Weekend Travelogue

Hi folks;

My wife and I spent a very nice, very quiet weekend camping in upstate
New York.

Just a few miles from Youngestown NY (about 20 miles from Niagara Falls)
is a State Campsite - 4 Mile Creek State Park.

Its a nice park with a variety of site types - something for everyone really,
unless you want all the comforts of home, a swimming pool or tennis courts.

This is a campground - you know - as in "tent" and "sleeping bag" and
"campfire" - yeah, now you've got it! (Actually there are lots of sites for big
campers with Air Conditioning and all that stuff.)

Aside from the campground this is a really nice area. The Village of Youngestown
is a quiet little place best known to me - and other sailors - as the venue for several
top level sailing regattas hosted by The Youngestown Yacht Club. (No, we weren't
there on anything to do with sailing.)

Right next door is Old Fort Niagara which dates back to those days when Canada and
the USA were not such good friends. Come to think of it, this was originally a French
Fort taken by the British when we (Canadians and Americans) were all British! Anyway,
its worth several hours to visit.

The Erie Canal which was so important to the development of New York state is also
nearby at Lockport NY, but we didn't get there this weekend.

About ten miles away (and at the Canada / US border crossing) is Lewiston NY, another
quiet and historic Village which as it happens, was host this weekend to an excellent
Jazz festival.

The entire main street was closed to traffic and there were no less than 4 bandstands
set up with three of more bands alternating at each on Friday evening, saturday and Sunday.
If you're into Jazz, or even swing, this is an annual event that you should check out!

In spite of a rainy Sunday morning we had a great time and will make a point of spending more
weekends in this area in the future.


Len McNally

Fall Soon

Hi folks;

Well another week is nearly gone and the evening air is beginning to smell like fall.

I'm not sue I could describe what fall smells like - maybe its just that the trees, with the leaves getting ready to change color, are pumping more (or less?) oxygen into the air.

At any rate you can sense some sort of difference and summer will soon be gone.

My dad always said that fall was his favorite time of year and as I get older I am beginning to understand why. There is a kind of peaceful serenity about it.

On the other hand, fall is a prelude to winter and, while I love my curling, I would be OK with never seeing ice or snow outside of an arena. I am definitely not one of those stalwart Canadians who loves to go for a walk with the howling wind driving snow into my face. Not even close!

Not that I'll spend the winter complaining of course - experience has taught me that no one would listen - and I learned a long time ago that life is what you make it, no matter what the season or where you are.

The change of seasons is nice and a lot of people would never live anywhere that doesn't offer that sort of change. I don't suppose I would enjoy 12 months of hot, muggy weather, or even of hot dry weather, but I think I could live with six months of summer sandwiched between spring and fall.

But this weekend we're going camping - in a basic tent, believe it or not. Hey, sometimes a weekend of roughing it (not more than a mile from civilization) helps one to appreciate the conveniences we take so much for granted.

I'd tell you about how, as a kid, we camped (Boy Scouts) in the snow, in tents, sleeping on beds of pine boughs, with a huge fire roaring outside, but if my son reads this I'd get an e-mail reminding me how he's heard all the stories about walking to school, barefoot in the snow.

(I never told that story but its his way of reminding me that he's "heard it before".

At any rate I hope you have a good weekend and please, feel free to comment on the blog, tell us about your weekend or make suggestions.


Len McNally

Driving around;

Hi folks,

If you travel at all, and if you either drive to get there or drive when you get there
do you notice a big difference in driving habits in different areas?

Let me give you an example.

Here in my town of Brantford, Ontario,(population 85,000) most drivers are very cautious.
They creep up to stop signs, often wait far to long before proceeding and at 4 way stops
almost always wave everyone else to go ahead. You might mistake this for extreme courtesy
but I think it's actually timidity - they drive like little old ladies!

There are exceptions of course and we do have our share of those impatient people
who run every caution light, never stop at a stop and would never hold back to give
someone a break.

A one hour drive to London, Ontario (population 350,000) takes you into a whole different
driving world. In London there is a heavy traffic street that at on point narrows from 2 north
bound lanes to a single lane. The narrows occurs at an intersection and the traffic control
system is a single sign, "Road Narrows - Please Alternate".

It works! Staunchly conservative Londoners who in other areas drive as aggressively as any
big city drivers can't refuse this quiet plea to "mind your manners". In most cities this situation
would produce chaos. Oh yes, and at intersections it seems mandatory to stop in the middle of
the cross walk!

A one hour drive from Brantford in the opposite direction will take you to Toronto (population 2.5
million) where the driving is as close to total insanity as anywhere outside of Quebec (that's
another story). If you give a guy an inch he'll pull in in front of you (at any speed) but if you want
to pull out from the curb into heavy traffic, put on your signal light and the second or third car will
let you in! Like most big cities the locals have little patience for those who don't know where they
are going or don't understand the traffic patterns and if you get in the way they'll try to drive right
over you!

Between Brantford and Toronto is Hamilton (population 350,000) where the traffic moves more
smoothly than any other place I know. Most people say its because they have a well set up traffic
control computer but I think its largely because the drivers are among the most calm I've ever seen.
They drive at a reasonable speed - under the speed limit - don't change lanes a lot - and even the
taxis (honest) are courteous.

One common note wherever I go, including New York state, is that 70 % of drivers don't seem to know
what a signal light is for!

Hows the driving where you live - fast and furious or calm and sedate?


Len McNally

Time flies when you're having fun!

Hi folks,

I think it was on Saturday afternoon when my wife said
something about this week having dragged on forever.

"Wow" I said, "Are you kidding? It seems as though yesterday
was Sunday and tomorrow will be Sunday again. I have no
idea where the time went!"

I guess I need to help her find something to keep her busy.

I remember years ago someone telling me that the older you get the
faster time flies.

It sure does seem to be true.

But it's also a function of a "busy mind".

I have so many things going on right now, writing 2 books, writing
promotional materials for Acres Of Diamonds Revisited, the book and
the e-zine, writing the e-zine, writing e-courses for the AODR Curriculum
and a few other things.

It's a good thing I have a quartz watch because I don't have time to wind it!

And the great part is, I'm loving every minute of it!

Even when I read the paper and see all of the negative things going on all
over the world, there doesn't seem to be time to dwell on it.

Or maybe its just the thing I've know for years, if you fill your mind, your
heart and your life with positive things, you can't possible be anything
but positive.

Learning to Earn

Hi folks:

Yesterday I talked about freedom and how it doesn't seem to take unless you've earned it.

Later I got to thinking that, really, most things in life are like that.

In my book, Acres of Diamonds Revisited, Russell. H. Conwell says that he has only pity
for the sons of wealthy men, because in most cases, they never have the opportunity to
discover their own unique talents. He says that when everything is handed to someone,
in most cases they don't know what to do with it, or how to use it.

I point out in the book that US Bureau of Statistics figures show that for every ten American
who inherits a million dollars, only one will pass on a million dollars to his or her descendant.

There are exceptions of course but in almost every case there is strong evidence that those
who manage to multiply inherited wealth are not given it without work.

I remember a (years ago) interview with Nelson Rockefeller in which he said that as children,
he and his siblings were given an allowance (something like $20 per week, which in the 1930's
was a lot of money!) but it was not given without obligations.

Every week each child had to submit an accounting to Dad in which they were required to show
what they did with their money.

The rules were, they had to give one third to charity (and justify which charity was chosen),
invest one third - and account for the results. The remaining third was theirs to do with as they
pleased.

The result of course was that they learned the value of money, the necessity to support charities
and the necessity to be accountable - not just for the money but in effect for their moral values
and general way of life.

How often have we seen the offspring of the rich and famous wallowing in the trough of a
dissipated life style with no sense of self or of purpose?

It seems as though, whether we are talking about freedom, wealth or happiness we have an innate
tendency to under value what we know we have not earned or do not deserve.


Len McNally

Freedom

Hi folks;

Maybe I should make Mondays "Contemplation days" or "Heavy
Thinking Days" or something like that.

The fact is that I seem to do a lot of reflecting on weekends,
sometimes as a result of conversations over a casual brew,
sometimes as a result of just "sitting and thinking" or
"meditating".

Any way I got to thinking about all the troubles going on in the
world, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon etc., and the one common
thread of either American or Canadian involvement seems to
revolve around freedom.

It may be that we are among those who enjoy more freedom than
most people in the world and we seem to have some kind of innate
instinct to want to "pass it on" to everyone.

But, the more I think about freedom, the more I realize that it
seems to be something you can't "give".

Its something that has to be earned, taken, fought for and
often, died for.

America gained freedom through war.

Canada gained freedom about a hundred years later by simply
demanding it, but it still had to be earned.

Israel too gained freedom through war and has held on to it the
same way.

American blacks were given freedom by Abraham Lincoln and others
of his era but - it didn't take!.

By that I mean that American blacks weren't really free until,
under the leadership of people like Martin Luther King Jr. they
demanded it, fought for it and in many cases, died for it.

We are trying with all of our might to "give" freedom to peoples
all over the world but it seems as though until they want it themselves,
want it bad enough to demand it, to fight for it and, when necessary,
to die for it, it will never be theirs.

We can overthrow every tyrant in the middle east, or for that matter,
in the entire world, but odds are, as soon as we back off and leave
the people to their own resources someone else will come along to
introduce a new tyranny, based on might, or fright, or religious zelotism
or even anti almost anything.

In France, in Hungary, in the former Soviet Union people gained
their freedom only when they were prepared to take it at any cost.

I don't mean to suggest that there is some simple, magical
solution to the world's problems, that we need only inspire people to
want freedom badly enough to die for it and all will be well.

A few years ago I attended a conference at which a psychiatrist
addressed the subject of stress and explained that stress is the result
of a gap between our expectations and reality and that the potential
answer to the problem is to lower our expectations. ( I have often
wondered how the company officials who had paid big bucks for this
guy reacted to having their top producers told to lower their expectations!)

But maybe he had a point. As our various government spend
countless dollars (and unfortunately, often very countable lives) in their
efforts to "give" freedom to a world that is not yet ready to fight for it, there
is a constant friction between these usually well meaning governments and
the "people" who have a high expectation of short term results.

Perhaps we need to realize that these kind of results are rarely if ever short
term and more likely than not will take generations, if not centuries to produce
lasting freedom. And that is after the people begin to demand, fight and die for
it.

I don't like the prospect any more than you do but I don't think it unreasonable to
think that we will be colonizing other planets before we have brought freedom
to everyone on this one.


Len McNally

Mid week hassles

Hi Folks;

Its Wednesday and its been hectic.

Lots to do and lots of writing to get done.

Of course this is the day the old computer decides to take a half day off.

Just because I had a long weekend last weekend I guess.

I have a friend who has a computer with a voice type navigation system in his pick up.

He travels all the time and finds the nav system great - but somewhat unreliable -

and easy to confuse.

If he overshoots a planned destination the thing goes nuts for quite a while before
it finally figures out whats up.

Because of this he has given his computer a name (it has a female voice) -
in "honour" of a lady we both know who is super intelligent - likely genius level -
with lots of academic credentials - but at the same time not to bright about real world things.

At any rate he's got me thinking about an appropriate name for my computer -
it doesn't have its own voice so its name could be either male or female.

The thing is, I don't know if I should give it a derogatory name - it might feel insulted
and show me how much of a problem it really can be.

I know its dumb to think of a computer as having a personality but I'm convinced that
this one is the offspring of my neighbor's dog - if you get my point, because it only acts
up when I have things I really, really want to get done within a tight time frame.

It doesn't do real bad stuff - like crash on me - it just sometimes decides that it won't
perform a particular task for a while - like editing a document - changing the font -
or copy and paste.

This morning its tantrum lasted only about 90 minutes and I think it expects gratitude
for that.

Yesterday I had a problem with my ISP that turned out to be simple - but un solvable for the moment
it keeps sending me an error message for something that can't be an error.

When I told the very nice lady on the help desk at my ISP that I was considering using my chain saw
on it she said her last client had threatened to take his computer down by the river and burn it.

I said, he must have meant drown it but no, he had assured her he has a fire pit down by the river.

Any way, it feels good to know that I'm not alone in my desire to inflict physical pain on an unfeeling
and (supposedly) inanimate machine.

All the same, I got a lot accomplished both yesterday and today in spite of the thing so Maybe I should
stop complaining.


Len

Long Weekend Flu

Well the long weekend with friends was great

except

my buddy came down with the flu!

So it was a great weekend - for us - and Lynne

Not so great for him!

Oh well, we had some good wine (he made that earlier)

Some great food - I did the turkey on the Bar-B-Q

And great conversation.

We avoided any bad traffic (no mean feat!)

Learned that their son and his wife are expecting their first child
(When I phoned to ask when Leonard is due I met with hilarity!)

Any way, in spite of the flu it was a great weekend and we made it back safely.

Hope you had a good one too.



Len McNally

Friends

Hi folks;

On the coming weekend (Monday is a statutory holiday here in
Canada) we'll be taking a short drive (about 2 hours) to spend the
week end with long time friends.

These folks have moved around a lot over the nearly 20 years we've
know them and the funny thing is, when they've been the furthest
away is when we've seen them most often.

When it was a six hour drive we'd go to their place every second month
or so and they'they'dd come to ours sometime in between so we got together
a dozen or more times every year.

Then for about three years they lived only about 90 minutes away and we
got together only 4 or 5 times a year.

About 2 years ago they moved to where they are now - about a 2 hour drive
and we've only been to their place once.

We know its going to be a great weekend and we all hope this will be the start
of a recommitment to our friendship - we need to get together at least once a
month.

Sure we keep in touch by phone and the internet but its not the same as real
face time is it?

Do you have long distance friends who you don't see as often as you'd like?

My experience is that real friendships, the kind that last a lifetime, are few and
they deserve a little extra effort to maintain.


Len McNally

It's Hot!

Hi folks.

I bet you've noticed the heat!

At least if you live almost anywhere in North America.

Here in Brantford, Ontario we hit 38 Celcius yesterday (About 102 F)
for those of you who aren't bilingual. (That's American and Metric).

For a lot of us Canadians complaining about the heat is almost sacrilegious.

After all we complain about the cold for about six months of the year!

I still spend the evenings on my deck watching Bluereally Jays baseball and my
wife (in the air conditioned den) thinks I'm nuts.

She may be right! But all the same really hot beats really cold anytime!

And it sure make the beer go down good.

I guess a pool would be the answer - but I'm not really an
"in the water" guy, I'm an "on the water" guy. (sailing)

Now there is a great way to beat the heat -
sure there's lot of sun out on the water -
and its real easy to get burned - but when there's a breeze
(and its pretty tough to sail without one)
you forget about the heat and just concentrate on making the boat go.

Now if you're a "Power Boater" (still better than a "No Boater" I guess,
you make your own breeze.

Any way, "on the water" is my bag, not in it.

How do you beat the heat?

I know - some yahoo from the west coast is going to tell us about skiing
yesterday while we sweltered - but that's O.K. too.

Are there other fun ways to stay cool, or to get cool?

Tell us about how you do it.


Len McNally