Pooh and Piglet Forever: On Life-long Friendship and Childhood Books

  “If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together… there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.”

~ Winnie the Pooh

Winter Reading

This may sound strange to some, but I love winter. I love the cold; I love the dark evenings; I love snow and winter storms. I love the feeling of cocooning inside while the wind whistles and snow curls and swirls around our home, and we’re inside, warm and snug as bugs. And I especially love that it’s the time of year for one of our favorite traditions: every winter, my partner and I pick out a book or two to read aloud together. On deliciously cold, dark, winter evenings, we snuggle up together with a soft blankie and a mug of steaming hot tea and my sweetheart reads to me. We never set out to make it a tradition—it all started one winter when my sweetie suggested that I pick out a book for him to read to me. The first book I picked was A.A. Milne’s “The House at Pooh Corner”, which I’d never read as a child. We both loved the experience so much that we went on to read the rest of the Pooh books and vowed to make it a yearly winter tradition to read at least one book together.
 

This Nebulous Thing We Call the Internet: What Is It, Really?

A 2003 map of worldwide internet traffic. (CC The Opte Project / Barrett Lyon)

 

 “Omnia vivunt, omnia inter se conexa”

Everything is alive; everything is interconnected.”

~ Cicero

The Beauty of Global Connectivity

I love the internet. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t feel as if it’s some sort of magical plaything I get to use. I can’t imagine my world without it. The images above and below are visual maps of internet connectivity produced by Barrett Lyon and the Opte Project. Lyon figured out a way to “take a picture” of the internet by tracking, tracing and mapping internet data (see The Opte Project FAQ for more details). The image below was just released publicly in 2014—prior to that, it could only be seen in one edition of Discover Magazine or by visiting the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. For me, both images powerfully and perfectly convey the visual beauty of our global inter-connectivity.

Autumn’s Great Big Party

 

“October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came —
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.”

~ George Cooper

Our Beautiful Backyard Treasure: Kananaskis Country

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you…
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”

~ John Muir

Kananaskis Country

Less than an hour from Calgary is a beautiful natural treasure called Kananaskis Country—a 4,000 square kilometer area of foothills and mountains in the Canadian Rockies. Kananaskis is an easy get-away for us. All summer long, every chance we get, we like to visit one of our many favourite places in Kananaskis Country to hike, picnic, dangle our feet in a cold mountain stream, read in a comfy chair in the dappled shade of a spruce grove at our favourite mountain pond or chase butterflies in a wildflower meadow. We feel blessed to live so close to this incredibly beautiful place.

Sharing Our Culture Powwow: Heritage Park

“The American Indian is of the soil,
whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas.
He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned
the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings.
He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers,
he belongs just as the buffalo belonged…”

~ Luther Standing Bear Oglala, Sioux (1868-1937)

Celebrating Our Rich Cultural History

Today is July 1st, Canada Day, and festivities are going on all over Calgary, celebrating our country’s diverse multicultural roots. An important part of our country’s heritage is inextricably linked to the deep and valuable contributions of the First Nations peoples. To honour and celebrate this rich part of our Canadian culture, I present to you a taste of my first powwow experience.

Lilacs, Just for Me!

I Love, Love, Love, Lilacs!

Every spring, I can’t wait for the lilacs to blossom. We don’t have our own lilac bush, but our neighborhood is so full of lilac shrubs that the fragrance completely permeates the air. All I have to do is step out on our balcony and breathe in the sweet, heady, heavenly scent. At the height of the bloom, the air is so fragrant, the slightest breeze wafting in through open windows perfumes our whole place. I simply can’t get enough.

Ode to City Birds

American Robin (photograph by Caleb G. Putnam)

“Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?”

~ David Attenborough

Italian Paradise

Some years ago, we took a fabulous six-week trip to explore beautiful Northern and Central Italy, meandering by car off the beaten path. Part of that trip involved a stay in a charming villa in Umbria, near the border of Tuscany. It was the perfect home base from which to explore the surrounding territory. The villa was a quaint, traditional small stone building, converted from what was once a tobacco drying shed. Quietly tucked away in the hills, it was ideally situated in the countryside at the far end of a long, winding, dirt road running up the hills through the forest, past occasional meadows of bright yellow sunflowers, olive groves and towering cypress trees. The villa itself was idyllic: peacefully and privately perched high on a hilltop. Nestled into a forest, it had an expansive, open west exposure, which afforded a beautiful view of staggered rolling hilltops, softly receding and fading one into the other with perfect tonal gradation. Bees buzzed in the fragrant purple lavender bushes dotting the yard, sensuously scenting the hot, dry summer air. Huge, heavy heads of vibrant red geraniums poked out of terracotta pots hung picturesquely from all the window sills. A cozy hammock called from the dappled shade of two lovely trees. Several tables and chairs were set up throughout the yard for outdoor dining, strategically placed to take advantage of the spectacular views. The blazing Tuscan-like sunsets were glorious to watch. It was perfect, utterly perfect. We’d stepped right into our idea of paradise. Or did we?

Ode to Chickens: My Dream Girls

“There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful,
than a woman being unapologetically herself;
comfortable in her perfect imperfection.
To me, that is the true essence of beauty.”

~ Steve Maraboli

 

 

 

 

 

I Dream of Chickens

I love chickens. I think they are beautiful birds. In particular, though, while roosters are undeniably gorgeous, it’s the girls, the hens, I like to spend time woolgathering about. To have my own small flock of girls would be a dream come true. I’ve been infatuated with the idea of keeping a few laying hens for a long time now. But, unlike New York City, Calgary does not allow chickens. So, unless I move away from the city, dreaming about chickens is my only option (and not a bad one either–dreaming about chickens simply makes me happy).

 

Rabindranath Tagore: The Stream of Life

The Stream of Life

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves
of leaves and flowers.

It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of death,
in ebb and in flow.

I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood
this moment.

~ Rabindranath Tagore; from Gitanjali (Song Offerings)
Nobel Prize for Literature 1913*