Don't You Just Hate it When...

     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?

    

It's Over!

       The last few days have brought many seasonal greetings and preparations for our celebration. All too soon it is behind us.

       We have a quiet day here but it is also enjoyable. We have the full meal with all the trimmings. I forgot to take a photo but there was: turkey, gravy, dressing, potato, sweet potato, corn, cranberry, aspic and pecan pie!

Santa didn't bring me a thermometer as this one shows a couple of degrees too warm, but this shows that it was cold.

We had snow again yesterday

So as far as the weather goes it was very Christmas like with snow and cold.

       Now many people don't get snow for Christmas and they think snow is great for Christmas. Snow definitely sets the mood.

      I hope everybody had a great day as I certaily did.

Christmas Bird Count

     You've heard this before. I always do the Christmas bird count. I've done the same area for about 40 years. I've looked back on previous posts and find that the number of years I've counted   varies??? I've missed the odd year when I would be away or sick. Sometimes it was just far too cold. 

      I know what species should be in my area. On any given day I'm happy to see half of them.  There should be 15 to 20 species in my area. Some species like the cross bills only appear when the cone crop is good. We have lots of cross bills this year. Pine siskins only show up when the right food is available.

     So Sunday I had a good day. The temperatures were from minus 15 to minus 5. It was partly cloudy. If it's a good day for me it's also a good day for birds.

     So I saw nine species which is about what I usually see.

     So I had a great day of bird counting.

The pileated woodpecker found me as it flew in to feed beside me. He's easy to photograph as he's large and he stays in one place. I watched him until I got bored and then moved on.

     

Winter Solstice

       Well, today is a day that many people observe and take comfort in that things will be getting better.

       Having days slowly get shorter and colder is not a very positive experience. Now we can look forward with some positive hope.

      The winter solstice has been marked for a long time as primitive people were aware of what was taking place and could name the date when the day was shortest and the night was longest. 

       Since I spent winters above the Arctic circle, I experienced nights that were six weeks long. that's right. The sun never rose above the horizon for  six weeks. Some people were devastated  by this situation. It didn't bother me at all.

      So where I live the sun rose at 8:43 AM and set at 4:22 PM which gives us 7 hours and 39 minutes of sunshine.

      We have lots of snow cover and have had sub zero C weather for about 4 weeks. 

The old snow stick with 15 cm or 6 in. of snow

That's right I skied today

The creek is well covered with ice and snow

Christmases Past

       My friend Willis, who I finished high school with, posted on face book the other day that his tree was decorated and things in the house were fixed up for Christmas. So, Willis was sitting back in his easy chair thinking about friends and "Christmases past".

       So even though we are elderly we still act like high school students and never miss a chance for a friendly dig. My comment on his face book post was "Ya, that's a lot of Christmases!" Like, you're old!!

       Well, I got thinking about Willis's comment. Yes, it's many Christmases. In my case 76 of them. The first ones I don't remember. However, I do remember the Christmases when I was a child and safe in the care of my parents.  They made Christmas interesting with baking, decorations, gifts and very festive meals. We also had community and church festivities. Christmas day was a long day of good food and visiting with neighbors and friends.

       In my late teens I was not tied as closely to family and spent more time in the holidays with friends. Once I left home the time for Christmas with family was shortened. You raced home just in time for Christmas. You missed all the Christmas preparations. Some of the excitement was gone as now you were an adult.

       Then came the first time I was not able to be home for Christmas. I was in the Arctic with many other young single people who were away from family. The 30 of us in the residence, got together and prepared a very festive meal. I'm sure many of us were thinking about home, but we had a very good time.

       Next, a new pattern was formed when I married. Problem! You can't get to both parents for the holidays so what do you do?  A couple of those dilemmas were solved when my wife had to work.

      When you have children of your own you start making your own traditions for the holidays. There's excitement about decorations, gifts, stories, songs and a special meal. Many of the things I did were what I learned from my parents.

       My kids live far away from me and they don't get home for Christmas. They have their own kids to make traditions.

      So , yes, we do have great memories and friends formed around Christmas. As we age the celebration of Christmas changes. Celebrations change with the times. 

     Now matter what, Christmas is a joyful time of the year.

     

Skaters Christmas

     Each year we have a special lunch at skating and invite retired skaters to attend. We enjoy seeing retired skaters and the retired skater love to visit with each other.

     The recreation dept supplies donuts and we bring potluck goodies. 

     People are excited to see one another . The old skating enthusiasm is still there.

Lots of good eats

Retired lady skaters

Retired male skaters. The guy across the table is 93 and skated until he was 92.

The last of the pair skaters. Jerry is 88.

TRUMP

         I'm a Canadian.

         I take pride in thinking that I mind my own business. I don't pry into other people's business. Other people can live their own lives as long as they don't interfere with my life.

         But lately something has been bothering me.  Donald Trump.

         I've been watching news coverage of Trump's campaign. The logic Trump uses bothers me as he plays fast and loose with the truth and uses misinformation to back up his ideas. So Trump is an outright racist and is dividing people rather than uniting and proposing policy that would benefit all people.

       Trump seems to find it easy to say that people are rapists, criminals and drug dealers as he did with Mexicans. Of course , he uses this to back up his ridiculous proposal to build a fence between Mexico and the U.S. And what I really like is that the Mexicans would pay for the fence.

      Trump also has erroneous things to say about Muslims to back his proposal to not let Muslims into the country. All the time Trump forgets that many Muslims live in his country.

      Now why I'm really concerned is that his fast and loose logic could influence me. What if Trump decides Canadian water and resources would be nice to have. So he makes the usual charge that Canadians are rapists criminals and drug dealers so this gives him the right to come and take what he wants. And oh ya, he won't let any Canadians enter the U.S. Oops , I guess I won't be able to visit my American daughter anymore!