Category: Uncategorized

and now for something completely different

This is a composite made from a photo my son Hunter took in downtown Calgary, and a picture I took of the Milky Way.

There is a photographer who used to do cityscapes with stars in the background. They were compositions when they weren’t easy to do with the software available at the time. He tried to show what cities would look like without light pollution. They were eerie. His name is Thierry Cohen if you want to check him out.

Many, if not most, of the astrophotography photos seen now are composites in one way or the other. Often the landscape is taken in one shot and the sky is taken in another. The time and place of the two or more photos can vary greatly. Like this composite for example.

The problem is composites are often presented as real. There is a photo of a nearby historic town with a well known mountain. Above the mountain the Milky Way shoots straight up in the east. The problem is the Milky Way is never in that position. It is a two photo composite. The photographer never presents it as such. The photo has been on magazine covers and sold as fine art photographs. It is probably one of the most well known photographs of that area. Yet the scene it depicts doesn’t exist. Does that matter as we enter an era of AI produced images? Where it is becoming impossible to tell the difference between what is real?

I have always appreciated documentary style photography. It is what I try to do on this site. It is to show change and also provide a record. That attitude probably comes from my family’s history in newspapers.

With this said, I like Hunter and my collaboration. It is not representative of reality, it is more symbolic. What would a city look like if the lights were off on a clear night? Would the world be a different place if we all could see the stars?

Hunter enjoys mixing music. Like his mixes, like art, like this photo, it is essentially storytelling and exists to make us think.

Dysfunction

No chance to see Comet Lemmon this morning through the cloud and snow.

Some big juicy flakes fell but didn’t amount to more than a skiff. Still nice to see.

***

This year while working as a manager I had the misfortune of dealing with quite a few troubled workers. There is more and more people racked with anxiety every year. Mostly young Canadians who didn’t make it through the Covid lockdowns unscathed. It is a shame to see. It makes you wonder how they are going to make it.

But the worst was a 50-some-year-old alcoholic. Drinking on the job, late, cranky, emotional, miserable, complaining, missing days, injury prone, sloppy, hungover, driving drunk, fucking up and lying at every turn. He also has done a turn for beating his kid, wife and mother. All despite a three month stretch in rehab paid for by the government. An absolute pain-in-the-ass to be around. A complete dysfunctional boozer!

Now I come from a long line of functional alcoholics. Guys who wake up and make it to work on time. Keep putting one foot in front of the other regardless of headache or sickness, putting in an honest days work usually for themselves, raising their hands first for the tough jobs, keeping their mouth shut, they don’t drink until after the shift and laugh it off. Granted they are not easy to live with and they’re their own worst enemy, but they don’t fuck up at work. Guys like this are a dying breed as we all become a bunch of snivelling whiners.

I felt like grabbing this worker, smacking the shit out of him and teaching him how to be a goddamn man. Of course that would have been a trip to HR. It made me more angry that he couldn’t handle the booze than what a complete fuck-up he was at work. Hopefully the government will spring for another session in rehab as some people just shouldn’t drink.

Luckily I didn’t have to deal with him long.

***

Fence Post Holes

Merlin

I was out working in the yard the other day and an old friend stopped by. Bobby and I played a lot of sports together when we were younger. He was a tenacious competitor and although small of stature played hockey, ball and rugby like a man twice his size. He was somebody you hated playing against but enjoyed having on your team. He also had a mouth that never stopped. 

He told me he was working at one of the vacation properties down the road putting in a fence. Being in his 70’s, I asked him if he wasn’t getting a little long in the tooth for digging fencepost holes. He admitted he was. He said the contractor he was working for couldn’t find anyone younger. He said they even had a guy on the crew that had dementia. Bobby said, they had to get him to and from work, but at the job he was fine. A good worker a matter of fact.

***

This isn’t the first time I’ve heard how older people keep working while businesses can’t find young people to employ. I have experienced the same in my position as a manager at a resort.

The unemployment rate for young workers in Canada is high. It is even higher in tourist areas. There are many reasons for this. Covid, for one, which these kids suffered the worst wounds due to the lockdowns. During and after Covid school became optional. I know many parents, to this day, who do not send their children to school regularly. It makes no difference as kids get passed through.  

This gets carried through to their work life. Where I work, writing up tickets and sending emails is something we all must do. I am often amazed at the lack of ability to write the simplest of messages by some young people who have graduated high school and in some cases gone on to college.

The exception is young immigrants who seem able to communicate, written or verbally in their second language.

I asked a young man from India about this. Although he says nothing, I know he finds it sometimes difficult working with young Canadians as he is shouldered with most of the work while they do as little as possible to get by. He said he had to learn how to write in English as it was expected and everyone he knew was able to. To not have this skill was to be at a disadvantage. I jokingly asked him if we should import teachers from India or send young Canadians to his home country for schooling. He said, neither was necessary. He said what was needed was a little pressure.

Pressure, my goodness, to even suggest it be put on our younger generation is blasphemous!

Canada’s economy would collapse without the workforce immigration provides.

From everything I’ve read about managing, it is said, young adults in Canada have different priorities. Many will never own a house of their own, nor do they want children, as such they have different values. Above all they value their leisure time.  

That means managers must be creative with scheduling and tasking these workers. They are not going to change so that means the jobs and managers must.

Meanwhile fence post holes still need to be dug. Luckily we have a country full of old folks with dementia that need the money.

Foraging

A good way to kick a few days off. We went to the Palliser River. There were a few camps of people picking mushrooms, in the area that burned last year.

We picked enough morels for soup and headed through the burn further up the river. Lisa was glad to leave it behind saddened by the burnt areas and clear cut logging. Fires, although devastating, are turning into a huge business for British Columbia. I try to remember the landscape as it was and what it will look like when it heals.

We got beyond it into the Royal Group, cut some firewood and watched the creeks and clouds.

A very fine day!

Blue Skies

The clouds lifted for part of the day and we had some blue skies. The Sun felt good.

Lisa and I went looking for birds and spotted a couple Bald Eagles that let me take their picture. We searched for an American Dipper but had no luck. We saw chickadees, hawks, ravens and flickers. They seemed as happy for the sun as we were.

Willow following the creek looking for dippers.
Willow’s Christmas sweater Lisa made for her. The idea was to keep the snowballs off of her, but there is no way she will wear it.

Early October

The Northern Lights have really been dancing these past few nights. The solar storms are coming fast and furious while our sun goes through a very active cycle.

Last night they came out early enough for Lisa and I to go for a drive and take a few photos in the valley bottom. We sometimes disagree on what pictures to take. I have to admit Lisa is usually correct at picking locations.

The top photo is taken at the Dutch Creek Hoodoos. Although the camera is pointed north there is only a few wisp’s of aurora showing. They were much more active in other parts of the sky. Still I was very pleased with this photo.

The mushrooms below were taken a few days previous up above the creek on the mountain near cedar trees and Oregon Grape. We found plenty of edible mushrooms of different varieties. These are called Chicken Fried Mushrooms named for their cooked chicken smell and taste (no kidding).

Lisa’s eye is much better than mine, it seems, at finding mushrooms. It used to be me to find the mushrooms, orchids and spot the good fishing holes and coveted songbirds. Not so much anymore. However, I like to think I taught her everything she knows.

Chilly

The Columbia River.

It has been a mild winter, excluding this past week of -30 Celsius temperatures.

Lola after falling through some thin ice on the rivers edge.

The cooler temperatures have been welcomed by Lisa and I, as they have been accompanied by clear skies.

A friend with a solar panel system that keeps track of sun light recorded only 4 hours of sunshine in December. The rest of the time was overcast. That is not unusual here in the winter.

The mountain looks to the clear, cold sky.

To see the sunshine and stars, that have moved considerably since the last time seen, has been a relief regardless of the chilly air.

Quick Break

Jack, Kennedy (back), Payton (front), Isobel and Emmett.

A week or so ago we planned a hike. Many of the youngsters at work get Wednesday off. They are hard workers and their days off are valuable.

We departed at 8am and made it to the trail head by 9:30. On the trip was Jack, Payton, Kennedy, Isobel and Emmett. Emmett missed out on the last hike and it was good to have him along.

Slide.

Along also was Dave and his son Jake.

Jake and the beauty of youth.
Dave is a great guide pointing out plants, animals and geological formations. He can also talk while climbing, while I gasp for breath. Very handy while hiking with people more than half your age.

We walked the trail through low cloud, studying flora and fauna, paying attention to the mushrooms that had popped up through the forest floor. A bonus from the recent rain.

Along the trail.

Once on top we headed for the small lake and basin beyond.

Everyone enjoyed looking for fossils, exploring the rock banks, slides and large boulders.

Isobel holds fossils trapped in the shale while getting acquainted with a local resident.

On the way back. We dashed to the summit overlooking the two valleys. It was smoke and dark clouds to the east and spots of sunshine to the west.

To the east, smoke and thunder.

Food was the main topic on the trail back to the truck. What they liked and ‘have you ever had?’ I just tried to keep my footing while my stomach started growling.

Kennedy who never met a rock wall she didn’t want to climb.

A lot of smiles, throughout the day, knowing the next time we saw each other it was going to be about work.

Mountains have a way to bring people together.

Very fine walk.

Perseids

A Perseid streaks above the trees to the left of the falls.

After an evening nap Willow and I headed for the bush. We got out walked here and there, getting our bearings. It’s been awhile since we have been out at night looking skyward.

We were lucky to see several Perseid Meteors. Lucky as well to get a few pics.

Perseus, The Andromeda Galaxy and Cassiopea. The meteors didn’t cooperate for this photo. If I had’ve slipped into that creek Willow would have ran through bush and thicket down the mountain, following me to the Columbia River.

It was clear and the moon, waning into a thin crescent, stayed down until mid morning.

Hounds Tooth, The Milky Way and a bright Perseid.

We saw deer, an owl, porcupine and rabbits. Luckily Willow didn’t see the porcupines.

The second picture of the night captured a long Perseid Meteor.

I can’t see in the dark like I used to. If I was younger I’d give tonight another go. I don’t think last night was the peak.

We were out of the mountains and at work on time at 5:30 am. Willow slept in the truck.

A very fine night.

take the duck

I’ve made a terrible mistake. In the spring when the grasshoppers were eating the garden I started planting things that they didn’t seem interested in. They ate every carrot so I didn’t replant them figuring it was pointless. The grasshoppers left the small zucchini plants alone. So I planted more of them. Now I am overrun with yellow, green and patty pan zucchinis.

It has become impossible to manage. I can’t give them away. A small one today is a wooper tomorrow. I’ve made a terrible mistake!

***

The skies cleared last night. It’s the first time in weeks the mountains have made an appearance. It lifted everyones mood.  

***

It is busy at the resort. Everyone is frazzled. Moral is good. It is an amazing bunch of workers. Most are young adults from throughout the country. They are expected to work hard and without exception they all put in a full shift. 

I have worked in places, including the government, that that wasn’t the case, and the people there were getting paid twice what these kids make. 

***

A coworker showed me a photo they took of  four woodpeckers in the same tree. Two woodpeckers in the same tree means a cold winter.

Wasps, this year, have been building nests under ground, that means a cold winter. 

My good friend Scotty from the Secwe̓pemc First Nation used to say, it will be a cold winter because the white man has a big woodpile. Damn, we used to laugh.

Shit! My woodpile is over flowing.

It could be a cold winter.

Scotty, if you are listening, kick me in the nuts and take the duck!