I talk too much

Yeah, I know. I talk wayyyy too much to people. I think it's one of the good things about Timmins, and not so good things. Ha ha ha. I left the office at 6:00 p.m. but I bumped into our city editor having a smoke at the front door. We chatted and before you know it, 15 minutes had passed. So I scooted over the YIG to pick up a couple of things. I got cookies, Jos Louis cakes, crackers, and stuff for soup. And I bumped into people at the store, so yeahhh, we yakked and yakked some more. Then as I was checking out the cashier felt like chatting... so there we were, smile and nod, smile and nod. I finally got away about 10 minutes later. There was no one else at the fast-lane check out. I got home just a short while ago. Put on boiling water, chopped up carrots, celery, added spices, barley and added the Campbell Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato broth. Looked at the clock. It was 7:48!
So now I am having a drink and waiting for the soup... I guess it will be just right in about an hour.
So I have a new toy in my vehicle. I purchased one of those dash cams. I have been researching them for about a year and finally Garmin came out with a nice affordable model. $200, on sale of course. It has HD quality, records excellent video day and night, and comes with a built in GPS and speedometer. Also, in a crunch, I can disconnect it from the dash and use it as a news cam.

In other news, I got back into my e-reader these past couple of weeks. Oh my goodness, I am reading a Giller Prize winning book ~ The Book of Negroes. It is riveting. I can barely put it down during my morning coffee so I can go to work. Wow, what a book.

Happy with Sorels

I have spent most of today looking after my winter boots. We have snow on the ground in Timmins and so I know the day will soon come that I have to wear my favourite winter boots, my Sorel Caribous. I am pleased to say I am on my second pair. I purchased my first pair back in the 1970s and they were excellent. I had some travels in the Arctic and my boots always keep my feet warm. Then in the 1990s, while living in Sudbury, our dog Brodie chewed them up one day. So I had to throw them out. For a few years, I figured I could get along without them. I had a couple of good pairs of hiking boots that were warm and waterproof and so that was fine. One day I was in a store and saw a nice new pair of Caribous on sale. It was spring or summer. So I scooped them up. Some years later I learned that Sorels were no longer made in Canada. The company was bought by Columbia and so now the boots are made in China. I was so pleased to see that my old boots are Canadian made. I'd like to think that is one reason why they've lasted so long. Also, I treat the boots each year to some cleaning, some TLC and a coating of beeswax. So once again, another winter with my toasty Caribous. I may look like an old farmer, but my toes will be warm.

Pictures worth taking ...

Every now and then I see something that begs for a picture to be taken. That's how it was this morning when I was out shooting photos in the aftermath of the first snowstorm we had this season.

New Whisky

Whisky is whisky is whisky, right? Nooooo! Whisky is like your moods. They're always different. Some weeks I don't have a sip at all and other times, I just crave the taste. So I was in the LCBO this week, looking at different whiskies when I noticed that Wiser's had a new product. Now I enjoy Wiser's Deluxe, which is a nice drink.

So I figured this new Wiser's spiced brand would be worth a taste. Oh my goodness... it is fabulous. It has a distinct toffee taste, which is easy to enjoy. So I am thinking this would be nice, over ice, with a splash of Bailey's... Wiser and Bailey's... I will call it a Blazer!
So be sure to get the toffee blend... dont' confuse it with the vanilla.

Ontario throwing money away ...

Can't figure out why our Queen's Park Liberal government, with all it's so-called financial hardship, can afford to give $85-Million to help the Honda corporation to upgrade its new car plant in Southern Ontario. So we can give $85-Million to a foreign car company but we can't help save Ontario Northland railway? I don't see where there is a worthwhile return on investment for Ontario. Honda has world-wide sales in the $billions. And Ontario is giving them money to improve their engine technology? If we are investing all that money, will Honda give us a piece of their sales?

The lake looks good...

If you haven't been out by Gillies Lake in Timmins recently, the newly completed promenade boardwalk looks pretty nice. I like the fact that our city has such a nice lake right in the heart of the community and the fact that so many people like to spend time there. Hmmmm, I wonder how things will change in ten or so years from now when the open pit gold mine becomes the new Hollinger Lake.

November is okay

I like November. Lots of interesting things happen, or have happened, in this month... I wonder why I only wrote one item in this blog for November 2013. Well I remembered that November is Ronald's birthday month. I think as a kid he always got cheated out of at least one Christmas gift because of his birthday. November also has Remembrance Day, which I always take so seriously. Actually I began wearing my poppy a couple of weeks back, after the attack in Ottawa. November is also the month that commemorates the death of President Kennedy. I will never forget that day. I also remember watching CNN the day the Berlin Wall came down. Wow, what a change in the world that day. November is also the month that took the Edmund Fitzgerald, made popular in the song by Lightfoot. The ship sank in Lake Superior in November 1975. I knew a reporter at the The Globe and Mail who covered that story. He remembered wondering why so many people were astounded at the loss of such a huge ship until he went to Lake Superior and saw for himself how horrible the storms could be.
On a somewhat more happy note, I made a pan of apple crisp last night. OMG it is soooo gooood. I hadn't made one in months, but I was out shopping Saturday and the store had put up a huge display of apples. So I bought a couple of pounds of nice Courtlands. Also instead of adding cinnamon I added allspice, which was quite nice. Had some with my breakfast coffee ... soooo goooood!

Keeping a promise...

Some time ago, in conversation with a local police officer, I made a promise. He mentioned that with the Internet being so active, it was getting to the point that we newsies were getting too fast with our reporting … as it relates to auto crashes. Now crashes are not a big deal, but we cover them and get back to the office and get the photos online quickly. Usually it has something to do with bad road conditions, or a storm, and so we will advise readers to drive carefully. Here’s the thing – In a small town, we would get the photos online very quickly, sometimes in 15 or 20 minutes. So a traffic cop asked if we could slow things down a bit… maybe wait an hour before putting the pictures up, because family members tend to get all frightened, upset and worried if they see a car they might recognize from a crash scene.

So okay, that’s reasonable. So I said yes, I will now wait a full hour before putting up crash photos. Sure enough, we had a crash today involving a car and a wheelchair. And I waited an hour, thinking … somebody knows somebody who owns that wheelchair. I hope no one was alarmed. I hope the guy is okay.
But I gotta tell ya, if you know somebody is flying to Timmins and their plane crashes, and I get the photos, well, sorry, I won’t be waiting an hour…

Back on the books ...

I took some time away from reading these past few months because I was busy and got to enjoying some Netflix and Roku. But now I am back into the books, and a had to warn myself this week to be careful. I am such a cheapskate... But when it comes to books I forget that. Just checked my credit card account and discovered I have spent nearly $40 in the past three weeks on e-Books. I will have to back off a bit and wait.
Oh, Jenn told me about her espresso coffee choices recently when I visited. She offered me a Keurig espresso, but I declined, figuring it would be too bitter. But last week I bought a box of Keurig espressos and they are grrreat! Usually in the early afternoon, I can scoot home to grab a sandwich... So this week I have enjoyed a few expressos and they are fabulous! Just sayin'

just so sad

Timmins fellow on CBS 60 Minutes

It was fun this week to see that CBS 60 Minutes did a story on Shawn Ryan, a prospector living in the Yukon who has become a millionaire for his ability to find gold.
http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwtv/article/Scoop-60-MINUTES-on-CBS-Sunday-October-19-2014-20141017 In this article about Ryan, CBS labelled it a scoop! Here is the TV link.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/gold-rush-turning-mushroom-hunting-into-gold-in-the-yukon
Sorry guys, Ryan is a Timmins fellow and we did a story on him back in May 2012. He was honoured by fellow prospectors in Timmins and was unofficially dubbed King of Klondike. I even snapped this photo of him and wrote up his story. Just so you know Ryan cut his teeth with prospecting crews here in Timmins before moving out west, where they told him there was no more gold to be found in the Klondike. As any good prospector knows, the best place to find a new gold mine is right beside an old gold mine. No wonder the fellow is filthy rich!

Voting is so easy now...

I voted yesterday. Yes, it was advanced polling for the October 27th city election. The cool thing was that I was able to vote via the Internet. I am glad Timmins set this up and I suppose this is the thing of the future. It took about five minutes, with various security checks built in, and then the ballot was right here on the screen in front of me. I like how convenient it is to stay in tune with democracy. I hope this idea appeals to more young people.

A nice time ...

I am back in Timmins after enjoying a very nice couple of days with Jennifer. The boys went south to spend the weekend with Victoria; Scott was out to catch the first weekend of moose hunting and so Jenn and I did a nice quiet Thanksgiving with a couple of bottles of wine, turkey, stuffing, cake and even movies. Heck we even got a chance to go out to dinner. We went to P & M's to check the latest menu and were pleased to run into Junior. It was great to chat and get caught up with him. The funniest part was when the young hostess was bringing us to the table. She made reference to the idea that we might be a dating couple. I laughed and said “I'm her Dad!” I reassured Jenn that she didn't look older at all. If anything, with her nice new hair style, she looks younger. I figured with my newsboy cap and cashmere blazer, I looked a few years younger. I took it as a compliment. Anyway, it was a very relaxing weekend. I stayed in the Nathan Suite as usual and slept great. Jenn said she woke early on Sunday and could hear me down the hall, sawing logs. I never heard a thing!
Jenn is up to her elbows in school work. There are days, she admitted, that the workload is hard, hard, hard. But she continues to get good marks ... because she studies hard. But she is also smart, smart, smart. So I have much confidence in her.
The boys are also doing very well in school. I am so proud of those guys. So this is good. I am thankful.
The drive back north was very relaxing. I pulled off in the bush for a nature call, but I didn't drive too far. There were hunters everywhere. I also got a photo of the train crossing at Windy Lake. A northbound freight was pulling a huge train with five engines. I like trains. I took pictures.

So don't read it

I have spent the last 20 minutes reading Christie Blatchford's stories in the National Post about the Luka Magnotta trIal. If you don't know who he is, nevermind, you really don't need to know. Here's the thing; Magnotta is a monster. He cannot possibly have a human mind to do the things he is accused of doing. Magnotta killed people, chopped them up and then mailed out the body parts. He also videotaped much of what he did. So Blatchford has reported the courtroom icky stuff in detail. Anyone who has spent time covering court knows they talk about all the yukky stuff in court, the terrible things people to do other people. What is upsetting to me is that so many people read this stuff and then criticize the newspaper for writing about it. Well, excuse me. Anybody with a clue is going to know what the Magnotta trial will be about. If you're upset that it is being written about, THEN STOP READING IT! Put the paper down, and go for a walk. Call your kids. Pick your nose. Do some housework. But don't waste my time or tempt my bloody good nature by complaining. We live in a free society. That's means we have a reasonable amount of academic freedom. People can discuss things and write about them. It's the price of democracy. Live with it.

Catching up

So October is here. And Spring is on the way! Yeah, yeah, we all know that we’re in for a tough winter, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. May as well look on the bright side and look forward to Spring. I was out on the local hiking day event and we really can’t complain. The weather has been amazingly mild … or maybe I am becoming more tolerant of the weather. In Timmins in the fall, one has to dress in layers, depending on the time of day. Walking out to the car at 7:30 a.m. you need a heavy sweater, maybe a jacket… or a heavy blazer. Toward noon, you can start shedding layers. By mid-afternoon, it is shirt sleeve weather and by 6:00 p.m. time to reach for the jacket again.

We had some excitement last week when a Beech King Air came in for a belly landing at the Timmins Airport. The incident was good for a few stories, but it boiled down to an electrical - mechanical problem with a wiring harness gumming up the front landing wheel. The wheel was only partially down when the pilot came in for the landing.

I managed to get a half decent photo of the plane speeding along the runway just before he touched down. The good news is that the two crew and seven passengers walked away without a scratch.

Had to write an obit a couple of weeks ago about an old friend. George Delich, the district chief of the Schumacher firefighter brigade died. I know people always say nice things about people when they die, but George was one of the truly good guys. We chatted a lot. Whenever I showed up a fire scene, he always had a smile. He was a former teacher and principal, a community volunteer and still an active firefighter. George was 79. I am going to miss him.

A Timmins icon

Timmins celebrated something interesting this week. They re-dedicated the last surviving original version of the Hollinger House, one of the hundreds of company houses built by the Hollinger Gold Mine back in the 1920s to provide homes for miners and their families. The houses were truly an icon of the Porcupine gold mining camp. Over the years I have met many people and families that grew up in these homes. For my Cape Breton cousins, they might be interested in knowing that the famous CB fiddler, Buddy MacMaster, was born in one of these houses back in 1924. His family had moved to Timmins where his father was employed at the Hollinger mine. The family lived at 14 Messines Avenue.

Just some cool things ...

A couple of cool things happened this past week. The RCAF Snowbirds dropped in at Timmins airport to get some fuel. They were heading back to their home base in Saskatchewan. So I grabbed a few photos. While they were at the airport, they startled some Canada Geese, who were on their southbound journey for the winter.

No more turtles

Okay I have stopped buying Nestlé water and eventually I will stop buying their food products as well. No I am not some wild-eyed foodie protester, but I will carry on my own little boycott against Nestlé. There has been a lot of publicity lately about the Nestlé Pure Life water products, something I would buy just for convenience sake. The company is now promoting the total commercialization of fresh water sources, not just in Canada, but everywhere in the world. I believe that is wrong. I believe water belongs to the government; the people. It should not be sold off to multi-billion dollar food corporations. I am not making this up. Nestlé wants to take over the world water supply.
So here’s the problem. Nestlé own so many companies I am really going to have to do research on what I should NOT be buying. Okay I have stopped buying Pure Life bottled water. But the company also owns Perrier water, Pellegrino water, Acqua Panna water, Montclair water. So yes, these were my favourite brands, but now I will change. I still buy bottled water for the convenience … but I will buy the ordinary house brands, once I am sure they’re not Nestlé owned. I also re-bottle my own tap water through a Brita Filter.
My other concern is that this company has gone into third world countries to buy up huge parcels of land, simply to take advantage of the “water rights” that come with the land. Nestlé then sets up pumping stations to suck out all the underground water reserves and this often leaves local wells to dry up. Farmers suffer. Community wells run dry. But Nestlé is happy to sell them back the water in convenient little bottles. I think that’s wrong. So there is not much I can do except refuse to buy their products. Sadly this includes plenty of other things I like such as Kit Kat bars, Nestea ice tea, Delissio pizza, Coffee Crisp, Aero bars, Smarties and Turtles! (Sorry Jenn).

Eating well ...

Jennifer speaks often about the importance of eating well, especially fruit. I grumble sometimes but I usually listen to what she says. I had her words in mind when I was at the LCBO lately. There is a very nice tasting "desert beer" called Wells Banana Bread Beer. It is made in England. It is quite tasty, is not bitter, and has a very pleasant aftertaste. This is not the sort of beer you will quaff while ice-fishing or watching a hockey game. This is what you will enjoy with a nice warm piece of chocolate cake with a sweet icing. So yes, when it comes to eating well, and drinking well, there are many good choices.

* * * * *
Had a very nice chat with Neil this past week. He is changing jobs. He was quite excited to tell me he is taking over a new restaurant, a fine dining pizza place if you can imagine. I checked it out here. It was even recommended by the Globe and Mail food critic. Well, la dee dah! It is in the same Gastown neighbourhood as Steamworks, and so it is easy for him to get to work. He seemed quite pleased with the change, especially since they came to him with the offer.

Music music music

I am quite proud of the fact that Timmins is home to the TSO. Yes, that is the Timmins Symphony Orchestra. I know nothing about music, except that I know what I like and what I listen to. One of the best things about our city is that we have the Timmins summer concert series, where local artists are featured every Wednesday night in the summer. The final concert of the season was last week. What a show! Starting off was an incredible performance by jazz pianist Seve Kessler, who now lives in Timmins.

Yes, this is the same Steve Kessler, an American jazz artist, described by critics as a piano prodigy. Kessler was accompanied by friends playing a violin and a saxophone. He was followed by the TSO under the direction of conductor Matthew Jones. If you missed it, I won't make you feel bad by telling you how good it all was. But yes, it was so worth it to put up with a bit of a breeze and a few raindrops.

Anyway, I am thoroughly engrossed with Jazz these days. Last night I did a bit of research and found some recordings online of a fellow named Stan Getz, an incredible saxophonist. Listening to his music is like eating chocolate cake... you just can't get enough!