Waterfront Inn, Buffalo Narrows

This is where I’ve been living for the past couple weeks in Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan. It’s a nice little motel and I’ve stayed here before on extended visits. They have regular rooms, some with kitchenettes but my favorites are the ones with the little balconies overlooking the lake.

In the morning I sit out there with my coffee and watch the ducks, terns, pelicans and other wildlife all in a private and very quiet setting. I can listen to the fish jump and just charge up my batteries for the day. In the evenings I can either go back to my balcony or head down to the benches on the dock for a small refreshment and relax while reviewing the day’s events and planning for tomorrow. Ah, it’s a great life but of course it doesn't compare to being on our own deck overlooking the lake back in Wikwemikong. Ten more days and I’ll be there!

I’m going to post a few photos of around the motel as I think the owners have done a great job with landscaping and I especially enjoy the way they’ve painted up a few of the rocks.

Meet you at the dock!

I Haven’t Read a Book in Years...

That’s right… it must be 4 or 5 years at least since I’ve read a book cover to cover. What I have done instead is read several dozen on my computer and many more on my Palm Pilot, but it’s not the same.

Remember back when you first discovered the magic that a few well written sentences could evoke? With a simple “coming in view of the ancient swamp” we were swept up and could not only see an image of a misty bog we could almost smell the rotting vegetation. And what was that… yeah that… a trick of the wind or was there another, more sinister sound being masked by the croaking of a thousand frogs?

See what I mean? To me the printed word of ink on paper brings the image alive so much more than on a computer screen. There is just something about holding a book in your hands that makes it so much more real. To feel the texture of the page as you turn it in anticipation and after reading a particularly intriguing passage to be able to simply put the book down and contemplate. That pause, just for a few minutes, can bring so much more vividness and understanding and these experiences are what I miss most in the modern age of electronics.

What a loss to the youth of today who will (I think) miss something of Herman Melville, H.P. Lovecraft, Jack London or Dante. And don’t get me started on how much you seem to lose from the likes of Robert Service on a brightly lit monitor. Who can possibly feel anything of “The northern lights have seen queer sights” in that glare?



Ah, must be getting old I guess but I miss the evenings of reading quietly with no TV or other distractions. Guess I’d better turn off the computer now and find that old copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull that I’ve been meaning to re-read for years.

What's in YOUR library these days?

A Lighthouse On The Prairies?

I've always wanted to stop and check out this landmark which is located in Cochin, Saskatchewan.

Bet you didn't know there was that much water in the middle of the prairies, did you?

It was a long climb for an old guy like me, 152 steps in all but the view was worth it I think. Don't you?

Cars!

These guys were all sitting in the parking lot of the Saskatoon Inn while I was there. Another 1,400 vehicles were due in on the weekend for a big rally. Wish I could have hung around.























I thought I should post these photos for my car crazy kids... and me too I guess. This last one is the rental car I have for the next month. Vrooommm, vroooooommmmmm!

July 31, 2008.

So you've heard it all from me before... last trip. I've warned you all though that if the company gets stuck and really needs someone somewhere fast they know that they can call and I'll be on the next plane out for them. The timing on this excursion however will take me right up to (and probably over) the planned and agreed upon retirement date of September 1st. We’ll see.

Today's route takes me from Wiky to Sudbury to Toronto to Winnipeg to Saskatoon. There I will overnight at one of my favorite hotels, the Saskatoon Inn. This is my preferred location in that city as it’s close to the airport with easy access to the city and Provincial highway system. I won’t tease you with stories about the dessert buffet (complete with chocolate fountain) following a great western meal, or the “Botanical” lounge where you can get a very fine single malt for a nightcap.

Sigh… it will have to be just one Lagavulin tonight though as I have a 5 hour drive north in the morning. No commercial flights to where I’m headed this time but it does have the very rare treat called a “road” to this particular Northern location. I’ll try to post again tomorrow but I’m not even sure I’ll have an internet connection for a while. If you don’t hear from me or see any updates to the Our Manitoulin web site you’ll know why. Later!

Another Great Weekend...

It was yet another successful event at the South Baymouth Flea & Farmers Market yesterday. We're there every Sunday from 11:00am to 3:00pm and it would be great to see you there next week. LOTS of great products and bargains from all the vendors, including yours truly!

John Budd Park event…

I had a really good time on Sunday at the South Baymouth Flea & Farmers Market. There were eight or nine of us there with our displays and I think a successful day was had by all. I know I did alright and the fellow selling fruit and vegetables next to me also had a very good day.

This will be a weekly event for July and August and we’ll all be there from 11:00am to 3:00pm every Sunday. I have my Watkins wares of course and although I do not stock every one of the 350+ items that are in our main catalogue I do have 30 or 40 different goodies on hand such as spices, soups, gravies, cleaners and home remedies. Of course I try to keep the all time favorites of pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, Petro-Carbo and Medicated Ointments on hand at all times. Personally we find ourselves using more and more of the soaps and detergents every month as they work great and are plant based and environmentally friendly. I think these “green” products are very important for those of us who live so close to the many lakes and streams on the island and it’s nice not to have to worry about what our “grey water” may be doing to that family of loons near the house.

We all hope to see you there each and every Sunday throughout the summer but if you can't make it you can always order all your Watkins products directly online or send me an e-mail and we'll get back to you with details. I'd like to thank you all in advance as we're really pushing to make Manager level with Watkins this month and can't do it without your continued support. See you at the market!

Visitors Are Important…

I find that it’s necessary to occasionally have guests from off-island visit otherwise we may forget all the great things there are to see and do on Manitoulin. For example we just had a couple visiting us from up in Schumacher and it gave me a good excuse to go exploring once again.

I had actually introduced these two way back in 1973 or 1974 when he was my co-worker at The Bay and she was a teacher. In those days it was common for the HBC boys and the local group of teachers and nurses to get together often and I suppose that this still goes on even though I’ve turned into a recluse myself. Back then I spent many an evening visiting with the other “outsiders” and tipping back more than a few tasty beverages, especially on the weekends. At any rate these two hit it off but we thought all was over when Ken transferred from Mistassini to St. Augustine down on the north shore of Quebec. As fate would have it he became manager of our store in Wemindji a year or so later and guess who was teaching in that community at that time? Yup, game over for both of them and he and Brenda were married shortly afterward.

I occasionally ran into Ken and Brenda who had moved south when I was travelling out from Moosonee serving in various capacities for the Lions Clubs, but hadn’t seen him in the past 4 or 5 years. They finally came down to visit a few days ago and Gloria and I got reacquainted with them and I got reacquainted with Manitoulin Island. We hit most of the highlights on the eastern end of the island (we’ll do the west next year) from High Falls to the Little Current docks and on to Kagawong for the Bridal Veil Falls tour and even managed to hit the Thursday night Dinner Cruise on the Chi-Cheemaun. As I think I’ve mentioned before, if you’ve never taken this cruise then by all means do so. The food is great, the service super and the views heading over and then sailing back into the sunset are beyond compare. If any of you out there reading this have never visited our area and would like more information just let me know. Personally I’m going to make it a point to get out and about much more often and we’ll update you with some other photos later on.

Manitoulin Fish & Chips anyone?

Itchy and Scratchy

Well I’ve gone and done it again. Yup, poison ivy wins the round again this year. Last time I know exactly when I got it and that was because I was cleaning out old vegetation from the bush near the house. This time I have no idea. It had to have been when I mowed the lawn down near the beach but I sure don’t remember seeing any of the stuff down there.

At any rate, there is no cure for the rash and itch other than time but I’ve found that the Watkins Red Clover salve or Burn Cream seem to work the best at keeping the stuff from driving you crazy. It’s funny though because up until last year poison ivy never bothered me but I understand from doing a little research that it only takes one exposure too many to put you “over the top” and start the reactions. I was also reading up where after you get it once it comes back more and more easily all the time because if it gets into your system it’s there forever just waiting to rear up again at the least little provocation. Guess I’ll just have to spend the summers sitting on the deck instead of doing yard work. Hey… maybe there IS a good side to having poison ivy around the house. Heh, heh, heh…

(Photo courtesy of a “Creative Commons” license from the melissambwilkins' photostream on Flickr.)

June 20 - Departure from Old Crow

Normally when I leave a community I have some sense of either letdown or relief.

Today, as we head out towards Inuvik from Old Crow I’m not sure what I feel. Is it perhaps a twinge of disappointment at once again running out of time to get everything done that I’d wanted to? It’s always “I need one more day” and that’s the story of my life lately, I guess. The goal is always to leave a store in better shape than when I found it so it’s “Mission Accomplished” once again… but there was so much more that could and should be done at this location.

So, I’m not sure what I’m feeling upon this departure. Maybe the closest I can come actually is relief. Relief that I’ve survived another one and relief that if all goes well then this sojourn completes my 35 year career with first The Hudson’s Bay Company and now The North West Company. Since heading out in August 1973 to my first posting in Mistassini I’ve worked in (or at least visited) 76 stores and travelled from coast to coast to coast many times. The scenery on this trip has been some of the most spectacular from the Niagara Escarpment to the Prairies to the Rockies to the Mackenzie Delta and the Arctic Ocean.

How lucky can a guy get to see all that and have someone else pay the tab? Lots of openings with TNWC these days in all areas of the country and stores so if you are interested in a great life with lots of perks just let me know and I’ll help get you started with talking to the right people. See 'ya later!

June 21 - Cheers to you my friends...

I had said that I would have a beer for you two in Vancouver Friday night but I’m afraid that just wasn't possible. By the time the flight from Whitehorse got into town and the shuttle bus deposited me at the hotel it was just too late.



They put me up at the Comfort Inn and of course this particular location had no lounge. There was a beer and wine store just down the street but they were closing up while I was completing my check in, sigh….




















So I’m afraid that this toast to Fred and Debra is a day late and couple thousand miles away from the intended location. The glass of cool Rickard’s Red I have in my hand is being raised at the Hog Town Bar & Grill at Pearson Airport in Toronto… but the meaning and intentions are still the same. Here’s to the next time we meet!

June 22 - 3:00am

Well it’s 3:00 am… I’m back on Manitoulin… a glass of brandy in my hand… the world is fine… and I’m content.

Over the next few days I’ll be posting various ramblings that I’ve sketched out notes on during my travel of the past couple days. I left the store in Old Crow Friday morning about 9:00 am and arrived home about an hour ago. Routing back was almost the same as outbound over a month ago and went Old Crow, Inuvik, Dawson City, Whitehorse, Vancouver (overnight), Winnipeg, Toronto, Sudbury. Gloria picked me up at the airport and after avoiding several deer and one fox (but falling prey to a large double-double from Tim’s) we arrived home without incident.

Time to sip the last of this brandy and head off to bed. It’s been a long trip. Talk at you all later. ZZZZzzzz....

Imaginative...

So when I was looking around for the photo of Glenn Gould on the park bench for the post this morning I ran across this site...




There's lots more at Wierdomatic so check it out.

Now, what can we put like this right smack dab in the middle of Manitoulin Island that will bring in the tourists? Ideas anyone?

Music at dawn...

The sound of the Goldberg Variations as interpreted by Glenn Gould always seems to be the perfect morning music for me. It never, ever fails to take my awareness (I guess) to new levels as his playing evolves in ways that only Glenn Gould could accomplish.

It’s a 1981 recording that I have loaded into my laptop and I wonder if this is the session that a buddy of mine was allowed to sit in on. Mr. Gould was an eccentric to say the least and was VERY particular about EVERYTHING in his life and often demanded to have several pianos to choose from whenever he played. (This one is too soft, this one is too loud, this one has sticking keys… you get the idea.) He even carried his own chair with him folded up and tucked under his arm which gave him what he considered to be the ideal height for playing piano.

He dressed for winter in the middle of summer but perhaps the idiosyncrasy that amuses me the most was that he sang to himself all through his playing. This drove the technicians crazy because they were unable to cover up his humming and whatnot on the recordings and they finally gave up trying to make him stop and just left it in as part of the character of the piece. He also refused to allow anyone in the same room with him while making these recordings which is why it is remarkable that my friend was allowed to sit in (out of sight) during one session. I guess they hit it off somehow so the master allowed the aficionado to remain.

Anyway, you youngsters out there have absolutely no idea who Glenn Gould was because he died far too young back in 1982. It was a stroke that got him at age 50 and it gives me pause when I realize that he was younger than me and accomplished so much in that time. (How does it appear to be so easy for some people?) It’s difficult to imagine that his playing could have gotten any better, but I just wonder what works he would be producing today if he were still around. Our loss for sure… but hey, you can still talk to him whenever you want as he is sitting on a bench outside CBC in Toronto just waiting for all of us to stop by. (This is a little bit strange in itself by the way because in his later years he became a recluse and avoided people as much as he could, talking only by telephone whenever possible.)

Photo Credits: http://time4time.blogspot.com/2007/09/75-years-of-glenn-gould.html
http://www.castalie.fr/photo-2668-glenn-gould_jpg.html
http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/blog/2007/04/strange_statues_from_around_th.html