12:04 a.m. - 2004-04-21
Walking
I went to visit my assistant in the hospital today. As soon as I walked into his room, the old health care worker instincts took over - check skin colour, state of skin, any edema or signs of congestion, listen to breathing, check for unusual scents or twitches, personality changes and watch mental acuity. He passed all the primary benchmarks ok. He showed me the incision and the staples holding things together and didn't mind when I checked his feet to see what they told me. Good natured about it anyway. Except for what appeared to be the beginnings of a reaction to the strength of the antibiotics that were running through his IV, he looked in good shape. Hope it stays that way. We visited for about 90 minutes. Gossip about election stuff, politics, his wellness, and legal issues. It was a beautiful spring day, so I asked if he wanted to go outside. He declined this time - tired he said. That was ok, but I decided I would benefit by walking home once I was done. Took an hour all told, including a stop at the drug store. Sun was out and a soft warm breeze when I began, with velvety grey clouds lining the northern horizon. One could see where the spring showers were kissing the earth. My path was a Zed (y'all) north through one community, east through another where it started to softly rain, but still with a light warm breeze. As I reached the next north turning, the rain really started pelting down and the wind was now brisk and bitter, as I walked into it walking uphill. My workout for the afternoon.
Lots of travel information showing up in curious ways. In our newspaper, a story about a webpage that offers FREE hotels stays. Hotels. There is a fee to join the website. The reason hotels are participating is that there is a minimum time that one must remain in their facility. They recoup their "loss" on room rental ( ones that wouldn't have been occupied otherwise), by requiring one to use their facilities a certain amount - restaurants and such. Not a bad exchange though. An e-zine I don't recall signing up for arrived in the inbox today with instructions on how best to travel in France. Maybe it came from the one survey company I do surveys for in French - practicing my linguistic skills, don't you know. Anyway, there was a website where you can get maps of any city you are travelling in, with the added bonus of showing one the best route to get from point A - where you are - to point B - where you want to go. Maps. The Travel website is: travel. For those stuck at home like me the British Library is offering accessto it's most precious books on-line. The story about it is british_library and the site itself is books Most of the treasures seem to be ancient copies of sacred texts from several faith systems. The Lindisfarne Gospels among them. For space tavel, this link about a meteor shower that one can see early morning this Thursday with comets to follow. Space_travel.For spirtual travel more stories about the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu - this more about their discourse. Teachings and debate.
Kai Mortensen for - whatever position he wants. The gentleman has run his own business here for decades and was also once the Danish consul in Calgary. My whole day was made by a rebuttal he sent to the Calgary Herald with respect to a letter to the editor about the dispute between Denmark and Canada over a minuscule piece of island on the international boundary between Canada and Greenland. I'm getting really jittery with all the debate about copyright going on, but I believe citing the paper and the author is what is appropriate, since I can't link to the article online.
"Re: 'Take that, you puny Danes,'Robert Remington, Opinion, April 5. It's typical for a big, powerful country to bully a small puny, country, you with your big warships, Sea King helicopters, snowmobiles and what have you. But don't forget the old story about David and his opponent. Remember what happened to him.
You have probably never heard about our secret weapon, Holger Danske. He is our big, Viking king, napping in the bowels of Hamlet Castle, and he will wake up if Denmark ever has a real big problem. How much bigger a problem could there be than Hans Island, the northernmost outpost of our kingdom, a fact verified through Danish folklore?
Here are some facts: In 1485, four years after becoming King of Denmark, Norway and a lot of other countries, King Hans decided to take a holiday. He called on one of his admirals, Hagar(also known as The Horrible), to take him and his court (not unlike Canada's Queen Adrienne) to see his many possessions. And yes, on the faraway island they enjoyed a picnic with akvavit (not schnapps) and Hvarty cheese. The king decided to name this outpost Hans Island.
So, you bully Canadians, take that to the World Court in The Hague and we'll see who is right. Don't forget, we also have major European allies, including Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, and that great Maersk armada of container ships. So back off, Canada, or you could even lose Newfoundland. Remember we almost had it once using only one boat.
In regards to the unflattering statements about our drinking habits, there is no doubt we have a much longer history perfecting that craft.
A simple man like our "Jeppe from the Mountain" could easily have won over your John A. MacDonald [the first Canadian Prime Minister was notorious for his drinking] in the akvavit game. And everyone knows our tough guy Jeppe lived on our tallest mountain - at least 100 metres over the sea.
But we will forgive all if Canada promises not to replace Alfonso Gagliano with Sheila Copps. [two current elected representatives with a certain amount of notoriety attached to their names]"
Why can't this man run for world leader? Some of my extended family have Danish roots and now I know what it is that makes them extra lovable - right? In real time, the Danes were feared fighters - whenever they decided to go that route - and their courage against their Nazi occupiers in WW II was breath-taking.
Another story of justice well served was about the new investigation into whether the parents of the boy deported from Pakistan to Canada after his family all participated in Al Qaeda's terrorist attacks were practicing child abuse per Canadian statutes. Abuse. It is very touchy because our Charter of Rights guarantees freedom of faith, but that does not allow faith communities to over-ride criminal code offenses. I suspect that this investigation might become very emotional as other faith communities comtemplate what it might mean for them.
Contrast this to these series of stories from around the globe about the situation in Iraq. fundamental, repeat_history and an analysis of the roots of the issue from Britain party_politics.
My head aches and there were so many articles like this today, I felt over-whelmed. Time to go read to my son -the Hobbit tonight. A comforting tale for troubled souls I think.
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