In the last year I've read many good books but none of them were fiction. Somebody in blog land must have recommended All the Light We Cannot See and it's a good story.
The story is set during WW II. It features two children: one in France and the other in Germany. The author tells their stories by alternating chapters. So one chapter describes what happens to Werner and the next one tells about Marie-Laure. The author makes their lives realistic as he describes the horrors of war children had to go through.
I don't normally like war stories or stories with violence. This one was dark but I couldn't put it down. It's easy to read. There's lots of conflict and most of the predictions I made about what was coming next were wrong.
For all stories a certain amount of research has to be done. Either Anthony Doerr did a lot of research or was extremely knowledgeable about science. Whether it was radio, physics, snails, biology or minerals and gems the details were there. Marie-Laure was blind and he had to know in great detail how blind people function.
In the end we come away understanding much more about the horrors of war during the war and what people suffer years after the war.
Now I haven't told you any part of the story. You'll have to get all the story yourself.
I enjoyed the story and recommend it.
After I finished reading this story I noticed that it won the Pulitzer prize.
Don't check Wiki Pedia as it gives a story summary
Well, you may be wondering "What's he talking about?" Well, you also know that he is going to tell you.
In my last post I wrote a little about Ukrainian Christmas. What was also on my mind is that customs and traditions are slowly disappearing.
Let me use my family as an example. Western Canada opened up and was settled in the early 1900's. My Great Grandpa, born in 1842 came to Canada about 1900. He was about 60 and brought all his adult children and their families. Great Grandpa was looking for a place where he could have land, follow his Lutheran faith, speak the German language and not be conscripted into an army as they were pacifists. Western Canada looked like a place that would allow him freedom to follow his way of life.
Life was great for the family. They had free land. Life was hard but they happy compared to what they left in the Ukraine.
Today 110 years later, probably none of great Grandpa's ancestors speak German. Very few of them are Lutherans. Some of his grandsons were in WW II. So most of the traditions and customs have been lost Gradually we mixed with other people. Children went to school and learned English. My Dad's first language was German. We don't eat the same foods our grandparents made.
So when I described Ukrainian Christmas I wanted to tell how traditions have gradually been lost. Most Ukrainians came here after WWI and the Russian Revolution so some of their customs are still practiced. Ukrainians my age do not speak the language. When the language is lost the culture soon disappears.
Now what in the world has "fourth generation " got to do with this? First of all, we are a very "new" area. 110 years ago there were few Europeans here and the aboriginals had been locked up of reserves. Much of North America has been settled for hundreds of years. Much Europe has been settled for 1500 -2000 years.
So by for generations much of the culture was lost.
I always leave my outdoor Christmas decorations up until Ukrainian Christmas which is Jan.8. Why January 8, you say? The Orthodox church uses the Gregorian calendar so Christ's birth is celebrated Jan. 8.
I'm not Ukrainian, but this area has a high population of Ukrainians. You can't help but have Ukrainian friends here. Today the celebration of Ukrainian Christmas is abbreviated as traditions are not held as strongly as the first emigrants.
The celebration is full of symbolism and goes on for seven days.
Now my knowledge of the celebration is limited but I hear about the well loved traditions. One meal consists of 12 courses.. one for each of the disciples.
So to all Ukrainians who celebrate Christmas today, Merry Christmas. I wish I could write it in Ukrainian as I've heard it so many times.
So tomorrow my outdoor lights will go dark.
I've had a good run of cross country skiing in 2016. Everything has been right...snow, temperature, wind. So I've been out in the afternoons and it's great. I have set up trails in the close so I just have to walk across the road, put the skis on and I'm away. I wish other things did not get in the way and I could ski everyday.
Now I did not ski tonight. I only took photos. It's minus 16 C (4 F ).
Since I post on cross country skiing I have to explain that it's not sliding down hill on skis. This is walking or running on your skis. It takes effort...lots of effort. We can go down fairly steep slopes that are well groomed and trackset. We tuck ( bend the knees and stick the butt out ) and get a fast run down hill. Of course , we have to get up high in the first place. Usually the trail rises in another location that is longer but a lower slope.
We have a Kananaskis Park which has many excellent trails. You actually gain a lot of altitude and then it's a nice run back down.
Our city has an amazing number of cross country ski trails that are track set and well maintained. I have enjoyed the trail but no longer go on the trails. I like to ski by myself. At this age it's too risky to go on your own. If I fell in the snow I might not be able to get up!!!
It's also light enough that I can ski in the evening so it's very convenient. Now I thought I'd show what the trails look like in the evening but I learned a little more about photography. With the level of light the camera is very slow so I wiggle and the photo is blurry. One day I'm going to have to get a tripod.
...
.the computer and/or the Internet won't work?
Yesterday was one of those days. The day was long and frustrating. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
The day started off with the computer taking a long time to load. Then I found out that Google Chrome would not load. So. what's the problem. Is it my goofy computer ? Is it something wrong with Google chrome? Is there a problem with my Internet provider?
I tried another browser, Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer would load but it was freezing up all the time. It took a long time to read blogs and comment. Smoke was coming out of my ears.
To complicate these matters a long scan was running. The scan did not complete.
Computer problems here are not common so when they occur I'm not ready for them and don't know what's going on.
So my question is: Why don't they put a message on my screen that tells me what the problem is and then I can cool my jets? I would be happy if they said chrome is under repair and will be back on in 8 hours. If my Internet provider put a message on the screen to say they were doing repairs and would be back in half an hour I could live with that. I suspicion there are other problems that slow the operation down and I don't even know what's going on. My computer seems to keep looking for updates!
Now I know that some people complain about poor Internet connections. I sympathize with them. I know I'm fortunate to have good service.
What about you? Do you have Internet problems? Do you recognize problems right away? What do you do about problems when they
arise?
It's 7:00 PM mountain standard time here. It's early New Year's Eve. Some people are already in 2016 and some have much more time to go in their New Year's Eve. Some people mark New Year's Eve with great celebration and some, like me, pass it as most other evenings in my life. I've done it both ways. I've partied my face off and as I said I spend very quiet New Year's Eves.
Some people like to look back on 2015...the year in review. I'm not big on looking back at my own 2015. I don't really think about it. I am a current events junkie so I like to listen to a review of news events for the past year. In fact,I will listen to more than one review. (Ooh somebody just let a fire cracker go!) I like reviews to be separate as politics, sports , music...
Other people like to look ahead to 2016. What will 2016 bring them. What do they hope for in 2016. Some people are big on making resolutions for 2016. Some resolutions people share can be very interesting. For myself, I'm not big on resolutions. I have enough trouble remembering my resolution let alone acting on it. I try to fool myself by saying I will make resolutions as the year goes by.
I admire those people who take a balanced approach and think about the happenings in the old year and look ahead to the New Year.
I do look back at one major New Year's Eve event in my life. 49 years ago tonight I had the first date with my wife. It was a blind date and, of course, we went to a large New Year's Eve party!
Whatever you do to mark the new year I hope you enjoy the evening. I hope you had a great 2015 and I wish you all the best for 2016.
Don't you just hate it when you're trying to think of the name of someone or a place name and it just doesn't come out of the memory bank in your brain? It's right on the tip of your tongue but you cannot retrieve the name. You can see the person or place. You can see the setting with all the details but no, the name doesn't come up.
Two of these frustrating incidents happened to me this week.
While I was skating, I was talking to my friend Bob who had worked his whole life in the Arctic. we find that we know many of the same people and then the conversation flows to events around these people.
When I got home, I began to think of a prominent northerner. This guy had been to my house in northern Quebec. He was well known so I knew who he was but had never met him. I couldn't get his name. I knew he was connected to Innuit printmaking and soapstone carving. I thought of other people who were prominent in this field. Yes, he was connected to Eskimo cooperatives. I thought one of my books had his picture. I looked. I found his photo but it didn't include a name. First names came to my mind but they didn't bring any results. Last names? They were people who were active in other related areas. I came up with their names.
I googled. I found photos but no name. Finally, I found the name and instantly many things bounced back into my head.
There was a write up about Peter Murdoch on one site. It was an article about him receiving the Order of Canada in late 2014! Wow! Peter had retired in 1997 after being in Northern Canada for fifty years.
I scrolled down to the next article only to find that it was his obituary. Peter died Dec.15, 2015.
So I spent a whole evening puzzling about Peter and finally found the information and it brought back much more.
A very pleasant lady works part time in the local library. I see her two or three times a year. Everytime I go home and I can't remember her name. Her husband was a highschool teacher. Her daughters went to the school I taught in. All of these things I can see in my mind...her husband, daughters , but I can't bring the name up. I go home and seriously start trying to remember the name. I think the name starts with H??? That doesn't lead anywhere. Then I think of somebody with a similar name and bingo, the name pops into my head.
So it's a frustrating situation. Why does it happen? In the first example I haven't heard much about Peter for the last 45 years. In the second situation I see the lady several times a year and talk about her kids and new grandchildren . She also know my children.
So as long as this doesn't get any worse I can live with it. Sooner or later the name does pop into my head.
How about you? Are some things difficult to retrieve from the old memory bank?
