A few images from Granville Island

These seagulls were fun to watch.




We'll soon be seeing lots of these types of tables and chairs in Paris.



I was interested to see this little guitar like instrument.



I think this would be peaceful to look at in a garden.



This dog was in a garden shop and I almost bought it since it looks very much like my old beloved Rusty. Best kind of dog for me these days I think!

Itty Bitty Book Review: Divisadero

"Divisadero" by Michael Ondaatje

Hal Wake recently introduced Ondaatje at a reading and asked him what the book meant since he had been writing it for five years. Ondaatje replied it would take a couple of years before he knew what it meant. I hope he tells his readers when he figures it out.

Even though Aritha Van Herk gave it a long laudatory review in the Globe and Mail, I really don't think it adds up to a novel. I do agree that the writing is quite wonderful as usual. I would say it is half a novel and a novella loosely and rather artificially connected. Is this unity or even honest to connect two completely different stories by having a main character in the first doing research on the writer who is a main character in the second part and then launching into a completely different story? He does have the researcher have an affair with someone who knew the writer whose story is being told but really....how contrived.

I think rather than creating a new literary form, the lowdown is that his publisher told him to present what he had been fiddling with in the last five years and this is it. Or maybe, like Ondaatje, it will take me a couple of years to figure out what it means.

It seems Van Herk is brought out to give these positive reviews to literary icons whose current work is questionable. I could be wrong...I've only read a few of her reviews but haven't liked them. She had such promise with her first (and really only success) novel called "Tentpeg"...worth a read if you haven't read it. She won $50,000 for that in the first novel prize and spent it on a Porche with a vanity licence plate "First Novel". I thought it was a confident gesture at the time and was amused by it. No thinking she better live on that money until she had another success.

Having fun with the wii...

The sports games are quite fun on this new age Nintendo. Richard can't quite believe I've never played a video game except for pong. We're learning the ones that come with the iPod...will no doubt come in handy to pass the time on our trans-Atlantic flight. I've got comedy and audio books on the iPod as well so lots of diversion. And I have one last Dan Brown to read. Literary quality isn't much but they are good page turners.

Richard instructing Jim on the wii.

A wii bit of golf...

Richard had us playing golf on the Wii Nintendo...it's quite cool and I don't have to worry about putting out my back!

An early rise today as I volunteered to take him and Aaron to the airport leaving here at 5:30 am. Jim rolled over and went back to sleep...that's fair as he's been working like a dog lately.

They're off to San Francisco to celebrate Christian's 30th birthday. He's the first to turn 30. I can't quite believe Richard is turning 30...it seemed just like yesterday we turned 30 ourselves. I think the plan is for the group to go camping at Big Sur. Hope they get good weather.

Things are brightening up in Vancouver although not quite as good a day as they forecast. Not raining at the moment at least.

Along Beach Drive

Driving home from town along the ocean the other day I took these photos.



Kite surfing...the first time we saw this was in France so always reminds me of the south of France. The people doing it in France are very adept and do summersaults in the air while doing this.




I never tire of seeing these wonderful displays of camus.




It's a wonder this pole stood up with all the wind we had this year.

Brave New World

Jim was talking with Laura Huxley this morning (95 years old now and sharp as a tack) about something to do with the letters and she mentioned that Universal will be making a movie of Brave New World this year or next and has signed Di Caprio as the lead. We imagine that will probably be the role of John "The Savage" rather than Martin. John is more of a leading man's role. Will be interesting to see and Jim may make a few more dollars in royalties for his Huxley stuff if it creates renewed interest. The other film adaptations have been pretty weak and it deserves a good one.

Itty Bitty Book Review: One Good Turn

"One Good Turn (A Jolly Murder Mystery)" by Kate Atkinson

This is Atkinson's second foray into the murder mystery realm...very much tongue in cheek I think. I quite liked her first novel "Behind the Scenes at the Museum"(not a mystery) which was quite funny and a little strange. I tried "Emotionally Weird" but found it a little too weird for my taste. One Good Turn is quite amusing (first half better than the second) but if you're looking for a mystery that's quite well written and has some substance give it a try.

Children's Art

My first birdie!

I got a birdie in golf today...my first ever! Did I mention my "sandy par" in Palm Springs? That's when you go into a sand trap and still manage to get a par. Well...we golfers are pleased with small things. Lots of bad shots in between the good. I only finished one painting in Palm Springs but did begin a few others. Something about all that heat that makes one mainly want to lounge by the pool. Pretty chilly today on the golf course.



"Cactus Garden"

11 x 14 acrylic on canvas

Some other views of war....

I had a very interesting email from my cousin, John. I think it's always important to keep the very unpleasant realities of war in mind. A two day drunk seems like a pretty reasonable response to fighting in the trenches...I'm sorry for the poor sods on both sides:

"I'm back to reading history again, but did manage a short novel while doing
so, "Generals Die in Bed" by Charles Harrison. Never heard of the book or the
author but he was with the Canadian army in the first world war and the
writing is very real, very graphic. It was an international best seller in
the late 20's except in Canada because of all the negative things he says
about Canadian soldiers including the shooting and killing of unarmed
Germans during a battle, looting Arras of all its booze and then having a
two day drunk which only ended when the Germans started shelling the town.
The MP's sent in to stop the melee simply joined in.

Interesting how some myths about the war are being questioned again. There
was a piece in the Globe about how the great battle of Vimy was really
unimportant and rates at most a page in the history books of the war and
some make no mention of it at all. There was also a book some time ago,
called "Meeting of Generals", about the Canadians on D Day having orders to
take no prisoners and they didn't causing the Germans to retaliate with
their own execution of prisoners."

Generals Die in Bed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Red Wine Haiku Review

This is a fun site...reviews of red wine in haiku format.
Here's an example:

LA Cetto Petite Sirah (Baja, Mexico) 1999

First a big hello
Then a very quick goodbye
Like it wasn’t there

* Haiku are 3 line poems with this syllable count:
5
7
5


The Red Wine Haiku Review

Children's Art

Introducing Ian and Holly

We had a wonderful meal at Mary's last night...so nice to see kate and Jean and of course, the real stars of the show, Ian and Holly! Our first time meeting Holly...she's just lovely. She was a rescue dog from Arkansas.

World War II Battlefields

My friends are now touring the World War II battlefields and visiting Dieppe. Here are a couple poems written by completely unknown people.



D-Day Assault
Artist: Orville Fisher


D-Day poem by Iwan Willis

Adrenalin rushing, waves crashing
Waist high water, struggling to the shore
Drowning people shrieking for help
Frozen soldiers stranded on the beach
Scared young warriors soaking from the sea
Deadly grey shapes advancing on the troops.


This was my Brother by Mona Gould

This was my brother
At Dieppe,
Quietly a hero
Who gave his life
Like a gift,
Withholding nothing.

His Youth..his love..
His enjoyment of being alive..
His future, like a book
With half the pages still uncut.

This was my brother
At Dieppe.
The one who built me a doll house
When I was seven.
Complete to the last small picture frame.
Nothing forgotten.

He was awfully good at fixing things,
At stepping into the breach when he was needed.

That's what he did at Dieppe;
He was needed.
And even death must have been a little shamed
At his eagerness

World War I Battlefields

Over the next few days my friends will be touring the WW I Battlefields. Here are a couple of poems by well known World War I poets.



Does it Matter? by Siegfried Sassoon

Does it matter?—losing your legs?...
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When the others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.

Does it matter ?—losing your sight?...
There's such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.

Do they matter?—those dreams from the pit?...
You can drink and forget and be glad,
And people won't say that you're mad;
For they'll know you've fought for your country
And no one will worry a bit.


Soldier's Dream by Wilfred Owen

I dreamed kind Jesus fouled the big-gun gears;
And caused a permanent stoppage in all bolts;
And buckled with a smile Mausers and Colts;
And rusted every bayonet with His tears.

And there were no more bombs, of ours or Theirs,
Not even an old flint-lock, not even a pikel.
But God was vexed, and gave all power to Michael;
And when I woke he'd seen to our repairs.

Wilfred Owen

Ti-Loup

We had a drink with Monique yesterday afternoon and what a spread of appies...wow! No dinner necessary...

Here are some photos and some little movies.






Ti-loup eats out of hand




Ti-loup gives a kiss




Ti-loup demonstrates his jumping skills

90th Anniversary Celebrations at Vimy

Today's blog posting is to honour everyone involved in the battle at Vimy Ridge.

Private Leo Kelly survived the battle and wrote a letter to his family about his experiences. Thank you to the Reid family in Brampton, Ontario for sharing their grandfather's letter.

Vimy Letter


Stuart Larner wrote this in honour of his grandfather who fell at Vimy. It was inspired by the practice of sending the bullets back from the front at the battle of the Somme. His grandfather was one of the fallen there.

Vimy - A poem by Stuart Larner

Grandfather’s bullet
Inside the small gift box
A twisted nail of lead,
A claw shed from Vimy Ridge.
The field surgeon’s letter hoped
That to extract and send it home
Might undo Time and
Close things whole again.
Gran kept this final link.
His body, laid in honoured line,
Now part of the earth they’d won.
The bullet, laid on cotton wool,
A dormant seed.

Happy Easter!

Great Easter display at the Side Street Studio...over 200 local artists' work here.

Side Street Studio - Victoria BC Fine Art, Pottery, Woodwork, Vancouver Island

And more reading suggestions...

I see Ondaatje has a new book coming out April 17...I've already put my hold on the 12 copies ordered for our Victoria library system. I'm second in line so should get a nice brand new copy to read. I love it when that happens!

Amazon.ca: Divisadero: Books: Michael Ondaatje

BBC - Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime

For all you Ian McEwan fans (and you should become one if you're not since he is the best writer in Britain today) he has a brand new novel out called "On Chesil Beach" which is currently being read on BBC's Book at Bedtime. We always prefer to start these a little late so we have a few to listen to at a time since the daily episodes are only 15 minutes. It will probably be available for about a month to read in archived form.

Chesil Beach is in Dorset and apparently the beach has these very famous "shingle" stones. In an interview McEwan mentioned he had picked up a handful of them to take home for inspiration for his novel. Now he finds out that there is a 2000 pds fine for removing even one stone!

For newbies to McEwan, try "Saturday," "Atonement", and "Enduring Love". And for my lucky friends (Kerry, Roger, Neil, Donna) who are now winging their way to a 10 day tour of the battlefields of France and the rededication of the Vimy Memorial, when you get back you must read "Atonement" for one of the most wonderful passages of writing ever written about anything...it happens to be on the retreat to Dunkirk.

And for everyone else who wants a feel for the wonderful Vimy Memorial and can't be there April 9, read Jane Urquhart's "The Stone Diaries".

BBC - Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime

Pansies

These were the same pansies I took a photo of in mid-January when they seemed to be destroyed by the snow...unbelievable that they just came back like this all on their own!

Bookbags

More bookbags for my collection...

Back Home!

We had a pretty fast trip back and got through Seattle and the border without too much delay. The West Coast welcomed us with snow, rain, sleet, and wind just outside Seattle for a while! However, I see we brought home the good weather and we woke to a sunny (albeit rather cool for us) day.

Good thing the weather was good as Shaw had not reconnected our cable/internet and there were some problems getting it set up again. Jim went out to his car to connect the battery and the latch snapped so he couldn't open the hood. The towing guy fixed it temporarily so at least he can drive.

Would you believe we were at the ferry terminal at 1:45 and we missed the 3pm sailing by three cars! You can imagine how much we felt like waiting for the 5pm at the end of a long trip.

Here's the ferry leaving without us...

Granzella's Restaurant and Deli

Granzella's Restaurant and Deli
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

We really lucked into being close to this place on our first night on the road. It's in William's just a bit north of Sacremento. We had a super meal and they sell loads of interesting stuff including 200 beers from around the world. We were tempted to buy selection but we don't like taking alcohol across the border...things always go smoother when you don't.

Another long drive yesterday but we were upgraded to a two room suite in Jantzen Beach, Portland. Last year we made record time getting home...hope things go as well this year.

Granzella's Restaurant and Deli

Granzella's Restaurant and Deli
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Granzella's Restaurant and Deli

Granzella's Restaurant and Deli
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Granzella's Restaurant and Deli

Granzella's Restaurant and Deli
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Hummers

Hummers
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Hummers

Hummers
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Finally caught our hummingbirds on the patio!

Goodbye Palm Springs!

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

We leave tomorrow and the two months have gone by very fast...hard to believe it's been that long!

We'll be packing up today and sticking around the pool. We had a super lunch at Spencer's at the Mountain yesterday....a fabulous ribeye steak encrusted with blue cheese and wonderful salad and sorbet. A first class restaurant. We wish we had discovered it earlier. As always around here people watching is great. There were some old show business dears performing in the local Palm Springs Follies beside us and it was quite amusing to overhear some of the showbiz memories.

Goodbye blue skies, nice weather, no rain...
Welcome our home the wet coast...

Palm Desert Civic Park

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Yeah....I guess "No Swimming" and
"No Fishing" are good ideas.

Palm Desert Civic Park

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

I'm not quite sure what this black swan is saying to the duck while his/her partner is sleeping...

Palm Desert Civic Park

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Palm Desert Civic Park

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

A wonderful facility...walking trails and recreational facilities of all kinds.

Palm Desert Art

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

This one is called "The Dreamer"...I love it!

Palm Desert Art

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

This artwork is called "Desert Toad".

Palm Desert Art

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Palm Desert Art

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Palm Desert Art

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Palm Desert has some great civic art. I really like this one called "Recycle Binney Baja Palapa". This project if part of the Baja-themed garden along Fred Waring Drive that starts with sample plantings in the highlands, then proceeds to the desert, and ends at the coastal region. More than 100 Palm Desert residents particpated in a workshop directed by the artists to create some of the mosaics that embellish the column.

What a great idea for community art!

For Ingo

We woke today to the unhappy news from Germany that Ingo had lost his battle with cancer. He was a lovely young man who was just about to begin his career in teaching when his cancer returned a few months ago. We will always have a happy memory of Ingo singing joyfully at the Huxley conference in Riga. Our hearts go out to our friends, Bernfried and Ellen, and Ingo's brother, Henning, at this very painful time. Ingo is now at peace and we hope you will find your own peace.

A crow...yikes!

Palm Desert art 005
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

We have been enjoying the lovely songbirds and hadn't seen or heard a crow until the other day when we were far from our usual stamping grounds. Our birds really just chirp...the birds around here really sing...except the crow that made the usual racquet.

I loved this mailbox!

Palm Desert art 006
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Parking...

Palm Desert art 007
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Jim pulled into this space but then decided to not stay...actually was a day when he was in town.

Rain in the desert!

Rain in the desert!
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Quite an amazing wind and rain storm today...short lived but they did get a decent amount of rain which everyone will be grateful for. It was the first time we have used our windshield wipers in two months. Back to great weather tomorrow so will be enjoying our golf game.

Palm Springs Art Museum - glass

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Palm Springs Art Museum - glass

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

People in glass houses...

Palm Springs Art Museum - glass

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Palm Springs Art Museum - glass

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Palm Springs Art Museum - glass

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Palm Springs Art Museum - glass

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

There is a new section of the gallery devoted to glass works of art...very impressive.

Fountain in our patio

spritzer 007
Originally uploaded by jsexton.

We've really been enjoying this fountain and will miss the sound of falling water. I think we may have to get one for home. We've especially enjoyed seeing all the hummingbirds drinking from it. I have tried to get a photo of that but haven't managed it yet. There are an amazing number of hummingbirds around our place although people here say there are fewer this year because fewer blossoms because of the freeze in January.

I bought a little book on hummingbirds that states that "the experts say they can't fly, but they do, they can sing, but they try, they can't perch, but they do. It appears they confound the experts by defying the laws of gravity and the laws of nature.

They can't smell and are attracted to the flowers stricly by colour...red being their favouite. On an average day the hungry hummer will go smorgasbording on about 1500 flowers...wow!

Miniatures- Palm Springs Art Museum

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

Backstage at the circus...isn't this wonderful! Now, wouldn't a circus dollhouse have been a fun thing to have.

Miniatures- Palm Springs Art Museum

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Originally uploaded by jsexton.

This is a view from the White House...forget what.