The wonderful world of meat

My focus has been shifting these days. I feel a bit like a compass, trying to find true north when it keeps moving, shifting on me.

meatamerica.com

My compass has been pointing more towards meat these days. Butchering to be precise. Now when I say butchering, I don’t mean just taking a side of meat and turning it into something tasty, I mean going from the living animal to the plate. Maybe not all at once, but you know what I mean.

Nowadays I suspect when most people hear butcher they think of the man behind the counter, ready to prepare serve you up some tasty steaks. That’s all I had in mind as well, until I got to talking with some folks about my recent experiences helping a farmer slaughter his pigs and sheep.

Tiramisou and singing

The evening came to a close with a rich Italian voice singing folk songs, poetry and bed-time stories as the night deepened and the clouds let a few stars through.

The woman singing is Ehougennia (I know I spelled it wrong, but that’s how it sounds) and she’s Italian.

Crystal met her on the side of the ulti field, Ehougennia and Crystal seeming to see a similar energy in each other.

Their chat turned into a visit to Crystal’s shop which turned into an invitation to our house for dinner, with Ehougennia making tiramisou.

After dessert we sat on the porch and watched the sky. Ehougennia asked if we would mind if she sang and of course we said, “Please.”

She has a rich, voice that isn’t trained but practiced and confident. The first song she sang was was a traditional song about the partisans in Italy during the Second World War. It was moving and powerful and I felt a lump in my throat form.

What a gift of an evening.

History imported

Way back in the mists of time (2004) I started a blog on a site called LiveJournal. While exploring the options behind this blog I discovered an option to import those posts from LiveJournal to this blog.

If you look through my archive you’ll see some serious history from the life of Chris. Happy perusing.

I'm sorry . . .

But I’ve added another blog. It was prompted by strawberries and I felt I needed a different outlet for my photos. At least some of them.

Don’t worry, I’ll provide a link to the right that will show you when I’ve posted something new. I’m hoping the new blog will spur on my photography, which has been a little stagnant of late.

Endings

Oh Livejournal. We’ve had a good time together. Remember back in 2004? When I started this blog to keep the ex from wasting time on her computer? Remember all those egg nog counts? That Halifax run . . . those were the days, eh?

Well. I’m afraid it’s time to move on. There’s somebody new. Yeah. Facebook.

I know Facebook doesn’t have the journalizing qualities you do, but without all that feedback and without the posts from my other friends, it just isn’t worth it.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I may even go back to Email.

Look, let’s just say “See you later,” OK?

We’ll have coffee.

When? Later.

I’ll call you.

A picture is worth a thousand words

and lately I don’t feel like typing them.

So go to my hiking set on flickr and you’ll see the fun. The latest trip, up to the McKean Lakes, starts with the eighth photo in.

story idea

This is for the journalists in the Lower Mainland.

A buddy of mine was asking about coverage on a current IWA strike. He hasn’t seen anything on it and I haven’t found much on it either, just stuff related to the United Steelworkers.

Anyway, my buddy said the strike is starving pulp mills of their raw material as tug boat operators have stopped working. I’m not sure if it’s part of the strike or not.

It’s not a sexy story but could be one that hasn’t been covered much yet.

Catcam!

Go to my flickr website for all the action thanks to a brilliant man in Germany.

Perks

Forest fires in the B.C. Interior are unavoidable in the summers. Lightening storms leave hot spots that can fester for days until hot winds give them the oxygen they need to cause trouble.

Four years ago the woods were ablaze and several communities were threatened as fires, feeding on a dense, dry forest floor and fanned by hot winds, raged out of control.

This summer has been better, though conditions are ripe for another blaze. On Friday the first one flared up close to Nelson.

The blaze is about 10km from town and two ridges make it incredibly unlikely it’ll get close to the city.

It’s actually perfect. There’s excitement with the fire, but the winds and terrain have taken the fire away from people’s homes.

At first I shot a photo from a nearby forest road, but while I did that Nelson looked into us getting on a plane for a closer look.

Long story short, Nelson, Crystal and I got on a wee plane to check it out.

I knew I was going but Crystal got the surprise when we arrived at the airport.

Needless to say, she was excited.

The pilot told me I’d get better pictures if we took my door off so we did the trip without a door.

I wasn’t quite in the pilot’s lap, but I was close.

Flying up some 8,000 feet above the ground with nothing beside you but the wind is something to be experienced.

The pilot asked me how it felt. “I’ve never done it,” he said. “I’m afraid of heights.”

The pictures we got were interesting but the experience made it all the better.

The Black Godfather

For awhile now, Crystal and I had been after each other to watch a movie. I was trying to convince her to watch the Godfather and she wanted me to see the Black Stallion.

We each resisted the other’s cajollings (Chris: Black Stallion will be boooorrrring. Crystal: The Godfather sounds booorrrring) until finally we made a pact. I’ll watch Black Stallion if she’ll watch the Godfather.

With that accord we watched Black Stallion and I was impressed with the film. I expected some psuedo-girly boy and his horse story and it was that but much more interesting. I was also surprised to learn Francis Ford Coppola directed the movie.

With my end of the bargain fulfilled, we turned to the Godfather and finally saw it last night. Crystal enjoyed it and at the end, she was surprised to learn Francis Ford Coppola directed the movie, a tidbit I was ignorant of.

We both found it funny that we resisted movies by the same director who has a rather impressive record when it comes to movies.

I don’t know if you find this amusing and if not, I’m sorry I led you on this painful monologue.

In other news, I received my GST cheque today and picked up some slightly frivolous toys including: a compass, complete with mirror and adjustable declination; an aluminum water bottle (better than plastic which some think adds estrogen to your water); and a little leather jacket that goes over small coil-bound notebooks. This last item is good for keeping in the back pocket and writing down story ideas as they’re suggested to me from people on the street, as happened today.

Alright. It’s 1:34 p.m. and I haven’t written a thing yet. I’m mostly thinking of the next hike and how I’ll make it longer as I try to pinpoint our location on the map.