Archive for forest fires
enjoying the apocalypse?!
Posted in pictures, Travel with tags Agence France-Presse, beach, Bordeaux, Cap-Ferret, climate change, forest fires, France, global warming, NYT, pastis, photograph on July 29, 2026 by xi'an
a journal of the chaos, war, winter, wood chore, and cure year
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, Wines with tags album, book review, cabin fever, Canada, car parts, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, fig-tree, film review, Folio, forest fires, fragile environment, George Martin, House of Dragons, jam, Journal of the Plague Year, Kerala, Leamington Spa, London Grammar, maintenance, Montana, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, preserve, Russian invasion, survivalists, The Cure, travel literature, Ukraine, wildlfires, winter, wood cutting, Yaak on October 14, 2024 by xi'an
Read Winter: Notes from Montana by Rick Bass, 
which I found in the book exchange area on PariSanté Campus. In a French translation, within the travel Folio collection I usually enjoy (incl. William Fiennes’ Snow Geese). But not this time, despite my relating to the appeal of cabin life in a remote location (provided it is spared by wildfires)! The reasons are multiple, from unceasing self-glorification for choosing to settle in Yaak Valley, Montana (on the Canadian border), without acknowledging the huge privilege of being able to have the choice, to a very low-level form of environmentalism that verges on the “not in my backyard” version rather than addressing societal issues, while investing in oil drilling in Texas and bemoaning on the time it takes to ship [his] car parts from Japan, to the huge chunk of time and space dedicated to wood cutting and the subtleties of maintaining a chainsaw in subzero temperatures, with again a lack of perspective on the tiny percentile that can afford this way of living.
Made several kilos of fig jam and compote—testing for a difference when peeling the fig, which is not so much about taste as with a more liquid outcome and hence a longer cooking time—, besides delivering daily to the department and the neighbours! Also had a fabulous dinning experience in Leamington Spa in a Keralan restaurant, forecasting a fantastic food scene for the next IISA conference in Kochi!
Watched Season 2 of House of the Dragon (for which Winter is not yet coming!), which is very uneven in pace, appeal, acting, and scenario. Especially the scenario (possibly missing input from the author)! But the lead actresses are running the show most convincingly. (And much more than their male counterparts….) And listened to three new albums by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds (Wild Dog), London Grammar (The Greatest Love) and… The Cure (Alone)!
a journal of the year of fires
Posted in Books, Kids, Mountains, pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Bacchus, Banff National Park, BC, bear, book review, books, bookstore, British Columbia, Canada, Columbia River, COVID-19, dark fantasy, forest fires, Gene Wolfe, Golden, Journal of the Plague Year, Russian invasion, scone, Ukraine, wildfire, Yoho National Park on September 1, 2023 by xi'an
Indeed, the year of the mega-fires in West and East Canada, with Kelowna (and UBC Okanagan where BIRS 23w5106 took place) severely hit. Travelling through BC by car and plane, we saw several wildfire fume clouds, incl. a massive one from the Yellowknife region…
Read a few dozen pages of Gene Wolfe’s The Knight, in the fabulous Bacchus Books and Café of Golden, BC. Despite the positive vibes of the place, I could not engage with the story or the style, which I found quite disappointing given the earlier achievements of the author. There is of course the attempt at recreating an Arthurian tale, with its lack of temporal and logical coherence, but this fails short, in part because the narrator keeps jumping from a pre-teen to a much wiser adult and back. I thus replaced it within the shelf where I had found it, hopefully with no stain from the scone I enjoyed in the same place. A clear advantage of cafés within bookstores (the replacement, not the scone stains!) Also read Angel Six Echo by Robert Appleton, a short sci’fi’ story of the (very) military type, a mix of Warhammer 40k, Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series, Ender’s Game, and a few other space trooper novels. Pleasantly light as I was trying to read a few pages before fazing out after a day of intense activity! Realised as well that Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory was a very very short [almost as short as its long title!] story within the Murderbot Diaries, and not particularly interesting. Still waiting eagerly for the incoming (#8) System Collapse, a genuine novel.
Hiked inside and outside Yoho National Park (Emerald Lake, Mt. Hunter, Mt. Field), with varying success at avoiding the maddening crowd. And the drone of the highway below. Even 900m below. No wildlife encounter apart from the frequent mule deer, the few bighorns lost on Trans Canadian #1, and the lightning fast chipmunks (except when they come begging for food). Despite bear warnings all around. Most days were above the healthy air quality limits, due to the numerous wildfires in the North-East BC, even though I did not feel any change when running or hiking. Made a night stop in Canmore to catch an early flight in Calgary, the place has gone surprisingly upscale from my earlier visits there!
smoky sunset [jatp]
Posted in Statistics with tags BC, British Columbia, Canada, Columbia River, forest fires, Golden, jatp, Pacific North West, smoke, sunset, wildfire on August 24, 2023 by xi'an
Golden dawn [jatp]
Posted in Statistics with tags air quality, British Columbia, Canada, Columbia River, dawn, forest fires, Golden, smoke, sunrise, wildfire on August 12, 2023 by xi'an
