Calgary

So much for "frozen wastes": It's a balmy +11° (Celsius) here in Calgary. There was a Chinook this morning, what little snow there was melted away. All else is as it should be: The sky is that wonderful wintery pale blue that fades to nearly white at the horizon, with not one cloud in sight, and the sun is just setting. There's a hand-caught salmon for dinner, and I'm back online.

Life is good.

I spent the weekend at a cabin in the woods near Banff with my cousin and her family. No TV, no radio, no internet, no cellphone connection - but a microwave; and a frozen lake to walk along the shores of, and trees to listen to the wind sighing through, and magnificent mountains to be awed by. We saw mule deer and bighorned sheep grazing by the side of the highway, and heard (but did not see) elk calling by the lake.

I was amazed how simple it was to get online: Disconnect the cable modem from my cousin's PC, connect it to my Mac, Mac says "I just found a cable modem, should I use it?", I reply "yes please", and I'm online. Yes, yes, small things do amuse small minds, but please remember how difficult all this was just a few years ago.

Next stop: Regina.