Living in the Real World

Have you ever wondered where the wealthiest metropolitan area in the USA is? If you would have guessed 'The Silicone Valley' of San Jose California you would have been right, a few years ago. We read so much about the steady increases in not only the size of government, but also in government salaries as compared to the private sector. A raise in the private world has to come from an increase in business activity and profits, whereas increases in a bureaucrats salary come from an administration out of touch with reality. The Washington DC metro area is now the leader in average salaries in the whole country at $84,523.00, $34,000.00 above the average for the whole country.  Within the area, federal workers averaged $126,369.00 up more than $4,000.00 from just last year alone.  Last year, Washington also had more lawyers per capita at one for every 12 residents. In New York state the figure was one out of every 123 residents while in California, it was one in 243.

This is the kind of thing that OWS (Occupy Wall Street) proponents read and it adds fuel to their fire. The governments of the world are either in debt or on the the brink of bankruptcy, and yet they keep giving themselves raises. There is not even a hint of austerity measures that are so badly needed to get the economy back on track.

PS Did you know that a life guard on the beach in sunny California has a salary of over $100,000.00 before any overtime?

Diffusion

Golden rays filtered by trees and fog.

Perhaps today was the last day to catch this kind of light for while. The clouds, and then showers are coming to town, unwelcome guests, I might add. I am pulled between work and pleasure. Do I forego a lucrative opportunity to work, or do I pursue  one of my passions? We have only a three day window to do a commercial contract without empolyees getting in our way, so I opted for the work. Surely there will be more great photography in the days ahead. I have been wondering what to photograph in the winter months, the dull and monotone days of Nov. to Feb. I think I will cruise around town and catch some of the diverse architecture in my community. You might call it the good, the bad, and the ugly. I am trying to come up with a creative way to photograph without getting my camera wet. I need an assitant to hold the umbrella.

Fraser Valley Fog

I dragged myself out of bed a bit early on Sunday morning, knowing the light would be great after a cold night, followed by a sunny morning. We get these wonderful fogs (if you don't have to commute in them) here in the Autumn  that are a photographer's dream. The window of opportunity is very small. Too soon and the fog is too heavy, a few minutes later and the mist is burned away by the warmth of the sun. I knew where I wanted to go, a spot I have gone to before, with little traffic and great views to the east. I was hoping the light would not be cold and on the blue/gray side, and I was rewarded with this warm glow penetrating through the fog banks. I was rushing from one photo op to the next, so oblivious to time that I was almost late for church. I only made it in time because the light was getting too strong for good photos, and I was only a few kilometers away. On my next sunny day without work, I will be out again, camera in hand, only this time, looking for the magic light as well as the colour in the leaves that is just now starting to splash on.

Beating the Odds

This year's Angel Trumpets

I was reading about cancer rates the other day, in particular, prostate cancer. A thought occurred to me, and I am sure it is not original. The article stated that the blood test to check the PSA level in men is going to be eliminated because there were too many false positives. A false positive is an elevated PSA where there is no cancer, and, apparently, men are being treated or are given biopsies as a result, which themselves can spread the cancer. 

So, here is my thought. It is well known that we all get cancer numerous times in our lives without even knowing it. Our immune systems knock it down before it becomes a problem. Then, one day, it gets the better of us when we are stressed, lacking sleep, malnourished, or have some other illness that sends our immune system for a loop. It is also known that a full blown cancer can go into remission on its own. It is also known that early detection is very prevalent these days and is deemed a good thing as it gives a better survival rate.

But, consider this. These early cancers may have gone into remission on their own. Could this be the reason for increased cancer rates these days? We only seem to be getting more cancers because we can detect them, but if left on their own, could many go into remission? Just asking.

And, this leads to a dilemma. When we are diagnosed, do we go for the radiation and the chemo? If we do, and we ever get cancer again, we are toast because we have no immune system to speak of. If we don't and just give ourselves a fighting chance with some healthy living, will it go away on its own? But then life has always been a big gamble, hasn't it? I suppose I know too many people who have beat cancer without the aid of modern medical cancer fighting, which just about kills the patient. I hope I never have to make that decision.

Juicy

Every year at exactly the same time, I take almost exactly the same photo at exactly the same spot and then say the same thing. Why should I change my routine? We harvested the last of our 'patio tomatoes' the other day. I cannot ever remember enjoying them so much as this year. The Cherry tomatoes were so sweet and flavourful this year, even thought they were a bit late in starting. We had three different varieties and each one had a different flavour, texture, shape, and size. The few things we grow in our garden every year are worth the effort, but a wee bit expensive. I discovered this week that our water bill, which is now separated from our annual tax bill, is on average twice as high as our friends, all of whom do not have a garden. Maybe we will just stop taking showers next summers, set up the sprinklers in the garden, and have our pricey water do double duty.

Choke Warning!

Don't eat these, you may choke on them too.

First off, my apologies for the black font on black background on my last post. For some reason, I discovered it late, and then try as I might, I could not change it.

The 27 nation EU (European Union) has moved closer to Nanny State status today. They have decreed that the age one can blow up a balloon is 14. Anytime before that is an illegal activity. In fact, if you are under 8, you are not even allowed to handle a balloon. This is only one of many news laws and regulations governing toy safety that toy stores and parents will have to keep in mind as they try to educate and entertain the wee ones. Yes, my friends, there is no area of life that is immune to rules and regulations. What with inspections, labelling, enforcement, and re-manufacturing, the cost of entertaining small children just became more stressful and more costly. Perhaps an underground balloon trafficking network will rear its ugly head in a neighbourhood near you, similar to the fireworks situation. (Hey, balloons blow up too!) Birthday parties will never be the same. No doubt, in the future, one will be required to purchase a birthday party permit and have at least one toy nazi on hand to keep all the kiddies alive. And forget those water balloon fights next summer when you and the kids are trying to keep cool. No doubt we would all be dead already if we didn't have the government to take care of our every need. ("Nobody told me one of these things could make you wet!")

You know what happens to children when the parents make every single decision and hover over the kids 'for their own good'. The poor kid never learns to think, and when they finally do make a decision without parental supervision, they make huge blunders. We are almost there as a society.

Good Work, Guys

Amaranth grain, native to South Africa, but somehow growing in our garden.

First, a quick up-date on yesterday's post. Last week the Occupy movement had moved to 640 cities world wide. Today, that number has risen to 1200 and on Saturday 20 Canadian cities will see Occupy rallies. Because we have a relatively healthy economy, I would suggest that the rallies, at least here in Canada, will attract a myriad of groups of activists with a myriad of causes. Protest for protest's sake.

But today we hear about two fellows who have been working for years in the field of economics. They have developed economic models to determine the effectiveness of government fiscal policies. Finance ministers, banks, and universities all over the world have been using their models.

“Central to research the two conducted separately in the 1970s were efforts to model and quantify cause and effect in economies,” explained the wire story, “including the complex interplay of state and central bank policy with the expectations of people and businesses.”

“One of the main tasks of macroeconomic research is to comprehend how both shocks and systematic policy shifts affect macroeconomic variables in the short and long run,” the Nobel Academy waffled on in a typically lofty statement. “Sargent’s and Sims’s awarded research contributions have been indispensable to this work.”

This not a joke. These two have had a hand in the biggest world wide economic disaster of the last century, and their recognition and reward? They have been awarded the Noble Economic Prize!
Reminds me a bit of a few years ago when Yaser Arafat won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Occupy

The Morning Glories just do their thing every morning, oblivious to sit-ins, marches and occupiers.

"There's something happening here,

What it is ain't exactly clear" from "For What It's Worth" by Jefferson Airplane. (1969)

The 'Occupy' movement is growing and is moving to Vancouver this weekend. If you are not aware of what this is, I would advise you to get acquainted with it. The economic crash of 2008 laid bare the corruption in our system, and anybody who is feeling hard done by is joining the movement or is very sympathetic toward it. There is a feeling 'out there' that the rich are to blame, but that is painting too many with the same brush. "More equity, tax the rich" is one of the mantras. This has the odour of revolution behind it, if you know anything of history.

There has been no overt violence so far, but there is an attempt to start a dialogue on how to fix the system. Of course, anyone who has an education and plenty of student loans with no job prospect will want to change the system. The three criteria for revolution as taught to us by the history books are: huge discrepancy between rich and poor, a disappearing middle class, and a lot of people with a grudge.

  The US fits each of these criteria. And then some others the spooks hadn’t thought about. The U6 broad measure of unemployment is going up...with 16.5% of the population without work. There are 6.2 million people who have been looking for a job for more than 6 months.

Americans are $7 trillion poorer, according to David Rosenberg, than they were 4 years ago — and property prices are still going down.
More than 45 million are on food stamps. (From "The Daily Reckoning")

If you don't think this protest will have legs, think again. But, sadly, few of them will do the homework to connect the dots that lead back to the source of the problem. Yes, Wall Street got rich, the rest of us got poorer, but can you blame the banks and brokers? They were handed trillions when they should have been left to the ravages of bankruptcy. The blame lies in the ignorant economic policies of the big governments of the world. And all governments are self serving. It is only power that they are after and they will give their voters anything they want, whether it is good for them or not, and they will borrow from future generations to do that. Well, the leading edge of that future generation are out on the streets right now, occupying. It will be fascinating to see where this will lead.

Most Delicious

I should have brought out my camera much sooner, but I did catch the dessert. busylizzy made a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner for us and it just gave us one more thing to be thankful for. I have to hand it to her. She has some serious food intolerance's and yet she prepares our favourites even though she cannot eat everything. This incredible pumpkin cheesecake was made by my son-in-law. If you think it looks good, you should have tasted it. I say that in the past tense because it is no more. As you can see below, Liam and I are on the same page when it comes to cheesecake.

Narrow is the Way

Early morning fishing on Mill Lake

Our usual routine on Sunday is to attend the early morning service at our church, but that did not work out last Sunday so we attended the 'new' service which is a Sunday evening start time. We now have seven services on the weekends to meet the huge demand, and it is very convenient to have options.

Although I have always enjoyed the worship time and take great delight is singing in spite of a croaky old voice, I am going more and more for the meat of the message. Connecting with friends and like minded people is vital in life, but beyond that, we need input and learning in our lives also. What I am getting lately is a confirmation of what I have sensed and known for a long time, and that is the fact that it is becoming more difficult as times goes by, to live and profess the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is very counter-culture. It was not always that way in Canada.

The current message series is the letters to the seven churches from the book of Revelations. There are commendations and reproof for each church, and a common thread is the difficulty of preserving a pure gospel of Jesus in a pagan culture. Of course, the culture at that time was much more severe in its condemnation of Christianity, but in many ways, we are getting close to what it was then. We are being overtly and sometimes subtly influenced by a godless culture and we often inadvertently buy into it. It creeps up on us. Instead of drawing sharp boundaries around our faith, we keep moving the borders outward to include more and more in our faith. Our culture screams at us that tolerance and inclusivity are necessary to keep from offending anyone. Nobody is wrong so do not make them feel bad by telling them they are wrong. So we accept and condone to keep from rocking the boat, and soon we have strayed from the gospel. Jesus said the way would be narrow and difficult, and few would find it, but we are to persevere. We hear the exact opposite today. "Everyone is on a spiritual journey and all roads lead to the same destination. Just be sure you are on a path." When we follow Christ who says that he is the only way, we are asking for trouble for ourselves and the church we represent. So, we have to be narrow and intolerant in order to be true, and that, my friends, is very counter-culture.  

Giving Thanks

Not sure how the lowly turkey gets so much attention at Thanksgiving. Something to do with the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock perhaps, but it has become an enduring symbol of family, food, harvest, and giving thanks. Offering up a prayer at a Thanksgiving meal is a bit of a challenge. Dare one begin a list of things to be thankful for? As a Christian, I know the source of all good gifts and I know who I am thanking, but a list means that we just might forget something or someone. Besides, the list, even though complete, would result in cold food, and one very impatient grandson who not only is anxious to chow down, but wants to do the praying himself.

Gratitude is an attitude and you either are or you are not thankful. I have posted before how I lay my head down on the pillow at night and begin to be grateful. It is a great stress reliever, and an attitude adjuster. When in a truly thankful mode, one finds it incredible just how much there is to be thankful for. And it goes way beyond the physical things in life. Actually, those are the least significant of all things to give thanks for, but nevertheless, important.

This weekend I am particularly thankful that we had an opportunity to spend a day with my nephew and his two small children after they took wife and mother to the airport where she flew to Italy for a few days. Why am I thankful for this? It was not that long ago that 'M' was given a death sentence with a deadly strain of cancer that was coursing through his body. Today he is as healthy a specimen as you will ever see, having beaten the cancer in spite of the doctors and the health care system. With a lot of prayer and a change in diet, he beat it, and he just informed us that his dad, whose cancer prognosis also was grave, has recently been given a clean bill of health, again without the aid of doctor's chemo or radiation. As I sat visiting with him, his two beautiful children at his side, I could not help but be grateful for life itself, and for healing. What are you grateful for today?     

I Must Confess

Because I do not anxiously await every new John Grisham novel, I would not say I am a huge fan. Having said that, I have read almost every one of his novels. Although his forte is the legal novel, my favourite of everything he has written is "The Painted House", a very well written novel that has nothing at all to do with lawyers and courtroom scenes.

"The Confession" is a story of justice gone bad, an innocent man sent to the death chamber in Texas for a crime he did not commit. At the last minute, the true killer, about to die of cancer, decides to do the right thing and confess. But how do you stop the wheels of justice after nine long years of appeals and last minute reprieves that have drained the patience of all involved. It is gripping and suspenseful, and when you think the story could not go any further, there are still more than 100 pages left in the novel. It goes further and gets more interesting. I have said many times that you can recognize a Grisham novel from a mile away. He has a terse style that moves the story along quickly. Only the plot changes from book to book.

He usually gets on a hobby horse, and in this book it is the death penalty. He chooses a safe ground from which to argue his logic, an innocent man  being put to death. Of course we would agree that this is an atrocity. The circumstances surrounding this particular miscarriage of justice makes the blood boil and one wonders how close to the truth it comes in real life. After putting the book down tonight, I was kind of glad I do not live in Texas.   

Tooth Decay

I went for my six month dental check-up on Monday and was surprised to hear that my dentist, not the usual hygienist, was going to clean my teeth. Are dentists falling on hard times and doing the grunt work now too?

I have had the hands and the tools of many hygienists in my mouth over the years and I must say that I got the most thorough cleaning I have ever had. Goes to show that when you have talent in an area, you move on to better things. 

Then came the check-up. I have been slated for my last two crowns for the last 2 years but have been postponing them. They are over $1000.00 each and with work slow, and my teeth not bothering me at all, I have put the crowns on the back burner. But what's this? I now have three cavities! With all the work I have had done on my mouth in the last 5 years, and the flossing and brushing I do religiously twice a day, I thought I was done with cavities.

I had no work for Tuesday and booked the work for the following morning. (getting an appointment that soon must mean things are slow at the office for sure) 

Two tiny fillings not even requiring freezing and one larger one that involved a failed silver amalgam got done in 45 minutes and I was out $1000.00 for the two appointments. Somebody is making too much money and maybe that is why things are slow at the office.  

Complain, Complain

We often stay for dinner when we go to Bellingham. Billy McHale's restaurant was recommended to us so we thought we would try it, even though it was a busy Saturday night and the place was packed. We got a table right away, and found the service to be very good. What I had a complaint about was the food. I ordered the Coconut Shrimp entree and was looking forward to something I would never get at home, but loved. The menu stated that I would get 5 jumbo coconut shrimp with steamed vegetables, cheese bread, and a twice baked potato. Our food came very quickly but I was immediately disappointed when I saw the "Jumbo Shrimp". Maybe baby shrimp, or son of jumbo shrimp, but jumbo they were not. One small bite each was all there was. I guess 'Jumbo' is a relative term, say compared to popcorn shrimp, or perhaps microscopic shrimp or shrimp embryos.  Not to ponder too long over semantics, I will say that they were tasty, but rather inadequate. The steamed vegetables were on the verge of overcooked, but edible. The cheese bread was dried out, the size of a credit card, and had no taste. The twice baked potato had been baked more than twice by the look of it. It was dried out, pasty, and the penny sized chunk of bacon on the top was only slightly less tough and chewy than a penny.

Due to a lingering hunger as result of not enough shrimp, I went out of character and ordered a restaurant dessert, Rusty's Butterscotch Brownie Sundae. The brownie was vastly under baked and was basically a butterscotch cookie dough with a bit of baked crispiness around the far edge. It turned me off a bit, but I ate it. (Sweet tooth, you know)

The top photo is a depiction of a larger version of my shrimp. The lower photo is more like what I thought I would get, but was hoping for even larger.

Because this place gets pretty good revues on trip advisor, I should not be too hasty and say I will never go back. But, if I do, I will not order anything with Jumbo as a prefix.

Take a Chance?

What was your first reaction when you opened this page and saw the 649 Lotto Logo? Was there a little rush of adrenalin? Was there a tinge of disgust? Did a smidgen of guilt hit you? Or, was there just indifference? The logo is plastered everywhere these days and apparently the advertising is very effective. Do you remember when the only Lotto available in Canada was the Irish Sweepstakes? Those tickets were near impossible to get and only a very rare few ever played that foreign lottery. But, the foot was in the door and fast forward to today where gambling is an ever present fact of life. In fact, it is probably the only hope for release from financial pressures for the majority of people in North America. I voted on an online poll yesterday (more than 20,000 responses) and found that as a non player, I am in the small minority of Canadians (14%) who never buy lotto tickets.

I am only in modest opposition to gambling because I believe we all gamble on different things in our lives all the time. To single out a lottery is not fair. I am opposed to purchasing those tickets simply because of the odds. Do the math, and you too will find better use for those 'volunteer taxation' dollars.

A retailer friend of mine once asked me why I was always in his store but had never bought a lottery ticket. There were various 'scratch and wins' displayed under glass right in front of us, and so I said to him,"This is why" as I selected a ticket at random and gave it to him along with my $2. He scratched it and before he discovered what I had won, I had already turned around to walk out of his store. "It says try again!" he said, as I called out over my shoulder, "That's why."  

Fat Tax

Denmark has introduced what is believed to be the world's first tax on foods containing saturated fat.

The Danish government is applying a surcharge to foods with more than 2.3 per cent saturated fats, in a bid to combat obesity and heart disease.
The new tax will be levied on food such as butter, milk, cheese, pizza, oils and meat. It means customers will be paying about $3 more per kilogram of saturated fats in a product.

Prices rose Saturday in many grocery stores as the tax came into force, while some customers cleared out shelves earlier in the week to stock up on fatty favourites.
Food industry managers have complained that the tax will be a bureaucratic nightmare.
in 2004, Denmark declared war on trans fats, making it illegal for any food to have more than two per cent of the artery-clogging oils. Austria has a similar law. In July 2010, Denmark imposed a tax on sugary junk food.
About 10 per cent of Danes are considered obese. Britain is the fattest nation in Europe; one third of children and nearly two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese.

What is your first reaction when you read this news item? Are you dismayed that again, government intrudes into our lives with yet another regulation and another tax? Or are you happy that someone is controlling, or at least trying to control those who have no control and the days of us healthy people subsidizing those who chose unhealthy lifestyles is coming to an end? No doubt, this type of taxation will spread to other socialistic countries such as Canada.

I have always been in favour of consumption taxes as it gives the consumer the choice whether or not he pays the tax. Taxing unheatlthy consumer goods is a way of making risk takers pay for the consequences of their risk. 
What I do not like is government treating us all like children in a manner that says that they know what is good for us and what is bad for us and they will try to control our behaviour. It is one thing to tell us what we can and cannot eat, but what comes next is much more dangerous. Will they tell us what we can and cannot believe? Will they tell us who we can or cannot associtate with? Will they tell us what we can or cannot read or write?  The foot is already in the door on all of these issues.

So, I am bit torn on my initial question. What I would think would be more appropriate is to educate people on healthy lifestyle choices. You might say that has already been tried and yet the rates for obesity are going up. Maybe the answer really lies in the pocket book. I don't know.

Some Fabric and a Movie

After both working on Saturday morning, busylizzy and I took a quick trip to the USA. I have found a hassle free way of avoiding interrogation at the border crossing. I put on a sad puppy dog face and when they ask what the purpose of our trip is, I say in a mournful voice, "Fabric shopping." If the border guard is woman, she will have a gleeful smile on her face and say "For a quilt?" I nod and we are free to proceed. If it is a male border guard, I get a look of sympathy and a "I feel your pain" type of  comment and we go on our merry way.

It was true. We, or I should say busylizzy, shopped for fabric for a quilt while I stayed in the car and read the latest John Grisham novel.

We were only a few feet away from the cinemas in Sunset Square in Bellingham so went to check out was playing, and discovered that "Courageous" was just starting and there were a few seats left.

I had just viewed the trailer a day before so I knew what the premise of the movie was. The four cops, above, are good friends and good cops, but things happen and the real challenge of their lives, fatherhood, takes a front seat. The movie is actually quite well done but does get a bit sanctimonious a time or two. Overall, the acting is quite good and there is good character development. There are many threads running through the story but each is treated well and is interesting. There is comic relief amidst all the serious times, and one scene in particular, in the back of a cop car, is just quite simply hilarious. 

There is not a father out there, with even a tiny heart, who will not re-think his role as a parent and how his influence steers the family and his children, after watching this movie. The story finds much triumph in the face of tragedy and is inspiring on many levels. I recommend it. Warning: You will get your tears jerked.     

Are We Afraid?

The Federal Government recently commissioned a report by the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy to tell us what the impact of climate change will be. They looked at several different scenarios ranging from high immigration with accompanied economic growth, to low immigration with a stagnant economy. The costs range from $21B per year by 2020, to $91B per year by 2050. It seems that the biggest expenses will come from increased forest devastation, flooding due to rising ocean levels, and increased health care cost due to poor air quality in the excessive heat.

This is all pure conjecture. For example, the rise in ocean levels was predicted to have started already, yet there is no evidence.

What really irks me is that there is no mention of the possibility that costs will be offset by advantages of a warming trend. (note that there is no longer talk of 'Global Warming', but only climate change) Here are three economic advantages of  a rise in overall temperatures in Canada.

1. A longer tourist season.

2. Better and more food crops due to a longer growing season.

3. Reduced heating fuel consumption and costs and thus reduced emissions, thus reduced pollution, thus reduced greenhouse gases, which will in turn cause less heating of the atmosphere. (Which will cause a cooling trend, which will bring us back to a cold Canadian climate.)

Do you see how convoluted it can get when studies are based on pure conjecture and computer models? When the sunspot activity returns to normal levels, and the ocean currents once again find their equilibrium, we will be fine. The problem is the 'Climate Change Industry' will not leave this alone. It is a Goose who laid a golden egg and they will do all they can to perpetuate fear and uncertainty. For the government to use our tax money to commission a study such as this, in a time when the economy is shrinking and the money could be better spent elsewhere, is reprehensible.  

A New Addiction

Admit it, we all have addictions.

In the docu/movie "Super Size Me", a drug addiction therapist talks about a drug given to heroin addicts that prevents the brain from 'up-taking' the stimulant and soon the heroin has no power over the user as it does nothing for him/her. Apparently, they can give this same drug to chocoholics and they soon lose their taste for chocolate. This therapist has not experimented with the latest creation from Herhsey's, the Oh Henry Peanut Butter chocolate bar. There are now three Oh Henry bars to chose from, the regular, the fudge, and the peanut butter. Why do 'they' keep coming up with these saturated fatty calorific inventions that I have such a weakness for? This stuff is so good you cannot eat one, but rather you must devour several. If you have no will power, you must eat many at a time because one just cannot get enough of this yummy goodness.

I opened the above photo to import it to my blog post and the mere visual image of it brought a wonderful aroma to my olfactories and I immediately began to salivate. I think it was just the photo that did that, or maybe it is the bag of bars on my desk, and the pile of wrappers lying at my feet. I cannot be sure. I am conducting my own experiment here. All in the name of science, you know. I want to, no, I need to find out how many bars a chocolate addict can eat at one sitting before the mere thought of any more makes it inconceivable to eat even one more. I'm not even close yet.

My next post may be from a recovery house where I will be in the throes of a 12 step program.

Friends

Albert Camus, French philosopher and author, wrote this: "Don't walk in front of me, I might not follow. Don't walk behind me, I might not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend."

I was thinking about friendship this week as my customers were telling me of their enjoyment when they took holidays with friends. We have done the same thing, many times, so I could identify with what they were telling me.

I realised that I do not appreciate or value friendships as much as I should. There have been times when friendships were hard to come by for me, due to circumstances. Other times, there were so many friends we could not do justice to them and many had to fall away. There is the old saying that the older we get, the more we need friends who knew us when we were young. We are finding great wisdom in this. It also follows then, the longer we foster a friendship with someone, the more valuable it becomes. We are finding this to be true also.

So, to all my friends out there, and you know who you are, thank you for being a friend. Thank you for putting up with my quirks, my inconsistencies, my times of absence, my thoughtlessness at birthday or anniversary times, and my tendency to 'spout off'.

The photo above is my portrayal of friendlessness. A beautiful path to walk on, but nobody to walk with, a new adventure just around the corner, but nobody to share it with, and a park bench with a view, a place to sit and enjoy conversation while basking in God's creation, but nobody to sit with. And, worst of all, colourless.  I do not want my world to look like that, and thanks to my friends, I do not have to have it that way.   

Lost and Found

My son went on a hike in the Coquihalla mountains on Saturday and one of his hiking buddies took a bit of a detour to a small waterfall and made an interesting discovery. They found a cylindrical canister with a parachute attached. With only a small amount of mildew on the fabric, it looked like it had not been there too long. There was a notice on the canister that said to report the discovery to the police or the military. Andrew had his camera and his GPS with him and recorded the item and location. Not wanting to get involved with police red tape and paperwork, he came up with another solution. His Brother-in-law's sister's husband is in the Canadian Air Force based in Comox and he considered reporting it to Tyler on a long shot. That was yesterday, and today we find out that Tyler's friend is in charge of such things and he will take care of it shortly. Tell me? Have you ever seen anything regarding government moving at the speed of light like this has? Makes me wonder what is in the container labeled "Do Not Handle".

Not Again!?

I recently wrote about the car that bumped the side of the bank and the reaction of emergency services that resulted. The blame lies both on the respondents and the 911 caller. How often have we heard about the 'bomb squad' being called out because of a mysterious package which in reality was a left over sandwich in a brown bag?

This morning we read about the latest incident of this nature. It happened in Saskatoon where the city police responded to a 911 call regarding guns in a vehicle. It was a family, mom, dad, three kids and a friend, on a trip to the mall. They were stopped, the parents were forced face down on the ground, and the kids were traumatized with the cops guns being pointed at them. As it turned out, the kids had a toy gun, an over sized white, orange and green dart gun.

The 911 caller should be taken to task, perhaps given a crash course in what a real gun looks like. The cops could have used a bit more discretion too. Incidents like this are another reason for us to mistrust the judicial system. Everything is an overreaction, another example being the delays in charging any Vancouver Hockey rioters.

If this kind of thinking is a result of the Sept. 11 attacks, which we just recently memorialized, and I think in large part it is, then perhaps it is time to put that tragedy behind us and move on instead of letting it slowly erode our common sense and our freedoms. Ten years of remembering is perhaps enough and maybe next year there could be a huge celebration to announce that we are now taking a new direction. We are no longer going to let paranoia rule our lives. There is no way to eliminate all risks at all times, but instead we will move forward with confidence and common sense. Don't worry. It will never fly.   

Outstanding

This book is the true story of a most amazing man and his almost unbelievable story of survival, resilience, and redemption. I have read countless books in my day, and as a youngster, read many stories of the experiences of war veterans. This book tops them all by a mile. I had a most difficult time putting it down as one exploit led to another and the story escalated to an incredibly satisfying surprise ending, made all the more amazing because it is all true and well documented. This story truly has it all and is written by award winning Laura Hillenbrand. She knows how to keep the reader on the edge of his seat, all the while simply stating the facts.

The saga of WWII has within its fabric, a limitless number of personal stories, many never before told. The stark realism and tragedy of war comes to life under Laura's pen and the reader is awed by the scope of the suffering and loss of life. How one man endured, survived, and redeemed his broken life is a testament to the human spirit and the work of God in an individual's life. This is not a 'Christian' book in any sense, but the story of a man who made a promise to God in his most incredible time of need and only remembered that promise many years later, when he had come to the end of his rope.

If you only read one book this year, read this one. It is simply too good to pass up.   

Blackberries and Deception

It was and still is a good year for wild blackberries. Just the right amount of rain and sunshine put a lot of sugar into these little guys and they are bursting with flavour. busylizzy makes juice with them and we now have 16 quart jars of concentrate that we mix with Ginger Ale for the most delightful beverage.

My work has been picking up as the annual Fall rush is under way. After considerable time off this summer, I must conclude that getting up early is good for me. Not having coffee with friends in the middle of the day is good for me. The physical exercise of work is good for me. Coming home exhausted after an eight hour day is good for me. Doing estimates and paperwork in the evenings is good for me. Stressing over my schedule and whether I need to adjust it is good for me. Watching a beautiful day from inside is good for me. Collecting 12% HST for the government is good for me. All this lying is good for me.

An Old Friend

Even Great Blue Herons have been anxiously waiting.

The sun is warm and the days are still long so why am I watching hockey? It has not been that long since the Stanley Cup final and the riots. It seems like hockey should not be starting already, and yet, there I was last night, sitting in front of my TV, watching an exhibition game between Calgary and Vancouver. It is a bit like seeing a good friend after a long absence, and the best part is, I will see him about 2-3 times a week for the next 10 months. I hope he will not disappoint me this year like he did last year.

Faithful?

Just ducky at sunrise.

Do you know who Pat Robertson is? He is the president and host of a very long running Christian TV program called "The 700 Club" He is a baptist minister with 50 years experience and once was a US presidential candidate. He fields questions from viewers of his show and was recently asked if a person, whose spouse had advanced Alzheimer's disease, could in good conscience divorce and re-marry while the patient was still living. His answer was a bit shocking. He acknowledged that it was a difficult situation to be in, but the patient was, for all intents and purposes, not the same person and was not going to live long and the healthy spouse should divorce and re-marry if he wanted to get on with his life, providing that the patient would be cared for.  

National media picked up on this quickly and condemned him for his stance.

How do you feel about this question?

One of the free services this blogger provides his readers, is his opinion. Oh, you had not noticed?

First off, I disagree with Mr. Robertson. I doubt he would find Biblical backing for his belief on this one, and usually he does back up his opinions with Scripture. This flies in the face of what marriage was intended for, and, indeed, contradicts the vows that most married folks take on the day of their wedding. Of course, the vows rarely stop disgruntled spouses from divorcing, but for committed couples, 'until death do us part' is taken completely seriously. Does love and commitment stop at failing health? Do we abandon a spouse when they need us the most?  Doctors say that the last thing to go with an Alzheimer's patient is the feeling of connectedness. When recognition and communication fail, surely love can still be sensed and valued at some primal level. Leaving your spouse under these circumstances is self serving, not at all a noble thing to do.

As for the media's response, it is quite hypocritical. Always ones to criticize Mr. Robertson for this and that, suddenly he is given all sorts of credibility and then given a slam dunk to the canvass by condemning his answer on this question. Where are the national media when the national divorce rates come up in a story. Are they critical then? Suddenly love and fidelity are all important and Pat Robertson is a low down dirty son of a gun. Oh, they like to have it both ways, but their hypocrisy shines through clearly. If you are against divorcing an ill spouse, then you should be against divorcing a spouse for most other reasons too.   

Baby Boomers

Mount Baker at sunrise.

Us 'boomers' sure are a pesky bunch of people. We have been causing trouble all our lives. It all started when we began filling up the schools and there was not enough room for us. Then we started taking all the jobs, but on the bright side of that, we started paying a lot of money into CPP so that our parents could have old age security. Then we became big consumers and drove the economy for most of our working lives. We borrowed, we spent, we worked, and now we are being demonized. We are now starting to wreak havoc on the medical system.

But that is just the tip of the boomer ice burg. In North America, over the next eighteen years, there will be 10,000 of us per day retiring! And what do we do when we retire? We cash in our stocks and RRSPs. Imagine what this will do to the status quo in the markets. Old men do not spend when they have lost so much of their wealth in the last few years, and going forward, dead men do not spend at all.

Take Japan. They have a declining population and in the next 30 years, some 20 million Japanese are going to disappear. Today, there is a 4 day waiting list to get a body to a crematorium.

One thing is certain. The generations that follow us will have to do something different. I believe we have lived in an unprecedented time in history. Nothing will ever be done again, the way we did it. Those methods, on so many different levels, will simply not work in the future. How will we be remembered? We may care now, but when we are stacked 4 high in the cemetery, we will not care.  

Fishing

I fail to see the attraction of fishing. In today's photo, you can see that there are a number of fishermen on the floating dock on Mill Lake. The lake is stocked with trout, but I have yet to see anybody ever catch a fish there. If they do snag one, do they take it home and eat it? There are signs everywhere warning would be swimmers about the poor water quality. Does this make the fish more palatable?

When I was kid, I went fishing with my dad, and it was more about spending time with him than it was about fishing. I enjoyed eating the freshly caught Northern Pike, fried in butter over an open fire on the beach, but catching them was another matter. I always secretly hoped that a fish would not bite my lure.

On one fishing trip, we were walking along the rocky shore of Long Lake in Saskatchewan, searching out a good place to cast our lines. That would be a place where the weeds were not so bad as to tangle the hooks and leaders to the point that you had to cut the fishing line. We came across a large Pickerel, half in and half out of the water, bloated to the point of bursting, but still barely alive. As we got closer, we saw the cause of its distress. Its mouth was gaping open and sticking out was the tail of another fish, about half its size. With his rubber boots on, my father walked into the water and stepped on the bloated fish with his heel on the tail and the toe of his boot near its head. As he put downward pressure on the fish, the dinner of the greedy Pickerel slithered out, half digested. Then to our amazement, the Pickerel rallied and after a minute or so, wagged its tail at us and swam rapidly out to deeper water, wisely leaving his dinner behind.

After witnessing that, as a small child, perhaps that is the reason I am not a fisherman.