A Fine Winter Afternoon

    This afternoon I went for an hour's walk through a nearby natural area. It was minus 6 C (20 F) and very sunny. These days the sun has come back and the rays are a little more direct.

Into the woods

Sunshine finding it's way into the trees

Sun reaching into deep woods

Spruce trees catching some rays at the edge of a clearing

Water flowing up on a stream

Still lots of shadow

My trail takes a hook to the left

      So it was a very peasant afternoon to be out in the sun and shadow.

My Close Call in Theft.

     Most followers know that I was a Middle School teacher all my career. Most people know that middle schoolers can be full of mischief.

    Every year there would be a large incident of kids shooting paper wads. Some busy teacher would leave an unguarded box of rubber bands and after that all the bandits would be well armed and war broke out all over the school. You could confiscate rubber bands all day but unless you found the mother lode of rubber bands , paper wads flew for some time. I can remember getting "tips" and I would find somebody with a pocket full of rubber bands and I would make a major confiscation. That usually ended the paper wad fuss. Every year there would be a water pistol event. Usually a couple of stores had brought in a case of water pistols and every little beaner bought a water pistol and of course took it to school. Again , as with water pistols, these were very cleverly hidden. There were wet spots in the class room . Kids complained. There was extra traffic at the water fountain. Either enough armor was confiscated or became unserviceable and the activity ceased.

     For one outbreak of water pistols, the principal became completely frustrated and read the riot act on water pistols. He did announcements just before dismissal on a Friday afternoon. He told kids to take their weapons home. He told the teachers to disarm every water pistol armed kid. After dismissal I was supervising in the hall and a little guy came by with his weapon in his hand all the while admiring it. My jaw dropped. 60 seconds ago this kid had been told to get rid of his weapon. I had no option but to make a confiscation. The kid was a good jail house lawyer and put up a strong argument. 

    Early Saturday morning, before I was up, there was a loud knock on my apartment door. The kid's Dad was there with another guy I knew well and he went ballistic. He wanted his son's water pistol back and he yelled at me and told me what a disgusting human being I was. Since I'd turned the device in to the principal I could not return the goods.  I was shaken up by this encounter. I phoned my principal right away to give him a heads up on what had happened and to let him know what he might expect.

    The guy who accompanied the wild man contacted me later in the day and said he was completely unaware as to what was going on and he wanted me to know that he was no part of it.

    We had a police administration center in our town and the top guy was a superintendent. A few weeks after this incident when I was chatting with him he said, "Say , what was going on with the thing about a water pistol in school?" He said, "The guy came to him and created a big fuss as he wanted the superintendent to lay theft charges on me." He said, "I had an awful time with the guy." the supt. thought it was odd but not serious. So the guy had gone not to a constable to lay a charge but to the very top.

    So this was the only time in my life I came close to being charged with anything. I have often said that I appreciated  the  support I received in all the communities I taught in. However , this was one of the exceptions.

Who Makes the Rules

   Sometimes you bump into a series of events that make you ask a question related to these different happenings. This happened to me recently. Here are the three events. There was an obituary of a former student in the paper this morning. I read a blog post this morning which ended with "We need a system." I heard a radio piece this week that dealt with Dr. Martin Luther King's well known civil disobedience stand.

    Chrissy, the former student, died at age 57. I had her in middle school and she challenged me, the principal, all other teachers and students. She pushed every body's buttons. She was part mischievous, part mean and very bright. Now some people might say that Chrissy was incorrigible and throw the book a her and throw her away and that would do some good and solve the situation.. Was Chrissy, in her unhappy way, telling us that our school rules left something to be desired? Many school rules are made for the comfort of the organization rather than for the students.

    The post I read this morning was humorous and made a good point. How are people supposed to behave? Is a set of hard and fast rules needed so that everybody knows how to play? My reply to the post was, "Can you make rules for a little random, chaotic, quibbler like me? Would your system bring out the rebel in me?" 

    Dr. Martin Luther King lead a civil rights movement that fundamentally changed a country. King had to work years to bring about change. King brought about attention to problems by civil disobedience. King had stringent guide lines for civil disobedience. He would break unjust laws and expect to be punished and accept his punishment. 

   So all of this made me ask the question,"Who makes the rules?" Now before I go any further I'm all for honesty, goodness, peace, order and respect. But sometimes I have to wonder about rules which impose some group's stringent rules on others. This week in Mali we found out that Extremist Islamists tried to impose Shia law on a group of people without their consent. Not too long ago Christians burned witches. These religions are also divided into many denominations which sometimes disagree with one another to the point of violence. The Irish situation is a perfect example of religious turmoil. Political systems disagree and go to war.  The world suffered a Hitler who in his demented mind thought some people should be exterminated. Political parties in governments argue to the point of bringing paralysis to their country. Type of clothing is sometimes directed by others. Men require women to be covered in a precise manner in parts of the world. 

    Why do people have the need to impose their idea of rules and regulations on others?  I hope all people will question proposals for rules. It is our responsibility to question proposed rules so that we get the rules we deserve. In many cases we have far too many rules and regulations...red tape. People have not been thinking about making things efficient for a society to function.

   Okay, there's my rant! By this time some of you have  closed your eyes and put your hands over your ears and gone on to another blog! My rules make it so that you can leave my blog and go somewhere else. I won't be offended. I hope you won't be offended but will go away and think about things.

    Serendipity. A Beatle's song just came on called "All together Now."

    

Bannock: A World Food.

    A few days ago Darlin posted on baking some bannock and she had some awesome pictures of her production. Now I like bannock so her post got me thinking about my experiences with bannock.

     The basics of bannock are flour, water, baking powder and salt. After that, all bets are off. There are literally thousands of bannock recipes.The things that go with your bannock are endless. The history of bannock is very, very old. Unleavened bread is mentioned in the bible and has a place in religious practices. In biblical times , I don't think they could run to the store for some Flieschman's yeast or pick up any Blue Ribbon baking powder either. All cultural groups have some form of bannock. Aboriginals had a form of bannock before the Europeans came. They had certain roots the were ground up to make something similar to flour. 

    Baking powder biscuits are a form of bannock and they are baked in the oven. Many bannock recipes can be baked. My Mom furiously baked some baking powder biscuits when she was caught without bread and someone was coming to visit.

    Now to get to my experience with bannock. I was exposed to bannock when I spent 5 years in the Arctic.  The Inuit and Indians used bannock on a regular daily basis in their homes but their experience with bannock was really when they were out in the country. They would take a small bag of flour and baking powder with them and they were set. To make a bannock they usually made a small depression in the flour at the top of the bag. They poured in some water and mixed the flour and water by hand. The dough produced this way was flattened and put into a frying pan with lots of lard. It didn't take long and you had fresh hot bannock. If you had any meat then your meal was complete. For many travelers they started out from home with a bag of bannock. Bannock is very dry so it doesn't freeze. The first time I went out I took my bread sandwich. Guess what? When it came time to eat my  sandwich, it was frozen as hard a steel. It was embarrassing. Someone had to give me some lunch.  Getting back to the flour sack..it was sometimes a ghastly mess by the end of the trip.

    I still remember the great taste of bannock. I still remember all the things I put on my bannock...mostly jams and syrup. 

    It's hard to believe that bannock is rarely made since it is such a simple process. It has great taste and leaves a pleasant aroma in your house.

Surprise From the Past

     We steadily go through stuff in the house trying to downsize. For nearly 50 years we have collected things and it is very surprising how much has accumulated.

     This last while we have been tackling book cases...a shelf at a time. I am instructed to go through and pick out what a I don't want. I can make a pretty big pile of "don't wants" in a hurry. My wife will go through a second time and choose ones she doesn't want to part with. I thought that I had thrown out all university texts years ago. There were still lots on the shelves and some of them weren't thrown out this time. 

    I did make some discoveries that were very surprising. I found about a dozen books that I had received as a little kid. Books that were Christmas presents and birthday presents. My Mom's sister was only 12  when I was born. She spoiled her nephews rotten and she still does today when she's 85 and her nephews are 73. Our Aunt gave us books for gifts. She found a series that we liked. Mom would read these books to us. Once we were all ready for bed we would crawl on Moms's bed. She would read and we were absolutely quiet . When about half of us had fallen asleep she would quit and that was bedtime.

    Like many people I left home right after high school. I did not have a permanent residence. Over the years the things I had as  a kid disappeared. Once I had settled down my Mom said one day, "These are the only things of yours that are left here." She gave me the books a I found the other day. My brothers established homes before I did and took things that they had as kids to their houses. Not much was left when I established roots.

     So the other day when I found these books it was like rediscovering a very ancient past. To say the least, these were books I didn't throw away.

The books were always neatly written in with a greeting. I anybody familiar with the Sugar Creek Gang series?

My 1950 birthday present.

In the country schools we would draw names and give that person a Christmas gift which was presented at the Christmas concert. Wesley was in the grade ahead of me,

Hans Brinker doesn't appear to have been a gift as there is no inscription in it. I read this a couple of times. As you see it's in pretty bad shape.

Sleep tight!

Mid Winter Hues

      The other day I went out to take pictures of the boys playing in the snow. I was carefully picking my way back over the snow the boys had packed so I wouldn't get a boot full of snow. I was going through some shrubbery that the boys had used for hiding and a supply of spears. I got snagged up in the shrubs and had to back out to untangle myself. I happened to get a close look at some tree bark and said , "That's pretty interesting!"

     It's mid winter and the days are getting longer and the shadows are shorter. Tree bark and seed heads have been frozen, inactive and dried out. You get to look at tree bark that you would never see in the summer and besides it would have a much greener tinge to it. So before I took a second charge through the shrubbery I decided to try a few pictures. Things have definitely lightened up since the winter solstice. Yesterday the sun rose at 8:23 and set at 5:12 which gives us 8 hours and 49 minutes of sun. On the solstice we had 7 hours and 39 minutes of sun.

Lilacs that look much different compared to June.

Lilac seeds that haven't been eaten by the Pine grosbeaks.

Lilac seed heads and buds ready for next June. I didn't notice the buds until I  looked at the photo on the computer.

Snow rats hiding in the shade.

So ever so gradually we are inching towards spring.

Snow Rats

     Snow rats? Yes. I thought if there could be "rug rats" then there could be snow rats. These three boys are in kindergarten and gr. one. They had a Friday afternoon off from school These three and one more played outside in the snow all afternoon.

One of my buds is under there

    I skied around them and stopped to visit a couple of times. When i went home I came back with my camera and took pictures. They hollered at their Mom, " A boy took our picture." Do I like these kids. They know me well and see me often and I am still a boy!

I think somebody left his teeth at home

    It was about minus 3 C with brilliant sunshine. They were probably soaking wet. There was not a parent hovering over these boys as they played in the snow. I classify these boys as free range kids. they are allowed to be on their own. They were obviously not sitting in the house with a video game or watching TV. I wish more kids would spend the whole afternoon playing.

Pretty healthy looking boys!

These guys were never still all afternoon.

I wish I had a hat like those.

Snow rat tracks

    So one old boy and four little guys had the snow to themselves for a pleasant sunny afternoon.