test blog #10

Remember this ? Recall from canned salmon and dehydrated liver treats? Worked once. Didn't work a second time. On our next visit to Storey's Beach, both dogs were completely absorbed in harassing the little fish. Cookie had zero recall.  And  Kai regressed and had none either, no doubt learning from her little sister that crime does indeed pay. Even worse, Cookie seems to have developed some form of separation anxiety. She busted out of her crate (a cheapy we bought second hand), destroying it in the process and went a ways towards destroying the nice new one we recently bought. I recently emailed a dog-trainer friend. Both dogs are crated when we're not home, and overnight. Both have always been completely fine with being crated. Cookie will wait until she knows she's getting a treat, but if we're holding treats, she'll jump right in, and once she's in, she settles right down. We go out to dinner or whatever, an hour here or there, and both dogs are calm an...

The pictures tell the story this time -- all Allan's. It was an amazing experience, far better than I expected. We also learned a lot about whales. It was such a privilege to be around these magnificent animals. We weren't out 10 minutes before we saw orcas, humpbacks, and porpoises. Once we learned to identify their blows, we saw humpbacks everywhere! Our guide identified each orca by markings on its dorsal fin. This is a Humpback surface feeding. Several times we saw several whales at once, all around the boat. Steller sea lions -- very big! A whale and the sea lions in the same shot. We saw an epic battle over a salmon. I hope he was able to keep it. Prince of Whales Tours: highly recommended!

We're celebrating Christmas early here at the Port Hardy Library – and Port McNeill, Port Alice, and Sointula Libraries, too. We're so excited to unwrap wonderful new supplies for the community to enjoy in our libraries. For children, we have a new selection of wooden puzzles, showing animals, shapes, "things that go" (always a hit), and the alphabet. Kids love puzzles – and parents and caregivers should love them, too. It's amazing how many skills children develop when they play with puzzles. Puzzles help children develop physical skills, such as hand-eye coordination and motor skills. They help children learn about the world around them, through shape recognition, tactile (touching) skills, and memory. Puzzles teach problem-solving, patience, and – if we're lucky – sharing and collaboration. And of course there are the pictures on the puzzle itself, teaching children to recognize letters, animals, colours, and shapes. Playing with puzzles builds your child...

Don Juan's Reckless Daughter , 1977 I discovered I didn't own Don Juan's Reckless Daughter  either on LP or CD -- which means I don't know the music from it, except for anything performed live or on compilations. This means I have only my current opinions and impressions, and no earlier thoughts to compare them to. I can conjecture that I wouldn't have liked this album when it was released in 1977, or in 1987 for that matter, because I wouldn't have understood it. I hope by 1997, when I was beginning to explore jazz, I would have been ready to listen. It is jazz. And it is Joni. I like it a lot, and I can tell that repeated listenings will yield more meaning. On DJRD Joni works with a group of jazz artists, including four members of the Weather Report ensemble -- Jaco Pastorius (who was already Joni's friend and collaborator), Wayne Shorter, Manolo Badrena, and Alex Acuña. The first track, "Overture," is played on six guitars in different tunings ...

This week's day trip was fascinating, meaningful, and so much fun. We went to Alert Bay, toured the U'mista Cultural Centre (us for the second time , my mom for the first), and participated in a traditional salmon barbeque through Culture Shock . Know before you go: residential schools and the potlatch ban On the drive down to Port McNeill, where we get the ferry to both Sointula and Alert Bay, we gave my mom some context for the U'mista exhibits -- both the residential schools and the potlatch ban . We have talked about it before, but I felt a review of sorts would make the day more meaningful. After taking the Indigenous Canada online course through the University of Alberta, I feel more confident summarizing the issues -- a concrete benefit of the course. If anyone reading this doesn't know about these two horrors of colonization, I encourage you to learn about them both. I'll briefly summarize the issues at the bottom of this post. U'mista Cultural Centre...