Ernest Blair Experiment

To my regular readers, the reason for the hiatus is that two months ago, I had a heart attack, followed by open heart surgery at the Halifax Infirmary.

It was quite a weekend because Heather, my wife, also went to the hospital for a pacemaker.

The good news is that these events were preemptive, as we went together to Emergency at the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow in early September.

After two months in the Infirmary. I have a detailed understanding of hospital routines, staffing levels, as well as the DOs and DO NOTs of hospital life. In this blog, I will focus on a few lessons we have learned as well as some of the sustaining factors.

Lesson1.

In traditional Western marriages, day-to-day tasks are usually split between husband and wife. For example, financial matters may be the purview of the husband. Not a good idea, both partners need to be equally informed about all aspects of living.

Lesson 2.

In a marriage, each partner may select their own technology of choice. My life is iPad and emails. Heather’s life is mobile phones. It is critical in a crisis that both partners understand the common technology.

Lesson 3.

The community network is vital. Foremost is the contribution from family. In our absence, they organized a rental condo in Halifax where Heather can live, while I was in the hospital for two months. The other community can extend from neighbours to work colleagues from the last forty years. Or even old-school friends from England. In our communications, we can share news, and the local Geography, including photographs. My photos are simple; from the view of Halifax Citadel to the interior of my room.

Back to the title of my blog, ‘Swallows and Thrushes’. This goes back to a book by Arthur Ransome “Swallows and Amazons“. I read this as a child.

In my case, Swallows refers to the ‘Swallow Test’ taken to evaluate your throat muscles for food consumption. Thrush refers to a throat infection that can impact your digestion ability.

For most of my hospital stay, food was delivered through feeding tubes. This severely restricted my mobility.

To end on a positive note, my physiotherapist, Pascal loaned me a book that he had enjoyed — Graham Hancock’s “Magicians of the Gods“.

It is a long read, full of facts and hypotheses about a previous civilization, about 9600 years ago, before a comet destroyed the earth’s climate and civilization.

POSTSCRIPT

I was released to join Heather at the Halifax condo on November 14th. This blog was delayed because of technical difficulties encountered by Edward with WordPress on his Chromebook in Florida. As we explore the geography of the Halifax waterfront, I hope to return to regular weekly blogs

The other book, I would recommend, is “Paddling Pathways“, a collection of essays on the significance of paddling by canoe, in the northern rivers of Canada. This is very timely since, in September, we purchased a new canoe. It is now sitting in Patrick’s garage in Peterborough.

To everyone who has emailed me these last two months … Heartfelt thanks!

From the BC Knowledge Network, I received the link to ‘Heartbeat – still going strong’.

A classic British comedy series, it is about the lives of the Aidensfield and Ashfordly townsfolk.

This week, I have been investigating real estate in Haida Gwaii. We lived there in 2015.

My first discovery was that the village of Queen Charlotte has been renamed; it’s Haida name is Daajing Giids.

The second discovery was that of my blogs from that time, on the GoGeomatics website.

1. Local Action and Geomatics: the Gowgaia Institute on Haida Gwaii. This includes an interview with John Broadhead.
2. Landscape and language: Haida Gwaii.

It feels like it is time for a return visit to the West coast. Both blogs appear relevant today. I wonder what has happened at the Gowgaia Institute.

On the reading front, I have two new books. In New Glasgow, I picked up Back to the Forest.

In this case, the forest referenced is the Forest of Dean. It describes the move of a young family from the suburbs of London to the West Country at the end of the Second World War. About the time that I was born. It is a sequel to A Child in the Forest; both written by Winifred Foley.

The second book, Heather found at The Bookman in Charlottetown, The Tao of Inner Peace by Diane Dreher.

It adapts the ancient principle of Tao to today’s world by showing how to integrate the many facets of everyday life to create a balanced, dynamic harmonious whole. In particular, I am interested in the subject of mindfulness.

’Without the active yang of career commitment, life becomes too yin for many retired people. They need to find new interests, new challenges.’ p.32.

’When we take time to live more consciously, we don’t react mindlessly to our environment. Our days are filled with active choices, balancing the current of yin and Yang into greater harmony.’ p.33.

While reading about Scott Fitzgerald, I noted that one of his four books is entitled This Side of Paradise. That’s exactly where we are today. Perhaps better known by Fitzgerald is The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald lived from 1896-1940.

Acknowledgements

Support from Heather and the families of Patrick, Andrew and Laurel. Edward added the graphics.

References

BC Knowledge Network, Heartbeat, Still going strong.
GoGeomatics blogs
Winifred Foley, 1981, Back to the Forest, MacDonald and Co.
Diane Dreher, 2000, The Tao of Inner Peace, Plume, Penguin Group.

On Thursday, we went to 2600 McNally Road, Burlington for a rally to stop glyphosate spraying of the forests on North Mountain.

Next week, there is a meeting at the Hampton Community Hall on the same topic.

Friday, while in Berwick at the pharmacist, I noticed a book “From the Brow to the Bay”. This describes the historical geography of the Burlington area. It was published by the Burlington Community Club.

This type of publication is a model of the relationship between the human community and the landscape. It makes me realize that each of us lives in the landscape. We interact with other members of our community, at work, as well as at play. We invest time and energy into that landscape. At the same time, we maintain a network of community relationships.

Over a period of time, we see changes in the staff of our institutions, the institutional goals, as well as the infrastructure.

The single-minded pursuit of forest products occurs at the expense of other species, and their communication networks. This type of habitat destruction can also occur in the human species.

I have followed the writing and career of Sheree Fitch. Therefore, it was a pleasant surprise to read her article ‘Still kissing the Joy as it Flies’ in the weekend Chronicle Herald. I look forward to revisiting their habitat, on the back road outside of River John.

Acknowledgements

The organizers of the Burlington rally, including Anna Osborn, Nina Newington and Leo Glavine. Heather shared the journey to Burlington and Berwick. Edward contributed the graphics.

References

Burlington Community Club,2012. From the Brow to the Bay: Historic Burlington and Area, Published by the Burlington Community Club.

Sheree Fitch, 2022, Still Kissing the Joy as it Flies, Chronicle Herald, September 2nd Page D3.

POSTSCRIPT

We stopped at Beaver Creek Vineyard cafe for Saturday lunch. We were well fed. (see my blog post “The Alpine Path“)

Last week, we went to PEI — over by the ferry and return via the bridge.

It is the first time since 2014 to PEI. We attended the Georgetown conference on economic development. At that time, we initiated a project called ‘The Road to Georgetown’. This time, we were travelling with our grandchildren.

The highlights of the trip included Green Gables, the Confederation Centre Art Gallery and the island landscape.

It is remarkable to see this small province with its capital city of Charlottetown, to appreciate the nature of the economy with tourism, agriculture and fishing, and to draw comparisons with Nova Scotia.

At Green Gables, I picked up three books. First, Anne of Green Gables, but also LM Montgomery’s, The Alpine Path and Catherine Reid’s, The Landscapes of Anne of Green Gables.

It is tempting to contrast these books with the work of Ernest Buckler in the Annapolis Valley.

At the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, I found a book on the work of Kathleen Munn and Lowrie Warrener, from an exhibition in 2010, The Logic of Nature, the Romance of Space. I thought this might be of interest to Edward Wedler.

On Queen Street, we found a wonderful bookstore, The Bookman.

I did not realize that second-hand bookstores could be so well organized.

The other phenomenon in the PEI economy is the COWS brand.

With young grandchildren, this created considerable interest. There is an excellent article in Saltscapes magazine.

Acknowledgements

Heather and I enjoyed the company of Laurel, Nick and the grandchildren, Marcus and Owen. Edward contributed the graphics.

References

LM Montgomery, 1908, Anne of Green Gables, Nimbus (1998).

LM Montgomery, 2005, The Alpine Path: The Story of my Career, Nimbus.

Catherine Reid, 2018, The Landscape of Anne of Green Gables, Timber Press.

The Logic of Nature, the Romance of Space: Elements of Canadian Modernist Painting, 2010, Art Gallery of Windsor, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery.

The Culture of Cows, Saltscapes Magazine

Postscript

To date, I am halfway through Catherine Reid’s book. It includes both stunning photography and insight into both the PEI landscape and its literary history.