June 4, 2013
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The List

I’m planning a little solo road trip. I’ve done a number of these over the years, from an epic drive to the Sierra’s in California for a button accordion camp (with some fishin’ with a friend along the way) to various camping and fly fishing adventures.  This one is going to be to the Upper Michigan Peninsula, a place of many fine trout streams and the kind of rugged country I really enjoy.

The other day I dusted off the boxes containing my various pieces of camping equipment, sitting as I have left them since the last outing of this kind. I was actually kind of surprised at how organized everything was. Still a list was in order. I can’t go on a camping trip without a list. Otherwise, I’ll leave behind my fly rods or my waders or my tent or some other completely obvious item I need to pack.

So here’s the latest version of my camping checklist:

  • money
  • passport
  • clothes (more than I think I’ll need, layers)
  • back-up shoes/boots
  • tent
  • spare tent pegs
  • sleeping bag
  • ground sheet
  • camping mattress
  • fly rods
  • fly reels
  • fishing vest (self-contained, everything I need on the water including enough trout flies for an army of fly fisherpeople)
  • waders
  • wading boots
  • shaving kit (includes toothbrush, toothpaste, first aid stuff, Q-tips, eyeglass cleaning cloths, tissues)
  • folding camp chair
  • towels
  • oil can banjo (+chromatic tuner and some new music to learn)
  • gazateer (the one with the good detail maps that show all the trout streams)
  • camera
  • cord for a clothes line
  • hatchet
  • a good book or two
  • Coleman Stove + fuel
  • portable bbq + small bag of charcoal
  • big water jug
  • toilet paper
  • paper towels
  • flashlights and lantern (now I use an LED lantern…I’ll never mess with a mantle again)
  • cooler
  • cook set including cast iron pan, plastic cutting sheet
  • plates, bowls, cutlery and assorted other portable kitchen stuff
  • camp soap
  • matches
  • a couple spices

Am I missing anything? I’ll more or less figure out the food I’ll need and shop on the UP, but that’s another list.

June 2, 2013
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Door Stop

Ellie Mae likes to sleep by the front door, and she’s a seriously sound sleeper. The other night I came home late after playing Go at a friend’s place but couldn’t get in the front door because I couldn’t wake up Ellie Mae, who was snoring up a storm. I had to come in through the side door.

Sleeper

Sleeper

June 1, 2013
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There’s a polar bear in our kitchen

Tuffy P has been at it again. I went out to play Go last night and came home to some new mosaic in the kitchen…the polar bear comes from a place called Nice Old Stuff in Jarvis Ontario.

Kitchen Bear

Kitchen Bear

 

Tuffy also came home with a horse’s head the other day….

Our back door

Our back door

And, as if that weren’t enough, there is now a squirrel in the canoe garden….

There's a squirrel in the canoe

There’s a squirrel in the canoe

 

 

June 1, 2013
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Pipes

Let’s take a little trip off the beaten path this morning with some pipe music. The first video is called

100 Каба гайди, Сос ма караш, майчинко, 100 Kaba Gaidi


For those of you interested in a little more information,
Орк. 100 Каба гайди,
Сюита:
“Сос ма караш, майчинко”,
“Радо, мари Радо”,
“Ой момиченце, червен трендафил”,
“Ситнежи”
Bulgarian Folklore.
Rhodope Region.

And now,

Kostadin Atanasov & Dafo Trendafilov – kaba gaidaKostadin Atanasov and His teacher Dafo Trandafilov-the masters of kaba gaida

Rhodope Bagpipe Competition, Gela 2011

So often, we’re presented with music that all has the same old instrumentation, guitars, bass, drums, as it that’s the start and finish of it all. Ho hum. As Sun Ra once said, there are worlds they have not told you of. Even within the bagpipe universe, there is quite a spectrum of musical possibility. I hope you enjoyed this little taste today.

May 31, 2013
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Woodchopper’s Ball

Woodchopper's Ball

Woodchopper’s Ball

This morning we launched the woodchopper whirligig into the skies above 27th Street.

Now let’s swing with Woody Herman with Bill Chase, performing The Woodchopper’s Ball. This tune was one of my father’s favourites. His friend Norm used to come over the house and they’d drink mediocre brandy and listen to jazz real loud and tell each other the old stories all over again.

May 30, 2013
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The Cincinnati Kid

We watched The Cincinnati Kid the other night, the 1965 flick directed by Norman Jewison and starring Steve McQueen. I’ve never been a big Steve McQueen fan but I really liked this poker movie. This was made back when people played stud poker as opposed to whatever that Texas Holdem game is that’s so popular today. In this film they played 5 card stud. I remember as a kid that my dad liked to play 7 card stud or straight 7 as he sometimes called it. I’m not a poker player. I like games but I didn’t inherit the gambling gene from my father. I don’t enjoy casinos or the horse races or any of that. I did like this movie though.

Steve McQueen played the Kid. The Kid wanted to be The Man but he wasn’t. The Man was Edward G. Robinson. The Kid was good and The Man appeared to be ripe for the taking, but he wasn’t The Man for nothing. Karl Malden played The Shooter. I think that was because he was a straight shooter. That’s why they wanted him to be the dealer, because they could trust him. He was being squeezed by Rip Torn though, who wanted to see The Kid take down The Man, squeezed into doing a little cheating to help out The Kid. The Kid wanted none of that. He wanted to take down The Man fair and square. Ann-Margret played Melba, who was married to Shooter but who wanted to jump in the sack with The Kid. Tuesday Weld played Christian, who was with The Kid, but who knows why, since he didn’t treat her very well. The cast was filled out by the likes of Joan Blondel and Cab Calloway.

I enjoyed McQueen’s understated performance and also the quirky moodiness of the film. It’s your basic poker film, done up just right with a fine cast and a decent script.