Clyde Forsberg (1957 - February 27, 2021)

Photo Credit: Doral Johnson

Doral sent me a picture of his bookshelf, Clyde's volume, Equal Rites,

sitting between taxing choices and Voltaires Bastards.

My friend, Clyde Forsberg, passed away yesterday. I met Clyde in about 1981 when he was a student in Religious Studies at the University of Calgary. 

He was in a Sunday School Class that Kelvin and I taught and though he lived out of town, he made the trip to our class and then stayed for dinner and then into the afternoon and sometimes the night. 

Our children came and went as the discussions with him about religions topic continued.

When Doral sent me the side picture he said of Clyde, "His book sits on my 'favorite books' shelf. So sad to hear of his passing."

Bonnie is going to post Clyde's bio from the university page, probably the best way to get at who Clyde really was.  

I spent a long time pouring over it ... like an academic journey with Clyde.

Once Kelvin and I took a trip with Clyde down to the Seattle Sunstone Conference to hear him read a paper there. On the way back, we slept overnight at one of the cabins at the Shuswap.  It must have been fall or mid-winter because when we turned on the heaters to warm up the cabin, flies came out of everywhere.  I was horrified.  I was apologizing.  Clyde said, "Are you kidding?  This little cabin is a mansion."  

Which it is.

I was honoured to read some of his work before it went to the printers.  I could rarely find a comma out of place or a place where there should be a set of italics.

Yesterday I was wondering what it would be like should God meet Clyde.  Even he might tremble.  Or maybe just be thrilled to receive his handiwork home.

Arta

A Good Burn Index

Photo Credit:  Moiya Wood

When Rebecca saw these pictures, at first she thought there was a cloud, a low cloud at the lake.

On second thought it looks like the burning index is just right for some of the slash on the property.

Thanks Moiya, for two great pictures.

This is not quite as good as being there, but still a lot of fun.

Congratulations, Laynie.  

Arta
 

Photo Credit:  Moiya Wood

Designer Eggs

 Moiya told me that she couldn't help herself. 

She had to make a crazy breakfast for Dave.

Rather than explain it to me, she said she would send a picutre.

Wyona, on seeing the egg owl,  wanted to know where Moiya got the equipment to create such a masterpiece, and wondered if it came with instructions and a recipe.

I couldn't stop myself.  I just had to look up the recipe which said that this mold will shape two eggs into egg art.

Moiya's grandchildren are going to be so lucky when they finally come to visit.

Here's to designer eggs for breakfast, Dave!  When I went out to check the price, the picture also showed the owl sitting on a strip of nicely browned bacon as a piece of wood and a piece of parsley on the end of the bacon.

Eat up.

Arta

RBG Masks

... reversible RBG masks ...
"Thank you, Hebe."

Hebe sent two RBG masks in the mail, reversible, black on one side and decorated with a brown gavel on the other side.  She said they were hard to make and contained mistakes.

1. Catherine and Hebe cut the first one with the pattern upside down.

2. They forgot to put a nose piece in the next one.

3. The third, they got the nose piece in, but on the chin instead of at the nose.

It sounded to me like none of the masks contained mistakes for the mistakes had been corrected.

There was a lot of unpicking of stitches.  Hebe is sure I could see a few pin prick marks, but I could see none.  Hebe can sew beautifully straight lines now, a curved line and has practised zig-zagging over a chord.  Pretty cool.

Wyona had asked me if she could be Hebe's third grandmother and Hebe said yes.  I said that was nice because many people are afraid of Wyona.  Hebe wanted to know why.  I told her that is because she was always trying to buy her nieces and nephews off of their mothers for the price of 5 cents.  Some of the kids thought that they might be sold for that price, even given away.

Catherine said Hebe would willingly go live at Wyona's.  

I told Hebe that Chinese New Year had been an event to celebrate at Wyona's house.  Catherine said that about all they got to do was eat a plethora of different rice crackers.  Not even a lantern up, but it is too late for that.   The Festival of the Lanterns was two days ago.

Montreal is still under quarantine with $1,000 fines going to violations of the curfew.  

This makes Hebe nervous and she wants everyone to get home on time.

I wanted to show Hebe the daffodils at my house.

In return, Hebe showed me a card she had just  received  from last  year's camp counsellor.  The card came in a flat envelope, but then could be reshaped into a container that held flowers and butterflies -- something like a pop-up book.  Very cute.  Fabulous camp counsellor.

Arta

On Watching Juno

Photo Credit IMDB

Duncan has to watch Juno (Jason Reitman, 2007) for his class on Play Writing.

I've been looking forward to the night when he screens the movie, since Rebecca expressed interest in seeing the movie again. I have never seen it and it will be a fresh movie for Duncan and me.

When the movie was over, Rebecca had been thinking about the characters in the play with respect to Peggy McIntosh's paper “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, question #5, Can I “turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.”

Rebecca had noted that the six protagonists were white, and a plethora of supporting characters were different colours, think, the technician at the ultrasound, the nurse who shows the new mom her adopted son, the receptionist at the abortion clinic, the protestor outside of the clinic, one of Blinker’s friends. I didn’t see any of that. in retrospect I did see it; I didn’t think to be bothered about it.

In our after-the-film discussion, I was reminded of how every time I go to a film with a question, that question colours how I view the film.

Duncan had been questioning the film’s designation as a comedy since how can the word comedy apply to movie about a girl preparing to find a good home for the baby that she can't take care of.

I was remembering an old definition that I carry in my mind about tragedy, and that is that the protagonist has a tragic flaw that causes his downfall. Juno is not about a figure with a tragic flaw. Jun tis a movie that lets us watch someone making serious choices about how her life should go. Maybe that's what makes it a comedy.

Anyway, a good viewing time was had by all and Rebecca and I are looking forward to talking with Duncan about this some more. All three of us just haven’t been at the kitchen table at the same time.

Arta

Thinking Latteraly

 ... a good place for a spelling bee ...

We are turning our minds to spelling lately. 

It's helping me pick up on the meaning of words. 

For example, sometimes Rebecca asks us to think laterally, instead of vertically. 

Duncan just couldn't figure out what she was talking about, because he was hearing her asking him to think ladderaly. 

He couldn't figure out how the metaphor of a ladder which goes upward, can help him think about something that goes in a line horizontally, as she was gesticulating with her arms that it did. 

Just about every day somebody here discovers a word from the past, one that was not making sense, how it wasn't making sense because we didn't really know the meaning or spelling of the word. All this comes from us making the mistake of talking to each in our bubble, something we do more and more.

Arta

A call to all writers from CBC

A call to all writers from CBC - deadline is Sunday, Feb 28th, 2021 11:59pm EST (that's 8:59pm Salmon Arm time)My draft of my submission will soon be below.

For now, here is the link to the submission rules for nonfiction.

https://www.cbc.ca/books/literaryprizes/cbc-literary-prizes-rules-regulations-1.4090957

Daffodils

I looked over the side of the balcony and Rebecca has a whole garden bed of daffodils blooming, some of the stocks so heavy with their burst of yellow ruffled skirt sthat they bend down to the earth.

Other stalks are still in bud.

I determined to be the one who picked flowers this year, to enjoy sliding my finger down the long green stem to the bottom of the plant and then carefully snipping it off with my scissors, right at the bottom, trying not to damage the leaves.

I was stretching one after another out that I had picked, first leaving them in the garden bed, and then alongside me on the grass, until I had half of the bed of blossoms cut. 

Leaving some for another day I returned to the house to put two dozen daffodils in a 1 quart mason jar filled with water.

“I'm sorry Rebecca I couldn't find a better vase.”

“Don't worry. In Better Homes and Gardens they might display flowers in a mason jar just as you have done. We'll leave it at that.  I do have a vase, but it is in the back corner of a bottom shelf and we would have to move so much to get at it.”

Last night I could smell the redolent fragrance of the daffodils since they had warmed up to the temperature of the house. 

Someone who has allergies is eventually going to smell that. 

We'll have to put them in a different spot, but for now I'm really enjoying the beauty and their closeness.

Arta

Two Pomelos

While I opened up the grocery bags, as Duncan brought them in from the car, 

I noticed that one of the large satchels had only two items in it: pomelos, wrapped and decorated as though they would be centerpieces and not as food to be eaten.

I spent a long time looking at the wrapping, wondering what it is about that item that deserved an extra orange netting, a red bow, some pink curly ribbon and 2 artificial leaves.

Pomelos are closely related to grapefruit. Grapefruit can interfere with the medication some people take, so I know that for me, a pomelo is only for looking at.

I watched Rebecca take the skin off, using both hands. 

Her broken arm, though in a simpler cast, doesn't have the same strength that it used to have and so this was mainly a one-handed to job for her.

I was idly doing something else in the kitchen. heard Rebecca say, “That's disappointing. This is one of the varieties that has multiple seeds.”

I asked her why it was popular then, and she said, “Sometimes during Chinese New Year it might be good luck to get more rather than fewer seeds, but I'm getting about 7 to 10 each segment and so bad luck for me, a lot of work for not much flesh.”

I thought she was going to put it in the compost, but she persevered and I saw the pomelo later in the fridge broken in half and in a Tupperware container, one large Tupperware container to hold one pomelo and the other still sits as a decoration on the counter.

Beautiful and maybe even lucky…for someone else.

Arta

How to Make Name Cookies

Alphabet and Number Cookie Cutters: $19.98 a set

 Charise is the person who owns the alphabet cookie cutters.  

In order to make cookies for their first and second cousins, Kalina and Teresa had to make just the right number of cookies with the correct cookies cutters.  

So after counting the letters in Audra, Zak, Gabe, Michael, Alice, Betty, Landon and Piper, their grandmother rolled the dough for just the right numbers of A's, for example, and then B's right through the alphabet, and got the cookies ready for when the girls came to ice them.

The icing was a way to stick the candy decorations on each cookies:  skittles, gummies, miniature eggs, and anything else that was flat and tasty and sugary.

And off the girls went to do the deliver.

I think because Landon would get an extra cookie because he has one more letter in his name than Piper, there was an extra "P" hidden behind the first letter of Piper's name.

I don't know how everything else got sorted out.

See see the cookies, link to Signature Cookies.

I can see the potential for signature cookies on every holiday -- just change the colour of the icing, borrow Aunt Charise's cookie cutters and see if Grandma Wyona will use her oven downstairs to cook them.  This is not that satisfying for her, since she has to walk up and down the stairs many times.  She is waiting patiently for her new wall oven -- ordered Dec 1, and delivery is March 15.  In COVID times, some items just can't be hurried up.

Arta

How to Make Cornbread

A Picture Essay from Richard and Miranda's Kitchen 

It took me a while to figure out what was keeping the sugar soft.

This is my second favourite picture of the whole set.

And this is my favourite picture of the set.
Mmmm to cornbread and chess.

Signature Cookies

Did these cookies come from the Valentine Fairy?

Find Waldo?
No, find Michael

Alphabet cookies for Alice and Betty

More on The Available Light Film Festival from the Yukon 2021

 

The Available Light Film Festival from the Yukon 2021 only lasts for two more days.

Yesterday I decided to do some binmovie watching, trying to catch up on the lost days of viewing this week. The hours were spent on other projects, but certainly I missed watching films from this film festival.

I entered my festival watching phase,  and brought the following films to my screen:

Achilles Escape (Charles Officer, 2020). -- In a crime-noir about the urban child-soldier, Akilla Brown captures a fifteen-year-old Jamaican boy in the aftermath of an armed robbery. Over one gruelling night, Akilla confronts a cycle of generational violence he thought he escaped.

No Sign of Trauma  (Marc Serpa Francoeur and Robinder Uppal 2020). The film documents several allegations of abuse of power against the Calgary Police.

Driveways (Andre Ahn, 2019)  A lonesome boy accompanies his mother on a trip to clean out his late aunt's house, and ends up forming an unexpected friendship with the retiree who lives next door. 

Little Orphans
Starring  Patricia Andrews,
Marthe Bernard, and Emily Bridger |

Little Orphans (Ruth Lawrence, 2020). Still struggling with their childhood abandonment, three sisters reunite at a wedding. But coming home and making a new family can come at a high cost.

Crock of Gold: a Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan (Julien Tempe, 2020). A look at the life of Irish singer/songwriter and Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan.

I watched two of the film's Friday night and 3 on Saturday.

Just to get the worst film out of the way, No Sign of Trauma is a CBC production about the Calgary police force, a documentary film that left me sick at my stomach, as it opened my eyes to how systemic racism can enter a police force culture and be so invisible the perfidies at the same time. I told Rebecca I didn't know if she needed to watch that film since she teaches Crim law and comes to these ideas through text and law cases instead of through film. Only the brave should watch this show, or those who needs to be convinced that the term Starlight Tours maybe part of the police culture in Calgary. This should probably be mandatory watching for anyone who can stomach it.

Now getting that out of the way, I watched the other four films with curiosity. I come to the indie films with a different set of expectations, namely knowing that what I am about to see is outside of the high-tech, high gloss Hollywood productions. I did feel a festival charm, sitting there in a comfortable chair with a beverage and a quilt over my knees. 

Little Orphans saves its punch to the end of the show, just as the reviews said it would. This morning I woke up thinking about Crock of Gold because it's the story of Shane MacGowan, an Irish folk singer whose music I don't know but whose band Rebecca recognizes. I think what is curious about this film is that Shane MacGowan is interviewed when but he's very old, not the best place in life for any of us to be seen on film, if our shoulders have started to drop or our speech to slur or where a memory doesn't retrieve facts as it used to. The documentary did give me a chance to sit at the feet of the old and look as though I were still young. If nothing else the movie helped me understand where I may be someday, if I should live so long.

The protagonist in Driveways is an 8, almost 9 year old boy, but the circumstances around his life, make the movie rich and rewarding. I am thinking about that high pitched energy of thrillers, the low emery I am seeing in the films about the early Arctic and now this quiet meditation on a young boy’s life. 

 Film always reminds me of reasons to change gear.

Arta

RBG Face Masks, Limited Edition

 

Wyona saw a picture of the masks that Hebe is making and wondered if she could be Hebe's second grandmother, since she doesn't have anyone making masks like that for her.

Catherine did tell me that these masks are done by Special Order only, and that they are part of a Limited Edition

I could easily identify that the first was an RBG mask, but I couldn't identify the symbols on the second until Rebecca reminded me that Ruth Bader Ginsberg is famous for a collar that she used to wear.

That is when I could see the artful necklace and that iconic pair of glasses.

I may have made a special order, for one of the masks and I hope that by writing this post I am confirming that order.

Thanks for all of that sewing, Hebe.  

I am curious as to how many masks you are going to do in each edition.

Arta or 姥姥  as I prefer to be called.

A Perfect Poached Egg

Steve asked if I had had breakfast that morning.
“No and 'd love to have it with you.”

“Will a crab cake to do?”

“Yes.”

“With a bit of asparagus?” he added.

I'm not going to say no to vegetables I continued speaking with Bonnie on the telephone.

It wasn't long until a toasted crab cake was in front of me, and two spears of perfectly steamed asparagus. Because my eyes aren't quite as sharp as they are with glasses on, and I'm waiting for my new ones from Goo Goo Googles to arrive, I thought Steve had a very large dollop of sour cream on top of the crab cake.

Now I was up for sour cream, and I put my fork to its white glistening surface, only to find that instead I was breaking into a cylindrical poached egg, a small bit of a yellow yolk oozing from its centre.

While I still had my fork and knife and knife in hand, Rebecca arrived in the room with some Frank's Hot Sauce, drizzling it artistically on the side of my plate. What is there to say when a son-in-law delivers such a breakfast except thank you, Steve. You set the bar high.

Later in the day, Rebecca asked him for technique.

“A tablespoon of vinegar to the water, and have it swirling when you drop in the egg,” he shared.

Arta

Arta Lorraine Tucker Gunn (June 3, 1946 - January 21, 2021)

Top:
Bottom: Lorraine at the far right, front row

My cousin, Arta Lorraine Tucker Gunn, who had my name, died on January 21st.  Here is the link to her obituary.

Cousinhood is lived out in peaks and valleys, sometimes depending on where a person lives.  I feel close to my Cardston and Medicine Hat cousins, because they are close and I saw them often growing up, either them being at our house, or we being at theirs.

We didn't see our American cousins as often, but I don't think I felt any less affection for them. 

LtoR: Ken Tucker, Wyora Pilling, Lorraine Tucker

My mother loved their mother and I loved all of my cousins.

And so this simple post to mark her passing.

Arta

Bun Burger Bun

... thawing the frozen bun
while cooking the hamburger ...

I don't go through fast food outlets often enough, to know exactly how to order. One thing is for sure, if a person doesn't want a pickle on their hamburger they shouldn't have one. And it is on the ordering that the burger is made perfect. It's easy to get Duncan's order. He wants bun / burger/ bun. Life couldn’t be more simple than that. In 19 years, his tastes haven’t changed.

Now that we have to make his order at home, there's been a question about what's the best way to get to that burger. Rebecca thinks buying a box of frozen burgers is the best way. I like to buy a chub of meat and then make the hamburger myself. I like to be the foreman on this job. Duncan is not interested in any of the condiments. It is okay if I put a little bit of Worcester sauce in the hamburger and work it in with the salt, before I flatten it into a burger, but that's about it.

David Camps and I worked the method over at the lake, checking out if David could make himself a hamburger. I was glad to see it was true. David Camps can make his own burger. And so can Duncan. I think it is Rebecca who figured out that in order to get the frozen bun fresh, one should put a rack over the frying pan, put the two halves of the bun on and then while it's 3 minutes per side for the burger, that bun is steamed just enough to be perfect.

Last night I told Duncan I would make the burger for him but his mother was wanting to go out shopping and if she came upstairs, then he'd have to finish the job. I finished but then forgot to tell him it was done. A half an hour later I came to him and said Duncan, thank you for coming in and taking the bun / burger / bun from the kitchen., I forgot to deliver it right to your workstation. He really laughed.

Arta

On Plugging in the Jack

I wanted to watch some you tube videos tonight, so I put on my earphones and went to work, taking notes on how to embed pdf files into a wordpress blog. 

I went back and forth, watching a number of videos, taking copious notes. 

After about 20 minutes Duncan came over and taped me on the shoulder, so I took off my earphones. The sound was still the same. 

 That is when I realized I had the earphone on, but I hadn't plugged them in. Nice neighbour, me. 

 Arta

A Walk in the Snow

It snowed for two days, here in Victoria.

That's been pretty exciting in our house with people occasionally just standing at the window, watching the snow fall, or watching the birds land on the tree branches closest to the house.

There is a question as to whether there are enough boots, hats and gloves to go around.

There's no use getting a hat for Dunciun because nothing is going to fit that amazing head of hair

There are other questions.

Does he need to a hoodie under his coat? 

Will Steve’s boots fit him?

When the moment came that he was to go out the door and meet his friend, Seth, I grabbed my camera because a walk in the snow is almost an historic event.

Out into the world of snow covered sidewalks and paths he went.

We, still at home, aren’t used to the bright light shining off of the snow and through the windows, so the house seems to have an otherworldly bright glow without the lights even being turned on.

I was interested in seeing how Duncan would brave the snow since it was falling when he left for his walk.

“Welcome back”, I said, though not wanting him to think I was curious about his walk when the snow was falling and he had nothing on his head.

On the edge of his hair, tiny globes of water hung on the tips of his curls. 

I asked him, “Would you mind if I got close up with my camera? 

He said. “Go for it grandmother. It doesn’t matter to me."

So I caught it on my camera.

Duncan coming home after a walk during the snowfall.

The weight of the snow had laid heavy on his head flattening what is usually a large rounded circular shape. 

The prolonged use of earphones can leave a track across the top of his head.

6But when he takes them off the hair springs back up.

At this moment a lot of snow had landed on him and the top of his head was more like a flat table which made his mother laughed pretty hard when he came inside.

And of course, his head was heavy for it was like a wet sponge, carrying a lot of water.

I was amazed at the glistening of the little drops of water that hung on the edge of every skiraling piece of hair.

He was soaking wet.

I think he took a hot shower before he was revived and spent the rest of his day back at the computer.

Arta