TubaOrNotTuba

In retrospect I have a very good driving record. Almost flawless with a couple of minor exceptions. My first entry into the hall of shame happened in the driver’s education car during the driver’s course after school. You see, over time I gathered experience and hubris. And the consequence was that I placed that huge car on top of a snow bank. I then had the memorable pleasure of pushing it back down. Education. My next moment happened a few months later. I had a little too much confidence in fact, I had a little too much hubris and I was out in the Main Street of town on my bicycle. Following two motorcycles. When they peeled off and did a U-turn I decided I could do just as well. And I drove straight into the side of an oncoming car. No injuries other than to my pride and my pocketbook. I had broken the aerial for the radio on his car and he was determined not to pay for it but for me to pay for my foolishness. The police were summoned and after confirming my identity and my stupidity the police told me simply to pay the bill. Which I did by driving out to the man’s place of employment out in the country later that week and handing over all of the money in my wallet. About $10 as I remember. Things cost less in those days. Just for the record, the bicycle was red which did not make it go any faster. That same bicycle was later destroyed in a glorious accident near my home. That moment got me a ride in an ambulance.

It is odd the things you remember as we get older. I recall the first time I saw my footprints on the road. A minor thing but it tells you a lot about the time and the place. Obviously it was not raining because I was walking in what we called sand. Silt. Crossing the road in front of my house. No need to look for cars because the roads had very few of them. Getting my feet dusty was also just a minor detail. Obviously I was with my mother because my father had a job to go to and she had the time to watch me walk on the road. It did not happen often. We had a pump in the yard and that was sufficient to wash my feet. No need to go home and run a tub which would have meant heating water on the stove and going through far too much effort to clean some dust from some tiny feet. I also realized that I was not wearing shoes. I think I only had to wear shoes to go to church. As I say, funny the things we remember. It would have been a warm day and I will bet that we had not yet passed through the first decade of my life. Probably not even the first couple of years. There was no dog of by my side. That came later. And I never walked on the railway because the trains killed people we learn that at a very young age. That small element almost cost my sister her life when she was rescued from a dangerous place sitting on the tracks. At least the trains moved very slowly and someone had time to run down the road and onto the roadbed and rescue her from what would have been something tragic. I doubt she remembers the incident which would be a good reason for me to remind her. Life was easy living not so much.

If you take the time to dig into any family history I’m sure you will find details that are odd. I hope that none were really odd let’s call them eccentric. Along about the point where one of my sisters was born we were also moving from one community to another and we took a place in a small apartment in the city. We did not come with a whole lot of furniture. This was a temporary location. And then almost as an afterthought one of my sisters was born. Now I’m digging deep into memories. I was young enough that I had not yet started school so do your own calendar work. But provide a place for her to sleep we made a decision. Again I had no decision making power but I feel that I was there. And so rather than investing in a large crib which would not have fit in the small apartment my parents chose to use a drawer. Taken from a chest of drawers as they used to say. A place where you kept all your clothes. They made furniture better back in those days perhaps but the drawer was taken out of the frame and placed I believe on top. And that became my new sister’s crib. I’m sure that she does not remember. In fact there are probably only two people left in the world that recall those times. Myself and another sibling period. The drawer was carefully lined with who knows what blankets. The baby slept there for months. Until we move to our next home which was in a large house. There may be pictures but I no longer have access to any of those materials so I will leave it to my sister to do her own. Can she find something about her first bed. I do not have any photos of my first bed and the next bed to come along was one of those metal contraptions that they used to use to torture small children. Just joking. The drawer was and timely solution. Used for only a few months until we had moved on to a new home. I would like to think that this is her founding story because we all need one. We had no dogs with us at that point so she can’t rely on that. We had only one car which was red and white and I hope she will not rely on that. I think the drawer is a much better story to hang on her wall. The next time I see her I will ask her if she wants someone to draw one up for her family history.

Earlier this week I learned that a local house had changed ownership Just a detail really except for one thing. I know this house, well. Constructed by my grand father during the First World War. At that point the house changed into a home. My father was born in an upstairs bedroom. My grand father died in the living room. And I lived there when I first started teaching so many years ago. I never contemplated owning this house although I would be curious to know what the current value is. The transfer did not involve a realtor, so I do not  know.  It was a well constructed house although the stairs were too steep for average people. Apparently the banister was carved by hand by my grand father. I did visit the house after I moved away and the next owners made several minor changes to the floor plan but the house remained solid. It still is. In fact there are two houses in PEI that were owned by my two sets of grandparents and, they’re both still in use. I cannot say the same thing for the homes of my  great- grandparents. Nor do I have any idea if this will be said about my current home. My grandfather’s house probably remained due to the changes in heating technology, preventing it to be the victim of a fire. All of the barns are gone from my grandparents’ properties. No need for oversize structures when the cows have gone home. In the case of both homes, the lawn was well cared for and everything was carefully built with locally sourced wood.

How do you make decisions? Culturally there are many ways. You can consult with a friend. That might mean explaining why you’re in a position of making a decision but let’s not go there. You can flip a coin if you can find one. I may have some in the bottom of a drawer but the economy no longer uses coins. You can sit and ponder but that might lead you down roads you do not want to visit. Have you ever seen that meme about someone sitting with two devils one on each shoulder? Do you really want to ask the devil for an answer? What about waiting for the phone to ring and asking the unknown caller. Most of my callers represent Amazon apparently and they’re quite willing to hang up at the first sign of deviation from their script. You could put off making decisions. Like the government does too often. That will not make your public happy but then again making a decision is not about making others happy it’s about making a decision. I used to own a book which required me to flip 3 coins and go to the right page it was supposed to invoke chance in making decisions. Highly ineffective. As for asking the oracle, I believe you have to live in Greece. In short there is no easy way to make a decision.Does anyone else have a sure-flier method to decide the future other than simply waiting for the future to arrive?

Throughout most of our lives we have reason to travel. The mode and the destination provide the majority of the details. However I do want to reflect for a little bit on where I have slept. On the city bus is a poor place to sleep. Too many starts and stops and too much stress over missing my proper corner. Once we get out of this city things improve. I have slept on the intercity bus but that was rare. Most of my moments have been spent on more professional modes of travel. By rail is wonderful. Trains tend to have proper beds. There is even someone to wake you before your stop. While on a ship you may even have a small room with proper bed sheets and a pillow. True comfort. The few times I have traveled by air I have had to wait for the moments of white-knuckle stress to pass at the start and the finish of the trip. Little time to really sleep. I have been unable to get a chance to travel on anything more exotic although I did have an afternoon with a dog sled. No sleep there. Too cold and the dogs tipped on barking. Actually, I did make one trip on a train in the baggage car. I had found some dogs kept prisoner in cages and I spent my time trying to make friends. It was a different time and there was not much staff to interfere period. As I mentioned the other message of travel do not lead to sleep. Believe me on a bicycle all of your time is spent keeping your balance. I am sure there are other methods but I will probably not have any occasion to try them.

Can you have too much of a good thing? Of course you can. The real question is how long it takes you to figure that out in life. Again, most of us learn it at an early age. I have a fun memory that involves food, well sort of. Due to my summer job, I ended up with a lot of food which was considered good for camping. In particular; marshmallows. I know it is just sugar in a lump but when you are very young, the idea makes sense. I ended up getting a full case of marshmallows leftover after a summer beach party. Not wanting to waste anything at that age I had my friends pack the carton of marshmallows in plastic bags into the trunk of the car before we set off on a road trip. No lie: we did eat some marshmallows but there comes a point where the sweetness goes beyond the texture. However, we were at a camping site and there was an old but very friendly black lab that came along. He wanted to join us for whatever we were having because that’s how dogs think of humans. Just to be clear this was not the only food we had on the camping trip. We also had canned meat. We also had bags of bread, which my friends used to call condensed cloud. Overall, an unbalanced diet. Although, the dog would have loved to share our canned meat, we did not oblige. After all even camping requires some nutrition and as you can see, I did check later in the weekend and the dog seemed to be in good health. No thanks to the food supply from the university. This was a long time ago. I have stopped feeding marshmallows to dogs. As for canned meat, that is a serious budget lime item.

Consider the potato. We have a lot of them locally and they are found in the ground. Hidden gold if you will. We do not eat them raw. That is frustrating. Instead we bake them or boil them or fire them. And if you are really looking for a treat you take a single potato and slice it into thin layers. As many as you can manage with the thickness of a piece of paper as your goal. Prepare of that of hot oil and carefully place your slices into the bubbling liquid. Carefully remember. In a matter of minutes you will have something that is worth being given to all and sundry. I will not go into nutrition here per. These are designed to be flavoured. I have never visited a potato chip factory but it must be amazing. To find so many ways to add a diverse palette of flavours to something that will then be consumed year round cold or hot. From where I sit these qualify as miraculous. We need to celebrate potato chip in measured quantities. Do not go crazy here because you will grow as you enjoy. Just be aware that the potato now has added value. I have seen a series of different sell formats. Rippled and curled and turned into sticks all equal in the and all good. In measured quantities. We actually do not have a potato chip factory here in the province which seems silly. Sending our potatoes fairfield to bring them back in a format that costs much more then it should. If the potato chip is a staple of our diet we should be able to keep the price down to a point where everyone can eat them when they want. Again no nutrition considered. I can remember the first potato chip bags and I know what we have now and they have in common that all do a dependable job of delivery. It takes a lot of space to ship a potato that has been so transformed. Be careful and do not crush them because although the powder would be delicious you lose the satisfying snap. Keep them dry.

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 I have a request to make. A simple one really. Please do not look to me for an explanation as you thread your own path through life. Too much responsibility to give to someone else. I have figured out that I no longer need to see the world unfold around me. Others have taken care of that. I watched a documentary about traveling through Egypt as many others have done and I have no need to stare at the pyramids nor sit on a boat as we head up the Nile. Or down. Take your pick. In the same way I will not be one of those people found on the upslope of Everest. I have little need to go there. I will take the time to read the reactions of others to their experience or watch videos they have produced but I will not be one of those who generate content for the world. At least I do not think so. If you have ever lived with a dog you quickly learn that the highest mountain in the house is often a bed. And the deepest lake is kept in a bathtub. Your dog will only go there if you are patient with him. I do wonder about those who endlessly chronicle their journeys. Do they not need to sit and remember where they have been? Where I live we have no mountains and the ocean is there to cross, not swim through. We have minor forests although they seem determined to cut them down. And right now the only dog climbing on my bed is a loaner. I spell that LOANER rather than LONER but I’m sure you knew that. We’re into a new month and I do not have to worry about the usual responsibilities of September. The leaves will fall as they may. Now you see why I am not a person to guide you on your life path. I cannot see where you want to go so I have little interest. And my own wandering outside is tempered by common sense.

Last evening we brought the bird feeders back inside. A preemptive motion before that certain raccoon arrived to chow down. It seems that he enjoys sunflower seeds as much as all the finches and other normal group who cluster around the theatres period. He’s not alone. There are also a whole collection of squirrels and chipmunks that depend upon us for their snack food. As well as the fox is. In fact I think that we are spending more time to keep the local animal population alive then anyone else. It could be worse. I do not care to watch there coyotes getting their protein supply from our address. I also have no idea about many of the other creatures they have discovered that man will keep them from having to do extra foraging. It should be noted the bird seed comes in large containers and the seeds that fall to the ground do not grow. Otherwise I would be living in a forest of flowers. This is one of the things that we never had to deal with living in the city. From my point of view there were no wild animals. Except perhaps for a porcupine that was spotted many years ago. In the city even the dogs and cats have homes to go to. Around here we watch for the strays from other places. A choice I guess. Also the number of trees in the area is declining steadily. Faced with the damages left by high winds people have learned that a chainsaw makes quick logs. No idea where those are going. The world is changing. Even if the number of farms has dropped the number of animals getting their sustenance from mankind has remained constant.