Vacation Thoughts

I don't have a lot I want to say about our recently-concluded vacation, but I thought that I'd mention a few things:

• It was really nice to rent a fully-equipped house (or a "self-catering cottage") for the time on Pelee. I'm sure that it's not for everyone, but for a group of our size and ages, it was great having separate bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room with a VCR and a movie library, etc. Plus, for the time we spent there, it was likely cheaper than the cost of two hotel rooms per night.
• There is not a whole lot to do on Pelee Island. Not that there's anything wrong with that. However, the flying, biting insects made outside things a lot less desirable. It wasn't really bad outside where we were staying on the south shore, but when we went to the lighthouse or the east side beach, the bugs were horrible.
• One thing I wanted to do was go to Fish Point (see below), the most southern point in an inhabited land in Canada. This was the day after the lighthouse trip, and nobody else wanted to go on another "nature walk". I packed long pants and a long-sleeve shirt and biked to the beginning of the park. The bugs were a lot less bad than at the lighthouse. I'm not sure if this was due to the long clothing (which, of course, made me hot), insect repellent, the location, or the wind. It seemed more like a normal walk in the woods, which meant that there were still plenty of bugs. By the time I got to the end of the woods and the beginning of the beach "spit" part, I didn't feel like walking what looked like another mile on loose, seagull-infested sand. So, while I made an attempt, I didn't walk to the point of Fish Point.
• When you go to a place like the post office or the store on Pelee, you end up chatting with the person at the counter for a while. I suppose everyone is friendly, and happy to have a customer to talk to!
• I'm not sure I'd want to go back to Pelee Island. At least not at the same time of the year. Too many bugs.
• Even after spending some time in London, I still don't know much about it as I would expect for a city of its size.
• Everyone else sleeps a lot! When on vacation, why sleep?!?
• Kojo Aidoo is my favourite football player!
  

Fish Point, looking North:

Greetings from London

Greetings from London! Every lodging establishment should have high-speed internet access. This is great!

Here are a few photos from the Pelee Island part of the trip. The first one is the family walking up to Lighthouse Point:


Here's everyone but me at the east side public beach:


Since I'm not in the photo above, here I am on the old clunker bicycle that I rented. It rode surprisingly well on the bumpy roads.


To me, the most striking part of Pelee Island is the overabundance of wildlife, especially the 6-legged variety. There were large quantities of these "fish flies". Since the didn't bite, they're really nice compared to the others.


And here's the Tilley Lady with her new Tilley Hat, purchased in Leamington.


P.S. An overabundance (I may clean it up later and add comments) of photos will be available at http://photos.yahoo.ca/poutineq2 (Click on the appropriate trip). They are uploading as I type and may be as I sleep.

Pre-Vacation Vacation Photos

We'll have to see how this compares with a post-vacation vacation photo!


Also, I hope nothing comes flying off the car:

By the way, I'm sad that I'm not able to bring my bike. (I can rent one.) The kids has better ride theirs a lot!

2006 World Lacrosse Championships

The 2006 World Lacrosse Championships are being held July 13-22 in London, Ontario. (So close, and yet so far away.) I wish I could go. Actually, the same deal applies here as to most other events of this type. I'll go if you want to. I mean, I'm not going by myself, but if I can find someone to go with, I might find a way to go.

In what other international sport is there the potential to see a match between Bermuda and the Iroquois Nation?


(For now, I'll fight the temptation to scan and post some old photos.)

The In-Between World of Vikram Lall by M. G. Vassanji

I was always under the impression that Kenya had its "act together" for the most part, at least compared to its region and continent. While such things are certainly relative, it is clear from The In-Between World of Vikram Lall that Kenya hasn't lived up to its promise. The book is a Giller Prize winner, so I had high expectations for it. How well did the book live up to its promise?

On the first page of the novel, we learn that Vikam Lall is presently secluding himself in a nice house on the shores of Lake Ontario. He is intentionally far away from his native Kenya, where he heads his country's "List of Shame", having been accused of bilking millions of dollars from the country's treasury. He claims to be an "ordinary", "moderate" man, and never had any intentions of embarking on the career he found himself on. The book tells Lall's story and how he found himself in his current situation.

He was born in Kenya in 1945, the grandson of a Punjabi who came to East Africa to work on the railroads and then stayed. (Vassanji, the author, was born in Tanzania.) Despite being a third-generation Kenyan, Lall always has a sense of not-belonging. His family, and his ethnic group, form a middle class between the "native" Kenyans and the British colonizers, fully belonging to neither group.

After the brief introduction, the year is 1953, the year of Elizabeth II's coronation, and Vikram is 8. Despite threats to security posed by groups such as the Mau Mau, many believe the country to be British, and to remain that way for a long time. Vikram's family life is explored, especially his relationship with his sister Deepa and their friend Njoroge, who is a member of the Kikuyu tribe.

Flash forward to 1965. Kenya is independent, Deepa, Njoroge, and Vikram are young adults, and the world holds nothing but promise for each of them and their country. As time goes on, we see how life doesn't always go as one would like, and how each deal with the situation that they find themselves in.

Vic finds himself involved higher and higher (or perhaps deeper and deeper) in the Kenyan government, eventually having the ear of none other than President Jomo Kenyatta himself. As the system is corrupt, Lall certainly takes his slice of the pie.

Ngoroge, too, becomes involved in the government. Their paths make for an interesting contrast.

As I mentioned, I had high expectations for this book. It was very interesting to read about life in Kenya, as well as to consider the people of Indian ancestry living there. However, as a personally trait, the main character was mostly lacking passion. That seemed to show up perhaps too well in the writing -- while there was nothing "wrong" with it, it seemed to lack a certain "spark". All-in-all, though, these things are relative. While I can't give it my highest rating, I still recommend it. Four stars out of five.

And, I'm tempted to deduct a star because M. G. Vassanji apparently never learned how to use a quotation mark, but I won't.

Just Two Guys Out Cutting the Grass

A Tale of Two Zooms

My new camera arrived today. (Yay!) Now, people can tell me, "My, what a big camera you have." I can tell I'll be getting stronger neck muscles, just carrying it around with the neck strap.

It will definitely take quite a while for me to learn all the options, but one thing I was interested in was the 12x optical zoom. Here are the first two photos I took with it (shrunken by Hello), which amounted to a zoom test. Both are out my back door, with everything on "automatic" mode, and are of the neighbour kids playing football.

The first one is a tough shot, as the camera has a lot of choices regarding what to focus on:


And here is a shot with everything still on "Auto", but zoomed in all the way:

Cool? Yep.
The neatest thing you ever saw in your life? Probably not.

This is Getting More and More Expensive!

This upcoming vacation is getting more and more expensive! Since we barely have enough space in the car for the family and luggage for a winter weekend at the in-laws, there is no way we'd be able to fit a week+'s worth of junk, games, clothing, food, stuff, children, etc., in our car. So, I ordered a rooftop storage solution: a "Thule 866 Escape II Roof-top Cargo Bag". (Here's a link to the product at amazon.com, though I didn't get it from there.)

I finalized lodging for the remaining nights tonight. We'll see how it goes. It's fun, but, compared to hanging around at home, family vacations always stress me out!

Photo From Recent Band Concert

Sorry about the quality, but here's a photo from a recent band concert.

(Also, more evidence that the times, they are a-changin': Back in my era, the flute was exclusively a female's instrument. The idea of a boy flute player was unthinkable!)

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Apologies to Andy Williams, but it's right now.

One question you sometimes get asked in "icebreaker" situations is, "What's your favourite season?" For much of my lifetime, I wouldn't really know how to answer that question. I liked them all for differing reasons. Then, after I got a motorcycle, I would say, "Summer, because motorcycle riding is better when it's warm."

However, my opinion has changed, and now I feel that it's right now, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. I now say that my favourite time of the year is late Spring to mid-summer, or approximately late May until late July. The reason? Well, there are two. The first is the ability to do things outside without typically worrying about being too cold, and the other is simple: Daylight!

I'm not a huge outdoorsperson, but I might be more of one if it were always this warm and it always stayed light so late. A few nights ago, I was out riding my bike until 8:50, since I had to pick my car up from the shop. (Whenever I go through biking shorts, it's a good season.) Tonight, I went running at 9:03 pm, and it wasn't dark when I got done.

As I said, it's the most wonderful time of the year!

Camera Decision

Well, it's not exactly what I was planning on doing a few days ago, but I ended up placing an order for a Canon Powershot S3 IS. While it is certainly more camera than I've ever had before, I was attracted to the possibilities made available with a 12x image stabilized optical zoom. According to the reviews I saw, this model also has a few more things to offer than some of its direct competitors. It had better. Add in a memory card and a case, and we're talking (in the vernacular) half a gee. (What's that these days? About 4.9 metres per second squared, right?)

I'm concerned that the larger size (and increased complexity) will make me less likely to carry it around and quickly take snapshots of the things that I'd like to. At the very least, it will give me the new hobby of figuring it out. I'm sure that there's a Digital Photography for the Very Stupid book out there. I should probably pick up a copy.

And, should I ever happen to find myself standing on the sideline of "mid-major" sporting events, even if I still won't look like I belong there, at least I'll be able to take some better photos.