Enjoying some time at camp.

The weekend was fun. Jennifer decided that the weekend BEFORE Labour Day would be more enjoyable and less crowded in the bush. It was nice that everyone was able to get together at Camp Alexander to enjoy a few days of relaxing, great food and riding the ATVs out for a picnic and a few drinks. We even showed off our nice new T-shirts for Camp Alexander.  Don & Denise, Scott & Jen, Nathan & Dara and Baby Ace, Christine, Victoria & Alex, Tyler & Emilie and I all enjoyed ourselves. Life doesn't get much better. I brought my Kobo along for some reading and really got caught up on my sleep.

We also came across the skeletal remains of a bear that apparently died last spring. Interesting for sure. But that's a story for another day.

Click on each picture to see a larger size.

Going for a walk ... a big walk.

 One of my assignments this week is to write up an advancer story on the Terry Fox Run which happens every September. It got me thinking about the first time I was in a charity walk. It was 1968 in Toronto. It was called Oxfam's Miles for Millions.

I can't remember what prompted me to get involved other than it was the thing to do if you were in Grade 8. It was on a Saturday in May, I think. And for a lot of young teens, it was the thing to do, to just be cool.

No one seemed to give any thought to the idea of walking 40 miles -- yes, 40 miles, in one day.  

The Toronto walk, from what I can find on the Internet, was a reaction to walks that took place in Montreal and Ottawa in 1967 as centennial projects. 

In my minds eye, I remember being down at the Exhibition grounds by Lakeshore Drive. It was around nine in the morning. There was some music, some speeches, and then we were off, a mass of humanity about 50,000 strong. It was exciting to be part of it. But soon enough, the dreariness of continual walking set in. We all had little cards to be stamped at waypoints along the route., proving we had been there. 

Thank goodness for the waypoints. There was free water, pop and food; things like cookies, bags of chips and popcorn. 

Interestingly I noticed that young teens such as myself and my cohorts had lots of stamina. Sure our feet got sore and it was a hot and sunny day, but we just kept going, because the crowd kept going. I remember commenting to my friends about the many different parts of Toronto where I had sold newspapers, a job I had for every weekend for three or four years.

As I remember the walk went from Lakeshore out to Islington Avenue, north to Lawrence Avenue, west to Kennedy Road in Scarborough, south to the Danforth and then from there to city hall. 

It was around suppertime that I began to feel the aching in my feet and legs. By that time we were in Scarborough and heading for downtown. I sat down a couple of times to rest, but soon regretted it, because I did not want to stand up again. But we did. And we plodded on.

I think the best part was as we approached Nathan Phillips Square we could hear rock music pounding away through the downtown streets, especially on Queen Street. It was around 8 p.m. Sure enough as we finished the walk by arriving at city hall, there was excitement over the fact that Jefferson Airplane and Grace Slick were giving a free concert. They were a big rock band from San Francisco. 

We were also excited to have finished the walk. It was a fun time to be alive. We hung around for the rest of the concert before a terrible fatigue set in. I remember going home on the subway and buses and barely being able to stay awake. 

(Photo: MacLean's Archive)

Bell Media bullshit

I am confused by the decision of CTV / Bell Media to part ways with well-respected news anchor Lisa LaFlamme. But I am not surprised. I have seen this over the years in my experience as a broadcaster where management interferes with the newsroom. I have worked for both CTV and CBC, in situations as a reporter and as a news manager.

Broadasting is a business. It is about selling advertising that is featured as part of regular programming. When management cannot successfully sell enough advertising, or successfully run a broadcast unit,  they turn on the newsroom and point fingers saying that somehow it is the fault of the news people that not enough advertising revenue is coming in. 

But that's not true. We need to get better sales people who can do their job. We need better managers to run the stations.

Leave the newsrooms alone. Let the news people do their job. Quit interfering.

My first ever hair stye

So it was only 50 years ago this summer I was working at a resort lodge on an island on Lake Temagami in Northern Ontario. I was the junior bartender and occasional dock boy. It was the Manito Lodge. It was a great job. I had just finished high school and this was the summer before going to journalism school.  This is a postcard of the Manito. 

One day I enjoyed a day off and went into town to get a haircut. I had to hitchhike everywhere back then, so it always  took some extra time.

When I found a hair shop in Temagami, I asked the guy for a haircut. My hair was always a bit longer those days and I had lots of hair. He convinced me I should get a hair style. I didn't know what to say. I had never had my hair styled. This would involve washing it, cutting it and then styling it. It would cost a few extra dollars, but I figured let's do it. So about an hour later, I paid the man and was quite pleased with my new style. It looked good. It looked cool. Not rockstar cool, but still okay. 

I stayed in town to have a beer and then hitchhiked back down the Temagami Mine Access Road where I would reach the boat dock.

It took about an hour or so and when I walked to the end of the dock, there were a few older guys there. I asked them where they were going. They said they wanted to get to the Manito lodge, but the boat was not around. I walked over to the phone hut, which was the way to contact the lodge. The old phone was a crank style. So I cranked the phone half a dozen times which should have sounded the ringer on the phone in the bar, at the lodge.  No answer. I cranked again, and again.  

It was like we were all stranded on the mainland and could not get over to the island, about 400 metres away on the lake. 

I had no choice. I stripped down, taking off my sneakers, my socks, and shirt. I left my jeans on. Then I jumped into the lake and began swimming. I was young, 18 and a strong swimmer. The lake was warm and I knew there was a marker buoy about halfway with a big rock just below the surface, if I needed to rest.

As things turned out, I got to the island in about 10 minutes. I climbed onto the dock. Some of the guests were surprised to see me and I walked up to the bar. 

Stan, my boss, was there and asked why I was soaking wet. I explained the situation about guests waiting at the mainland dock. We both looked at the bar phone. It was off the hook.

I grabbed the boat keys and went down to the pontoon boat and fired up the engine. In about five minutes I was back at the mainland dock and the guests there were happy to see me. 

They were polite and I wasn't sure if they recognized me. My cool hairstyle had disappeared. 

First time using iPhone for work photos

So I have been shooting -- photographing -- car crashes for years. Today was a first for me. I shot all the pictures on my iPhone and then just as quickly I was able to send the pics back to the office as part of a text message. It took about 45 seconds.  

I know other reporters have been doing this for several years, but it was a first for me. The editor took a phone call and said there was a crash over on Lorne Street. I was the only one in the office at that moment, so I grabbed my camera bag and scooted out to the parking lot. In about nine minutes I was at the scene. No big deal, but traffic was backed up everywhere. I knew it would take several minutes to pull out my big Canon DSLR, fire off a bunch of shots and then get the photos back to the office. 

But it was nice and sunny so instead I pulled out the phone, took half a dozen pics from different angles and walked back to my car. I thumbed through the pictures, typed in the editor's text address and attached the photos. Just to be sure, I then telephoned the editor. As soon as he answered the phone, he said, "we have the pictures." Cool.