Category Archives: Terroir

Don’t be confused.  Two different titles but the same story.

“The Yukon is a wonderful country for men and dogs, but it kills women and horses.” At least that was what Amy Wilson was told.

Entitled When Days are Long: A Nurse in the North, by Wilson, who was a registered nurse in the Yukon from 1949 to 1951. In its original release in 1965, the book was titled No Man Stands Alone, and the American release came out under the title A Nurse in the Yukon many years later.

Regardless of which version you might be reading, the story remains the same.

Amy Wilson, who had been a practitioner in various isolated communities in northern Alberta, was hired to fill the job of public health nurse along the Alaska Highway and in the Yukon caring for 3,000 indigenous people in an area covering 50 million hectares.

In 1950, northern roads were crude; Aircraft weren’t as reliable as they are today, and communications were far less sophisticated. Despite all these drawbacks, she provided care for the sick and ailing to the best of her ability, delivered with compassion and understanding.

This book is a great read, and I heartily recommend it.

You know you are on the right track when you become uninterested in looking back.

What would you try if you had no fear?

“Never underestimate a child’s ability to get into more trouble.” – Martin Mull“

Age and Corruption beats Youth and Beauty every time.” …Tony Bourdain 

“Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don’t.” – Pete Seeger“

If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not working on hard enough problems.”- Frank Wilczek

ELECTION REVEALS SIMPLE TRUTHS

The election results for 2013 have borne out two simple truths:  Nice guys finish last and polls are for exotic dancers.

The hardest thing in life is knowing which bridges to cross and which bridges to burn.

About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends. — Herbert Hoover

The problem with designing something that’s totally idiot proof is that society is always designing a better idiot ~Steve Jobs

Don’t hire a person with single digit handicap in golf.  They will never have time to work.

Shouldn’t there be a course taught on how to read the handwriting on the wall?

In The Trees is just about the only place in Carly Simon’s world that there aren’t boys.

She was the first artist in history to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for the same song (“Let the River Run” from the movie Working Girl). 

Growing up the daughter of a high-flying publishing executive, Simon learned early on to crave love and attention, even though she famously suffers from crippling stage fright. 

Men were her salvation – usually famous men, including her husband James Taylor.

Carly Simon has had a complicated life and this book is filled with gossip, juicy insights and is a story of her emotional struggles. 

Thoughtfully written.  I really applaud her honest self-revelations that are filled with both harmony and discord.  At times there is Too Much Information about her difficult relations with men.  It’s a story of pain AND joy in her battle to feel/be worthy.

It’s poetic and insightful.

What’s the meaning of the phrase ‘Hoist by your own petard’?

Injured by the device that you intended to use to injure others.

What’s the origin of the phrase ‘Hoist by your own petard’?

The phrase ‘hoist with one’s own petard’ is often cited as ‘hoist by one’s own petard’. In the USA, ‘hoisted’ is preferred so the alternative forms there are ‘hoisted with one’s own petard’ is often cited as ‘hoisted by one’s own petard’.All the variants mean the same thing, although the ‘with’ form is strictly a more accurate version of the original source.

A petard is, or rather was, as they have long since fallen out of use, a small engine of war used to blow breaches in gates or walls. They were originally metallic and bell-shaped but later cubical wooden boxes. Whatever the shape, the significant feature was that they were full of gunpowder – basically what we would now call a bomb.

The device was used by the military forces of all the major European fighting nations by the 16th century. In French and English – petar or petard, and in Spanish and Italian – petardo.

The dictionary maker John Florio defined them like this in 1598:

“Petardo – a squib or petard of gun powder vsed to burst vp gates or doores with.”

The French have the word ‘péter’ – to fart, which it’s hard to imagine is unrelated.

Petar was part of the everyday language around that time, as in this rather colourful line from Zackary Coke in his work Logick, 1654:

“The prayers of the Saints ascending with you, will Petarr your entrances through heavens Portcullis”.

Once the word is known, ‘hoist by your own petard’ is easy to fathom. It’s nice also to have a definitive source – no less than Shakespeare, who gives the line to Hamlet, 1602:

“For tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his owne petar”.

Note: engineers were originally constructors of military engines.

This is NOT a Self Help Book.

But, I think it is a great read for anyone wanting to make an impact that lasts in the lives of people.

You’ll discover that verbal persuasion can’t solve all the world’s problems, especially when you’re trying to convince someone to change their behaviour. 

Talk is cheap, and it doesn’t get you to a solution. Action is what counts.

it’s not a light read, but stick with it .. and if you apply the principals you will become a real Influencer.

Influencer, the power to change anything, Patterson Grenny Maxwell McMillan Switzler, ISBN 978-0-07-148499-2

Sight

1. Look for trees turning color.
2. Watch for people wearing jackets and raking leaves .
3. Watch for geese flying south.
4. Look for pumpkins and gourds for sale.
5. Watch for squirrels hiding nuts.

Sound

1. Listen to insects singing slower on cool evenings.
2. Listen for the rustle of dry leaves.
3. Listen to children on the way to school.
4. Listen for the calls of geese flying over.
5. Listen for children playing football.

Taste

1. Listen to insects singing slower on cool evenings.
2. Listen for the rustle of dry leaves.
3. Listen to children on the way to school.
4. Listen for the calls of geese flying over.
5. Listen for children playing football.

Smell

1. Smell a pile of raked leaves.
2. Smell a freshly sharpened pencil.
3. Sniff a jacket worn outdoors.
4. Smell a pencil eraser.
5. Smell a sweater that hasn’t been worn since last spring.

Touch and Texture

1. Let a cool breeze blow against your face.
2. Touch a pumpkin.
3. Touch the petal of a fall flower.
4. Feel the wind push against you.
5. Touch some seeds that have stuck to your jacket or socks.