Sparrow Dream

Ah poor sparrow, the day is short and the sun cannot shine more than one day. Home he goes past Alpha Centurai, a wink for Saturn and one last swirl through the atmosphere before landing snug and sound in his nest.

And yet he saw her. Her feathers lie among his own, even as he spreads his wings. Time to sleep and dream, dear sparrow, but what dream could ever match this flight.

The Continuing Adventures of Sparrow

Beyond the moon and among the stars. Who knew a bird could fly so high? More mysterious was that for every spiral glide, for each soaring pirouette there was another whose trail intersected and circumscribed his course as he sailed around the sun.

Sparrow in Orbit

Can a sparrow really fly this high? It s a long way down but I can see the whole world from up here. Today I might just fly to the moon.

Upward Spiral Swooping Swallow

Montreal didnt feel like home this time, thats good because its not anymore, but it was nice to be there for a night anyway. It was extremely cold and windy. I went to wait for Annick in the pub and had a pinte of Coups des Grisoux. I have to say I had forgotten what a smoky bar is like and I donèt miss it at all. I was actually having a hard time breathing. Still its Montreal. It was great to see Annick and have a visit. The sparrow soars today.

Joyful Elipse

gonna turn into a sparrow and fly away. back in one week.

What's Up Doc?

The hits on this site have suddenly shot way up. They've more than doubled since last Monday and stayed that way all through the week. Today I had my highest day of hits ever. Weird, especially since it seems to be all random search hits.

Notwithstanding

We have a strange little piece of legislation in this country known as the notwithstanding clause. It allows parliament or provincial governments to over-ride the constitution. Conservative party leader Stephen Harper is publicly opposed to same-sex marriage, however it is generally understood by legal experts that the constitution does protect the rights of same sex partners to the same benefits as those in heterosexual unions. This has been understood to include the right to legally recognized civil union.As john pointed out it is not explicitly stated in the Constitution but as it has been interpreted over the years the intent is recognized that you cannot discriminate based on sexual preference. The Globe and Mail is reporting that the only way that Harper can prevent same-sex legislation from passing would be to invoke the notwithstanding clause which is always an extreme thing to do. Then again the man just might be an extremist. We will see.

Horns in the Sky

The moon is thin and pointy this evening. It looks like horns. I didn't have my camera but this picture I whipped up in photoshop approximates it. I could see Orion's belt and lot's of other bright stars.

I walked Luna up to Parliament Hill again today, but this time I brought my camera. I was surprised and a bit disappointed to see that the huge ice flows that were in the river yesterday had completely vanished.

Walk to Parliament Hill >

I took these pictures while Luna lay in a really intense sunbeam. I then reduced the black levels to get this dramatic effect.

Today I walked up the hill and sat in the summer pavilion. From there I could see the span of the Gatineaus and the river clogged with ice even as the spring burst into flowers and lazy sunsoaked dreams all around it. People like Luna even if she is warry of them. I had a few good conversations. There was a protest in front of the parliament. An east Indian gentleman walked past me wearing a sign that said in black bold letters on white bristolboard "Defend Marriage and Freedom" I smiled at him because it was such a nice day and I immediately regreted it when I realized what he was there for. FREEDOM. Freedom to tell other people what to do, freedom to deny people rights that are in the constitution. Freedom to define the world by what makes me comfortable even if it means denying other people dignity. It was interesting that not far from us were statues of the women, (Nelly McClung being the best known)who fought for the PERSONS ACT. That eventually recognized womens right to vote. It was a long hard fight that seems to have an obvious conclusion to us now, but that wasn't necessarily the case.

Phone Call Saturday Night

Bird

There are so many birds here compared to where I lived in Montreal. The noise outside my window is busy with twitters reep-cheep-cheeps and raw-caw-caws. Curious I looked up a few bird facts for the Ottawa Valley.

Barely 200,000 birds can survive the depths of winter here. But, some 5 million arrive to breed in the spring. That results in 10 million birds, Valley born all, by the end of summer. And, about 100 million birds migrate south over our heads each fall

from: Enjoying the Birds of the Ottawa Valley

List of Ontario Bird Species >

Juniper

ju-ni-per n.

Any of various evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Juniperus, having needlelike or scalelike, often pointed leaves and aromatic, bluish-gray, berrylike, seed-bearing cones.

[Middle English, from Latin iuniperus.]

To see a juniper tree in your dream, signifies happiness and wealth out of disappointments, sorrow and depressed conditions.

The most valuable medicinal qualities of juniper are as an antiseptic, especially in treating cystitis and kidney problems, as a diuretic, a carminative (ie for treating digestive upsets) and for easing muscular or joint pain in chronic conditions such as gout, arthritis and rheumatism.

As an incense or "smudge" in most rituals of purification, including the blessing of houses and other buildings and for dedicating new working areas and temples; for animals (eg welcoming and dedicating new familiars); and for purifying people, for example baby-blessing ceremonies, initiations etc. A small bunch of twigs or a few berries in a pouch can also be hung in the rafters of a building or over the lintel of the doorway as a longer-term protection.

Gin originated in Holland in the late 17th century and was brought to England by the returning soldiers around the turn of that century. It had been created as a medicine by a Dutch chemist, who had distilled from grain a spirit that he flavored with juniper berries. It was thought to have real medicinal properties, so it was sold only in druggist shops.

Western juniper provides food and cover for a variety of bird and mammal species. It is browsed to some extent by mule deer and elk. In parts of California, mule deer feed on small amounts of western juniper during winter and spring.

The very first glacial period of the Pleistocene meant the end of conifer trees (except Juniper bush) on Iceland.

Wicks made of 1/4-inch juniper branches were used in many of the 130 hand lamps found in Lascaux.

Many of the earliest prehistoric people lived in or near the pinon pine and juniper
forests which furnished them food, fuel, and wood for shelter or utensils.

Compiled at random from various web sources.

After the Rain

It rained all day yesterday and I spent a good deal of my time in it. I wasn't dressed for it and came home last night half frozen. Today was sunny with an damp earthy smell and fresh winds and ice cream clouds. Now that spring is here the sky seems to have opened up. Tonight it's clear and stars shine sharply. I can't wait for the cottage season. It won't be long until I'm sleeping by the water under the pine scented night air.

Rideau Trail Expansion

John sent me this picture that I assume he took with his new cam-phone in a n elevator in Dallas. Says john:"I thought I'd stumbled onto the Rideau trail on the way to my room." In case you missed it the Rideau trail trademarked logo is a red upward pointing wedge.

Dr. Croctupus

The crocuses have bloomed on parliament hill today. Through the ages people have wondered whether the plural of crocus should be croci, you know like octopus, octopi, and such, since it has a latin origin, but hey we speak English not Latin so it's crocuses. If it's good enough for horticulturalists, it's good enough for me. Despite being sunny and warm all day the sky turned steely gray and took on a glow that warns of a storm coming. It did start to rain while we were out for our evening walk but it was light and refreshing, just like Tab.

Firefox Foiled By Fiendish Flim-flam Foisters

One of the great thins about the firefox browser was how it blocked annoying pop up adds. The fiends who devise such things have been hard at work in order to circumvent pop-up blocking. Seems like that's twice as annoying because now they are actively disregarding my preference not to see such material, whereas before it was annoying by default. Firefox is developing a patch to deal with the new generation of pop-ups and so it goes the eternal battle of heaven and hell rages on.

The Hood

This is part of the Valley. That's Quebec on the north side of the Ottawa River with the Gatineau Hills running alongside. They are rocky old hills covered with pines. Along there base are farms that run down the gentle slopes to the river banks. On the south side of the river is Ontario. There is a ferry that takes you from Fitzroy Harbout acroos to Quyon. There use to be many ferries that traversed the river but this is the last one still in use. We take it sometimes to go to the cottage. There has been talk of building a bridge since my father was young. If you didn't want to take the ferry you would have to drive to Ottawa cross into Hull and drive back. Or you could drive west to Renfrew and cross the dam at Portage-du fort. One of my favourite beers in the world, Sgt Majors Pale Ale has it's base here. Morrison Island is a consevation area with trails open to the public. A few weeks ago Dave and I visited there and walked along the river bank (red line). We will go back in May and hike the islands themselves. One of my Uncles lives in the area as does my grandmother who will be 91 this summer. I want to post some pictures of the area but I have to get going.

Sunday Evening Phone Call