CaptainOrange

Our Modest Christmas Eve Snack It has been an unusual holiday season for our family. We have just finished having Jodi and Brad stay with us for a few days, but beyond that we had no house guests over Christmas. Normally, we expect at least two weeks of company. When added to the mild weather and absence of snow, it almost doesn't feel like we had Christmas at all. That said, I had a great holiday. I've been continuing to study flow ( as discussed last post ) and how it integrates with the Quest. As a result, I anticipate this being the most successful winter of my adult life. Whoa... talk about raising expectations. I know that February is coming, but I think (foolishly or not) that I will avoid my usual slump. Something feels different. Tender, buttery Brioche Anyhow, we had a terrific time planning out all of the goodies that we would bake this year. The girls have trouble keeping to just 5 kinds of cookies and I chafe at the thought of only making 4 types of f...

Alert! Feelings laden paragraphs ahead. If you are hear to read about me being a mad scientist or climbing something, turn around and go back to the site with the fluffy kittens doing what fluffy kittens do. I've been thinking about The Quest for a long time -- something like 21 years now. I've found that as time passes, it has become increasingly hard to hold to some of my own ideals. How do I continue to strive, to seek, to find year after year? One thing that has really bothered me lately is that activities that I once enjoyed have stopped filling me up. I feel bored. I don't care. This doesn't matter. It started out being a seasonal depressive thing (which I do believe contributes to the severity), but this last year, there were elements that stayed with me all summer. I thought it was a failing in my person -- that somehow I had changed for the worse and couldn't make myself feel the way I felt when I was twenty. This kind of thinking has never seemed like ...

I'm old enough to have started buying my music on Vinyl, though most of my collection was cassette. I only transitioned to CDs late in my university career. I kept a number of my records for 20 years after I no longer had a turntable. Eventually, they hit the dustbin along with nearly every cassette I ever bought. Did I ever own those songs? They certainly own my dreams. I feel like the songs are part of me. It doesn't seem right that I have to pay to own part of me. Ah, the success of the RIAA. Oh, yeah. This isn't a rant against the music corporations. This is a celebration of a few albums that I've rediscovered. I eventually became embarrassed with my possession of each of these. Now I've had to pay for them again. I look back and realize that I was lacking in self confidence. I found it hard to maintain or defend any opinion, not just those involving music. Styx: Kilroy Was Here My first album (1982). I was 10 years old. I know I just bought it for the...

Drive-throughs are perennial whipping boys for my ire (along with escalators). Today I walked Leora to school and decided to stop at Tim Horton's for a coffee. Being "time delighted" (as opposed to time obsessed), I ran some tests. I Spotted 13 droids in total. 3 on till, 5 on coffee/sandwiches, 1 on tables/cleaning, 2 in kitchen, 1 passing out advertising for a new product, 1 manager.  The manager told me that Friday and Saturday are busier and the staff may be as many as 15! Time trials: indoor line-up vs drive-through with the time penalty for driving displayed at the right. The most bearded James... Ever!* 3:30-6:04   -2:34 3:52-8:44   -4:52 0:50-6:32   -5:42 2:55-7:10   -4:15 4:55-8:31   -3:36 6:10-5:50* +0:20 7:12-6:51* +0:21 2:00-6:51   -4:51 1:30-6:15   -4:45 0:38-5:31   -4:53 1:01-7:44   -6:45 Notes: Trials run 8:45-10am Wednesday, Nov. 2nd Location: Cumberland and 8th. They have just widened the driv...

A couple of days ago, Wendy bought me a replica of Bilbo's sword, Sting. Needless to say I was ecstatic. The Hobbit has been my favourite story for as long as I can remember. From the time I was 10 years old, I pretty much assumed that one day a great big adventure would walk through my door and sweep me away. It was going to be a hard road and I would resist, but in the end I would wind up growing in ways I couldn't have imagined. When I got married, I began to realize that adventures come in more shapes and sizes than I had at first thought and that opportunities to save the world as we know it were relatively rare (still don't know anyone who has done it). So, we're on the subject of stories... A few weeks ago, I was asked to tell a story in front of an adult audience. This was to be part of my job at the library and I was excited. I've been enjoying the illusion that I am being paid to become a master storyteller. The mundane details of my job are bec...

Click Pic for full album Wendy tells me it has been a month since my last post. What can I say? I've been busy. I've been posting images online, but just mentioning them in Google+. I find it a much faster way to get things out than feel the pressure of creating a post about whatever it is. Okay, that's a bad excuse. I've been trying to do more writing lately... hmmm. Since my trip to Canmore with Dave, I've been doing some work for Summer Players, helping to get their current show ready. It's called A Grand Night for Singing (and it finished in town, though you could catch it this weekend in Rosthern ). It's fun and full of singing. 'Nuff said. I also... Dirty and Hazy Shot pictures in the fog... Shot some absolutely crazy pictures of wasps, spiders -- plus other odds and ends... Mike-meta The list goes on. The point being, I have not been idle. Were you concerned? But today, I want to show you my latest creations. In addition ...

doesn't look like much from space. By now, everyone I know is aware that I went to Canmore again this summer to see Dave. If you read his blog  (which I highly recommend), you would already have all the details AND they would be presented in a woodsy, mountainish way that indicates a depth of knowledge in what he is talking about. As usual, I will not attempt to indicate that I possess any technical know-how with respect to the wilderness or mountains. The only thing apparent to me is that I know how to choose good friends and that I don't let a little discomfort get in the way of a good time. In case you don't get over to his blog, I've stolen one of his nice maps to show you the route that we took during this multi-day trip. The adventure started a little early this year. Heidi N. had been staying with us in Saskatoon while she visited with Teela. She has been doing this for many years now and it is a visit to which I look forward. Last year we drove ho...