Look Into My Eyes.

 

Look Into My Eyes.
No. A Little More To The Right.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1215_051215_north_pole.html

According to National Geographic, it is not the North Pole that's shifting but the magnetic pole.
Apparently it shifted 685 km from Arctic Canada towards Siberia.
Apparently it's a normal thing that happens all the time and doesn't necessarily mean a total reversal of the planet.
You can read about it at the above link.

Studies have suggested that the magnetic field flips every 450,000 years and we are already
 780,000 years since the last one.

I hope this doesn't mean we will end up in Siberia if we follow a compass.
We'll get arrested for doing nothing. lol

Now we will be confused and never know where North and South is.
Wherever the needle points north, do we just  turn  a bit to the right of it, to head to the north we are supposed to go to????

I wonder if the ships have noticed a difference in their compasses?
Pretty soon, if we hang upside down magnetically,
we'll have to recalibrate our GPS and/or go cross eyed. lol

Nothing is ever as it seems ...is it?

xoxoxoxoxo

Decriminalizing Drugs

I agree that sick people should not be put in jail.
They should be put into rehab centers.
The drug suppliers have to be the guys who need to be closed down.

It is nice to show these stories but we  learned or should have learned by now, that what is good for one country is not necessarily good for another. With internet it has become even worse today.
No system is beyond being hacked as the crooks are becoming smarter than the people who run systems.

It is easier to control something in a small area as opposed to a large area like Canada and the US.
China eventually was taken over by communism which took care of the problem very quickly.
When they said the shop was closed, the shop was closed. lol
If you didn't care about your life, they helped you end it.

When you see people fighting for the legalization of drugs, it is a symbol of a declining civilization.
When you see young people wasting their health and life doing drugs instead of exercise,
sports, outdoor activities and education, things they should be doing, this is a sign of decline.

Something is wrong when a country cannot inspire people to think and promotes people to sit in dream land.
They said religion was an opiate of the people and here people want to sit in a dream rather than face reality as it really and truly is.

Reality is a sad state of affairs today. There is no joy in living listening 24 /7 about all the misery people live in around you.
These same people make you feel guilty for being healthy and productive.
This is your human right to work, to make money, to progress, make a good life for yourself.
No one knows what the future holds so it is your right to build a nest egg to fall on.
But other people also have human rights not to be productive or healthy. They have a right to party.
When they fall, they fall badly and then they rob, fall into vice, become ill and need money.
Then they look into other peoples pockets and demand you share.
Explain how it is fair for the middle class, to be pulled down into the gutter to help people who don't care about their lives? When I look at a person who is poor but wants a life and education, this is the person I want to help because there is a future there.
To help a person continue to live a self destructive life is not my cup of tea because I know I will end up there too. The super rich also have to be asked how they make their money. Do they do it at the expense of hurting the working man or building the working man?
Unions have to be asked the same question. Do they work for the people who support them or work against the people who support them by making demands that can't be delivered without hurting the company.
There seem to be so many imbalances.

There seems to be other confusions too.
When you go to a psychologist and complain that you are abused by a spouse or you are an alcoholic, or drug addict or a criminal who does crimes because of an addiction, the first thing they tell you is to stay away
from the people who do these things so as not to be tempted to do them again.
Change of scenery, is what is advocated to clean oneself up. Instead, these people always find each other and stick together.
In China, things didn't work the same way as they seem to in some places in Europe and in any event
Europe struggles to support a system of heavy public demands which becomes bigger every year.

I believe people need to be helped when they need help for a short period of time to get them up on their feet but people have to be productive. Families need to be strong and have both a Mother and Father to show an example of what a traditional family is because this is a balanced family.
That's not to say other kind of families can't or don't exist. They do.
 Government is supposed to help make life fun for families so people don' get depressed and have a need for negative outlets and people have to stop fighting.Government has to help create jobs, factories, so people have a self supporting system.

Rather than use Europe as an example, I would use Singapore.
It's a city state.
If every city behaved in a similar fashion, the world would be a better place to live.
People have a nice quiet life there, working, going to school, preparing for festivals, living in affordable government homes. It's an island so they can't spread out very much. There is no drug problem there.
It is a pleasure to walk on their streets and enjoy the polite people.
For what they have, they are doing pretty good.

We keep looking at Europe and so far I havent seen anything very good there.
North American people are a psychologically cleaner, religious and caring than what I saw in many countries
especially Islamic countries. These countries come here and laugh at our ignorance and the only reason I know this is because I've been there and my eyes have been opened. It makes you appreciate what you have at home a lot more. It helps you remember why people ran away from those countries. It makes you understand why they keep running here except that today they run to destroy, not to build, so immigration has to be slowed down.
It is a sad state of affairs but you have to help people progress in their own countries and NATO is trying to do this at a very tragic cost.
If you want change, don't change into something less.
Change into something more.
 To move forward, does not mean moving back.
xoxoxoxoxo

China town

I always loved walking through China Town. There is always such a wide variety of things to see there, even today.
I remember when my son would go on school trips, he'd bring me home a cork carving
inside glass. The work is so delicate. Most of the work the Chinese people did and do is delicate.
Like the little glass jars they paint from the inside.
I still treasure the cork carvings because my son chose them himself and bought them for me.

Here they show China Town in Victoria , BC and tell the story of the hard ships and the contribution
the Chinese people brought to British Columbia. They came to mine for gold and to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1800's.

 I learned something interesting about the China Town in Victoria, BC. One of the streets named
Fan Tan Alley, was 0.9 of a meter (35 inches) wide at its narrowest. It was full of opium dens and gambling.
at the time. I found this interesting they would do this here, considering China suffered because of these kind of things going on in China. Opium was introduced to China by Arab traders in 400-1200 CE to treat melancholia.

In 1483 Opium was quite popular and desired like marijuana is today in Canada. People wanted it to strengthen sperm, have more vigor, and control over ejaculation, which made one more manly. Opium was equal to the price of gold and at first was used by the rich, which then trickled down to peasant use.
It was also mixed with regular tobacco and herbs.

 Today the Victoria China Town it is full of stores and still interesting to walk through.
I got a you tube video of it found below.



Visiting the China Town in Vancouver, we saw other things.
It is close to Hastings street which is full of drug addicts, alcoholics and homeless people, which they tried to clean up for the Olympics.
We would see people going into the shops which sell $3.00 Chinese cooking wine.
It is made of alcohol water and salt. Quite yucky if you drink it from the bottle. 
However because of the alcohol , the cheap price and desperation, homeless addicted people buy it when they can't afford the real things they need. 
It was not uncommon to see people urinating in their pants and falling in stupor between the heavy street traffic.
One has to think why or even how man falls into such a condition and no one is there to help him in our country.
Even if you wanted to help him, he has human rights to refuse .

This is where laws become confusing. 

 
xoxoxo

Natures Recipe

 Leave it to guys
lol
 ---------------------------

Legend of the Worry Doll
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~mcdo0151/legend.html

You put this doll under your pillow and let the doll worry for you.
Great for kids I think
xoxoxoxo

The End Is A New Beginning.

 

They say our BC Cultus Lake is bottomless.

Legend has it that there is a hole which forms into a tunnel,
connecting the lake to the Pacific Ocean.
They know this because a man who drowned in the lake,
was found floating by the coast of White Rock and the US border
and because they found sea fish swimming in it which should not be there.

BC is like Finland in many respects. It has fiords and glaciers and so much forest
rich in legendary tales and creatures like the Sasquatch.

A Finnish story depicts a forest god named Tapio, whose beard is made up of trees
and whose eyes were bottomless lakes.
I can relate this legend to our province.

Kalevala, is a Finnish book, discussing the creation of the world.
It was written by Elias Lonnrot (1802-84).
He was a doctor who collected proverbs folk lore and poetry to promote
Finland.
One hero was Vainmoinen, born old, because his Mother Luonnotar,
 floated in the water for 700 years.
He is mentioned throughout the book.

Now Luonnotar was the daughter of Ilma, the air, before time began.
She walked in her Mothers' clouds, until she became very tired and fell into the ocean.
The ocean impregnated her and Vainmoinen was the result.

In the Kalevala book, Vainomoinen leaves a kantele (musical instrument)
as a symbol, of the continuation of Finnish culture.
Finland, at that time belonged to Russia.

The Finnish Creation story goes like this.
Luonnotar floated in the water.
A duck found her upraised knee and laid some eggs on it.
When Luonnotar moved, the duck flew away and the eggs fell and broke, creating the world.

Half the shells became the sky and half the land.
The yolk became the sun and the albumen the moon.

With rolling stones on Mars, suggesting there once was a lake or river up there,
who are we to argue with creation stories?

Legends, heroes, gods, stories from other worlds
finding their way to our world, seem to be relating or
connecting the dots, that the end of the story, is really
just another beginning.

xoxoxoxoxo

Maco Sharks, Volcanoes???

 

Amazing story.
These sharks send a chill up your spine. I think most
films are about similar sharks, small, fast, deadly.
I think they can go up to 20 mph.,grow to 13 feet and dive 400 feet.
They attack coming up from underneath you.

 

As if a volcano and tsunami are not enough to worry about.

This is a great book for elementary school .
It's not very thick and so its a quick read

Today I visited the local library.
I used to go there quite often when my son was small but then
I stopped.
Since then they made a lot of changes, computerized everything.
You sign out your own books now .
They had so many movies one could sign out and watch.
If you don't have cable, you wouldn't miss it, as the selection is quite nice.
Saves you from buying .
If you brought in your computer I guess you could watch a movie in the library too.
They also give you one hour free internet on their computers so many kids use it for research and homework.

So of course I pigged out on books which I have to read now.
lol


Two people are out sailing when suddenly a hand appears in the sea.

"What's this?" asked the skipper, "It looks as if someone is drowning!"

"No," explained his crew, "It's just a little wave."

xoxoxoxo

Now I've Seen It All

Now this is really a good magic trick.

Can you imagine doing this trick on your friends.?
They would never believe it.

You can bet money on it. lol

-----------------------------

A man is sitting on his front stoop staring morosely at the ground when his neighbor strolls over. The neighbor tries to start a conversation several times, but the older man barely responds. Finally, the neighbor asks what the problem is.

"Well," the man says, "I ran afoul of one of those questions women ask. Now I'm in the doghouse."

"What kind of question?" the neighbor asks.

"My wife asked me if I would still love her when she was old, fat and ugly."

"That's easy," says the neighbor. "You just say, 'Of course I will'".

"Yeah," says the other man, "that's what I meant to say. But what came out was, 'Of course I do.'"
--------------------------

What is heavier gold or feather?

ans: Feathers
Gold is measured in 12 oz Troy pounds
Feathers are measure in 16 oz Avoir dupois pounds.

xoxoxoxoxo

Kissing Future Mr Right

lol I kept this one in my pictures and it makes me laugh every time..

These are the cutest boy friends one could ever have
They steal your heart with their winning smiles
--------------------------
A young jackaroo from outback Queensland goes off to university, but
Halfway through the semester he foolishly has squandered all of his
Money.

He calls home. 'Dad,' he says, 'you won't believe what modern education
Is developing.. They actually have a program here in Brisbane that will
Teach our dog Ol' Blue how to talk.'

'That's amazing!' his Dad says. 'How do I get Ol' Blue in that program?'

'Just send him down here with $2,000,' the young jackaroo says, 'I'll
Get him in the course.'

So .... His father sends the dog and $2,000.

About two-thirds through the semester, the money again runs out. The boy calls home.
'So how's Ol' Blue doing, son?' his father wants to know..

'Awesome! Dad, he's talking up a storm... But you just won't believe
This. They've had such good results with talking, they've begun to
Teach the animals how to read.'

'Read?' exclaims his father. 'No kidding! How do we get Ol' Blue in
That program?'

'Just send $4,500. I'll get him in the class.'

The money promptly arrives. But our hero has a problem.

At the end of the year,  his father will find out the dog can neither
Talk nor read. So he shoots the dog.
When he arrives home at the end of the year, his father is all excited.
'Where's Ol' Blue? I just can't wait to talk with him, and see him read
Something!'

'Dad,' the boy says, 'I have some grim news. Yesterday morning, just
Before we left to drive home, Ol' Blue was in the living room, kicked
Back in the recliner, reading the Wall Street Journal. Then he suddenly
Turned to me and asked,  "So, is your Daddy still bonking that little
Redhead barmaid at the pub?''

The father groans and whispers,  'I hope you shot that bastard before
He talks to your Mother!'

'I sure did, Dad!'

'That's my boy!'

The kid went on to be a successful lawyer and politician! 
 
xoxoxoxox

Sometimes - It IS Crazy

Sometimes one has to ask why?

Do you not like your arms, legs.....brain?

What's wrong with enjoying a kayak and the view, in safe places?

Sometimes........ is Crazy . lol

My oldest son loved all the latest things.
When the skateboard came out, we had a head ache to
get him one and it couldn't be any old one.

We had to pick and choose the right picture and the right model
and of course he had to try it out to make sure it had the proper feel to it.

We lived in a gated community so we thought if he skated there it would be ok.
It had small inclines and stairs he could jump to learn.
So out he went with all his friends and did the turns and twists and he was happy to go down the small inclines like a surf boarder.
He went one day, he went another and then the third day he came home with
 huge scrapes on his legs.

I had to smile because I knew what this was going to do.
He put the skate board into his cup board and that was the last I saw of it.

If anything, my oldest son was always careful with his body.

We kept teasing him asking him why he wasn't skate boarding and he said:
Oh, I will, a bit later.
lol
but we saw he lost his taste for it.
Thank God!

xoxoxoxox

Being Social

 

Ask people,
what the most important thing in the world today is
and the answer would be
Social Skills
We see politicians struggling with it
We see the world struggling with it
We see kids struggling with it
We see people looking for jobs struggling with it
We even see the Royals struggling with it.
Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose.

Social skills can make your day or break it.

From personal experience, I too,
can tell you social skills are very important in life.
It's hard work for some and so easy for others.

Even at school in our time, we would have kids, who in
 todays' world are bullied, be the
most popular and happiest in the world,
 because of their social skills.

They were cool, took things easy, smiled, joked and
knew how to turn any situation around.

That takes skill, which many of us do not have.
I am reminded of a time, which seems long ago now.

One summer my eldest son joined this group at a club we were in.
I even forgot the name of this group except I thought it would
be cool and the kids would learn something

We didn't know it was being run by a loony psychiatrist
who thought he'd have some fun with the kids.lol

Well, it began with my son,
being democratically elected to be leader of a group of kids
and told to go home and
make up a bunch of rules to make kids behave.
So he came home and told me his homework and began to jot down a list
of how teachers did it at school.
 Stand in a corner, write out sentences,
go to the principals office, stand outside the class room
etc.....
He went in the next day with this list and the kids didn't like it and
 began to rebel and call him names.
He came home quite distressed at being popular one day and
and a social pariah the next.

I was not happy with this guy making things difficult for an 11 year old boy
and screwing with his brain, after he told me what happened.
 It was summer and
his class was supposed to be fun.

Well, I told my son, ok.
 Let's sit down and think about this.
It's summer and you guys are supposed to have fun so ...
make the punishments fun.

When a kid talks too much, make him eat a sour lemon.
When a kid does something else bad, make the kids throw water balloons at him'
Another punishment could be to, go outside and use  water guns on him.or
put an egg under his hat and have some one
squish it on his head.
Whipped creme on your face is a great punishment,
so is sitting on a balloon so it explodes or farts etc....
I don't remember all the things we came up with but it was a whole page of fun stuff
to do, when a person does something bad .

The next day my son went back and presented his new list and the kids loved it.
The teacher congratulated him saying that he did a great job resolving his problem.
and this was the lesson he wanted kids to learn.
When you have a problem, you need analytical thinking in how to resolve it.

Well it was very nice of him to try to teach this lesson but this was not what
 I thought I paid him for, cause he created a lot of work for me at home
to console a youngster, who did what he asked him to do.

After that, all the kids had fun doing all the things my son put on the list
and this psychiatrist was doing all those things with them.
(Must be he had a lot of bad kids in his class lol)

Today, I think he needed to blow off steam, so what better way to do it
than with a bunch of kids, he could also be a kid with.

I'm glad he had fun, stressing me out at home.

He taught the kids an important social skill but it was all I could do from
going to give him a visit
and bonking him over the head
like a good Mama.

So much for Social Skills.lol

To be fair, he did teach my son something.
 So he did get his moneys' worth
but had I known he would do this,
 I would have found a more pleasant class for my son to attend.
I learned that you can;t trust people with your kids.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Must be Reincarnation

This video is so sweet.
Can you imagine how well this fish and dog get along.
They must be friends.

I had a lab when I was a kid and he would bring home hurt animals.
Birds kittens anything he'd find in the woods.
They would be all full of saliva but otherwise unharmed.

Animals understand when something is hurt and try to get it help if they can
It is not something you teach them necessarily, cause we never did.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Tasting Danger

 

My son with a nosy pushy black bear.
As if Killer Whales weren't enough for this boy.
He's willing to try everything once. lol

Living with danger is a fact of life these days.
I've been reading up on  arsenic  and rice.
The highest levels of arsenic were found in samples of rice from the south-central U.S. The lowest arsenic levels were in rice from California, India and Thailand.

Also water you drink from wells near farming communities have a lot of it.
Lakes have run off from farms and it goes down into wells unless maybe its from a deep well.
Ours was about 60 feet deep.(is that deep)

They say to wash rice a lot  and boil it in more water than less .

Parboiled rice has more arsenic in it because it too is boiled in arsenic filled water.

Distilled water has calcium and magnesium removed as well as everything else so if you decide to drink it, you will need vitamins and
minerals to replace that found and removed from the water.

Also juices have arsenic.

Seems it is in all the food and water .

My Mom probably got sick because of this with Parkinsons.
The farmer next door sprayed his corn every spring. with a plane
 and they had two wells they used on their garden.
I guess I should put distilled water on my grocery list and keep it in the fridge.

They sell distilling units but they are expensive to operate and need to be replaced every 10 years.

I think rice should be not only be rinsed but maybe even soaked in fresh water a few times before use.

There is only one documented case of a plant actually remediating arsenic-contaminated soil and that is a fern, Pteris vittata, the so-called "eden fern", that is now registered for this purpose, but is used primarily on heavily contaminated industrial sites.
Phosphorus increases arsenic uptake by plants, so don’t use this on your contaminated soil if you're growing vegetables, but do use it if you decide to use a hyper-accumulator.

Carrots absorb more arsenic than than tomatoes and lettuce.
So maybe planting a carrot or fern between each lettuce and tomato plant is a good strategy ?
you discard the carrot and fern and eat the lettuce and tomato lol

"Sunflowers and mustard greens both have an ability to pull certain toxins (primarily heavy metals) from the soil and have been used in various phytoremediation projects, most notably in New Orleans, cleaning up after Katrina. 
According to literature, the greens are not edible but the seeds of the sunflowers are - the toxins are apparently accumulated and stored in the roots and leafy growth but not in the seeds. 
Other plants that are known to have similar characteristics are spinach, corn, carrots, peas, Commelina communis (dayflower), brake fern and lamb's quarters - brake fern (Pteris vittata) has been widely used for this purpose."

Of course the plants not eaten,have to be burnt.

xoxoxoxoxxo



 

Turkey Gobble

 

In the 1800's turkeys were kept live on the farm.
For 3 days before Christmas, a turkey had a walnut thrust down its' throat 3 x a day
and a glass of sherry once a day.
Then it was killed and cooked for Christmas dinner.
The meat was said to have been delicious.
 It was tender and had a wonderful nutty flavour to it .

The turkey should also have enjoyed its' last days in sherry bliss.

Turkey farmers...... take note
Flavoured turkeys can be in great demand
xoxoxoxo

Niagara Falls 1911

I never would have thought Niagara Falls could ever freeze but here it is, frozen like rock.
That must have been some winter in 1911. lol
According to stats it was -40 degrees when this happened.

Most of the freezing takes place on the US side and ice thickness has been known to reach 50 feet
The river still flows underneath though. It never stops.Niagara Falls is about 180 feet deep. The falls themselves are about 180 feet high and 2500 feet wide. The water that makes up the falls comes from four of the five Great Lakes.

By July 15, 1885, tourism and the preservation of Niagara Falls became a priority as the 400-acre Niagara Reservation State Park officially opened. While currently known as Niagara Falls State Park, it is the oldest state park in the country.

The Niagara River is said to be flowing up instead of down.
Because the earth is round most rivers flow down from the north but a few flow North from the south and the Niagara is one of them flowing from NEW YORK STATE into Ontario

 Pend Oreille is another one flowing from Idaho into Washington State and then British Columbia

The St Lawrence flows north west connecting the great lakes to the ocean

Vermont has many rivers flowing north into Canada.


Michael J Fox starred in a movie from that area called Where the Rivers Flow North.

Interesting. 

xoxoxoxoxo

Will and Kate

 

Will and Kate, Britains young darlings, have been treated well by the media
until a few days ago with the publishing of photos which can be seen to be degrading.
This happened right after good time Harry, was also photographed being
 silly in a room full of people

Now I don't know Royal protocol but it is the publics' business to know
what their money is paying for.
Harry doesn't care. He is young and he puts his life on the line for England.
He is also a man and single. lol
But for a woman it is always a different story, especially if she is going to sit on the throne beside the future King of England.
But this too is a young couple and what was done to them had cruel intentions to cause pain and harm.

I hope they all learned their lessons and in future make sure not to sun tan in their birthday suits.lol
It's either that or say like the modern French do, we are modern and no different than every one else.
The human body is beautiful and so there is nothing to hide.
Long live the Queen !! lol

From a personal stand point, I think what is being done to them is pretty shabby.
Why make something beautiful dirty?
This couple tries hard to do the right thing and should be given a break.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Shark Fin Soup

Seems Canadians are not the only ones who find this disturbing.
To catch a huge fish and throw it over board after cutting off the fins
to drown is an abhorrent thing to do especially when sharks do serve a
purpose in our oceans.
The video reminds me of what I heard men used to do to women during the war.
They cut off the breasts just to watch them float in the river, and left the women to die.
The act is just as atrocious and cruel as what they do to sharks.

Shark Fin soup is very popular in the Asian Culture and restaurants here in BC
are outraged that a movement has begun to stop shark finning. They claim it is their culture to eat shark fin soup, completely ignoring the fact that if they are not stopped, there will be no more to catch to eat.

 They make it sound like Canadians are the only ones outraged but so many people in so many countries are outraged. Even the US wants to pass laws to put a stop to it.

Sharks do not have many pups at least not as many as there are people who have a consistent demand to eat them. Some give birth to one or two live pups a month and others lay eggs in a pouch which they try to hang on a branch somewhere or hide between rocks to get born. Not many survive.
Still others live off of egg yokes or from unfertilized egg capsules .
Sometimes the two largest embryos eat the other embryos of the litter (usually consisting of 10).

When you compare the time it takes to grow one such fish with the number caught and killed every day,
the shark has no way to compete with man's hunger for it's fins.

If the Chinese people want to eat fins of sharks, they should breed them privately in tanks or rivers themselves.
This would give the sharks in the oceans a chance to recuperate from possible extinction.
How ever, they won't do this, because they know what it entails to grow one such shark and they would never be able to keep up with demand.

The world is changing. Man is fast outgrowing this planet and we all should consider having less children so food does not become a planetary issue.

We have to begin paying attention to our life style and replacing what we destroy.
We eat fish, especially salmon here in BC. If every child had a tank of babies to let go into the rivers
we would not worry about having no fish in the future. If all the eggs of one salmon could be hatched and allowed to grow before being let go just imagine how many fish we could let go back into the oceans and the same with trout, sturgeon, bass,  perch, crabs, lobster, squid and octopus.

Trees forests and all Gods' Creatures.are very important, if man is to survive.
 We all live dependent on each other.
xoxoxoxoxoxo

Children of Legend

Steve Tyler from Aerosmith is a guy from the past, living in the future.
I loved his daughter, Liv Tyler, playing in Lord of the Rings.

There are videos out there with Father and Daughter together and boy they sure
compliment each other.
The Father, as most hard Rock Stars, was into drugs but he was one of the lucky ones who
found his way out of it and the fans are the ones who benefit from it cause they get more entertainment
 out of him.
and I think I like Hard Rock better than Rap any time.
One can get high on this music without drugs or alcohol
although Steve said he snorted cocaine on stage from a coca cola bottle and it took him a while to figure this out.

It makes me wonder what would have happened if Elvis Presley wasn't cut down so early in life? Would he have stayed in the lime light for so long or just let it go and become a private person?

A time comes for every one to slow down and enjoy the legacy they left behind which so many people
enjoy to this day
but then you have children stepping into these old shoes, like Liv Tyler.
I hope her life goes in a good direction because we will all be watching her like we do her Dad.

xoxoxoxooxo

Little Steps

Check this out.
How many steps it takes to make it to Mars.
At any time something can go wrong.
It is amazing man can make it happen.
Almost makes one think man can make anything happen.
:)

Wonders of the Deep

We see Killer Whales around the Vancouver and Victoria Island area.
They travel in pods and it is quite possible to view them from the ferry boat crossing the Channel
We also saw them in waters  between White Rock and Point Roberts along with seals in the marina
by the US border.
I remember when my son was 2 years old we were on the boat and the ocean looked silky soft, so inviting, calm before the storm.
I couldn't help but think,  I have to take a dip. So I jumped over board.
As soon as I did, my 2 year old, wanted to save me and jumped in right after me.
Thank fully he had his life jacket on because he didn't know how to swim and although he was just a foot away from my grasp, I couldn't reach him fast enough, as he lay face under water. Sudden panic seized me as I tried to turn him over but he wasn't the least bit afraid. It spoiled my swim because all I could think of was to get him back into the boat which he didn't want to do without me. lol Dread filled me to the tip of my toes which felt leaden now thinking about what would have happened if he slipped out of the life jacket.
All I could think was that the water must be 400 feet deep there.

We started the motor to head for home, thankful nothing bad happened, when we came upon a boat in distress who told us they stopped to watch the whales and now their gears were torn.

So now we learned, we were also swimming with the whales and could have been fish bait. lol

As we threw them a line to pull them to the marina, a storm hit us and the waves grew to be 5 feet over the side of our boat.
The boat we had to pull was an older model and  twice the size of ours, so we had to go very slow, all the while afraid of the repercussions if the rope broke or if what it was tied to, tore off. It could go bad all around.
That alone could have killed any one of us.
My oldest sons' eyes grew huge watching the waves around us.
We had an 18 foot Maxum boat and I have to say I was quite impressed with it.
It is not recommended to cross the ocean channel with any boat under 21 feet though, so we always stayed close to the shoreline by White Rock.
It took us a long time to struggle through the waves.
 Other boats came to ask us if we needed help and stayed with us to help break the waves.
As we neared the marina, we also ran out of gas. Two and a half hours of pulling, for what otherwise would have been maybe a 5 minute ride, ate maybe 100 dollars worth of gas. So now two boats were stranded and heading for a rocky shore.
The little fishing boats surrounded us and asked how they could help. We said we needed gas.
They were surprised but one fellow poured in a gallon to get us to the marina.

Needless to say, we were never so happy as to reach it that day. The other boat also had an older couple with older children in it. They were equally frightened to lose their boat and maybe face drowning in the high waves. One can't imagine how high waves could suddenly become, even in an inlet.

It was quite an exciting and very memorable day. Just thinking about these whales beside us
when my son jumped over, gave me the willies. lol The whole thing still gives me the willies because no matter how prepared you are, you are never prepared when bad things happen.

In videos
one has only to watch these Killer Whales hunt in pods, to understand how powerful and smart they really are.
To see them so gentle with their trainers in this video, makes them exceptional creatures although
like any wild, powerful creature, you always have risks entertaining and being entertained by them.

This is a great show, I believe taking place in San Diego.
Quite enjoyable to watch.

xoxoxoxoxo

They Say

 

95% of the people in Nauru  are  over weight

 Guam makes asphalt out of ground coral and oil

The Falklands have a population of 3000
and approximately 350 sheep per person.


Niger has 49% of its population under 15 years of age

Saudi Arabia has no rivers. Most of its water is from
underground reservoirs or desalination plants.

Canada has 3 million lakes

Siberia - Russia, produces the most oxygen
It has 25% of the worlds forest

 Egypt is the oldest sovereign state, the first dynasty
formed in 3100 BC

Mongolia has 4 people per square mi.

Hong Kong has 340,000 people per sq mi

Ukraine is a disappearing nation.
It's expected to lose 30% of its population by the year 2050

Papua New Guinea has 850 languages spoken there.

Libya is mostly desert and can go for decades without one drop of rain water.

Afghanistan produces 95% of the worlds opium.

Surinam forest covers 95% of the country.

Maldives may disappear if sea levels continue to rise.
They are only 1.8 meters above sea level.

 

Haiti is almost treeless

Somalia is the least peaceful nation.

xoxoxoxo

Monkey Beach

 

I just finished reading the book Monkey Beach which I enjoyed.
It had to do with a young Haisla Indian woman, Lisa, who went back home,
 because her brother was lost at sea.
The story went back and forth as she remembered her life
 living in Kitimaat with family and friends.

 

I liked it because it let you into another culture and familiarized you with their beliefs,
way of life and a  territory many of us will never enter.
After looking up the Kitimat area on the map, I was aghast that this was where
they want to bring the oil pipe line.
In the book, the Indians used to sit on the beach and see whales sleeping off shore.
Now how would a pipe line and ships be good for the whales?

 

MAP OF BRITISH COLUMBIA


Lisa had a hard time going home from places like Terrace Prince George and Williams LAke
She spoke about living in Vancouver, on the East side, the home of drug addicts and homeless people.
She spoke of how she became a part of this scene for a while although her grama left her a nice
inheritance.


The story hit home in more than one area as we rediscover this province and
 so many wonderful things about it we never knew.

I remember a while back, they were selling beach homes on the Charlotte Islands for 19 thousand dollars.
The Indians say this place came up from the sea and will go back down one day into the sea.

The inlet into Kitimat is full of seals, fish, clams, mussels etc... which the people and animals live off of.
She mentions it is also the land of the infamous Sasquatch.
The Sasquatch, according to Indian legend, used to steal people but then
they got their sicknesses so they learned to stay away.

I think this is a fabulous book to read as many treasures can be found in it
and it would definitely make you want to take a boat and sail up the coast to these areas
to see feel and understand how the people here, feel about their land, full of mysticism and legend.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Finally Some Rapids.

 

I keep thinking about waterfalls and creeks with rapids while driving along the highway.
Here in Squamish we were able to stop and view one such river in a deep canyon.

 

Up above were seemingly endless mountain ranges and the majestic snow peaks.
Remember, this is the end of summer when everything has melted already.

One couldn't help but think back to when it all began.
How people must have felt when they first came across such beauty.
The desire to live, to be a  part of it all, is incredible even today.

Who, in their right mind, would ever want to see such splendor exploited and destroyed
by real estate?
I understand the feeling to want it kept pristine because soon there will be no place on earth
left to itself.

No place on earth left to heal a man's soul, as places like this heal.

Can you imagine the stories which foretell of a person
in the deep woods, being confronted by a bear who decides to share his terrain and fish with you?
A bear that can only be described as a spirit bear that disappears as quietly as he appears.

A Bald Eagle, flying so high, he looks like a spec in the sky, only to come down to sport an 8 foot wing span and sit comfortably watching you down below, from a high cedar tree.

It almost makes one proud to know such birds exist in todays' world.
Usually everything gets smaller because generations of animals are starved.

The wolves are smaller today but you go to some places and they are HUGE!
One would have to be, to survive other animals in hunting mode.

It's an extraordinary privilege to be able to share a world with other creatures
other than man because without them, what a sad world it would be.
xoxoxoxoxox

Fickle Nature

 

Riding the waves in deep blue glacier waters
surrounded by fish, ducks and nature.
Life couldn't be nicer
Life couldn't be more fair
or daring, relaxing,
Sunbathing in cooling, hot air.

Nature is fickle
She loves to play
One moment she winks and
Tempts you to stay
Another minute she groans and
Laps up the waves
Like a noisy old dog
Thirsting, from the grave

One moment she smiles
Sending warm breezy kisses
Another her brows furl
In black cloudy mists
In all her moods
In these deep glacier waters
I pray so, to soothe and console her distress.

Reflecting, she stops and looks back,
To the dawn of her footsteps and
Remembers herself and her stance in life and
Her tears, so wet and salty, soon
 Dry on my skin with her soft warm breath

And it couldn't be nicer
More fairer or bright
In deep blue glacier waters
Fickle Nature always
Flares up my heart.

A Lady's Life
xoxoxoxo

Alta Lake, BC

This beautiful lake is kept pristine by people who care.
It is full of small sail boats and rented kayaks which go for 15 dollars an hour.

We brought our blow up boat with oars and my son and his friend had fun sitting in the water, paddling to the raft where they could jump off into the cold water.

It took them a while to learn how to paddle in one direction and not go in circles.lol

I find this boat convenient as
we can pack it up after every use into a small box.
Some of the fish are quite big because of the fish and release laws.

The mountain view around Lake Alta is breathtaking.

You feel the freedom as
people are more relaxed with their dogs and the dogs too are relaxed having freedom to walk and play in the lake.
People bring their children and other peoples' dogs also play around them and every one gets along.
A relaxed happy dog will never harm another person and is free to run away from anything it doesn't like.

This to me, is normal behavior as it should be and it did my heart good to see this.

As was expected we saw many kids on skate boards, roller blades, and wide surf boards you stand and paddle on.

We had a wonderful sunny day to boot and so it was a great way to end summer.
Now it's back to school and work
Back to the grind stone, just as we were getting used to the good weather.

xoxoxoxoxo

Gentle Love

These poor dolphins would have met their end had it not been for the people who jumped to their rescue.
This is one of the best videos I've seen.
xoxoxoxoxxo

Whistler in Zen

 

You find quiet places like this to sit and contemplate life or enjoy a coffee and a good book
in Whistler, BC.

 

It's not a real waterfall but you almost expect a fish to swim by.

Is it no wonder they have such beautiful life like statues of deer here.

We see them everywhere we go in BC.
They have no borders.
Gentle skittish creatures who should not be underestimated. lol

It is certainly a privilege to be able to see them as they graze on the mountain where people ski in winter and bike on in summer.

Who ever made these guys, really did a great job.
----------
Well one of my blogger friends said the hornets are nesting in the grass instead of close to fences and such which according to some folks means a cold winter is coming.
Thought I'd pass it on. Maybe it's time to get the knitting needles out lol
------------
Well I am thankful this convention is over.

Except for Clinton's speech I was not very impressed with it at all

Kerry I believe slipped and called Romney President lol

Then someone admitted all this change was going to take 10 years, so people have to eat cake till then?

They only had policies to spend money because we know in Canada, it's not cheap to run a healthcare system and in the end it's not there for the people who need it, who die in hallways before they can see a doctor.

In any country the top priority/ stimulus should be job creation and keeping the finances in order.

This isn't happening under Obamas' care.

There is no guarantee Obama won't still over spend on war, as soldiers are still dying

There will always be excuses for failing promises not allowed for the other President.

What is even a bigger problem is run away liberalism.
We had this here as well. Ok everything and everyone for votes.

Then liberals begin killing liberals and then oh oh. lol What happened?

People want conservatism.

So in my humble opinion, America grew great under conservatism.

In the olden days people in both parties held conservative views and it is under these views

the Constitution was written and a country was built.

Runaway liberalism is bad news. 

It's hard to say no after people are used to the word yes.

To have an untra conservative President like Obama allow all this liberalism, sends red flags up.

Another thing bothering me is that Islam law doesn't allow for changes in religion.

Only Islamic children can attend their schools.

So Obama, seeing the problem the US has with Islam and terror, should never have been considered

a Presidential candidate for national security reasons.

Obama is under the religious authority of Iran and if one day he gets a phone call and does not comply

he and his family will be endangered as President and after he isn't President.

This is asking for trouble America doesnt need for so many reasons I can't write here.

Just sayin.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Please do not leave anonymous comments
They will be deleted.

Cave Bear, No Bones About it

 

I have never seen a skeleton of a bear and here is one of a cave bear.
This store has many beautiful minerals with crystals inside from local mines.
If you love jewelry, there are tons here designed locally.

 

The horseshoe looking tusk is below the bear skeleton in the top picture

This year a man was sitting by a heated pool in winter
A bear climbed over the fence and attacked him.
I believe he didn't make it and died as the bear began to eat him.
This happened here in Whistler.

 

Titanothere Skull

 

Wow ! What a speech made today by Clinton.
I think the wrong man is running for President.lol
Well done!!

xoxoxoxoxo

Skeletor

As I sat on a bench beside this bike, the owner sat behind me, watching, as soo many people come to marvel
this creation and take pictures.
We all thought this was part of the exhibition to attract people but I guess it wasn't or maybe it was.lol
One never knows what goes on here in Whistler, BC.lol
He seemed to enjoy people loving his bike.

What we did see was a lot of bikers who either hired expensive bikes or brought their own and bought tickets to ride the Gondola up this steep ski mountain and then do a thrilling ride downhill.
The rest of us did other things like shop and wander and enjoy the outdoor restaurants.

 

It's a nice feeling to be surrounded by a village like this with no cars.
They made it like a circle of hotels and streets that criss crossed. Upstairs is a hotel or restaurant and downstairs are shops. but on the other side of the hotel you have the registering and being told where to park.

 

Havana Band
I liked the rooms which over looked the street where they had music.
They had balconies one could sit on and enjoy the people and music
which is especially wonderful for old people who tire easily.
In winter it's even more beautiful to watch the huge snow flakes as they fall quietly in a serene setting.
The room we had, had its' own fireplace, jaccuzi, and sauna.
Great for those sore joints and muscles after a hard work out.

Where I live we don't have much snow  and when it snows, it melts quickly, so to be here
is quite exciting in the winter time.
This is also where the rich and famous come to spend time.
Prince Charles and his boys came here as did our then Prime Minister Trudeau who married
Margaret Sinclair, from BC.
There is no better place to ski and enjoy any time of year.
xoxoxoxoxo

A Village Like no Other

 

Whistler Village was a great place to watch the people.
It's almost like Disneyland this time of year.
Such a great place to bring families in summer, as the hotel rates are cheaper.
The streets are filled with music, aromas, cold beer.
People dance in the street and totally unwind here.
Lots of nice shops with everything your heart desires.
Taste the Italian gelato mmmmm delicious.
and for the kids there is the Cow place where you get an Ice cream and be able to sit on a cow.
The hotels and restaurants are dog friendly.
If I didn't know better I'd call it pooch town.
The old dogs know the routine and just walk along while the young ones find everything so cool and new
They hop around with excitement taking this all in, as a real treat.
Some people bring in pups in training to become service dogs and they don't know they are being trained
and play like the babies they are. Sooo sweet.
The mountains are every where and some are still and always snow peaked.
I can't even begin to relate how beautiful it all is.
Summer is the time to get out the bikes and ride the gondola up Blackcomb Mountain
and do some serious riding down hill.
Needless to say it's mostly a guy sport although I did see some women doing it too.
You have to be all geared up in protective padding like hockey players because if you fall, thats some serious
trouble you are looking at.
But there are other things to do. The night life is spectacular and safe for both young and old.
No generation gap here folks.
The kids have lots of water to play in
And you never know what you will see next.lol
It was a great end to a summer and I'll put up more pics with little stories which made it special for us.
xoxoxoxoxoxo

My Little Friend

 

My little Chickadee friend who kept hopping under our table,
between our legs and was not in the least bit fearful
What a little darling he was.
I would throw him a rice at a time and he would come and eat it.
What a mouthful though, as he tried to take it in his beak and cut it up into pieces.
One of God's creatures.
He was not friendly enough for me to take him home though , as I am sure
so many customers would think to do
since he was so tame.
xoxoxoxox

The Rice of Life

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_q_iOObid4

These rice paddies are gorgeous!!
What inspiration!
Teaches you also that there is more than one type of rice plant.
xoxoxox