty. Now in 2023 I begin
to conclude that this is the new normal.
<p>Back in June, Nova Scotia took to emulating the dry British Columbia interior by hosting out-of-
control wildfires that incinerated more than two hundred homes. A spate of catastrophic wildfires
is not at all a NS norm. Not before now.
<p>Then, two weeks ago, three months-worth of rain fell in some NS locations in a single day.
Heavy rains the like of which I had never seen in my 52 years here become routine. In the wake
of the rains much of our private road lay underwater, some of it as deep as our gumboots are tall.
Some water persists even now and the road is so ransacked that we have to call upon our local
road saviour to rebuild it for us. In the meantime we restrict vehicle traffic in the hope of not
further wrecking the road.
<p>When the heat and rain relent long enough, I slowly undo the damage perpetrated by another
extreme weather event, Hurricane Fiona last September. Fiona toppled trees all over the land,
choked trails, knocked down a tall red spruce that came close to striking the workshop deck.
Clearing the East Trail was relatively straightforward; clearing the West Trail has been anything
but. I can no longer operate a chainsaw all day, but I can manage a few hours, and hope that will
be enough to complete the task at hand.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQMHRjBarEqdywmQoAGGX-SPE6tf2Va3LAz1HCokWeWnb5dU4kYtKN3d4u3lzlpskLeZEMt84isLGi3Ms-Dl3jplG1SbPCzcLOd9HfbLBSPZGN69uJMQbXxEVFGb1z8Y1V_wY8fgAqGEQ5l2DhMSRT5TTyWqCYYn9949k7xWWfhZGax6MquKGoY1M4nE/s2000/bluet%20014.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="2000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRQMHRjBarEqdywmQoAGGX-SPE6tf2Va3LAz1HCokWeWnb5dU4kYtKN3d4u3lzlpskLeZEMt84isLGi3Ms-Dl3jplG1SbPCzcLOd9HfbLBSPZGN69uJMQbXxEVFGb1z8Y1V_wY8fgAqGEQ5l2DhMSRT5TTyWqCYYn9949k7xWWfhZGax6MquKGoY1M4nE/s200/bluet%20014.jpg"/></a></div>A leisurely walk to Dalem Lake is still a draw. In 2023, it is often too hot to contemplate a slog
to the lake; this year, when opportunity arises, I take my time, pausing frequently to study
damselflies, take pictures of flowers or butterflies, relish the debut of this year’s crop of
blueberries. Either because I’m deafer than I used to be or because bird populations have actually
declined—or both—I hear far fewer birds. But I rejoice at what I do hear—the strains of a
singing hermit thrush, white-throated sparrow, or increasingly scarce common nighthawk.
<p>Despite the heat and rain, I cherish what ‘Bigador’ reliably still offers: sublime silence, an
inexhaustible supply of projects to keep me happily occupied, a night sky unpolluted by human-made light. The galaxy is as resplendent as ever on a cloud-free night.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxtptfi7fnLWWrdbczUMl5oqkEs9-swoN8pBfGoBCmZ0uLvO7Uiq6CvGl-6QICgl_MnXSQ3NwFjz1eGNOw46ZkkaDI-oYtOcNmJNuKkdms5GFj6H3DjpBuTIfIejgXDyfVX2YEiA9Gjd6dcbuunzeE-kuRxCfLlSofsm82yzmelujwvXgWkkhJpU3ZouI/s2220/admiral%20008.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="2220" data-original-width="2220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxtptfi7fnLWWrdbczUMl5oqkEs9-swoN8pBfGoBCmZ0uLvO7Uiq6CvGl-6QICgl_MnXSQ3NwFjz1eGNOw46ZkkaDI-oYtOcNmJNuKkdms5GFj6H3DjpBuTIfIejgXDyfVX2YEiA9Gjd6dcbuunzeE-kuRxCfLlSofsm82yzmelujwvXgWkkhJpU3ZouI/s200/admiral%20008.jpg"/></a></div>Will August bring us cooler, dryer conditions? Perhaps. In the meantime we enjoy regular visits
from twin cousins Lynn and Louise. Lynn never loses at Bananagrams; I typically finish dead
last. Next time I will suggest we switch to the card game Euchre, which is far less vulnerable to
domination by a single player. I wish me luck.Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-69919273376383252042023-06-30T16:32:00.001-03:002023-06-30T16:39:10.083-03:00Three Hundred Million and Change <p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZOC1C0EVZJifOxCqkP7ROjw5NAt14efA1v7CT7I-5FtkWWfYWx1RhzDKbNcC88Ph-WhvoB9ygEmCh7RmlI2Slh1DplEJUDgFmOBjm--n_Dk_tkXmnws1yEkQif6vQCLQFTXJv0HBfq0R9KFKQy_vSG5LX5B3mH67eXFb4R4O0moe7vmcj-CRc4aGlzo/s2100/Big%20Harbour%20039.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="1680" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZOC1C0EVZJifOxCqkP7ROjw5NAt14efA1v7CT7I-5FtkWWfYWx1RhzDKbNcC88Ph-WhvoB9ygEmCh7RmlI2Slh1DplEJUDgFmOBjm--n_Dk_tkXmnws1yEkQif6vQCLQFTXJv0HBfq0R9KFKQy_vSG5LX5B3mH67eXFb4R4O0moe7vmcj-CRc4aGlzo/s200/Big%20Harbour%20039.jpg"/></a></div>
With Lynn and Louise we undertook a peregrination of 300 million years—give or take—to the
gypsum bluffs of Big Harbour. That is how long ago the bluffs began taking shape in the
departed Windsor Sea. Nova Scotia produces more gypsum for manufacturers of drywall and
other products than the other provinces combined. Big Harbour’s gypsum formations are
spectacular enough in their own right but our principal lure was one of gypsum’s living
beneficiaries—<i>Cypripedium parviflorum</i>, better known by its common name, yellow ladyslipper.
The latter half of June is prime blooming time for this gorgeous orchid. My old departed friend
Dave Stirling liked to go on about spectacles of nature. He never got to see it but I have no doubt
that Dave would agree that the June ladyslipper show at Big Harbour is just that—a spectacle of
nature.
</P>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2ZwtLfa4XwCJKeduogYEEOV5Hx0rtIM0KvFOh1MNNQWrDCweQeMn3EHoVdS152dn8F5KDEZNC_VlJzWQMVsi9-lYV_Eqr8u6Am2c8HtHIGvt3tOMSYmB2YWSIhwC126O3jrNn2lyM-6IiO0vrMi-z1AxTmHANNcaiemEg2jWjye9noe8JTLs18LCqhU/s1890/alt%20060.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="1890" data-original-width="1512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2ZwtLfa4XwCJKeduogYEEOV5Hx0rtIM0KvFOh1MNNQWrDCweQeMn3EHoVdS152dn8F5KDEZNC_VlJzWQMVsi9-lYV_Eqr8u6Am2c8HtHIGvt3tOMSYmB2YWSIhwC126O3jrNn2lyM-6IiO0vrMi-z1AxTmHANNcaiemEg2jWjye9noe8JTLs18LCqhU/s200/alt%20060.jpg"/></a></div>
Our timing was fortuitous. We arrived in time to see not several blooms, not dozens, but many
hundreds, perhaps a thousand or so all together on a finger of land we speculate is the remnant of
a man-made jetty once used to ship gypsum from Big Harbour to whatever industrial plants were
keen to have it. On a sunny morning, in a fresh breeze, we were spared the tribulation of
blackflies and mosquitoes. Conditions were such that, had I ability to declare it on my own
authority, the little land finger and its surroundings might be a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
But that of course would draw unwanted legions of people. As usual at Big Harbour we had the
place entirely to ourselves over the six hours of our stay.
<p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_FpbeXeauBTJU92ifOjmxjf-c8zVzFCGvA03T05QSXVyHlQ5nMmUztKIzEi_GqkISb3iD-11yminEvRo_S08sPkf4EJrpgIBWOFTWrtz6t6KAbnolNFoK5bAv_oHgw1348n8B1dRbTrN_6AZq46adoAphFDs-jkUurjyab6fjDnsaas3wLlLmHlS9xOI/s2100/swallowtail%20011.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: left; float: left;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="1680" data-original-width="2100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_FpbeXeauBTJU92ifOjmxjf-c8zVzFCGvA03T05QSXVyHlQ5nMmUztKIzEi_GqkISb3iD-11yminEvRo_S08sPkf4EJrpgIBWOFTWrtz6t6KAbnolNFoK5bAv_oHgw1348n8B1dRbTrN_6AZq46adoAphFDs-jkUurjyab6fjDnsaas3wLlLmHlS9xOI/s200/swallowtail%20011.jpg"/></a></div>
Ladyslippers were not the only attraction. En route to the orchids, the Old Big Harbour Road
crosses a wetland, where we savoured a close encounter with leopard frog and a gang of “avid
mud-puddlers” jostling for position in the same puddle, swallowtail butterflies—Canadian Tiger
Swallowtails to be precise, Papilo canadensis, perhaps the best known of our butterflies due to
its size and distinctive multi-coloured pattern.<p>
Sharing the same ground as the ladyslippers, it was hard to resist contemplating the span of time
that has elapsed since the gypsum cliffs were formed. Three hundred million years is enough to
swallow four million human lifetimes, a fact that for someone of my bent leads to conclusions
about the significance of a person’s lifespan in the great scheme of things. But let’s set that aside
for now.
<p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC-rez1yVUNT6KV8JpiVReAzujMWYnm-wSb5Chc8xA7bMfB2mh0M_dPejO3rC3bmThr8OFWzHvosyrCyfwOmBzd-NArYcQVdqTNYRn4AxQy8M1sjFCi_KZ1DJPvIz4NOecuHMyA82baWdhSmqlF1M0GEXNeGI7xbEhboq-6f4C5nehA11V0olZ2oGnhhw/s2100/yellowbellied%20023.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="1634" data-original-width="2100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC-rez1yVUNT6KV8JpiVReAzujMWYnm-wSb5Chc8xA7bMfB2mh0M_dPejO3rC3bmThr8OFWzHvosyrCyfwOmBzd-NArYcQVdqTNYRn4AxQy8M1sjFCi_KZ1DJPvIz4NOecuHMyA82baWdhSmqlF1M0GEXNeGI7xbEhboq-6f4C5nehA11V0olZ2oGnhhw/s200/yellowbellied%20023.jpg"/></a></div>Whenever a fellow delivers himself into wildflower country, he is very likely to encounter birds
too. I am now immersed in one of the vicissitudes of advancing senescence. Once upon a time
Jan dubbed me the world’s laziest birder because I did most of my birding by ear. The libel no
longer applies. My high-end hearing is much eroded. I no longer hear warblers, kinglets and
other high-register species. Jan has a solution—Merlin, the magical ‘app’ that identifies bird
vocalizations for me. Merlin works well enough as long as I hear enough of a snippet to know a
bird is present. Birds are less accommodating than flowers: as the photographer readies his
camera to take a shot, the bird decides to fly away. It is easy to imagine that the behaviour is
intentional. I did manage a decent shot of a single bird, yellow-bellied flycatcher, and counted
myself lucky.</P>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOzF_3IEFNfDD9mV_7GdL-StubBXpMY5mfM9B-P7BEDoBQW98hlqAV2p_ew2hfiP5ogKssbzKu6vQZL334QEDN9y2Xr-vmNN9Njt5dQw8xhMugcUiW3Cbr85VusA_L57VSgNsawEwL2Z3c5jvDLell_cJtY2ykCgSFtLv7DiZNSDggFbOkNO24yVtT5I/s3200/profligate%20057.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" height="200" data-original-height="3200" data-original-width="2560" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOzF_3IEFNfDD9mV_7GdL-StubBXpMY5mfM9B-P7BEDoBQW98hlqAV2p_ew2hfiP5ogKssbzKu6vQZL334QEDN9y2Xr-vmNN9Njt5dQw8xhMugcUiW3Cbr85VusA_L57VSgNsawEwL2Z3c5jvDLell_cJtY2ykCgSFtLv7DiZNSDggFbOkNO24yVtT5I/s200/profligate%20057.jpg"/></a></div>
With our collective eyes and ears and a little help from Merlin, we managed to list 33 bird
species for the day. The best of them was the last. I was able to hear and ID it without Merlin’s
help. It was a Cape Breton rarity, Sora, a kind of rail. It conveniently vocalized just as we
returned to the car. In the most recent Maritime breeding bird atlas there was only one place in
all of Cape Breton where soras were known to have bred—Big Harbour.<p>
Days later I still savour the Big Harbour afterglow. Among the cabin’s considerable natural
history volumes there are a few dedicated to the region’s geology. I peruse them to enhance my
appreciation of Big Harbour’s ancient history, and in the hope of finding another.Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-51261575904762056552022-10-04T15:58:00.016-03:002022-10-04T16:31:26.217-03:00No Longer Incommunicado<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span>‘The
reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.’ </span></i></span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKF2wsehg0TDydNgTmNdPqhkgmSt4ENXciJ-8texrLSc7wTktRKZ6pmyvoo-_t-v00K5AzmDojAe_h_4bhLYl4Fyp0rNC59gEwYlG1hb5fQ1DdubVJnIsQjjkyqlINTHd3ZJt19SL7XIrjEWEEVROF6fOMm6ZLN8FWUvbplA25czA9E-YRpZEBK9Hs/s2400/Morning%20after%20IMG_0464.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2400" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKF2wsehg0TDydNgTmNdPqhkgmSt4ENXciJ-8texrLSc7wTktRKZ6pmyvoo-_t-v00K5AzmDojAe_h_4bhLYl4Fyp0rNC59gEwYlG1hb5fQ1DdubVJnIsQjjkyqlINTHd3ZJt19SL7XIrjEWEEVROF6fOMm6ZLN8FWUvbplA25czA9E-YRpZEBK9Hs/w200-h133/Morning%20after%20IMG_0464.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">These past
few months the tiny, select group of readers who pay slight attention to <i>Peregrinations</i>
might have wondered whether the blog’s author had been abducted for ransom. Or—aggravated
by the worsening state of the world—resolved to take a vow of silence. Or simply
gone to his reward, the corpse hauled up by loyal friends into the top of a
tall spruce to provide carrion for eagles starved for better dining options.</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">None of
these is the reason <i>Peregrinations</i> fell silent this summer. Jan and I
departed Victoria for our humble Cape Breton paradise exactly three months ago,
July 3. Jan has a new laptop I was persuaded might be a faster, worthier tool
for editing photos and writing blog posts than my own ancient beast. That might
have been a good option had I made a point of ensuring that Jan's machine was armed with the
word and photo-editing programs I would need to carry out these vital chores.
But I didn’t, and the shiny new laptop proved critically short of the
essentials I needed. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">That not-small problem was aggravated by another: the buildings
and place I dub ‘Bigadore’ has many charms—ones I perhaps see more clearly than
other folks do—but it is not furnished with the range of features modern folks
tend to like. No running water, no indoor plumbing, no electricity but for the
tiny quantum provided by a single solar panel. Etc. Nor does it boast internet
connectivity. Finally, though our cellphone signal is always feeble, this year
it was often non-existent. This is the combination of circumstances that led to
my being missing in action.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Our
Boularderie Island summer was glorious, with more sunshine and less rain that
we are accustomed to. August perhaps featured altogether <i>too much</i> sun. Day
after day, even week after week, the indoors temperature reached 30°C while the
outside thermometer flirted with 40°. Conditions sometimes put me in mind of my
time in India. We yearned for cooling rains.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Despite
the heat I would have been happy to spend our entire three months at Bigadore
but Jan prevailed on me to agree to accepting a five-day absence in September to
see friends and family on the Nova Scotia mainland. That hiatus was all well
and good, but I was happy to return to Boularderie.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu2yHLNz8zg2brPqvSlUNg84GYUiLUWTZphDFajtoP3diEcHwtmYxWS1HNTG9gBwTz2lXu4ThVnmjmKx1tHLssyHq_skDWXQU5Z7LL3nHn1yNxYnf1hzyDOp9G4m8hyEAq3IiSUF08biCJCmrgPJFsozR5UYTeZB3i6I4bDtEY_yI-Ps8IWTZcEWOH/s2125/DSCN4301.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1518" data-original-width="2125" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu2yHLNz8zg2brPqvSlUNg84GYUiLUWTZphDFajtoP3diEcHwtmYxWS1HNTG9gBwTz2lXu4ThVnmjmKx1tHLssyHq_skDWXQU5Z7LL3nHn1yNxYnf1hzyDOp9G4m8hyEAq3IiSUF08biCJCmrgPJFsozR5UYTeZB3i6I4bDtEY_yI-Ps8IWTZcEWOH/w200-h143/DSCN4301.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">One of the
highlights of the summer was making a new friend, a young American not inclined
to adore Donald Trump or wear a MAGA ball cap. We saw plenty of Luke and learned
we had much in common. The rear bumper of his truck featured a Bernie Sanders
sticker and Luke was given to wearing t-shirts lambasting racism. Did such
apparel ever raise a ruckus with fellow Americans, I inquired. Yes, Luke
answered. After several weeks, without a single thing to grumble about him, I
decided he was my favourite American. Granted he doesn’t have much competition.</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Meanwhile,
we had the cabin pretty much to ourselves, apart from excellent visits from cherished
nieces, Sarah and Naomi, and their families. I have seen to it that my 10’ x 10’
workshop is dual-purpose. When not being used for producing sawdust and wood
shavings, it serves well as the ‘Tom Sawyer Bunkhouse’, its amenities not much
poorer than the cabin’s own.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS8xws_i89A3_rquN7DTX29R3Y6p16Ra2oDv23ne6pZz402UwiEZ9ixyNiJmVdegwqcKFL_1fRxQ6JB_8Dda-SCOjRMJKIecxoXO7Uz7Y8HcQulWCYpb-Baru3TVgCmUpWZdU83ujQGzr4VzthOFtO0msj6SZmxCyFI9sbBHmmgS_Cu0qN-scME0ed/s3438/DSCN4327.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2292" data-original-width="3438" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS8xws_i89A3_rquN7DTX29R3Y6p16Ra2oDv23ne6pZz402UwiEZ9ixyNiJmVdegwqcKFL_1fRxQ6JB_8Dda-SCOjRMJKIecxoXO7Uz7Y8HcQulWCYpb-Baru3TVgCmUpWZdU83ujQGzr4VzthOFtO0msj6SZmxCyFI9sbBHmmgS_Cu0qN-scME0ed/w200-h133/DSCN4327.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></span></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lynn and
Louise, my beloved identical-twin cousins, were regular daytime visitors. Their
skills as table-hockey practitioners continue to grow but in several fiercely
contested tournaments they failed to knock the old guy from his champion’s
pedestal. That will no doubt happen soon enough.</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Then came
the equinox. Colours had begun to change among our own hardwoods and the maple
forests of Kelly’s Mountain across the Great Bras d’Or. We were told by the
weather authorities to batten down the hatches for a ‘post-tropical storm’—why
not the term we’ve grown accustomed to all these years, <i>hurricane</i>?—named
Fiona. Two days after the equinox Fiona struck Cape Breton and other parts of
Atlantic Canada with no mercy. The cabin, now 51 years old, stood firm against
Fiona. My woods not nearly so well. Scouting Bigadore’s trails after the big
blow I found countless trees snapped in two or uprooted and overturned. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgANF3R1gWehIgYTSszaLTrV7Qo6_eLW7c_vbfqgksvMasrb4N80S3HTHSwHsOkCY9Fx8t3dQhELVDc7hcKc0TlKHNMN6W2CyiGjKOolEIj6AFH8Sv93FaL5t20mYABfHbW66lxJSY7VeYsAvR_YlzMGyUi3qIz8QlR_8wr5Hg0k2ADqTYs4fZs5Ton/s2400/Stihl%20IMG_0479.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1440" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgANF3R1gWehIgYTSszaLTrV7Qo6_eLW7c_vbfqgksvMasrb4N80S3HTHSwHsOkCY9Fx8t3dQhELVDc7hcKc0TlKHNMN6W2CyiGjKOolEIj6AFH8Sv93FaL5t20mYABfHbW66lxJSY7VeYsAvR_YlzMGyUi3qIz8QlR_8wr5Hg0k2ADqTYs4fZs5Ton/w120-h200/Stihl%20IMG_0479.jpg" width="120" /></a></span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fiona
toppled an admired black spruce close by the cabin. This magnificent conifer,
67’ tall and 18” wide at six feet above the base lived about 95 years by my
count of its growth rings. Friend Stuart Squires has a sawmill all his own; he will
convert the logs to boards and two-by-sixes.</span><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">There was
insufficient time to start the huge cleanup chore before our September 29
departure. I left the old place in far greater disarray than I ever have
before. If the cosmos grants me the privilege of returning to Cape Breton next
June I will have plenty of projects to keep me happily occupied.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">By June of
2023 I expect to be in a better position to revert to normal form with <i>Peregrinations</i>.
Kindly forgive this year’s protracted silence. In the meantime here is your link to my Flickr album, 'Downeast 2022'.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;">https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigadore/albums/72177720302522358 </span><br /></span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><p></p>Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-17850462161030895542021-10-14T13:52:00.016-03:002021-10-14T14:13:15.410-03:00A Year in Bharat<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="font-size: large; line-height: 115%;">Not all
peregrinations</span> need proceed by land or in the air in present time. Heritage
House has just published my latest book, <i>Capitals, Aristocrats, and Cougars</i>.
The new book is a journey into the past—to the period 1911-1926 when major
league pro hockey flourished in Victoria. The ‘time machine’ I relied upon to research
the book was principally the pages of Victoria’s morning newspaper of the time, the
<i>Daily Colonist</i>. The research was a fascinating, often surprising expedition
revealing much I did not know and could never have predicted. Hockey will be
the lure for most readers of the new book, but <i>Cougars</i> also dives into
the cultural, social, and political backdrop against which the city’s hockey
heroes thrilled their fans a century and more ago.</p><p class="MsoNormal">No<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdYUboaUWWbdMaFT-SkRBdwv5waRpDzA7zDKWieMK2ggGBGPjT7bWwmguXZpoMKVQBqecVIw8y3E1bKu3n-h6q4vrp08wKPTI94r4__kqDcitBacscCLTagisrnZMgZbW41R4Nz5UGw8/s2048/Baring+traffic+img715+greyscale.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdYUboaUWWbdMaFT-SkRBdwv5waRpDzA7zDKWieMK2ggGBGPjT7bWwmguXZpoMKVQBqecVIw8y3E1bKu3n-h6q4vrp08wKPTI94r4__kqDcitBacscCLTagisrnZMgZbW41R4Nz5UGw8/w200-h200/Baring+traffic+img715+greyscale.jpg" width="200" /></a>w I have embarked on another peregrination into the past. Fifty-two
years ago, as a callow 22-year-old, I managed to persuade CUSO—the Canadian
University Service Overseas—to have me appointed as a teacher of English
literature at a college affiliated with the University of Punjab. The campus of
little Baring College is tucked away on the outskirts of Batala, Punjab, in
northwest India. I spent a year in India, doubtless the most momentous,
unforgettable year of my life. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Now I have completed an initial draft of another
book, my fifth, <i>A Year in Bharat</i>. It describes my adventures in the
classroom, my travels throughout the country, my close encounter with the Dalai
Lama, the friendships I formed with a cast of unforgettable, remarkable people.
A good number of friends and others have read the manuscript and have had complimentary
things to say about it. Once the launch of <i>Cougars</i> has been taken care of, I will look to expand <i>Bharat</i> in line with useful suggestions my readers
have offered.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0WNb_aAQfanAjYMi6FnI4aWSOPi0MiKMIa4CnBAY7TZP2BSmp4tASoHOCybOJUg6faDUslySLd8EAeWLdBNfo9VnffMLyF-FFtZwwj7XcLh0al-2loTlynADSvfDDc8OrBKlH8InM0U/s2029/ram+img750+sh+sh.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2029" data-original-width="1449" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC0WNb_aAQfanAjYMi6FnI4aWSOPi0MiKMIa4CnBAY7TZP2BSmp4tASoHOCybOJUg6faDUslySLd8EAeWLdBNfo9VnffMLyF-FFtZwwj7XcLh0al-2loTlynADSvfDDc8OrBKlH8InM0U/w143-h200/ram+img750+sh+sh.jpg" width="143" /></a>Mine is a normal, fallible, forgetful human memory. I could
never have produced the new manuscript absent my dear, departed mother. Over
the course of my eventful year in India, I wrote more than a hundred
single-spaced typed letters to my family on the other side of the world in
Halifax. Doris kept them all and returned them to me years ago. I stowed them
away and mostly forget about them. Then, earlier this year, I disinterred the old
letters and read them all. I decided the letters could enable me to produce a
memoir of my long-ago year, one rich in stories readers might like to see. Working
virtually every day over the span of several weeks from January through early
March, I completed the manuscript. And felt happy with the result. <i>Bharat</i>
ends with a contemplation of the people who loomed large in 1969-70, both those
who are now gone and “those who may carry on somewhere in India, somewhere
beyond my reach.”</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But of course, ours is the age of the Internet and I decided
to ask Dr Google to help me find important people from my India past who might <i>not</i>
be beyond my reach. There was an early success: one of my faculty colleagues at
Baring, Prem Kumar, was a young poet who had already published two volumes of
Punjabi verse. I found Prem, not in India, but just across the Strait of Juan
de Fuca and Puget Sound, in Tacoma, Washington. We exchanged a flurry of emails
and looked forward to a crossing of paths as and when pandemic protocols permit. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-6PNF6dBg08chkUJ5L8foAMvKJjwdX4P6b40qaVHutMmZKvsiwU_Yg6-r8ok3ZCY2NQE3UakM7gW1D20MLgfk8CJWVrDL-_h8yrPF5LvZ074GhFqHobG0ZWoh1F23CatKzl40EM8EiM/s1692/Rita+Bhalla+img694.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1692" data-original-width="1015" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-6PNF6dBg08chkUJ5L8foAMvKJjwdX4P6b40qaVHutMmZKvsiwU_Yg6-r8ok3ZCY2NQE3UakM7gW1D20MLgfk8CJWVrDL-_h8yrPF5LvZ074GhFqHobG0ZWoh1F23CatKzl40EM8EiM/w120-h200/Rita+Bhalla+img694.jpg" width="120" /></a>Among the important people who take their turn on the stage
of <i>A Year in Bharat</i> is one of my MA students at Baring, a young woman
named Rita Bhalla, whom the book describes as the most distracting of my
students. More than once I refer to her as <i>Lovely</i> Rita Bhalla. Imagine
my surprise one day in early April to open the Gmail inbox and find a
message from Rita. She had learned about me and the manuscript from Prem Kumar.
The emails have flown back and forth across the globe throughout the
intervening months. Rita lives in Mumbai, has two daughters and has been generous
in her efforts to discover the whereabouts of people we both knew a
half-century ago. </p><p class="MsoNormal">The India of 2021 is very different from the country to which
I was introduced in 1969. I have myriad questions about her country—the prevailing
tensions between factions, the impact of the pandemic, the difficulties faced
by women. Et al. What I learn from Rita will surely enhance the next draft of <i>A
Year in Bharat</i>. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I never know when I complete another book manuscript whether
I will be able to persuade a publisher to take it, whether it will be a success,
whether people will want to read it. I have the same doubts this time. But I
already feel richly rewarded in the effort to produce <i>Bharat</i>, the
memories the effort has stirred and—of course—by having in Lovely Rita the most
prolific pen pal an old duffer could ever hope for.<br /></p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-2230608329824974882021-10-11T15:51:00.014-03:002021-10-14T10:05:36.994-03:00This Old House<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of figures"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="envelope return"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="footnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="line number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="page number"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="endnote text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="table of authorities"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="macro"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="toa heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
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</xml><![endif]--> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2zpXwzJkhFF7ZCBfI0gXuWj-GSv1UHt5NKlhdgAQefkk4B1AldLQfurGpoIlXdNgsxBulSxa5we2RsR2KdM0hFOrEfvIbJeIJSi1buCYO5cfWdQcLBw99j2HBfE8tkTBSPtVIxQZEDqA/s1889/MacKenzie+Hill++crop+051.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1133" data-original-width="1889" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2zpXwzJkhFF7ZCBfI0gXuWj-GSv1UHt5NKlhdgAQefkk4B1AldLQfurGpoIlXdNgsxBulSxa5we2RsR2KdM0hFOrEfvIbJeIJSi1buCYO5cfWdQcLBw99j2HBfE8tkTBSPtVIxQZEDqA/w200-h120/MacKenzie+Hill++crop+051.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: large;">Big Bras d’Or’s greater metropolitan area</span> features two
dwellings near and dear to me. One is the cabin I built a half-century ago,
relying on resources largely limited to a few hand tools and a strong back. The
other is an old house I long ago dubbed Wuthering Heights, presumably because
it stands imperiously by itself on a hill with a view to kill for. From the early
1980s, it was the place where my Boston friend Bob Nagel liked to spend his
summers and hold court for his legion of friends. </p><p>Th<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNhsrIBNwNX-w-VXd7sb8apr01qMDGxEwjh8ZbCHOEjxOimNUqZbDubK-CkfyDXcWQLC4y7l_RuiVAMuQJVwFPAISVK60ggJ3HCE9Mj5odwdt7vYcqx9_2MrmPFrQu4uz15lNNWqHk6k/s1600/14605284346_2f82460534_h.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXNhsrIBNwNX-w-VXd7sb8apr01qMDGxEwjh8ZbCHOEjxOimNUqZbDubK-CkfyDXcWQLC4y7l_RuiVAMuQJVwFPAISVK60ggJ3HCE9Mj5odwdt7vYcqx9_2MrmPFrQu4uz15lNNWqHk6k/w160-h200/14605284346_2f82460534_h.jpg" width="160" /></a>e history of the old house predated Bob by several decades.
It was built some time about 1890. In 1938 a catastrophe befell a local family,
one reflected on the face of a grave marker in a corner of the Big
Bras d’Or cemetery. The headstone lists the names of five children of Archie
and Amelia Dunlap who perished in a house fire. The children ranged in age from
a five-year-old namesake daughter, Amelia, to Daniel, 14. The Big Bras d’Or
community rose to the occasion, providing a new home for the Dunlap parents and
their surviving children—the same house that in forty years or so would become the
place where mirth and merriment would be routine adornments of a Bob Nagel
summer. <br /></p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The lost children’s mother had been one among the tens of thousands
of English “home children” exported to Canada from 1869 to 1932, children who had
the bad luck to be orphans or to have parents who lacked the means to look
after them. On June 17, 1899, Amelia Thompson was one of 98 children who arrived
in Halifax aboard SS <i>Siberian</i>. Amelia was seven years old that late
spring day. She was given a new home by a Boularderie Island family. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7rUKmiBWg45QBQ8YJqqmqXxvp3eEVZdhkeUqwl5kgdzRz1Kc5vDs5W18cyWVEFItKuoi_FBTA9PUC8pL1oNJ4gmKiIiosDg67tYyf2Pmzo4bzjXNiUvM8mooLlopkp4KQqrlMAJSASn8/s2048/Amelia+1959+image2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1463" data-original-width="2048" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7rUKmiBWg45QBQ8YJqqmqXxvp3eEVZdhkeUqwl5kgdzRz1Kc5vDs5W18cyWVEFItKuoi_FBTA9PUC8pL1oNJ4gmKiIiosDg67tYyf2Pmzo4bzjXNiUvM8mooLlopkp4KQqrlMAJSASn8/w200-h143/Amelia+1959+image2.jpg" width="200" /></a>In the fullness of time Amelia would marry Archie Dunlap and
begin her career as wife and mother. There are other names on the Dunlap
headstone, including that of Henry, who was born in 1914—when Amelia was 23—and
lived only to age 6. Yes, there was great misfortune in the Dunlap home, but there
were joys too. My friend Shirley, Amelia’s granddaughter, has fond memories of
her grandparents and the happy hours she spent with them in the old house. She has
a picture of Amelia taken in 1959 on the front veranda. In the image Amelia is
sitting in her rocking chair, smiling.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZfaj1iyIuaDmOy_honPamGXyGOqudrdriwsrSb3shxAl6bY1HuUI-5bWVwrWMPjYcm25UZ97jfWTMk5r5qEuRBVWovpCZ38I3PPLuU4xvHguboCwbkFNJ7KYtK1I-8wPQCHjfsgbPoA/s1600/7976639835_4f46329c67_h.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRZfaj1iyIuaDmOy_honPamGXyGOqudrdriwsrSb3shxAl6bY1HuUI-5bWVwrWMPjYcm25UZ97jfWTMk5r5qEuRBVWovpCZ38I3PPLuU4xvHguboCwbkFNJ7KYtK1I-8wPQCHjfsgbPoA/w133-h200/7976639835_4f46329c67_h.jpg" width="133" /></a>In 2002 I took the lead role in building a new screened
porch for Bob at the front of his house, just where Amelia had sat in her
rocker years before. The porch supplies marvelous views of Kelly’s Mountain,
the Great Bras d’Or and the Bird Islands, and it became the venue for countless
festivities in the years from that time right through to 2015. Shirley was
among the celebrants in many of them. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When Bob left us in 2016, his many Cape Breton friends grieved
not just for their lost friend but also for the happy times they had shared
with him on the porch. There are steel ships and wooden ships, he liked to say,
but no ship like friendship. Passing from the dining room into the porch,
friends walked under a sign: <i>THESE are the good old days</i>. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">People come and go, and so do old houses. Eventually Wuthering
Heights and the 147 acres in which it stands went up for sale. At age 130 or so,
the building was showing its age: a crumbling foundation, floor joists in some
parts of the main floor a fella was disinclined to trust. My bet was that Amelia’s
place had only a slim chance of surviving. The new owner would almost certainly
raze it and replace it with something new. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I was wrong. Rather that demolishing the historical
house, Dinao, the new owner, decided to save it. A good thing, I say: the house
is not only shot through with history, it has ‘good bones’ too. Under Dinao's stewardship, crumbled bits of the foundation are now repaired, new windows are in
place, and just this past while, a shiny new metal roof will emancipate Dinao
and her friends from having to worry about rainy days. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL_x0FQVH5AyD5fXY65dPB0pgSg11SfijF91RLcJiFziL-R8elcFs9yE6XrL1gbeN98e6Q5Zya75V2TLd-pOqJIdyewPXywGxzBNPTy1tsAtsf4jLtn7eAfhKXmyIDrC83TeuvHyyCfwE/s2048/wuthering+heights+037.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL_x0FQVH5AyD5fXY65dPB0pgSg11SfijF91RLcJiFziL-R8elcFs9yE6XrL1gbeN98e6Q5Zya75V2TLd-pOqJIdyewPXywGxzBNPTy1tsAtsf4jLtn7eAfhKXmyIDrC83TeuvHyyCfwE/w200-h120/wuthering+heights+037.jpg" width="200" /></a>n Saturday Jan and I led Lynn and Louise on a tour of the excellent
trail Dinao and her friends have built from the woods behind her house all the
way to the provincial park at Dalem Lake. The trail is a thing of beauty and a
joy for outdoorsy folks who like birds, wildflowers and the great variety of
mushrooms that flourish in the forest. Savouring myriad memories at the old
house, we all rejoiced at what has become of Wuthering Heights. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bob is not available to see Dinao’s work but I have no doubt
that he would rejoice in the knowledge that the old place will continue to be rich
in laughter and delight for years to come. </p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-66340181147544601722021-10-06T10:49:00.020-03:002021-10-08T11:20:28.753-03:00Black Point Plenitude<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRE93A2v9w4SQuxm8murnhAuLF_YRHd7dfMX70GpWr2tqvG8K_yrAcGaud7zzxag_Mh85LUXPSBWbEUsoqWg529QTL-3hviqSZnIfhNg4ouXc9ad4B9xdxhRjzgGOyUAqa830huMOx0Y/s2048/Loch+Lomond+Cem+044.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1639" data-original-width="2048" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRE93A2v9w4SQuxm8murnhAuLF_YRHd7dfMX70GpWr2tqvG8K_yrAcGaud7zzxag_Mh85LUXPSBWbEUsoqWg529QTL-3hviqSZnIfhNg4ouXc9ad4B9xdxhRjzgGOyUAqa830huMOx0Y/w200-h160/Loch+Lomond+Cem+044.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">Not all infections</span> are toxic. I typically have no issue with
infectious <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">joy</i>. The most naturally
joyful people I have had the good fortune to know are Lynn and Louise, my
identical-twin cousins. When opportunity arises to spend a whole day outdoors
with them, Jan and I do not hesitate to seize it. Let’s go to Grand River, they
suggested, and ramble the barrier beach at the river’ estuary. Will we see
shorebirds, I inquired. Oh yes, we will see shorebirds. They also promised that
we would surely agree that the landscape we’d see would be ‘byootiful’.<br /><p class="MsoNormal">Louise led us on a meandering route to Richmond County by
way of vista points people who limit a Cape Breton journey to the Cabot Trail do
not see: East Bay, Irish Cove, Red Islands, Loch Lomond. From Hay Cove we
turned east to follow the gravel-road route through Mount Auburn and Lochside
to a body of water that reminded the old Scots settlers of one they had left
behind in the old country, Loch Lomond. With no other vehicle traffic to worry
about, we could brake for chipmunks, stop to photo late summer asters at the
side of the road, and pause to admire a rough grouse enjoying the sun in the
middle of the road. Unfamiliar cemeteries are always a lure. We paused at the
hillside cemetery overlooking the loch and found that many of gravestones
marked the final resting place of people named MacLeod, a lovely Scottish name,
I maintain. It is a moniker I have been reliably informed means ‘Son of Ugly’
in Gaelic, a secret I share with others at every opportunity. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At the Grand River estuary we had options: turn west toward aptly
named Red Head or east to Black Point. By the look of the map, the latter
looked to be the more promising option for those keen to see early-October
shorebird migrants. We turned east. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The barrier beach skirting the south side of Black Point
Lake has sandy sections. Footprints at the lake margin enabled us to know who
the local travelers might be. Birds both big and small had left their mark, but
no footprints were as numerous as those left by coyotes. I am drawn to places that
are favoured by coyotes and largely ignored by people. We saw no other humans
this day, just the way we each like it. There were birds on and about the lake:
a dozen common mergansers, a bald eagle or two, a marauding merlin intent on
making a meal out of one of the shorebirds assembled further ahead. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Nearing the narrow spike of land that juts into the
Atlantic, we saw the first evidence we’d made the right choice, semipalmated
plovers, ruddy turnstones, a couple of yellowlegs. But it was in the leeward
side of the point that the shorebird show really took flight: literally
hundreds of sandpipers exploiting the feeding riches among the beached kelp arrayed
along the shore. We settled on a viewing strategy. Rather than taking a slow amble
to see what birds might permit a close approach we decided on a ‘big sit’:
let’s park ourselves in a sheltered spot out of the wind to see what might
unfold. It was a serendipitous choice. In spades. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 318.75pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgK_qBDi4aswuf6SD8F-hRdP2ww4upVaaXlvjzBzy78J5267JImU9pUdgwJ35wD_SjH8zsAUKVhzknuKN9mGFyOPiiKx4r9aXiEZNa8h1Qhs_cde12cuRD6nNv-mVv9gfx3sXbZj6Wss/s2048/semipal+298.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1638" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgK_qBDi4aswuf6SD8F-hRdP2ww4upVaaXlvjzBzy78J5267JImU9pUdgwJ35wD_SjH8zsAUKVhzknuKN9mGFyOPiiKx4r9aXiEZNa8h1Qhs_cde12cuRD6nNv-mVv9gfx3sXbZj6Wss/w160-h200/semipal+298.jpg" width="160" /></a>After a while it seemed the birds had forgotten that we were
there—or no longer cared. Drawn to the feeding opportunities just beyond our
feet, ‘peeps’—diminutive least and semipalmated sandpipers—came close enough that
we imagined we must have become virtually invisible to them—just part of the
foliage. There were others: black-bellied and golden plovers, both greater and
lesser yellowlegs, two pectoral
sandpipers and a single red knot. Others were present in their hundreds: the peeps, and especially, mostly-white
sanderlings feeding along the beach. These frequently took flight to inspect
whether feeding opportunities might be better a a bit further on the strand.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have been a birder for much of a half-century but never
before had I experienced close approaches by shorebirds anything like those we relished
at Black Point. By the end of our big sit we had identified a dozen species of
shorebird and I managed to get worthy photos of almost all of them. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-F31TTYHboxayK4ap1wxuCtKJnnYFFnnWxfCHYhwbdZ_Rm3S3yfB94trRkoYNFXyzCVJ1xzz35Q5k85vLhlUpy7BW4nu3N-KyEAqQvB08TJLi2jHYP8UGyYn9aikqocCndRLXsDjvu0/s2048/Black+Point+060.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1463" data-original-width="2048" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ-F31TTYHboxayK4ap1wxuCtKJnnYFFnnWxfCHYhwbdZ_Rm3S3yfB94trRkoYNFXyzCVJ1xzz35Q5k85vLhlUpy7BW4nu3N-KyEAqQvB08TJLi2jHYP8UGyYn9aikqocCndRLXsDjvu0/w200-h143/Black+Point+060.jpg" width="200" /></a>My well-established habit is to rate events on a 10-point
scale of delight. Rarely am I so overboard about a day in the great outdoors as
to award a mark as high as 9, but at Black Point I couldn’t help it: given the
landscape, the birds, the weather—and of course the joyful companionship—I had
no reason to award anything but a 10.</p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-51140089387877289522021-10-06T10:34:00.006-03:002021-10-06T10:37:59.309-03:00Glories of White Point<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nA-uhWAwBUChlKZdXVoio8mJkYZ79faXUaQOW56ewhI5oXHSYXiC6G_Q56FuImEwpFxw9ZeUJk_eXCIL9qvDrnHqasbtAw0xE9pHTPlpfyTn_ZzFOjAOlb0MlDz9c3srdZViRe2pUeU/s2048/like+mushrooms+161.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-nA-uhWAwBUChlKZdXVoio8mJkYZ79faXUaQOW56ewhI5oXHSYXiC6G_Q56FuImEwpFxw9ZeUJk_eXCIL9qvDrnHqasbtAw0xE9pHTPlpfyTn_ZzFOjAOlb0MlDz9c3srdZViRe2pUeU/w200-h120/like+mushrooms+161.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;">In his alluring guide</span> to the hiking trails of Cape Breton,
Michael Haynes asserts that the trail to White Point, two hours north of Big
Bras d’Or, provides some of the most dramatic coastal scenery of any trail in
Cape Breton. When Naomi and Terry came for a weekend stay, I suggested that
based on Haynes’s opinion, White Point would make a good destination for a day
hike. Particularly since it would be a ‘lifer’—a first—for us all. The others
agreed. For most of the drive north, windshield wipers were essential
equipment; I began to worry that I’d given my companions a bum steer. But as we
approached White Point village the rain eased and a break in the clouds
delivered sunshine. Who could believe it? No turn in human affairs is more
welcome than serendipity. <br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">White Point made good on the Haynes assurances. The hike is
not a long one but it proved to be every bit as glorious as its promise. In the
early going thick spruce and fir skirted one side of the trail but soon enough the
view north was obstructed by nothing taller than the abundant white granite
rocks I guessed must be what gives the point its name. We passed an old French
cemetery dating back to a time before the first Scots settler arrived two
centuries ago. The cemetery’s ancient graves are marked by rough granite slabs offering
no clue as to the identity of the persons who lie below them, nor any hint of
the lives they lived.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAWs2jb5PUdDAIRgBnr13CKS9j2FBaEqhu260i07e1o7j90BDviyvDCwi8XOXvLx1-sAqS0eyH_Ri-m3551KJyLe0B-936y0CtPyaqo_WzgtIL7o9ewAopxL-_nCtz9c7q2S9JNppEy2E/s2048/white+point+189.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1463" data-original-width="2048" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAWs2jb5PUdDAIRgBnr13CKS9j2FBaEqhu260i07e1o7j90BDviyvDCwi8XOXvLx1-sAqS0eyH_Ri-m3551KJyLe0B-936y0CtPyaqo_WzgtIL7o9ewAopxL-_nCtz9c7q2S9JNppEy2E/w200-h143/white+point+189.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>The rocks turn from white to red at the point itself and are
very much bigger than those we passed along the way. Water churned at the base
of vaulting cliffs and in a stiff wind we took pains to avoid a fatal tumble. Despite
the wind and falling hazard I was happy I had recommended White Point as our
destination. Jan often maintains it is easy to measure my happiness in an
outdoor outing by the number of pictures I take. On this day I took many. <br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In addition to its scenic charms, White Point provided
rewards to gladden an old birder’s heart. Gannets coursed the shoreline, diving
headlong into the littoral for choice selections from the seafood menu on
offer. Double-crested cormorants lolled on a shoreline rock, resting or waiting
for opportunity to unfold. An alcid—was it a razorbill or thick-billed
murre?—appeared for just a moment, not long enough to permit a sure ID. A
female harlequin duck, purportedly rare in Cape Breton, went about her business
among the eiders riding the whitecaps close inshore. Lapland longspurs breed in
the Arctic tundra; when we see them in Cape Breton at this time of year they
are typically en route to their southern wintering grounds. Two longspurs, both
disinclined to take flight, kept several steps in front of us as we slowly made
our way to Burnt Cove. There were mammals to see too: seven grey seals turned
their heads to assess what we crazy humans might be up to.<br /></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheofQPLX7hyj5dhE4S5238sL1_DXFVKehTGhjmsGO2v5tTFwPhDBnW9QxEJyKEwidoUccm8tyTJ1Ff26ynMBragYdFZzan7VRdxsaXXc6r8AV8MqtS0b2nrhZ6p-lE2rYnoEh-z4-mfOs/s2048/lalo+077.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheofQPLX7hyj5dhE4S5238sL1_DXFVKehTGhjmsGO2v5tTFwPhDBnW9QxEJyKEwidoUccm8tyTJ1Ff26ynMBragYdFZzan7VRdxsaXXc6r8AV8MqtS0b2nrhZ6p-lE2rYnoEh-z4-mfOs/w200-h120/lalo+077.jpg" width="200" /></a>We saw evidence that White Point provides abundant wild food
to suit migrant birds having vegetarian preferences: crowberries, cranberries,
juniper berries. Even more abundant were the Michaelmas daisies flashing blue
petals wherever we went. I wondered: what wildflowers would dominate the
landscape were we to come in May? What birds? Would seals be conspicuous then
too? <br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The break in the weather lasted just as long as was
convenient to the hikers: rain returned just as we got back to the car. At nearby
New Haven I spotted the community war memorial—one I had managed never to see
before. I barked a command to stop the car. Terry complied. I contemplated the
names listed on the monument—seven ‘heroes’ of the community who went to war
and died ‘for King and Country’, heroes such as Private John Bird who died on
the Somme in October 1916 and Private George Hawkins, killed in action at
Passchendaele a year later. Bird had attained the grand old age of 23, Hawkins
just 20 when he breathed his last. No serendipitous endings for them. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just next door to New Haven is Neil’s Harbour. By
mid-afternoon we agreed that after our collective exertions, some sustenance
might be in order. At the tip of the narrow peninsula jutting from the village
into the Gulf of St. Lawrence we made our way past rooftop lines of
black-backed and herring gulls to an establishment called the Chowder House.
What to order at a place called the Chowder House? Wouldn’t it have to be
chowder? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ordered four bowls and reached
broad consensus that the house chowder here exceeded that any of us had ever
found in a roadside diner. Windshield wipers beat a tattoo most of the way back
to Big Bras d’Or. No one grumbled. </p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-27664513688331787542021-10-06T10:14:00.007-03:002021-10-06T10:41:30.113-03:00On the Importance of Community<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--> <span style="font-size: large;">Fifty years have flown past</span> since I carved an opening in the
woods by the shore and built my cabin at Big Bras d’Or using handsaw and
hammer. In the half-century since 1971 I had never felt anything but
wholehearted about returning to Boularderie Island. Not until this year, the
second year of the pandemic. Cape Bretoners have enjoyed a relatively easy time
with the corona virus. News reports suggested that some of them might be
inclined to say that the come-from-away summer folks should <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stay</i> away, and thus help keep Cape
Breton Island relatively free of Covid-19. When Cousin Louise called two days
before our departure from Victoria to report that she and her twin—neither
having yet had their second vaccine shot—were too scared to collect us at the
Sydney airport, my initial impulse was to cancel our flights and forgo
‘Bigador’ for a second straight summer. I changed my mind.<br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is a measure of my antiquity that I have known five
generations of the Squires family. Jack Squires begat Ted Squires, who begat
Stuart and Kevin Squires. Their four sons and daughters have produced four
members of the fifth generation. My friend Darcy, who I have known since he was
born, turned 43 the other day. Most of the houses on Lakeview Drive are
occupied by people named Squires. For that reason, I have an alternate name for
Lakeview: ‘Squiresville”. Fifty years ago it was Ted Squires who lent me the
‘cat’s-paw’ tool I used to dismantle the derelict house that stood on the land.
It was Ted who taught me the rudiments of how to frame my 20’ x 16’ cabin in
the woods. When I had finished my little building, and installed a watertight
roof over it, it was Ted’s approval I most wanted—and most valued when it was
given. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYqTfjlLmpvSLL3iqPyNQnbkxMzX_rvziSIh7iHQuCYgHpY5OVkyKypQDAv33kHliKChE2fIm3I19UjeBjQmlmELlpURhk5GwzR8tc-epxhjiEBGDy2kf4GkzG-xKQvokILZmPTmzr6qk/s2048/kevin+017.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1463" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYqTfjlLmpvSLL3iqPyNQnbkxMzX_rvziSIh7iHQuCYgHpY5OVkyKypQDAv33kHliKChE2fIm3I19UjeBjQmlmELlpURhk5GwzR8tc-epxhjiEBGDy2kf4GkzG-xKQvokILZmPTmzr6qk/w143-h200/kevin+017.jpg" width="143" /></a>Kevin was just 17 when I began pulling every nail and spike
out of the old house. At age 24 I was much older. We became friends after crossing
paths in our travels along Old Route 5 and have remained friends throughout the
years. It is on Kevin’s land that ‘Leo’, my old Dodge Ram, spends the winter.
So of course it was to Kevin I turned for alternative transport from the
airport to Big Bras d’Or. He had no hesitation. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jan and I soon discovered that we needn’t have fretted that
Boularderie Islanders would be loath to have us back. In Victoria, most of our
Ontario Street neighbours are strangers. Here, at an early gathering of people
we have known for years, old friends were more welcoming than ever. I felt glad
not to have aborted the flights. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After an absence of close to two years we found that
‘Bigador’ was not just as we had left it. Four-foot aspen saplings grew in the
middle of the road. The ‘lawn’ by the cabin had turned into a tall-grass
prairie. The propane-powered fridge refused to start. The 50-year-old range leaked
fuel and took 15 minutes to boil water for morning tea and coffee. After two
years of neglect the solar batteries functioned feebly. One by one we managed
to remedy the problems. Then an even bigger infrastructure problem erupted.
Driving to North Sydney for a dinner date at the Lobster Pound, the
check-engine light flashed on Leo’s dash. Simultaneously the truck suffered a
massive power loss. I pulled to the side of Highway 105. What to do? Well, the
answer was clear. What else, call Kevin Squires. He came to the rescue, lent us
his own Ram pickup, assured us he wouldn’t need it for several days. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Two weeks later, Leo is still in truck hospital. We are told
the truck needs a new electronic control module but the repair folks say they
can find no replacement, new or used, anywhere in North America. Once again it
is a Squires who comes to the rescue. Stuart knows someone who can find me a
new ECM. We now have confidence that Leo will get the necessary surgery,
perhaps before we depart. In the meantime we are driving yet another Dodge
Ram—Stuart’s. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I count many blessings here in the cabin on the margin of
the Great Bras d’Or. The quiet is sublime. Robins provide entertainment as they
feed on the berries of the mountain-ash just beyond our windows. The trail to
Dalem Lake has never looked better. But perhaps even more important than all
that, we feel part of a community and have friends we can count on when circumstance
obliges us to call for help.</p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-7487652483253916482021-10-06T10:03:00.009-03:002021-10-08T12:05:21.713-03:00Echoes of Stornoway<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--> <span style="font-size: large;">Two centuries ago</span>, my great-great grandfather, Donald ‘The
Scholar’ Campbell, was one of the pioneer Scots immigrants who settled on the
opposite shore of the Great Bras d’Or in a place that came to be known as New
Harris. In a 1830 letter to his brother-in-law at Stornoway on the Hebridean
island of Lewis, he rhapsodized about all the rewards of life in his new
homeland and urged his wife’s brother to join him in New Scotland, and make
sure to bring fishing nets while he was at it. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL0iYEn1u4AZGJpyPiLg7XPiuY2TO5nkr1L_y9GYLBTNcOH6nYDuwSwNRVhoE2bEKZI_NmZhyphenhyphenignIC54d69JfqbwobS2tRLmifXLOxJ9ctECRchjvW6nTeEnv4DTKXAp4FQYYbOAVyrvc/s2400/new+harris+067.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="2400" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL0iYEn1u4AZGJpyPiLg7XPiuY2TO5nkr1L_y9GYLBTNcOH6nYDuwSwNRVhoE2bEKZI_NmZhyphenhyphenignIC54d69JfqbwobS2tRLmifXLOxJ9ctECRchjvW6nTeEnv4DTKXAp4FQYYbOAVyrvc/w200-h100/new+harris+067.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Boularderie Island today is populated by uncounted
descendants of Donald Campbell. I am just one of Donald’s numerous
great-great-grandsons. Two among the raft I know and care about are Jack
Campbell and David MacDonald, two who had never been introduced to one another.
I decided it would be a good idea to organize a pilgrimage by three great-great
grandsons to the place where our ancestor built a home for his young family in
the 1820s. And so it came to pass on a suitably sunny September Sunday.
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWAVKe3qTeXeXVRI6z9Q4ugH_jCSQIFELnBL0eR1kVVcqx0qHQlQVnj86QCUpXgYmRE3oms98suR-pC6-INh6fuidDfGND3OAIdIQwhm1ZeJ5FRvRr5ViBRkwC1tHYe-Pi6ih5gaCgGPc/s2048/in+situ+081.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1638" data-original-width="2048" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWAVKe3qTeXeXVRI6z9Q4ugH_jCSQIFELnBL0eR1kVVcqx0qHQlQVnj86QCUpXgYmRE3oms98suR-pC6-INh6fuidDfGND3OAIdIQwhm1ZeJ5FRvRr5ViBRkwC1tHYe-Pi6ih5gaCgGPc/w200-h160/in+situ+081.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Jack had previously led me to the site of Donald Campbell’s
homestead. The intervening years have left the site even more choked with
windfall and dense undergrowth than it was before. Jack and David are even
older than I am, both of them octogenarians. The going got rough; I began to
wonder whether this might have been a very bad idea instead of a good one. I
imagined having to call Diane or Sheila to report news both bad and good: the
bad news is that your spouse is gone; the good news is that his final words
were that he loved you more than ever. But we managed to make our way to the
old foundation stones, contemplated the life Donald and his children might have
lived at New Harris and emerged from the slog in the woods intact. I felt sweet
relief; the phone call I rehearsed would not be needed.
<p class="MsoNormal">Jack and David found plenty to talk about. I was happy to be
a third wheel as they reminisced about people long gone that I never knew. We
agreed to extend the historical tour. We carried on from New Harris to New
Campbellton, a community of consequence in the boyhood years of both men.
Heeding Jack’s instructions, I turned the truck into a laneway, climbed a hill
to an old house at the end of it. This is the house where I was born in 1937,
Jack said. On the veranda sat a lady in a rocking chair reading a book. I got
out of the truck to introduce myself. At the sight of someone as big and ugly
as me, she might have reached for a shotgun and invited me to bugger off. But
no, this is Cape Breton; once introductions were made she insisted we all come
in for tea, cookies and conversation. It was impossible not to be smitten by
our hostess. She spoke in a <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lovely lilt
and told me that she had acquired it at the very place Donald Campbell had directed
his letter in 1830: Stornoway on the island of Lewis. You imagine. The ensuing
conversation was lively, wide-ranging and very entertaining. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>Jack was pleased to learn about the history of the old
house. David, a novelist and short-story writer, described his early experience
of the house and explained that one of his stories was inspired in part by this
very house. Our new friend had us write our names in a notebook. I promised to
let her know by email about David’s books and my own. We departed the old place
feeling well rewarded for having taken the turn on the laneway to Jack’s
birthplace. <br /><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PkuE3lHXs_EO8lJSZWCLXkwp8XKOq6pRFvJNgg7NuxtkfczHvipI2ACBmNInBhbAsXQAJpkIkY-qecgMMueI6ekyMOxJuekJQRS53wVQgu13DhX7t1aSy9OTtp30-lkmwWFbm_iyt3o/s2048/killede+in+action+092.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1229" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PkuE3lHXs_EO8lJSZWCLXkwp8XKOq6pRFvJNgg7NuxtkfczHvipI2ACBmNInBhbAsXQAJpkIkY-qecgMMueI6ekyMOxJuekJQRS53wVQgu13DhX7t1aSy9OTtp30-lkmwWFbm_iyt3o/w120-h200/killede+in+action+092.jpg" width="120" /></a></div>That was not the end of the adventure. We carried on to the
lovely hilltop cemetery at the end of another New Campbellton laneway,
inspected the grave markers of people we once knew and some we never did,
including one bearing the name of a young man who went off to war in 1915 and
never returned to his New Campbellton family. <br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">All three of Donald’s descendants awarded high marks to our
day at New Harris and New Campbellton. When it came time to part, my cousins
expressed eagerness about renewing acquaintance in the summer of 2022. I like
to think it will come to pass. </p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-57936545236888117962021-09-03T11:24:00.000-03:002021-09-03T11:24:01.078-03:00Back to Boularderie<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9MIFNW1fsr-hCGxA1eXkuIer9Jr3LyiTcN8hAGNL_ADyTJH7HVeHgRv2H4fXBCFDs1haakIbf9zBZB2dju5CSKUN0J3_UQi_JyFa0olRJOxTnT1vDwyAzTzbl-8Pf0MlE8FXzwWl5zMA/s2048/two+years+after+002.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9MIFNW1fsr-hCGxA1eXkuIer9Jr3LyiTcN8hAGNL_ADyTJH7HVeHgRv2H4fXBCFDs1haakIbf9zBZB2dju5CSKUN0J3_UQi_JyFa0olRJOxTnT1vDwyAzTzbl-8Pf0MlE8FXzwWl5zMA/w200-h120/two+years+after+002.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Pandemics and peregrinations make poor bedfellows. At long
last, after a Covid-induced hiatus of more than 22 months, Jan and I are back
on Boularderie Island. We arrived August 16 to find five-foot high poplars
growing in the middle of the road, and the facsimile of a tall grass prairie
flourishing where the cabin ‘lawn’ used to be. The walking trails are choked
with the proceeds of the windstorms that have come and gone since early October
2019. Otherwise the old place looks pretty much as it did before safe
distancing, hand sanitizer and mandatory masks changed our everyday world.
True, when we arrived neither the propane-powered fridge nor the stove were in
working order, and the solar batteries no longer yielded the same reliable voltage
they did before. It took a whole week but eventually the infrastructure issues
were sorted out and we are once again enjoying the usual gamut of cabin
amenities.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>Jan and I were amazed to see how much has grown in two
years. Maples and birches are the starfish of the woods: cut one down and a
dozen shoots spring from the stump to take their turn in the sunlight. In the
past I have occasionally missed a year in Cape Breton but never two, not until
now. Left alone for two growing seasons, some of the maple shoots have grown to
five feet. To restore my fields to something like the state the birds and I
wish them to be in, I am kept busy with brush cutter and chainsaw. I need never
complain there is nothing to do.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is a significant anniversary at ‘Bigador’: fifty years
have elapsed since I framed the original cabin way back in 1971. After half a
century the cedar shingles are wrinkled and weathered, and there is peeling
paint wherever I look but the roof is straight and the building seems as plumb
as ever. As the years sailed past I have come to be more and more like my dear,
departed mother in one telling way: I value peace and quiet enormously, and
there is plenty of it on offer here on the margin of the Great Bras d’Or. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The sleeping porch remains sublime. Tucked in our bed after
dark, often the only sound to be heard is the conversation of barred owls from
the top of Kelly’s Mountain, two miles across the strait. On a moonless night
the stars in our corner of the galaxy are still familiar. From my vantage point
on the starboard side of the porch bed I can admire the red giant, Arcturus,
splendid in the northwest. Familiar though Arcturus may be, I still marvel that,
traveling at 186,000 miles per second, it has taken 37 years for the beams of
Arcturus to reach my rods and cones. I need no reminding that the cosmos is
very large and our nickel-and-dime galaxy just an insignificant fragment of it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In Victoria my habit is to get up about 5 a.m. and forage
through the virtual pages of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guardian</i>,
Washington <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Post</i>, and CBC for the
latest installment of world gloom and grief. Here, change is forced upon me:
the firs and birches surrounding the cabin do not provide Internet connectivity.
If something of consequence is left unreported by the producers at CBC Radio
news, I will know nothing about it. I am compelled to do without.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9aIJtFYpiynPJagi4QS43-9vtmlWox3-KDT4E6VW0dF-QBFW-O5pHj68EIBPR6lI0uVVNFrdPNQwbYbwzZCQvmgZi3X8Mrc-M_CEm9aauuowQBzP9NO_t6gRLWaexNaJQ9zvf2N-0EDM/s2000/hider+099.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9aIJtFYpiynPJagi4QS43-9vtmlWox3-KDT4E6VW0dF-QBFW-O5pHj68EIBPR6lI0uVVNFrdPNQwbYbwzZCQvmgZi3X8Mrc-M_CEm9aauuowQBzP9NO_t6gRLWaexNaJQ9zvf2N-0EDM/w200-h160/hider+099.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>It is doubtful our return left our fellow inhabitants of the
land shouting for joy. One evening a big white-tailed doe fled at our approach.
From the droppings they leave behind, we know that we share the old place with
coyotes, foxes, even a bear. The bear appreciates what we do: a bumper crop of
blackberries and blueberries. In the fringes of the old orchard, branches heavy
with apples hang low to the ground.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbhfB_tw1_eR0i044q4LSKCh2-v0vsUqPVKxa-yKeMoE5bPH3CTwUQsBWqwVsG4Di_D-TiQK2z3jjFQBUNLmYSNDy2Rc7R3A7btZZ6oWW2wqdcmTWH7RnmtMbtnFNmMNxcYE9ZFpzgJo/s2048/calico+aster+123.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1638" data-original-width="2048" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXbhfB_tw1_eR0i044q4LSKCh2-v0vsUqPVKxa-yKeMoE5bPH3CTwUQsBWqwVsG4Di_D-TiQK2z3jjFQBUNLmYSNDy2Rc7R3A7btZZ6oWW2wqdcmTWH7RnmtMbtnFNmMNxcYE9ZFpzgJo/w200-h160/calico+aster+123.jpg" width="200" /></a>I am ordinarily here by the first of June or thereabouts when
there is a richness of birds and wildflowers to appreciate. Late August is a
doldrums time for both; I make do with what is on offer: a few migrant
songbirds, and the less than entirely charming flowers that dominate at this
time of year. We make the best of what we have, learning to identify the abundant
goldenrods and asters. Now we can differentiate the rough-stemmed goldenrods
from their grass-leaved cousins, the calico aster from the tansy ragwort.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-JYptFTBGFz-dv-JVR7uwpFeSbLSKoQdxCBNPAQ2QUQEDj_-a51I6KRvJqv3a2pwS-CvHZeE5z9EUvK4PXuVb0vtF1OslkQYEKgK-cgRSwedmDaQwpIqMmyAXo81X1TU0zkD6e8Hh3vo/s2048/dalem+delight+121.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-JYptFTBGFz-dv-JVR7uwpFeSbLSKoQdxCBNPAQ2QUQEDj_-a51I6KRvJqv3a2pwS-CvHZeE5z9EUvK4PXuVb0vtF1OslkQYEKgK-cgRSwedmDaQwpIqMmyAXo81X1TU0zkD6e8Hh3vo/w200-h120/dalem+delight+121.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>There is always adventure to be had in our morning walk to
Dalem Lake: a close encounter with wood frog or hairy woodpecker, the
call-of-the wild yodel of a loon, terns enjoying the heck out of tormenting a
bald eagle.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is already five years since Bob Nagel established that he
was not in fact a latter-day Dorian Gray. Bob’s successor as lord of the manor
I took to calling Wuthering Heights is a lady, lovely young Dinao. I would have
given favourable odds that the purchaser of Bob’s old house would raze it. But
far from consigning it to ashes, Dinao has decided to save it. She is investing
time and resources to make it livable the year round. In all the years I have
know it, the ancient building has never looked so good. It gladdens the heart.</p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-26416012296051998762020-09-18T19:51:00.002-03:002020-09-18T20:16:02.952-03:00A Smokin' Good Time at Galiano <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Yx3fuOW0rJBHRBd0ZXahC73b5DuPXXvL9eCEVVzm0bC4FESVi9C3Wcd5xU9XQJAi9BRb0UT5klyuVMkDiPFo-M_Cfht-BkQ7uHO5VuZ1IV_3X1xSuhchnGUKzIlrjOQRb2VZmKcCH-M/s2048/Matthews+Point+307.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1638" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Yx3fuOW0rJBHRBd0ZXahC73b5DuPXXvL9eCEVVzm0bC4FESVi9C3Wcd5xU9XQJAi9BRb0UT5klyuVMkDiPFo-M_Cfht-BkQ7uHO5VuZ1IV_3X1xSuhchnGUKzIlrjOQRb2VZmKcCH-M/w160-h200/Matthews+Point+307.jpg" width="160" /></a>You have to hand it to us: Jan and I are masters of good
timing. Two or three weeks ago, as one sunny day relentlessly followed another,
and lawns grew ever drier and browner, we planned a departure from Vancouver
Island for the first time in many months. No, not to Europe or even some distant
reach of our home and native land. No, we limited ambition to something in the
order of 26 kilometres, the distance between the BC Ferries terminal at Swartz
Bay on Vancouver Island <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and its lesser
sibling at Sturdies Bay on Galiano Island.
</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal">Galiano is among our favourite of British Columbia's highly attractive
southern Gulf Islands, rivaled in our affections only by Saturna and Hornby. We
looked forward to vigourous hikes to Bodega Ridge and Mount Galiano, both of
them destinations we know well but never weary of. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The little trip was meant in part to celebrate
Jan's latest birthday which I shall be sufficiently discrete not to name.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJgEI0liFzCITDlEVuJq5rUaJ9fPXt9oYbp5Rpy65TM8MbXEj5LxBEESd3oP86UEPiso5Bj2LSPK7epDVfA4CUKz_H7M77QtWlIvBkBUH7WlcCg5kps_r1QxiUVG3vw_UyGUUx2OQfYM/s2048/red+rubber+ball+009.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1638" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJgEI0liFzCITDlEVuJq5rUaJ9fPXt9oYbp5Rpy65TM8MbXEj5LxBEESd3oP86UEPiso5Bj2LSPK7epDVfA4CUKz_H7M77QtWlIvBkBUH7WlcCg5kps_r1QxiUVG3vw_UyGUUx2OQfYM/w160-h200/red+rubber+ball+009.jpg" width="160" /></a>Then the fates threw a spanner into our best-laid plan: much
of the American west coast, and a little bit of Canada's too, caught fire. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the leadup to our October 14 departure for
Galiano, a pall of thick wildfire smoke fell upon our town. In September fine
weather normally enables Islanders to see clear across Juan de Fuca Strait, to
the Olympic Mountains of Washington state, the highest peaks snow-capped even
in late summer. Now, with wildfires raging in California, Oregon and
Washington, the sun turned into a dim orange ball, visibility fell to perhaps a
quarter mile, and air quality in Vancouver and Victoria reached a nadir: as bad
or worse than any city in the world. Health authorities recommended that we all
refrain from strenuous activity, perhaps even stay inside after sealing up windows
and doors. We went to Galiano anyway.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Though a change in perspective and expectation proved
necessary we managed to find plenty to see as long as we remembered to keep the
focus close. Near the Sturdies Bay ferry terminal, at Bellhouse Park, remarkable
sandstone geology provides plenty to contemplate. A gang of purple sea stars also
caught our eye at Bellhouse. The big 'starfish' plays a neat trick: after forcing
a clam or mussel to give up a tiny opening, the star is able to displace its
stomach inside the bivalve shell and digest the body of its prey at one remove.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhgFCClKEHOulnvj60RJmvPTW4UPTJtUGWfECjW5_1jNXWo7TPX8Q94fjELmVl2SvoFeYBimJuUnDzPmyNM3EkERtGhwKSgG5rM80HcqijHitZr5GUln83cCOpfZXeegvp_t7k_Mu4ryQ/s2048/Purple+shore+crab+092+sh.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1463" data-original-width="2048" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhgFCClKEHOulnvj60RJmvPTW4UPTJtUGWfECjW5_1jNXWo7TPX8Q94fjELmVl2SvoFeYBimJuUnDzPmyNM3EkERtGhwKSgG5rM80HcqijHitZr5GUln83cCOpfZXeegvp_t7k_Mu4ryQ/w200-h143/Purple+shore+crab+092+sh.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Bluffs Park denied its usual generous vistas across Active
Pass to Mayne, Pender and Salt Spring islands but permitted close inspection of
conglomerate rock, flowers and spiders. At Montague Harbour we introduced
ourselves to tiny purple shore crabs and conducted an inventory of all the bivalves
and crustaceans we could distinguish in a single square metre of the intertidal
zone—oysters, clams, limpets, barnacles <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et
al</i>. <p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With ambitious hikes ruled out, we even managed to score a
couple of 'lifers': visits to places we'd never seen before. At Matthews Point
we watched the big BC ferries traverse Active Pass —and managed to move fast enough
to stay out of harm's way when a ferry's surprisingly big 'wash' rolled into
shore. Birds are a reliable attraction as long as visibility is a little better
than a hundred feet: a heron fishing from a drifting log, a kingfisher rattling its objections to our intrusion into its neighbourhood.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Beach provided another lifer. There we had more unusual
geology to admire, and birds too. As we sat ogling the seals and sea lions
lolling on Lion Islets, a pair of red crossbills dropped into the scrubby yew
right beside us and allowed me to take a portfolio of pictures. A young crow noisily
pestered its mother for yet another feed. A gull turned the tables on a purple
star, trying its damndest to ingest one that must have been six inches across.</p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwmCtOuvsXbPGMqbXD2HhX1egm2H925jQvoHotgxKkl9hIs-TnL98ZWkAElfaOZBUZmzKVskewHAlt6ssrrhgWanP6JykAIu4XcgRmloRGO2tQNHa3WMjuPKBr77_qZiSICos643jTZQ/s1800/whimsy+353.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1800" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkwmCtOuvsXbPGMqbXD2HhX1egm2H925jQvoHotgxKkl9hIs-TnL98ZWkAElfaOZBUZmzKVskewHAlt6ssrrhgWanP6JykAIu4XcgRmloRGO2tQNHa3WMjuPKBr77_qZiSICos643jTZQ/w200-h120/whimsy+353.jpg" width="200" /></a>If the land of the living grows a little tedious, there is
always the domain of the dead. Not everyone shares my view that there is no
such thing as a boring cemetery. Galiano's is especially fascinating. An
excellent array of unusual grave decorations rewards the visitor who takes the
time and trouble to follow Active Pass Drive as far as one can. The earliest
Galiano pioneers—the Georgesons and Bellhouses among them—are gathered here. There
are a few conventional-looking grave markers at the Galiano final resting place
but the majority are out of the ordinary: a charming sculpture of Uncle Tom Head
and his cherished dog, a rusting toy truck marking the grave of an islander who
loved to drive his full-sized pickup along Galiano roads, a lovely porcelain
rendering of a small child riding an elephant.
<p class="MsoNormal">Sure, it might have been nice to have the usual sunshine
grace our visit to Galiano, but if one takes the time to find the iconic little
human riding an elephant, Galiano offers ample reward even when smoky haze
reduces visibility to near zero. </p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-48012323152405761642020-09-05T21:23:00.010-03:002020-09-05T21:35:33.665-03:00Ah the Joys of a Big Sit<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQvA1HSJOkGjG_tEsNHm3B4XXv7L84NNM-kTw-wnT1svPzoOXgoysNHJhjdpFkOtRzVCMZwsnPeXbsGBxrCGsVKAinF34lh22ugVfpfzOnrbcF3QFRPINcS8xxP2DxY0IyW6cCyFKIrZs/s2048/tower+point+044.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQvA1HSJOkGjG_tEsNHm3B4XXv7L84NNM-kTw-wnT1svPzoOXgoysNHJhjdpFkOtRzVCMZwsnPeXbsGBxrCGsVKAinF34lh22ugVfpfzOnrbcF3QFRPINcS8xxP2DxY0IyW6cCyFKIrZs/w256-h154/tower+point+044.jpg" width="256" /></a></span></b></div><span style="font-size: small;">Now that September is upon us</span>, peregrinations are front of
mind, the sort that occur annually at this time of year as birds that have raised
broods in Canada—from our region of the country all the way to the faraway
Arctic—decide it is time to head to wherever it is they like to make their winter
home. <br />
<p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Once upon a time—oh, as long as four decades ago—I was a
crazed practitioner of the birding Big Day wherein two or three keeners get
together to see how many species they are able to find in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a given window of up to 24 hours. Hereabouts
early May is a good time for a Big Day; so is early-mid September. The thing
about a Big Day is that it is a very intensive, rushed affair not conducive
to relaxation, peace, quiet and tranquility. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Even as a young buck I was aware
of an alternative to the Big Day, namely, the Big Sit, an option that involves
no running-around at all, but a nice leisurely settling-in at some well-selected
site, preferably in comfortable folding chairs, a lovely picnic lunch at hand, chilled
beverages waiting in the cooler, all gathered at a site commanding excellent views
over an area likely to be traversed by a variety of birds. Despite its manifest
attractions I was never much drawn to the Big Sit when I was a young fellow.
That has now changed.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZWfV2pDsW2GvOZleHDERw1YBlMR-QAXIWxmweye1njI8MfXhfwysObH3eS1bQYbUEOd-Se6zFq-MvjAbwtHibCYTHZAW-wqZZ8oYCYeKP7zn5OXz7c8KdxVuHf35kOfls_w81cAFTh0/s2048/flypast+040+sh.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZWfV2pDsW2GvOZleHDERw1YBlMR-QAXIWxmweye1njI8MfXhfwysObH3eS1bQYbUEOd-Se6zFq-MvjAbwtHibCYTHZAW-wqZZ8oYCYeKP7zn5OXz7c8KdxVuHf35kOfls_w81cAFTh0/w256-h154/flypast+040+sh.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>Jan and I decided that a Big Sit was just the thing for a
blithesome early September morning. We went to Tower Point which commands an
expansive view over Juan de Fuca Strait all the way to the Olympic Mountains of
Washington State. Jan decided it was a capital idea, one she bought into with
extra fervor when I promised to make my world-renowned pesto sandwiches part of
the deal. <br /><p class="MsoNormal">We arrived at our destination a little past 8, pleased as
usual to be greeted by a soundscape dominated by waves lapping at the rocky
shoreline, Garry oaks soughing in a gentle breeze, harbour seals contentedly
grunting from the islet just off the point. Human-made noise was happily
absent. There were birds to see right off the bat—surfbirds and turnstones foraging
for breakfast among the offshore rocks. Legions of gulls gathered too: old-reliable
glaucous-winged gulls, even bigger numbers of a lovely gull whose numbers peak
at this time of year, a species that for some reason always brings Brian Wilson
and the Beach Boys to my mind—California gulls. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9OqOwxmcXCc_ldBpwLNhTxsZra82vUi_bFRQ0A2liP-jrZ-PtvSgUGOL52mOfxhyphenhyphenUCeUcqo3zLPk75WWcKCF4HanXuwUIcvFE76ApaTYBc9o8VgbLcDFPZW4TysgY2dkGjy-J4PAZZI/s2048/hangin+out+013.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9OqOwxmcXCc_ldBpwLNhTxsZra82vUi_bFRQ0A2liP-jrZ-PtvSgUGOL52mOfxhyphenhyphenUCeUcqo3zLPk75WWcKCF4HanXuwUIcvFE76ApaTYBc9o8VgbLcDFPZW4TysgY2dkGjy-J4PAZZI/w256-h154/hangin+out+013.jpg" width="256" /></a>My better half and I were well equipped for observing birds
and recording anything special that might fly into our view plane: two
binoculars, spotting scope, two cameras. Off to the west we saw a crowd of
gulls—two hundred or more—gathered on a sand bar at the entrance to winsome Witty's
Lagoon. I turned the spotting scope to the sandbar, soon gathered that the
majority of the gulls were Californias, the sort evoking Brian Wilson. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Then I
spotted something else, on the beach beyond the sandbar: naked women. Once upon
a time, back when I was as hardcore a Big Day practitioner as ever was, I might
easily have been distracted by women naturists assembled on a beach. It is
perhaps a sad marker of how much has changed over the years that I was hardly
distracted at all. No, there were birds to identify; I was bound and determined
to identify them. <br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our principal birding targets were phalaropes and jaegers—seagoing
birds that provide the best, albeit rare, viewing possibilities at this time of
year. Well, to kill the suspense, no, we saw no phalaropes. We saw no jaegers. We
saw container ships pass slowly by, too distant to hear the thrum of the ships'
engines. In the distance zodiacs packed with whale-watchers also raced past,
everyone on board keen for close encounters with orcas, perhaps even a
humpback. We saw no whales.</p>Onshore just behind us, there were landbirds to hear and
see: a towhee here, nuthatch there, a warbler or two, a little gang of bushtits,
a flicker. In the result we fell short of the hundred-plus count that might
have once been assured i<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihfKKKGAXcu5_r_rNpGT7lBUWpzWsFQgyLuNS7LsJE4qk7H7KTI8tuvBF4F8LHM4Xp6sa_HPQFLXru_vEG6ywQt8PjlV8S_9oOZ2HjWP3Hals0k2PV4-G7OzMKm7t7ULHIXf-fAovX0iA/s2048/haul+051.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihfKKKGAXcu5_r_rNpGT7lBUWpzWsFQgyLuNS7LsJE4qk7H7KTI8tuvBF4F8LHM4Xp6sa_HPQFLXru_vEG6ywQt8PjlV8S_9oOZ2HjWP3Hals0k2PV4-G7OzMKm7t7ULHIXf-fAovX0iA/w256-h154/haul+051.jpg" width="256" /></a>n a September Big Day. We listed barely a couple dozen
species. Feel no pity. The pesto sandwiches, washed down with herbal tea, were
every bit as brilliant as promised. On the way back to the car we filled two
containers with blackberries. The berries will provide the filling for the pie
we'll share tomorrow evening with Jan's Dad. What could be finer?
<p class="MsoNormal">Despite the paucity of phalaropes and jaegers it was a Big
Sit to remember. I can hardly wait for the next one.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-38175852992499384462020-08-12T14:55:00.006-03:002020-08-12T15:01:42.166-03:00Swimsuits Not Required<p class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->In 1722 Daniel Dafoe, author of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Robinson Crusoe</i>, published <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
Journal of the Plague Year</i>, one man's account of the Great Plague of London
which killed about a hundred thousand Londoners and others in 1665-66. Wikipedia
tells us that Dafoe takes pains to achieve verisimilitude in his plague book, describing
specific neighborhoods, streets, and even particular houses in which events
took place. I admit to having never read <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Journal
of the Plague Year</i>. Perhaps this would be a good year to remedy that
defect.
</p><p class="MsoNormal">Our own pandemic of 2020 has turned the planet into a
strange, unfamiliar world. But for CV-19 I would be in Cape Breton now, enjoying
the woods of Boularderie Island, cataloguing the birds and wildflowers, trying in vain
to persuade twin cousins Lynn and Louise to go for a skinny dip in my own
private, perfect swimming hole. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But no,
I am in BC rather than CB, striving to make the best of altered circumstances.</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZuiQdp5jJ-nsZeYg9VG9d2TcxFr-FEMeoB7zCEriBwQhK6hXZi2c_CK2wc5FVKqSLvOJhhb7EAOAMqSXChd7ODkQXFiBp7u102NSh0X4jpZbd5pD9cy_0QUw0T42IDuEAPEutat0O4xc/s2048/amigos+127.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1463" data-original-width="2048" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZuiQdp5jJ-nsZeYg9VG9d2TcxFr-FEMeoB7zCEriBwQhK6hXZi2c_CK2wc5FVKqSLvOJhhb7EAOAMqSXChd7ODkQXFiBp7u102NSh0X4jpZbd5pD9cy_0QUw0T42IDuEAPEutat0O4xc/w410-h293/amigos+127.jpg" width="410" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal">I find that in at least one way I have become a facsimile of
my late, lamented mother. When I was young I never quite understood why dear
old Mum put such a high premium on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">peace
and quiet</i>. I no longer wonder why. From the sleeping porch at Big Bras d'Or
it is commonplace in the dead of night to hear barred owls and coyotes in
conversation from somewhere in the upper reaches of Kelly's Mountain, five
kilometres away. We get up in the morning to revel in the chorus of warblers
singing from the woods just behind the cabin. At 'Bigador' there is plenty of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>peace and quiet. Here in our no-longer-little
city it often seems to me that there is none at all, so when Mary and Mike proposed
that we join them in a longish hike to Sheilds Lake in the Sooke Hills, Jan and
I said yes, please and thank you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Monday was a glorious day for hiking a less-traveled wilderness
route: sunny but not too warm, a gentle breeze producing what might be my
favourite sound in nature: the soughing of wind in pines. Not spruces, not
firs, not hemlocks produce the same sound. Only pines. On the way to Sheilds—no,
that is not a misspelling, the lake is Sheilds, not Shields—there was plenty of
p & q to value. In mid-August songbirds have mostly done their procreative duty
and fallen silent: the woods are no longer alive with their urgent song, but we
did hear a vocalizing pygmy owl and counted ourselves lucky.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPJYemB0fJakamxHpafzmx9oqoPTPlCGHdOL3eBZu8vX_PEfozk3juEDNk1QE-UXsZvW6FV0bhX22nE5Xh2ppgNOwgf62pcujafdDcGUIGZan3wQ4FBEapMvZaA_VqOBdmYXmvgO2pZno/s2048/king+gentian+182.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1463" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPJYemB0fJakamxHpafzmx9oqoPTPlCGHdOL3eBZu8vX_PEfozk3juEDNk1QE-UXsZvW6FV0bhX22nE5Xh2ppgNOwgf62pcujafdDcGUIGZan3wQ4FBEapMvZaA_VqOBdmYXmvgO2pZno/w187-h262/king+gentian+182.jpg" width="187" /></a></div>August is not prime time for wildflowers either but a
rattlesnake plantain here, king gentian or rein-orchid there provided
sufficient opportunity to pause to take a picture and a legitimate excuse to catch
my breath.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our friends treated us to a 'lifer': a new-to-us, rough,
untraveled route across a height of land to our target lake. Sheilds is
sufficiently removed from any madding crowd that we had a reasonable prospect
of having it to ourselves. And indeed we did. Sheilds was another 'lifer: a
lovely good-sized lake festooned here and there with pink water lilies. Apart
from a calling raven here, a sapsucker there, we were alone. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am someone who tends to feel that getting dressed to go
for a swim is just about as logical as doing so to take a bath or have a
shower. If I have to swim with a cast of strangers, in a bathing suit, I
typically conclude it is not worth the trouble. At Sheilds there were no
strangers, no need for bathing suits. Like-minded friends are one of life's
true treasures: all together we went for a lovely swim in the altogether. It
was sublime.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCpshvfhbFHSDYz340wFlYCHrR874-KFFByf2JLMrvsIC4CGiTojmQQF-VJLjPhw-86a1yo_MVC8jaj67g48Ue-yM_o11rLZtsW4pbVzdnDUWYmSj4ImU9DL87BbAWi1b2aG_OIVCJ8M/s2048/sheilds+150.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1229" data-original-width="2048" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQCpshvfhbFHSDYz340wFlYCHrR874-KFFByf2JLMrvsIC4CGiTojmQQF-VJLjPhw-86a1yo_MVC8jaj67g48Ue-yM_o11rLZtsW4pbVzdnDUWYmSj4ImU9DL87BbAWi1b2aG_OIVCJ8M/w410-h246/sheilds+150.jpg" width="410" /></a></div>Now I freely admit that deeply into my eighth decade I am no
longer anything but an eyesore to anyone who might have been peeking from the
woods but if friends are both like-minded and forgiving of deeply wrinkled, saggy
skin, an old fellow is doubly blessed.<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After relaxing swim and restorative lunch it might have been
a downer to tear ourselves away from Sheilds but there was consolation: another
lake on the way back, another swim for those needing a second cooldown.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">None of us were in any hurry to get the day over with so by
the time we'd tramped 14 km, climbed 430 metres or thereabouts, subjected our
feet to 31,107 steps, nine hours had somehow slipped past. By then I was ready
to call it a day. Wrinkles and sags notwithstanding I'm grateful I can still do
such a thing.</p>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-46083439080179547542020-07-18T15:24:00.000-03:002020-07-18T15:38:25.266-03:00A Little Cometary Perspective<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Hq8doPeqBGk4YHuIXZ_31vpq9YKOWU3Q6kEPbBu0nmT5xMOErTj3D-qvVGwLZ1_NTQiBsKVy82aSBbEm6xX4SK7LrXDVQ-dP6Sv47VKvgRwK4dLOPM1Ph-XmALBtOdGtdD7sc8gBfSw/s1600/night+008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Hq8doPeqBGk4YHuIXZ_31vpq9YKOWU3Q6kEPbBu0nmT5xMOErTj3D-qvVGwLZ1_NTQiBsKVy82aSBbEm6xX4SK7LrXDVQ-dP6Sv47VKvgRwK4dLOPM1Ph-XmALBtOdGtdD7sc8gBfSw/s400/night+008.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">In these Covid-deprived times</span> our ability to embark on
ambitious peregrinations is greatly stifled. We are encouraged to stay close to
home, abjure crowded airplanes, keep our distance, and thereby hope to avoid
emulating the unhappy fate of the six hundred thousand of our fellow humans who
have already succumbed to the virus. At this time of year I would ordinarily be
enveloped in the quiet, restorative delights of the woods of Big Bras d'Or, the
wildflower-festooned trail to Dalem Lake, the vocal stylings of the Swainson's
thrushes, black-throated green warblers and white-throated sparrows of
Boularderie Island. Perhaps the pandemic will have abated enough to permit a
return to Cape Breton in 2021. Perhaps not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am obliged to content myself with horizons reachable on foot
from my James Bay door, by bicycle, or by a short drive in gasoline-powered
conveyance. But these days—perhaps I should say <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">nights</i>—another sort of peregrination provides happy, contemplative distraction.
I admit to being one among <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>my kind fascinated
by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">comets</i>. Yes, comets. I get excited
whenever a new comet is discovered and I have the prospect of seeing it with my
own septuagenarian eyes. In late March, on its journey to our corner of the
solar system, a new comet was detected by a space telescope, the Wide-field
Infrared Survey Explorer absorbed in its Near-Earth Objects mission—NEOWISE for
short. Comet Neowise has an alternate, even more prosaic moniker, C/2020 F3. I
find neither name as evocative as the names Halley, Hale-Bopp or Hyakutake but
that is a mere quibble. Any visible comet is a joy to behold, an inducement to
contemplate our significance in the greater scheme of things.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Often dubbed "dirty snowballs", comets are
typically made of dust, gas and the ionized gas the scientists call plasma.
When invisibly minding their own business in the outer reaches of the solar
system comets are very cold, something in the order of minus-220 Celsius, but
as they approach the innermost zones of the solar system the surface
temperature can shoot to an opposite extreme: heat measured in the millions of
degrees. And that is when we humans get to see them: it is the heat of the sun and
the solar wind that produce the comet's corona and the tail that extends as
much as ten million kilometres.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A few nights ago Jan and I made our way in evening twilight
to Highrock Park in Esquimalt to see the new comet. We were not alone: twenty
or thirty others were also gathered at Highrock for the show. Neowise is a wee
thing, a mere five kilometres in diameter, but even at a distance of a hundred
million kilometres the corona and tail make it is easy enough to spot,
especially if the observer is armed with a decent binocular. It was of course Jan,
aka 'Hawkeye', who spotted it first. I managed to get a decent image of Neowise
with my long-lens Sony. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidgVFA3f_Gq3RlH0UQxVVOxFJju7kKm9r_ZnpHOHQG4eDHrASRKotA59I_dYdq-DlFeop32AKk_3QyCcOzfDCvGnd156ydijh31z9ymcSKZu94S-179Vmg8T-2RrbvjrMLqWQjb4-m_Ic/s1600/neowise+043+fr+2+2100.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidgVFA3f_Gq3RlH0UQxVVOxFJju7kKm9r_ZnpHOHQG4eDHrASRKotA59I_dYdq-DlFeop32AKk_3QyCcOzfDCvGnd156ydijh31z9ymcSKZu94S-179Vmg8T-2RrbvjrMLqWQjb4-m_Ic/s400/neowise+043+fr+2+2100.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One viewing was not enough. Last night we went out again. By
11 pm the summit of Victoria's Mount Tolmie was crowded with people and their
vehicles, all gathered for the same purpose. Neowise once traveled at a sedate
3,200 kilometres/hour but the slingshot effect of the sun's gravity has
increased the iceball's pace to 28,000 kph. That works out to about 7.78
kilometres a second, quite a bit faster than Usain Bolt in his prime. The comet
will make its closest approach to Planet Earth July 22 by which time it will be
a mere 103 million kilometres distant. You still have plenty of time to see it:
take a bino to some location—the darker the better—with an open view to the
northwest. I promise it will be easy enough to see.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Where is Neowise headed? Well, back to the Oort Cloud is the
short answer: the far reaches of the solar system. Solar system distances are
measured by the <b>Astronomical Unit</b>, the distance from the sun
to our little planet, 152 million kilometres. At <i>aphelion</i>,
the comet's greatest distance from the sun, Neowise will be in the order of 630
AU away from us. The comet will need a few thousand years to reach aphelion and
commence its next circuit to the sun. For a sense of what 630 AU means consider
this: Voyager 1, launched 43 years ago in 1977 and speeding along at 17 kilometres/second
is now about 150 AU from its launch pad. When will we see this comet again? The experts
tell us it will be 6,800 years before Neowise delivers a return engagement.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neowise delivers a tonic over and above its fascinating bare
facts: when a fellow is inclined to fret about the state of human affairs and
the danger that Donald Trump might be reelected leader of the free world, the
comet offers a little perspective.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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<![endif]-->Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-85222185475210732182020-06-21T18:39:00.004-03:002020-06-22T12:50:46.049-03:00In Pursuit of Pipsissewa<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxmI975aaswM7l2QqdQ_QLCkKsB4KeQ9ut_McD-eLhVGbrN1ZBaaRenjhyRJOiveiHs5P8XA80DPX6qpITtcCoVO4ek4hhDVxdgQx-gr6LJpW1D11HJUnM6Q30sicasiWx6ohb31sQ6M4/s1600/pink+069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="960" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxmI975aaswM7l2QqdQ_QLCkKsB4KeQ9ut_McD-eLhVGbrN1ZBaaRenjhyRJOiveiHs5P8XA80DPX6qpITtcCoVO4ek4hhDVxdgQx-gr6LJpW1D11HJUnM6Q30sicasiWx6ohb31sQ6M4/s200/pink+069.jpg" width="120" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Deprived by Covid-19</span> of a 2020 sojourn at beloved 'Bigadore'
in Cape Breton, I seek distractions that might ease the sting of the loss. Bonnie
Henry, British Columbia's cherished chief medical officer, tells us to stay close to home,
abjure unnecessary travel, and adjust ourselves to near horizons. I try to do
my bit but after a hundred days and more of the new regime I admit to chafing at being confined within a walkable radius of our Ontario Street shack, especially since
the crown jewel of Victoria's city parks—Beacon Hill Park—is ever more being
taken over by people in tents—the homeless and perhaps others who like the
prospect of no-cost camping in blithe surroundings.</div>
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I leapt at the prospect of teaming up with Jan and best-buddies
Mary and Mike for a grail quest requiring the use of motor vehicle and the
burning of fossil fuel. Yes, a departure from strict adherence to Dr Bonnie's prescription
but a fellow can take only so much confinement. <br />
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The subject of our grail quest was flowers, yes, flowers.
Wildflowers to be specific, ones that were pretty much strangers to all of us.</div>
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Starting at 0630 hours we made an early stop at Goldstream Park.
None of the tenters domiciled at the park campground were yet out of their
sleeping bags but the musical accompaniment provided by the dawn chorus of
birds was well underway—varied thrush, olive-sided flycatcher and that most
sublime of our woodland songsters, Swainson's thrush. Just a few days before,
Mary and Mike had spotted two flower species new to them and to us—the lovely pink
wintergreen and gnome-plant, the latter a pale oddball that makes its way in
life by attaching its roots to self-sufficient plants and stealing some of their
nutrients. Now they were in full bloom.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgorryDfjkbOxDCds0DWHtxoAtWAdM8Qcce_4kYIVjrMe4Ou0Yo_q4ibIZtppc_ydX5zuL7X-jovBOqVFEmh4ODpDdewlmIvx5MIfi-FF51p26TQXNjOoba7OHFrLpxOXr2fFcPCZmSp40/s1600/pips+119.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgorryDfjkbOxDCds0DWHtxoAtWAdM8Qcce_4kYIVjrMe4Ou0Yo_q4ibIZtppc_ydX5zuL7X-jovBOqVFEmh4ODpDdewlmIvx5MIfi-FF51p26TQXNjOoba7OHFrLpxOXr2fFcPCZmSp40/s200/pips+119.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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The main thoroughfare running north-south in our James Bay
neighbourhood is Menzies Street. The name honours a Scots scientist of the 18th
Century, Archibald Menzies, who made a name for himself as ship's taxonomist on
George Vancouver's expedition to our part of the world in 1792. I have become
something of a Menzies fan: I decided that before shuffling off this mortal
coil I had to see the last of the west-coast plants named for the eminent Dr.
Menzies. The very last happened to be beguilingly-named <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Pipsissewa</i>—a word adapted from the Cree original—whose taxonomic
handle is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chimaphila umbellata</i>. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivo5CUIv7eLEmlGqtqfSyW2CuaufNEFEeTTtXf62qR95u46GVUWU2q95NA07m89yakS4IdmEEbkzk89Qn-4ymckR78Tfz_z6ygwbzFlqFf36wiy8ZLBtjKF-UqRm2AH0rTBKbdcL5mhN8/s1600/kinsol+166.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivo5CUIv7eLEmlGqtqfSyW2CuaufNEFEeTTtXf62qR95u46GVUWU2q95NA07m89yakS4IdmEEbkzk89Qn-4ymckR78Tfz_z6ygwbzFlqFf36wiy8ZLBtjKF-UqRm2AH0rTBKbdcL5mhN8/s200/kinsol+166.jpg" width="200" /></a>Mary, our intrepid floral researcher, had found evidence
that pipsissewa had lately been spotted close to the Koksilah River. That is
where we headed next and it was there, by the rushing Koksilah, that Mary
spotted the first of a gang of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">C.
umbellata</i>. Now I have to admit that the little flower is just that, a mere
flower, and not a big showy one at that, but I couldn't have been happier had I
been given ironclad cosmic assurances that Donald Trump will be tossed from the
Oval Office come November.</div>
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Further downstream the river is crossed by the Koksilah
Trestle, one of the world's tallest, most spectacular timber rail trestles. The
chugging steam locomotives are of course long gone, but the trestle was well restored
a decade ago and now attracts tourists keen to imagine a bygone era and to
marvel at what could be achieved a century ago by the hand of man.</div>
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Our happy quartet made its way to Bright Angel Park where a
picnic table in the shade provided the venue for a fine lunch of sandwiches, fresh
fruit and—best of all—an array of licorice allsorts. A narrow pedestrian
suspension bridge crosses the Koksilah a short distance from the picnic table. The
little bridge does not impersonate <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">terra
firma</i>. We staggered and slewed like drunks to the other side, cast eyes
upward to the tops of towering red-cedars and sought to keep safely distanced
from the families drawn on a hot day to the river's cooling pools.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWrdOeaqSQQtwi9MfjNJJoa-hEYZqSHyzuP_oYml_D-jO5q8PQaH_nVgocYmPeN6GnZbDFXHnxpnexJuuuAeUqYtYn2jEy0MtWDvwmsbQxgKU9u4RI8A-xAr0WrtwdN5gHzXghrihO79c/s1600/pinnatus+216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWrdOeaqSQQtwi9MfjNJJoa-hEYZqSHyzuP_oYml_D-jO5q8PQaH_nVgocYmPeN6GnZbDFXHnxpnexJuuuAeUqYtYn2jEy0MtWDvwmsbQxgKU9u4RI8A-xAr0WrtwdN5gHzXghrihO79c/s200/pinnatus+216.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Close enough to hear the roar of traffic on the bypass
highway at Nanaimo, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Harewood Plains—a
'lifer' for all of—is one of a handful of sites in BC where one can hope to see
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lotus pinnatus</i>—meadow birdsfoot
trefoil. We found all the trefoil we could possibly want to admire, and a host
of other flowering lovelies: nodding onion, yellow monkey-flower, crown
brodiaea,</div>
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<br />
I find I have something in common with birds: we tend to like
the same places. Though it was now late afternoon the meadows at Harewood were
alive with bird song—black-headed grosbeak, white-crowned sparrow, house wren.
A garter snake soaking up sunshine tolerated my close approach to take its
portrait. Turkey vultures drifted overhead, perhaps waiting for one of us to
expire. Lovely.</div>
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<br />
The only flaw in a splendid day with good friends was that
it came to an end. Ah well, enough of these and I might just survive a summer
without the restorative charms of Boularderie Island.<br />
<br />
*** <br />
<br />
To see an array of images from the day's adventures go here:<br />
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigadore/albums/72157714782795898 </div>
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<![endif]-->Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-44992185337551792022020-05-05T16:21:00.001-03:002020-05-08T09:32:15.236-03:00Munn Road Melody<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vLz07OZZcyhmjGJV4GhPw4j-XpGTlbZbfrtmQQPVNR-FnF0I985Fn3XEFnrXrk7ADLpA1ZhBdXY5-Q_CyB_I7VWEOrKRu9Idgq3zLEu4zzphumRuJpcavTxt6ijwMpYR4N9TkTQzXJM/s1600/Munn+Road+103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7vLz07OZZcyhmjGJV4GhPw4j-XpGTlbZbfrtmQQPVNR-FnF0I985Fn3XEFnrXrk7ADLpA1ZhBdXY5-Q_CyB_I7VWEOrKRu9Idgq3zLEu4zzphumRuJpcavTxt6ijwMpYR4N9TkTQzXJM/s200/Munn+Road+103.jpg" width="200" /></a>In these horizon-foreshortened days of both voluntary and
mandatory isolation, peregrinations are necessarily more local than they once were.
Our trusty Vibe sits idle most days and when we do start it up, it is only to
drive a short distance. This being the first week of May, Munn Road beckoned.
We drive there to park at a pullout under the hydro line that separates
Francis-King and Thetis Lake parks. The powerline and adjacent parkland are an
excellent place to see and hear returning migrant songbirds in these early days
of a new breeding season. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Jan and I get going early, arriving at 0517 hours to take in
the dawn chorus. The day starts with a bang: distracted by the imminent
excitement, I crush my left thumb in the car door, something I'd have preferred
not to do. Oh well, even with a battered thumb, I cannot think of anywhere I'd
rather be on the fourth of May than in the woods and open places on either side
of Munn Road under that powerline. To be there with my better half.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLb9mgq3sab6fH_wVRCNgHLh5DV3c8kgYfg9cMVNCnMwWp24cwZicP6nL6scT7YSw33xd_d25dV1HJM3hJiukjzsB3yfzMpbazk8q9UT7_OzXh6odcLjOz_6sieGbfYfMYxU4wk5we9h0/s1600/Hawkeye+063.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLb9mgq3sab6fH_wVRCNgHLh5DV3c8kgYfg9cMVNCnMwWp24cwZicP6nL6scT7YSw33xd_d25dV1HJM3hJiukjzsB3yfzMpbazk8q9UT7_OzXh6odcLjOz_6sieGbfYfMYxU4wk5we9h0/s200/Hawkeye+063.jpg" width="160" /></a>Long ago, in the early-mid 1980s my excellent birding pals,
Ron Satterfield and Bruce Whittington, could be persuaded to join me in a
birding 'Big Day', an all-out effort to find as many bird species by sight and
sound as we could squeeze into a very long day, twenty hours or thereabouts. Even
at the time, in my mid-30s I knew what boon companions I had. I cherished them.
With the benefit of hindsight my view of them is burnished that much more. I
drove my friends <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hard</i>. If a coterie
of birder pals want to see 130 kinds of birds on south Vancouver Island they
have to take the enterprise seriously. They did.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I loved Ron Satterfield. I use the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">past</i> tense because Ron is departed. Gone four years now. Bruce and
I were in our mid-30s back then, Ron past 60. Many years after we'd given up
the Big Day game, I told my old pal that I felt a little regret about how hard
I'd driven him back when. The Great Satterfield asserted that no regret was
necessary. He said those times were some of the best of his long, rich life. I
knew he meant it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So yesterday when Jan and I revisited Munn Road for another session of hardcore birding, I was flooded with memories of days gone
by, of Ron and Bruce, and all the adventures the powerline delivered when two of
the trio were still young and one, not so young, was as intrepid as ever.
Two sorts of peregrination unfolded yesterday: the literal kind and the time-travel
variety a trip to Munn Road invariably sets in motion.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbXo2J9Pyu5cKAgO_qIrfJXxcqdc1Pdd-N4NrxDn4ERgD-YKjTfCpz5Q15esBeq0UKaYJ6KamLxHwWzz0LwxYoFGYLpJrQc0akt3XsRmh7yUTIFrFxmiWiYqaetMv-83196ZJCF-lmHuU/s1600/Pylons+and+Peaks+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1600" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbXo2J9Pyu5cKAgO_qIrfJXxcqdc1Pdd-N4NrxDn4ERgD-YKjTfCpz5Q15esBeq0UKaYJ6KamLxHwWzz0LwxYoFGYLpJrQc0akt3XsRmh7yUTIFrFxmiWiYqaetMv-83196ZJCF-lmHuU/s200/Pylons+and+Peaks+003.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
In a 1980s-era Big Day, after several hours listening for
owls in the dark, the trio would typically welcome dawn at Munn Road. There was
no time to squander, we would dash into the powerline, keen of eye and ear, and
come out an hour or so later fifty species to the good. </div>
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<br /></div>
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When Jan and go into the powerline now we do not dash. There
are no other stops to worry about. The modern version of a May Big Day happens
in one place. We take our time. The goal is still 50 species but if
it takes the whole morning to reach that target, so be it.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Busted thumb notwithstanding, we have a fine, memorable
time. A sapsucker delivers his irregular drumbeat love-song to the woman of his
dreams. Jan is widely known by a well-earned nickname: Hawkeye. But her hearing
is every bit as sharp as her spotting ability. She has left me behind. I no
longer readily hear the kinglets and high-pitched warblers I detected so easily
a third of a century ago. She shakes her head at my hearing loss. I wonder how
much longer it will be before I get the heave-ho, before she summons the
locksmith to re-key the Ontario Street doors.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg796IYoFmBO_gb0yZ_6_iNlm2MEj-9cUjBDo5rojpKubteu4-8rGX-OTNyj1kYLx5qLZ5L3OL0dMgFT23ntRY92NWL4nhc1NQH26FXHELRbcGRNbjOPD7m_RB4C9ihlWMXgfznxecb2hU/s1600/better+pole+053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg796IYoFmBO_gb0yZ_6_iNlm2MEj-9cUjBDo5rojpKubteu4-8rGX-OTNyj1kYLx5qLZ5L3OL0dMgFT23ntRY92NWL4nhc1NQH26FXHELRbcGRNbjOPD7m_RB4C9ihlWMXgfznxecb2hU/s200/better+pole+053.jpg" width="200" /></a>I do manage to see or hear seven of the eight warbler species
we can expect on our route. Especially in the early hours we have the place to
ourselves: there are no other people to practice safe-distancing with. A barred
owl accommodates our wish for a close look. At the sub-station ponds we find
two wood duck families—the adults and their young broods. A pileated woodpecker—the
species oldtimers called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">northern logcock</i>—bangs
out his nuptial melody from a distant snag. A medley of songbirds join the morning
chorus—purple finches, black-headed grosbeaks, house wrens, common yellowthroats,
McGillivray's warblers, goldfinches, a Hutton's vireo—all of them ardent to produce
a new generation of their kind. </div>
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<br /></div>
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It takes the whole morning, all seven hours of it, but we
reach our goal: fifty species. The Great Satterfield would be 99 were he
still in the land of the living. I miss him, and offer silent thanks for the
great, stalwart friend he was.</div>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-60265116944253989592020-04-10T11:56:00.000-03:002020-05-05T16:30:53.763-03:00Doris Irene, 1923-2020<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Doris grew up in the multi-ethnic Ontario Street
neighbourhood of Montreal, a community that burnished her native kindness,
tolerance and acceptance. During the Second World War she worked as a
bookkeeper for a large insurance company. Her younger brother, Eddie, a seaman
in the Canadian merchant navy, impressed a Cape Breton crewmate, Hugh John
MacLeod, who wondered whether Eddie might have a sister. Told he did, HJ
demanded to meet the sister the first time their ship landed in Montreal.
Doris, 21 at the time, felt that HJ was like Errol Flynn, only better. They
married within a year and proceeded to raise a family in Nova Scotia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YyCKlCcsDBLt5DzGHLuvcnhirDAWZr-L1yiTuzRGOgmAcCIp90Yfe-5VeVE1BUHeuVO7SO80Bi9RSwZIU7vatNRizj-cYdlTeUm6n5rxXbPnVuXnFX0pG3u-KfdIDb4i7Lv0B3RuUCM/s1600/last+shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YyCKlCcsDBLt5DzGHLuvcnhirDAWZr-L1yiTuzRGOgmAcCIp90Yfe-5VeVE1BUHeuVO7SO80Bi9RSwZIU7vatNRizj-cYdlTeUm6n5rxXbPnVuXnFX0pG3u-KfdIDb4i7Lv0B3RuUCM/s320/last+shot.jpg" width="256" /></a><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">It was the best, luckiest decision HJ ever made:
during a marriage enduring nearly half a century he was a principal beneficiary
of Doris's devotion, dedication and sense of duty.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">First came a son, then twin daughters, then a
final daughter. In her late forties when her own children were grown, Doris
decided to start all over again. She happily took on daycare responsibilities
for her first grandchild, then a second, third and fourth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Doris was first, last and always a mother, a
caregiver, a nurturer. But she was much more besides. She paid close attention
not just to family and friends but to the world at large. She was a reader,
close follower of world affairs, a student of human nature. Possessed of rare
empathy and intuition, she was a marvelous <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">listener</i>.
She would ask new friends about their lives and families, not merely to be
polite but because she was genuinely interested in others. A friend would only
have to report family details once: Doris would remember.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">She was a role model for growing old: positive,
resilient, brave. She understood that abundant good cheer was as beneficial to
herself as to those around her.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Left to lament that she is no longer available to
share her common sense, wisdom and compassion</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">—</span><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">and
to induce laughter at just the right moment</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">—</span><span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">are
son Alan (Janice Brown), daughters Nora (Ron Whynacht), Nancy (Donald Nelson)
and Kathleen (Jon Prentiss), six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "bookman old style" , "serif"; font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">All of whom will have to make do with the world of
memories she leaves behind.</span></div>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-64231034539475832982019-09-25T11:14:00.000-03:002019-10-02T15:39:39.805-03:00And No Birds Sang<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]--><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Years
ago</span> my late friend Dave Stirling favoured me with a visit </span>to Big Bras
d’Or. Dave was a naturalist extraordinaire, one of three great birder pals who
fostered my passion for birds and spent uncounted hours with me along
shorelines, in woods and fields, in daylight and at night, all in pursuit of the
joys of birding. One day during Dave’s visit here, binoculars in hand, we went
for a walkabout on my several acres. It was a good morning, though not an
especially extraordinary one: we counted forty bird species during the ramble. Dave
was pleased, so was I. At that time, even on a routine day someone paying
attention was virtually certain to see at least two dozen kinds of birds, most
of them breeding right here at ‘Bigadore’.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Before my emancipation from the working life I tried to
spend most of the month of August at Bigadore. In August the mosquitoes have
subsided, the water temperature has warmed nicely in the saltwater swimming
hole below the cabin, there is still plenty of sunshine to savour. August was
good for birding too: the woodland breeding birds were still here, and as the
month progressed I could look forward to ‘fallouts’ of early migrants: small
gangs of warblers and sparrows of several species gathered in a feeding flock
in my birches, pin cherries and mountain-ashes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The halcyon days are gone. I used to see swallows from the
cabin at Big Bras d’Or: barn swallows, tree swallows, perhaps an occasional
cliff or bank swallow. The swallows have pretty much passed out of view here at
Bigadore. I have been here since the first of June—close to four months—and have
not seen a single swallow. Not one.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Nowadays there is no way a keen birder could routinely find
two dozen species here, let alone forty. These days I walk my trails and woods
and encounter mostly silence. If not for squirrels inclined to object to my
passage the woods might be perfectly still. Rather than a couple of dozen
species on a morning walk, I might find five, or four, or three.</div>
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<br /></div>
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This past week news headlines informed us of a scientific
study cataloguing the precipitous decline in woodland birds. The report was no
surprise to me: I have been seeing it with my own eyes for years, but this year
in particular has been shocking. I still see waterbirds: gulls, gannets in
their season, passing herons at dusk, groups of scoters assembling for autumn on
the Great Bras d’Or. But songbirds—warblers, swallows, sparrows—are another
matter entirely.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgF1wduEn0QaAFx8k60olLqOe98RIYnl5T8ACGhsaLJFBSczM_nGKzWMrbFpOFKz4kN8pMFb1Fl1qjgOQt5ppqbaaoQwmmDvAsjvgpCDBLXLa24OWDmN4JQb1gFwM_gRMuOmjadh7Z6-k/s1600/Cat-Bird-Catch-BarbaraReddoch-SocialMedia-1200x628.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="844" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgF1wduEn0QaAFx8k60olLqOe98RIYnl5T8ACGhsaLJFBSczM_nGKzWMrbFpOFKz4kN8pMFb1Fl1qjgOQt5ppqbaaoQwmmDvAsjvgpCDBLXLa24OWDmN4JQb1gFwM_gRMuOmjadh7Z6-k/s200/Cat-Bird-Catch-BarbaraReddoch-SocialMedia-1200x628.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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The precipitous decline in songbird numbers is a sad fact
that can be laid largely at the feet of humans. We destroy bird habitat. We
build skyscrapers, telecommunication towers and wind generators without much
concern for the migrating ten or twelve-gram birds that crash into them during
their night-time migrations. We allow our beloved cats to go outside where they
do what nature designed them to do: hunt and kill. Twice this summer I have
been seated on a friend’s veranda when the family cat triumphantly returned
home with a bird in its teeth. The experts tell us that millions of birds are
slaughtered every year in North America by cats allowed to do as they will in
the great outdoors.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It is not just cats. I recall how appalled I was to learn
about the toll delivered by a single telecom tower in Pennsylvania some years
ago: more than a thousand ovenbirds killed on one night—just one—as a
consequence of flying into an unseen tower in the dead of night. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRAOAt1_bsK8qfheMm3Zxed10hHoq3ok22WysKTFme9XbTSAfl2OToHP3Sv-bYgduHhyphenhyphenzEJUzb4l1S27ZR4RvHE10hRcuqHSUUy5os0C58MwL1UDUAW0N_dzUVp1IVZVgQSW5mNlJN_Zk/s1600/dropin+018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1600" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRAOAt1_bsK8qfheMm3Zxed10hHoq3ok22WysKTFme9XbTSAfl2OToHP3Sv-bYgduHhyphenhyphenzEJUzb4l1S27ZR4RvHE10hRcuqHSUUy5os0C58MwL1UDUAW0N_dzUVp1IVZVgQSW5mNlJN_Zk/s200/dropin+018.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What can be done? I am gratified to hear that initiatives
are under way to give birds warning as they approach tall structures. Good. We
can help as individuals too. Windows are bird-killers. A big picture window is
a joy to the folks indoors enjoying the view outside. It is something else to a
bird that crashes into it. People who care can help remedy the problem by
placing silhouettes in their window—perhaps of a falcon or hawk—to signal that
the window is something a bird should avoid.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For a person who is both a cat-owner and someone who agrees
that the world is a better place with wild birds in it, does it not make sense, for the welfare of birds and for its own sake, that Puss enjoys life in
the safe and secure comfort of its own home?</div>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-42009130953342013102019-09-24T15:30:00.000-03:002019-09-24T15:30:20.241-03:00Walking in the Dordogne<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU1bGEUTuroypgk-nAFtnuxKr9-ykCcfWKd0bQ484n5GPHVfVjPJlB2O8PwQEAXqBiC4RI2Za_8erxVxsKNxd_jKS0H49C1eZ59AjJMg9sY5bdUdO1dCfmL0n6R7ZXQD0jEhPs5FmP0ME/s1600/89D4EF6B-1726-49DB-8087-FCCB1659700D.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU1bGEUTuroypgk-nAFtnuxKr9-ykCcfWKd0bQ484n5GPHVfVjPJlB2O8PwQEAXqBiC4RI2Za_8erxVxsKNxd_jKS0H49C1eZ59AjJMg9sY5bdUdO1dCfmL0n6R7ZXQD0jEhPs5FmP0ME/s200/89D4EF6B-1726-49DB-8087-FCCB1659700D.jpeg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chateau des Anglais</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">It was 100 kilometres in heat as much as 35 deg. But we were up for it. Mary met me in Paris and next day we headed down to Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne, the beginning of the route On Foot Holidays had set up for us. On Foot set up our accommodations along the way, gave us instructions on how to get to our next place, and arranged to have our luggage moved to the next stopping place. After a pleasant meeting with Emily, the company’s local contact and designer of the route, we went for a celebratory dip in the river. Let me just say it was very refreshing and we didn’t stay in long. The evening was very warm, so naturally we left our windows wide open, never thinking that at 4 am we would be discouraging a bat from thinking our bedroom was a great roosting cave. An auspicious start to our trip. </span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;"></span><br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh02YoWtbfFyIiP1XMcXAaiZxdSox3Z_hIi5iGHaKyC11l2VIL2KLytLvmGiCF6TlMvX3Bw6GPJh7XK8Xdh0v9QQj4PTkeKqmuExbJfFB9Yeehucx5h8vpKdMPK8homMgXfAgfKuKhVGS4/s1600/042E9DE9-6331-4927-9063-06CF18AE18D3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh02YoWtbfFyIiP1XMcXAaiZxdSox3Z_hIi5iGHaKyC11l2VIL2KLytLvmGiCF6TlMvX3Bw6GPJh7XK8Xdh0v9QQj4PTkeKqmuExbJfFB9Yeehucx5h8vpKdMPK8homMgXfAgfKuKhVGS4/s200/042E9DE9-6331-4927-9063-06CF18AE18D3.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chateau de Castelnau </td></tr>
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<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">Over the next six days we walked as much as 22 kilometres in a day, and gained an accumulated amount of altitude of as much as 700 meters. We saw miles of limestone walls, taking many thousands of person hours to build, many beautiful churches, chateaux and even a few birds. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtrrNSnRnKRaCobW8p162zmqrCGqK61DyzToxJYOrvOuPZdD-ynXMftqqGYh_FdLls0NsvGSFT_KZ3F05hG8EHjqgZNvq_PYhY0oOcs97Hp_AJcRx8UVX_2QEk6MUab8rRSEprA86WirQ/s1600/C5F5ED8A-9EBA-4980-B911-AF413FDFC745.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtrrNSnRnKRaCobW8p162zmqrCGqK61DyzToxJYOrvOuPZdD-ynXMftqqGYh_FdLls0NsvGSFT_KZ3F05hG8EHjqgZNvq_PYhY0oOcs97Hp_AJcRx8UVX_2QEk6MUab8rRSEprA86WirQ/s200/C5F5ED8A-9EBA-4980-B911-AF413FDFC745.jpeg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plate Stalegmites</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">We worked up our appetites, and were wowed by some of the food. I know we will both remember the local specialities of Rocamadour Salad, and chestnut liquor (we had it in a bubbly aperitif and were hooked after that). We stopped along the way to tour the caves in Padriac and LaCave, and were gobsmacked by the beauty. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiroeB2R1gU7ZqH9uYKp-N2mT3F9nmJ82z224P6z69bWN_LC5SWxdl_SYt0oad7Ks7BctFlwPXiiC6LLTiQEpI7hix8cRf7ZpPTHF_4fI0bq0yteYyj3k9lb7Rq6Lfistvu3iB78HTZq6k/s1600/F9FECFEF-B4E3-4B29-B7B6-7D2987BF8FED.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiroeB2R1gU7ZqH9uYKp-N2mT3F9nmJ82z224P6z69bWN_LC5SWxdl_SYt0oad7Ks7BctFlwPXiiC6LLTiQEpI7hix8cRf7ZpPTHF_4fI0bq0yteYyj3k9lb7Rq6Lfistvu3iB78HTZq6k/s200/F9FECFEF-B4E3-4B29-B7B6-7D2987BF8FED.jpeg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sheep Shadow</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-size: 11pt;">I have a picture of my feet at the end of the hike that I won’t show you, but after a couple of days rest they look fine again. Mary and I retreated to our Paris airport hotel a day early to avoid the fallout of a transportation strike in France and it was a good thing we did, too. We heard reports of 475 kilometres of backed up traffic during the morning rush hour. Never mind, we are comfortable, and all set up for our return to Canada tomorrow. </span></div>
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Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-21531795596941925482019-09-10T14:11:00.002-03:002019-09-10T14:15:41.679-03:00Only 145 KPH<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZKn8GCSdhQTJwTvEDtOXrFOnYh4mg32X1TdCBELk6BBJ6C7y0qrU5JNY1izsjZW__nj3DH0cwjn5lWpA84jG9KvaFrBRN2LECwHcvmY_Tj0SuubOwFr2-3ZL00Nkwf35YOcUZ72IhH0/s1600/alt+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1600" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZKn8GCSdhQTJwTvEDtOXrFOnYh4mg32X1TdCBELk6BBJ6C7y0qrU5JNY1izsjZW__nj3DH0cwjn5lWpA84jG9KvaFrBRN2LECwHcvmY_Tj0SuubOwFr2-3ZL00Nkwf35YOcUZ72IhH0/s200/alt+002.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am invaded
by an earworm</span>. A line from Fred Eaglesmith’s song ‘Wilder Than Her’ courses
through my cranium: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">She’s a summer storm;
I’m a hurricane</i>. Hurricane Dorian—much diminished from the monster it was
for the poor Bahamians a few days earlier—tore through Nova Scotia Saturday and
Sunday. The biggest Cape Breton gusts were a mere 145 kilometres per hour,
enough to topple trees, knock out power to eighty per cent of households, and
keep us awake the whole night. But that is small beer compared to the 300 kph
maelstrom that engulfed the Bahamas, leveled entire communities and left a
death toll nowhere close to being fully counted all these days later. How do we
even <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">imagine</i> three hundred kilometres
an hour?<br />
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On Saturday Jan and I spent some of the day battening down the
hatches—raising shutters, moving indoors everything that might be blown away,
filling the woodbox, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>—before
hunkering down for the show. The cabin withstood the ensuing winds without
trembling. Now 48 years old, the building demonstrated it is sufficiently well made
to withstand winds of a hundred kph or so. Not everything on the land proved as
resilient. I walked our road the morning after—winds still howling—to find the
road strewn with branches and parts of it paved with blown-down apples. Egress was obstructed
by a big birch across the road. Later in the day I fired up the Stihl and
commenced the task of reducing the tree to firewood. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We count ourselves lucky. We have only a minimal need for
electric power and Dorian left our solar panel in place: I rely on it to power
the laptop I use to keep <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Peregrinations</i>
readers informed of what we get up to at Big Bras d’Or. Friends and neighbours
aren’t so lucky. I am co-owner of a generator I use in summer to run the power
tools of my workshop. Pal Stuart Squires has it the rest of the year. Stu came
down Sunday afternoon to retrieve the machine he needs to preserve dozens of
chickens stored in his freezers.</div>
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The simple life we enjoy at the summer dacha reveals its
advantages in the wake of a hurricane. Three days after Dorian blew through
town a hundred thousand Nova Scotians are still without power. Our three rain
barrels are full: we needn’t worry that a powerless pump can no longer supply
the water essential to daily routines. We needn’t try to make our way to town
in search of fresh fruit and vegetables that may not be available as a result
of the storm: we still have a bounty of blueberries, blackberries and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">chanterelles</i>, the best of all mushrooms.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But what of the luckless Bahamians? The climate scientists
tell us that hurricanes as powerful as Dorian—or worse—will become ever more
commonplace. Doubtless it is only a matter of time before a future cyclone
delivers to Nova Scotians some facsimile of what was visited upon the people of
Grand Bahama and Abaco last week. Meanwhile the man Americans elected as their
president in 2016 asserts there is no such thing as climate emergency, and the menace
chosen by Brazilians to lead their country burns the Amazon, convinced it is
more important to produce beef than oxygen. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Catherine McKenna, threatened with physical harm by
climate-change deniers, must now be accompanied by a security detail as she
discharges her duties as Canada’s environment minister. Young Greta Thunberg is
reviled for telling us we must all do our bit to reduce the human-induced threat
to the atmosphere. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I share Greta’s aggravation with those who say <i>‘there is
nothing I can do’</i>. Nothing? Beef production is a huge producer of greenhouse
gases. Can we not reduce or eliminate our demand for steak and hamburger? Can
we not consider ways of clustering chores requiring a trip to town in order to
reduce consumption of fossil fuel? Can we not occasionally walk rather than
drive to a nearby destination? Or, gasp, go by bicycle?</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
During our walkabout around Dalem Lake yesterday we crossed
paths with a woman recently immigrated to Boularderie Island after 31 years
living in the Yukon—long enough for her to be struck by all the significant
changes in weather patterns she has seen in that time. What will she have
observed after 31 years in Cape Breton?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My dear old Mum, fretful about the world her
great-grandchildren will inherit, announces she is grateful to be 95, and won’t
have to endure the future herself. I am hard-pressed to debate her.</div>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-37689832123524853432019-08-28T19:55:00.001-03:002019-08-28T19:57:34.944-03:00Eye of the Beholder<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Late August
delivers no end of subjects</span> guaranteed to get a fellow contemplating the
wonders of nature.
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<br /></div>
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We understand that frog populations are declining in North
America but you wouldn’t know it from the spectacle on display in recent days at
Dalem Lake. Along the grass road bordering the lake we have to step carefully
to avoid trampling the dozens of young pickerel frogs making their first
explorations of the world at large. At this stage in their life history they
are small—not much bigger than my thumbnail from snout to butt—but they make up
in quickness what they lack in size. Not one of them is inclined to accommodate
somebody looking for close-up photo opportunity. In Canada this frog is a
strictly eastern species. They like the habitat opportunities on offer in Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick and the southern reaches of Quebec and Ontario, but western
Canadians are deprived.</div>
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They are not the only frog we see on our Dalem excursions.
Just as nimble as young pickerels, the wood frog is distinguished by its
attractive tan colour and by a feature—a black face mask—that inclines some
folks to call it the ‘robber frog’. Both frog species are cosmopolitan diners.
The cabin’s copy of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Amphibians and
Reptiles of Nova Scotia</i> lists 49 lifeforms pickerel frogs find comestible
enough to include in their menu, everything from sowbugs, centipedes and
spiders to stink bugs, spittlebugs and slugs. </div>
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A third kind of amphibian we see in our wanderings, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bufo americanus americanus</i>, the eastern
American toad, is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not</i> remarkable for
its swiftness: closeup portraiture is much easier to accomplish. Some folks
consider the toad an icon of ugliness, an opinion I do not share. I count
myself lucky each time circumstance affords opportunity for communion with a fellow
traveler I invariably find unhurried, congenial, relaxed—all traits it would do
me well to emulate.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ugliness is of course not a fixed notion. While I might be
inclined to see Donald Trump as the acme of unattractiveness, others are
inclined to see ugliness in bugs or snakes or centipedes.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Take caterpillars for example. Did you know that all
caterpillars are the young of butterflies and moths? We don’t have to go all
the way to Dalem to see caterpillars en route to becoming red admirals,
swallowtails or fritillaries. We can just step out the cabin door and look down
to find an array of creatures wearing multi-coloured coats, bedecked with
horns, spines and bristles. Studying a caterpillar at close range I can’t help
wondering, by what magic is a caterpillar transformed into a butterfly? Why all
the spikes and spines? Well, in some cases the adornments are defensive: they
are toxic or distasteful to a predator that might otherwise make a meal out of
the caterpillar.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Get nose to nose with a katydid and you might be inclined to
think its face is as ugly as ugly gets, perhaps as hideous as the out-of-this-world
monster in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi epic <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Alien</i>.
For me, a katydid’s face is merely fascinating. What do all those strange-looking
bits <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">do</i>? By what means did this
become the ideal design for going about the business of being a katydid?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Late August is a fine time of year to appreciate the diversity
of spiders nature provides for close inspection. Orb weavers in the genus
<i>Araneus </i>are the arachnids of choice just now at Bigadore. Take a close look at
the face of one, make believe the creature is as big as a human and, sure, it
is easy to imagine oneself being scared spitless. Fortunately, orb weavers are
not as big as Mike Tyson in his pugnacious prime: it is safe to take a close
look and marvel at another aspect of nature’s complexity.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1j70kpKUQyVcyg3y18eIqmXeFx9-e-x6pGjU7_FZxAmuzV-529wqCLJvbr13GQKn-FV-8MVtFO1kuTPdleBl1qaOw3O7VSA91xovavXPNKWGB1nE5LH0C7XE2PyTIFUK3Fd9gXVSrXg/s1600/barn+051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1377" data-original-width="1377" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1j70kpKUQyVcyg3y18eIqmXeFx9-e-x6pGjU7_FZxAmuzV-529wqCLJvbr13GQKn-FV-8MVtFO1kuTPdleBl1qaOw3O7VSA91xovavXPNKWGB1nE5LH0C7XE2PyTIFUK3Fd9gXVSrXg/s200/barn+051.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whilst appreciating the wonders on display just outside the
cabin door there other rewards, incontestably attractive ones. The blueberry
crop by the spider’s web is at its peak. Pause from spider appreciation to
savour the blueberry bounty free for the grabbing. Go up the road a short
distance to harvest the chanterelle mushrooms currently crowding one of our
trails. Carry on a bit further still and mine the blackberry crop just about to
reach its best-before pinnacle.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spiders, katydids, caterpillars . . . blueberries,
blackberries, chanterelles . . . all this and I haven’t even begun to mention birds
and the early days of fall migration . . .</div>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-3123694989050659222019-08-15T11:15:00.000-03:002019-08-24T10:30:34.643-03:00Thrills of The Sporting Life<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In an era
fraught with anxiety</span> about climate disaster, when the White House, No.
10 Downing and other capitals are occupied by ultranationalists and extreme
right-wingers, is it any wonder that a fella is sometimes inclined to go in
search of the lighthearted and the uplifting?
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIKknh9xX8WJiHyUZDqhYgAOMg3aOZGXvMsc2rzF0Ya5PnHbjz2i2r5_YrS80_pOdBfHHyEBAhOzM_iXhbCM_rN2S1nGvDs8yrXwWTUhGLZS8T4NVrbosZGAGEWDk45tN7auVZBSlK35o/s1600/tipoff+061.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1440" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIKknh9xX8WJiHyUZDqhYgAOMg3aOZGXvMsc2rzF0Ya5PnHbjz2i2r5_YrS80_pOdBfHHyEBAhOzM_iXhbCM_rN2S1nGvDs8yrXwWTUhGLZS8T4NVrbosZGAGEWDk45tN7auVZBSlK35o/s200/tipoff+061.jpg" width="200" /></a>We traveled to New Brunswick not just to give a talk about
hockey-playing soldiers of the Great War, not just to travel to long-gone ghost
towns obliterated to make way for CFB Gagetown but also—perhaps <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">primarily</i>—to watch teenagers play
basketball.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Good friends Garth and Carole are the proud grandparents of
Malcolm, a star player with the New Brunswick team that competed last week in
the 17-and-under national championships in Fredericton. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The most exciting sporting events I ever witnessed ‘in the
flesh’ were basketball games back in the mid-late 1960s, when I attended
Dalhousie University. A loyal Dalhousian, I watched many a game at the old war
memorial gym. Much as I hated the Saint Mary’s Huskies and Saint Francis Xavier
X-Men, I reserved my greatest detestation for the Acadia Axemen—because they
were the most dangerous, most feared of the Tigers' opponents. The action in the old
gymnasium was electrifying, unforgettable.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lPpyL3CY-NLQjYqslDwMSeBGLri1a-8eVR7pfXv84jaG80fLIfdqFf2WgC6S5EFaFQSbsg5pP9kIKSCr7LCani3WxzChJajN6R83MAARQB929G-J-8-ufPww8re59wyPBHexV_2XZlY/s1600/flag+waver+047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1286" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9lPpyL3CY-NLQjYqslDwMSeBGLri1a-8eVR7pfXv84jaG80fLIfdqFf2WgC6S5EFaFQSbsg5pP9kIKSCr7LCani3WxzChJajN6R83MAARQB929G-J-8-ufPww8re59wyPBHexV_2XZlY/s200/flag+waver+047.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The teenagers gathered in Fredericton to compete in UNB’s
fine Currie sports facility revived memories of those long-gone Dalhousie days.
A tournament now, aptly, 17 years old, the 17U event had never delivered a
medal for New Brunswick. On August 8 NB took on British Columbia on Currie
Court 2. A victory would get Malcolm and mates into the medal round, the
Final-Four grouping. BC took an early lead, its fans confident that their boys
were a lock for a playoff berth. Among those rallying the NB troops was
Malcolm’s granddad. During a stoppage in play he was dared to run up and down
the sidelines waving a New Brunswick flag. Garth took the dare. Perhaps it made
the difference: New Brunswick roared back in the second half and won 67-61. The
medal round was theirs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A night later NB tipped off against Ontario. The Ontario
17-year-olds looked formidable: big, athletic, fast—and almost entirely black.
They dominated the NB lads from start to finish, leading by 11 at the half and
winning by 18. Watching the Ontarians outleap, outrun, outthink and outscore
the NB boys I thought, wow, how can there be such a thing as a white
supremacist. NB backers took consolation: there was still a bronze medal game
to anticipate.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUcRQ3JfD_t4UWwBwgiXDWyshH3_rbLxQCLPmgCRDDoIfOxX-d-t3gbjrTiFxNer2iACH3_cFJqhP0Ek9rmaLZoLMt30mvRoKLBtd-chIC_nT0U4T86u3NtWTsR1R4Q9AOb3vjPOgoj0/s1600/after+the+game+130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1440" data-original-width="1152" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioUcRQ3JfD_t4UWwBwgiXDWyshH3_rbLxQCLPmgCRDDoIfOxX-d-t3gbjrTiFxNer2iACH3_cFJqhP0Ek9rmaLZoLMt30mvRoKLBtd-chIC_nT0U4T86u3NtWTsR1R4Q9AOb3vjPOgoj0/s200/after+the+game+130.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In that match, Saturday afternoon, New Brunswick, again the
underdog, faced Saskatchewan. The start looked a lot like the BC game, only
worse. The New Brunswick shooting was cold; by and by the lads were down by 16
points. Sixteen points is a huge deficit to overcome but in the second half the
Maritimers did as they had done against BC: they stormed back. Malcolm and
mates shot brilliantly defended fiercely and won going away. Bronze medal to
NB. Hallelujah! </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Quebec defeated Ontario for the gold medal but that didn’t
count for much in the NB contingent: nothing could diminish the glow of the New
Brunswick bronze. To ice the cake, Malcolm was named to the tournament all-star
team.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
basketball tournament is not the only sporting event worthy of mention</span>.
Monday night saw the first annual <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bigadore
Invitational Table Hockey Showdown </b>(BITHS for short). As in the good old
days of the NHL this highly anticipated event featured six participants. Loyal
readers of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Peregrinations</i> will be
aware that identical-twin cousins Lynn and Louise are formidable players. Jan’s
game has grown by proverbial leaps and bounds. Peter Goodale and Brian Wilson
(no, not the Brian Wilson of Beach Boy fame) are long-time friends who spent
countless hours playing table hockey way back when. They were dead keen to
knock off the rust and show my hundred-pound cousins a thing or two.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the round-robin part of the Invitational, four players
wound up with identical 3-2 records. These four—Louise, Peter, myself,
Lynn—would compete for the gold medal. In the result, Lynn imposed her will
on<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Peter to take bronze. The gold medal
game—Louise vs. yours-truly—went on and on. And on. Tied 1-1, then 2-2, the
game seemed endless. Then Louise netted a shot from the left wing. Game over.
Gold medal to Louise. The joy was universal: everyone happy to see Louise win,
just as happy to see me lose. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Granted, the Bigadore table-hockey invitational is not of
the same order as the 17U basketball nationals but Peter spoke for all when he
observed, in the thick of the action, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nothing
else matters</i>. Nothing at all.</div>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205280512598994835.post-1889002433905742342019-08-09T15:30:00.002-03:002019-08-24T10:29:58.923-03:00Ghosts of New Jerusalem <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A guy who is
a sucker</span> for ghost towns is especially taken by a community that has
entirely disappeared but for the war memorial commemorating those of its sons who
went off to do their duty to ‘King and Empire’ in the Great War of 1914-18. Sons who never
returned home. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New Jerusalem, New
Brunswick, is certifiably a ghost town. Not a single person lives there
anymore. Once upon a time New Jerusalem featured two churches, a schoolhouse,
community hall and several dozen houses. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are all gone. All that remains of New
Jerusalem are the cemeteries harbouring the remains of those who lived and died
there—and the community cenotaph.</div>
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One does not get to visit New Jerusalem without some effort.
The village is one of sixteen communities scattered on either side of the Sunbury-Queens
county line that were expropriated in the early-mid 1950s to establish Canadian
Forces Base Gagetown, one of the biggest military bases in the Commonwealth. I
contacted the base commander’s office, offered an account of my interest in war
memorials and asked whether Gagetown might let me see the ghost town cenotaph.
The army said Yes. Yes not only to myself and Jan but to friends Garth and
Carole too.</div>
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At 0900 hours Wednesday our quartet arrived at Gagetown
Building K69, Range Control, signed the necessary waivers and listened
carefully to a short briefing on all the items—shells, rockets, ammunition,
smoke bombs <i>et al</i>—that we might conceivably come across and must absolutely,
positively not touch. None of us needed to be told twice. Despite the nuisance the
military people couldn’t have been more accommodating in allowing us to visit
New Jerusalem. We were even provided a soldier escort—congenial Warrant Officer
Jamie Beaver, a fellow Cape Bretoner—to lead us where we needed to go.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTgrv5mBkBbTQlQf1YJDH-m58PYDmKyPvUzTFgo8QYCFYk2c97XPi6Z0PP_nAmkvAwgfIR92GUJktona3KmMwNGLneyRz_eG-VWYVjv9LCCvg8CEQ4d_NTKE53qXK8otw4LC7x3fLk7zY/s1600/New+Jerusalem+NB+042.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTgrv5mBkBbTQlQf1YJDH-m58PYDmKyPvUzTFgo8QYCFYk2c97XPi6Z0PP_nAmkvAwgfIR92GUJktona3KmMwNGLneyRz_eG-VWYVjv9LCCvg8CEQ4d_NTKE53qXK8otw4LC7x3fLk7zY/s200/New+Jerusalem+NB+042.jpg" width="160" /></a>The Gagetown base is huge—roughly 60 km north to south, 40 east
to west—and it required a forty-minute drive from Building K69 to reach New
Jerusalem. Driving through the rolling landscape toward the old community,
roots of the Appalachian Mountains impressively conspicuous on the near
horizon, it was easy to imagine that losing their homes and communities would
have been very hard on those who loved the place they called home.</div>
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The New Jerusalem monument sits on a height of land
commanding a long view in every direction. The stone cairn lists the names of
seven men—two from the close-by community of Armstrongs Corner, three from
Clones, two from Olinville—fated never to return to their Lower Saint John
River Valley community when they went off to war in 1915-16.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Es9fcKG1pH0XTTli8QEjrMy8kvVnOcVF2h6Ri31au94OAJnaIruAAOeZELXQKQLGHeOyBk5TLJ7KzgM8HALOAVOesnv0lBy-iAC_7dlVfr406i6gxkO40X1dyoqKUPSu-hYb7Q4eVYw/s1600/Ernest+McCutcheon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="419" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Es9fcKG1pH0XTTli8QEjrMy8kvVnOcVF2h6Ri31au94OAJnaIruAAOeZELXQKQLGHeOyBk5TLJ7KzgM8HALOAVOesnv0lBy-iAC_7dlVfr406i6gxkO40X1dyoqKUPSu-hYb7Q4eVYw/s200/Ernest+McCutcheon.jpg" width="142" /></a>The Olinville soldiers were brothers: McCutcheons. Charles
Ransford McCutcheon was a 27-year-old fireman/mechanic when he enlisted at
Calgary in October 1915. His younger brother by four years, Ernest Ludlow
McCutcheon, a lumberman, was 23 when he enlisted at Saint John in early January
1916. </div>
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The older brother, Charles, was the first to bereave his
mother and father back in Olinville, Isabella and William. On the night of June
22, 1916, he was struck by a shrapnel burst from an enemy shell and died in the
wee small hours of the following morning. Some 551 Canadians—including Charles
McCutcheon of Olinville—are among more than two thousand soldiers who lie for
evermore in Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, just two kilometres southeast of
Ypres, Belgium.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRO9zI1akjXUHYGKvDjQHqyFderB6hE72BEdxPO9ap_c66IaPDV5UVknhpquTwcHpQC69jzY5FndJNR9eHTqgrqhkUTbAWwMJNkkO7Eb3gvmaKDZsSwyQnAytGhNFwmzs4xmG_FhAXw9I/s1600/C+L+McCutcheon+crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1347" data-original-width="808" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRO9zI1akjXUHYGKvDjQHqyFderB6hE72BEdxPO9ap_c66IaPDV5UVknhpquTwcHpQC69jzY5FndJNR9eHTqgrqhkUTbAWwMJNkkO7Eb3gvmaKDZsSwyQnAytGhNFwmzs4xmG_FhAXw9I/s200/C+L+McCutcheon+crop.jpg" width="119" /></a></div>
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An authentic war hero, younger brother Ernest
fought in most or all the iconic Canadian battle of later 1916 and 1917—Ypres,
the Somme, Vimy, Passchendaele—and was awarded a Military Medal for gallantry,
an award he did not live long enough to receive. A casualty of enemy poison gas
in late May 1918, he was hospitalized in England. Ernest died October 11, 1918,
a month before the Armistice. His ‘final resting place’ is a soldier’s grave in
Brookwood Military Cemetery, Surrey. Among the more than 5,700 soldiers buried at
Brookwood, Charles is one of 2,729 Canadians.</div>
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New Jerusalem is redolent of ghosts: the ghosts of those who
lie in the cemetery just a stone’s throw from the cenotaph, those whose hearts
must have been broken to lose their beloved communities in the 1950s, and those
like the McCutcheon brothers who lie under a battlefield stone marker an ocean
away from Olinville, Armstrongs <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Corner
and New Jerusalem.</div>
Jan Brown and Alan MacLeodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11698593131445701551noreply@blogger.com0