When I was a child, Fridays used to be my favourite day of the week. Not much could equal the exhilaration of that 3 p.m. escape from school that heralded what seemed like endless hours of weekend freedom, and there was nothing like the day it was coupled with the end-of -June release into summer [...]
Archive for July, 2009
On Fridays, Endings and Beginnings
Posted in Canadian Space Program, Life, Writing, tagged Albion Ferry, Bob Thirsk, Canadian Space Program, Completion of Work, Endeavour, Julie Payette, Space Shuttle, Writing on July 31, 2009 | 7 Comments »
“The Grandpappy of All Heat Waves”
Posted in Environment, Nature, Summer, Writing, tagged Heat wave, Record breaking heat, Writing on July 28, 2009 | 21 Comments »
There aren’t many things in life I detest but extreme heat is one of them. If I listen carefully I’m sure that’s the crackling of invisible flames I hear as the valley simmers in today’s sunshine. “The grandpappy of all heat waves,” quipped the TV meteorologist this morning, predicting it will last another week.
Sidewalks shimmer [...]
Summer Storm
Posted in Seasons, Summer, tagged Storm, Summer, Thunder and Lightning on July 26, 2009 | 10 Comments »
Summer air, heavy with unshed humidity, stifles the usual evening sounds. Breezes that were making the 31o heat bearable suddenly die and birds disappear into their woodland sanctuaries leaving an ominous silence.
It’s still two hours before sunset but I flick on lamps to fend off the darkness as purple-black clouds obliterate the sun. The dog paces [...]
The Writers’ Community
Posted in Community, Writing, tagged Ben Nuttall-Smith, Community, Encouragement, Federation of BC Writers, Fraser Valley, Networking, Writing on July 25, 2009 | 9 Comments »
Community is isn’t always what we think it is. The first definition that comes to mind is usually a neighbourhood – people who have little in common except that they happen to live on the same street. In the church we refer to the Christian community where there is a faith-based kinship. But what is [...]
A Look at Earth From Space
Posted in Environment, tagged Astronaut Photos, Earth, Space, Sunita Williams on July 21, 2009 | 8 Comments »
A powerpoint document has been circulating via e-mail
with remarkable pictures of earth
taken in space by astronaut Sunita Williams. Check it out:
Pictures_Of_Earth
Can It Be Forty Years Ago?
Posted in Canadian Space Program, Religion, Time, tagged Apollo 11, History, Moonwalk, NASA, Space program on July 20, 2009 | 6 Comments »
In an earlier post I mentioned why I am particularly fascinated with the current space mission and I’ve been following each day’s highlights on NASA Television.
Years slide by faster than most of us can keep track… often faster than we would like. When something jogs memory we look back at incidents that surely happened only [...]
Glorious Colour or Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud?
Posted in Religion, Writing, tagged Colour, Donald Swann, Jack Whyte, Light, Michael Flanders, Stained Glass, Words, Writing on July 16, 2009 | 8 Comments »
With apologies to Jack Whyte (from whom I learned the song) and Flanders and Swann (who wrote the lyrics), I could think of no better title for today’s post.
There’s no getting around it. Colour affects me. I’m forever remarking on the multitude of greens in the early spring, or trying to describe the perfect tint [...]
One Piece (Word) at a Time
Posted in Environment, Home, Nature, Writing, tagged Goals, Tree falling, Wood splitting, Words, Writing on July 13, 2009 | 10 Comments »
Last fall two trees came down on our acreage and this spring two more needed to be removed—three tall fir and hemlock trees bordering the creek plus an alder that resided in its midst. The trunks were chainsawed into chunks and transported to our driveway where the pile of wood grew to a daunting height. [...]
Writing Delay Tactics Revisited
Posted in Community, Computers, Time, Writing, tagged blogging, Delay tactics, Facebook, Muse, Networking, Rachelle Gardner, Twitter, Writer's Block, Writing on July 11, 2009 | 10 Comments »
Yesterday Rachelle Gardner gave her readers an opportunity to share how they use (or don’t use) social media such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and how they cope with the resulting time drain. Responses ran from those who interact via blogging but see anything else as a waste of time, to those who utilize [...]
Contemplating the Must-Haves of a Writing Website
Posted in Computers, Writing, tagged blogging, Jordan McCollum, Nathan Bransford, Websites, Writers on July 9, 2009 | 7 Comments »
In Nathan Bransford’s absence this week, his guest bloggers have been providing commentary on a variety of topics. Today Jordan McCollum wrote about “The Top 7 Things Every Aspiring Author’s Website Must Have.” I read it with interest, made a comment and slipped away to attend to non-computer things. But it wasn’t long before I was [...]
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