Victoria to Winnipeg in the late fall

Roger's pass

Madness to drive - but I got here in three days with a stop at Sorrento where I left two copies of my book in the hopes that a course or two in the interior might be the result. Then to Calgary for a visit with my brother and his wife. Then in one fell swoop to Winnipeg, 12 hours driving, 15 hours elapsed. Altogether just under 2500 km.

Saskatchewan migration 

The country is beautiful. You see the images of the mountains at Roger's pass and on the prairies, the lake full of migratory birds. These places deserve more time. So many more images I could have taken like mount Baker in full sun after the fog and very slow traffic in the Fraser valley, and two days later, the browns and blue of the prairie with the 360 degree bowl of the sky overhead.

I drove from dark to dark, from sunrise to sunset, through the foggy mornings and the hazy dusk.

Ferry fog at Schwartz Bay

Those are the times where it is hardest for old eyes to see. I got comically lost in Calgary both in the evening at rush hour and in the morning. Usually it was because of construction.  I gradually learned to use the mapping software and the hands free instructions from the Blackberry Z10 but it is a learning process and I had no idea how much battery it would take when I was also listening to psalms read in Hebrew, a recording of the St John Passion and lectures from John Searle on speech acts - and all these in random order. (Random order is necessary for Searle - more challenging. He is alternatively boring and hilarious.)

Grandmother Diana with Oliver

And all this driving - for what - to prove we could get here in two days with two drivers when the weather is OK. Here is where the grandchild is - such a babe - so many moving parts - the little hands and miniature knuckles, the skin that is just a little to big for him, the eyes wide open, or shut in sleep, or opening and closing as if to make up his mind, the feet that move almost too flexibly, the strength of limb, the hand almost grasping, the fists closed, the palm open, the five-furrowed brow and delicate hair, the eyes of indeterminate colour - but which will be brown.

Two copies of my book have been delivered here too to local congregations. There are many churches, but not full or even open during the week. Much to ponder in this time when I am not writing - but there is so much that could be writ... Perhaps we will do a study here too in the spring...

Saturday next, all things being OK with new mother and child, we will drive back to Victoria for Dixit Dominus and a course on the psalms beginning November 12. There's plenty about children in the psalms - but here's a couple of verses that occur to me...

... he himself knows our fashioning (Ps 103)
your eyes saw my embryo and in your book all of them were written
days were fashioned and its one was in them (Ps 139)

so it is now for Oliver Michael Robert MacDonald, aged a fortnight. Simon, Dad, and Jennifer, Mum, are doing well - and are well supported by all the medical and employment systems we have in Canada. Bravo for the whole team from Doctor to the team of the Winnipeg Symphony, not to mention visiting retired ballet dancers.