Gone Fishin'

Well, I'm back. Back after a wonderful week in Temagami, Ontario at Loon Lodge.

Here's the dock and snack bar...and the cottage we stayed in.

The weather was pretty good for the most part. It rained Thursday. It was somewhat threatening Wednesday and Friday, but those were our best days fishing. Pierre and I fished off the dock Monday and caught nothing to speak of. Tuesday we rented a boat

and fished at Sliding Rock where we caught about 6 medium-sized bass. Wednesday the lodge owner, John Moskwa, took us way out somewhere on the lake where, using our own rods we drifted back and forth and boy were we succesful as the following pictures will attest.

Boy were we happy. We just seemed to keep catchin' 'em. When all was said and done we brought back 16 fish among the 3 of us. That doesn't count the ones we threw back. Having caught big ones we started to get cocky and threw the smaller ones back. The 8 biggest ones are held by Pierre, John and John Moskwa, below. The 8 smaller ones we ate for dinner that night!

Or another way of looking at them...Of course we took it easy too. Some of us read...
And others took a very relaxed approach to fishing off the dock...

Still others preferred to park themselves in the cottage...like Duke!

All in all it was a great week. John and his wife Jenny took wonderful care of us. And they said they missed Jim and hoped to see him next year.

Book: Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson

Music: Under the Blacklight by Rilo Kiley

Diebold Variations

Ah a sleepless mind wandering the internet is a dangerous thing. Early this morning I found a delightful site. This guy, Rand Careaga, came into posession of an image of Stalin casting a vote and wondered what he might have made of the new touchscreen voting technology. Careaga says a magazine ad suggested itself. Then another, and another... (He stopped after 2 days)

I've copied what I found to be the best. The rest can be found at: http://homepage.mac.com/rcareaga/diebold/adworks.htm

These ads call to mind that wonderful Al Capone quote, often mis-attributed to former Chicago mayor Richard Daly "Vote early, vote often."

Book: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson

Music: Showbiz Kids - The Steely Dan Story 1972-1980

Update

Hi. I know it's been awhile. Everything's fine. I'm feeling well. Last week I did my fourth session of chemo and it was the first time I didn't really have any ill affects. My legs are sore lately, but according to the folks at the Stem Cell Transplant Unit it's unrelated to the chemotherapy process. The doctors have agreed to hold off until after Megan's wedding for the high dose chemo and stem cell transplant. Sounds like I'll be busy come September and October.

Maryse and I went to see an excellent movie last night - The Bourne Ultimatum. A fascinating movie concerning the degree to which a government can follow an individual citizen's every move no matter where they are in the world. It really makes you think. And of course there were the requisit car chases...but very well done. We loved it. Some chase scenes were so long we turned a little blue holding our breath! Wow.


Book: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson

Music: 30 Years of Stony Plain by Various Artists

Flowers

During her holidays, Maryse has been busy at the front of the house in the garden. She's weeded the garden inside the circular drive; planted some flowers and started to fill it with bark (10 bags down, 30 to go!). It's looking really good!


The lilies are on the side of the house and are a transplant from the backyard.

Book: The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson

Music: Tim O'Reagan by Tim O'Reagan (Jayhawks drummer)

Chemo Round 4

Round 4 of my chemo treatments commenced yesterday. The Medical Day Care Unit first called while we were in Montreal last week at the Police concert. They called again Monday to schedule treatments this week - 8am Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I like it like this, getting them out of the way first thing in the morning. This should be the last session before the heavy duty chemo and the transplant in September, sometime after Megan's wedding September 2nd.

Philippe was down for a short visit the last couple of days. Maryse was dropping him off at the bus station around noon today for the trip back. It was good to see him at home again (even though we just saw him in Montreal last week!). We could tell he was here - the telephone rang!

Book: Frequent Flyer by Kinky Friedman

Music: Dog Years by Tom Wilson