This Morning's Harvest

Raspberries for my morning porridge and broccoli for my dinner.

Growth Hormones

I think my plants are sneaking growth hormones behind my back. This fireweed is up to my nose (normally it doesn't grow much more than about two feet in this part of the world) and the nasturtiums have grown to the point where they are now creeping along the ground.

The Case of the Vibrating Photo

Some months back, one of my brothers gave me a photograph of Dad with his WW2 battalion. I'm guessing the photo was taken in 1942 or 1943. Dad is in the front row, second from the left. Our long time family friend Garth (no long living) is in the second row from the back, fifth from the left.

This week I finally got around to having the photo framed; I picked it up from the frame shop at lunch time. My vehicle was about a five minute walk away, and as I walked I carried the photo in my hands. All of a sudden it started vibrating. I can't explain it exactly, but it almost felt like a cell phone on vibrate. I stopped in my tracks, adjusted it in my hands, and started walking again. Less than a minute later, it began vibrating again. It did this two more times before I reached the car.

I have no explanation for what happened, but I know Garth loved that old photo, and I wondered if he was hanging around, excited that I had a copy of the picture.

Rising Waters

Waters in the Southern Yukon are the highest on record. People continue to sandbag, but roads and properties are flooding nonetheless. Here are a couple of photos sent to me at work this morning. The first is at Marsh Lake; the second on the Yukon River.

Managing Violence

My blood started to boil this morning as I listened to CBC's World Report. There was a story about Canada's Chief of Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier. He was talking about how Afghanistan has drawn his troops out of complacency and made the Canadian military remember its roots as a force of war. A FORCE OF WAR?! What happened to us being a force of peace?

Hillier's words for describing Canada's current role in Afghanistan are, "We manage violence on behalf of the Government of Canada." I guess that's code for the fact that we're over there killing and being killed.

Hidden Treasures

I am in the midst of painting my bedroom. I'm doing it in stages....first the closets, and then the main part of the room. I tackled the biggest job - Joe's closet - first.

Poor Joe....I really do tend to bug him about getting rid of some of his 'stuff'. His closet is bulging to the point where you can barely close the door. However, I am feeling a bit sheepish about my nagging at the moment, because among the dozens of pairs of jeans that go back 20 years, and the boxes and boxes of hunting paraphernalia, there are some choice treasures. I've found two of his old high school year books, a document written by one of his cousins that details his Nanna's life (only the good bits though - Nanna was never one to rake up all the bad stuff from her past: what would be the point?) and a Father's Day note from a three-year old Jamie. It was in my handwriting but I well remember him dictating it to me. It read:

To Daddy,

I like your nose. I like you because you go golfing. You and I like to do burps.

Love, Jamie

Hidden treasures indeed!

Pizza for Two

It was just us girls for dinner tonight. Alan had left earlier in the day for the Dawson City Music Festival, Jamie was at work and Joe is still in Ontario. I made pizza - but of course I had to make two of them. Iris and I have very different tastes when it comes to such things.

She likes lots of tomato sauce, lots of cheese and little if anything else. My idea of a perfect pizza is to first drizzle the dough with a bit of garlic infused olive oil, then put just a hint of tomato sauce on top. Next comes sun dried tomatoes, red peppers sliced paper thin, caramelized onions, black olives (the best quality ones I can afford) and some feta cheese - goat feta if it's available.

On another topic, I haven't bored you lately with pictures of my garden. We can't have that, can we? Here are a couple I quickly snapped just now.

And look here. The raspberries are starting to ripen!