Humble Opinions

What great day of golfing! Dennis had booked a foursome at Kananaskis months in advance for Saturday. So the four was made up of Dennis, me, Kurt, and Patrick, the owner of the Ironwood Stage & Grill. It was the first time I'd had a chance to talk properly with Pat, since he was always at work when I saw him but, like his friends, he's a smart and engaging guy but with a razor wit. Kananaskis surely is one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world. It takes up a small valley between snow-peaked mountains. It's also regarded as a "challenging" course. Almost every hole runs alongside or over the beautiful fast-flowing river. People don't just talk about their scores but of the number of balls lost. I feel quite proud that I lost only six. The course is so popular that bookings for the season are filled within a week, and the course marshals keep close ties on how long any group takes on the holes to ensure everyone keeps to the schedule. ...

I'll claim it a sort of farewell for me. Dennis and Robin hosted yet another fabulous party. Only a week late for the Cinco de Mayo (5th of May) celebration, we made up a perfect mole negro , Robin prepared guacamole, bean salad, salsa and a superb turkey-taco green salad. There was way too much to drink. One highlight was the piñata - well two piñata - Robin & Dennis had prepared one and then Kurt & Barbara also arrived with one. We had a ball taking turns to be blindfolded and then try to smash them with a stick. When eventually they collapsed and scattered sweets and toys and, from Dennis & Robin's creation, miniature liquor bottles, everyone dived to the grass to collect the treasures. Very childish... It all went very very late. Sunday, what little remained of it when we got up, was spent very quietly.

Saturday was a great day but the wind was just too temperamental for us learners. We met up at 8:00am at Muller WindSports in Cochran, just North of Calgary, for final briefing, and to practice the basics. I had a chance to inflate the kite and practice basic control manoeuvring and was all set to fly. Unfortunately only a half of the group had a chance to actually leave the ground for their two minute ride 100 metres down and 1.5 Km along. The remainder were to fly the following day. Unfortunately I had plans for that night that didn't involve an early morning rise. Ironically, it rained on Sunday so my truancy didn't matter. Sigh, I'll have to try the flying part when I get back to Australia.

Saturday was yet another fantastic night in Calgary. We started the evening with a simple but delicious meal chez Dennis & Robin, then primed with several beers, wine, and a solid shot of Absinthe, the three of us walked the long four blocks to the Ironwood Stage & Grill . There we took up posts at the bar - the rest of the place was packed - to listen to legendary Canadian composer/ guitarist, Gaye DeLorme . To be honest, I hadn't heard of Gaye DeLorme before but it turns out that he has been nominated for Grammy awards several times and worked for a long time composing and producing music for Columbia Pictures. He is the inspiration for performers like Mark Knopfler and Stevie Ray Vaughn, creating tunes 15 years before these artists appropriated them and made them hits. Gaye started the evening with a classical guitar style version of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time that made me feel like I was listening to the music of Joe Pattane, an old friend of my father wh...

Last Tuesday I went to the Arlo Guthrie concert. Yes, the guy who sang Alice's Restaurant way back in 1967, the son of legendary singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie. Dennis & Robin had a spare ticket and were kind enough to offer it to me. A wonderful night! On stage were members of Arlo's family: son on keyboard and daughter and son-in-law playing guitars and another playing slide-guitar and mandolin. Mercifully the 4-year-old granddaughter didn't come on until the end. It could have been dreadful. Instead it was a fabulous night of funny/ touching/ homespun-country stories about family, politics in the US, Woody Guthrie's life and, of course, dealing with the police and other government types in the tumultuous 60's and 70's. Alice's Restaurant was played of course, with all the joy and humour of the original, even though Arlo reminded us that he's had to sing the song six times a week 10 months of the year, for the last 40 years. But the best so...

Another excellent weekend at Cowley Part 1 Arrived with Bob and Kurt on Friday night to meet Susan and Sandy who had prepared gourmet hamburgers for dinner. As usual, great conversation and plans for tomorrow. Relatively early night. Saturday Sandy, Bob, Kurt and I travelled to Castle Mountain Ski Resort for another great day. Bob's expert instruction had me keeping my weight forward with hands forward too so that my shoulders faced down hill and I let the simple weight transfer take care of my turns. This is actually counter-intuitive as one tends to straighten up if things look stressful. It made for more confident, aggressive and speedier skiing. Kurt and I quickly did five 1000ft green runs, plus a couple of blue sections, without mishap. So after a couple of beers and some pizza for lunch we did one more green and then attacked the first serious run on Castle. Again, little problem making our way down the cat-trail, which is supposed to be green, but clearly is a ...

Sunday couldn't have been better. The temperature at Lake Louise was around +5c but the snow was still light and dry. Dennis was taking step-son, Myles, to the snow for the day and they very kindly invited me along. I'm starting to get the hang of this skiing caper - keeping my weight forward, smooth transitions. It all makes for ability to handle steeper and rougher sections, more confidence, and ... a great deal less fatigue! Apart from about 45 minutes for lunch, we skied from 9:30 to 3:30. I did 11 long runs while Dennis and Myles, who go for the steeper and faster runs, did at least 13. Myles spent the whole day testing himself on the moguls - magnificent to watch. Dennis skis like he's standing and watching the scenery, except that he's moving straight downhill at about 80Kph - annoying to watch. I'm still very much on the green (and sometimes blue) slopes - probably very sad to watch. Only one little adventure when I took a trail down to where I coul...

Reading Week is supposed to be a week for students to catch up with readings and to prepare for the meaty part of the semester. However, like Spring Break for the Americans, it is actually an opportunity to take a week off partying in Mexico, or Banff, or anywhere where there isn't a textbook. Here's the result of an exchange I had with one clever student... Hello Hume This is Kenneth H** from team stud (fist pump). Looking at my schedule for the up coming week I am not sure that I will have enough time to give the assignment a quality effort. I am currently working on a project for The Social Exchange (a student club here in Haskayne) that involves an awful lot of video filming and even more editing for a charity event that we are currently working on. Basically I am asking if I can have an extension until after reading week on the project. I tried to pop by today and discuss it in person to no avail, if you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me either b...

click for photo album At last I attended the Ice Climbing course offered through the U. Calgary Outdoor Centre . Quite a day. First task was a wonderful walk through the King's Creek gorge off Highway 40, just before the gate where the highway is closed for the winter. The gorge is probably on 20 metres at its widest spot with very steep snowy slopes up either side. A beautiful creek runs through the gorge. It's mostly covered with ice and snow of course right now. Water on my boots quickly turned to ice and fixed my laces in place. About 20 minutes walk from the road we came to where a spring from high up the canyon had formed a huge ice butte - our learning site. Crampons are big steel spikes clipped to the boots. The purpose of the toe spikes is to grip the ice when kicked hard into the ice wall. The purpose of the heel spikes is to gouge pieces out of your calf muscles when you stumble on a slope. (I didn't succeed at that part, but I did ruin a go...

I had a relatively quiet day today. I had a fairly late night just round the corner at the King Henry VIII pub on 8th Avenue - a little reward for myself for completing all my assignment grading yesterday. So I got up late and then had to collect a pair of mountaineering boots from the outdoor centre on campus. Mid-afternoon I walked East down 9th Avenue to the IronWood Stage & Grill , about 10 blocks from my place, for the fortnightly Blues Jam session.  My new friends, Bob and Susan have a daughter, Jaime, who is the head chef at the IronWood.   I meant to go two weeks ago, but never made it.  Jaime told me I had to try the steak sandwich.  It was more than pub grub - a truly excellent piece of rare meat with garlic Portobello mushrooms and onion and chipped potato and a wonderful Mexican black-bean soup.  The owner, Patrick, wasn't in this afternoon. Patrick used tobe the manager at King Henry's. Now he apples his decade of experience booking bands and running a b...

It's -20c outside right now. It seems that's quite normal in many parts of Canada at this time of year. I'm surprised that I'm handling it quite well. At least for the little time I have to be on the street. It's only about two blocks from my apartment block to the c-train, and another 100 metres from the University station to my office. It was a little more brisk this evening walking the four blocks from Verne's Bar to the apartment block. I met with my new friend, Kurt Norlen, for a drink at Verne's this evening. Verne's is owned by three guys, Ian, Trent, Clint. Ian is a consumate host - he seems to know everyone in the hospitality trade in Calgary. Ian was at the dinner party at Dennis & Robyn's house a couple of weeks ago. He started in the bar trade as a barman in the Canadian building at Expo'88 in Brisbane. Trent is a blues/country guitar player and song-writer who spends most of his time making contact with visiting/traveling mins...

The view from my apartment balcony at 9:00am. It's snowing again today in Calgary. Nothing unusual in that, except that the humidity is unusually high at 85% or more. Typically it's in the low 50s - very dry. This humidity is making it icy on the roads. A dozen accidents were reported this morning. The morning TV news showed a wonderful scene of a large 4WD spinning slowly along the street bouncing off cars parked along the side. Nothing the driver could do. Luckily I take the c-train in to campus.

From Cowley14Jan2007 Just returned in few minutes ago from a fabulous weekend South near the Castle Mountain ski resort. We didn't go anywhere near the resort - we wre on the castle river in a lovely house overlooking the Rocky's to the West and the Montana's to the South-West. A walk on the frozen lake first thing in the morning and we saw a family of coyote crossing the ice, and mink tracks in the snow. And of course deer were wandering by all day. Just a lovely place to sit and watch the mountains and drink beer and enjoy the barbeque. I'll post pictures of Bob Susan Andrew's house to the blog later. powered by performancing firefox