Timmy Ho's

It's 9 am at Toronto Pearson Airport.  I have an extra-long transit time in the Toronto airport since arriving on my flight from Ecuador while waiting to catch the bus which will deliver me home...
I arrived, zipped through customs and found an out-of-the way comfy chair to set myself up an enclave for a nap, a read, or to enjoy the (finally!) free wi-fi at the airport.

It is also strategically located with a view of the Tim Horton's lineup.

I took up my post at 7am.  I'm not in a rush... I have hours to fill until 2pm... so I decided I would wait to make my approach on Timmy's until there was no lineup.  It's been 2 hours, and it's not looking promising!  There has been a constant line of at least 10 people, at times 2- and 3-deep!  All I wanted was a Timmies, now back on my home soil... or perhaps it's the cloves that have me craving... ???  Anyway, it's an eye opener at the lucrative coffee business of Timmies!

HOME SWEET HOME

It was so nice to be home again for an extended holiday over the Christmas season!  It was really great to see family and friends.  (Yes, this is a very belated posting - I'm on my way back home to see everyone again already, and found this in my drafts... so better late than never!)

And no matter what so many people say... I love Ontario winters!  While so many people complain about it, I really miss the skiing and the cold crisp sunny days in the snow.

HAPPY DAY!

Wouldn't even know it's Canada Day here... bummer!  Oh well, I hope you're all enjoying festive celebrations!

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!

And more importantly...

Happy 38th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!!!

Whirlwind Canadian Tour

I'm getting all out-of-order and out-of-sorts again... but here's a quick recap of our last hoorah in Canada before coming back to Indonesia at the beginning of November...

Martin arrived in Canada at the end of October (after a great long visit with his family in the Galapagos), with a small window of time just before we were set to head back to Indonesia. Because his summer visit had been cut short, and he didn't get to spend any time in Ontario, or visit his brother in Quebec, we decided a whirlwind tour was in order.





I picked him up from Pearson airport on the morning of the first snow in southern Ontario, and we spent a blustery day in Toronto. We met up with our friend Cecilia (it was the first time seeing here since all of our return from Indonesia), rode on the street cars, walked around Kensington Market, and had Pho for lunch. In the afternoon, we did a bit of a driving tour of the city, then headed further west to the great Canadian tourist attraction: Niagara Falls.



We only spent one night, and the better part of the next day exploring around the Niagara area before heading back to pick up my brother in Guelph (and have a great Indian dinner with cousin David), visit Martin's uncle and family in Toronto, and head back to Madoc. Thank goodness Jonathan was with us, and took care of the last leg of the driving (including a hilarious encounter with police just minutes from home)... we got home at about 3 am or so! We spent Hallowe'en in Madoc, and even went to a 'haunted corn maze' with the whole family!







Then it was off in the other direction... to visit Martin's brother, Carlos, and his wife Valerie, in Sherbrooke. We spent a nice few days with them, then headed back to Ontario.





We had a short visit with some good friends of mine in Ottawa, toured our nation's capital (and even did a few geocaches there!), then headed back home again.



We had a few last visits with friends around home, then had to get packing, and get on the road! It was wonderful to be home for so long, and spend so much time with family - how lucky!

Poison Ivy

I have spent the last two weeks or more in itch-ville! After waking up scratching for many many nights, and feeling uncomfortable in my skin while I'm awake, I am finally on the mend... I can finally go out in public without worrying that people will fear that I'm contagious, and shy away from me!

I have only ever had a reaction to poison ivy once... five years ago, in the spring of 2003. Indeed, I believe that until then, I was not susceptible to poison ivy. During my years in the bush, I had several occasions where my mind was obviously off wandering when I suddenly realized that I was smack in the middle of a patch of this nasty shrub, and yet, I came away unscathed. My first reaction was actually much more severe than this time - the reaction went systemic and I was a real mess! (A reaction to poison ivy is actually called Urushiol-induced contact dermatitis, and is caused by the oil urushiol present in the entire plant; 85% of humans are sensitive to this irritant)

This time, since I couldn't get in to see the doctor for several days after I realized what it was, I tried a few 'home remedies': washing with sunlight soap, scrubbing with bleach, cleansing with rubbing alcohol, applying a hydrocortisone cream, and good old calamine lotion... (not all at once, of course). None of them really worked very well, and the rash was really bad by the time I got to see the doctor (with oozing blisters), so he prescribed oral prednisone. It had me up, down and spinning in circles, but it certainly decreased the allergic reaction and increased the rate of healing! This photo is from one day after I began the prednisone.



The story of the way I got poison ivy this time is really quite embarrassing... I was out geocaching, and enjoying my time outside, when I came upon this unique plant which I thought I'd never seen before. I actually admired it, wondered at it, PICKED it, and brought it home to identify! I had never seen poison ivy in the FALL, apparently, and didn't know that its characteristically green, waxy leaves do turn (red, yellow and orange, with brown spots), and that it gets little cream-coloured, slightly greenish clusters of berries.



I won't be making that mistake again!

A Joke?

I usually don't delve into the political spectrum of the blogosphere... but looking at the results of this Canadian election, I really have to ask... "Is this a joke?" I mean, WHAT changed? Nothing. Why did we spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a futile election? Just another waste of time and money which could have been more effectively used on any number of programs or initiatives to address some of the issues (that were really non-issues) in this election. Maybe using the same monies to stave off planned cuts to arts programs, or investing in any number of green-technologies to decrease our outrageous carbon emissions?

The fact that it was a useless election shows even more in the all-time low voter turnout across Canada (I heard one estimate at approx. 59 %, but I don't know the final numbers). This could only cause increased political diffidence and voter-ambivalence in the future among those who didn't think that this election was important enough to get to the polls in the first place this time!

On a side note... is ANYONE aware of the world we're living in right now? I cannot believe that the Green Party didn't get a single seat in the house. It certainly doesn't inspire any hope in me that the paradigm shift that is necessary to make even a small dint in the global warming crisis, is in sight. I guess people still don't get that ECOlogy is inextricably intertwined with EVERY other aspect of our society!?

Fall in Ontario

Just because the entire world is falling apart at the seams, and there is so much doom-and-gloom out there on the economic and political spectrum, I thought I would share with you something positive. Simple. The glorious world that we live in. Fall in our little corner of Ontario.





What a beautiful weekend for Thanksgiving. Get out and enjoy it. It always does wonders to lift my spirit. The cool, crisp, fresh air and bright, clear skies, the COLOURS! Wow... GIVE THANKS!

SAGO

... since I'm still chillaxin' in B.C., I thought I would finish off a few blogs that I had started over the past year from Indonesia...


SAGO

Sago, or Sagu, is the staple food in the Indonesian province of West Papua (or at least, it used to be). Growing especially in coastal areas, sago palm trees (metroxylon sagu) are not planted by island or coastal residents, but simply harvested from the jungle. Rice is coming to replace sago in most of the coastal areas I've visited, although it is not grown in the area and has to be imported.




One Sago Palm yields enough sago starch to feed a family for weeks or even months.

There's no word for it in English... and there's no way to fully describe it, either.

Sago can be 'processed' and cooked in several ways... usually the tree is harvested and brought to the seaside for processing to extract the starch. The trunk of this palm has thorns, so usually the outer bark is removed (cafefully!) after felling the tree, and before it is brought to the shore. The inner core (or pith) of the tree is then chipped out to yield the high-starch raw material for processing. (This image is from Wikipedia... amazingly, I can't find a single one of my own in all my pictures!)



Update:  See this blog, which contains a little about our attempt to help in the processing of Sago on Biak Island, or this one, which delineates the entire process from a visit to Sarmi!

Sago flour is the most common result of processing, and this is what is then used in food preparation. I don't think it has much nutritional value – seems like your basic tummy-filling carbohydrate.

So far, I have eaten sago as 'papeda' (served with a yummy fish curry) and 'bagea', as explained in this previous blog.  The traditional ceremonial feast called "Bakar Batu"(literally, roasted rocks) often includes Sago as well.

As with most things on these islands, every part of everything is used, and so the Sago Palm leaves are also used in many villages to build rooves for huts.

Christina Lake



Our time at the lake was anything but boring... Mom & Dad and Auntie Barbi and Uncle Jacques made it wonderful! Sooo wonderful in fact, that ... I'm back! Martin had to head back to the Galapagos earlier than planned, so instead of staying 'home alone', I came back out to enjoy more time with family, and the fabulous weather. And although Martin is convinced that "Canada is nothing but pine trees", I think he enjoyed his time with us at Christina Lake, too! I think he was a bit disappointed he didn't get to see a live moose, though...



He got really good on the wakeboard after his rib healed from the incident early-on!


... and I got back into the swing of things as well...


... and I even convinced Martin to go tubing once!



In addition to water-skiing and wakeboarding, we had a great time, and kept pretty busy!

Diving - first fresh-(read COLD, like 4.5 Celsius COLD)-water dive for either of us... and first dive in Canada for that matter! To be perfectly honest, with all the hassle of gearing up (honestly, about 20 minutes) and the extremely limited (read practically NON-EXISTENT) life to be seen, I'm not sure it's worth it! ... but we had to at least try it once! I know, this pic is sideways... just pretend it's a trick I was pulling in the water (yeah, like with THAT much wetsuit on, you have any flexibility or maneuverability!?)!



Fishing - everyone is convinced that Martin talks the fish onto his hook! That kokanee was yummy!


Geocaching - i finally got to get some more caching done (my favourite passtime), and I even had the help of a few newbies! If you have no idea what I'm talking about and are interested in finding out more about this world-wide GPS treasure hunt, you can check out geocaching.com... but be forewarned: it's addictive!





The thing I love best about geocaching is that it takes you to all kinds of new and interesting places... and we re-discovered a bunch of stunning areas right in our own back yard!








Cycling - we pulled out the old-school bicycles, dusted them off, pumped up the cracking tires and went for a tour (great idea in the 30+ degree heat!)...




Food - well, this wasn't an activity, per say, but a big part of life at the lake! we had all manner of delicious meals which i had been missing in Indonesia, including a few French specialties, thanks to our in-house french connection (yummy Ratatouille and Boef Bourguignon)! The best part was preparing all the meals and eating them with family. Martin even made us his special 'nasi goreng' one night!

Broken ribs...

Martin didn't get very many days wakeboarding before he pushed the envelope a little too hard, and (possibly) broke a rib, which layed him out for the better part of two weeks! I can't imagine how painful it must have been to actually keep him from the water!

Martin being silly one night we had spare ribs for dinner:

Home again, Home again, Jiggity-jig!

We're BACK ON CANADIAN SOIL!!!

Transit in Taiwan... although we didn't have a long stopover, there was no lack of eye candy in the Taiwan airport! We enjoyed the free massage chairs most of all!



aaahhhh...


We arrived in Vancouver to a simple and painless customs process, and my cousin David waiting to pick us up! Although it was already about 9pm, of course it was still light out (something I haven't experienced for 2 years, and for Martin, a completely new phenomenon in his life!)

Since being at the cottage at Christina Lake, BC, our primary activity has been wakeboarding and waterskiing… Martin, of course, is a natural. He got up on the second try on the first day – faster than anyone else ever has in our experience!

gearing up:


he got right up the second try! (you can see our cabins in the background):










of course, Martin's learning process wouldn't be complete without a few wipeouts and faceplants!


But, boy do we ever wish we had a set of those massage chairs here at the cabin now!!! It’s a whole new set of muscles that have lain dormant for a little too long!