Thanksgiving Time

We've been having some lovely fall weather lately, nothing like last year!  I only wish it could last longer.  But some strong winds keep blowing away that glorious golden foliage.  My back door (which needs replacing) keeps banging open and shut and it startles me every time.  This is also the time I am cleaning up our cabin to close it for the dreaded winter!

The song Four Strong Winds keeps running through my mind.  My favourite version is sung by Neil Young with Nicolette Larson from his Comes a Time album (1978).  This album is not only one of my favourite Neil Young albums, but also one of my all-time favourite albums period!

I found this video of the title song from the album.  The video seems to suit this season quite well.

I love Neil Young songs, but mixed with the harmonies of Nicolette Larson - it is so good it makes the hairs stand up on the top of my head!  I love to sing -- I used to be in a church choir, very small but we had some very good male voices and we were able to do 4 part harmony.  Sometimes, when I was singing and I hit a certain note, it mixed with the other voices I was hearing and gave me a buzz like a micro-second eargasm!  Have you noticed I love harmony?

But wait, now I'm off on a tangent -- this was supposed to be my Thanksgiving post.  I guess I get bored doing similar posts every year.  What else can I say?  Here was my post in 2010, my first year of blogging, where I attempted to explain our Canadian tradition of Thanksgiving:
It's Thanksgiving in Canada.
The next year I was lucky enough to be able to share a Gizzy cartoon, especially made for Thanksgiving by a fellow Armitagemaniac who is much more talented than I! :
Give Thanks for Gizzy!

So while Canada celebrates our Thanksgiving Day, I hope Armitage fans around the world have seen this wonderful video from Morrighan's Muse.  She has just celebrated her first anniversary as a fan of Richard Armitage.

Thank You Richard Armitage / by Morrighan Muse

Tomorrow I'll be baking some pumpkin pies and 

taking them over to my sister's house for our big turkey feast!

This is the best I could muster from my limited graphic skills, 

thanks to a couple of great free apps on my iPad.

Cold as Canada

This song came up on my YouTube feed from someone I subscribe to.  It fit with my mood perfectly as I have been very lethargic because of the cold temperatures.

It is by the Australian folksinger Paul Kelly, whom I wasn't familiar with, but can certainly appreciate, so I am grateful to be introduced to him. The video (I had originally posted included many iconic images of Canadian winter to fit with the title "Cold as Canada". It was made by a vidder called paganmaestro with quite a wide collection of great music and photographs that have been shared through YouTube.)  Unfortunately that channel has been discontinued - so I had to find a replacement video.

Canadians who are lucky enough to afford winter vacations love to travel to warmer destinations to escape the cold.  This blog post by Australian author Pru Batten made me very envious as it sounds like paradise! It is summer where she is in Tasmania. She describes a day at the beach near her home.  I can almost feel the sun and water on my skin as I read it.  Aaaahhh!


This is so not what I was picturing.

by Sebastien Lefebvre on 05 Oct 2012 in Ottawa
Runner up in Stormy Scenes from Canadian Geographic
magazine's Whatever the Weather photo contest

Yep. We are knee-deep in winter here in Canada and although Canadians pride ourselves in our ability to withstand and even thrive in cold temperatures, it doesn't mean we don't enjoy whining about it occasionally. For instance, last month was comparatively warm around here, so of course the cold had to start sooner or later.  I think we're getting spoiled actually. Environment Canada has reported that in the last 65 years temperatures in Canada have warmed over 3 degrees!  That may not sound like much to you, but it is a pretty big deal.  So when the temperatures start to dip to 30 below zero celsius (which is pretty normal for January in my part of Canada) we don't seem quite as able to adapt because the week before it was barely minus 10!  The variation in temperature is pretty crazy lately.  In the past decade I have seen pouring rain in February, and then a few years later in January even!  Believe me, that was unheard of here when I was a child.

All I want to do is stay warm.  My automatic car starter isn't working now for some reason.  Maybe it has something to do with when I bashed into a snowbank on a slippery corner on the way to work last week.  At least I avoided hitting the school bus!  You might think a snowbank would be full of soft, fluffy snow.  Oh no!  Not here!  The crunch sounded more like hitting a brick wall.  I damaged the front right corner of my Honda van, curiously in the same area as my husband bashed the truck the previous week.  Did I mention the roads were slippery?  Let's see, above normal winter temperatures followed by a huge dump of snow for two solid days, so that the town could barely keep up with snow removal on the roads. (Luckily for me it was on the weekend); followed immediately by bone chilling temperatures!  That is what's been going on for the past two weeks here.

I am going into hibernation mode.  But before I do, I am going to try and thaw myself out by gazing on some cozy photos of my favourite actor, (you know who).

You'd better bundle up a bit more than that Richard!

That's better!  But is that coat warm enough?  Nice watch!

(Speaking of watches - The Armitage Watch Movie Club is at it again.  Check out this blog for the times to tune into Robin Hood Fridays and Spooks Saturdays)

This coat looks quite cozy, but not good enough for a Canadian winter!

Now this guy knows how to dress for the cold!

screencap by Linda van Pelt

But this is the scene that really warms my heart!

Storm Watch

Seeing the devastation that Hurricane Sandy has wreaked on the east coast of the United States made me a bit embarrassed of my complaints about my own experience with the first winter storm of the season on the days before Thanksgiving Day weekend.  After all, I live in Canada's north.  I am used to snow storms and power outages (although winter ones are much worse).  But what the people in the wake of Hurricane Sandy have had to endure is like nothing I've ever experienced!  And, although I've never had the pleasure of visiting New York City, it was heart breaking to see the images of floods and damage, not to mention the crowds of homeless people in that great city.

I couldn't help thinking about the only person I knew who lived there.  We haven't been hearing from Bccmee much lately since she took an indefinite hiatus from her blog.  I knew she was a very proud New Yorker and I very worried about her.  So I sent her an email a couple of weeks ago to see how she was doing.  I figured the rest of you would want to hear about her too.  Here is her reply to my query about how she had weathered the storm.

Thanks so much for your note! It's really terrible what happened. Iwas very lucky since I live inland. Our power stayed on and there was no flooding. The biggest damage was to our trees and cars and some buildings sustained relatively minor damage. Here are some photos I took yesterday of the aftermath in my neighborhood:

October 30, 2012

 You can see plenty of damage from downed trees

After the tree was hauled away 

Luckily no one was hurt!

 She said that she had thought about posting this on her blog, but she wanted to keep that space "happy".

Well, since today is her birthday, I would like to wish Bccmee a very Happy Birthday, and send her many good wishes.  I am very glad she is doing well and though I miss her amazing blog posts I hope she is enjoying herself out in the real world.

And to those people who were adversely affected by Hurricane Sandy, I hope things get better for you very soon!

Thankful

Listen to: When the Snow is on the Roses

On Sunday I hosted Thanksgiving supper for my family. My son was home for the first time for this holiday since he started University four years ago.  My husband's parents were there - his father having recently been released from hospital for a mysterious fainting spell for which the test results have not been received yet.  My sister and brother-in-law were also there.  Usually I get to skip out on making the turkey dinner as my sister with her well appointed dining room, does the honours.  She and her husband were still recovering from a nasty cold bug so she was quite happy to share our meal in my tiny eat-in kitchen.

Quite prominent in the thanksgiving toasts, besides the happiness of good health and being together, was the fact that we were able to eat a hot meal in the light and warmth of modern electricity.  We had just endured a 24+ hour power outtage due to an unexpected early snowstorm.  Both my mother-in-law and myself had been stuck on the highway due to an accident ahead of us (separate incidents).  I ended up being towed off the highway and had to wait for someone with 4-wheel drive to take me home.  People with wood stoves were able to keep warm and heat their food, but my home didn't have that luxury.  At least I had phone service, as I still have a land line.  People with cordless phones were suddenly incommunicado.  My iPhone with 3G still worked for several hours but eventually there was no cell service either.  I had never felt so isolated in my life!

The view from my dashboard as I was being towed

After an idyllic summer and the late arrival of Fall, Winter sprang upon us with no warning. 

Here was the view from my cottage last weekend, when the temperature was around 24 degrees Celsius.

Luckily my husband decided to pull the boat out

Here is the same scene exactly one week later

Note the snow covered boat and squashed willow tree from the heavy snow.

This weather has brought me to mind of the first historical incidences of Thanksgiving in North America.  It seems that survival from the harsh elements is quite a Canadian theme.  Martin Frobisher, (1539-1594) was an English explorer and privateer who was looking for the Northwest Passage to by pass North America on the way to the riches of the East Indies. Of course, he was not successful, but he was so grateful to survive his third journey across the Atlantic that he celebrated a service of Thanksgiving in 1578 on Baffin Island in Canada's eastern Arctic at the bay which now bears his name.

I couldn't resist this.  Can you see the resemblance?  

Sir Martin Frobisher by Cornelis Ketel, c. 1577

RA as Martin Frobisher

Then in 1605 Samuel de Champlain (fondly known as the Father of New France) founded the Order of Good Cheer. It was basically a weekly feast and kitchen party that lasted all winter long. The idea was to keep everyone's spirits up and share food during the long, harsh winter at their settlement at Port-Royal in the Annapolis Valley of present day Nova Scotia.

According to Wikipedia, "no authentic portrait of Champlain is known to exist".  But his likeness is usually shown as similar to the drawing on the left.  I used a Face-in-Hole portrait of Rene Descartes (who is dressed in a similar fashion) for my purposes. Doesn't he seem to be in Good Cheer?

Samuel de Champlain by Albert Descaris

RA as Samuel de Champlain

In Champlain's own words (translated from French), here is how he describes it in his diary:
We spent this winter very pleasantly, and had good food because of the Order of Good Cheer which I established. Everyone found it beneficial to his health, and better than any medicine we might have used. A chain was placed around the neck of one of our men every day. It was his job that day to go hunting. The next day the chain was given to someone else, and so on in order. Everyone competed to see who could do the best, and bring back the finest game. We did not come off badly, nor did the Indians who were with us.

The Order of Good Cheer by C.W. Jeffreys

Here is my wish for all of us:

May we all be warm, well fed and happily entertained 
in the company of good friends and family.


And now, if you have read this far, I do thank you.
For your entertainment, here is a treat from Servetus, at Me + Richard Armitage blog.

A Collection of clips of RA saying "Thanks"  by refgeek

Chillin' with Phyll

Winter Morning / Tom Thompson

It is bitterly cold in central Canada. Time to plug in your car's block heater at night. I sing the praises of my command start as I press the button from inside my cosy kitchen, instead of running out to start the car and warm it up first, before I leave for work. Not in order to have a comfortable temperature in my vehicle, but so that my car's engine will actually start!
 My dear, thoughtful husband has been plugging in my car before he leaves for work in the morning. (I usually leave a couple of hours later.)  But this morning, apparently that was not enough time to keep the engine warm enough to start -- because as I discovered when it was time to leave for work -- my car was stalled!

Too bad I didn't have this lovely lady handy, with her jumper cables to help me restart the car!

When I eventually arrived at work (my boss came and rescued me), it was to find the busses cancelled (but quite a few students had straggled in anyway) and recess was definitely indoors that day (as it had been almost all week).  The temperature was warming to almost -27 degrees celsius but with the windchill it was definitely more than 30 below, even at midday!

It's not much better today. Have a look at our thermometer this morning.
 

For it's forty below in the winter,

And it's twenty below in the fall.

It just rises to zero in summer,

And we don't have a springtime at all.

(Christopher Dafoe (1936-) Forty Below)

Well, we don't have too many natural disasters where I'm from. Oh, a forest fire here and there, a bit of flooding maybe, and of course the hordes of mosquitoes and blackflies to fend off all summer long. But life is generally pretty mellow in the boreal forest most of the time...that is, if you can survive the winter...

Archibald Lampman (1861-1899)

Midnight

J.E.H. MacDonald / Early Evening Winter (1912)

              1    From where I sit, I see the stars,

              2    And down the chilly floor

              3    The moon between the frozen bars

              4    Is glimmering dim and hoar.

              5    Without in many a peakèd mound

              6    The glinting snowdrifts lie;

              7    There is no voice or living sound;

              8    The embers slowly die.

              9    Yet some wild thing is in mine ear;

            10    I hold my breath and hark;

            11    Out of the depth I seem to hear

            12    A crying in the dark;

            13    No sound of man or wife or child,

            14    No sound of beast that groans,

            15    Or of the wind that whistles wild,

            16    Or of the tree that moans:

            17     I know not what it is I hear;

            18     I bend my head and hark:

            19     I cannot drive it from mine ear,

            20    That crying in the dark.


If you think that is a sad and lonely piece of Canadian literature, then get a load of this work of non-fiction!  Frozen in Time is a historical piece of forensic science from a shallow grave in the gradually melting permafrost of the Arctic tundra. The discovery of some of the crew  members of the lost Franklin Expedition of 1845 by anthropologists from the University of Alberta was led by author Owen Beattie in 1981 (and has since been updated with new research in 2004). It is a tragic mystery story and also a cautionary tale.  What sticks most in my mind about it was that there is evidence that the local Inuit people tried to help the doomed crew, but they were too proud of their supposed "technological superiority" to accept the help of a people they believed were beneath them!  This  was certainly proof of the aphorism: "pride cometh before a fall".  After all, I don't recall hearing much about Inuit people freezing to death!

Lawren Harris / Icebergs, Davis Strait (1930)

The story of the search for the fabled Northwest Passage has lured many explorers to Canada's frozen northland. It has also inspired many artists and musicians.  Which brings me of course, to Canada's greatest folk musician and songwriter -- Stan Rogers and his song "The Northwest Passage".

Stan Rogers / The Northwest Passage

I am amazed by how often I have been able to discover new "favourite" songs from the wonderful music videos made by fans of Richard Armitage. I am sure I had heard of this group, but I had never had the pleasure of hearing the song "Frozen Oceans" before. Of course, any song is made more special by the addition of pictures of Mr. Armitage! :)

Shiny Toy Guns / Frozen Oceans by TheCICLAMINO

Then there is this interesting movie "Frozen" 2005, (that I have yet to see) in which RA has a rather small but riveting part. The following video shows basically all his scenes in it.

Richard Armitage in Frozen

Now that film does seem pretty cold alright. But if Richard Armitage were really frozen, this is how I imagine he might look...

Thanks again, Face in Hole!

Come to think of it, he couldn't possibly stay like this -- he is hotter than a thousand suns! There, that's better, I'm finally starting to warm up!