The Ghosts and Goblins are coming out in North America, amended to include songs

Here's a picture of the pumpkin that I carved out yesterday for Halloween. It was supposed to look like "Herman" from the Munsters, however I think he looks far too jolly and/or dazed to be an authentic replica.


"Herman" is currently sitting on the balcony in front of my condominium.

Halloween Carol #1:

Dashing through the streets
In our costumes bright and gay
To each house we go
Laughing all the way

Oh Pumpkin Bells, Pumpkin Bells
Ringing loud and clear
Oh what fun Great Pumpkin brings
When Halloween is here

Halloween Carol #2:

On the (nth) day of Halloween
My true love gave to me

1. An owl sitting in a dead tree
2. Two trick-or-treaters
3. Three black cats
4. Four skeletons
5. Five scary spooks
6. Six goblins gobbling
7. Seven pumpkins glowing
8. Eight monsters shreiking
9. Nine ghosts a-booing
10. Ten ghouls a-groaning
11. Eleven casks a-leering
12. Twelve bats a-flying

Halloween Carol #3:

Screech owls hoot, are you listening?
Beneath the moon, all is glistening
A real scary sight, we're happy tonight
Waiting in a pumpkin wonderland

Later on, while we're eating
What we got trick-or-treating
We'll share all our sacks of
Halloween snacks

Waiting in a pumpkin wonderland

Halloween Carol #4:

I'm dreaming of the Great Pumpkin
Just like I do this time each year
When he brings nice toys
To good girls and boys
Who wait for him to appear

I'm dreaming of the Great Pumpkin
With every pumpkin card I write
May your jack-o'-lanterns burn bright
When the Great Pumpkin visits you tonight

An inconvenient truth - A must see

I just came home from seeing a very informative film "An inconvenient truth".

This film follows one man’s crusade to bring home the terrifying truth about global warming to ordinary people before it’s too late. The film was produced by Al Gore - the man who, had it not been for controversial Supreme Court decision on the 2000 US election, would have become President of the United States.

Combining hard science with Gore’s passion and drive, the film makes for compelling viewing.

The film follows Gore on his seemingly selfless crusade to educate the world that global warming is an imminent threat, interspersing interviews with long sequences capturing Gore's elaborate traveling slide show on the issue.

The film is a magnificent primer on global warming and a tough-love commentary on how today's energy gluttony could be endangering tomorrow.

To be sure, Gore does take the occasional jab at business interests, the Bush administration and naysayers who remain noncommittal about whether global warming is real or simply a result of natural cycles. So he's not entirely an apolitical saint doing what's right by humanity.

Yet even skeptics who go in scornfully figuring Gore is serving his own self-interests may come away wondering, what's in it for him? Gore has said he does not plan to seek office again and that spreading the word on global warming will be his main pursuit from now on.

In "An Inconvenient Truth," Gore comes across as a man without a personal agenda, following a cause for the greater good, whether you believe in it or not. Gore has believed since college in the 1960s, when he took a class from Roger Revelle, a pioneer in global-warming studies.

Gore lays out the science behind the notion that our fuel emissions act like an envelope, trapping heat in the atmosphere and causing glacial retreat, the melting of polar ice caps, increases in hurricane intensity and other climate changes.

The film includes footage of the devastation Hurricane Katrina wrought on New Orleans and images of melting glaciers, evaporating lakes and the vanishing snows of Mount Kilimanjaro. It shows what could happen if ice covering Greenland and Antarctica continues to melt -- huge tracts of Florida flooded and the site of the World Trade Center Memorial under water. Other areas could be hit by drought and disease, while the world may have to cope with widespread relocation of refugees fleeing deluged coastlines.

The scientific evidence Gore shares is alarming, but the film lays out steps to reverse the warming trend -- a combination of conservation and new energy technology. All that's lacking is the political will, Gore says.

This is a must see, in my opinion, for everyone on this planet.

Pirates, thieves, pedophiles and porn. Where did the internet, and its promise to improve our lives, go wrong?

Pornography, gambling, lies, theft and terrorism: The Internet Sucks (where did we go wrong) states the front page article of last week’s Macleans magazine (Canada’s equivalent to America’s Newsweek or NY Times).

Is this true? I wonder ….

I wonder how many times the author used Google, Yahoo or another search engine to do his basic research. In my opinion, the Internet has provided positive changes to society.

I found the article to be somewhat one-sided to be on the front cover of Canada’s leading news magazine. For example the article uses only one professor’s opinion to conclude that the Internet has failed to offer anything new to the world. “The internal combustion engine, refrigeration, even air condition, had profound impacts on our lives, making the impossible practical. The Web does nothing of the sort” … “e-mails replace faxes and phone calls. Online shopping replaces sales that used to be made through a catalogue. And for all but the most socially isolated, every hour spent trolling through chat rooms replaces an hour that might otherwise have been spent in real, live conversation”.

Very little is devoted to what’s working. The author spends little space to what is working. The internet has helped exchange data over greater distances at greater speeds than previous technologies. Medical doctors use the internet to send information over to diagnostic clinics for instant results; in my own life I have an instant encyclopedia at my fingertips … I could go on and on, but why bother?

Like every technology out there – there will always be both positive and negative aspects. To me, the internet is just another communication medium that has influenced several hundreds of current processes we do at both home and at work.

St. Sauveur

Today, in the Laurentian Mountains, the road ahead is leading us to the (once) quaint little town of St. Sauveur. This town gained fame world-wide about 20 years ago for refusing to have a MacDonald's restaurant in it because town council felt it would ruin the charm of this town. A friend from Switzerland who visited it with me years ago remembered that story making the press over there!

The mountain in the distance is the ski hill where I learned to ski. It might not be as impressive as the rocky mountains displayed on Dale's blog, however, this mountain has significance for her to as it was her first ski hill as well. In fact, when we were young, we really were "Chicks on sticks" because the ski school we learned to ski was called "The Ski Chicks"!

This is a picture of my friend RJ, standing in the foreground of the green and picturesque "Hill 70" ski run. I loved this ski run for all of it's moguels and when I was young my ambition was to be able to ski it well. While it took some time to accomplish that - the hill was conquered - along with more fierce ski runs at other ski resorts, including those in my beloved French Alps.



Like most French Canadian communities in the province of Quebec, this town has the ever-prominent Catholic church, which stands proudly in the town centre, in front of our family's favourite "apres ski" bakery.





Oh, the memories of Page's bakery. At four o'clock sharp, we would race off the ski hill to make it to Page's bakery (pictured in the distance) with the maroon awning) before all their freshly made loaves, direct from a wood burning oven, were sold out. They usually sold out in 15 minutes!

We'd then drive back to the Montreal suburbs to usually eat some hearty baked beans soaked up in this mouth watering bread!

My trip back to this town sure brought back some memories. Below is a picture taken by my parents from "Hill 70" in the 1960s.
Hope you enjoyed my trip back memory lane. Guess I'm not the only one who is looking forward to skiing this upcoming winter. This brings to an end my thanksgiving photo journey.

Bridges

When away for Thanksgiving week-end, all the lakes and rivers were swelling from the huge amount of rain the area had received.

Because of this, I seemed to be paying more attention to some of the area's bridges so I took some photos.

This photo to the left is the little bridge on my parent's road that goes over Lost River, the river which feeds into the lake.


This second picture is of RJ's and my reflection on Lost River, taken from the bridge.

I'm sooo glad that it turned out.




The next two photos are a rivertop's view of the bridge that I took while on our canoe jaunt.




On a normal day, when the water isn't so high, we can paddle under the bridge. And, when the water is at it's normal height a small island can be seen under the middle post of the bridge. But certainly not on this day! So many youthful times were spent at this bridge.

Another bridge that crosses Lost River is on the main highway. So when I had to go to the little country store to pick up some beer, I ran across the road and snapped these.



This bridge is in the little town of Lost River.








I just love the contrast between the mirror-like calm water instantly churning into torrential rapids. Perhaps it is an illustration of how life can be a times.


This last photo (below) is taken over the Rouge River. Again, because the water is so high, the water in these rapids is churning wildly.


I have one distinct memory of this bridge when I was a child. I was horseback riding over the bridge and was very spooked because this strong bridge, made entirely of metal with metal pieces criss-cross each other (similar to the sides of the bridge), allows you to look right thru the bridge to the water below. I didn't like that idea and was afraid to cross the bridge - especially on something as high as a horse! I actually remember being terrified - but not anymore.

Religion in the wilderness

On Thanksgiving Monday, I decided to show my friend RJ, some of the Laurentian Mountain's biggest surprises.

The Province of Quebec is primarily French, with a deep Roman Catholic Faith. Everywhere you go, you will encounter small villages with beautiful Roman Catholic churches. However, high above the small town of Huberdeau there is something completely different. In 1892 some members of the Roman Catholic clergy cut away some trees to build a tribute to Jesus and the stations of the cross. In the early 20^th century, statues from France were purchased. I took RJ there to let her see what it looks like today.

From there, we traveled about 10 kms. Into the Rough River Valley. The landscape of this valley is truly breathtaking. This week-end is was especially lovely as they had lots of rain. We traveled down an old dirt road that traces the Rouge River, famous for its white water rapids downstream We passed many family farms until we came to another religious setting.

An old homestead next to the Rouge River was converted about 10-15 years ago into a Vietnamese Buddhist monastery, Dai Tong Lam. We stopped in and took a short walk on the grounds. This Buddhist temple now serves as the religious centre for this religion in Canada. They searched far and wide to find the exact location because Feng Shui dictates that you need three perfect elements to build this type of facility: Mountains on both sides, a river and flat flat land. This site was especially good according to a monk we spoke to because to one side, the mountains take the shape of a dragon. Furthermore, this monastery “The Large Forest of the Pines” is a replica of the Garden of Lumbini in eastern India, which according to historical writings is the birthplace of Budda almost 3,000 years ago. The site is dotted with bronze statues direct from Thailand.

It’s amazing that these two places are only 10 kms from each other, far away from just about everything else except farmland and cottages.

I'm going away again this week-end (To Cedar Oasis). I'll be back in touch in a couple of days.

Thanksgiving week-end 2006

I just arrived home after spending five beautiful days in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec over Thanksgiving week-end. The weather was beautiful, with hardly any clouds and temperatures reaching as high as 22 C. I brought a friend/neighbour with me from Toronto and we stayed in my parent’s guest house. My friend RJ had never been to these mountains so I took her on many excursions.It’s the Fall season and there were still a few leaves on the trees, but the “height of the season” had passed and most of the leaves were on the ground. During the next week or so I’ll post lots of pictures. Here is an initial set to view.

Waking up the first day, this is the view of the back yard.

A few minutes later, taking a photo of the front view

24 hours later, we had the first frost of the season

Frost on the ground causes lots of fog to rise up from the water and obstruct one's view of the lake


The fog burns off and makes for wonderful canoeing conditions. We paddled up "Lost River", which feeds into the lake where my parent's live.

This is a peek of our first excursion to the "Harrington Valley", which is located about 10 kms from my parents.

Dollarama

Today I had a productive day at work then came home and had popcorn for supper! I had a big lunch and only needed a snack, but hey, at least it was vegetarian!

After “supper” a neighbour came by and deposited her dog in my condo as they are selling theirs. Their beautiful golden retriever, Hudson, would be too much of a distraction to potential buyers. After my neighbour left, Hudson and I decided to rearrange my tiny living room – which I have to say looks much better.

After I had everything complete another friend stopped by and asked me to go to the Dollar store with her. (Dollar store: where every item is one dollar or less)

Wow, what an amazing place. I haven’t been to a dollar store in a couple years and it was heaven. Really good items at bargain prices! I’m glad we only had 15 minutes to closing because I could have spent lots there. The thing that fascinated me the most were scrapbook items. You can buy decals, paper, sparkles and jewels to make a thousand different types of cards. My friend bought something for her niece, but I couldn’t decide. I am definitely going to make a return trip when I have an hour or two to spare. However, it will have to wait a little as I’m taking a five-day week-end to visit my folks.

This upcoming Monday is a Canadian holiday as we Canadians celebrate the fall harvest with our version of Thanksgiving. The next two nights I’ll be making preparations – such as making hors d’oeuvres and buying a farm fresh grain fed turkey from the world-famous farmers market just down the street (definitely not vegetarian) .