Growlers and Drums, Oh my!

Growlers, you may assume
are mean spirited people who
growl their way through a conversation
or perhaps dogs who growl
when unsavory characters approach them.

For Jeff, growlers are a wee bit of heaven
in a 2 litre glass vessel.



On a recent Sunday afternoon inland
exploration here in Nova Scotia,
we discovered Paddy's Pub and Brewery.
Beats Tim Horton's any day.

Jeff just happened to have an empty growler

in the back of our Subaru.  Our lovely server

informed Jeff that he pays inside the restaurant

for his growler but has to go outside, down the alley,

ring the bell and wait.  Seriously.

So out Jeff went, receipt in hand.

Down the painted hallway following the Piper.

Another shady figure leads Jeff outdoors to a back alley.

Find The Take-Out door.

Ring the bell.

And Lo and Behold, the door she opens

and out pops a growler.  

Service with a smile.

This pub is about an hour away,

but seeing as I just started Bodhran

(Irish drum) lessons I may have to

check it out on one of their Tuesday night

jam sessions.

     

After all, St. Paddy's Day is just

around the corner.

The Dandelion Model

Driving home from the Farmer's Market in Lunenburg,
 through the melting snow of yesterday's fall
I was listening to CBC and
learned about the Danish social entrepreneur,
Thorkil Sonne's, Dandelion Model.

My ears perked up.  Let's just
say that my lawn in Virginia,
which grows incrementally
smaller each year as edibles
replace the grass, is home
to dandelions.  Unfortunately for my neighbours,
 I do not herbicide or even weed
nature's gift of this healing plant.






 Dent-de-lion, Lions Tooth
as the French called it;

weed or natures' pharmaceutical giant?

While some in the New World
 wage war on the dandelion 

France, Germany and China

cultivate the herb.
It is considered by many to be nature's champion tonic 

to stimulate the immune system,

 cleanse the blood of toxins 

and rejuvenate the whole body.

I guess it is all a matter of perspective

or which side of the fence you're sitting on.

For Thorkil Sonne, he's on the side of

the dandelion people, those who suffer

from  Autism Spectrum Disorder.  

He chooses the dandelion as a metaphor;

"Most of us don’t want it in our gardens – it doesn't  fit in."

Or does it?  Sonne founded Specialisterne or The Specialists,

a foundation that connects autistic adult consultants with

business enterprises.  With their incredible attention to detail

and their phenomenal memory and their ability to follow 

routine day after day, Sonne believes that

given the right environment, an autistic adult
could not just hold down a job but also be the best person for it.

Sonne took a tragedy, the diagnos of his three year old
son with Infantile Autism and turned it into
a foundation that is employing the previously
thought of as unemployable.

With the Dandelion Model,
he invites us to  decide,
in numerous areas of our lives,

weed or seed?

Snow Dog!

Well, when Captain James Foxe 
wrote in his journal of 1631, 
This evening Sun Dog, I hope may bring 
some change to our good, he must have
known that Sun Dogs may be messengers of
a weather change.

Along the coast here we rarely see snow,
where only 10 minutes away in town
it seems to settle and stay for a bit.
 Today, after our Sun Dogs of
yesterday afternoon, snow, soft, white,
and lovely slipped from the clouds
and blanketed Blue Rocks.

Let's go explore Jude.

Piper, if you go out the back door and
come back in by the front door,
visitors are sure to come....
so says Gert Beaton Prashaw

Looks like snow.
Smells like snow.

Gee whiz, I think it is snow!

Move over Sun Dogs, Piper the Snow Dog is here!

Better take a photo before this melts!

I Ain't Nothin' But A Sun Dog!

This is a dog and the sun,
perhaps a dog worshiping the sun,
but this is not a Sun Dog.

Erik, our neighbour and friend,
knocked on the door this afternoon
and motioned me outside.

"Ever see a sun dog?"  he asked.

"Nope," I answered.

Erik raised his hand to shield his eyes
and pointed to the central sun and then
two, almost mirror like suns on either
side.

google image

Our sun dogs were setting over
the Atlantic while cirrus clouds
swirled about.

Perusing the Atmospheric Sciences Department

 on the Lyndon  State College of Vermont website

I discovered these "cliff" notes;

Sun Dogs  (greek Parhelion, "with the sun")
created at white light is refracted through ice crystals in the form of hexagonal plates.
this is similar to the dispersion of white light as it passes through a prism.
see pg. 101, figure 4.22 for an example of what a sun dog looks like.


  
 But who dubbed these lovely spots Sun Dogs?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary,
back in 1631 Captain Luke Foxe, in search of
the Northwest Passage through the ice of the
Canadian North wrote in his journal,
This evening Sun Dog, I hope may bring some change
to our good.  

Dogs seem to populate the celestial realms.
Sirius, the Dog Star, the brightest star in our night
sky is also the brightest star in the constellation
Canis Major.  Then there is Canis Minor....the
pup perhaps or the little dog.

, 
I do love dogs and these two are no exception.

Speaking of Gregorian chant (!)
what does some of my favourite music
 have to do with Sun Dogs?
Click, listen, enjoy.

Oh, by the way,
when in doubt,
learn something new.

Let's Dance Together

One In Three Women On The Planet Will Be Raped Or Beaten In Her Lifetime.

One Billion Women Violated Is An Atrocity.

One Billion Women Dancing Is A Revolution.

http://onebillionrising.org

Rise up, stand, dance.
Join the revolution.
You, me and 1 billion more.

ONE BILLION RISING IS:A global strike
An invitation to dance
A call to men and women to refuse to participate 

in the status quo until rape and rape culture ends
An act of solidarity, demonstrating to women the commonality 

of their struggles and their power in numbers
A refusal to accept violence against women and girls as a given
A new time and a new way of being

http://www.onebillionrising.org/pages/about-one-billion-rising

I rise for Jyoti Singh Pandey, 24,
 medical student, India

I rise for Dawn and Gladys and the aboriginal women of Canada.

I rise for Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung,
her students and teachers.
USA

I rise for Malala Yousafzai, 14
Pakistan

I rise for the many men and women
who cannot rise and dance.
Today I became part of the revolution of 
women and men who will WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP,
 and DEMAND an end to violence 
against women and girls on 2.14.13.

Won't you dance with me?
February 14, 2013.

Will you join me?
Sign up here:
 http://www.onebillionrising.org/pages/about-one-billion-rising

I am rising because when women rise, 

a whole and healing Earth rises with us.

Terry Tempest Williams

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all!

We finally returned to blistery Blue Rocks, NS

after a wonderful visit in Ottawa with

my brother Rick.  We had to pry Alec 

of Rick's couch, fearful that the remote 

was permanently glued to his hand.

"What's not to like about being at Uncle Rick's?  

Tim Bits and Twinkies, it doesn't get much better!"

Google maps tell us that the drive is 14 hours

and 45 minutes.  This must be in the summer

with sunshine and bare roads.

17 hours later, trying to beat 

one of many winter storms hitting

New Brunswick-Montreal-Ottawa,

we arrived in Ottawa just in time

to welcome  our Christmas gift....snow.

Jude with Piper and Murphy in Ottawa

Heaven is the woods, snow and no leash,
oh and especially a friend.

Rick's only concern was not,

 how was the drive or

you must be exhausted

or were the roads dangerous

or wow you drove all this way

just to see me.  No, his anguish

was "WHAT, YOU DIDN'T BRING LOBSTER?"

No Rick, Alec was already whining about

sharing the back seat with "Piper You Stink."

He did not want to share his limited

space with live lobsters.

Alas, instead of walking down to the wharf

here in Blue Rocks to pick up our $5 a lb bsters, 

we splurged and bought Rick

his live Christmas gift in Ottawa.  

They probably came from Nova Scotia!   

Jeff, Rick and The Lobsters

Rick took us on our tour of his office

and showed us where he usually

eats his lunch.  Nice view of parliament.

Christmas was snow,  and The Hobbit,

and making a fort and playing Crokinole 

and cousin Bekkah and Murphy and

a wonderful brother.

Christmas morning cinnamon buns.
"Can we have a reading breakfast?" asks Alec.

Murphy helping Bekkah open presents.

Crokinole, the new game for 2013

How long can tea and scones take?

Contraband Twinkies
(Alec says you can't buy these in the States)

Our neighbour here emailed  a welcome home

with this photo of our house saying, 

"We got snow!"  The dusting of snow was

gone by the next day.

Thank you Rick for a great visit.

We and the lobsters await

 you in Blue Rocks in April.