Archive: May 2005

A year ago today, somebody cut me a new a$$hole and removed my old one. What a year it has been...

I was told it would take up to three years to recover from the surgery and the chemo, and I am beginning to believe they are right. I still have trouble sitting for an extended period of time.

I guess Mr Optimist is getting a dose of reality.

60 Years ago the Canadian armed forces liberated Holland, my home country. 7,600 Canadians gave their lives in that effort. CBC created a 1-hour documentary which was very emotional for me. My dad was one of the young men hiding from the Germans so he would not have to work in German factories. I hope CBC will put this documentary on DVD as part of their "History of Canada" series.

THANK YOU, CANADIAN VETS, AND FAMILIES WHO LOST LOVED ONES.

I'm sitting in the backyard with the laptop and a glass of wine... Only about 15 degrees C (69F), much nicer than the forecasted day of rain. :)

So, what's blooming? Tulips, daffodils, grape hyacinths. Crocuses and scillas are finishing. Two different anemones (pasque and wind flower) are also blooming but these are not as showy.

The crab apple is starting and it looks like the lilacs survived last week's cold period. Saskatoons are just about ready to start blooming.

Martagon lilies are way up. We'll have to see how they do after last year's no-show. Some of my 2003/2004 martagon seedlings are up, and so is Darm's seedling from 2002/2003.

Henryi, Tsingtauense, Black Beauty, and several Asiatic lilies are poking their noses up. I planted Yelloween and Iceberg last year and they are up too.

I think all daylilies are back, and some irises are budding already.

Oriental poppies are getting quite large, and the Icelandic poppies are budding.

As I no longer have a proper pond, I have made my barrel the pond for this year. Got to get a pump in it for circulation, some fish and some plants and the birds should enjoy it.

Was out at Salisbury Greenhouses but too busy to my liking. Did not buy anything--can you believe that? I can't... :)

Oh, clematis. Did not lose a single one this year. Even the two I bought late last summer are doing great.

Hardy herbs... I asked a question about that last year. It looks like Greek oregano is hardy. The @%$@#% neighbour's mint is hardy, of course, and now growing in my garden. Thyme is coming back but not great. This year I'm going to try chives.

Over-wintered two coleuses and bought a few more, so my shade planter should look nice. Over-wintered a nice geranium also, and bought another nice-looking one. Or should I say, pelargonium?

My son, who is a perfectionist, much like I was at his age, has created a distro called Annvix (annvix.com), a secure, server-oriented distro based on Mandrakelinux. Annvix is now starting to get some publicity. Try a Google search.

I think it is kinda cool for one's son to follow in his footsteps. :-)

I was going to spend the day gardening in lovely 26C weather, but it wasn't to be.
A week ago a hard drive crashed in one of my systems. My photos, some web site data, install files, development files, and a lot of history seemed lost. After mucking with various Windows systems, I had no luck and I was thinking of how I could use various old backups to get some of those files back. Which brings me to today. My son the genious had mentioned that he might be able to recover files using his Linux systems and network. Turned out he had the solution so that turned out to be the project for today. Then we had to go shopping for a new hard drive to put the data on. Ended up with a 320 gig LACIE big disk. I was home at 10PM with the files I wanted to keep. A hard drive crash is a great way to clean up... ;-)

With 27 degree temps (80F) one tends to slow down. Yet I had to pay another visit to my son. We were copying files via two methods back to the new hard drive, but one method made it so secure, I could not access the files. So those had to be redone. Everything is honky-dory now, some $800 later for the new external drive plus the replacement for the crashed unit...
But back on topic. I'm looking at mostly yellow tulips and a dozen red ones, and a good crop of daffodils. All the species lilies are above ground, and so are the martagons. I'd say 60 to 70% of the Asiatics are up, and even some OT's and LA's. I hope the severe thunderstorms with hail don't materialize. I can replace the coleus and pansies, but I hate to see the lilies damaged. One iris has been blooming for a few days already and others have buds. I think the cold spell killed the allium buds, they are turning yellow.
Planted some perennials yesterday, in between file copying sessions. Just some filler stuff for where the pond used to be. I am also going to plant herbs and see how they over-winter. Greek orageno is coming back great. I bet it's going to creep all over the place. I just hope it's not as invasive as mint.
Got some geraniums, herbs and tomatoes ready to plant but I'll wait another week.

Very curious that part of the network at Northlands went haywire over the weekend and that my webserver is also acting up...
Auroras in Nebraska? California? Arizona? Believe it. On Saturday night, May 14th, Northern Lights rippled across the United States during an intense geomagnetic storm. The display was triggered by a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) hitting Earth's magnetic field.
January 2005, November 2004 and October 2003 also had higher solar activity... Hmmm... Gotta check those logs...
Perhaps already marginal equipment is affected so that it fails...
Looking for comments...

EDMONTON - In every career, there are moments to dream about, moments that are the culmination of years of hard work and preparation.
For an athlete, it might be the chance to compete in the Olympics. For a lawyer, it might be the chance to argue a case before the Supreme Court of Canada. For a person who plans big events, it's hosting a royal banquet.
"My heart was kind of bouncing out of my chest," says Leanne Smoliak, a senior manager at Northlands Park. "It felt very surreal."
It's Smoliak's job to make sure the AgriCom at Northlands Park is in perfect shape for the Queen and Prince Philip, when they arrive Tuesday for a black-tie banquet organized by the federal government.
But how do you turn the AgriCom -- home of everything from the Motorshow to high school rodeo -- into a royal dining room?
First, bring in lots of carpeting (about 70,000 square feet), fabrics and floor-length linens to soften the concrete floors and walls.
Then decorate with a veritable greenhouse of flowers and plants, both for colour and scent.
"We're going to be using a lot of local greenery," Smoliak says.
Inside the banquet room, special spotlights will ensure an elegant feel and should obscure the exposed AgriCom ceiling. No detail is being spared in the preparations. It is, after all, a dinner for the Queen.
"Nobody has done an event like this in the city, since she was here for the Commonwealth Games," Smoliak said.
The focus of the banquet room will be two head tables, one for the Queen and one for the Duke of Edinburgh. Those tables will be the most elegant, with complete sets of Royal Doulton china, crystal stemware and polished silverware.
While Northlands is well equipped for such dinners (it hosts about 40 every year with as many as 1,000 guests each), there will be a few special touches brought in for the occasion. The silk for the head tables will come from New York and the chairs from Montreal or Los Angeles. The china, crystal and silverware are all from local sources.
Northlands serving staff will get a full briefing about royal protocol.
One of the complications of serving the Queen is security. As a result, Northlands has to be extremely secretive about what is happening on May 24th. That means the menu, the guest list, the security details, the layout of the room, the costs and just about anything else not mentioned in this article are top secret.
Not to worry, though; you can be sure Smoliak and her crew will be ready. "This isn't something you do halfway," she says. "You either do it perfectly or not at all."

--The Edmonton Journal

It seems so young, a province only 100 years old. Goes to show how recent even I am in this province. 32 years out of a hundred makes me feel old, yet significant. What other place on earth can you say you've been a part of it for a third of its existance?

From what I have participated in, this is a very special event. Of course, only the survivors (we called them victors this evening) attended the survivors pre-program. Olivia Butti, a breast cancer surviror of almost 30 years, and city politician when she got the news, is one awesome example of being positive. I would love to meet her face-to-face sometime.This lovely woman who has no breasts left, is just an awesome person. You will see her when I put up my photos.
When the survivors reception was over, we all gathered in front of the entertainment stage.After the necessary speeches, we got ready for the survivor/victory lap.
Cecile walked the victory lap with me, but I lost her when we were posing for the survivors group photo. I guess she was taking photos too.
The luminary lighting was scheduled for 9:30 but we left at 8:30. My butt and my back were a royal pain...

Some photos can be seen at photo.danen.org.