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Linkorama
Just a couple of items while I mull over a couple of posts bouncing around my head. I and the Bird # 66 is up over at Born Again Bird Watcher. For those theatrephiles amongst you it is a short play by the rare and elusive playwrite Oscar Wildlife – The Importance of being an…
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Merry Christmas (Again) and my New Year
It’s Christmas today. For those of us who, also, observe Christmas in the Julian calendar Christmas falls on the 7th of January. It’s commonly known as Ukrainian Christmas. For the most part, in my family, it has involved a large family supper on Christmas eve, the 6th of January, and a visit by carolers. The…
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Birding After Dark, Arctic Bay’s Second CBC
Saturday was the last day of the 108th Annual Christmas Bird Count. For those of you not familiar with the CBC (the Citizen Science event, not the public broadcaster), it has been held annually during the Christmas season for the last, well the last 108 years. Essentially teams of birders descend on circles with radii…
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Stopping By Woods on A Snowy Evening
I don’t know. I read something like this and I’m not sure whether to scream in anger or in loss. I’m trying to think of what would be an appropriate sentence for the vandals (seems like too kind of a word) involved. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Whose woods these are, I think…
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One of those nights.
The Christmas season is always an exciting time up here, thanks in no small measure to the Christmas games which are held every night (well not Sundays – don’t play on the Sabbeth!). But I’ve hardly been to the games this year, so far I’ve only been on Christmas day. One or the other of…
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Talk of the Town
There are many Inuit who believe in what we would think of as Supernatural beings. It is not uncommon to find people here who believe in people who shift effortlessly into animals and back again. Their name escapes me at the moment. I’ve talked to several people who have recounted seeing someone out on the…
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Oscar Peterson 1925-2007
Oscar Peterson, one of the true Greats of Jazz, died today in Missisauga. Probably more than anyone else he drove my appreciation of Jazz piano. He apparently said, when Duke Ellington died, "I see no reason to mourn for Duke Ellington the musician, because he was a prolific talent who left behind a legacy of…
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Silent Night
As we (rather rapidly) head down the final couple of days before Christmas, I’d like to take the time to wish everyone who stops by the House the best of the season. However you observe the holidays I hope it is filled with love and warmed by the memories of the people you love who…
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My Son, the visual artist.
When I downloaded the picture from the previous post off the camera this afternoon, I discovered that Travis has been busy taking pictures with my camera. This is just one of his many shots, but I thought it pretty interesting. It’s a picture of the TV screen showing one of the dancers from the children’s…
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Solstice
For those of us that live above the Arctic Circle the winter soltice does not bring about "the longest night of the year". Our sun set some six weeks ago and really we’ve had "night" since then. But the solstice is not without significance for us, for it marks our return towards light, towards sunrise.…
