Wendy On Vacation, I Think

Lake Diva and her antics.

It's nice to see Wendy acting like a total goofball as it takes much of the pressure off me. Not that it's any hardship for me to captain my own sinking sense of the absurd.

Though Wendy is on vacation in this picture it still looks like she's a singer. I'm not sure but I think she may be trying to make a digital recording.

In the background, Maurice Collette, a summertime neighbour and captain of Via Lago (Doral 21), looks on in bewilderment.

Wendy 'performed' this stunt in Kingston Creek, a deep and delicious offshoot of Belleisle Bay.

Chert Cousteau-eaus

Quelqu'un peut-il voir le Calypso?

Like Jacques and Philippe Cousteau before us, Julian and I boarded our exploration vessel and headed out to sea in search of underwater riches.

Well, maybe not riches. No dubloons or triploons. We were searching for rocks, but not just any rocks. Chert. Once again I was looking for chert, the rock used for tool and weapon making by the indigenous people of this area.

This time around I brought my young associate, Philippe. Errrr, I mean Julian. Note: I may be suffering from Cousteauism. C'est possible. Julian and I decided to have an underwater look at what might be the area where the chert was known to exist. We found lots of jasper underwater but we're still not certain that we've found chert.

At this point I've decided to contact the expert in chert, a UNB professor named David Black. Perhaps he can shed some light on our quest. Cousteau, of course, would have trudged ahead on his own (it made for better tv). Moi, je vais faire le chemin facile.

Fifty-footitis

The trout won't stand a chance!

There's a term in boating called 'two footitis'. It's a disease. You buy a boat and within a year or two you start suffering from two footitis. You want a bigger boat, perhaps two feet bigger, which makes quite a difference in roominess.

The boat in this image, Whitetail, is a cure for the disease. It's a custom made lobster fishing boat that's 50 feet long and 24 feet wide. I used to have a powerboat, Maud, which was 23 feet long. Whitetail is wider than Maud was long.

It's a good thing that I got rid of Maud before Whitetail arrived on the lake. Twenty footitis wouldn't have cured me. Whitetail lives just down the lake from me during the off-season for lobster fishing. She makes other boaters, and trout and lobster, nervous.

I'll Have Mine 'On The Rocks'

Shadowy Figure

Well, I tried desperately to windsurf on Grand Lake yesterday. Things didn't go in my favour. When life gives you lemons (i.e. no wind), you make lemonade (i.e. go for a stand-up paddle).

It's nice to have options. No wind? No problem. I took my stand-up paddleboard out on the mighty Washademoak après supper and enjoyed a wonderfully serene glide along the rocks of the Pines Conservation Park. I saw only one other boat on the lake on this picture perfect evening. Is everyone dead? Or are they simply watching television?

Seriously...where the hell is everyone?

Going Native...and Loving It!

Pine Island, Washademoak Lake, may have been a playground for the locals (way back when)

It must have been a hard life back in the day. A hundred years ago, five hundred years ago, two thousand years ago...hardly matters.

On Saturday morning I launched my war canoe, which happened to be a 12-foot tin boat with a 9.9 H.P. outboard, and proceeded down the lake to find a source of chert for making weapons and tools. That's what the First Nations people did, more or less.

On the shores of Washademoak Lake, near Belyea's Cove, lies a source of chert that the natives knew only too well. It was the only known source in New Brunswick of a rock type, called chert, that was ideal for making arrow heads, spear tips, and cutting implements.

I (surprise, surprise) didn't find the chert source but I did  discover an inner sense of the importance of place. I was happy to be where I was, rock-hounding on the Washademoak shores. Beyond that, I also had a huge sense of appreciation for what life must have been like hundreds of years ago. Not easy.

I'm not sure how the natives chipped away at the chert to make tools. What did they use to break and shape the rock? I tried using a hammer on a piece of jasper and I failed. They succeeded, but how? I suppose it's like building a Stradivarius violin...all the technology in the world won't replace craftsmanship. There is much to learn.

This Is Getting Absurd!

Now available with floral talc evanescences!

I can be skeptical from time to time, especially when I hear something that sounds retarded yet is delivered by someone who, medically speaking, is not retarded. Tasting notes, for wine and whiskey, are either written by retards....or read by them. Note: I know where I stand.

This one is a classic:

Bright amber colour. Complex aromas of waxy honeycomb, spicy poached pears and peaches, white potpourri, and salty buttery cashew brittle follow through on a silky, round entry to a dry-yet-fruity medium-to-full body with great balance and depth. Finishes with a long, lingering wave of flavour with caramel apple, anise, cinnamon raisin bread and floral talc evanescences.

Whoever wrote this was either blind or has no mirrors in their house. How could you pen that and then look at yourself in the mirror with pride, as though you were making a contribution to the wellness of the planet? I'll bet the author owns an assortment of bow ties and fondles himself while watching the Golden Girls. Ack.

Zack Attacks The Kayak

Zack Nielsen

At our recent Nielsen family party (2012 Edition), the kayaks proved to be a massive hit. Kids ranging in age from 5 to 48 seemed to enjoy them immensely. Max and Justus probably spent more time in them than anyone else, but Zack really had the hang of how to use them effectively.

The Nielsen Family Portrait 2012



This was the 'normal' family picture.

 Can you see why this family allowed me to marry into it? I think they saw me as someone who wouldn't have to change or adapt one bit in order to fit in.

Breakfast 'Television'

Fish for breakfast...again??

I could have turned the television on this morning and watched some stuffed shirt trying to be entertaining, but I didn't. Instead I took my camera down to the water's edge and within one minute an osprey flew by with breakfast. It was 6:30 a.m.

Last evening, around 8 p.m., two eagles were soaring above my property at treetop level. They looked huge...big enough to pick-up a small dog (say, for example, a Sheltie).

Ah, wishful thinking.

Singing Pine Tree

She Has Her Mother's Thorax

For that last few years I've had a couple of 'singing' pine trees. Basically I've had two dead pine trees that have been emitting a noise that can be heard from quite some distance...up to 50 feet away. The noise wasn't really sing-songy...more a crunchy kind of sound. It turns out to be the larval, grubby, Michelin man, wormlike white monster you see in the picture.

I don't know what it is but it's some kind of wood boring beetle larva, or a grub, or a monster! This thing has a wicked pair of mandibles. If it was a bit bigger, I'd swear it could take down a small dog (like a Sheltie, for instance).

The larva lives under the bark of the rotting pine tree. I knocked down a section of bark and found five of these creatures underneath. No doubt they're quite a delicacy...for a woodpecker. I'd have to sauté them in butter before I'd give them a try!

Berry Odd Man

Strawberry Fields...of Vision.

It's strawberry season here in New Brunswick. The first week's crop seemed to be traditional strawberries (mid sized, juicy). The second week's crop were more Californian in appearance (big, angular, less juicy). I preferred the week one berries, but the week two berries are easier to handle/cut.

There! What a riveting blog entry. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I was trying to appear cross-eyed in the picture, but I was only successful in looking deranged.

Summer 2012

Hot and cold...the summer of 2012

I think this picture sums up the summer of 2012....Julian keeping an eye (or two) on his grandmother, and sharing 'sweeties' with her. Treats, in this case a chocolate milkshake, almost always make Mom happy. She also smiles at any sign of chocolate, music, small children, fat people or money. I'm like my mother, though the chocolate must be white.

This picture was taken at the Dari-Delite in Lincoln. I asked for a half-sized milkshake for Mom because I didn't think that she could drink a whole one. The staff , when making Julian's large milkshake, made a bit extra and they gave that to Mom for no charge. You don't often get service like that anywhere so it's worth mentioning...and remembering. Impressive, and thoughtful!

Gary Morris



The man, the legend.

 Gary Morris, what can I say that hasn't already been said? Musician extraordinaire, and then some. Gary goes out of his way to encourage talented younger players to get on stage. It's an admirable quality.

At Cambridge-Narrows Community Day, Gary and his band Crossroads played a concert. Invited to join them on stage was none other than Mr. Julian Varty. Julian played our Rickenbacker 330 12 string and played it wonderfully. He played Til I Am Myself Again by Blue Rodeo, as well as Turn Turn Turn by The Byrds.

The Rickenbacker 12 string is an instrument of musical beauty. It has been played by some of the world's finest: Harrison, McGuinn, Marr, and now Varty. It's not an easy instrument to play, so kudos to those who do.

Watch Julian and Gary here: (Til I AM Myself Again) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zQ4ibz2CLs&feature=youtu.be   and (Turn Turn Turn)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5v6drU18I_4

Canada Day Tragedy

And the winner is....

Of course there's no real tragedy, though the sheer volume of SeaDoos (many of them a mere fifty/sixty feet offshore) on this Canada Day long weekend is annoying.

It was nice to see a waterskier out on the lake. They've gone the way of the dodo, almost like windsurfers. This dodo is keeping the sport of windsurfing alive.

Speaking of alive, if that SeaDooetta (SeaDooess?) was to speed up and take a hard turn to the right, then she'd experience what's known in the business as a clothesline. Ouch. I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. Well, maybe the guy with the 1400 horsepower offshore race boat. A lot of people would like to hang him out to dry.