Thursday, Nov. 23, 2006

Gapa and her pups, Kaszowo

Noa Noa

Nave Nave Fenua

Taaroa slept with the woman who calls herself Goddess of the Without (or of the sea). Of them are born the white clouds, the black clouds, and the rain.

Taaroa slept with woman who calls herself Goddess of the Within (or of the earth). Of them is born the first germ. Is born in turn all that grows upon the surface of the earth. Is born in turn the mist of the mountains. Is born in turn he who calls himself the Strong. Is born in turn she who calls herself the Beautiful, or the one Adorned-in-order-to-Please.

Mahoüi launches his pirogue. He sits down in the bottom. At his right hangs the hook, fastened to the line by strands of hair. And this line, which he holds in his hand, and this hook, he lets fall down into the depths of the universe in order to fish for the great fish (the earth). The hook has caught. Already the axes show, already the God feels the enormous weight of the world. Tefatou (the God of the earth and the earth itself) caught by the hook, emerges out of the night, still suspended in the immensity of space. Mahoüi has caught the great fish which swims in space, and he can now direct it according to his will. He holds it in his hand. Mahoüi rules also the course of the sun, in such a way that day and night are of equal duration.

Taaroa slept with the woman Ohina, the Goddess of the air. Of them is born the rainbow, the moonlight, then, the red clouds and the red rain.

Taaroa slept with the woman Ohina, Goddess of the bosom of the earth. Of them is born Tefatou, the spirit who animates the earth, and who manifests himself in subterranean noises.

Taaroa slept with the woman called Beyond-the-Earth. Of them are born the Gods Teirü and Roüanoüa. Then in turn Roo who sprang from the flank of his mother's body. And of the same woman were also born Wrath and the Tempest, the Furious Winds, and also the Peace which follows these.

And the source of these spirits is in the place whence the Messengers are sent.

International Harvester

That's me on the farm around 1953. Ed was out there today, and saw the old International Harvester. Was it a Farmall? He wants to buy it from the present owners, and bring it out to his place. Maybe I'll go out there with him this winter to pick it up.


Cherhill today. Photo by Ed.

BIG NEWS!

For those who have not yet heard, December 18 is the big day!

Preparing for Winter

Last Saturday my neighbour Doug and his son Ken helped me pick up half a cord of firewood from Randy in town. It had been raining so the wood was wet, but we stacked in in a spot where it gets some sun and wind, and it dried our quite a bit in that gale we had on Sunday.


It was stacked nice and tight. There's some fine hardwood in there, maple, beech and oak, with a bit of birch. It's chopped just the right size for burning too.

Before we start burning, the chimney still has to be inspected. Ideally we'd like to get a cast iron stove with a rear vent, so we can send the stovepipe up the chimney. We'll need the advice of an expert before we can do that. Failing that, we'll just use the fireplace. While it won't be particularly efficient, the romance factor will be considerable. In the worst case the chimney will be in need of major repair, and we'll depend on the electric heating for the rest of the winter.

Cherhill, Alberta

The old homestead near Cherhill, ca. 1950. My earliest memory is from the little house at left. I was walking from the sitting room into the kitchen. My grandmother's Singer sewing machine towered over me to the right. Just beyond it was a window full of golden sunlight. I guess I was about 3 years old.

Tsarist Officers in Kars

Tsarist officers in Kars, northeast Turkey, April 3, 1910. My grandfather is sitting at left, sword in hand. It seemed appropriate to post this picture as I am reading Orhan Pamuk's Snow, a novel about a poet who arrives in Kars after 12 years in Germany, to be confronted by the backwardness of the growing Islamist movement as well as the right wing secular nationalists. Kars was much more cosmopolitan in my grandfather's day, containing a rich mix of Russians, Greeks, Kurds, Armenians, Turks, Azerbaijanis, and Turkmens. (Photo: S. Grammatikopulo, Kars)

The Silence of the Snow

It's Sunday, October 22nd.


Louise has gone to sunny California.


I am left behind, all alone.


The day after she left...


in a bleak but beautiful expression of pathetic fallacy...


... it snowed.

Guadeloupe Getaway

Please bare with me. This is a test.