From: David Tinker <dtinker@blunile.guild.org>
  To  : Family Mailings <dtinker@blunile.guild.org>
  Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2000 16:17:28 -0400 (AST)

The Granville Times, Volume 4, Number 1

The Granville Times
Volume 4, Number 1.
Family Edition
January 23, 2000

Greetings from the Winter Wonderland!  As you may have seen on the CBC
news, the Maritimes experienced a spectacular winter storm.  Here in
Granville we had a continuous blizzard for 36 hours, with winds
gusting to 100 kph (60 knots) and temperatures in the minus 'teens
(windchill of -35C).  We did not venture outside, as you may imagine.
Graham Dalton has a barometer (Hi Graham!) and noted that during the
storm, the barometric pressure dropped off the scale!  Indeed, the
weather man on ATV said that the barometric pressure at the eye of the
storm was as low as in a Category 3 hurricane!  The storm coincided
with an exceptionally high tide (a 'spring tide'), and had the high
tide co-incided with a strong west wind, Annapolis and Granville Ferry
would have been in severe trouble.  As it was, the wind was from the
east, against the tide.  But a friend who lives on lower St. George
street reported that six to eight foot waves *from the east* were
sweeping right over the town wharf.  Remarkable, as there is only
about a quarter mile fetch for these waves to build up.

However, all things pass, and today is a sunny (but cold) day, and we
have been ploughed out.  There are some spectacular drifts around the
house, and the view from my window of the fields and mountain is a
glorious winter panorama.  We drove in to church, and were almost
struck speechless by the beauty of Granville Ferry after a fresh snow.
You city slickers must remember that there is no traffic, dirt and
pollution to mar the beauty of a snowy morning here.  As I am writing,
I can see Sheila (on skis) and the dogs progressing across our back
fields, against a backdrop of snowy woods.  Only duty to the family
keeps me working at my computer (ha ha).

As we couldn't even go out to walk the dogs, and my upstairs office
(on the windward side of the house) was frigid, we spent much of the
two days in the library, with a pleasant fire in the green stove.  It
is a very nice place to be, and I was able to have the time to read
some of Montaigne's essays.  These are eminently suited to long, slow,
reflective reading - hence probably not popular with those who like to
live in the fast lane.  Not many 16th century authors are widely read
today, yet Montaigne remains eternally insightful, fresh and
appealing.  Though unlike him in most ways, we are similar in that he,
too, chose to retreat to a country home with a large library, rather
than pursue "success".  Our library here, the fruit of 40 years of the
buying and reading of books, is really quite good, I realise: in the
areas of the classics, literature, poetry ,natural history, political
history, boats and the sea, mystery novels, religion, philosophy, art,
aircraft, music, chemistry, gardening, and 33 unbroken years of National
Geographic magazine, it is probably as extensive as Montaigne's, in
its way.  I hope visitors to this house realise it is dedicated to not
accomplishing anything, but only to enjoying what authors, poets and
musicians, and God's hand in nature, have already accomplished.

Speaking of the fields and mountains, those who have hiked behind our
house will be interested to know that they have clear-cut the woods at
the top of the lane behind Winchester Cottages - about a 60 acre cut,
all done by one man in a tree harvester!  I suppose a larger crew will
soon arrive to start hauling out the logs, which right now are all
lying where they were felled.  I walked up there with the dogs, and it
doesn't look all that bad, just strange to see all the open space.
But it is a fairly small cut, and is not visible at all from my
window.  Anyone who undertakes a hike up the mountain to "Hitler's
Hideaway" this summer will still walk through a succession of birch,
spruce and beech forests, and through old clear-cuts that are now
growing in.

A little digression here on computers and the internet.  I have
finally found a program that truly impresses me.  It is a tool for
conversation.  Of course, savants will remind me that this is only a
'chat program'.  Those savants had better remember that I was making
computers dance for me when they were reading "Little Lulu".  I say
again, this program impresses me.  It's called "OpenVerse", and it is
free software, which runs on Windows, Macintosh, and real-life (Unix)
systems.  It may be downloaded from the website <openverse.org>. (You
will also need to download and install a free software library called
"Tcl", if you have a Windows or Macintosh box. All the instructions
may be found at <openverse.org>).  This software would allow, for
example, several members of a family to be in a virtual "room" on
their computer (a very pretty room, too) and have a conversation via
the keyboard.  Oh yes, I know all about other such programs.  This one
is better, and transparently easy to use.  If you decide to try it
out, you can find me pretty easily if I happen to be online, as I am
most evenings after supper.  My computer nickname is "HighFlyer".  If
you run the program and see me, you can ask me to guide you to a
virtual "room" for Granville Times readers.  Do let me know by E-mail
too, if you plan to try this out.  It's fun, harmless and free - how
often can you say that about software?

As some will realise, this Tuesday will be my sixtieth birthday.  How
strange it is to think of that.  Of course, it is only another day,
and of course, we still feel as young as we usually do, and so on, and
so on.  But it is a symbolic number, and symbols are important to
people.  So I reflect that now, most of my allotted span of three
score years and ten have passed.  How many choices were made along the
way, and how imperceptibly and deeply those choices influenced the
lives of myself and other people.  I would have no desire to go back
and do things differently, for it seems to me now that all choices
open up new paths, and I have had just enough time to travel my own
path.  I do not regret the paths that I didn't travel.  I do seem to
spend more time these days remembering all the people I have known.
It seems good to hold these people in my mind for a while.  I hope
this is not a sign of doddering old age, but merely shows that I have
found the time and the leisure to reflect on the times we had
together, and thus to contribute in a small way to the meaning of
their lives.

Bye for now - I hope to meet some of you in the OpenVerse UniVerse
soon!

David

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 David O. Tinker                    |   E-Mail address:
 4311 Granville Road, Box 2030A,    |         dtinker@tartannet.ns.ca
 RR 2, Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia |   Alternate E-Mail address:
 B0S 1K0                            |         dtinker@blunile.guild.org
                                    |   Voice: (902) 532-2916
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 ***  Plan now to visit the "Port Royal 400" Celebrations in 2005 ! ***
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Skinner's Constant:
        That quantity which, when multiplied by, divided by, added to,
or subtracted from the answer you get, gives you the answer you should
have gotten.
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