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Thursday, March 13, 2008

i'm it

i've been tagged by Granny P to give 7 weird things about myself....

weird (adjective)
1. odd - strange or unusual
2. supernatural - belonging to or suggesting the supernatural
3. of fate - relating to or influenced by fate

hmmmm....

actually, i'm having trouble narrowing it down to only 7.

1. my mum used to tell me i started singing before i could talk. as i was adopted, and there's not a single musical gene to be had in my entire adoptive family, that doesn't inhabit my body, this made me pretty weird amongst that crowd. so when the public school system began orchestra and band programs in my 10th year of driving them all crazy with it, my dear old gran cornered her first-born son, my dad, and told him, most adamantly, "you get that girl in music lessons!" what i really wanted was a flute, but, budgets being what they are, and there being 4 other kids to raise, they went with the cheapest instrument they could get. a fiddle. the rest, to borrow a cliche', is history.

2. i love liver. coated in cornflour and garlic powder, fried in butter with about a hundred pounds (45 1/2 kilos) of onions.

3. i've been married 3 times (metric equivalent is the same). they all ended badly. marriage doesn't appear to be something i'm good at, so i've given it up.

4. i once lived , pretty much off the land, for 6 years, in a log cabin on the banks of the Yukon River. ...well, actually, several log cabins, ranging from 3 miles (5 km) to 35 (58.3 km) miles upriver from Dawson City. always upriver, in case the motor on the boat gave out... i could always float to town for help. during the (excruciatingly long) winters i travelled by moccasin, x-country ski, snowmobile and dog sled. my lead dog was a brilliantly intelligent, gentle, gorgeous silver part-wolf husky named Sis. most of my time there my only company was 2 small children and the dog team. they say that kind of isolation leaves a person a bit weird.... that could explain some things.

5. i've eaten some strange flesh. (see #4) beaver, porcupine, various fowl and fish, squirrel, wild rabbit, lynx, moose, caribou, deer, elk, bear were all pretty standard on the menu at the time. many of them i had to kill before i could eat them. salmon was a mainstay, as the Yukon is a major route for King Salmon and Chum (dog salmon), on their way to spawn. it was what we fed the dogs, and ourselves. i never got tired of salmon - had tinned salmon for lunch today, in fact.

6. i rode in the Numb Bum the last year it ran in Fairview, Alberta. this is a 24 hour motorcyle marathon that was run by Fairview College's Harley Davidson training faculty each year. in February. on a frozen frog pond called George Lake. temperatures that year hovered in the -35C vicinity for the duration of the event. probably lower over night. i'd had a dirt bike as a teen, and a friend was looking for volunteers for a team, so i volunteered. we put duct tape on the bridges of our noses to keep them from freezing, and sheet metal screws in the knobby tires of the bikes to give traction on the ice. when it was all over, everyone wedged the front tire of their bike firmly in a snowbank at the edge of the track, and revved the engine this threw rooster tails of ground ice off the back tires as the sheet metal screws dug a trench. it was really quite spectacular to see.

7. i've tried a lot of lines of work.... waitress, barmaid, tire repair girl, bakery assistant, historic tour guide, camp cook, camera sales person, ran the emergency phones for the fire department, day home provider, dish washer, violin teacher, session musician, fashion designer, seamstress, house painter, writer, administrative assistant, accountant.

i'm supposed to tag 7 others, but i have a very small blog community, and i see most of you have already done something like this, so, i appologise, Penelope, for dropping the ball.

11 comments:

lindsaylobe said...

Hi Granny F

Thanks for your post about yourself, delightful to read all about your past life and activities!

I think maybe your biological mother must have been a musician or singer. Consequently maybe in the womb you were already hearing and cultivating a love and longing for all that is magical and inspiring in music.

It also sounds to me as if you’re remarkably self sufficient, living as you did in such along period in virtual isolation, upstream as I note.

From what you like to eat it seems you like interesting strong flavors in your food along with powerful motor bikes. Personally I love salmon and would eat it most days.

I also used to take out my wife on the back of my motor bike; to folk singing concerts and not wishing to look out of place I would usually hide the goggles, helmet and gloves etc up the nearest tree, to stroll into Greenwich villager looking very cool, or rather as I perceived myself then.

So now you’re a creative accountant as well.
Best wishes

gfid said...

LL - i've had the same thoughts about my birthmum..... so, now you've tweaked my curiosity.... if you haven't done the meme, consider yourself tagged!!

clairesgarden said...

you would get on so well with my friend Deborah-Ann in Nelson. your both 'life rich' with similar experiences.

Gary said...

Yikes! What an interesting list. A liver-lover and 3 hubbies, just for starters. You're an interesting woman and you've led an interesting life (and that's the 7 you're willing to tell ;)

susan said...

Wow Gfid! I am so impressed about so much of what you told us but most especially the 6 years in the far north. Log cabins, hunting caribou and bears for crying out loud? Geez, that's all pretty amazing.

I had some friends who lived on Baffin Island and then in the Yukon. Their stories about blizzards, deep snow, whiteouts and sheer cold were hair curling to me. If they were going between buildings during a blizzard they had to hold on to ropes to guide them to the next place. Does that sound true to you?

Once I left the lake I only ever spent holidays in the country and Galliano Island (as a for instance) couldn't be called roughing it even if you lived in a tent. I'd be interested how the two children did and how they've managed with that experience as a background.

Great post and thanks to Penelope for asking.

Alice (in BC Canada) said...

Hello. I've been meaning to come visit you for quite some time now, and finally made it over.

I love your 7 'weird' things about you. I can somewhat relate to #2 & 3, but the rest are beyond me, hahaha. Nice to get to know some things about you. I can see I'll have to come often and read more.

gfid said...

claire - i love the Nelson area... it's just full of fascinating people. a friend has a cabin near Nelson, in New Denver, that i borrow occasionally for a holiday.

gary - do you suppose there's any connection between the love of liver and onions, and the difficulty keeping spouses?

susan - i suspect the storms are worse on Baffin island, as the terrain is flatter (i think?) we had storms in the Yukon too, but because it's so hilly and mountainous, and well treed, the winds don't have as much time and distance to really pick up speed. i have heard the rope trick from old timers here in northern alberta, though... pretty flat here. ...the rope to the barn, tied there early in winter, as insurance. used to go care for the animals in a storm. it's easy to get disoriented in a whiteout. if the nearest neighbor is miles away, and there's no one to come looking for you if you're late for supper, you don't want to lose your way.... the kids - the eldest moved back to the Yukon and is still there, working as a carpenter. he loves the wilderness. the second (a daughter)is a fashon diva who loves the city and always looks like something off the cover of vogue magazine. both very self confident individualists.

gfid said...

alice - thanks for stopping by. i've seen you around as well, but i guess i don't get out much. nice to finally 'meet' you :o)

susan said...

GFid - Thanks for answering and yes, that sounds right that was Baffin Is. where they had to use the ropes sometimes in winter just to get around. He was a teacher and she a nurse with two llittles girls. They also grew into self-sufficiency so the experience of hard living must be beneficial.

granny p said...

Gee - you make my life sound very tame. Dawson River etc sounds like Jack London to me, not real...obviously it is.

I'm glad you didn't this. Dropping ball no problem to me.

gfid said...

granny p - don't burst my bubble. i think you're very exotic.