Death in the family

We lost a sweetheart of a guy this weekend. Mike Campbell, 49, died in an auto crash in Manitoba on Saturday. He was driving back to Timmins to be with his wife Sue, Terry's eldest sister. Mike always lived life to the top and he never slowed down. He came into our lives years ago when he rode his Harley into Timmins to get a job in the mines, years before riding a Harley was fashionable. Mike never worried about fashion. He lived life his way, never held back and always had a big smile for his friends and family. Yes, we are sure going to miss him.

Another hike...

Another hike today, this time across Pearl Lake and up the north shore to get a close-up look at the McIntyre headframe. It was surrounded by deep snow and the whole place was deathly quiet. It looks huge the closer you get and I wondered if this is how it looked back in the winter of 1927 when it was first built on top of No. 11 shaft. By the way, Stompin' Tom wrote a song about this place back in 1965. It was called Fire in the Mine... fire burned for 30 days.

More than a thousand men were laid off. Draegermen were brought in from as far away as Kirkland Lake and Sudbury to fight the fire. Only one life was lost. Interesting times those were. Anyway, I hiked along to the north side of the headframe ... the side that people rarely see. You can see my snowshoe trail in the lower left side of the photo. It was a good workout.
I didn't mind it, except that when I am really hoofin' along I sweat too much. My toque got wet with sweat and then it froze solid on my head because it was so darn cold out today (minus 34 windchill). I didn't dare take it off until I got back to the truck. It was uncomfortable, but I figured frozen hair would be worse, so I just put up with it.

And just so you know, this month marks the third year that I have been blogging. Jeez, you'd think I would run out of things to yak about by now.

Another blog!

Oh well, I knew it wouldn't last forever ... I am not the only Blogger out there. Yeahhhh, I know it's hard to believe, but today I found another blog. This one is in the States at some place called The White House. Check it out here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/

Goosebumps eh

I don't know what you're doing right now, but I've joined millions of others around the world this moment to watch CNN.com and the swearing-in and speech of President Obama. Amazing stuff. This is a "where were you when..." moment. And yes, it gives me goosebumps.

Good words...

Have you had a frisson lately? You may have, but not known it. I didn't know until this week what a frisson was. I was reading a novel and as the detective walked down the dark hallway with his gun in his hand, he felt a frisson as he passed an open door. That sent me running for the dictionary to learn that a frisson is a "shiver, quiver, shudder, thrill of sudden excitement". I guess it's a good word, but I don't think I can use it in newspaper writing. It's not the kind of word we use everyday. Hmmm.... I can imagine the frisson when I get into the the line-up at the Tim Horton's drive-through!

On the cover of the Rolling Stone...

Lots of excitement about President-elect Obama these days. It's going to be an interesting week. I am sure looking forward to his inaugural speech. I noticed that Obama's image is becoming iconic. I was lucky to grab several copies of the Rolling Stone magazine, which interestingly changed it's format just before Christmas to become the same size as all the other news magazines. And the first edition of that new format has Obama on the cover. It has become a collectors' edition already. I sent Neil a copy for Christmas, because it looks like he's becoming a little bit political. Go figure - - A Gillis with a political opinion! I think that old Bob Dylan's amazing words from his folk song 45 years ago are still ringing true today ... The Times They Are A-changin'

Come gather 'round people wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'.
For the loser now will be later to win,
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway , don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside and it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn, The curse it is cast
The slow one now will later be fast
As the present now will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Another scanner : )

It's been cold today, but it was a good day. I got another scanner today! I dropped by the TV newsroom and noticed that their old scanner was unplugged... apparently it hadn't been working properly, and they have a newer portable scanner. So I asked Sean, the head techie about it... he said, go ahead and take it. Here's the good part ... this is the very same scanner I bought in the early 1980s and I used it for years at the TV station newsroom... when I left Timmins in 1987, I sold the scanner to the TV station. So I took it home today, cleaned it up, opened it up and poked around a bit and got it working again! The speaker is fried, so I hooked up an external speaker and it works perfectly. Cool eh.

Sunshine and snowshoes

I got out and got some sunshine today ... a bit too much in fact, as I got a bit of a burn on my nose and cheeks while snowshoeing across Pearl Lake. I have a tube of sunblock ointment in the truck, but it was frozen. I am gonna have to remember to wear my sunglasses too, except that I find the metal frames are uncomfortable in cold weather. One thing about snowshoeing is that it makes you walk like you crapped your pants ... not that I am too familiar with how that feels. But it sure feels good and it's all good exercise - - the snowshoeing I mean! : )

Feeling good

Finally feeling a bit better today after that miserable cold. I made only one pot of coffee this week. I think tea is better for a cold. I like hot sweet tea with milk. I think that's something I got from my Mom and Grandma Gillis. When I was a kid and I came in from the cold weather, Mom always gave me a hot cup of tea. I always added sugar. Grandma Gillis always gave me tea in the mornings, when I stayed in Mira. I guess tea is one of my comfort foods. I am pleased that so many people sent Christmas Cards this season. I thought that was something from the past. Obviously not. Canada Post also came through this week with a card and letter from Leilani and Ronald, all the way from Vancouver Island. Leilani is my cool sister-in-law who is one of the few people I know who got her picture taken with the Stanley Cup ... in Afghanistan! Leilani put in a real nice Christmas letter with the card, which is a nice tradition. It's amazing to hear that Dominique is 24! Christina is 17! and Matthew is 15! Wow, we are all getting older eh. Ronald was home on leave for Christmas, but is soon heading out to Afghanistan. Leilani is back in uniform too, working at the air base in Comox. It's so nice to hear that things are well with them all.

Staying warm in the bush

I finally dragged my lazy butt out of the house today for a nice hike in the bush. The weather was perfect. It was snowing and mild at about minus 20 ... still cool enough to try out my new Canada Goose parka for about an hour. There was a problem. After about 20 minutes of hard hiking, it was too warm! I was actually sweating.
I had to stop at one point and open the front and cool off. That's not a serious problem. Santa Claus was generous this year but the parka should last a few years longer than most. My first extreme weather parka was a Woods brand... it lasted 17 years. I remember it was so warm I could go ice fishing and lay down on the ice for a snooze and not notice the cold. The Canada Goose cost a few extra bucks, but I think it will keep me toasty warm for a few years.

Circumstances

For the past few years I have been thinking of snapping some nice photos of the Northern Lights. But circumstances don't always allow it. I have been waiting and preparing. I bought a special tripod because you just can't get a nice shot by shooting a handheld camera. I have all my cold weather gear ready and I always travel with my cams, fresh batteries and lots of photo memory cards. As luck would have it, we saw the Northern Lights on New Year's Eve as Jenn, Scott and I drove to the house party at Moe and Marie's place. It was bloody freezing out and I couldn't stop the truck to set up for a good photo. Since it was New Year's I was wearing a kilt, which doesn't quite lend itself to working in cold weather. I figured since the aurora is caused by magnetic anomolies at the earth's poles, it would likely continue on Thursday night. But Thursday night was clouded over. All day Friday I grumbled with my cold and sore throat and then at midnight I checked for aurora. Nothing. Same story Saturday night. Clear skies. No aurora. I will keep watching. Oh well, I am tired of staying cooped up in the house with a cold. Gonna load up on some Neo-Citron and go snowshoeing this afternoon.

Happy new year ... poor Reuben D'Aigle

Well here we are in 2009 and I am still puttering along in low gear. But I am having fun. New Year’s Eve was a hoot at Marie and Moe’s place as the Maltais gang came together for a party. It was nice to see everyone again. Jennifer and Scott were in town for that and so we all partied the night away. Everyone slept in on January 1, got up for steaming pots of coffee and then went off to Aunt Sue’s for some 'hangover soup'. I stayed home to nurse a sore throat. Last night Scott and Jenn took me out for supper at the new Boston Pizza restaurant. It was nice and then we rented some movies and snuggled on the couch. I think everyone was too partied out to do anything more than that. Jenn and Scott got up early this morning to make the trip back home to Sudbury. I know that I have to be back in “work mode” by Monday… but I was already out at a fire alarm this morning. Some poor guy on Norman Street had a garage fire. Life goes on eh.
Oh by the way, happy 100th anniversary for Timmins. It was 100 years ago that the Porcupine gold rush began. You’re gonna hear a lot about that as they plan to celebrate this for the next FOUR years, which includes the discovery of gold, the start-up of the mines and then the incorporation of the municipalities.
One of the most interesting stories was that gold might have been discovered here in 1908, instead of 1909. A famous prospector named Rueben D’Aigle came through this way looking for gold in 1908. Reuben knew his stuff. He’d made money in the Klondike gold rush and came back east to find a fortune in the Cobalt silver rush. He was a bit late for that so he headed north to the Porcupine where he did drilling, blasting and rock testing, but for some reason had no success. It was a year later that another team of prospectors came through. They found Reuben’s camp; they even saw the old bootprints in the moss and the mud. As the legend goes, they kicked aside the moss and found a beautiful vein of gold that eventually became the world renowned Hollinger Mine. Poor Reuben.

The best Christmas...

It's Monday morning and I am enjoying another day off. It's nice to be home, but I have to admit that this Christmas at Jenn's place was just one of the best ever. Maybe it was the fact that we all managed to get together, despite the weather and then enjoy each other's company. I felt lazy because I had absolutely nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the time. All I had to do was eat and drink and get hugs and kisses when we went visiting. The food was fabulous and the whiskey was fine, but I think I caught a little cold from somebody. There were some funny moments. We visited one home where the host asked what I'd like to drink. I held up my thumb and forefinger closely together and said "just a whiskey with one ice cube, please". He came back with a full tumbler of whiskey ... and one ice cube. Good thing Don was driving.
Jenn and I even managed a nice phone call with Neil on Christmas Day. He's in Vancouver and was heading off to enjoy what he called "an orphan's Christmas" with several of his friends. Neil even bragged they had a nice 30-pound turkey. But since he's an avowed vegetarian, I hope he got to enjoy some of the stuffing.
Well, I tackled the driveway this morning. It took an hour to get rid of all the snow. I will have to tackle some housework today because Jenn and Scott are arriving Wednesday to celebrate the New Year in Timmins.

Finally back home in Timmins after a fabulous visit with Scott & Jennifer and the boys in Sudbury. What an eventful week. Take a close look at my old beak there. It’s still a bit swollen and bruised from my adventure with Jenn’s storm door last night. I even managed to get a few cuts. (click the photo) I was coming back to the house after taking the kids skating and it was raining. So once the kids got back into the house, I wasn’t paying full attention to the storm door, which was a one-piece all-glass door. I thought the door was open when I barged right through it! Luckily the glass was safety glass and it shattered into thousands of tiny pieces… but I still got a few cuts on my hands, scalp, face and even one cut on my elbow! Nothing serious, thank goodness.
Today was fun. I was able to get out to Nathan’s hockey game today and witness his first official minor hockey goal. Nathan was quite pleased and it was nice that the whole family was there to see the goal and cheer for him.
The week was also great in terms of the excellent food. Oh my god, I can't believe I ate so much. Denise (Jenn's mother in law) brought some excellent Christmas pastries and an amazing jar of picked eggs. I think that's all I ate for three days. But it was soooo good.
The drive home from Sudbury took several hours. Jennifer called me on the cell phone to advise that the highway had been closed at the Watershed. The sun was still shining, so I pressed on. Within an hour it was obvious that winter was in control. The plows had not yet passed and the roads weren’t that slippery, but just so packed with snow that you couldn’t drive any faster than 60 K/ph. When I got to the Watershed, there were no roadblocks, but there had been a power failure. Not able to get coffee, I pressed on. The driving was very slow and tiring, four-wheel drive, second gear. Twice I saw vehicles in the ditch. I got to Highway 101 at Timmins and that’s where police had indeed set up a roadblock. There had to be more than fifty vehicles there, mostly transports, waiting for the highway to open.
They seem surprised to see me coming through. The police officer at the roadblock said a snowplow was about 30 minutes behind me.
Oh well, it has been a long day. I am so tired. I am hitting the sack shortly. It's too quiet here at home. I was just getting used to the sound of the kids laughing, shouting, fighting, crying and laughing again. I miss them already. I am lucky though.. we spent hours together talking, laughing, shopping, eating chocolate cake, playing games, telling silly stories and laughing some more. I am so blessed.

Lazy holiday time.

I got tired today of being lazy and eating rich foods and drinking Baileys. Today was a shopping day with the kids, so Tyler, Nathan, Victoria and myself jumped into the truck and drove to the New Sudbury Centre. That's where each of the kids grabbed a shopping cart, - yup they each took a cart, - and pushed it all around the Dollar Store to buy stuff with some of their Christmas cash. It was fun. I actually had more fun with the kids this morning in the driveway. The weather was so mild that I was out there in my housecoat and pyjamas playing frisbee and then we played for awhile with the remote control toy truck, driving it through the slush! It was almost lunchtime and there I was in the driveway, slippers and jammies, playing with the kids.
I can't believe how mild the weather was compared to earlier this week in Timmins when I got frostbite on my fingers. Christmas Day was perfect. Sunny and mild. The kids were all about snowshoeing before lunch, and then they were skating. I think the warm weather is my fault. Santa came through with my new Canada Goose parka, reputed to be the warmest parka in the world. I was looking forward to testing it out in the ultra-cold weather, but no such luck. Jennifer tried the parka on as you can see in the photo below.
I was sleeping-in Christmas morning, but my room was next to the kids' room so I heard them getting up and checking out the gifts, when I snapped sone photos.(see the top photo here)
It was a fun Christmas morning and the kids could barely contained their excitement. I think the best laugh was when we could hear Nathan hollering urgently, but no one could see him... that's when we realized he had climbed behind the Christmas tree and was lost in the tangle of branches and gifts.
Jennifer made the morning a bit more enjoyable as she made the rounds with a pot of fresh coffee and a bottle of Baileys. It was an absolutely perfect Christmas Day with Jennifer and Scott and the boys; Christine, Demetrios and Victoria from Whitby and Don and Denise from Westree.

So this is Christmas Eve...

I love this time of year. Everyone's in such a good mood eh. I was in the line-up at the liquor store in Timmins yesterday...Oh my god, what a line-up... but everyone was joking and laughing. At one point, one fellow hollered "hey why don't we open a few and pass 'em around...?" The liquor store staff looked nervous for a few moments. I can just imagine how busy it will be there today.
It's early morning and I am having my coffee. I awoke before 5:00... but there's no way I could go back to bed. Pretty soon, I will load the truck and get ready for the drive south. We had some snow so it should take about four hours. The drive should be nice and quiet. I hope. The highway should be in good shape. If not, I have discovered there is a logging road that runs south from Timmins down to Matachewan, then there's a connecting road southeast to Elk Lake, then west to the Watershed and then south to Sudbury.... Yeah right, I should arrive by New Year's.
Got all the wrapping done last night. I ran out of Scotch tape and had to use heavy packing tape for some gifts.
I always think I didn't get enough gifts, but I think the real reason is that we all have so much it's difficult to buy for people. I can't wait to see the fun that Tyler and Nathan, my grandsons, will have tomorrow morning.
Tyler called me at work yesterday, just to remind me that I have to visit him and Nathan at Christmas. I was laughing so hard.
I also got so many nice Christmas Cards this year. With Facebook and e-mail, you'd think Christmas Cards would be obsolete... but they're still so darn nice to get. So thank you for those.
I checked the truck a while ago. New bush tires. Snowshoes, Survival kit, blankets, extra parka, compass, GPS unit, CDs (there is no radio signal between Timmins and Sudbury!. I am such a Boy Scout eh. Tyler reminded me of one more thing... I gotta buy a chocolate cake...that's what we're having for breakfast on Christmas Day.
Merry Christmas everyone.

Other things

Some clown jumped on the hood of my truck today. Really. Click the photo. She was part of the firefighter’s annual candy run, where they drive through the streets each winter and give out candies to the kids in return for donations for the food bank.

I dropped by Tim Horton’s today. Tim’s makes you polite. There are two doors to go through to get inside, or outside. On the way in, I met another fellow coming out. He held his door for me, and I held my door for him. We were about two metres apart. I said “you’ve carrying coffee and stuff, I’ve got the door.” So he came forward. On the way out, I ran into a teenager… Same thing happened. He smiled and held his door for me. It’s a good thing to hold doors for people.

Dropped by the Book Bin after coffee. I bought five new books. That should keep me going for awhile. I’ve read four books so far in December. I don’t think I miss TV at all. Well sometimes when I get together with people and they talk about stuff on TV, I think I am missing out.

More good news, I was chatting with Jennifer today about spending Christmas with her gang and she revealed some nice news. Tyler scored his first goal in minor hockey today. Woohoo for Tyler!

Winter has officially arrived.

Happy winter! Yup, It arrived at 7:04 this morning. Minus 28 here in Timmins. Windchill minus 39. But that will improve... Environment Canada says it will warm up this afternoon to a high of minus 25. I will be out and about. It's gonna be a nice day.

Good reading.

One of the good things about the net is the fact that it has so much FREE online stuff. I am referring to magazines and newspapers. There was a time you'd have to spend hours in the library or make a trip to a specialty news store to get this stuff. I have bookmarked a couple of new websites that are great. One is for The New Yorker magazine, which has a very funny section where you get to insert the caption for their cartoon. The magazine has some good writers, but its a bit snooty overall. Pretty political too. There is also another website for the New York Magazine, which is totally different. It's all about pop culture and street level New York. Still, it's interesting reading. It's a good way to blow off a Saturday morning and ignore housework. A steam hot pot of tea and peanut butter cookies helps out too. : )

Photo ethics.

Some days it's a struggle. How ethical is it to touch up a photo? The issue is an urgent one in the news business because a Reuters staff photographer was fired a year or so ago, for making an explosion in Lebanon look worse than it was by enhancing the smoke and flames using Adobe Photoshop. This week I shot a local news photo -- nothing special really -- but afterwards the guy mentioned that he was embarrassed about a nasty cold sore on his lip. So I fixed it. And yeah, I wondered if it was the right thing to do. It's not a national story, but it's the principal of the thing.
When I worked in broadcasting, we would edit audio tapes when a person stuttered too much so as to save them from feeling embarrassed. I think that applies in this case.

Too much stuff!

I am not sure whether to laugh or snarl... I am reading more and more about the practice of "re-gifting". That's where somebody takes a gift they have received, and obviously don't need, and gives it to another person for Christmas. I can't imagine doing that. I think my mother taught me better. But, I think it was done to me once, at an office gift exchange where you reach under the office Christmas Tree and grab a gift. I grabbed a bottle of wine, so the next person had the choice of taking the wine or grabbing another gift. They took the wine, so I was free to reach for another gift. I did. There was beautiful wrapping on the box. I opened it. It was a vinyl steering wheel cover. What the hell is with that? - LOL - Of course nobody tried to take away my lovely new steering wheel cover. So i got stuck with it. I think this re-gifting thing just tells us that we have too much stuff.

Random thoughts... Sunday morning.

I am angry at myself for a rookie mistake I made yesterday. I drove out of town...
all of about 30 kilometres, for a quick shoot at a community centre. It was nice to drop in and say hi to lots of people I hadn't seen in awhile. But I forgot to re-set my wonderful cameras to automatic. I was on a shoot Friday night, where i set the cams on manual so i could do some nice outdoor shots. The outdoor shots turned out nicely (see the photo at right) but when I did the Saturday shoot, i was still in manual mode and therefore forgot to focus. Only when I got back into town, did I notice my mistake. What a rookie!

Friday night was cold... when I was outside doing the shoot I really felt it. The windchill had to be minus forties. I used my bare hands to pick up the tripod and it felt like my hands were burning, and then nothing. No feeling at all. I was afraid of frostbite, so I tucked by hands into the top of my sweater... it worked. They warmed up fast. I was near Pearl Lake and figured if it was that cold, then the ice would be safe. Actually, it was been really cold for several days. So I grabbed my snowshoes and stepped onto the ice... the snow seemed solid, I decided to leave the snowshoes on the shore and just walk on top of the snow... well that worked for about ten paces and then the snow got soft and I sank a bit. Then I smelled something.... it was that musty odour of swamp-rot, cattails and loon-shit (that's what we call it here in Northern Ontario) and then I realized there was no ice... I had broken through to the bottom of the lake. Hmmm... this is not very smart I thought. So I gently began walking backwards and got back on shore.

Another thing about the cold. I really feel it in the morning, when I get into the truck. I don't have heated seats. Some mornings it feels like I am sitting on a block of ice! And it's colder than I expected... maybe it's an age thing. So I explored the idea of getting heated seats... Well, there are a couple of wonderful shops that will do just that, they will install brand new heated seats in the trucks, for about $1,200. So guess what. I went to Wal Mart Saturday and got a nice sheepskin pad.
Cost of driving to Wal-Mart: About $26 cents.
Cost of the sheepskin pad: $11.97
The feeling on my toasty warm butt: Priceless!

I never check my mailbox. That's because Canada Post drops my mail off in a stand-up postal box beside the street, about 100 metres away. Saturday I got a Christmas card that wasn't in the mail. It was hand delivered, which seems a pretty good idea considering that Timmins is not a big place at all. But the smart thing was that the card was left by the front door, and NOT in the mailbox. But you never know...I think I will get in the habit of checking the mailbox...hmmm, maybe once or twice a month eh.

We have a new restaurant in town. Boston Pizza had a big opening last night for all the important people and friends of the owner. I was only able to go because I had to snap a few photos. The interesting part was that the new owner, a prosperous guy in his late 30s, maybe early 40s paid a nice tribute to his dad. His dad is a well-known businessman in town. But what I didn't know is that he came to Timmins in 1949, as a poor immigrant fresh off the boat from Italy, worked on the railroad and then did pick-and-shovel work in the gold mines. Eventually he got his own business and did well. Today, that family owns 18 restaurants. Nice story. The first time I ever went to Boston Pizza was with Neil, in Sarnia. They had a promotion called "Drink your Dad's beer night". They were selling beer at $2 a bottle for Labatt's 50, Carling Redcap and O'Keefe Ale. Funny eh.

Speaking of Neil, about every two or three days I get a notice from his Facebook account, where somebody has posted a new photo of him. In every picture, there's Neil in some new bar in Vancouver, with a beer, a new lady and a big grin. What's THAT all about?

Politics

It was interesting to watch the news of the political rallies held across the country Saturday. Whatever your political views, I think it's a good thing that more and more younger Canadians are taking an interest in their government. Interesting times eh.

Busy December so far...

No Kidding. This Ottawa nonsense has rebounded into every little small town newspaper in Canada, including ours. Oh well, it keeps me busy. I won't get too political... but I saw the video on Stephane Dion the other night. It was terrible... in this day and age, one must be able to get the message out. I think Dion should check in with Osama Bin Laden.... Bin Laden lives in a friggen cave and he puts out better videos that the Liberals.
Happy Birthday this week to my fave big brother Gary. Everything cool Gary? "yup" Any problems? "nope".
Today is telethon day in Timmins. Gonna drop by the TV station tonight and urge people to spend a few bucks for the poor. Winter has arrived... I will be digging out the snowshoes this morning. No... I am NOT that energetic... I am just gonna put them in the truck on a "just in case" basis.

It has been 45 years... and the debate still rages.

It was this day in 1963 that shots rang out in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas ... setting in motion one of the strangest and long-lived conspiracy theories ever concocted. US president John F. Kennedy was shot to death, at least that's what the evidence shows. I was fortunate last Christmas to get Vincent Bugliosi's book "Reclaiming History - The assassination of John F. Kennedy". I am now convinced that Bugliosi's research is right, and it backs up the Warren Report, that Kennedy was shot by one 'nutbar' named Lee Harvey Oswald. Unfortunately, people around the world have the hard time accepting the fact that one person acting alone can kill a president. I used to have to my doubts. Bugliosi addresses every conspiracy theory and they all have one common thread... they're all based on misinformation. That's a little tidbit of information placed in front of you in such a deceitful way as to make it sound true. With more than 1600 pages of fine print, and more than 20 years of hard research, Bugliosi proves 'em all wrong. Don't take my word for it. Read the book. Wow... can you believe it's been 45 years?

Signs at night

One of the busier corners in Timmins is Mountjoy and Wilson. That's where you will see a couple of well known local signs. I still like the old neon style signs... but I think the London Cafe signs needs some sprucing up, eh.

Happy Day bro!

I have to say Happy Birthday to my favourite little brother Ronald. I didn't get through to him on the weekend. Allegedly he is away on-duty somewhere. But I did run into one of Ronald's army buddies right here in Timmins... This is a photo of Ron Drouin of the Algonquin Regiment. He suggested I snap the photo and send it to Ronald so he can admire those new stripes on the sleeve. Captain Drouin assures me they mean something! I know Ronald checks in on this blog every now and then, so I figured he would enjoy the photo.

Another sign

Here's an older sign in Timmins, showing off the old Arcade Restaurant. I like it because when I first moved here in the 1970s, i lived right across the street from the Arcade (upstairs at the Vic!). I also like the old 7Up sign at Vet's Taxi. Been so busy as usual, but it was nice last week to take a quick trip south to Sudbury with Aline, who was on a business trip. I was pleased to meet Jennifer for lunch and she paid for it too! Woohoo!
And I had to sneak in this photo of the St. Charles, located right next door to the Arcade. It's a country and western bar in Timmins, but I am pretty sure Shania steered clear of this place. I think this is where Ultimate Fighting Challenge began.

Drilling for gold - again.

There's a saying in the gold business... you look for new gold in the shadow of the headframe. There's no doubt that's why a drilling rig has set up beside the parking lot of the Shania Twain Centre in Timmins. It's right on the edge of the world famous Hollinger Mine property. I know that people down south get all antsy when they hear that a mining company is drilling on their land. It's not quite the same around here. Hmmm...maybe it's a sign!

Signs!

Not long ago I read how one can read something about a community by looking at the signs. It got me thinking that there are a lot of interesting signs in Timmins. So I am going to start photographing them... my own little quasi-history project. One of my favorite signs is at the Airport Hotel in South Porcupine. I like the old neon style. And Zudel's grocery on Elm South has been in business for years. A to Z. That's a good start. I think if I start getting enough sign photos I just might begin a special blog. We'll see how it goes. (click on the photos to see large size)

Back in? or Back Out?

Here's something I found on my son's blog... I don't know what makes me smile more.. the fact that he remembers one of my pet peeves or the fact that he reads The Globe and Mail... anyway, here is the link about the Great Debate, as Neil put it:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080718.wwisdom19/BNStory/specialComment/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20080718.wwisdom19
...By the way, I always back in to the driveway, or any parking spot. I think it's something I learned when I was a cab driver.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

That's not my title... it's the title of an article in the American magazine Atlantic Monthly that looks at the fact that too many of us have stopped reading. I heard about it from Michael Enright on CBC today. The article discusses the idea that too many people who use the internet for their daily intake of information are getting used to the idea of reading short little tidbits. I can see that happening. People do not seem to read long articles anymore...I am hoping it's a temporary thing. Anyway, click here to read the article.
I have to read for a living. But thank goodness I still read for enjoyment. My problem is that I am reading so much these days, I forget what I've read. I was in a book store some days ago and try as I might, I couldn't remember if I had read a book that looked interesting. Now I have started an excel list on my laptop, so I can keep track of the books i have read. So far I am averaging six a month...mostly fiction, a few biographies, the usual mind-candy. Now if I could just find some extra time in the day to catch up on my sleep!

Neil has all the fun...

Neil, my favourite son, gets to have all the fun. I was sitting here at my keyboard about 20 minutes ago, when my cellphone went "ding" to indicate a text message! It said "Hey, hey, my, my..." and then went on to explain that he was at a concert in Vancouver waiting for Neil Young to walk on stage. Wow. Cool. And then I thought... hey what's going on. I've never seen Neil Young... but my son has. I have never seen the Rolling Stones... but my son has. Oh yeah, he just reminded me he got to see Tom Petty as well. Oh well, i never liked crowds anyway...

Great moments in sports? Not really...

Well it may have been a great moment for a bunch of fellas in Timmins who got together for a hockey game at noon hour at the McIntyre Arena, today. Who knew that hockey great Ken Dryden was having lunch next door in the coffee shop and dropped by to say hi to the guys on the ice. Dryden, who was in Timmins campaigning for the Liberals, was good enough to shake hands with the guys and pose for a team shot with the gang. It was a cool thing to see.

Fall is here... weather is great

Can you believe it, now that Autumn has officially arrived, the weather across the North has been gorgeous. We've had lots of sunshine and warm days. Oh well, I won't complain about summer anymore. I snapped this shot last night as I was leaving the Mac community building where the city hosted a Baby Boomers and Seniors Fair... jeez, i guess it won't be long before I qualify in THAT category! By the way, sad news today. Poor old Paul Newman died. He was one of my favorite actors. If you get a chance, go find a copy of the film Cool Hand Luke. It's a classic from the 60s. It won Newman an Oscar nomination. Great movie.

The big gold rush is on... well, it's still on.

I was out in a plane this weekend and snapped a couple of shots of the Dome Mine superpit... that's the big hole in the ground there. Something interesting about gold mines... they usually last ten to twelve years, a real good one might last twenty. This is the Dome Mine in Timmins, probably one of the greatest gold mines in modern history. It was discovered in 1909... and it's still in operation today. That's 99 years!!! Next year, they're planning a big party. People make a lot of fuss about the great California gold rush, The Cariboo gold rush and even the Klondike gold rush. Well the Timmins gold rush... the one that began in 1909 here in the Porcupine Gold Camp, has to be the biggest of all. It never stopped. All the guys who lost their shirts in the Klondike eventually made their way to Timmins and made money. All the other gold rush towns are dusty old tourist traps. They're still finding gold in Timmins, in huge quantities. Lake Shore Gold opened a new mine this year... They've just reached the 100 metre mark, as of last week and already they've identified more than a million ounces of gold! And next week, another big announcement. Goldcorp is about to announce plans for a new open pit gold mine... combining the famous Hollinger Gold Mine with the equally famous McIntyre Gold Mine. Interesting times. We'll keep you posted.

Neil was here!

You know I had such a good time, I almost forgot to mention that my favourite son came home to Timmins last week. Neil was here for a few days and he managed to drag me out, not once, but twice to go drinking beer! After a few days he said he had to go back to Vancouver. I think he just got tired of having to pay for his own beer... apparently when you run a brew-pub on the west coast, beer is free. By the way, did you notice how high his forehead is getting! LOL

How I became a geek...

It took some time but I finally managed to recover the documents and photos from the old hard drive from my last computer. I thought I had fried the drive, but it turns out the problem was only a bad video card… either that, or I played too many video games. Anyway, it took about ten months of research and trying different things before I finally convinced my new computer to accept the old hard drive (80 gigabytes) running in parallel with the new hard drive (320 gigabytes). How cool is that? The drive is right there in the plastic baggy (centre left) on my first trial run. It has been running for about six hours now, with no glitches! (knock on wood!) I think I am officially a computer geek now… I know how to put together a motherboard, swap out DDR2 Ram, the differences between CMOS and BIOS and how to hook up ribbon cables in the right order. OMG can you believe i had a hard drive running in a baggy? LMAO

Mac = useless!

I got a new computer at work today... It's an iMac... pronoucned "eye mack" not immick like gimmick. Wow, what a piece of crap! For the same price you could get a real PC and a laptop PC. This thing is a one-function wonder... you can't run several functions at once, so you end up closing and opening programs all day. What a massive pain in the ass that is! - lol - Oh well, the powers that be in the publishing business are all convinced that macs are the best. Hmmm... maybe if they used a real computer, they'd have to hustle. Oh well, at least now I have an excuse when things don't get done. Psssttt... there's a reason why Bill Gates is the richest man in the world. He uses a PC!

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Yes, we've had tonnes of rain in Timmins this summer, but every now and then, there's a rainbow. I snapped this shot coming out of the office yesterday on the way to a shoot. And yep... took the shot with the new cam. Nice eh.

A new cam

I did it again. I guess I know how a junkie feels. I fed my addiction and I bought a new camera today. Well, i can argue a good reason. I smacked my D50 against a tripod last week and screwed up the autofocus on my main lens...it's the standard short lens. So i looked around at the price of a new lens... I should mention that I have tons of lenses from my old film Nikons, but they won't fit the new digitals. The prices were ridiculous of course, so i broke down and bought a new cam. It's super fast, super light and has that amazing NIKON quality. This way i can still use my old D50 with the telephoto lens and used my new D40 with the short lens. Hmmm... thanks goodness for credit cards eh.

Jelly!

Well the house smelled steamy, fruity and sugary for several hours on the weekend. All those fat, ripe choke cherries are now reduced to a sweet jelly. Actually we got more than a dozen jars of fresh jelly. Now I will have to stock up on some low-calorie bagels and enjoy!

Choke cherry jelly!

It's been two years sinced I made my last batch... I walked by the tree this morning and was surprised at how ripe (and how many) the choke cherries were. We grabbed the ladder and started picking them after work today. Claudette is better on a ladder than I am... and she had a better eye for the ripest fruit. I just spent two hours washing and sorting the choke cherries. Gonna cook 'em up and put 'em jars tomorrow.

I will try anything ... once

So Claudette and I went to dinner this weekend... I saw something that looked interesting, so I decided, sure, why not try it. It was couscous... certainly it looked apetizing. They say it's a Middle Eastern food from the 13th century... Hmmmm. I think the stuff I ate was older than that. Yecccchhhh! It tasted like Cream of Wheat with a side of veggies. No wonder they're always fighting over there.

On the job up north

A friend at De Beers sent this photo from the opening day at the new De Beers diamond mine last month. With all the running around, the newsies got a chance for a minute to stop for this photo - from the left is me, Jessica Young with Timmins Press, Natalie Geddes with Rogers Radio and Erin Howe with CTV. You can't really notice it, but we all had wet, muddy shoes from from running around on the muskeg. For some reason, the gals seemed more interested in seeing diamonds than I was! : )

Interesting sunset eh

The rain, the clouds and the sun all sort of came together at the right time last night to make a very nice sunset over Timmins. I wasn't quite sure how to record it, so I snapped a couple of pictures... one beside the cathedral on Pine Street, and then I zipped over to the north end to grab a shot from atop the big rock on TV Hill.

Ten thousand photos!

The NIKON tech guys tell me my camera is good for 100,000 activations before it dies. This week I reached photo number 10,000. Actually this one is photo number 9999 and then the camera goes back to "0001". So the number 10,000 does not actually register. I have had the NIKON for about two and half years... at this rate, it should be good for 25 years. Anyway, this was part of the gang from De Beers in Timmins having a bit of a celebration on Wednesday night.

So they sparkle a lot...

What's all the fuss about diamonds anyway? I guess it's something special because so many people buy them. In any case, I was at the official opening of Canada's newest diamond mine today... the De Beers Victor Mine, about 700 kilometres north of Timmins. They had a display there of just a handful of the diamonds they've mined so far. I get the impression that a handful of diamonds is something special. De Beers says the new mine is small by most standards, but what makes it unique is the stunning quality and clarity of the Canadian diamonds. It was nice to see them.

It's a good day eh

Jenn called this morning with news that my grandsons Tyler and Nate were on their way into Timmins. Don and Denise were heading out of Westree on a grocery run and decided to come north for the day. So well all met at the new Tim Horton's and had lunch and a great visit. Victoria was there too. It was so nice to see them all. Tomorrow will be an interesting day. I am flying out in the morning to Attawapiskat on the James Bay coast and then heading inland to the Victor Project... Canada's newest diamond mine. It's the first diamond mine outside of the NWT. De Beers is throwing a bash for all the VIPs for some place down south called Toronto. It should be fun. Security is a big issue for De Beers. No one but a few media types is allowed to bring cameras. We've been told we cannot shoot photos without permission and only in specific areas. That should be interesting.

My first breathalyzer test...

It was indeed nerve wracking last night for those few seconds when I blew into the handheld machine the cop held out in front of me. It was just after midnight when we decided to leave the Summerfest street party in South Porcupine and drive back to Timmins. We got out to the main road and there was a RIDE spot check set up. I knew I had only two drinks over two hours and was confident it would be okay, but for those few seconds when you're blowing into the breathalyzer, you wonder .. "holy crap, this could a real problem here..." I told the cop I had two drinks. He later mentioned this is what people usually say when they've had four or five drinks. I guess that's why he asked for my breath sample. After blowing into the machine, I stared at it for seconds, and seconds, and seconds....the little green light came on. Anyway, the reading was 0.024 per cent, which he said was well under the limit of 0.08 per cent blood alcohol level. Still, I have to confess, it's nothing to be proud of.

Flying car wash?

No I wasn't trying to get the truck washed for free. As the photo shows, the truck was parked close to a brush fire on the weekend as the helicopter water bomber flew in ... but no we didn't get wet. One firefighter told me there was a situation a few years back where a pick up truck was hit by a water bomber and there was a very nice dent in the roof. Sunday was hot and windy in Timmins, but the fire was knocked down in less than an hour.

I'm on You Tube

I think I have found my 15 minutes of fame. A couple of years ago when I was working in tourism, I hosted a TV crew from a California based outfit called EcoNews. (See blog entry for Aug. 19, 2006) We spent a bit of time traveling around the area. Just yesterday I found out it was on You Tube. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9JnAedpjwM
The item is not quite 15 minutes, but it shows off our part of the country, so check it out if you’re interested.
It’s Saturday morning in Timmins and I am enjoying a nice cup of tea. For some reason, I have stopped having coffee in the mornings. Tea is good. The weather is beautiful today. It’s a wonderfully pleasant 11 degrees right now. Finally, a day with no rain forecast, but it’s going to be a scorcher with a high of about 31.That’s way too hot. It might be a good day to find a breezy lake or stream and spend some time in the canoe.

Canada Day

Canada Day was fun in Timmins, with plenty to do. It was interesting that a new monument was unveiled as a tribute to miners who have died on the job. The new monument in located in the McIntyre park, situated betweeen two of the most famous gold mines in the country... the McIntyre and the Hollinger.
My CB cousins would be interested in knowing that Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus was there... as we chatted I discovered that Charlie has roots in Cape Breton. His grandmother was a MacNeil from a place called Iona.