Tempus Fugit

It’s been pretty cold here in Winnipeg and across Canada this winter so far with lots of snow in unusual places like Victoria. The whole business of getting excited about what the weather is doing over the last couple of hundred years is a little hysterical in light of the last few thousand years, let alone how long the earth has been in existence. I seem to recall that right here in Winnipeg some large number of years ago, we were under several hundred feet of ice, perhaps that’s coming back now.

2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved – Telegraph

Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects.

I’m taking some time off between Christmas and New Years so I’m spending some time around the house relaxing and getting some things done like replacing the interior doors and cleaning and organizing some areas of the house. Today was a cleaning and organizing day.

We have a storage room, which frequently turns into a dumping ground for all that stuff you want to keep, but just don’t want to take the time to store properly, with some sort of hope of knowing where it is when you want to get it back. The other storage area is under the stairs, the place where memories are stored.

OK, my memories are not really stored under the stairs, I haven’t totally lost it yet, but it is the place where we store some of the things that trigger powerful memories. You see, under the stairs there are several large boxes. These boxes contain photo albums. Not my photo albums, that’s another organizational story for another day, but the albums from my parents and grandparents. What will the digital generation do when it’s their turn to look through the “family album”? No technology problems here. Pictures from the ’20s and possibly older are ready to view at the flip of a page, and so many that I’d never seen before. Each picture a treasure and thankfully my Ama and Mom labeled and dated many of the photos so distant relatives, places and occasions can be identified. Photos of my Dad in England during the war, riding a motorcycle. I’d only heard a brief story of his encounter with a large pot hole which resulted in the end of his motorcycle riding career.

One album has wedding pictures of all my mom’s brother and sisters, the births of cousins, and growing up photos. So many of these photos trigger wonderful memories. There was also a sequence of photos when my Ama and Granddad moved into a new house on Oak St. I spend many wonderful hours in that house and it was fun to see it when it was new. And that was in just a couple of the dozens of albums not to mention a lot of un-filed photos in a box.

I think I may start to build a real photo album soon.

Coke Santa
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

Need I say more?

Shirley and I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas.

With Shirley at home this year we seem to be more prepared than ever and by “we” I mean Shirley, she’s amazing! We have so much baking that it’s going to take some extra special restraint on my part not to gain 10lbs. Some traditions continue and some new ones are being built. Tonight we’re at church and volunteering. Afterwards it’s a traditional evening with good long time friends.

Christmas morning will just be Shirley and I for exchanging our gifts with each other over a leisurely cup of coffee followed by Eggs Benedict for breakfast. Eric, Dez, Scott & Mandi will join us later in the afternoon for Christmas Part 2 and a family dinner.
Enjoy the day with loved ones.

Blackberry Problem

Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

I tried to replace this holster for my Blackberry a while ago mainly because I’ve never liked the burgundy colour, but because the 8703e is now an obsolete model, the holster is no longer (easily) available.

What to do? It seems like I’ll need to get a more current Blackberry to resolve this crisis. This is planned obsolescence to the max.

Here is a picture that brings back some memories.

It’s at the lake with the whole family, at least the whole family as back on August 5, 1993, things have changed over the years. My dad is taking the picture and my mom is on the left at the back. Gail & Gord with Ian and Craig and Shirley and I with Eric And Scott around the table. To me this picture symbolizes what the lake was all about for my parents, especially my dad. A place where the family could gather all together and share in the lake experience. I remember working with him as we built the cottage from plans that were slightly more that the back of a napkin, actually two fairly simple drawings. The design goal was always about having enough space so that everyone could be there at the same time.

Today, it’s rare that everyone is there at the same time. Distance, scheules, relationships and life seems a little more complicated than back in the day. Perhaps I was just more oblivious back them. Today, As I sit in the livingroom looking out at the snow and Christmas is approaching I can feel a whistful longing for the lake and the way things were. But, life moves forward, things change, and I need to adapt to the new realities. The lake will alway hold a very special place in my heart for the memories that were forged in that place with loved ones in my life. Change can never take that away.

I’ve decorated my work cubicle for the Christmas Season.

Red and green, get it? Yeah, I know, lame.