Larry Gibbons
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November 28th, 2019

28/11/2019

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Picture
ICE COLOURS
“When the people call Earth “it,”
  They use her
   consume her strength.
   Then the people die.”
             Marilou Awiakta, When Earth Becomes an “It”
I have a theory about one of the reasons why our world is used so crassly. It’s contained in these words: ‘HUMAN RESOURCES’ and ‘NATURAL RESOURCES’.

A lot of uninhibited destruction has been caused by those words.

    
“the last wolf hurried toward me

    through the ruined city
    And I heard his baying echoes
    down the steep smashed warrens
    of Montgomery Street and past
    the few ruby-crowned high-rises
    left standing
    their lighted elevators useless.”


    “I heard his voice ascending the hill
    and at last his low whine as he came
    floor by empty floor to the room
    where I sat
    in my narrow bed looking west, waiting
    I heard him snuffle at the door and
    I watched
    he trotted across the floor


    he laid his long gray muzzle 
    on the spare white spread
    and his eyes burned yellow
    his small dotted eyebrows quivered


    Yes, I said.
    I know what they have done.”
            Mary TallMountain, The Last Wolf 
                                                                         ***

Picture
BUSTER'S GUARD RAT
I remember a funeral for an old fella. He was as stubborn as all get out. He had no power, he had no phone and his house was ramshackle. He was also a hoarder. His yard was buried in his treasures.

Gossip about this fella’s life style careened throughout the land. The general consensus was he’d lived a life which wasn’t up to most peoples’ standards. He’d made bad decisions and just look where that got him.

However, they all agreed he was one tough cookie.

​
Picture
CHARLIE
The fella was found dead in his one small room where there was space for his couch and a wee wood stove.

There was touching music at his funeral. The minister said nice things about him. Gave us a little sermon and, as usual, I tried my best to make sense of the fractured pieces of theology.


​The minister then gave the benediction. The service was over. Except it wasn’t. An Indigenous woman wanted to say a few words.


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LIVING TOTEM POLE
She talked about this deceased man from an entirely different perspective. Nothing about what he had or didn’t have. Nothing about what kind of life’s choices he had made. They knew he wasn’t perfect, but they admired him for who he was. They loved him because he wasn’t afraid of them and enjoyed being with them. They liked his stories, wild or otherwise.

Her speech was very emotional and without judgement. It was plain that this old hoarder was highly valued by the Indigenous People.


​It also reminded me of why I valued my time spent with the Indigenous People. They saw life in a different way. They lived life in a different way. They weren’t judgemental and filled with musterbations. This Indigenous woman reminded me of what I have tried to value in my own life.


Picture
ESKASONI CROSS
“Our real discoveries come from chaos, from going to the place that looks wrong and stupid and foolish.”
                Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monster

Picture
STATUE OF VIRGIN MARY IN ESKASONI
Picture
WEE FAIRY AT VIRGIN MARY'S FEET
Sue and I have, for much of our lives, tried to live as far away from the rat race of accumulation and hype as we could. Our lives have both, in many ways, gone against the accepted grain.

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SUE ENJOYING CAPE BRETON BEAUTY
Sue lived in a cabin in the woods years before we met. I encountered her in the woods and then we both lived in the cabin. We lived with no running water and no road access in the winter. 

​When the road was covered in snow we’d park our vehicles about a half kilometre from the cabin. We’d ski, snowshoe or walk to our vehicles which were often covered with the tongue marks of cows, horses or deer. They loved licking the tasty salt off my truck and Sue’s car.


Picture
BUSTER SAW HIM FIRST
The first day I parked my truck in this field I had to say excuse me to a giant horse who stuck his head inside my truck and tried to lick my steering wheel.

​Previously, I’d lived on a reserve for some time and had to listen to folks tell me how dangerous it was. How they wouldn’t last five minutes on the reserve. And I got advice about what I should be doing to make my life safer, saner, more sanitized and predictable.


Picture
ESKASONI ISLANDS
Over seven years ago, Sue and I moved to Cape Breton. We felt safer after we crossed the Canso Causeway and entered Cape Breton. Because, there’s a feeling when you enter Cape Breton that you are now in the land of the wild. The land of the stubborn and the non-conformist. A place where you don’t have to be cow-towing to the way things should be done and many people here are as stubborn as hell.

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CARVED FEATHER IN ESKASONI FOREST
However, when we moved into our mobile home even some of these Cape Breton folks were worried about our safety. Because, you see, it was located on a flood plain. We were told some folks were talking about how one day a mighty flood would wash us out and into the ocean and we’d all drown.

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SQUIRREL OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW
Have to tell you, life isn’t boring when you’re watching the river licking her chops over the river bank.
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A CAUTIOUS MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM BUSTER
Did I mention we also live in a snow belt? And we don’t plough our driveway all that well in the winter and insurance companies don’t like that. We also have our woodpile in a bad location and they don’t like that. So—-well, you see where that could go. Mum’s the word. Okay? 
But, it’s damn gorgeous here! Got to say that.
"If a man does not keep pace
with his companions,
Perhaps it is because he hears
a different drummer.
Let him step to the music he hears,
However measured or far away."
                D. H. Thoreau

Picture
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM SUE, BUSTER AND A DROWSY LOOKING LARRY
1 Comment

DOGGIE STORIES

10/11/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
CORNEY BROOK
Have you heard the story about this canine fella who liked to crap in the house while her owner was away? You haven’t? 

What would happen is the owner would arrive home, open her front door and there would be her dog, her tail wagging to beat the proverbial band. On the middle of the owner’s living room floor would be a pile of not particularly well-defined dumped doggie doo doo.


Picture
BUSTER ENJOYING FIRE
The first time this happened, the owner let out a blast of shouts and reprimands, grabbed the mid-sized dog by the neck, dragged her across the floor, stuffed her nose into the crappy mess and then tossed the poor dog out the living room window.

​Didn’t seem to matter how often the owner blasphemed, jammed the dog’s nozzle into the poop and tossed her out the window. Because the next day and the next day the same mess was waiting for the owner.

Always the same dog discipling approach. The said owner would open the door, see the pile of dog crap, would loudly reprimand, grab the dog, stick the dog’s nose into the crap and then toss the stubborn doggie out the window.


Picture
CAT GANG
However, things changed one day. The owner came home, opened the door and was, as usual, met by her happy dog and the pile of brown crap on the floor.

​This particular day, however, the dog took control of the disciplining technique. She ran up to the owner, tail wagging like crazy, then ran to the doo doo, jammed her nose into the pile and then, to her owner’s surprise, leapt out the window, all by her little lonesome.

My question is, what had the dog learned by being shouted at, having his nose jammed into his mess and then being tossed out the window? 


Picture
LAKE O"LAW'S COLOURS
Here’s another story. Name has been changed to protect the dog.

Years ago, I got a phone call at work. A partner of mine had had a canine incident which upset her. You see, what happened, was while I was at work, my partner had heard a knock on the door.


​When she opened the door, who should be standing there, but a man. He was a nice fella, I can vouch for that. There he was, standing in the doorway, holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers.


Picture
SEAGULL ON LUNCH BREAK
My partner invited him in. Now remember, this was all happening while I was innocently working at my place of employment.

​The nice man, who lived in our apartment building, stepped in and handed the flowers to my partner.


Picture
FALL BERRIES
During this kind and loving transaction, our dog was standing next to my partner. She was growling. Fido was not very welcoming.

My partner, trying to get my dog to nice it up a touch or two, said to our dog, Fido, “It’s okay, Fido. It’s okay.”


Fido, using, I believe, the same sort of canine reasoning as the dog in the previous story, thought, “I guess it’s okay if I’m told it’s okay.” So, he bit the nice man. I’m assuming because he was told it was okay.


So, I got this phone call from my troubled partner.


I said, “Let me get this straight. A man came to our apartment. He came to give you some flowers and Fido bit him. Did I get this right?”


“Yes,” she replied.


“So what’s the problem?” I asked.


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SUE AND BUSTER AT QUEBEC PICNIC PARK
There’s a little more to this story. I felt sorry for the man, who himself owned two dogs. He owned a very large dog and a very small dog.

​I took the elevator up to the eighth floor and knocked on the nice man’s door. I wanted to apologize. He opened the door. His two dogs poured out. They were all over me. They were so happy to see me and made a big fuss over me as if I was the King of Spain.

​I apologized extra profusely because his dogs treated me with such respect, dignity and love. 


Picture
HIKERS ENJOYING THE VIEW IN CAPE BRETON
A few nights ago, we were sitting in the living room watching a CNN reality television show.

​Suddenly, we heard a thunk, thunk. We also heard a rattle, rattle. I looked up and there was Buster. He had banged his water dish with his nose and then to make his point extra clear, he’d begun to bang his nose against our big drinking water bottle.


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BUSTER AT HIS HUMANS' BEHAVIOUR STUDY TABLE
It was pretty obvious what Buster wanted. I got up and sure enough his water dish was empty. So, I poured water into it and Buster drank the water. See Buster drink. Drink Buster, drink. Sorry. I started thinking I was writing a Dick and Jane blog.

​After Buster had his fill, he jumped up on the couch and sat beside me.

Oh, but Buster was getting rather aggressive with his paw. See Buster get aggressive. Look, Sue, look.


​Sorry. Grade one flashbacks.


Picture
SEAL FISHING
Anyway, Buster began to poke his paw against my shirt’s top pocket. Bang, bang and what is he up to now?

What he was up to was he was explaining to me, by using forceful pointing that he wanted a piece of gum which was in my top pocket.


​I didn’t give him any because he can’t chew gum, but only licks off the gum’s yummy sweet taste and then leaves the denuded piece of gum on the floor.


Picture
HIKER ENJOYING CORNEY BROOK TRAIL
And, like the other two dogs, Buster had thought things out and realized, in his case, that forceful pointing gets results.

See Buster nose or paw tap Sue’s walking boots. Oh look. See Buster nose or paw tap the treat bottle, the blue leash, the food dish, the coat, the truck keys, his tea cup, Olvatine cup, Sue’s bowl of ice cream, my steak, the front door, the toilet bowl. Go Buster go.


Picture
FALL COLOURS ON OUR ROAD
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