One Perfect Christmas Tree

Just fiddling around with my camera settings..I sort of like this, bit of colour and bit of B & W.

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN EVERYBODY!!

Synesthesia is pale yellow

Anyone ever heard of "synesthesia?" I have always had it, but never knew what it was, or, for that matter, even knew I had it. Or what it was. I thought everyone had it. Or no one. What? Curious?

For as long as I can remember, words and letters and numbers have had colours "attached" to them. That is to say, when I say a word (or letter, or number) I see a colour. I thought everyone did. For example, "chair" is sort of peachy-orange. "Dog" is dark black, "rug" is sort of rusty red. It's a little confusing because it depends on how many syllables a word has, "tempermental" is orange-ish and also sort of gun-metal gray. Sometimes a colour that I see doesn't actually exist, it's like a new colour that I can't explain. A "cross-colour" I guess. And the colours never change. "Box" has always been shades of blue, "garage" has always been a gray-red (one of those non-existant colours)

No, I haven't been drinking or going without sleep or sneaking the dogs prescription medicine.

Synesthesia, so I have recently learned, is a neurologically based phenomena. It means "joined perception", basically 2 of your 5 senses are combined. "They" say that us synesthetics are more prone to be artistic and imaginative that others...I guess that's as good as any excuse for my wild flights of fantasy.

I always thought that everyone saw colour when they spoke, and I remember being about 8 or so and saying something to my mother about Christmas being "orange", which struck me as odd because shouldn't it be red and green? I was quite amazed when she said she didn't see these colours, although my Grandmother did.

I didn't really think about it, it was just one of those things, but a few months ago there was a program on TV about people with synesthesia and I was quite happy to know that I'm not totally crazy. Or, any craziness I have has nothing to do with seeing colours. And just to reassure you, I don't hear voices...at least not yet....

There are two kinds of bookstores, the ones like Chapters that are immense and have every imaginable book you could ever want...a person could spend days in one. But they are pretty overwhelming and a person can ramble and roam for hours and not find what you want. I have had that problem myself at the one in Victoria. It's 3 huge floors of tantalizing sections...do I want Travel, or Recent Bestsellers, or Non-fiction, or Staff Picks, or Sci-Fi or..or..or...TOO MUCH! I am a "small bookstore person", or at the least, an "old building bookstore person". Munro's in Victoria fits that description, as a matter of fact, it has been called "Canada's most magnificent bookstore" by more than one acclaimed author. It was built as a bank in 1909 and has retained many of the original features. But what I like about these old building are the sounds they make...the creak of the wooden floors are you walk on them caused (perhaps) by years of dust settling in the cracks, and I like the aroma of old buildings, I don't think it can be compared to anything, it's a fragrance all to itself...a mixture of books, dust, wood and time.

When we were in Bonner's Ferry last week we went "downtown" and on their little main street they have an old bookstore. When you open the door, it creaks on it's hinges and a small bell rings. The Eau De Bookstore is very strong and the first thing you see are high wooden shelves crammed with books, both new and used, side by side. The store is narrow and long, with only 2 aisles, you walk up one and once you get to the end, you turn around and walk down the other. There are small scatter rugs here and there that give it a feeling of hominess and big, old wingback chairs stuck in the odd corner here and there, I think it you hit one, clouds of dust would fly up into the air. There was no music playing, which is how a bookstore should be...none of these "panpipes" and "sounds of nature" tapes in the background...just silence. It transported me back to the bookstores of my childhood. (Ok, that's not true at all, but it sort of sounded nice, and in a blog you are allowed all the literary lisence that you want.) I wandered around and didn't really see anything that struck my fancy until I suddenly thought of 2 of my all time favorite books as a kid (that part is true!) I asked the proprietor (and there is no other word for him...he was not a store owner or manager or sales clerk...he was a slim, gray haired man wearing black pants, white shirt and a vest...seriously!) if he had a copy of "A Wrinkle in Time" and he zipped right over to a section, and showed me 2 copies..one used and one new. Of course I chose the used, a favorite book needs to be shared and loved, and I like the idea that some other person (hopefully) read this book time and again and loved it as much as I did when I was a kid. I don't know what ever happened to my copy but I'll bet I read it 3 or 4 times a year, every year, for years. Then I remembered Ray Bradburys "Dandelion Wine", which is the ultimate "coming of age" book, and that is one of my favorite genres. He raced down to the Sci-fi area, exclaiming: "This is my all time favorite book..ever!" Again there were two copies, new and used, so of course I once again took the used.

I paid (a total of $4.00) and left his little haven, happily clutching my treasures. I haven't re-read them yet because you have to savor the thought of a book before you jump right in and read them...they are sitting on my dresser and I look at them daily and I think I'll read them tomorrow....

The Turning of the Tamarack's

Not all "evergreens" are green all the time. The tamarack (or, more properly, the tamarac) turns a vivid yellow just prior to dropping all its needles in late fall. It's a pretty sight, especially against a gray sky.

I know I'm 11 years old now, but you didn't have to tell everyone that I'm wearing glasses too!

Retro Candy

A friend just gave me a tin filled with Necco wafers...who of you out there recalls Necco wafers? It made me think of all the candy that I used to get as a kid that just isn't around anymore (I seem to be having childhood flashbacks lately) Wax lips...what were they all about? Why did we chew them...and worse yet, why did we enjoy them? Those little dots of stuff that look like hits of acid (not that I would ever know what acid would look like or anything). Candy cigarettes, either the chocolate kind (mmmmm) or the candy kind that really had paper on it and the paper had a power in it so that you could blow hard and a puff of powder would come out and we pretended we were smoking! Those UFO shaped things that tasted and looked like styrofoam and were filled with a million tiny round candy balls. (they are in the cellophane bag just above the Sugar Babies in this picture, looking for all the world like a bag of coloured condoms.) Yeah, we chewed and swallowed the styrofoam and then broke our teeth on the little candies inside. Toffee that pulled out our fillings...black licorice pipes that stained our teeth and tongues and then gave us the "trots" (as we said). Mallo Cups made of some sort of gooey marshmallow that stuck in our throats and made us choke and gag until we managed to spit it out...slimy and sticky. Ahh, good times, good times.

I've was thinking of imaginary friends the other day. So many of my (real) friends have small kids and just seeing them reminds me not so much of my own kids when they were little, but of my childhood. This will be a somewhat rambling post because I have more than one thought rolling through my cranium today.

To this day I have a fascination with Egypt and all things Egyptian. This started when I was really quite young, about 4 or 5. And you have to remember, this was back in the fifties. This was after the time of dinosaurs but before VCR's, DVD's, home computers and colour TV. We did have a TV, albeit black & white and it only got one channel...and even that was "iffy". You had to move the antenna (known as Rabbit Ears) around until the channel was picked up with a minimum of static. Yes, my children, this was our entertainment and we survived without all of todays technology. What did we do? We read, we played cards and board games and we had imaginary friends. Well, I had imaginary friends...I'm not too sure if other people did.

We played outside. We would go out after supper and meet our friends and play all manner of games. Hide n' Seek, Tag, Red Rover, Simon Says, amongst other games. We would run and play until we heard our parents call us and then we would ignore the calls for a bit longer and eventually we would meander our way home. No one worried about strangers or pedophiles or any sort of abductions. We were healthy and happy and had no worries other than...well, I can't think of any...I really didn't have any worries as a child.

This time of year, the fall, reminds me of those days. The smell of burning leaves and the crispness in the air. It reminds me of children at play and the sinking of the sun earlier and earlier as we played wildly, trying to get the last bit of joy from the season before Winter arrived. Of course nowadays, the shriek of kids at play is usually only heard on the playground, during school hours. In the evenings, kids are home watching TV or on their computer or X-box.

Anyhow, I digress. I was going to talk about imaginary friends. I had 2. Their names were "Shusha" and "Deedelee" To this day, I can remember them as if they were real. I'd talk to them as if they were right beside me. I didn't go so far as to make my Mother set them a place at the table or anything, but I would carry on regular conversations with them. One always stood on my left, and the other on my right. They weren't my age, but I'm not sure how old they were. Old. And dressed in white and silver and gold. They had black hair and soft voices. I can picture them right now.

Now, I also want to mention reincarnation and previous lives. I do believe in reincarnation. Maybe not for everyone, but I certainly believe that some of us have had a prior life. I think that I was a person who lived in ancient Egypt...ok, don't laugh or close out my blog in horror..I know that some of you have a more scientific approach to life and death, and that's ok, we all have our differences, which is what makes it fun to talk to one another. But, at age 4 and 5 I had never had any opportunity to see or learn anything about Egypt. As far as TV goes, I was allowed to watch Romper Room and The Friendly Giant. That was it. Nothing else. Neither of my parents had any affiliation or relationship with anyone or anything of an Egyptian nature. My mother hated TV and refused to have it on, other than for those 2 shows. As a matter of fact, we never had a TV in the living room, she said it was like a big eye staring you, sucking the "smarts" right out of you. She was most assuredly ahead of her time. But once again I wander from my topic.

Now, one day when my Mother and I were going downtown, we stopped at an electronics store to view the "new & modern" colour TV. Apparently, there was a show on about ancient Egypt and I gasped and grabbed her hand and pointed and cried out: "Mummy, look, that's a picture of Shusha and Deedelee!" (obviously you can guess that I had just seen pictures of ancient Egyptians). I don't remember much of that day, but I do remember my heart pounding and the feeling of adrenaline rushing through my body. It was the first time I had ever had that feeling, and it was almost like a epiphany, or a feeling of clarity that all was well with my little life. Since then, I was enamoured and transfixed by all things to do with ancient Egypt.

So there you are. Make of that what you will. Here we are, some (ahem) 40-odd years later and I still yearn to go to Egypt and see the pyramids with my own eyes, to sail down the Nile on a barge. I can imagine the hot sun on my shoulders. I can hear the splash of the oars in the water and hear the rustle of the reeds alongside the shore. I can feel the chill in the air as the huge sun decends and I can hear the sounds of the children at play in the twilight.

Fall is assuredly here. In the forest where I walk the dog, generally you see pines, spruce and other evergreens that stay the same tones of green all year round. However, every now and then Mother Nature will surprise us with a sudden burst of colour...red, yellow or orange. It's such a treat to round a corner and see a splash of brilliance against the green trees and gray skies that I thought I should share it with you all...before long the colour will be gone and trees will be covered with snow. The small bush at the bottom, with blue berries is a juniper bush and if I were Martha Stewart I'd pick some and make a juniper sauce that (apparently) goes fantastic with elk steak, or if I were Theroux I'd make some gin to sustain me over the winter but as I am neither I simply chewed one berry and promptly spit it out and took a photo instead. Cheers!

#1. Gypsy: "Hee, hee, I'm the Alpha dog!"
















#2. Gypsy: "Hey...he's pushing..no fair!"
























#3. Chino with a sly snicker: "I knew I could weasel my way in here..."

Meat in the Freezer

Steven got the ok from the Dr. a while ago to go out for a hunt as long as he takes it easy. This was the result of a trip with a friend. He was pretty pleased to be sure.

"Pssssttt...Chino, listen up...just calm down a little and they'll give ya more treats."

. Sweet Dreams.

Chino loves having his very own blanket....

Explaining.

This is Chino...short for Al Pacino. The dog is a loveable 75 pound hurricane. In the course of a day he ran down the hallway and knocked over a table, chewed the nose off my wooden rabbit, stepped in Gypsy's water dish and spilled it all over, stepped in his own water dish and spilled it all over, knocked over his food dish, fell down the stairs, tried to walk through the screen door on the sundeck and slobbered on pretty much everyone and everything. He looks at you with such concentration, he tries SO hard to be good, all he wants is to be touched and cuddled. Steven is trying to explain to him that he needs to just calm down a little bit. Grandpa and Grand-dog bonding!!

I meant to add these earlier. This is a little section of the "longest, undefended border in the world". The left is Canada and the right is the US. I always just get a kick out of the fact that the border is just a cleared swath in the bush. Below is the marker for the International Boundary. You'd think they could at least pull a few weeds and tidy it up, but I guess they are too busy gazing at the cleared spot, looking for cross-border jumpers....ummmm, like they wouldn't just cross over the crest of the mountain?

The Boys and the Cup

All you hockey fans will understand the excitement of being with the Stanley Cup...probably the most illustrious sports trophy around, as well as 2 local boys who are now NHL stars. Shane has always wanted to see the Cup "in real life" so this was pretty special, seeing it with his dad. Scott Neidermayer (on the right) recognized Steven and called him by name, so Steven was pretty pleased about that as well, as Scott is pretty much one of the greatest hockey players in the world today, having won every (and I do mean EVERY) hockey award out there- from Bantam awards, to a Memorial Cup, an Olympic Gold medal, 4 (count 'em...FOUR) Stanley Cups, the Norris and I'm sure all sorts of others.

The new and short haircut. This is the shortest I have had my hair for years and years, and I must say, I love it! Wash 'n Wear! Also in the background you may notice the excercise bike that I will start riding any day now...really, any day, maybe tonight. Or tomorrow for sure...

The beds in the Davenport Hotel are custom made king-size. The bed came up to my lower ribs, thus the little step underneath so that you can climb in. It was the best bed I have ever slept in...with 6 huge feather pillows and a feather duvet. And I think the sheets might have spun from silkworms imported from Tibet or somewhere....sooooooo soft. Turn down service included.

"Yes Jeeves, two lumps of sugar and some cream imported from Devonshire please..." What tacky tourists we are....