Christmas Weekend
26/12/09 12:38
On Thursday night we all got together for Christmas-Eve dinner. Barbara had turkey and all sorts of other things on the table. We brought rice krispy treats, an apple pie, and chocolates. Gifts were exchanged and we all celebrated well into the evening. Mike gave Marsha a very nice vase made in New Mexico by a pueblo artisan and me a Mr. Peanut cookie jar (I guess it means Marsha is a classic and I'm nuts). Barbara gave us some home made jellies, and a really nice T-Fal colander. All in all it was a very fun evening with laughter and stories.
One of the stories Mike told was from when he was teaching in the Northwest Territories. They had just arrived in town and wanted to fit in. Being accepted was rather difficult in these remote towns, especially for a young couple when everyone else in town was First Nations and had lived there for generations. They had been there a couple of weeks when one Saturday there was a knock at the door. It was one of their neighbours who wanted to use their phone (he didn't have one). Wanting to be neighbourly they agreed. He made a few calls lasting about an hour and then left. The next Saturday he showed up to use the phone again.. This continued for a few weeks. Then the bill showed up. The guy had called Yellowknife, and Winnipeg, and Vancouver, and Toronto, and Halifax. The long distance charges were well over $200 (and this was in the early 1980's, so in today's dollars today it would be at least twice if not three times that.) Mike hit the roof so on the following Saturday when he saw the fellow coming up the road he popped open the door before the guy could knock. "What the hell do you want?" ,then he saw the guy was crying and his cheeks were covered with frozen tears. "My mother died." he sobbed. So now Mike feels like the lowest heal there is. He let the guy in and they got him calmed down, gave him a cup of coffee. When he regained his composure they let him make his telephone calls to talk to his relatives in Yellowknife, and Winnipeg, and Vancouver, and Toronto, and Halifax. When he was done and had regained his composure once again, Mike walked him back to the door. As he left Mike asked him when his mother had passed on. The fellows eyes filled with tears again. "Five years ago" he wailed and disappeared sobbing into the cold arctic night. They later found out from the locals that that he always got that way after a few beers.
Christmas day itself was rather quiet. We slept in till 4:30 and then got up made a little breakfast and then retired to bed and opened our presents. Afterwards we went to sleep again. Around 10:00 we got up and went down to the beach. Yes while many of our friends were dealing with heavy snow, whiteout conditions, and travel warnings, we were walking hand in hand on the beach, taking pictures, looking at the boats on the water and seagulls in the sky, picking up brick-a-brack, and enjoying the Christmas morning sunshine. Have we mentioned how much we like living here?
There are things that you have but don't really think about. They just are. Today, Saturday, is Boxing Day, when all the stores discount whatever they have left over from Xmas to clear them out by the end of the year. We picked up a couple of things, among them were some computer speakers, a late Xmas present from Marsha. I work at the desk and listen to internet broadcasts or iTunes all day so she thought a good set of speakers with a base driver was a nice idea. When I got home I removed the old set and installed the new. It was amazing. Not only was the base much better the mid range is clearer and the highs are really crisp, almost sparkling. I hadn't realized how lousy the old speakers were. As I packed the old speakers up, I looked at the label on the bottom. They were made in 1993. I got them with my Mac LCIII, which was around 12 computers ago. You know, things like speakers do wear out. It's just sometimes hard to notice, because it happens so slowly.
So that's about it from us for this year. I hope everyone had a good, and for those of you in the Midwest, a safe holiday.
Remember you can follow our exploits on our web site
http://web.me.com/geoduck/Site/Welcome.html
My plan is to add a number of things to the site in to coming year.
This weeks pictures are from our Christmas morning walk at the beach.
Doug & Marsha
This was a piece of driftwood. It didn't look painted but we have no idea what natural process would leave this mark. It seemed like a good image for Christmas Day.
Low morning sun shining off the bay.
Cormorants drying off
One of the stories Mike told was from when he was teaching in the Northwest Territories. They had just arrived in town and wanted to fit in. Being accepted was rather difficult in these remote towns, especially for a young couple when everyone else in town was First Nations and had lived there for generations. They had been there a couple of weeks when one Saturday there was a knock at the door. It was one of their neighbours who wanted to use their phone (he didn't have one). Wanting to be neighbourly they agreed. He made a few calls lasting about an hour and then left. The next Saturday he showed up to use the phone again.. This continued for a few weeks. Then the bill showed up. The guy had called Yellowknife, and Winnipeg, and Vancouver, and Toronto, and Halifax. The long distance charges were well over $200 (and this was in the early 1980's, so in today's dollars today it would be at least twice if not three times that.) Mike hit the roof so on the following Saturday when he saw the fellow coming up the road he popped open the door before the guy could knock. "What the hell do you want?" ,then he saw the guy was crying and his cheeks were covered with frozen tears. "My mother died." he sobbed. So now Mike feels like the lowest heal there is. He let the guy in and they got him calmed down, gave him a cup of coffee. When he regained his composure they let him make his telephone calls to talk to his relatives in Yellowknife, and Winnipeg, and Vancouver, and Toronto, and Halifax. When he was done and had regained his composure once again, Mike walked him back to the door. As he left Mike asked him when his mother had passed on. The fellows eyes filled with tears again. "Five years ago" he wailed and disappeared sobbing into the cold arctic night. They later found out from the locals that that he always got that way after a few beers.
Christmas day itself was rather quiet. We slept in till 4:30 and then got up made a little breakfast and then retired to bed and opened our presents. Afterwards we went to sleep again. Around 10:00 we got up and went down to the beach. Yes while many of our friends were dealing with heavy snow, whiteout conditions, and travel warnings, we were walking hand in hand on the beach, taking pictures, looking at the boats on the water and seagulls in the sky, picking up brick-a-brack, and enjoying the Christmas morning sunshine. Have we mentioned how much we like living here?
There are things that you have but don't really think about. They just are. Today, Saturday, is Boxing Day, when all the stores discount whatever they have left over from Xmas to clear them out by the end of the year. We picked up a couple of things, among them were some computer speakers, a late Xmas present from Marsha. I work at the desk and listen to internet broadcasts or iTunes all day so she thought a good set of speakers with a base driver was a nice idea. When I got home I removed the old set and installed the new. It was amazing. Not only was the base much better the mid range is clearer and the highs are really crisp, almost sparkling. I hadn't realized how lousy the old speakers were. As I packed the old speakers up, I looked at the label on the bottom. They were made in 1993. I got them with my Mac LCIII, which was around 12 computers ago. You know, things like speakers do wear out. It's just sometimes hard to notice, because it happens so slowly.
So that's about it from us for this year. I hope everyone had a good, and for those of you in the Midwest, a safe holiday.
Remember you can follow our exploits on our web site
http://web.me.com/geoduck/Site/Welcome.html
My plan is to add a number of things to the site in to coming year.
This weeks pictures are from our Christmas morning walk at the beach.
Doug & Marsha
This was a piece of driftwood. It didn't look painted but we have no idea what natural process would leave this mark. It seemed like a good image for Christmas Day.
Low morning sun shining off the bay.
Cormorants drying off