Blog Tag

Okay Other, here are my answers to all those burning questions ...



Things that scare me:

Deep water
The dark
Drugs




People who make me laugh:

Dakie Dunn



Things I hate most:

When people lie to you and you know they are lying and they know you know but they expect you to accept it anyway
And I’m not really fussy about creepy crawly guys, like slugs, and millipedes and things …



Things I don't understand:

Electricity
How trees get water to go up to their branches
If we are never tested beyond our ability, why do some people give up?




Things I'm doing right now:

Well, I should be working but I’m bored so I’m doing this




Things I want to do before I die:

Finish writing at least one book
Finish my house
Plant a garden
Raise some goats



Things I can do:

Sing
Write
Fly a spinnaker
Chop wood & carry water



Ways to describe my personality:

Nervous, but hopeful




Things I can't do:

Speak in public
Fly for real like I can in my dreams
Change the Universe




Things I think you should listen to:

Wind in the pine trees
Water rushing over river stones
Crickets on a warm summer evening
Your heart




Things you should never listen to:

People who gossip
Heavy Metal
Rap
Demons in your head




Things I'd like to learn:

The bohdran
The guitar – I’m working on this one
Small engine repair




Favorite foods:

KD
Bacon
Swish Chalet Chicken
Home made soup – when I make it




Beverages I drink regularly:

Water
Tea




Shows I watched as a kid:

The Tommy Hunter Show (Canada's Country Gentleman) – yes I watched that too
Red Skelton - Good night and God Bless
Westerns with my dad
The Friendly Giant – another Other favourite
World Series – we grew up on baseball in my home town
Perry Mason – now I watch CSI




2 moments in your life you'd like to erase:

I never got arrested but I could have done without that anyway. But there isn’t anything I’d erase. I’d be incomplete without all the stupid angry ill conceived thoughtless inconsiderate things I’ve done and erasing 2 of them wouldn’t really make that much difference. Leave it be.

4 moments you'd like to relive:

My father’s visits after he died – to see if it was really him
Singing in my first competition – and this time I would sing
Playing baseball in the sun with my cousins in the grassy field next to their house




2 places you wouldn't want to go to/go to again:

Rochdale
The burn unit at Sick Kids





4 places you can't wait to visit/visit again:
Scotland
Tibet
The Sahara
Saskatchewan





2 foods you can't stand:

Tongue
Head cheese

4 foods you love:

French Vanilla ice cream
Raspberries
Cantaloupe
Potatoes – baked, French fries, mashed, scalloped, boiled with butter & fresh dill … yum




2 current songs that make you change the station:

I don’t listen to radio either




4 records you play over and over:

I don’t play records all that often except when I’m trying to learn a new song



2 books you'd never finish/read again:

The Horse Whisperer
The Da Vinci Code



4 books you have read more than once, and/or will read again:

The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron
Shambala – The Sacred Path of the Warrior - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
Lonesome Dove – Larry McMurtry
The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien


... and that's all I have to say about that.

The Frostbite

Hmmm ...

Ah good ... there's the Committee Boat

Now if we could just find the fleet ...

and then be careful we don't run into each other ...

Handsome Jack on the Race Course

This was last Sunday. Here we are coming along side the Committee Boat getting ready for the start. Light wind early on. A little short handed and the course was a reach. We didn't fare all that well. Nevertheless, it was a good day for the last sail of the summer.

Tomorrow will be the first weekend of Fall and the last race of the year. We call it The Frostbite, but the water's still warm so it'll be nice. Hope it doesn't rain tooo much.

Racing in the spring is an entirely different matter. Even on a brilliant sunny day in May the water is only slightly above zero degrees. So thee must take care and not fall off the boat.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night

This is why I read the Bulwer Lytton Fiction Contest Website ...

The heather-encrusted Headlands, veiled in fog as thick as smoke in a crowded pub, hunched precariously over the moors, their rocky elbows slipping off land's end, their bulbous, craggy noses thrust into the thick foam of the North Sea like bearded old men falling asleep in their pints.
--Gary Dahl, Los Gatos, CA (2000 Winner)

and this ...

As the newest Lady Turnpot descended into the kitchen wrapped only in her celery-green dressing gown, her creamy bosom rising and falling like a temperamental souffle, her tart mouth pursed in distaste, the sous-chef whispered to the scullery boy, "I don't know what to make of her."
--Laurel Fortuner, Montendre, France (1992 Winner)

and this ...

The bone-chilling scream split the warm summer night in two, the first half being before the scream when it was fairly balmy and calm and pleasant for those who hadn't heard the scream at all, but not calm or balmy or even very nice for those who did hear the scream, discounting the little period of time during the actual scream itself when your ears might have been hearing it but your brain wasn't reacting yet to let you know.
--Patricia E. Presutti, Lewiston, New York (1986 Winner)

okay, one more ...

Dolores breezed along the surface of her life like a flat stone forever skipping across smooth water, rippling reality sporadically but oblivious to it consistently, until she finally lost momentum, sank, and due to an overdose of fluoride as a child which caused her to lie forever on the floor of her life as useless as an appendix and as lonely as a five-hundred-pound barbell in a steroid-free fitness center.
--Linda Vernon, Newark, California (1990 Winner)

Take a look ...

http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/

Corresponding with the Prime Minister

True Story

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Dear Mr. Harper:

Before you became Prime Minister, our soldiers were known around the world as Peace Keepers. Now almost daily we hear of Canadian soldiers being wounded or killed. Why is this? Why are we no longer Peace Keepers? Why have you turned our peace keeping soldiers into warriors? What is it you hope to accomplish? This is not Canada's mission in the world. We are supposed to make things better. Now we are just like everyone else, fighting, killing, and dying. The War on Terror is a ridiculous claim to take power. The real Terrorists are the Americans and you have sent our troops to join them. I fear that the old Pogo line is true - 'we have seen the enemy and it is us'. You will never change the world by doing the same thing as everyone else.

Mona Anderson
Ordinary Citizen
Canada



-----Original Message-----From: Prime Minister/Premier ministre [mailto:pm@pm.gc.ca]Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 1:59 PMTo: Mona AndersonSubject: Office of the Prime Minister / Cabinet du Premier ministre

Dear Ms. Anderson:

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your correspondence regarding Canada's role in Afghanistan. Please be assured that your comments have been carefully noted.

It is in Canada's national interest to see Afghanistan become a free, democratic and peaceful country. An unstable Afghanistan represents a serious threat to Canada and the world. Canada has assumed an international leadership role by serving in the United Nations mandated, but Canadian led, Afghan security mission.

Canada has a tradition of stepping up to the plate and providing leadership on global issues. The Prime Minister is proud of the Canadian Forces personnel who have put themselves on the line to defend our national interests and to help Afghans rebuild their country. They are standing up for core Canadian values and achieving important victories for the people of Afghanistan.

As you may know, the House of Commons recently voted to extend the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan until February 2009. A copy of the Prime Minister's speech delivered prior to this vote is available online at http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?id=1165.

Once again, thank you for writing to the Prime Minister.

L.A. Lavell
Executive Correspondence Officer for the Prime Minister's Office
Agent de correspondancede la haute directionpour le Cabinet du Premier ministre


Dear Sir/Madame L.A. Lavell:

I appreciate the quick response, which I admit was a surprise. I didn't expect to hear back at all. I do have to say your comments have not reassured me. If anything, they have made me more uncomfortable by the patronizing tone your message has set. I know very well what the traditions of Canada are and that we always step up to help other people. Getting into armed conflict is not the way - only after all other alternatives have been exhausted should anyone resort to force - and time has proven that force is often a faulty method. Afghanistan would not have to rebuild it's country if it were not for the long time interference of the United States and their frantic search for oil and power. Cloaking this all as an interest in democratic freedom does not wash. We all know it's about oil. Mr. Harper's enthusiasm for Mr. Bush and his politics is well known and it is frightening to many Canadians that we should be following the lead of such an unenlightened person as the current American President.

Even as I try to write this message, I am overcome by the futility of my efforts. I cannot hope to correspond with a person who has initials for a name, so I can't even tell if you are male or female, or even real, from a department assigned to send canned answers to incoming mail. My comments have not been "carefully" noted as you suggest. I've been tossed into the auto reply bin and I know it. And yet ... hope lingers. Maybe that's because I am a Canadian of many generations.

Sincerely
Mona Anderson
Ordinary Citizen

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Okay, I admit it isn't the best letter I've ever written - but I was frustrated. There's been no response to my second letter.