Way Stations

There are still many months to go before life returns to the north and before the land provides anything to eat for the furry and feathered citizens of the outdoors.

And this Cardinal and his Sparrow companions below . . .

. . . remain optimistic that essential services will continue as the coldest days slip away with each setting sun.

Next Time

If, while in a river of time. we see familiar shores,
Then maybe these Time shifts are part of some cycle,
Wherein heat of time and place turns us to spirit again
To condense and fall back as rain on hills where we began so long ago
To resume a journey that seems it may never end.

On this recent part of the journey the seasons have swept the past in an instant leaving a study in pastels and gray – a landscape drained of colour suspended in cloud.

As seen in a snow filled field.

Or in a flock of crows over a frozen field.

And grey is the colour of the industry of a northern people for whom frozen water means a more certain road for determined travelers.

Factories and roads are as busy as ever.

As a new year began, a bright mist promised new journeys beyond and below the Ingersoll moraine – highest point in Oxford County. In youth, the Time Traveler often drove his bicycle down this road.

Time in Gray

A gust of passing time tossed the Time Traveller a few points to the East - landing in the Great City of Toronto. Here amidst the clouds of a gathering winter storm the institutions of Canada's largest Metropolis were framed in the cold gray.



Outside of the Royal Ontario Museum, a plaque commemorates one of its founders from years past.




Efficient, clean, polite, safe - are the familiar and true cliches of Toronto - even in the most uncomfortable of weather. Here amidst the steaming towers, Canada's best and brightest keep the country on the fast track.



The Time Travellers journey led him past long ago memories at the University of Toronto.

Short Flight to a New Year

2010 marked the 25 anniversary of the reintroduction of Wild Turkeys to Southern Ontario. Once plentiful, the species had been severely reduced from loss of habitat and excessive hunting decades earlier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Turkey

Now the large bird is a fair candidate to be woven into the weirdly conflict-centered story formula employed by Canadian media.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/03/11/wild-turkeys.html

Oblivious to their role as an undefined threat, the large birds typically remain focused upon their own business of survival in the woodlands and fields of the southern part of the province. A group of wild birds were recently walking along the very edge of the Niagara escarpment – where the Time Traveller glimpsed them on New Year’s Day.

Stardate 44390.1

“Star Trek speaks to a basic human need: that there is a tomorrow . . . that the human race is improving; that we have things to be proud of as humans. . . because humans are clever and work hard. . . . Star Trek is about those things.”

- - - Gene Roddenberry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Roddenberry

A profound and successful achievement of modern popular media is the Next Generation Star Trek series of the 1980s and early 1990s. In this series a successful, aging and confident Gene Roddenberry perfected his vision of humanity using a fusion of classic science fiction with moral, ethical and visionary fables.

What was once real-time TV is now captured on DVDs for future generations to discover on the shelves of libraries around the world.

What began in the mind of one man has cascaded into a complex culture of meaning and symbols. Consider the complexity of internet sites describing every detail of each and every episode of the show.

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Data%27s_Day_%28episode%29

Displaying conviction and principles that are rare in present day media, the series anticipated a latent desire in humanity - and would-be humanity - for constant improvement.

“If being human is not simply a matter of being born flesh and blood, if it is instead a way of thinking, acting and . . . feeling, then I am hopeful I may yet discover my own humanity through learning, changing, growing, and . . . trying to become more than what I am today.”

. . . "Data"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data's_Day

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_Alpha

The Thawing

Near the latitude of southern Ontario there is a phenomenon known as the “January Thaw”. The phenomenon is described in this link to a section from the Canadian Encyclopedia:

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0010742

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FYI . . . . the Canadian Encyclopedia Project was a starting point for a well known archaeologist who later became famous as a co-discoveror of the Famous Dionysus Temple in Beida Jordan:
http://www.ajaonline.org/index.php?ptype=content&aid=334
. . . and later established the popular Food-Egypt-Cat-Centric blog with the link . . .
www.shari-chocolatebox.blogspot.com
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Meanwhile, back in the winter-swept fields of Southern Ontario . . . the January Thaw of 2011 could barely wait for the New Year to arrive. A warm wind swept up the Mississippi valley bringing mist and a gentle rain which melted the snow from the fields.

Snow banks melted, and the bright green of winter wheat was revealed from beneath a layer of snow . . . now gone.

Creeks swelled into darkened torrents clawing at still frozen shores,

Warm air turned thick snow into sheets of water unable to drain through still frozen ground. When the clear cold days of winter returns in a few days these shallow pools will be skating rinks.

A park covered with snow just a few days ago - was green again and ready for children . . . .

Fragments of Time and Place

The season brings with it comfort in the form of messages from around the world. - season’s greetings from those whom the Time Traveller has met during many random gyrations around the planet.

Here a flock of Ravens are startled from a backyard in northwest Canada.



From eslewhere in British Columbia comes a summer memory of Slocan Lake where the Time Traveller’s grandparents lived in retirement for almost 40 years.



In the streets of Montpellier in southern France, the festive season was celebrated with costumes and musical instruments.



The mountain towns of south Lebanon celebrated Christmas as the sound of church bells echoed into the valley. . . .



. . . . where remnants of Lebanon’s ancient cedar forests still grow.



Closer to home, in Toronto, a Christmas Eve celebration came to a close and the guests headed home once more.



And, back in a small Ontario town, a stone angel was deep in snow at the End of Days of 2010.