graveyard

I've no photo because there wasn't time. Several days ago I had followed co-ordinates for a geocache that led me near the edge of a cemetery, but I was still amongst the graves. I searched around and found nothing. So I had wandered through the dead centre of town and came up empty handed. Yesterday I performed a memorial service for Woody, but the crematorium was closed for inspection so the ashes were not available for interment until this afternoon. I arrived at the same cemetery before the family and saw that the open grave was on the other side. So I drove through the cemetery close to where I had been on the previous day and tried again. It seems that these GPS gadgets are affected by the time of day (satellite position) as well as by sun activity, so this time I was led directly to the cache at the very edge of the cemetery on the fence line. I quickly recorded my name and then got back in my car and drove up to the grave site and just then the family arrived - so no photo, but I'm living on the edge.

at the lodge

The computer had a gremlin for a couple of days - so here I am telling you about Sunday afternoon. I went to a geocaching event and this photo shows the age range and the concentration as we turn over every branch and log on an old beaver lodge to find a very well hidden cache. We found the hiding place using GPS co-ordinants and then came the scramble. It was a glorious afternoon and we had a lot of fun. We later repaired to an eatery to slack our thirst, eat well and celebrate our company.

The Soo

We spent a lovely sunny day in Sault Saint Marie walking the boardwalk and visiting the locks. It was a day just to stroll and then to do some shopping and relaxing. This city is on both sides of the Canadian and American border with the river between the two solitudes. The Seaway locks are on the American side and this older canal is part of the Canadian park system and is used for recreational boating. I am struck by how artificial borders really are - an arbitary line down the centre of a short river.

train trip

I'm back from several days away. We drove to Hearst and took the train to Sault Sainte Marie. It is a full day trip with the train stopping at camps along the way as there are places which are only serviced by rail. It was an old fashioned kind of trip. When we went over a large trestle we took to the baggage car to get the full effect with its open doors. It certainly beats an observation car.

At Hawk Junction there were these old baggage carts. Still in service, I suppose that they would never wear out. Sometimes I trip over something from my childhood and it catches me unawares.

open house

Across the province it is "Open House Day". It was a damp grey morning. So five of us piled into a van and made a few visits. But this being a mining town we started with the old headframe. I had only ever seen it from the road across a lake, but here we were up close and personal. It was so much bigger than I had thought and very imposing. The other mine buildings have been torn down, but this was kept for prosperity. However now that the price of gold is up and there is still a lot of gold in the ground, an open pit will grow out of the old mine workings. It wil take a very long time before this town runs out of gold,

domestic altar

I set myself up a little meditation space and placed a candle on a saucer. But it grew. I was given the angel candle holder. I added a green rock that I found once in a tidal pool. There is the little embroidered prayer rug that a friend made. I put some flowers in a vase. I have a photo of Elder Paisios, because I love his old face and one of Mother Gavrilia, because I loved her book "The Ascetic of Love" There is an incense holder which makes a bit of a mess. A ceramic frog that I found in the grass. It reminds me that I am an amphibian, being that I am both in this world and in the other. A statue of Teresa of Lisieux came in the post last year from the Carmelites asking for a donation, and there is a little conducter from an old train set that I found in the bottom of an oriental vase that I got at an auction. He is carrying a lantern. He is my light bearer.

the end

I suppose that it was indicative of the relationship that my partner never displayed my photo. I took this pic this morning before I dropped the photo and the frame into my lower drawer under the pants that do not fit. I used to say a prayer each time that I passed it by; for my partner, for healing in the relationship. If I hadn't prayed I wouldn't have stayed until the bitter end. I had this irrational faith that healing could happen. I wonder if I hadn't prayed would I have stayed and endued for so long. So I ask myself, did this prayer do me harm?

a walk in the woods

Actually I was geocaching, but I am very bad at it. Maybe it is because my little machine seems only to have a 25 foot accuracy. However, under the poplars was mases of pulmonaria, or lungwort or William and Mary. They must have escaped. So I got in a good walk, and I did not meet any bears even though there were lots of highbush cranberries. I wonder how I can make my geocaching more productive?

the bait shop

They improved the sign. It used to include "leeches" and "worms" next to "coffee". The coffee is rather good and so are the muffins, which are often warm, when I go in before my breakfast to pick up the local paper. I don't do it every day. I try to resist, but life is short. Maybe the coffee and muffins are making it shorter. This store is a block away, but it is across and wide and busy highway. I suppose it has everything one needs, if ones needs were simple and limited to minnows and junk food.

Anna

We had a Covenanting service for Anna last evening. She is just beginning her ministry in a church in a small northern Ontario town that is about three hours through the bush from anywhere. We drove through in the afternoon and stayed overnight, coming back this morning. But who won't have for this lovely smile and her delight in starting her ministry in such a warm, receptive church. I took this just after she had shaken hands with all the congregation.

the library

I love the library. Massive tree trunks rise from floor to ceiling. It is filled with light and easy chairs, occasional tables, videos, DVDs, compact disks, sheet music, computers, magazines and, of course, books. I could learn about just about anything. I love the cook books and the knitting books and the esoteric stuff and lots of novels. I can lose myself here. Is it my secret? Why do so few people seem to know about it? Never mind, I know that there are others in the building, but there is so much space that it has become my private haven, so maybe I don't want the mob to find out about all the free stuff and the comfy chairs. I can have it all for myself.

country cemetery

I went to Ottawa top visit with one of my sisters for her birthday. The day following I went to this small country church on the edge of a mountain lake to meet with an undertaker - all right - funeral director. Some time this past summer another sister and I had visited this cemetery to see if we could tidy up our grandparents' graves, but they had disappeared. We took a shovel and sunk it into the earth in a grid pattern for a half hour until we heard it stricking metal. The bronze plate was eight inches under the ground and under a new chain ink fence. The other smaller brass was six or so inches deep. We went home and made some inquiries which led to this meeting. We shall have a base poured and mount the two brasses on a block of granite. Then we might not lose them again in our life time. We needed to honour the dead, even the dead of fifty years.

100 mile diet

This is an overgrown meadow beside Porcupine Lake. It is in the city. Once this was farmed, but the farms have all but disappeared. There used to be market gardens, dairy and beef cattle. Timmins used to supply much of its food. Now the 100 mile diet is being promoted, but not here. In this diet, in order to lessen our ecological footprint, people are encouraged to eat locally. It simply could not happen here. The food is all trucked here and most comes from outside the country. It's not because it is too cold here, this is not nearly as far north as Winnipeg where they showed a newsclip promotting the idea. The clay soil is very rich but this is a mining town, gold, diamonds and nickel, and that's all that seems to matter. Meanwhile I won't be able to go on the 100 mile diet any time soon, although the idea intrigues me.