Travel

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page – St. Augustine

My first major journey was coming to Canada from Germany at the age of seven.  Since then, I’ve travelled to nine provinces and one territory in Canada, to the United States maybe three times, back to Germany three times, a brief stop in Holland, once to Poland, and once to Japan.

One of my favourite places in Canada is Victoria, B.C. maybe because I lived there for several months years ago – I always feel as if I’m coming to one of my homes when I visit.  Could be all the bookstores as well as having relatives living there.  I like Halifax a lot, too – was there in October and will be going back in May.  Cities on the water draw me more than others, which I put down to the fact that I was born in such a place and lived there for the first seven years of my life.  Even Saskatoon qualifies because of its river.

Germany is a place where I still have relatives and speak the language.  Poland was probably the most difficult trip because I had to make do with a phrase book and never did figure out the bus and streetcar system.  Prices changed depending on the day and you were supposed to put your ticket through a clicker one or more times, but the rationale behind that eluded me also.  Japan, though confusing and also hard because I didn’t speak the language, was easier in that I had my son and his partner there.  They were teaching English and had a small van. So we travelled around.  I also liked getting a sense of real life rather than feeling completely like a tourist.

Castles are a favourite of mine when I travel.  The huge complex at Marlbork in Poland was built by the Teutonic Knights, begun in 1276 and took about thirty years to finish.  The castle was shelled during WWII and had to be restored.  It’s labyrinthine – you could spend days there.  They also have probably the largest amber display in the world.  The Rhine River in Germany is wonderful for castles, too (my son counted 23 in one day).  We visited three – two mostly in ruins and the third, the Marksburg, has been lived in for over 700 years.  It’s the only hill castle on the Rhine that has never been destroyed.  In Japan we visited a replica of a castle at Aya that was once a military base.  It was built in 1345, destroyed in 1615 and rebuilt from historical drawings in 1985.

Besides the history of a new place, I like to see the present as well.  In Japan you can get sushi at 7 Eleven.  In Germany they still have the Apotheke (Apothecary) where you can buy not only Aspirin, but also clove oil for toothache, and other herbal remedies.  In Poland (this was several years ago) they were bringing in a lot of young Canadians to teach English.  One of my objections to our local Folk Fest (which is great, don’t get me wrong) is that the pavilions rarely bring in current talent, such as a German rock band.  There’s so much of interest to see in the world.  We’re all citizens of this planet and if we share our differences and unique viewpoints as well as acknowledging our similarities, it seems to me we might solve a great many of the problems of the world.

I’d love to hear about other people’s travelling experiences.

Walking

I walk a lot, through every season, so when I heard recently that exercise can boost your immune system and be one of the factors to help prevent flu, I was intrigued.  After all it is the flu season.  Apparently early and more recent studies have shown these benefits.  Moderate exercise can temporarily boost the production of macrophages, the cells that attack bacteria, and while you are exercising the beneficial cells circulate more rapidly through your body and attack bacteria and viruses.  However, once you stop exercising, things return to normal within a few hours.

So what is moderate exercise anyway?  One definition I found was 10 minutes a day of brisk walking.  Others say at least 30 minutes of exercise a day for 5 days a week.  I don’t worry too much about definitions, however, and have found a routine that works for me; walking for an hour at least three times a week, along with 20 minutes of yoga in the morning, is it.  I think the key is finding a routine that can be easily incorporated into your day so that you keep on with it.

Walking along Broadway and then along the riverbank is my favourite route, taking in urban views and activity at the beginning and end, riverbank or more ‘country’ views in the middle.  I’ve been stunned by a bald eagle floating along above the river, watched a skinny coyote near the railway bridge, have seen hordes of Canada Geese, and one memorable April, experienced the pelicans arriving from the south (if you’re a Saskatonian, you will know how emotional that can be).  A walk may be quiet and peaceful or crowded with people and dogs, depending on the day and time.  Generally others on the trail are friendly, giving a greeting even if they don’t know you; however, some prefer to be private and I respect that.  Along Broadway there are crafts in shops, sculpture on the street, the smells of bakeries and restaurants, and depending on the time of year, music, theatre, bike races and lots of other events.  In summer I pass by the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan tent and hear the company rehearsing.  I sometimes stop at the Mendel Art Gallery to look at the shows, have a cup of tea in their coffee shop or wander through the conservatory; I will miss the Mendel when it moves.  A short walk takes me to the University Bridge, across and back; a medium one is to the CPR Bridge; if I’m feeling really energetic I go all the way to the 42^nd St. Bridge and cross by bthe pedestrian walkway.

One year I wrote haiku in my head as I walked along the river; the words just seemed to come.   Another time the river inspired a story that my writing group worked on collectively.  Sometimes I carry a notebook or scraps of paper, or I may just leave it to chance and hope I remember any inspiration that arrives.

I’ve walked in snow up to my knees after a storm and before the little tractor cleared the trail.  Have put on my yellow rain suit in a down pour and gotten damp from sweating in it.  Bundled up in layers for minus 30 or more windchill.  Worn shorts, tank top, and a hat along with sunscreen and mosquito repellent on a hot summer day.  Walking teaches you to be adaptable, and I love it.

“The trouble is,” said Laura, “walking in Venice becomes compulsive once you start. Just over the next bridge you say, and then the next one beckons.” – Daphne Du Maurier in Don’t Look Now

Snow

Here in Saskatoon it‘s not unusual to have snow lying on the ground for five or six months of the year, and although wonderful for winter sports, it can also be dangerous for driving and walking, and a pain to shovel (unless you have neighbourhood snow angels).  We have, however, to cope with it, so I decided to do a little research.

Snow begins as water that crystallizes in the earth’s atmosphere, and can develop or grow by a build up water vapour freezing on the original crystals, direct freezing of super cooled water, and by collision of crystals.  The size of a snowflake depends partly on how far it has fallen and how many collisions it has had that stick.

Canada receives more snow than any other country.  According to currentresults.com the place with the highest annual average snowfall in Canada is Mount Fidelity in Glacier National Park with 1471 cm or 48 feet.  The largest one day snowfall occurred at Tahtsa Lake West, B.C. on February 11, 1999 with 145 cm.  I certainly feel better about the relatively light accumulation I`ve had to shovel so far this year.

A couple of new words (for me) for types of snow:

·         Corn snow – pellets the size of corn kernels

·         Graupel - snow pellets, also known as hail

Winter is a time I like to hibernate a little, read lots, watch some movies or old favourite TV shows, write.  I do find it important to get out and walk as well, however, to keep up my spirits, even if the sky is grey, the ground white, and I feel as if I’m inside a huge blank space.  I put on my long underwear, add a sweater and lined blue jeans, put on the big parka, wrap a scarf, put on gloves and boots.  Oh and don’t forget the spikes because the streets are slippery.

haiku

early morning walk

creates fresh tracks in new snow --

brief indentations

Book Recommendation: Smilla`s Sense of Snow or Miss Smilla`s Feeling for Snow by Peter Hoeg, published in 1992, and made into a movie in 1997 (I haven`t seen the movie).  It`s ostensibly a thriller, but has lots of psychological and conspiracy overtones, as well as a unique point of view.  Smilla, who is half Danish and half Greenlander, investigates the death of a neighbour boy (also born in Greenland) who fell off the roof.  She doesn`t believe it was an accident and ends up following the trail aboard a ship to an island off Greenland.

Check out this website from the University of Regina: http://uregina.ca/~sauchyn/geog327/snow.html

Courage

What is it that keeps us going when times get tough? For some it`s religion, for others family and friends.  It could be sheer determination or anger, love or the need to prove ourselves.  One of the definitions of courage in my Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (1976) that I like is “the heart as the seat of intelligence or feeling.”   Courage is often associated with great deeds – a rescue from drowning or fire, valour in war, bravery under fire.  It is also needed in less dramatic times.

Paul Tillich (he was a theologian and thinker born in Germany in 1886, served as a military chaplain in World War I, emigrated to New York in 1933, taught at various universities, and died in 1965) wrote and had published in 1952 a book called The Courage to Be.   In the book he explores various definitions and contexts, including Being, Nonbeing and Anxiety, Courage and Participation, The Courage to be as Oneself, and so on.  This is not an easy read, but requires tenacity and thought with (hopefully) the result of broadening the mind and opening the heart.  Whether you are religious not or spiritual or not, Tillich helps to shine a light on life.

Life requires courage every day – leaving home to go to school, dealing with a bully, riding the bus for the first time on your own, the first job, going camping alone, climbing a mountain, persevering with a creative dream despite rejections – we each have many examples in our lives of that kind of courage. 

I’m thinking particularly about those of us who choose to make some kind of living in the arts – writers, visual artists, composers – the ones who often work alone, determine their own projects, create the daily discipline to accomplish the work, and then send it out to be rejected or accepted.  At times it feels as if the rejections occur most often, and there are days when I wonder if I should find a regular job again; get a pay check I can count on.  That’s when courage is required, the fanning of the spark of determination, reminding yourself that you have succeeded in the past and will again, that the dream is worth pursuing. 

 “He (she) who risks and fails can be forgiven.  He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.” – Paul Tillich

Choices

Choices

A new year and a time for beginnings.  This is my first blog ever – the start of a journey – we’ll see where it takes me.  I intend it to be a personal diary about topics that interest me, ideas, how we live now.  I hope that others will log on and comment to have conversations and perhaps create a community here.

January is named after the Roman god Janus, who according to Bullfinch’s Mythology, was a guardian of gates and doorways and thus had two faces, one looking in each direction.  The beginning of a new year is a time to assess the past and plan for the future, and so Janus is an apt symbol.  We make choices all the time about what to leave behind and what to carry forward.  We begin with very little baggage at birth and rapidly accumulate it; then periodically need to clean house and throw out things or send them to be recycled (hopefully) by others.  Clothes and other possessions, friends, jobs, where to live, trips to take can all be within our power to choose.  However, life often makes the choices for us – parents move and take us along, we have to leave one school and attend another, leave relatives behind; a relationships ends and we can’t stop that; we get fired from a job.

In Saskatoon, we will soon see the end of the Victoria Street Traffic Bridge.  It’s my favourite bridge; I live close to it and used to use it to walk to the Farmers’ Market.  It’s been closed for months now and the decision has been made by City Council to replace it.  That will take time and we’ll be without a bridge there for some time yet.  The old bridge is historic, it was the first bridge to link the communities of Nutana and Riversdale, the beginning of a union that would become Saskatoon. I’m sad to see the old bridge go and though I believe in preserving and remembering our history, I think that this bridge has come to the end of its life.  It would be expensive to refurbish and keep up.  We’d only be postponing the inevitable.

Every day we make choices about what to keep and what to let go.  On occasion we will rail against the endings “Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” (Dylan Thomas) but often there is hope for new light, the sun coming up a little earlier each day and going down a little later.

I hope for a new and glorious bridge to replace the old one, sending us on new journeys and leading to new connections.

Recommendation: The series of books by Laurie R. King beginning with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, that chronicle the meeting and collaboration of a young woman and Sherlock Holmes from 1915 on.  If nyou like mystery and history, it’s a great series to curl up with in these chilly, grey winter evenings.