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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Bushwackin' Blisters

I spent today in a pair of “corks”.

Wikipedia defines “corks” as follows:  Caulk boots (pronounced "cork" and usually called "corks") are leather or rubber  nail-soled boots worn by lumberjacks in the timber-producing regions of the Pacific Northwest and Canada. (information gathered by thousands of unqualified people might not be the most accurate of sources but it serves my purposes most of the time… ) Aside from the  questionable accuracy of the wikipedia world.. the definition here is roughly correct.  (note that they are also marketed as chainsaw boots)


What is poorly described in any definition – including the websites that sell these frightful looking things is the male bias of the logging industry  …. corks don’t come in ladies sizes… so I’ve been sporting a pair of drastically over sized steel toed, rubber boots with steel spikes on the bottom that just about reach my knee… and weigh close to 5lbs each.  Oh yes.. you heard that right.  My poor little feet need 2 pairs of wool socks plus a pair of  quilted slippers called bama-boots just to keep these things from falling off my feet.


Despite the ill-fit and excessive weight of these gastly items walking through the slash of felled logs, root-wads and heaps of branches on a set of dangerous looking steel spikes sure come in handy.  Imagine a series of giant thumbtacks sticking out of the bottoms of your shoes...   The tracktion is great, sticking to slippery logs like velcro, and leaving the coolest looking footprints. That being said - The slimy rock in the creek …. Still deathly slippery…(thumbtacks remember.. Big ones..)  with the added bonus of the weight of these orange monsters and you’ve got a recipe for drowned rat on your hands.
photo off internet.... photo of me in the ORANGE beasts
I've been traipsing around in to follow at later date!

Today I spent the day in corks…. But after a full day tramping around in the bushes with my corks… I’ve got sore feet, blistered ankles… and I’m not exactly dry or mud free.  The upside however..  I wasn’t in the office.






Sunday, October 17, 2010

It is grey here. A thousand shades of grey. The mists blow in off the water, and hang heavy in town, and around it.  In the distance, if you can see that far, trees, totem poles and mountain peaks rise up out of the floating mists in shades of dark grey against the lighter grey of the sky.  Heavy leaden clouds block out the sun and the days never truly lighten but remain dark.  Nothing casts a shadow and yet everything is cast in shadow and dampness.  The grey rock itself seems to seep water as if there is entirely too much moisture.  Today it rains.... driving sideways, a gale warning on the VHF radio, it rains down hard, as if the sky itself liquefies and crashes down on the earth.  The land soaks up what it can and what the land can not hold tumbles down through the glacial rivers heading out to sea. 

The Wind Howls and drives the rain sideways, thundering in sheets down the window panes obscuring the form of everything beyond it, tuning the world into a kaleidoscope of grey obscured green.  My yard is a swamp of soggy green moss mostly.. and what is known as a liverwort – a moss like substance that grows in virtual darkness semi submerged in the bog that is my yard... I’m cold.  The Damp kind of cold that makes your bones ache and no matter how much tea you drink you still feel chilled and your fingers cramp on the keyboard. 

I’m not truly surprised by all this.  It will continue to rain solidly until by some miraculous twist of nature the temperature will plunge well below freezing and the sun will peak out from behind the clouds for a day... maybe 3 before the rains come again.  But today... and maybe tomorrow... it is starting to get to me... maybe it’s because I made the error of looking at the long range forecast....

© RiverWalker Arts
Today: Rain Heavy at times. Wind southeast 70 km/h
Tonight: Rain. Wind southeast 70 km/h this evening and after midnight.
Monday: Showers. High 8.
Tuesday: Rain. High 8.
Wednesday: Rain. Windy
Thursday: Showers. High 8.
Friday: Rain heavy at times. High 7.
Saturday: Rain. Windy. High 8. 

**Sigh**
                                                                                                           

Think PinK


“Think Pink”

Print from an Original Watercolour
by RiverWalker Arts

In Honour of October being Breast Cancer awareness month.  and as a commission for a co-worker.... 

dedicated to all women who are or have been afflicted with the devastating disease known as Breast Cancer.
Each year, thousands of Canadians are touched by breast cancer. In 2010, an estimated 23,200 women in Canada will be diagnosed with breast cancer.  On average, 445 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every week.  In 2010, an estimated 5,300 women and 50 men will die from breast cancer in Canada. The vulnerable pink colour stands not only to remind us of the battle against breast cancer, but the brightness of pink at the same time stands for hope, and strength. 
And to all those out there still fighting, make manifest the glory of the earth and the stars that is within you, become a conduit of grace, beautiful and strong, dance and touch the earth…