You know, there are a lot of sounds from my childhood that I miss. What got me thinking about this was the neighbour mowing the lawn today and then apologizing to me since he noticed I was on the deck, reading. He thought it might be annoying to me. It wasn't, not really, because I have always liked the summer sound of a lawn being mowed. Then, I thought to myself: "Well, not THIS sound, not this roar and rumble of gas mowers. What I liked was the chittering sound of those old push mowers, that tinny sort of musical sound. THAT'S what I like." And I liked the tingley jingle of the Ice Cream Truck, and the rythmic murmer, "swish-shoosh, swish-swoosh" of the old wringer washer that my Mom used ("Don't get any closer...you'll get your arm caught in the wringers and it will get torn right off!") Every Mom had a horror story about someones child/neighbour/relation who had that arm torn right off. And the sound of my Dad making popcorn...not microwave popcorn, not even the hot air poppers, and certainly not Jiffy-pop (that was for camping only...the other two types were unthought of at that time.) but the tinny scrape of the heavy cast pot that Dad used for "real" popcorn. He'd put oil in the pot and then drop in three kernels. As soon as one popped, you knew the oil was hot enough and you had to quickly dump in the rest of the kernels and then put the lid on and shake and shake and shake until all the popping was done. Then it was quickly dumped in a large brown paper bag, salt & melted butter added and shaken until all the kernels were coated with melty goodness. Everyone had a cupboard that was filled with folded paper bags, we got them with our groceries, no plastic back then.

I wonder what sounds today's kids will remember? The chime of a computer starting up? The beeps of their favorite Playstation game? How about the "ding" of the microwave announcing that dinner is ready...or the chime/buzz/humm/Dixie Chick song/ of their infernal cell phone?

Have I told you about Riley, our neighbour's dog? He used to be just terrified of Gypsy (don't know why, it's not like they ever had any sort of confrontation) He wouldn't even walk on the same side of the road as she was on. Anyhow, since she left to go and live the big city life, he has been feeling much more comfortable around our house. The last few weeks he even comes to visit, has a little sleep sometimes and then wanders off home. This morning Steven went to check the mail, and there he was, just waiting to be invited in for a biscuit!

Do you recall a few months ago, well, probably last September, I wrote about a small doe we had seen a few times who had no tail and claw marks on her side? Steven said she had been attacked by a coyote, possibly a cougar. We wondered if she would be ok. Well, we saw her today (still tailess!) with her wounds all healed and a baby by her side. Mother Nature is indeed wonderful.

WHO LIVED HERE?

We went for a ride in the bush the other evening, ostensibly to look for deer trails for the upcoming hunting season, however I like to just go to see what we can see. You know, like the bear who climbed over the mountain. "Just to see what he could see."

Driving along a road that was not more than a slight indentation in the long grass, we came to this leftover bit of a house. Steven had been here before and said that there was a water-hole just up the hill, and he wanted to look for tracks. It nearly did me in to walk up this hill, I think it was almost 90 degrees straight up and it was so muggy out, but at the top there was this little green pond, and I instantly fell into "fantasy mode." I wondered who had lived here, and when, and if they climbed this hill to fill their bucket with water. They must have, we were nowhere near a river or lake. Who would live so far from water? The pond was tiny and smelled of sulphur and it was covered with algae, but it looked like the kind of place where wood sprites and faeries would frolic. Maybe the person who lived here was a witch?

I could imagine someone living here, a small smokey fire burning all the time and dried herbs and mushrooms hanging from the rafters. There would be a black pot over the fire and something would be bubbling in it all the time.

It was nice the way the sun shone through the trees and you couldn't see any path or trail at all. It was a very peaceful spot.

The beginning of the show. It was 45 minutes of intricate dance and music, watching the horses and riders perform was pretty amazing. The choreography was spectacular. There are 36 riders and their horses, but only 32 perform. The first recorded musical ride was 1887, so we have over 100 years of RCMP tradition happening here. Now they do routines to all sorts of music, James Bond, Hockey Night in Canada, Riverdance, Ghost Riders in the Sky and more. It certainly had the audience clapping and "yahoo-ing."

The riders are first and foremost policemen/women, and after 2 years of active police work they can volunteer for the Musical Ride. Their duration is 3 years, I'm not sure why, to give others a chance I suppose.

Rain or no rain?

Hopefully this little clip will turn out, you may have to enlarge it. At the end of The Musical Ride, with only minutes to go, the clouds blew in and it started to rain, one of those real torrential downpours, but you can see as I pan my camera across the arena that it only rained on half the arena. Funny!

A few pictures of the Musical Ride. I have been trying to download a little video clip, but it just won't work.

Notice the maple leaf on the flank of this horse. Each horse has the same thing, they use a stencil and wet the hair and then brush it the wrong way so that it dries like this.