A Painted Sky

It is my first regular morning in the big house since returning from my two weeks in Canada. I went to the gym last night and then had a tuna and peanut butter sandwich before falling asleep on the couch. We've had a cat burglar in our midst and so I checked the surveillance cameras and loaded a pistol in my weary trek to my bed. Kodak has gotten both old and fat enough to have difficulty jumping onto the bed. My last endeavor for the day was helping her up with a grunt from both of us. 
The morning came quickly with the most spectacular sky. Long flat clouds of blue and grey and white traversed the sky - illuminated from beneath by the sun as it crested the horizon. My first coffee sits on the corner of the table - the sun shining sideways through the house. Kodak sits on the floor to its right. A train horn echoes up the grade of the hill. I'm home.

Gate 79

I made it through Customs without incident - although the agent took an uncomfortably long time reviewing the computer screen after scanning my passport. It seems we do US Customs and Immigration on the Canada side of the border because Canadians are so cool. Security was a breeze - and yet they did the explosives check on my camera bag and looked at the polarizing filter with suspicion. It also seems that the Canadian TSA equivalent did not have to drop out of High School to get the job and actually smiled a lot and enjoyed carrying on meaningful conversations.I raced down the moving walkways to my gate pausing for a moment to P (Spelling unknown). It was early and I was alone in there - a long line of urinals from which to choose. I think the rule of thirds applies in such circumstances and I picked the left third. There was the echoing sound of my breath, an occasional water drop, the myriad sounds of the airport entering through the entryway, the odd green fluorescent light shining from banks in the ceiling - and the repetitive sound of a baby crying. Strange I thought as I stood there peeing (Spelling unknown). Again and again was the nearly electronic sounding baby's crying - as if from a doll with a pull string - always the same tone, the same duration. I was quite sure I was alone in there. I paused for a moment(if you know what I mean) to listen more intently, looking over my should and scanning the empty room. I saw myself standing in the row of urinals in the large mirror on the opposite wall above the row of sinks. The place was clean and quiet - hmmm I thought. And then, just as I turn back, I heard the baby again - this time the sound corresponding with the automatic towel dispenser - apparently in some malfunction, dispensing towels quite on its own - the internal motor sounding just like a baby crying in the bathroom's echoed droll - leaving another section of a length of towel on the floor some twenty feet long - sorry, seven meters. And now, as I sit at Gate 79, looking over at gate 81, the sun just peaking over the horizon - pink and orange clouds high, black clouds below - a Chinese man stands before me - alone in the wide expanse of the empty airport - doing thai-chi. Oh Canada - eh!

More Benito

Benito

John's second son Benjamin Stuart Millar is 14. We went to Queen Elizabeth Park yesterday and shot a few new pics for his Facebook page.

The Global Financial Crisis

Instead of paying off mortgages, the Fed and their pals - George W Bush chief among them - have paid off their buddies and their buddies institutions choosing to inflate the entire economy with the infusion of trillions of dollars rather than addressing the mortgage crisis directly. Do you have any idea how many zeros that is? Can you imagine the corruption at play. The entire financial system is built on the faith of investors - our faith in the people there to be concerned more for our interests than their own. And now that the next three generations of the American People have been enslaved by our unprecedented debt - we will enter a lengthy and uncomfortable period of hyper-inflation. Many of you will have to work five or ten years longer than you thought you would have to. What has proven to be a consistently safe investment in times of inflation with a security that exceeds the volatility of the markets has been precious metals. Gold is a good buy today at $783 an ounce. 

Chinook

Titty Hard On

This morning John and I sailed on a 42 foot trawler. It was overcast, windy and cold. It had been raining all night. As we left the protection of the harbor and into the rougher waters, I stood on the bow facing into the wind. My cheeks were rosy red and icy cold rain drops stung like needles as they landed in my eyes. I dawned my Lago Grey hoodie. It wasn't long before my hands were freezing cold, my knees aching and my nipples harder than any previously understood law of physics or chemistry could explain. I mean that they were actual screaming "help me, help me". We fished for Chinook for a couple of hours without luck and then boated up the channel. Tugs pulled huge jams of lumber through the sound. Seals were everywhere and the occasional Eagle. Tonight we've made it back to civilization in Vancouver where there actually is internet signal someplace other than the pub.