| (no subject) |
[Apr. 17th, 2009|09:54 pm] |
Say, I may not have mentioned here that I am posting stuff on Youtube these days. And since I got a (very cheap but) real camcorder at Xmas, instead of using my cellphone, they are almost watchable and have actual soundtracks. Like my latest two-part epic on maple-syruping--it's like Lord of the Rings, except in only 2 episodes which is what the movie should have been anyway. Actually it's nothing like Lord of the Rings, but the kind of people that like Nancy's videos have kind of taken to it--in fact, about 98 of them in the past 24 hours.
Blah blah, if you look on youtube for "billsdubious", you will find my stuff. Or look for, say, "How I make maple syrup on the cheap. (Part 1)" And you will find various other random things that catch my attention as I travel through this world. |
|
|
| She was 21 years old. |
[Apr. 14th, 2009|11:06 pm] |
She was a year younger than my daughter, a couple of years older than my son.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/04/14/blais-ramp-ceremony-0414.html
Take a look at that if only for the picture--looks like a highschool yearbook shot, but in fatigues. A couple of errant locks of hair.
She was only in Afghanistan for two weeks, ran into a spot of bad luck on the road near Kandahar.
Now she's dead Canadian soldier #117. Only the second young woman we've lost in that faraway death trap. But the hundred and twentieth Canadian, I think, (the soldiers, one diplomat and two aid workers).
"She was dedicated to the mission", says the eulogizing general, like they've said of a hundred and sixteen before. He says she was a future leader in the military. I guess we'll never know, eh?
Dammit. I hate to see these young lives gone, mostly courageous and idealistic, adventurous young people who want to improve the world. What a great intention.
Remember Sen John Kerry, who didn't defeat Bush in 2004? I can't tell you a damn thing he said during his campaign, but his most enduring quote was made as a 27-year-old Vietnam veteran: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
I'd be so thrilled if there was any indication this kind of sacrifice could fix Afghanistan, but it just isn't working out.
We've been there seven years and things are worse than ever, enough that the most ardent militarist politicians are weasel-wording to escape consequences when we finally escape the impossible hellhole we signed our fine young people up to try to sort out.
Dammit. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Mar. 25th, 2009|02:52 pm] |
It is obviously spring, I have to keep this short because I have sap boiling up thar. Made about 1.5 gallons of syrup so far and just starting another batch.
I got an unexpected missive from an unexpected source yesterday: the Mariner's Museum, which employed my late great-uncle Fred Hill long long ago. They have a bunch of his papers there, which someone wants to research but they need permission from a family member to show them to anyone! Uncle Fred died in 1975 and the museum people long ago lost track of his relatives (he had no children as far as I know), but they know how to Google! So they found a post I made years ago on the Mudcat Cafe ( mudcat.org is the best general folk music website there is, for lyrics, information and making new friends) concerning Uncle Fred's interesting dual career--before he worked at the museum, he was, um, a successful rum-runner. Now I guess they know about that too. I emailed the person from the museum and I'm waiting to hear back. Possibly the most surprising e-mail I ever got. I guess I'll have to travel to Newport News and have a look at Fred's papers--I don't know what's so confidential. Maybe there's more family scandal I don't know about. They're pretty good at hiding the dirt, my mom's family anyway. (On my dad's side, it's all rather visible.)
Gotta go check on da boil. |
|
|
| Adventures in Winter Thespianism. |
[Feb. 21st, 2009|09:15 am] |
OK, in case you were wondering, I am officially tired of winter now. It is a good thing February has fewer days than other months, because it is definitely the longest month anyway. Weekly skiing keeps me sane, but I am ready for it to warm up, like soon please.
In the end, I had a good time acting in The Producers. I played 8 characters with all of 2 spoken lines between them, plus one mandolin part and a bunch of chorus-singing. I even shaved my moustache so I could wear a grease-paint one to be Donald Dork the hapless Little Wooden Boy auditioner, and otherwise clean-faced as befits a little old lady or Rolf the Stormtrooper. I guess I learned a bunch of stuff, I'm just not sure what it was.
A lot of the cast is rolling straight into Grease, but I have other fish to fry--gotta get the band working again, and speaking of working, I can't afford anymore time off. Anyway I have no affinity for 50's stuff.
Look! It's Blind Bill Martino, down on his luck on Broadway!
Speaking of blindness, I finally got some reading glasses. Whaddaya know, they work! Newspaper print has been shrinking ridiculously the past few years, at least from my perspective. |
|
|
| Now hear this...no slagging of New Brunswick! |
[Jan. 28th, 2009|12:03 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
Now I didn't want to be doing this, but a certain acquaintance (lets call her Ms L) recently stated, based on limited experience, that New Brunswick "is very boring." That is so not true that I had to drop everything and dig up and edit and post some photos. (This saved me from doing some actual work I was feeling obliged to undertake.) Of course Ms L also stated "I think I'll be able to see the ocean from Moncton", a conjecture that does not enhance her credibility. Finally, our correspondent casually implied that the New Brunswick lifestyle (somewhat leisurely) is suitable for "old people". Well, OK, that part's true, but you can be old and leisurely at any age.
You can hang around at Deer Island...
You can watch these cool little ferries they have that are actually a small tugboat lashed to a barge...incidentally, this ferry is passing right over a peculiar phenomenon called "The Old Sow" which is reported to be the largest tidal whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere...not very active at the time of the photo. The green point on the right, quite close by, is Eastport, Maine, so I don't understand why Stephen King has never made use of the Old Sow.
Or you can take your grandma birdwatching...
All these delights and more await you in the very unboring province of New Brunswick. (In winter, not so much.) |
|
|
| A night of firsts... |
[Jan. 25th, 2009|11:53 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Music From the Glen (CKCU's Celtic music show) | ] |
Last night The Skirmish played our first gig in over six months. It was a Burns Supper night at good ol' O'Reilly's. It was the first:- Burns Supper I ever attended, or played at
- Rugby Club event I ever played
- time I ever wore a kilt in public.
- haggis I ever consumed!
And I call myself a Scottish-Canadian folksinger! Geez. OK, first, about the kilt. I cheated in a most dirty lowdown but practical way, I wore it over green cords. So sue me, it was minus 10 Fahrenheit and I'm a musician not a masochist. Anyway I wore the damn kilt. And I liked it. Refused several demands to remove the pants.
I have always been wary of the rugby scene attached to most Irish pubs--not my cup of tea, I don't do sports bars and for my money football is the stupidest sport on earth and rugby is far too similar for my liking. (I just don't enjoy getting beat up and it all flashes back to high school gym class). But hey, they treated us well, dinner and drinks and generally complimentary applause. Linda, an experienced rugby scene-maker, was a tad disappointed, apparently it was the politest most restrained rugby-club social event she ever attended. (No male nudity for example although we did learn some interesting Gaelic phraseology and Burns' facility for filthy double entendre).
Two days before the show was my dad's birthday--born in Glasgow 95 years ago, no kidding! He cashed his cheque back in 2001, but I felt his presence, he would have really enjoyed most of the evening, whiskey and conviviality and Gaelic instruction.
We don't have bookings yet for St Patricks Day, (falling inconveniently on a Tuesday this year) but we're looking and will probably be into the Ottawa pubs again...maybe O'Reilly's too.
www.myspace.com/theskirmish
some older recordings at
www.myspace.com/theseldomheard
|
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Jan. 10th, 2009|10:12 am] |
I never, ever do these, but it's frickin cold out and this is warmer than going to the dump (Pardon me, waste transfer site and recycling centre), which I am going to do anyway. Nicked from Hillevi, and I am going to recycle some of her answers too! (In bold just to keep the record straight.
1. What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Dealt with the sudden death of a really close friend.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t do those things.
3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
We spent it at Gary Cindy Cedar Melissa and Mac's party. (Our beloved neighbours).
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes.
5. What countries did you visit?
United States, two or three times.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Ummmm.
7. What date from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
February 26, coming home from my 14-hour drive to receive first one, then several more calls to tell me Dave died.
Followed closely by Friday Feb 29, the follow-up from hell, dealing with all the emotions, many phone calls, while driving to Toronto and then the van broke down in Port Perry in a blizzard on the way back (while I'm on the phone with one of D's old friends "...sorry, hold on, the van won't start...". Even my back-up plan (check into the cheap motel a staggering block from the bars and patronize the latter till last call) didn't work, cause the only motel turned out to be like 10 miles out of town. Meanwhile back at the ranch number-one-son cracked up my car on his way home from work. Also, my best friend's dead.
That whole week was the worst ever.
8. What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Good question. First class enquiry in fact. I'd have to say it was working with Dave's family to put together a good memorial service
at our community arts centre.
And certainly, getting my mom (age 92) moved into a good seniors residence.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not dealing with any of the chaos at Dragonfly.
And I lost my mom a bunch of money in the stock market while trying to green her portfolio. (Not entirely my fault and I'm not completely sorry I did it.)
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
The usual back outages. I stepped on an electrical staple in a sock foot and gimped around for a couple of weeks. Those suckers are NASTY! No notable illnesses, as usual.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Trinity College Octave Mandolin.
12. Where did most of your money go?
In terms of dispoable income (ha) you know, it went to my fondness for good beer.
13. What song will always remind you of 2008?
"When I'm Gone" by Phil Ochs.
14. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Sleeping.
Also skiing and kayaking.
15. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Watching TV and wasting time on the Net.
16. What was your favorite TV program?
Still Slings and Arrows, but nothing new there.
17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope.
Pretty much the same idiots and villains as 12 months ago..
18. What was the best book you read?
God I am so lacking in culture any more.
19. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Schatten Design. They make pickups. Like the one I got for my octave mandolin. The only other great discovery was that my kids are writing songs and putting them on Youtube. Go you crazy hippie kids.
20. What was your favorite film of this year?
It wasn't a great year for film.
21. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Worked. 52.
22. What kept you sane?
The love of a good woman, and knowing that people were counting on me.
23. Who did you miss?
Dave. And my dad.
24. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm not sure I met any new people of significance to me (yet). I sure re-met a lot of them. I'm not naming names.Sue me.
25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
People die suddenly without warning at any age. Don't take your loved ones for granted. It can get to be too late.
Now if you'll excuse me I think I can get to the Waste Transfer Site without freezing my rims off, and I just have time before they close. They shouldn't close at noon, it's irritating.
|
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Dec. 15th, 2008|11:22 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  complacent | ] |
Vern is doing much better, still in the hospital though. He is waiting for transfer to an extended-care facility. Hopefully one near Mom's senior's residence, since the downside is that he won't be eligible to return to that independent-living status. But he's back to being that get-me-out-of-here curmudgeon we know and love. The staff apprehended him heading for the elevator a few days ago, making a break for it.
It is raining like crap on toast today. Christmas is descending on us like a herd of ill-mannered beasts. I love my family and friends and all that but I really don't care for this season, specially in weather like this. It'll be nice to have Emily home though. http://allisonianemmet.blogspot.com/ is her new blog...check it out. One thing I'll say for her, she is not stingy with the wordcount, always a good read.
I was going to go see Mom today but just found out her building is quarantined due to illness--a routine occurrence in seniors' residences. She is bored silly (downright grumpy that her morning paper disappeared outside her door). Oh dear oh well. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Nov. 11th, 2008|05:37 am] |
My stepfather Vern has been in and out of the hospital this fall. At this point he is in again and it looks like he might not pull through. He's weak and at best semi-conscious.
I feel like I just went through this with my dad but that was seven years ago. Ah well, Mom and Vern have had a lovely time together the past six years.
It must be depressing to read my journal, my few posts this year are all about people dying. Just a month or so ago I took Mom and Vern to visit Beechwood Cemetery where their respective former spouses are at rest, as they say, and not too far apart. That's what passes for a good outing when you're old. Pray don't think me cynical. It's just how it seems. Well hell, I go visit Dad there on my own too.
Vern's a lovely man and has done my mom a world of good, and I hate the thought of losing him. But I guess we'd better be ready. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Oct. 20th, 2008|07:05 am] |
It's time I posted something, so I won't have a July date staring at me accusingly every time I log on to see what my friends have been writing.
Besides, I should be getting ready for work, so I get procrastination points.
Since I last posted here, I have:
-made logs into lumber into a new deck
-been in a vehicular accident at work then got a raise the next week
-gotten my mom and stepdad moved into a seniors' residence
-missed Dave
-been down East
-swung into fall
-hardly picked up an instrument at all
-stained 3/4 of our house (in a good way)
-wondered what I am doing with my life
This is my family in the caves at St Martins. One of my favourite places. This is on the Bay of Fundy at low tide. The previous time we were in this cave it was Keith and me in kayaks.
 |
|
|
| That was a trip, or something |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|05:45 am] |
I took my mom to Massachusetts for my Aunt Fran's funeral. Fran was Mom's youngest sister, a mere 85 to her 92.
Three and a half days away for a three-hour event, ah well, it only happens once. It was fun to see a pile of my cousins, briefly. I couldn't help but notice that most of my cousins have adult children and I think in fact that about half of them (on my mom's side) are grandparents by now...does this prove anything? Probably just that I'm the youngest (at 51).
It rained a whole lot on our road trip. Splash, splash, splash. The funeral service was at a church right next to the famed Walden Pond. Ironic pictures to follow when I get them off the camera--right now I'm off to work again. Teranna here I come. |
|
|
| All of a sudden it was June... |
[Jun. 12th, 2008|12:17 pm] |
If it's a really hot day this might seem hard to believe...from a few short months ago. The weird trip-hop soundtrack is a mutilation of the actual voice track, wherein I'm describing what's under each blob of snow...Dave's truck, my old Mazda, my car...etc. It sounds arguable better than the original, maybe.
Don't you feel cooler already? |
|
|
| That was the weekend that was... |
[Mar. 19th, 2008|11:11 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
St Patty's Day started on saturday with a house party gig--went great, they loved us, they especially loved the old Lightfoot & Tyson material we did at the hostesses request. I'll play those songs anytime but they rarely get such an enthused response.
Monday we had our marathon of upscale pub gigs. At the first gig, the uptown Darcy McGee's which is sort of a politico hangout, I was sure Jack Layton was drinking beer right in front of us, but I asked him and he wasn't. (Wasn't Jack Layton). It's more a Tory hangout, as I understand.
Between shows I went and saw Mom and played some songs for her, too. She liked them.
At night we played the other Darcy's in the west end. It went OK but was the quietest St Pat's Day night I've ever seen. Place was dead by midnight. There should be legislation preventing March 17 from falling on a Monday, it hurts the economy.
Tuesday I finally went skiing, by myself. The skiing was great but I was kinda lonesome, specially on the chairlift, missing my ski buddies living and dead. Think I'll ask Dave's stepdad to go with me if I get another chance this year. It's near the end.
Here's a happier time, me and Dave from last year. He did get his glasses fixed...
 |
|
|
| Here's one of Dave |
[Mar. 2nd, 2008|12:12 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  grateful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | grateful dead I suppose! | ] |
This is from 2003. After my Dad died I needed a project so I expanded our storage shed into a shop, but it was a couple of years before I was ready to frame the roof properly (having just slapped a very temporary shed roof over the thing). I wanted to frame a saltbox roof but didn't really know how. Dave was visiting that winter and decided to frame it for me. He took all the rough lumber and old materials I had and built custom trusses for the whole building. Then I was away in Nova Scotia for a week with the fiddle orchestra, and when I got back, there he was, tearing the old roof off the shop already whether I was there or not! We put the trusses and strapping up, and put the metal on together and it's a damn fine roof. That's the kind of friend he was to me.
And he was a damn good, resourceful carpenter. |
|
|
| More pointless video |
[Feb. 24th, 2008|07:40 pm] |
Two more slices of my life--a couple of scenes from my Toronto run. The first one is the sixty seconds a week on Albany St taking the Jane Jacobs Memorial Shortcut. (Listen and you'll understand).
The second one is a look at a sight I have always glimpsed but never checked out till now--a collection of dilapidated railcars on a siding in Uxbridge. ironically enough, the sign I mention at the beginning claims "Trains are now using this crossing". Maybe in 1944. Gotta say, my camerawork is not the best on this--I really do pay more attention to my driving (I am not F F Coppola but also not a complete idiot!)
I must say this posting-videos deal is much too easy--hacks like me can do it in no time. |
|
|
| A Great Canadian Songwriter |
[Feb. 17th, 2008|10:44 am] |
The latest bad news to come over the wire: Willie P Bennett died on Friday. Not much detail publicly released yet, just this:
"It is with pain in our hearts and deep sadness that we formally inform the maplepost music community that our friend, lover, troubadour, mentor, and musical artist Willie P. Bennett suddenly passed away at his home in Peterborough Ontario, Friday February 15th 2008.
More information will be available soon at the discretion of Willie's partner Linda and the Bennett family.
Robin MacIntyre
info@macsmusic.ca"
Willie wrote songs with as much heart and soul in them as any songwriter ever. He had a heart attack last year (on stage with Fred, then finished the set AND helped load out before going to the doctor) but was recovering well as far as was known.
"There's no sense thinking that you won't get caught
When your lucky streak's been runnin' hot;
I couldn't swim but I started across hangin onto the branches of a hollow log
The log hit a rock and I went to the bottom,
And my body washed up there late last autumn
But my spirit still lingers by the cool dark water
That touches the skin of Ferguson's daughter.
The Caney Fork River, the Caney Fork River,
Like water everywhere it's a taker and a giver,
She touched it to her body, she touched it to her lips,
I wish I was the Caney Fork River.
-W. P. Bennett"
When I think about it, Willie wrote more potential epitaphs than would fit on any stone.
Damn. |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Feb. 9th, 2008|09:48 am] |
So, I got a new cellphone and took it skiing and figured out how to use the camcorder function and saved a couple of clips and put em on Youtube. It's like I've joined the 21st century or something.
(hey, it works!)
Next I concluded that skiing videos are more interesting with people in them. So here is Sandy McNulty showin off her style:
I don't think I'll make a habit of this since the point of skiing is to be cool, and when you ski waving a cellphone around AND talking into it, you just look like a dork. However, next time I run into a situation that calls for video documentation on the fly, I'll be ready! |
|
|
| One weird looking day out there |
[Jan. 30th, 2008|08:36 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  frustrated | ] |
Today it started several degrees above zero, and raining a bit, but with dire weather warnings about impending flash freeze and 60-100km/hr winds blasting from the frozen southwest (?). Along with more freezing rain, probably some snow, and eventually just rain. Its just about down to freezing now. All this weather activity is just too damn bad cause I have to go to Ottawa. Mom was on her own yesterday and is counting on me. I guess I'll take a change of clothes and my chainsaw (she has lots of trees that potentially could be damaged in this kind of weather.) Hey we just celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Great Ice Storm of 98. No redux thanks very much.
This lifestyle is wearing on me a bit. |
|
|
| Dog-0meter report |
[Jan. 20th, 2008|09:26 am] |
It's so friggin cold I let the dog out and she came in voluntarily an hour later.
If you know our lovely, hopelessly untrainable mutt Lily, you know how cold that is. Minus twenty Fahrenheit will do it. That's an official measure of cold around here. Normally we don't let her loose at all cause she'll just run around the neighbourhood like a guided-missile with a system failure, for half a day at least. You just see her zooming by occasionally and if I call her she just looks at me, shakes her head, turns and gallops off, ears a-flappin.
Only colder weather then let-dog-out is "Molly's car won't start" cold. Her 2002 Esteem took just a few moments to catch, good thing too cause it still has the original battery which I didn't think would make it through this winter.
In other news, The Skirmish is rehearsing again and we have two St Pat's Day gigs lined up at the swanky Ottawa Darcy McGee's Pub(s).
www.myspace.com/theskirmish
My American friends will no doubt be fascinated to know that Thomas Darcy McGee was until 1970 (FLQ October Crisis) the only polician ever assassinated in Canada. That's what we learned in the 60's, after that they had to change all the textbooks. He was a fascinating character in the early history of Canada, an Irish expatriate and a great orator. He was shot on Sparks Street (the pub is there) in 1868, and a Fenian sympathizer named Patrick Whelan was convicted and hanged for the crime--a verdict which remains controversial. In fact Whelan's ghost is said to haunt the old Bytown Jail, which was a youth hostel for many years so you may have slept uneasily there in your footloose years. Now you know why. (Well, converted 19th century jail cells aren't the most comfortable accommodation anyway.) |
|
|
| Benazir Bhutto Assassinated! |
[Dec. 27th, 2007|09:07 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  angry | ] |
I was shocked to see on cbc.ca just now that Ms Bhutto was killed at a rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Ain't that a kick in the head.
She was a woman of huge courage and moderate views--the great hope as a civilizing trend in Pakistan and by extension Afghanistan.
This has now been reported on http://news.bbc.co.uk/ , cbc.ca and cnn.com and has been reported both from a Bhutto supporter and from a military official of the Musharraf regime, so it looks like solid breaking news.
The attack was apparently a combined shooting and suicide bombing and she was shot in the neck before the bomb went off.
This is going to throw Pakistan into complete chaos and god knows what the interational military implications are.
It's December 27 folks--and this is the news story of the year. |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
bcameron's journal