Karine Polwart - I'm Gonna Do It All

I have recently been lucky enough to be introduced to the incredible songs of Scotland's Karine Polwart, and felt it was my duty to share her. HW

Captain Grandad

We've been a bit quiet...that's because we've been hanging out with my Dad - otherwise known as Captain Grandad. He's a globe-trotting, ocean-going, truth-seeking, star-gazing, furiously scribbling, deep-thinking, impassioned-discussioning, raucous-laughing kind of guy, and we only get to see him a few times a year.


He is a Sprout Magnet. He has Grand Tales of Epic Adventures, and has sailed to many far away lands, and lived among the people of those lands....adopting some of their customs, bringing home strange artifacts and even stranger, thrilling tales....


Plus, he has a Way Cool Boat, which he built. If you are new here, allow me to introduce you to The Good Ship Taio, home to Captain Grandad and his transcendental better-half, the soulful Carol.


Here is the Way Cool Good Ship Taio, under sail.


Taio uses satellites to beam us images of wildlife and assorted amazing stuff, like this pack of dolphins . . . herd of dolphins . . . bevy of dolphins . . . bunch of multiple freaking dolphins . . . POD of dolphins, thank you.


Add these sorts of things together, and throw in a Big, Nautical Beard...


...and there's just no misinterpreting those shining Grandsonly eyes. Methinks the Sea Runs in the Little One's Blood, too.

Sea Fever

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
All I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the seagulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

John Masefield

HW

Birds & Bugs

Nests have been dropping out of trees like strange fibrous fruits. Narrowly avoided careening head first into a loudly humming, low hanging wasps' nest the other day.

We suspect this one was built by a . . . bird . . .

It's really, really, really small . . . should have photographed it with a ruler, really. A pygmy sparrow?


The Thing lately, has been numerous jars of Captive Bugs. We catch them, interrogate them, and release them. Although Baby Man did execute one - suddenly - while supposedly releasing it, so it's a dangerous time.




This astonishing thing appeared out of nowhere. We immediately wrested it from its natural habitat (the outdoor art table) and stripped it of its civil liberties.


The interrogation did not go well. We were convinced it must be planning to morph into some sort of Moth, but it would not confess. So we decided it was an Undiscovered Species! We're doing the paperwork now. Hell, maybe we'll patent its genes!

HW

Portrait of Scoob with Stick Insect

Cavorting with a friendly Northern Walking Stick (Diapheromera femorata) on a sunny summer day...


Then she let it go..."Free and In the Wild!"

HW

The Pickering Green Festival (Upcoming Event!)

Thanks to Island Sarah, our favourite environmental activist, for telling us about The Pickering Green Festival.

The Festival is drumming up awareness of the beautiful and important green spaces surrounding the heinous suburban sprawl in Durham Region. Get out of The Hive and hang out with your Great Wild Mother in places like Greenwood, The Heber Down Conservation Area, and the Lynde Shores Marsh.


Island Sarah was inspired to her lifelong mission of Fighting The Power by the farmers who waged the original battle against the Pickering airport. At the Pickering Festival, the film made to document this struggle, The Last Stand, will be shown. Why is this relevant now? Well, the damned airport is always looming, and another generation of tenant farmers, conservationists and Thinking Citizens are fighting the good fight right now.

Get your facts and the corporate bullshit from: The Greater Toronto Airport Authority, and Transport Canada - Airport Zoning Regulations here.

HW

Scugog Shores Historical Museum

Tootled off to lovely, picturesque Port Perry for a look at the Scugog Shores Historical Museum, which collects artifacts - and maintains an extensive archive - of early pioneers who settled the area, and the Native Canadians in whose midst they lived.


Before refrigeration, it was just about impossible for one family to handle the amount of meat obtained from a single slaughtered animal.

For this reason, our excellent and enthusiastic guide (we were the only visitors, so we had his undivided attention) informed us, the "Beef Ring" was formed.

The family who owned the bovine being sacrificed would receive the choicest cuts, and the rest would be divided up among the rest of the villagers. Slaughters were rotated through the families, and everyone always had meat.

He also told us the descendants of most of the families represented in the Beef Ring still live in the area.

In the Blacksmithery, our guide demonstrated the mechanical bellows. A local Blacksmith, equipped with a Blacksmithing Wyfe, come to the museum regularly, and they do their metal melting thing for the delight of visitors.


Observe a Spork, they made.


A lovely, spare chapel was full of light and peaceful..






Favourite thing in the chapel - the "Happy Thought" stove.


The original graveyard has been discombobulated, but they tried to save most of the stones. The folks on the stones are accounted for in the Archives.


The leather workers made saddles, harnesses and shoes....




At the Woodwrights', as everywhere else, the simplicity and ingenuity of the tools were just fascinating.

The sheer brilliance of the problem-solving going on is very dendrite-stimulating.

When civilization collapses, no one will know how to recreate a wireless network, or even, dare I suggest it, a light bulb....(is that harsh? can you make a light bulb? I feel a project coming on!) but folks who have contemplated the mechanical wonders in places like this will be in great demand.




Nowhere was Sheer Mechanical Ingenuity more apparent than in the Print Shop. Again, our wonderful guide gave us a very in-depth Grand Tour.




The furnished home at the museum represents a wealthy villager, and is stuffed full of gorgeous antique toys...




This is the bedroom beside the front door, given over to the infirm, the dying, or the heavily pregnant...




Baby Man disliked the decorative taxidermy - a strange melange of birds and hedgehogs...




Of course these pioneers lived amongst, and traded with, the Native Canadians in the area...


This reconstruction of a WigWam was done in an entirely authentic manner, using local materials...the kids were fascinated with the furs lining the seating area, identifying them - black bear, moose, rabbit, deer.....


The Native Canadian area showcased a Sacred Plant garden, outside the pioneer house, there was a Medicinal & Cookery Herb garden...lovely!




A large tree stump had been carved into a Native Canadian "Whistling Tree." We were astounded to realize we actually know the artist!

A great trip, well worth a visit.

HW

The Beagle Project: Building the Replica H.M.S. Beagle

HMS Beagle on the Strait of Magellan, South America, originally published in an 1890 edition of Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle.

Ahoy, Beagleniks!

Those inspired minds over at the Beagle Project have a brand new shiny blog.

Sure, they're building a replica of the H.M.S. Beagle in time for the 2009 celebrations of Darwin's 200th birthday, and will be sailing around the world in Darwin's wake, after loading the Beagle with scientists and sailors, but they somehow also find the time to write a wicked blog.

Readers and Writers Blog reviewed them thusly:

"...the blog is extremely well written. Now believers in creationism and intelligent design, take note: Our interest in the blog is its writing and history, but be warned that the Beagle bloggers do gore your oxen....much of the rest of the blog also is written with a sense of humour, but with a serious devotion to Darwin and the tall ship replica that will celebrate him and his groundbreaking science."

Read the entire article here.

Their old blog remains as an archive.

HW

In My Mind and On My Car (II)

Thanks to the Beagle Project for the plug for Evolved Homeschoolers today!



It's not easy to find other homeschoolers/unschoolers who don't have a religious agenda, and this is one resource that helps us find each other.

Here's another, Penny's (over at Yellow House) Teach Evolution web ring. The rings also tend to attract the science-minded, which is an extra bonus.

In My Mind (I) here.

HW