How Time Flies

        Yesterday morning I noticed that my friend, Bob,  had wished his daughter a happy 45th birthday. He mumbled a couple of things about entering into the world of parenthood 45 years ago and that parenthood was still great to this day.

       A week ago a blogging friend did a piece where part of it included a picture of her with her infant son, a son who left her and this world all too soon at the age of 40.

       I was fortunate enough to be 68 years old when my Dad died. I had told Dad that I wanted a Dad until I was 70.

       All of these examples are about the passage of time. With the passage of time there are losses. We lose our youth. We lose our children. We lose our parents. In some ways we lose the past as it dims and disappears.

       With my friend with the 45 year old daughter I couldn't help but comment that back when his daughter was born he was Mr. tall dark and handsome. His daughter got a big chuckle over my comment. I started to think of why she would think the comment humorous. When I first met her Dad he was in his late 20's with some gray hair on the temples. He was a lanky dude who was very active. His daughter obviously does not remember him in that way. By the time she would make memories of her Dad he would have changed physically.

       DJan, the blogger, often writes about her lost son. DJan looked at the picture and could vividly remember her lost son  and it brought back good memories of him. What she felt most about the picture was to look at herself and feel that she could hardly recognize herself. The photo was one that she had not seen before so to see it was a shock.

     As I was reaching rather ancient milestones and visiting my Dad I could see that the wheels were turning in his head. On one of his birthday cards I told him that on my next birthday I would be sixty-five. My step mother told me that he sort of shook his head and thought about it and then said, "You know Red's and old man!" My stepmother thought the comment hilarious and so did I. It must be hard for a man to watch his son grow to be old.

      All of these situations occur as time passes.  Our memory of the past dims and the situations we pass through modify our perception of our past. It's interesting to visit with my brother and compare the memories we have of the same things. We are less than a year apart so we were there for the same things. Sometimes we refresh each others memory of incidents we experienced.

       Alvin Toffler in Future Shock has an excellent section on time and how humans think about time. Toffler goes back and shows how we began measuring time which then posts landmarks in our lives. Toffler also dealt with our perception of time  and how it alters as we age.

      So these three situations just happened to come together and get me thinking about time. This coming from a guy who never wears a watch.

      How do you feel about the passage of time? Does it intrigue you? Does the passage of time make you feel happy or sad? I hope that everybody fully enjoys the passage of their life and the experiences they have.

Great Spring Bird Count

       Today was the day to count birds in our area. I have posted before that I have participated in winter and spring bird counts for a long time and enjoy them. Today was one of those "just right" days...clear , calm, and cool. Birds were not particularly active but there was enough to keep my interest. I saw 14 different species. One species I had never seen before but when I identified it I realized that I had heard this bird many times before. So today I officially saw a warbling vireo.

        The area that I patrol is a coulee that runs into the Red Deer river. It's old growth spruce and poplar. Unfortunately many invasive species are making their way into this coulee.The part I count in is from .5 km to 1 km wide.

      For the spring bird count we also count native plant species which are blooming. I'm not too hot on identifying plants so today I said I will take the cam,era and take pictures. This is because the count coordinator called me one time and said, "Did you really see the plant you named?" So I had to hoof it back to where I saw the plant and get more information. It was easy to identify once I was told what to look for. In that case I brought a specimen back.

     Since our spring is very late we do not have many native species in bloom.

The first bloom I saw was what I call buffalo bean Thermopsis rhombifolia. These are prairie flowers and grow well in disturbed areas .

     The next plant I found was the early blue violet violo adunca. These plants bloom very early and are very attractive. The ones I found were a patch of a bout the size of a house.

     The third blooming plant I found isn't hard to find as it's quite abundant. Saskatoon amelanchier alnifolia is again a common prairie plant found in coulees and forest edges. These plants have along history with the aboriginals and when my people came here they immediately took a liking to saskatoons. One summer my mother canned 96 quarts of saskatoons. These are known in other areas as juneberries or service berries.

 

           The fourth plant I had to cheat a little bit as it is only in bud This is the choke cherry prunus virginianna. Again these plants grow on stream banks and on the edges of forests or on the prairie "bluffs." Again the choke cherry has a great flavor and are used to make syrups and jellies. They have a pit and since they are small berries would be difficult to take the stone out and use the flesh . Raw choke cherries are fairly tart.

The fifth plant I found made me do lots of work to identify it. It's a plant that I should know. I think after this I will remember fairy bells(disporum trachycarpum). These plants bloom early before the trees fully leaf out. They grow in moist shady poplar or mixed woods and thickets.

     So my day was much more interesting when I took the camera to record sightings. Plants don't fly away like birds and you don't have to wait for plants as you would with birds. I a couple of weeks I will have to make another tour and show some more native species in bloom.    

I Stand up for Bleeding Hearts

        Many blogs I follow have recently posted on flowers that are in spring splendor. I certainly appreciate these posts. Most of them demonstrate excellent photography  and very knowledgeable descriptions.

        While I was working in the yard today I noticed that my bleeding heart (lamprocapnos spectabilis)was at its very best. Bleeding hearts are early and since they are large-75-100cm - are very noticeable. Bleeding hearts are native to Northern China, Korea and Japan. They are very suitable to temperate climates such as I live in. There are other names for the bleeding heart as people see other shapes in the blooms. I have only seen pink bleeding hearts so I tried to see if there are other colors. I was not successful in finding bleeding hearts in other colors. Hopefully some of my readers will be able to add some information about color. By early August the leaves have lost color and the stems become dormant. Most years my bleeding hearts are cut down before the end of August.

  
       So I wanted to give the humble bleeding heart some publicity because it does have a charm of its own. It also suits me to some extent as I see myself as somewhat of a bleeding heart!

The Palliser Triangle.

On the Canadian prairie provinces the name John Palliser is well recognised for a recommendation he made in 1860 about the suitability of the area for agriculture. The Canadian government at that time wanted settlers to come to the prairies and begin agriculture. They had watched development further south in the United States and they wanted a piece of the action. They also wanted settlers so that the United States would not be tempted to take over the Canadian prairies. John Palliser was hired to do an exploration of the areas and make a recommendation.

        So a few days ago I was talking to a friend who is taking what is called a Palliser tour. Tours are made of the area and sites noted by Palliser are visited. This conversation reminded me of an excellent book I read a few years ago. Irene M. Spry wrote The John Palliser Expedition of Discovery. This was a great read.

      Spry researched very thoroughly and reported in great detail what these explorers did.
  
      John Palliser was an English  military officer. He put together a large group of experts to spend three years combing over every detail of the Canadian prairies. Botanists discovered and named as many plants as they could find. Most of the specimens were carefully preserved and shipped to England where they are to this day. Other scientists studied the weather so temperature, rainfall, and sunlight were recorded in detail. Extensive mapping of the area was done. The skies were observed on a regular basis. Animals were observed. They consulted with the aboriginals and used the aboriginals to help them in their observations and travel. They discovered a certain amount of coal.

     Most of Palliser's people were on the prairie for about three years. The story of their travel and survival is amazing. There were times when people were lost for weeks. In the dead of winter they travelled back and forth across the prairie. It took tremendous effort for them to obtain food supplies. They used pemmican
to their advantage.

      There are four areas which come together to make this story fascinating. First, I was raised on a farm so I am keenly interested in agriculture. Growing up I heard about Palliser on a regular basis. Second, I have backpacked for years and couldn't help but admire the success these people had as they lived outdoors most of the time. There were short times when they were at Ft. Edmonton or other places where they lived inside. Third, I have a great interest in western Canadian history so this is as good as it gets. Fourth, I am a naturalist so I was eager to find out what the prairie looked like before it was destroyed by the plow. I like stories that bring distant things together. This story brings together some very prominent interests of mine.

      I highly recommend Irene M. Spry's book and I hope you will take a look at it. If anybody has read this book I hope you would share your opinions with me on Hiawatha House.

       So what did John Palliser recommend? He recommended that a large portion of southern Saskatchewan and Alberta was not suitable for agriculture. The debate over the years rages on as to whether Palliser was right or wrong.
  

There's a First for Everything

         There's a first for everything  even if you're a senior rookie to the internet!

          Since we are taking a trip this summer we are making some arrangements now. My wife likes to plan ahead....away ahead. I'm the opposite. I make plans at the last minute. It causes some tension around here at times.

        We found a good deal for parking while away. The catch was that we had to make a reservation on the web. I have not been a user for very many years. I understand how things work. I understand that most banking is electronic. However, my wife is not at all comfortable giving out a credit card number on the net. I don't push the issue so we don't do business on the net. Well, today to take advantage of a good deal we had to break down and do business. This deal did not include a credit card number. So we filled in the necessary information and clicked on reserve and it was done.

      Now for my wife to be sure of the deal we had to print all forms. It was like magic when I went to my email account and found that the reservation was already there.

      So with much trepidation a first took place for us. A business transaction was done by us on the internet. I'm sure that many more deals will have to be done. We will be less wary and the system is quickly moving to more and more business being done on the net.

A Searchin Good Time

        My daughter is getting married in July. It's an important event as I have only one daughter and she's 39 years old. So I look forward to her wedding with a certain degree of anticipation and excitement.

       I am not a shopper. I think I've said that on this blog a few times. On the other hand my wife loves to shop and has great talent in the area. So last summer wasn't soon enough for her to buy wedding clothes. We got right at it. Soon I had a super shirt, tie, pants and belt. For an outdoor summer wedding these threads would be perfect for an old guy.

       Continuing on with the excitement of wedding preparations, my wife is now gathering up the luggage, documents, clothing and anything remotely related to the trip.

       Today my wife hit a snag. She had hung up all the wedding clothes in one place. However , the belt we had bought was nowhere to be found. We looked on all the hooks for holding belts. We looked on all the pants with belts on. We looked under beds, in drawers, and went through all closets containing clothes. I was maligned to some extent. I was accused of leaving a pair of pants somewhere with the new belt on them. I don't ever remember coming home with out pants. For me , I think I would have been in big trouble to come home without pants. She wondered if I'd gone somewhere and changed clothes for some reason and left a pair of pants behind. Not me. I don't do that stuff.

      The search resumed after supper and was widened to areas we hadn't looked in before. We were soon stumped as this search made no sense. We tried to think where we'd been and why the belt may have been worn.

     I decided to take another look at the belts on pants hanging in the closet. I looked at the buckles this time.What do you know ? The second belt I checked was the missing belt. The belt was good on two sides . I had used the brown side. We were looking for a black belt. We were also looking for a little different buckle.

      So when the lost is found there is great relief. A certain amount of anxiety and anger suddenly dissipates. The yelling stops and quiet returns.  Now I don't have to go to my daughter's wedding with my pants hanging down.

Great Commentary Makes the Music Sing

       I have always liked music. In my younger years my likes in music were quite narrow, but I still spent much time listening to music. My own musical talent is next to nothing. I tried to learn to play the piano but that did not produce any success.. I can't sing but will sing with a large group where I can blend in and not be heard. I was fortunate to have several close farm neighbors who were musical and played several instruments rather well. These people also talked about music and learned from each other. I also had buddies who had a country band and spent most of their time jamming and got the odd gig. During these times I was exposed to more than just the music.

       Since I've retired I've spent more time listening to music. The type of music I listen to and enjoy has broadened. One of the things that helps me enjoy music is excellent commentary. The more I know about the music the better I like it.

      One show I listen to on CBC is Saturday Night Blues (Right after the news). The host is Holger Petersen and he is a master when it comes to the blues. Holger is not just a walking encyclopedia, but can make his information interesting and fit it in so that the music makes much more sense. Holger can go back to very early blues performers who may have originated a special style  of playing. He will then take this and show how it has influenced other performers and writers. He will also show how blues music has influenced other genres of music. For example, the Beatles used techniques borrowed from the blues.

      Holger Petersen is authentic because of course he has played blues for a long long time. What better way to learn about music. Holger has done many interviews with performers and liberally replays these interviews when he wants to make a special point about the blues. Holger attends all the blues festivals and performances he can possibly get to and then brings back info and samples for the listeners to enjoy.

     I was not particularly fond of the blues until I started listening to Holger Petersen. Now I never miss his Saturday Night Blues and I am able to listen to blues music from other sources and appreciate it . So thanks to people Like Holger Peteresen I have a much greater appreciation of good music.