The Rabbits are Turning White

A few posts ago I wrote something on "Frost on the Pumpkin". Now, this was late September, and the frost was, shall we say, light. That is to say, there were one or two degrees of frost for a few hours in the morning.

Now we are at another level of frost. We've had lows close to -20C and days where the high was below freezing. With temperatures and daylight changing, there are obvious and not so obvious changes to plants, animals and birds.

One change which has always brought me some enjoyment is the rabbit changing to white. As a child there were often hundreds of jack rabbits (whitehttp://talkaboutwildlife.com/)where I lived, and their change in color was a highlight for a small child. It marked a very definite change in the seasons. It indicated that any time now, it could become very cold for prolonged periods of time and snow usually began to stay.

This week when I was delivering papers, I found a rabbit under a shrub just in front of a subscriber's door. I was less than a meter away from the rabbit and it did not flush. So I thought I'd have a little chat with the old boy. Still, he (or she) did not move. I put the paper in the mail box and left. This particular rabbit was just about all white. We don't have any snow cover yet, but he was still hard to see. In a few more days this particular animal will be completely white.

Once again, one of my favorite fall changes has given me its pleasure.

The Time: She Changed

(Now there's a title that could have more than one meaning!)


But the time, she really did change this weekend . We dutifully turned our time pieces back one hour either before we went to bed or soon after we got up.

We go through this each fall. There is great publicity around this time and topic. Newspapers, radio, TV and computers remind us many times that the change is approaching. Some people become confused about whether they are gaining or losing. So each fall there are mental games we play with ourselves over the change of time. Year after year we put ourselves through the experience of time change when we go through the house and change all time pieces.


Now comes the part of getting used to the hour difference. I was out in the woods without a watch. Something didn't feel right. The end of the day seemed to be coming too quickly. Meal times didn't seem right. When I went to bed it seemed very late and I was tired and wanted to go to sleep. Then I woke up an hour early! Eventually, we become used to the light in our pattern of behaviour. For a day or two we feel awkward about the time, and then life goes on as usual.


All this comes from someone who hasn't worn a watch for twelve years...

Tomato Recipe

A few posts back I wrote a piece about how much I liked tomatoes. I referred to a recipe, but didn't have it . So here's the super recipe for eggs and tomato.

Baked Eggs Bulgarian Style

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tomato

4 oz feta cheese

2 eggs

Pinch each of paprika, salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 350F(180C) Pour olive oil into a cold oven proof pan or baking dish while someone else slices the tomato. Place slices of tomato into pan/dish and crumble half the feta cheese over top. Break the two eggs over the tomato and feta and sprinkle the remaining feta, paprika,salt and pepper. Bake uncovered until the eggs are set and feta has melted...about 20 minutes.In the meantime chop fresh oregano . Just before serving sprinkle oregano on top of dish.

This recipe comes from James Barber (the Urban Peasant) from his cookbook Cooking for Two.

Authors Valued

It's time to acknowledge that I have two valued authors who help me on Hiawatha house. Ialso hope that they will post their own work from time to time to make the blog more interesting.

Jock Mackenzie joined me a few months ago. I had taught with Jock and he was also assistant administrator and as a result supervised me. I valued his observations as he always left me feeling supported and left a few tips to help me. I was looking for someone to help me with some editing and since I had confidence and trust in Jock I requested his time. He has edited, but mostly he's given me inspiration and topics that get me on a roll. He produces his own http://jockmackenzie.wordpress.com/blog which I follow and highly recomend to you.

MK joined me last week after much pleading on my part (seriously, not THAT much pleading). MK was a student of Jock's for gr.7,and is actually my daughter. I have worked with her before and she's a stickler on form, punctuation and sentence structure. Some of my long rambling awkward sentence structure will have to go! I hope she will post from time to time as she has opinions which are well supported. Maybe there will be some American perspective as she resides near Chicago. She has agreed to try her best to check in from time to time and review postings...

So welcome to Jock and MK.

Any good blog needs a mascot so Maggie has agreed to be the mascot for Hiawatha house. Maggie says "hello" to all and enjoys keeping up with her grampa's blog postings. Maybe one of these days she'll post a message of her own.

Julie and Julia

Just when you've got a couple of things lined up to post to Hiawatha House, whammo! Something else comes along that just has to be posted.

Last night I went to the movie "Julie and Julia". I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had read articles about the movie and Meryl Streep's performance before , but I had forgotten about the movie. Of course, I wandered into the movie not knowing what it was, so the surprise was that much better when I found I was watching a fine movie.

It's interesting how the plot was set up with Julia Child's biography, and then Julie trying to write a blog by cooking Child's recipes for a year. There were some similarities. Both had conflicts with publishers . However , both dealt differently with challenges. Julia Child tended to bumble through the challenges while Julie worried intensely. Neither one knew much about publishers. Both had supportive husbands. Julie and Julia were almost at opposite ends of the societal scale. Julia cruised in high society while Julie lived in a crummy flat above a pizza joint. Julie just scraped by economically while Julia lived the life of luxury. It was a unique way to cover Child's biography, which on it's own I think would have been a tough sell.

What really caught my attention was the blog aspect which carried the plot along. Since I am keenly interested in blogs, that made the movie much more interesting. I could identify with the struggling blogger.

So if you want to watch a very funny movie, see "Julie and Julia".

Write...Then Research?

      Yes I've just committed this error. I wrote a blog and posted on Hiawatha House without doing research first. When I researched immediately after posting the blog I found all kinds of in formation on Theodore Taylor and his novel  The Cay.


      I had wanted to something about tolerance and understanding. I was using The Cay to make my point. I had used the novel for many years and with numerous grade 7 classes. I found it a real gem as it was written in such a way that it appealed to kids on many levels.


     Now most of the information I discovered wouldn't have changed much in my post. I was just amazed at how much material was out there. I found numerous book reviews.


     I discovered that many teachers are still using The Cay for novel study. I retired in 97 and many teachers I taught with were not using it any more.


      I found out that Theodore Taylor had died.


    Most surprising I found that the Cay had at one time been banned!


     So yes, I learned a lesson. Do some research before you open your mouth on Hiawatha House.

My Ship is Sold

My ship didn't come in today. It was sold! In 1978 I saw a freighter canoe for sale at an auction. I was actually looking for 12 foot fishing boat. I knew what a freighter canoe was and it went for the right price, so I became the proud owner.

Not many people know what a freighter canoe is . Those of us who know them have a strong affection for them. Freighter canoes are larger than the double-pointed paddling canoes. They have a flat stern and you can attach an outboard motor for power. They are much wider than regular canoes. These vessels draw very little water and as a result can be propelled with very little power at a good rate of speed. They are easy to handle and smooth riding. I have used them on lakes , rivers and the sea. Aboriginal people from coast to coast like to use them as they were reasonably priced , very sturdy and easily repaired . And you guessed it; they had a large capacity for cargo.

I first encountered the freighter canoe when I was teaching in Inuvik, NWT. One of the best trips I ever had was going down the Great Bear River. This river drains Great Bear Lake into the Mackenzie River. There were 21 miles of rapids, which we floated down with the outboard motor turned off. I then met the canoe again on the far northern coast of Quebec. There we ran up and down Wakeham Bay and out on to Hudson Strait. In all cases it handled beautifully. Many fish, seals and moose carcasses could be transported with ease.

As a family we used the canoe on a lake where we had a cabin.  It was an odd looking boat on central Alberta lakes , but it cruised effortlessly. The time had come to part with the ship as we were no longer using it. Someone from Thunder Bay saw my ad, knew these canoes well, and came out and picked it up. Our family had lots of fun times, and of course it was always referred to as "the ship".