Burning Bridges the Canadian Way eh?

The honor of the Media has disappeared in Canada. If in truth it ever existed.

There are plenty of ways to burn your bridges and this I know from personal experience, but it would seem that Canada is putting on a pretty good show of its own on the world stage.

You know our reputation; quiet, unassuming, excruciatingly polite, and mild mannered. We walk quietly and carry no sticks at all, mostly seen as peace keepers, until Afghanistan of course. We are never the main character but excel in supporting roles. I think this stereotypical view has been changing for some time and given the scandals of the world I figure we are still pretty mild.

We have a mayor in Toronto that made Jay Leno headlines. He has been attacked by the press for many months for alleged criminal activity and associations which went from reporting the news to ‘rabid’ attacks by the media. In my mind the guy is probably guilty but until it is so proven Canadian media has come off looking like crazed zombies out for blood, for his carcass and soul. Want to know why he appears so maligned and denigrated? Ego – One big enough to encompass the Grand Canyon, or possibly the western hemisphere. The media apparently cannot withhold its bile when faced with ego. The attacks shown on TV and in the press may actually start garnering some sympathy for Rob Ford. The guy, acting like a spoiled brat had the nerve to give digital direction to his accusers more than once, and in more than one way. Whether he just isn’t bright enough – limited by ego or intelligence – to understand the position he is in, or holds the rest of the world in such low regard doesn’t matter. The press has become the bad guy and shame on them.

We apparently have three evil senators in Ottawa who the media are out to hang prior to due course of justice. Now you have to understand that our senators are appointed and this has been viewed by many to be a reward for service to a particular Prime Minister. Nice job for life with admirable income and tax benefits. It seems Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau, and Mike Duffy have made illegal claims for expenses. This has gone from newsworthy to blood sport in a few weeks. And why? You guessed it. Ego. Wallin in particular has been disliked because she treats everyone around her as less than human. She apparently has attained self-imposed Royal status and made some mighty big enemies in doing so. The facts seem to be in and in my opinion are guilty but the conduct of the media make them look like salivating dogs of hell taking bite after bite.

Senators as a whole probably in my view see themselves above all others and certainly these are not the only three, but they are going down in a most undignified way.

We have a Prime Minister I personally have never cared for. He is also about ego but has the smarts to manipulate and control. He is coming off rather badly because he has been caught in more than one lie. Now how surprising is that? A politician that lies. Coverups. Meanwhile there are bigger more costly political sins from which this whole country will suffer.

That fact never changes. The mighty pen, the media message, brings shame to this country and its people. We have never been able to trust the slant of reporting entirely and there is no such thing as blatant truth telling, but the Canadian media has been busy burning some bridges called Ethical Reporting and they should be ashamed. The problem is, they carry the message and there is little you and I can do to affect the honesty of the message. They not only deal in mob mentality, they feed it.

EGO has become the greatest crime of all which should make humble appearing criminals feel good.

Oh my why can’t we just have a good old sex scandal in government?

Related articles

• The high-flying life of Pamela Wallin (macleans.ca)
• Debate on senator suspensions to continue Thursday (globalnews.ca)
• Resign, Stephen Harper. Resign (beaconnews.ca)
• Some unease over Senate scandal as Conservatives gather in Calgary (calgaryherald.com)

Discovering Aberration Part 2!*

I am very proud to present to you, my wonderful and generous hearted readers, the second part of my guest host’s presentation about his exciting new novel.  Thank you thank you all for being so wonderful in reposting and spreading the word.

It started with a dream…

Over the course of the last two and a half years I’ve been working late nights and lunch breaks on a novel entitled Discovering Aberration.

But it didn’t begin as a simple idea for a novel. It began as a dream.

In this dream I was a part of an expedition on a remote island with my cousin searching for a lost  civilization. Through the thick jungle we trekked, pressing through walls of great leaves and hanging vines. We pressed on and eventually hacked our way through the foliage. The world opened up around us, and before us was revealed a great lake; a crater with a  shimmering light submerged deep below the surface.

We rejoiced at finding the light below the water, it was the first sign of our discovery. But as we peered into the depths of the lake, our hearts sank as we saw a horrific sight. Within the lake was a massive beast, a dragon like creature which  swam about our discovery, protecting it over the centuries.

Immediately we set to work, building a device, a rocket strung to the ground with massive rubber bands. We climbed inside and the strange device shot us up into the air, and then, when we reached the point at which the rubber bands were stretched to their limit, we were hurled back down towards the lake to speed past the great and terrible beast.

It was a silly, adventurous dream. Most of it didn’t end up in the  novel other than as a little inspiration, but something about this dream stuck with me and eventually a novel only just barely related was created.

About Discovering Aberration

Discovering Aberration is a character driven steampunk adventure story taking place in  the era of budding steam and clockwork technology. The country of Victoria is in the  midst of a socio-economic divide, and in this divide, crime and villainy has festered. In this world lives our protagonists.

Freddy Fitzgerald is an esteemed adventurer/travel writer. His good friend, Thaddeus Lumpen approaches him on cold spring day with the discovery of a life time, an ancient map he’s stolen from under the nose of a notorious gangster.

Convinced this map will lead them to a long lost  civilization, they immediately build a rag tag team of explorers and archeologists and set out on a dangerous expedition. But in this world of villainy, news of the map leaks and suddenly they are up against a small army of competition.

Vengeful  archeologist, dangerous mercenaries, manipulating scarlets, and more  seek to head them off seeking the fame, the fortune  this discovery can offer them.

When they get to the island, all is not as it should be. People  are going mad, and what’s more, the island hides a deep, dark secret,  lurking in its heart.

Writing Discovering  Aberration has been perhaps the most rewarding work I’ve ever been a part of. I’m  so pleased with how it’s turned out. The novel has become so much more  than the dream ever was.

Indie Publishing

I’ve decided to publish Discovering Aberration myself, so I’ve become not only a  writer, but a publisher, an entrepreneur, a publicist and a marketer.

It’s a strange and competitive world I’ve stepped into. But unlike the  violent competition in my novel, my competition is other writers who  have proven to be some of the most helpful, supportive people in the  world.

I am taking the first step towards publishing  Discovering Aberration by launching a Kickstarter campaign. For those  of you who haven’t heard of Kickstarter, it’s a crowd-funding platform that enables artists like me to bypass  traditional corporations by seeking out funding from everyday people like  you who want to contribute and support.

For as little as $5, you can pledge your support for my novel and in return you’ll receive a professionally edited and  designed copy of the novel before it’s released to the general public. The more you can pledge, the  greater your rewards, including having a character named after you at  the $500 level, and even more in between.

If you’re interested, or want to learn more, please visit my  Kickstarter page which explains the process in detail.

But before you invest in my project, take some time to read the novel itself.  The first 28 chapters  is currently free to read on Wattpad.com.

If you enjoy reading Discovering Aberration as much as I enjoyed writing it, then please consider a small pledge, and be a very real part of this project.

Finally, I’d like to thank Chris for giving me this opportunity to share my  story and my project with you. She has been incredibly gracious and an  early supporter of mine (perhaps the earliest). And I look forward to  meeting and thanking every single one of you who choose to back my  novel.

Cheers,
S.C. Barrus

About S.C. Barrus

S.C. Barrus writes strange and thrilling literary adventures. He’s published short stories, essays and poems in print and online. Born in Canada,  S.C. Barrus grew up near Seattle in the pacific north west where he  lives to this day. He received his degree in creative writing from the  University of Washington.  You can learn more about him at his website Away and Away

Links:

Visit the Discovering Aberration Kickstarter

Read Discovering Aberration on Wattpad

IS WANT DESIRABLE?

IS WANT DESIRABLE?

I’ve been thinking a lot about ‘Want’ lately.

The most frequent definition is similar to Merriam-Webster 1. To be needy or destitute.  2.  To have or feel need.

Thefreedictionary.com says it is – to desire greatly; wish for.

Wiki.answers.com goes a little further and says ‘Want refers to what you absolutely have to have and ‘need’ refers to something that you don’t really lust for – but you just need it.

Answers.yahoo.com says – DESIRE is when you want something you can’t have.  WANT is when you don’t need it but you get it anyways.

I always thought that reaching a point where one says, ‘I want nothing’ was a sign of happiness, an expression of gratitude.  I don’t think it means you have everything you could want, it just means that you are grateful and appreciative for what you have.  I disagree with M-W that WANT means being needy or destitute and agree whole heartedly with the second part – To have or feel need.

There are many, perhaps too many, in this day of materialism who WANT, not because of need, unless you count the need to possess as much as possible.

I think there is a much more positive side to WANT.  Because of want we set goals and move ourselves and society forward.  Want is not always about self, but the accomplished goal is indeed personal.  WANT is an acknowledgement and from there comes our plan, our goal.

This is a very narrow positive because wanting and not receiving affects us.  So then what happens?

We can accept the ‘not having’, we can I suppose change the WANT, although if the wanting is part of our need it is not easy to give up.  Some who WANT change nothing and live, I believe, half a life never being able to get past that thing and move on.  These are the bitterest lives immersed in anger and every form of negativity.

There are special people out there who WANT and accept the not having and chose to live in joy.

WANT AS A SOURCE OF HOPE OR BELIEF

This weekend a young man died.  I only met him a couple of times but my sister was a friend.  He was born on the other side of the world in a country where his mother had to hide him so he would not be killed.  Eventually they came to live in Canada, where despite my occasional groans about politics and institution is an excellent place to live.

Here he was loved by many.
Every day he went out about the town in his electric wheelchair.  Malls were one of his favorite spots to hang out where he cheered so many with his smile and laugh.  He loved people and they in turn loved him.

In the summer he loved to go to a local park where he got out of his wheelchair and sat by the lake on a rock.  Just like everyone else.  He had wants and was never embittered by them.  He had joy for others and his want was a dream that could not be allowed on this plane of life.

It was just a few days ago when he spoke, as well as he could speak, and he told her that when he got to heaven someday  he would be able to walk, would be able to run and jump.  And his belief gave him joy.

He never resented others for what they had, he was just happy for them.

He died, this man loved by so many, somehow falling or rolling from the rock into that lake and drowning.  And as my sister spoke of him yesterday she softly said, ‘He just wanted to be normal.’

And for a time I thought of WANT and the people whose lives are ruined by it and I thought of people like this man who in the ‘not having’ enriched everyone else’s life. And I blushed through my tears as I drove home, ashamed that my Wants have at times been negatively flavored and I found a gratitude and overwhelming joy at what I do have, and found myself wondering what I can do to enrich other lives.

You see I met this man perhaps twice and if this is the impact he had on me you have some idea of others and the value of their tears.

R.I.P.

I tell you, the inmates are running the asylum… again

Canadian television journalist Mike Duffy of CTV. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Stephen Harper, Canadian Prime Minister (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Canada has a Prime Minister named Stephen Harper.  In case you misunderstand, I do not say that with any pride.  But there he is.  He has a chief of staff named Nigel Wright who it seems has more money than brains.  We also have a Senator named Mike Duffy.  Now Mike is a proven liar and crook who claimed more than $90,000.000 in expenses for a primary residence which was not, and apparently the government (dear dear Mr. Harper), said that if Mikey paid back the 90 grand ‘the government would go easy on him.)* CVT News.

When Mikey repaid the dough the ‘ government praised him for showing leadership.  Now just what has all this proved?

*You can lie, cheat, and steal and as long as some other guy – no not ‘guy’ but the Chief of Staff pulls out his wallet and pays you will be lauded a hero.  A fine specimen of a human being.

*One must wonder just what ethics Nigel used in accumulating his fortune.

*Young up-and-comers to the political scene have now learned honesty no longer exists -did it ever in politics? – just make sure you have the right friends with money and power.

Nigel Wright has taught us that money rinses of the stench of thievery and one must then wonder exactly what did Mikey have on old Nigel.  Or perhaps old Nigel did it to ensure future favors.  Such a circle.  Such an insanity.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos/harper-s-chief-of-staff-nigel-wright-slideshow/nigel-wright-appears-house-commons-ethics-committee-tuesday-photo-20101102-145222-488.html

Now I must dash off to send my dear friend Nigel a letter.  I do hope he remembers how close we once were because He could pay off my existing debt although since I did not accumulate it illegally he may not want to help.  Damn.  How can I make it look like a crime?  Oh yeah – he is the crime.

BTW 2 other criminal senators are big time po’d that they couldn’t give Nigel what he wanted cause they have been left out to dry.

Related articles

• Senate expenses: Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff wrote cheque to cover Mike Duffy’s expense claims (thestar.com)
• Harper’s chief of staff personally bailed out embattled Sen. Mike Duffy (macleans.ca)
• Mike Duffy made secret deal with Harper’s chief of staff during audit (ctvnews.ca)

A Personal Post

World War II poster from Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am not sure that anyone outside ‘the family’ would be interested in this particular post, so don’t feel bad if you pass it by.

Today when looking through some of my writings I came across copies of letters my father had sent to his mom in 1943, and one letter from his younger brother Dick to him.  My father enlisted in the army in 1941 when he was seventeen years old.  Not at all unusual for young fellas back then to enlist underage and to be accepted to go to war.   The Second World War was firmly entrenched and in its second year.  The government made enlisting sound exciting, patriotic and gosh darn it, the right thing to do.

A year later, August 6, 1942 my uncle Dick sent my Dad a letter to his training site in Niagara on the Lake in Ontario.  A few months later my Dad was sent overseas.  These letters are of interest to me of course, because they are a link to a time and people I never knew.  My uncle at the time was about fourteen years old.  It is a nice little look at the times. Spelling, grammar and stroke outs are as in the letter.

The envelope is addressed:  Pri Raymond Gingerich

Reg. No. A-76033 C. Comp

Scots Fusiliers of Canada

Niagara on the Lake M.P.O. 203

Dear Raymond,

I received your letter last night and I would have answered then but didn’t have time.  The scouts went swimming at the pool, and but I didn’t have much fun.  I passed my swimming test and now I just have a couple more tests to pass and I’ll be a second class scout.  I have quite lots of fun these days.  Ostell’s are back from Wo Wasaga beach and now I have someone to play with because I don’t pl;ay with Stan Flaherty anymore because of his “old man”.  One day Stan and I were behind Flaherty’s with some water in bottles and old man Flaherty said, “It is only babys that play with water,” and I said, “goo” and he sold told me to get home and I said it will take a hell of a lot more than him to make me, so I don’t play with Stan anymore.  I would like to be up tere if there is lots of fishing and especially swimming.

Last night when we were at the pool I met a nifty girl and when I was diving off of the board I was loo looking at her when I hit the water I almost killed myself.  I am enjoying my holidays but thery will soon be over and school will starts start again; although I think we will have more fun this year because I will  have more fun this years because I will have old lady Neu Neuman for my teacher.  Please excuse all thos those strokes up there but I wrote one line twice.

We, meaning Johnny Ostell and I are going to save our money to go on hikes this summer and we may get lost and wander down to the canal so if we do , (we will) come and see you.  We are going on a hike some time next week and we have everything cha planned to go to the other side of Preston and we  ,if we get tired we will thumb and if I get a ride with a guy thats going to you yu vicinity I’ll go with him and I not worrying (were about where to sleep or coming back.

Oh, well enough of fooling because I wouldn’t even start to get to Niagara because I likely wouldn’t be ablt to find you anyhow.  Well, I guess I will say So long because I want to try and write to Harry yet to-day sooo……..

So Long,

Your brother

Dick

P.S. I wish you the best with the farmer’s daughter **(drawing of fingers crossed here)

Adios

write soon

So – Long

 

FITFS Barb19 Passionate About Pets and People Australian Style

Well happy Friday everyone!  Fridays are my favorites and all week long I look forward to Following In The FootSteps of someone I admire here in Blog Land.  Someone that I would like, in some small way emulate.  And today it is all about Barb Taylor who truly is passionate about pets and people and I think about everything that lives.

Our Barb is originally from the UK and after some serious world travels (having lived in Germany, Singapore, America and Australia) she settled down on the east coast of sub-tropical Australia.

Like me, she seems to have  started this blog back in January 2011 and committed to postaweek at the encouragement of a friend.  Her second post pretty much encapsulates her philosophy.  She said, ”

A hundred years from now,

it will not matter the sort of house I lived in,

what my bank account was, or the car I drove . . .

but the world may be different

because I was important

in the life of animals and the creatures of this earth.

Are You Iimportant in the Life of an Animal?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

©passionateaboutpets.wordpress.com

From that wonderful platform Barb has given us all sorts of treasures about dogs, chickens, dingos, joeys, kangaroos, whales, and even wasps.  And there is more!

The very first time I discovered Barb was waaaay back when she posted on the Town she grew up in called Peebles.  I was so excited because I had just recently returned from Scotland so knew the area she talked about. (I left her more than one comment that day)

March 10th, 2011 ‘I was in Peebles a couple of years ago..just a Canadian girl visiting her mom’s native land…it is beautiful. My Mum was from Gorebridge.  Love the country..love the people and proud to have some of that fine Scots blood in me,
Christine’ 

So I am talking addiction here.  The kind you cannot shake -thank goodness-

As we, in Canada, face the coming fall and winter, Barb is sailing into spring and coming summer.

In September that year she and her hubby flew off to her homeland where she saw her brother for the first time in 25 years.

She is very proud of her adopted country – Australia – and there is a wealth of information about it in her posts.  Matter of fact there is a wealth of information about the world in general.  Living true to her philosophy she is indeed –

important in the life of animals and the creatures of this earth.

Actually I believe she is important in more lives than she realizes.

Passionate About Pets and People Australian Style

Please do stop by to visit, to learn, to feel.  And do say hi or leave a comment or two.  **I so wanted to throw in something about putting shrimp on the barbie since it is a comment linked to Australia and BBQs but just couldn’t work it in anywhere!

Related articles

• FITFS Our Soul Dipper Amy (bridgesburning.wordpress.com)
• FITFS Lenore’s Thoughts Exactly (bridgesburning.wordpress.com)

This Writer: What I Learned on a White Sandy Beach in the Middle of Canada

Grand Beach (Photo credit: Travel Manitoba)

About three weeks ago I spent an amazing eight days on the prairies in a nice little place called Lockport Manitoba.  Now, I had been to the city of Winnipeg in the past on business and did not care for the swarms of homeless who came out of recessed doorways in groups and surrounded me and frightened me so I had no desire to go anywhere in that province ever again.  Lesson one which should not need to be said:  Don’t judge people or a place based on one experience.

Then my dearest friends relocated to Lockport to be closer to family and friends so a little reluctantly I boarded a Westjet and headed out.  Lockport itself and its surrounding beauty will have to wait for another time because today is about the beach.  An easy drive my second day took us to Grand Beach Manitoba.

Now in my experience, Canada does not have a lot of Caribbean comparable beaches, and certainly none that stretch for miles of white sand and dunes.  Shallows extend quite far into the lake making it an ideal playground for families, young people, and seniors.  The second lesson is pretty closely tied to the first:  If you haven’t been somewhere don’t assume it doesn’t exist.  Funny thing is that mountains, rivers and prairies often depict Canada in photos but I can’t remember ever seeing a beach quite like this one.

Grand Beach is fresh water of course, so no, there was no pounding surf.  It lies on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg which is the sixth largest lake in Canada at 9,465 square miles.  The first five comprise of three Great Lakes, Huron, Erie, and Superior, and the other two are in the NWT (Northwest Territories), and are called Great Bear and Great Slave Lake.

I never have considered myself an ornithologist as I can pretty well only identify Blue Jays, Red Winged Blackbirds, Robins, and Sparrows.  Oh and Hummingbirds.   But darned if I didn’t learn a couple more things that enriched the experience.  Lesson three:  Birds are incredibly interesting especially when seen in their natural habitat.

Piping Plovers

PIPING PLOVERS (charadrius melodus) are an endangered species of bird protected on Grand Beach.  They are a small sandy colored sparrow sized bird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel. (Just as an aside there are two more things I learned – Manitobans – uh Manitobians – people in Manitoba take their wild life and food markets very seriously – but that’s another story.)

American White Pelican

AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS (pelicanus erythrorohynchos).  Go figure.  If I was on a game show like Jeopardy and my fortune depended on my knowledge of Pelicans in Canada I would be going home in a sorry state.  This spectacular aquatic bird breeds in the North American interior and migrates south each year.  Including its long huge beak it can be between 50 – 70 inches in length and has a wing span of 95 – 120 inches.  Is that amazing or what?  Its bill is flat on top with a large throat sac that allows it to scoop fish out of the water.  Now that is what I call ‘fast food’.

Our Pelicans are both smart and naughty.  They are smart enough that in shallow water they form a line or a semicircle and corral fish.  The naughty part is that they suffer from Kleptoparasitism which means they steal food from other birds.  Thieves they are.  Their victims can be other Pelicans, Gulls, or Cormorants.  Wikipedia reports that at least on one occassion the victim was a great Blue Heron who lost its treasure mid-flight.

Now some of you are shaking your heads and saying you knew all this but it was new and exciting for me and here is the last lesson: Just because I am old(er) and at times feel like I have the wisdom of Methusala  never ever assume that there is nothing I can’t continue to learn and that learning is still exciting.

Now before I dash off to find out what the heck a Cormorant is I will leave you with a wee limerick my father liked to recite to us as children written by Edward Lear.

A wonderful bird is the Pelican.

His beak can hold more than his belly can.

He can hold in his beak

Enough food for a week!

But I’m darned if I know how the hellican!

 

 

 

Let’s Pretend Tuesday is Monday: Oh the Plots We Weave

I know!  I know!  There is a large percentage of people who hate Mondays.  Really hate them.  That first workday of the week signifies the end of weekend fun and the beginning of toil.  Now you see, for me, Mondays have always been about new starts, list of goals and objectives to be reached.  A day of such optimism.  Fridays conversely are not so much as I must come to terms with what I did not achieve.

Today ( Monday) is always ‘Oh The plots We Weave’ day when we look at a couple of actual news stories and comment of ‘what ifs’.   This sort of came about when I would post on a news piece and generally rant or comment.  Then I got thinking, this is where stories and books come from.  News stories, observing momentary interactions and letting our imaginations fly.

So first thing right out of the front page of the HAMILTON SPECTATOR there are 2 items which caught my eye and my ‘Oh Lord where is the sanity when you need it’ button.

1)  FATHER SUES PUBLIC BOARD OVER ITS GAY EQUITY STAND   Oh Boy, this isn’t even some backwoods notion, it comes straight from the mind of Eustathios ‘Steve’ Tourloukis a dentist in Smithville.  His claim is that as a praciticing member of his Greek Orthodox Church his rights are being violated.

Now now children, play nice.  Would someone please point out to our dentist that this province provides a large number of Christian Churches with the sole purpose of raising students in the environment you desire and that his child or children are part of a PUBLIC school.  You know Public as in every one of every denomination is free to attend.

‘ What if”?  What kind of plot could we develop from this little bit of information?  Well it could be the father has to loudly decry the learning material because he is in a personal secret struggle from these very urges…nah that is too common a thread.  ‘What if’  ..ah you know what?  Whichever way this plot goes it could be trouble.  Can you think of anything provoking?

2)  COURT ORDERS LONG-GUN DATA TO BE TRANSFERRED TO QUEBEC  I have to admit that there are a couple of things about Canada that make me squirm a bit perhaps even to the point of embarrassment and the Gun Registry is one of them.  Several years ago a registry was put in for guns.  It was badly managed, very expensive and about as effective as flying into the sun.  So now in a fit of rare insight it was decided to take down, nullify, disband, destroy, the long-gun registry.  In doing so the government continuing of its life long mission to give meaning to ‘stupid’, ‘most stupid’, decided to also destroy all the information they had gathered on the registry quest.  One province spoke up – Quebec – who is trying to keep its portion of the registry alive.  The Quebec court said the government has no right to destroy registry data….

‘What if”?  We created a super hero to fight stupidity –  faster than a speeding bullet? Where to start? Where to start?  Well first there will be the need to gather up all politicians and give each one’s head a good shake so they in fact will have their heads on straight.  Could you imagine a world where everyone was sane in political arenas?

What if then our dentist had the same thing happen?  Hello!  A moment of clarity!  I think I will send my child to a school that does meet my requirements for education.

**Please note there are far and wide implications in each of these cases.  There is also more detailed info that one needs to consider before being pro or con.  The only consideration I have presented in the subject matter as a possible story line or plot.  Besides the fiction will certainly be more interest than the reality of it all.  I think.

Related articles

• Christian father sues Ontario school board for ‘religious accommodation’ (toronto.ctvnews.ca)
• Science confirms: The only workday we like is Friday (deathandtaxesmag.com)
• Feds get deadline to hand over Quebec gun registry data (ctvnews.ca)

Scottish Invasion Recedes, Next Step Winterpeg

Well, Monday and ‘Oh the Plots We Weave’ has come and gone.  Not much news to have fun with anyway around here in these suddenly less summery and more autumny kind of days.  As my friend Celi called it yesterday in her post ‘that gentle late summer slide.’

There have been body parts showing up in the Mississauga and Toronto area and the school teachers may end up going on strike (again) which will delay the start of the school year but no wonderful ‘what ifs’ to get from any of that.

Our fave cuz has returned to Scotland taking with her some fine memories and leaving a strange void which will take time to get over.  This dear gracious woman left Saturday past to race back in hopes of enjoying some remnant bit of summer that had eluded her until she arrived here.  Well not entirely true.  After a couple of months of daily rain showers on the home front she looked forward to the 30 degree heat wave we boasted. Until the day her plane set down in Toronto bringing with it our very first thunderstorm of the season.  The funniest part was the morning she awoke, checked FB to see her son had written that it was nice to wake up and not have his sunburn hurt.  It seemed old Sol made an appearance just as she left.

Actually the weather was pretty good here and did not rain on our parade too much and it sure was nice some of that brown earth actually turned green and at times lush.

So now here on the mountain I get ready to leave to visit friends in Winnipeg and will fly out early evening for 8 days.  Now Winnipeg  is the capital of Manitoba just less than a thousand miles to the west of us. They have branded themselves ( according to one site) as the cultural cradle of the country.  I am not sure that is entirely the case – whether it is more so or less so than a hundred other locations in Canada.  The French were the first settlers in 1738 and named it Fort Rouge.  Almost a hundred years later it was renamed Fort Garry and finally after 150 years of messing around between the First Nations, the Metis, the French and the British it became Winnipeg in1873, which is a much better name since it so easily converts to its winter ID – Winterpeg.  Wikipedia states that Winnipeg is the coldest city in the world with a population of over 600,000 based on the average night-time temperature from December to February, inclusive.

It is of course my intention to be and gone before any suggestion of winter winds appear.  I have not seen, (other than Skype) these dear friends for more than a year.

Posting may be sporadic – but I will be thinking of  you and post as soon as…..

Oh by the by …my friend Joss is preparing for a big exam please do stop by and cheer her on!

Oh the Plots We Weave: Fictional Life

Stephen King explains in his book, ‘On Writing‘ how he comes up with some ideas for plots or characters.  In the course of his day he is acutely aware of people and events around him.  It can be a furtive glance from someone or and interaction played out and while he may not know what is truly happening his genius mind begins to question – what if?

So let’s take a look at a couple of possible fiction opps out of this week’s news.

OH ODA – Skip the Juice

Canadian Politics and its politicians are in my opinion dull, classless, lacking luster, crooked, self serving…um better skip this part and contine on…

Bev Oda was most recently Minister for International Co-operation.  HUH?  Me too.

Anyway she ended up resigning from the government for putting a $16 glass of orange juice on her tab.  Oh and $1000/day limo costs. Oh and she apparently altered a document which resulted in denied funding to an ‘aid agency’ (whatever that is).  And I have not read yet anything about her general work quality performance.

Possible What If Fiction ideas (if it isn’t already)

Perhaps Oda had a highly classified job so secret it cannot be divulged to the public and suppose she came across information vital to the survival of mankind.  But just suppose those in power decided to take her out. *In Canada we don’t ‘take people out’ if you know what I mean.  We just make them blush out of shame, lower their heads and shuffle out the door with their $52K pension in their back pockets.

Hmm on second thought maybe this is not the best story to do a ‘What if’.  How about this one?

LUNCH ON THE GO

A woman in Georgetown was sitting eating her lunch at her desk which was located in the foyer of a fitness centre.  An SUV crashes through the large window, strikes her carrying her in the desk chair through the back wall into an office where she was found under the SUV but still in her desk chair.  No mention was made of what happened to her lunch.

Possible plot ideas?

There are quite a few that come to mind but consider:

The driver’s husband was having an affair with the lunchee and while the wronged woman had no planned intent to attack when she saw her enemy so clearly framed in a wide picture window and spotted her smug smile as she ate her lunch with relish (ha ha) the jilted wife found she had no control as her hands gripped the wheel and her foot put peddle to the metal and before you knew it the deed was done.

Of course in another scenario it is possible the driver saw the lunchee pick up a glass…a glass of orange juice..and assuming it was one of those deadly $16 glasses of OJ she sped through the window to prevent the woman from committing a Bev Oda!

Y’all have a nice rest of your Monday!