Drop Off

I dropped Zach and Sami at sleep away camp earlier today…   This is Zach’s eighth year and Sami’s sixth attending Camp Arowhon so they are “old hands” now.  This year Zach is considered a “senior” boy and hence has the luxury of sleeping in the senior boys cabin “on the point” – a small peninsula that juts into the lake, with everyone being barred entry unless you live in the cabin…   Apparently it’s a rather prestigious place and so he was pretty pumped about taking up residence there.  Sami was especially excited to see all of her friends again and reconnect – she’s such a social butterfly (yes, I mean that in the best possible way, in that she makes soooooooo many friends its hard to keep up!).

Camp Arowhon

This year like most they are going to camp for a month.  Let me tell you it was very hard for me as a parent the first few years that they attended, especially me being without the camping background, all I could do was miss them like crazy and way always a little on edge and nervous about their well being, but I quickly learned “no news is good news” and no matter how much worrying I did they always came away both unscathed but more importantly more independent than ever before!

I guess in retrospect I was the one who admittedly was the “worry wart” in the family, whereas they adjusted to their new environs pretty quickly.   Now at the ripe old ages of 14 and 12 they literally just said – “can you just drop us off at the bag drop?”    “Its okay dad we don’t need you to come down to our cabins – see you in a month”.   I told them that I loved them, gave them an all too quick hug and wished them a great time before they quickly and happily disappeared down the track toward the camp…

When did they become adults I thought to myself as I watched them head off???  

Actually I wish I were going to camp – every year I drop them off and every year I day dream about lazy, sun drenched days by a lake, with tough choices like – do I want to windsurf or kayak this morning?   Should I go zip lining or rock climbing this afternoon?  Rather difficult choices to make each day – don’t you think?  J

Camp Arowhon is set about 40km inside Algonquin Provincial Park, scenically situated on the sparkling and pristine Teepee lake - surrounded by endless forests, hundreds of lakes and thousands of kilometres of wilderness in every direction.

Camp Arowhon main lodge from the dock on Teepee Lake

The camp is rather difficult to spot unless you’re on the lake as there is only a single logging road that ends at the camp.  The best view is from the lake where you see the occasional log cabin or two set amongst the trees and foliage that dot the shoreline. 

 It’s a pretty rustic setting, but the most stunning building is the original main lodge or “ML” as the campers affectionately call it. The ML is an enormous log cabin, which dates from 1934 when the camp was first built.  The camp has been serving generations of families from all over the North America and indeed the world ever since and seems as popular now as ever before.  The other pretty cool thing about the ML is that it’s large enough to seat 300 people in one sitting – can you say HUGE?  

There are lots of cool things about Camp Arowhon – lets explore a couple shall we?   Firstly, they draw camp counselors from as far away as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland and the UK, so the campers all interact in a global setting with accents from all over the world. 

Mist over the water on Teepee Lake - Camp Arowhon

Another important thing about camp is that the kids are totally disconnected from technology and electronics for their entire stay – no cell phones, video games, iPads, tablets or computers…   Hard to believe but the kids really look forward to it and after a day or two don’t seem to miss them at all.   Its tough love if you’re found with one – it’s confiscated on the spot and donated it to charity with no questions asked and no amount of begging, screaming or badgering will bring it back – its gone!

Camp is a real chance to reconnect with nature and slow down without the omnipresent distraction and pull of technology.  Almost a cleansing experience for the kids, which I truly believe, they need from time to time.

There are a few important traditions that every camper quickly get used to – swimming is mandatory and every day, no if’s and’s or but’s…    Another is that irrespective of age every camper goes on an overnight canoe trip – yep, even the six and seven year olds.  As the kids get older the longer the canoe trip lasts…this year Zach is in the wilderness for six days and Sami four.  This means lots of hiking, paddling and lugging their gear over portage after portage, and learning the skills to survive in the wilderness.  Pretty cool really when you think about it.

A camp tradition - the nightly campfire

Surprisingly they relish the challenge and look forward to it just as they do the annual “color war”.  This tradition dates from the camps inception and consists of the campers being divided into teams and competing in a series of camp related games, activities and races towards being crowned Color War Champions.  Every age group participates from six to sixteen and develops a strong bond that spans all the participants, irrespective of age or background.

Clearly with so much going on and so much fun to be had it’s almost impossible to keep your kids away from camp, try as you might.  

For me it’s the excitement that you see on their faces, the enjoyment in their voices when they regale you in their stories and adventures from camp, and most of all the wonderfully rich memories they’re carving into their childhoods – all I can say is "pure bliss"!

Prologue:

With the kids away at camp I’m set to head off to Italy on Monday, as you know this year I’ll be busily editing and re-writing my book in readiness for submission to my publisher in mid August.   Wish me luck!

If you want to reach me I’ll be in San Giovanni di Bellagio sitting on my sun drenched private piazza writing and soaking up the culture in one of my favorite places on earth…

Ciao, ciao!  J

Mates

Isn’t it funny how a simple word can be so confusing to almost 90% of the English speaking world yet in Australia is one of the most common words spoken.   

The word “mate” is a bit confusing for those not born in Australia but to an Aussie it’s used universally for both men and women without thought or bias…   Perhaps that’s the part that’s so confusing to everyone else outside Australia – how can a woman be a mate, unless you ARE the “mate” if you know what I mean? 

(L-R) Craig, his mum Bon and brother Alan whom
we also shared a house with during College
St Arnard - Australia - 1978

This weekend I’m heading to New York City (Again???   Yes, I can hear you - that’s your outside voice!)    Perhaps I should just surrender to the pull and get an apartment in the “city that never sleeps” or the “big apple” as most people affectionately call it.

Well the planning for this weekend all started about six weeks ago when my best mate Craig called from home (Australia) to tell me that he had just been awarded the prestigious Platinum Club award (Top Ten Franchise in Australia) and was being provided with an all expenses paid trip to New York City to attend a leadership training program at Columbia University in mid July.   Very cool!

How convenient I thought?   I could just hop on a plane and be in NY for the weekend, never mind that he was flying in excess of 28 hours to attend the course at Columbia…all I could think of what was mischief we could get ourselves in????    Hhhmmm – the mind truly was percolating along at the very thought. 

The last time we were together was on our hiking adventure in Papua New Guinea some 18 months ago so to say I’m pretty excited at the prospect of hanging out with him in NY this weekend is a bit of an understatement.   

Craig after a hard day hiking on the Kokoda Track
Papua New Guinea - 2011

That being said, the last time we were together we ended up with Tattoos…yikes this weekend could be a little dodgy if we end up with another one ☺.   Okay, not to mention Zach and Sami may very well disown me outright if I got another one.    You see they’re not fans of said “tattoo”.   They get that its meaningful to me because of the hike to Papua and that it represents the memory of my dad, but by and large not so keen on it, in fact I’d go so far as to say that they think it’s a bit trashy…    

Interestingly I have mused to myself on occasion since I got my tattoo in Australia that it might be good to get another one, albeit much smaller and perhaps less obvious.  If I ever got another one it would definitely have some meaning otherwise I don’t think I would.  I’m sure that will be a topic of conversation this weekend and will keep you posted!

My mate Craig and I met in first year of University and from Day one we’ve had this bond that’s hard to explain.  He’s arguably closer to me that my brothers, with more in common on a day-to-day basis, not to mention his “Monty Python - esq sense of humor which keeps us both in stitches.

He also has the unfortunate honour of knowing everything about my life and me…yes, all of it – foibles included.   He’s been there to pick me up when I’ve stumbled (quite a few times over the years), supported me through relationship breakups (since college – lets keep it to a small number shall we) and counselled me through personal loss (both mum and dad’s passing), and talked me “off the ledge” a couple of times (the most memorable one being when I’d decided that I’d had enough of relationships and was going to become a monk – oh, yeah there’s been a few of those times!) and into some great situations – the good, the bad and the ugly I suppose.    

Craig earlier today in Times Square
New York

Conversely I feel like I’ve done the same for him, however I recognize that fact my life has been a tad more drama filled (which may be a bit of an understatement) at times, yet despite my perceived thoughts of an imbalance in the level of support we’ve given each other he’s definitely been a constant and steadying influence over the past 30 years.  

In generations past we would of said of each other that he’s someone who you’d want to have in the trenches with you – a mate whose dependable, a fighter and not someone who would give up on you or the situation easily, someone who’d see it through with you no matter what.

Clearly, the beauty of having a mate like this is that there is no pretence,  nor judgment, just an acceptance of who you are…end of story.   

When we do in fact connect in person its as if we’d just been together, even though its been months or in fact years since we were actually in the same place at the same time – physically together.   It’s like time stood still and here we’re back talking “a mile a minute” like we were all those years ago when we shared a house at Uni.

Over the years Craig and I have played football together, gone on various holidays including the big one to Scotland & London in 2009, hiked the Kokoda Track in 2011 and now heading to New York for a big weekend of exploring.

Watch out New York here we come!

The Apple bites me...

Over the past couple of years I’ve become an “Apple guy” and I’m clearly not alone with a global phenomenon of Apple and the breadth of cool products.  

Now what - once it dies?

 My specific technology issues started this past January when one Friday night deep in the winter I had finished working on my blog (just like tonight), and after packing up turned in for the night.   When I woke in the morning all of my Apple products including my MacBook Air, iPad and iPhone had all been wiped clean, apparently there had been some global cyber attack and all my Apple units had been affected.

I’m not sure if you understand how disconcerting it is to wake in the morning and be faced with blank screens from all of your devices, which effectively have been completely wiped.   Noooooooooooo I cried!

I remember thinking OMG – what now?   Fortunately for me it only took a couple of hours to restore both my iPad and iPhone and got my email accounts and applications reinstalled, but my MacBook Air was a no-go.   

Over the ensuring weeks I endeavoured to get it back to its normal state but to no avail - I researched chat rooms, Apple Support, Apple chat groups, Techie forums – you name it, I tried it.   I just couldn’t get it to restore from my Time Capsule, which was my designated backup.   Unfortunately, every time I tried to run the restore process it decided that for some reason it would become invisible.

The word “crap” became a common mantra when dealing with the laptop.

My MacBook Air - working better now...
thanks for asking!

Then somehow the year got away from me…with work, traveling and the kids it just seemed to get away from me.   I only realized a couple of weeks ago that with my upcoming trip to Italy and the focus of my trip (editing my book in readiness for publishing) I needed a laptop that didn’t have any of my business content or work related materials on it – yes, I don’t want to be distracted during my time in Italy.  ☺

So I decided that I’d better have a professional take a look at it.   I booked into the local Apple store, or should I say the “Genius Bar”, I left work early one day and took it in. The technician took a look at it and quickly ran a series of diagnostics on it and pronounced that it was an easy fix…   Famous last words!

He partitioned the drive and created a new folder and said all I had to do was connect it to my wireless network and choose the backup from my Time Capsule when I got home and connect it to the new folder and it would basically restore itself.

No surprise than when I got home I did as he requested only to be faced with a completely different screen.  I was now faced with a flashing grey folder with a large question mark in it.   I could only turn it on or off, still no love from my dead machine!

Not so sure....

Yeah not so easy and rather frustrated with the process I booked a subsequent meeting with my friends at Apple for earlier today, another ten days since my last visit.

As I drove to the appointment I was stuck on the freeway and found myself in an 8 KM (5 miles for my US friends) tail back behind two different accidents…you have to ask yourself why the accidents on such a beautiful sunny day?

In any event when I realized I would be late for my appointment I called the store in the hopes of taking a later time, but after being on hold for sometime and then finally getting through to an agent I was told that I had missed my time and that there were no other slots available for the day…oi vay!   Please make the madness stop I thought to myself…

At this point I’m still stuck on the damn freeway in this never-ending tailback and now almost beside myself with frustration.   The guy on the phone was very non-committal in terms of whether anyone could help me today even if and when I got into the store.

The "Genius Bar"...really?

When I arrived 35 min late to the store I quickly found the guy receiving and routing people at the front door and after explaining my predicament with the least amount of frustration in my voice as humanly possible (trust me I was on my best behaviour ☺), he said that for some unusual reason the store was pretty quiet and that there had been a bunch of missed appointments (No shit Sherlock!    We were all stuck on the goddam freeway in the traffic jam)

He then directed me to seat at the Genius Bar.  As I sat at the bar I was struggling to understand why it was named the way given my experience to date.   I had to bite my tongue when my very enthusiastic technician sidled up to the bar and asked for my appointment time.   I tried to explain what had transpired, but clearly he was perplexed given that because I had missed my timeslot my appointment had been cancelled and therefore he was unable to find me on his list.    REALLY!!!!

After telling him about the whole experience to date and him finally getting the okay to work on my laptop he once again ran a complete diagnostic...can you say déjà vu?   I now explained in no uncertain terms that I just wanted the machine completely erased so that I could start afresh.

Hhhmmm everything came back clean so he was a little confused as to why it wasn’t working properly.   He asked me a few questions about the laptop which I couldn’t answer – when did you purchase it?   What version of operating system was on it etc…  I was starting to feel as though he didn’t believe that it was my laptop.

Somewhat reluctantly he erased the laptop and re-ran the diagnostic tests, pronouncing it ready to take home.

My final screen...now completely dead and useless.
Hhhmmm - an undocumented feature you say?

Not so fast mister!    I’ve been down this road before, and not leaving until I reboot it and see what screen I get.   At this point in a slightly frustrated manner he rebooted the laptop and said that this could take up to 30 min – yep, I wasn’t leaving until it was done and proved to me that it worked properly.

In actuality it only took about 10 minutes before it came up as though it was a brand new laptop.  The downside was that I lost about 18 months worth of content that I had accumulated including a bunch of stories that I had written.   This was particularly frustrating given that I couldn’t use the Time Capsule backup that I had specifically brought to back up my content.   Clearly an “un-documented” feature of my Apple experience.   

At the end of the day my laptop has been fixed and I should be thankful – no question, but definitely left wondering about our blind dependence on technology and companies like Apple.  There was no cost for getting it back to an operational state and although it took a couple of ugly turns its now done and fixed.    Hallelujah to that! 

All I can say is "just smile and wave boys, just smile and wave…" ☺

The Unfolding Summer

I guess I should be so disparaging but really this summer has been a total and complete bust!   Now, that wouldn’t be so bad except that last winter was nine months long, so in actuality it’s been almost a year without any really decent weather to speak of…with no sign of a break.   

As I write this week’s blog, grey rain clouds loom overhead as it begins to rain once again.  The air is as thick as a wet blanket and generally quite miserable, both rainy and humid – the worst combo of all in the summertime don’t you think?

The view from my front porch today...

 I watch the traffic pass along my street, the cars partly lost in sheets of spay as they pass by, I observe my neighbour rocking her newborn baby on her front porch safely out of the rain…perhaps the sounds of rain are soothing to both her and her baby.  It also doesn’t seem to affect the sparrows as they jauntily hop around on my front lawn picking and pecking at the myriad of small and unseen insects that inhabit my lawn.   Good for them I think to myself.

When I moved to Canada some twenty years ago I thought that I’d get used to the different weather patterns, but really not so much.   When it’s miserable it’s completely miserable with constant rain and grey skies…

For the most part I’ve come to accept Canada as my new home, but for some reason this year I’ve been longing more and more for Australia.  I’ve been feeling the loss of connection between my siblings and me more than ever without Dad who somehow would bring us back together.  I don’t think this weather helps...   

With weather like this I’ve been longing for the hot summer days of Australia, the arid landscapes and dry contours of my native land.  Strangely if I were in Australia I’d be missing Canada so you really can’t win.  One thing I’ve observed with my friends who have moved back to Australia from Canada is that almost universally they’ve all returned to Canada after a couple of years.   You have to decide one way or the other; you can’t really keep connected unless you decide to fully commit to one place.   Not that I was planning on going anywhere cos’ Zach and Sami are my first and only priority and they are here...

Bellagio at the end of the peninsula in
Lake Como...did I say paradise?

Really I can’t complain too much, cos’ after they head up north to camp at the end of July (for a month) I’m going to my most favorite country other than Australia – yes, you got it - Italy.   If you believe in reincarnation then seriously I must have been Italian ☺ in my prior life…    There’s just something about the country that makes me feel soooooooo at home, especially around Bellagio and the lakes.   

Not sure what it is – perhaps it truly is the “La Dolce Vita” or sweet life, as we would say. 

I decided to rent the same apartment as last year in San Giovanni di Bellagio.  The village itself is situated just 2km from Bellagio, hence the name.   Its one of the ferry stops on the lake, but only for the slow old fashioned type ferries that chug their way back and forth across the lake languidly stopping at each little village.   It’s going to be a time to slow right down and relax and catch some sunshine.

The apartment itself is a one bedroom, and has a good-sized kitchen and large living room it also comes with Wi-Fi, which is sweet!   However, the “Pièce de résistance” is the huge vine covered, stone sun-deck overlooking the central village square.   The deck is large enough to comfortably fit 15 – 20 people for an intimate cocktail party, or for a novice writer to catch some rays and create the next blockbuster novel. ☺ 

One of the other things I love about this apartment are the sound of the church bells as they begin their beautiful and haunting chimes each morning at 8:00 am.  It’s truly magical when I’ve open up the large shutter windows and let the sounds just flow in…

Villages dot the coast of the lake with
San Giovanni di Bellagio on the Western side
of the peninsula

Hhhmmm, so what to do in Italy?   Well, other than drink fantastic wine, cook local hand made pasta and eat fresh crusty bread dipped in olive oil each day…likely not much!   Well, I’m imaging that between walks along the lake into Bellagio to get fresh supplies and a daily ferry ride to explore another little village or two along the lake I’ll be happily consumed out on my deck writing. 

This twelve-day retreat will allow me time to edit and where necessary rewrite the chapters for my upcoming book.   In preparation for my trip to Italy, I gathered all of my content to date, and calculated the number of words that I’ve written - it came out at a healthy 120,000 words...   

I need approximately 70,000 words for a book of between 220 – 240 pages so a lot of work still to be done with editing before I can provide it to the publisher for their first pass which will likely be after I return from Italy in mid August.

Seriously if the book is a wild success I’m throwing a party in San Giovanni di Bellagio next year!    So who wants in???