(though this week they'll hardly be quick)
1. If my life were other than what it is, then that St. Valentine's Day occured in 7 Quick Takes week 30, or XXX, would perhaps be
appropos. I almost wish I could claim to have counted it out in advance and specifically planned for this sort of synchronicity, but, alas, I can claim no such thing. And, since my life is what it is and isn't what it isn't, nothing occured this St. Valentine's Day that would make even a single X rating applicable. Sorry that I can't provide your excitement for the day.
(Actually, for future reference, if anything ever were to happen which might deserve an X rating, you'd never hear of it.)
2. This past weekend, as you know,
I went with the folks to Fort Chipewyan. In Alberta and now some other Canadian provinces, this Monday was Family Day, which is I think a civic holiday, which at the very least means that I didn't work. As with most three-day weekends, we left to go do something.
So, the trip to Fort Chip went something like this: on Saturday we drove north on the Winter-Access Road for five-to-six hours, seeing on the way a grouse and some ptarmigan, not to mention awesome environments. We arrived in Fort Chipewyan and went into our accomadations--the Northern Lights Bed and Breakfast--which was a nice though modestly-sixed house decorated mainly with aboriginal artwork. I stayed in the Bison's Guest Room.
That afternoon we went
dogsled riding and learned all sorts of things, and got to play with
husky puppies. The puppies were one sixteenth wolf, which the owner says doesn't really mean anything at all. By the time you breed the agression out of dog-wolf hybrids, you've lost any genetic advantages the wolf ancestry might have. The father of these pups (one eight wolf) was simply a very good sled dog, and the owner did not want to lose those genes. Anyway, if you're ever in Fort Chipewyan, give Robert Grandjambe a call. If you think you're headed that way, contact me and I'll set you up with his phone number.
On Sunday we tried to drive to Fort Smith and the Northwest Territories border, but failed to get there. The roads were so rough that we were forced to drive at about 35-40 km per hour, which doesn't make trips go any quicker. We, alas, saw no bison or moose, notwithstanding being in Wood Buffalo National Park. We did see bison tracks, and we saw the Peace River. I will sometime get photos of the drive onto this blog.
Sunday afternoon we returned to town and visited the museum there. It was small, but they had some cool stuff, including a beaver-paw purse and a Chipewyan syllabic typewriter. Also, we went to the top of the hill behind the museum to see the cairn and to look over the Lake Athabasca. In so doing I stood on some exposed Canadian Shield, which made me happier than you'd likely imagine. I did not spend much of my life on the Canadian Shield, living just south of it; this being said, I have always for some reason been attached to it, and to the exposed rock of northern Ontario, and so standing on that same geological formation seemed like a connection to my distant homeprovince. Also, it has "Canadian" it in, and for some reason I'm right now really into Canadiana.
Anyway, we also visited the church, drove around town, and ate at the Lodge, which Lodge
burnt to the ground a day or so after we left.
What I learned about Fort Chip is that their likely-government-subsidized housing looks boring on the outside but may nonetheless be quite nice on the inside; that their cemetary has primarily wooden crosses and many of the plots are individually surrounded by picket fences and may have covers; that Fort Chipewyan has just as many ravens as Fort McMurray; and that Fort Chipewyan, like Fort McMurray, is fit in and around hills and so appears smaller at first glance than it really is.
We drove home on Monday, a drive during which I mainly felt nauseated and slept, though I did pen
a sonnet before conking out.
3.
All this week has been sunny and mild. With the exception of today, snow has been melting off of the boardwalks at work. It's been deceptively spring-like, and memories of Fort McMurray in the summer have been pounding through my blood. Disappointment is coming, I am sure, as we aren't through with winter yet. This being said, I cannot wait for spring. Except when I'm doing awesome winter things, like dogsledding, or when I am seeing
the feather-prints of ravens in the snow. This happens daily now.
4.
I have now read some of those other library books, including most of the Best Canadian Short Stories 08 and the pre-Tolkien fantasy stories. The latter are quite fun, to be honest with you. I hadn't expected them to be as good as they are. Hopefully I'll have the time and inclination to discuss them with you. In a later post.
5. Wednesday, as I am sure a good number of my regular readers will know, was Ash Wednesday. This is the first year that I've attended an Ash Wednesday service since I was confirmed, which was about eight or nine years ago. I went to church early, as it turned out, and was about to leave because no one was there. However, the priest and her husband pulled in just before I would have resolved to leave and informed me that service was in fact forty-five minutes later than I had thought.
I was also invited to serve. I realize that at this point some of you will be thinking, "Here we must listen to how he served yet again," and you are quite right. You must.
This time I was asked to read the Litany of Penitence, which is very solemn and, well, penitent. I was also told I might be asked to give one of the readers, depending on whether anyone from the guest churches had been asked to read. (On important but low-attendence events like this, local churches will alternate holding services, with all of the priests or ministers presiding in whichever church is hosting it.) Rev. Lesley told me that David was here, so I wouldn't be expected to preach, and I said that that was a good thing because I'd forgotten to prepare a sermon. By the time we were ready to start, five of us--our priest, two other ministers, the deacon, and myself--were joking and laughing quite a bit. One of the other ministers was greeting people with "Solemn Ash Wednesday" rather than "Happy Ash Wednesday," but the rest of us were having an awfully hard time being solemn.
This is important, personally, because here I was, a young guy and a new one to town, and I was able to stand and joke around with four ordained members of the church, all mature and congregationally important people. I felt like I was invited to hang out with the big kids, and we all know how great that feels.
And then, when the time came, I read the Litany of Repentence, though I hadn't expected to be reading it from a kneeling position. My knees were very vividly remembering when I had abused them so badly
on the ship's decks. I nonetheless found that I could project my voice from that posture and I was very solemn and penitent. I do hope I helped convey the emotion of the responsive reading. It can be very difficult to worship to a drone, I know. Not that anyone in our church is guilty of that.
Well, there's more to say, but I'll move onto another point because this hasn't been quick at all.
6. I have found more blogs to read, which is a terrible, terrible thing. I have too many to read as is.
7. Hmmm. What else to say? Other than what I've said, there isn't a whole lot going on with me. So I'll stop #7 now to make up for the monstrously bloated numbers 2 and 5.
