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Showing posts from September 7, 2008

Oh You Sweet Mechanic

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He turned to reach for a rag and caught her staring at the oil stain on the seat of his coveralls. It was shaped like a heart and she could swear her initials were inside the heart! He caught her glance and, winking at her, he turned back to the dirty work at hand. You know, I realized today that if it wasn't for all the mechanics in my life, there wouldn't be any men in my life. Yeah. Two vehicles and a new (very old) boat and trailer. Everything needs work. You just get everything humming along and you find a slow leak in your tire. Bah! At first I fretted about the accumulating costs, the time lost in shuttling vehicles and myself around, trying to schedule all the appointments. And have you noticed how every job now takes at least two appointments? One to scope out the problem and try to come up with a list of other things to add to it (just kidding, I think) and then you have to wait for the parts and then the specialist to be available. And then the second visit. And of

Close up summer

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Time to close up summer. This shot is from a couple of nights back. Tonight it is raining for the first time since early July. Oh sure there have been meager little splurts of showers here and there, but no rain for ages and ages. So it's good to see, or at least hear, on the windows. Fall is my favourite season and so I can't wait for it to come. I love the smell of drying and rotting leaves and their crunch underfoot. I love that my dogs are more frisky and can't get enough of hiking around. I like feeling cool and having to bundle up in a sweater. I like being able to see further in the bush, after the leaves come down. The days are still long and so there's great opportunities for being active outdoors. The turning of the leaves and tamarac needles can be so spectacular. Some drives I do just to catch a glimpse of Van Gogh's spirit in the trees. Growing up in Southern Ontario my family would drive hours to reach a stretch of farmer's road where the hardwood

Elvis in the Rocks

No photo today. Just a challenge for you to find the image of Elvis in one of the two Nunavut photos I posted the other day. A bit eerie. And as you can see, Elvis Lives On!

Nunavut Rocks and Minerals

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This photo I took maybe 4 years ago just outside the capital of Nunavut, called Iqaluit. I lived there for nearly six years and absolutely loved it. I'm walking my dogs on a high ridge overlooking part of the airport. Month of June I believe. [ and yes, that is the ocean that freezes up! It takes an icebreaker in the first week of July to actually get rid of it!] I wanted to tell you about a very special project I am involved with. I am the technical writer for a book on the minerals and rocks of Nunavut. Pretty much an identification field guide, but beefed up in some significant ways. The thing I am most excited about is that the book will be translated into Inuktitut, the language of the Inuit people. I believe it will be the first book of it's kind. The second significant portion is that there will be segments on the traditional usage of minerals and rocks by Inuit. Both these sections will be done by specialists in translation and in gathering of this information from eld