OXBOWS
So what is this word, "Oxbows," anyway??
- January 17-31, 2011
- Diary of a Caribbean Cruise
- ...it was a voyage in the tropics and a voyage into the past.
- ...it was a voyage in the tropics and a voyage into the past.
- January 13, 2011
- About to Sail Away
- ...posted just before Tony and Heather went on a Caribbean cruise
- (Click here for the cruise itinerary)
- ...posted just before Tony and Heather went on a Caribbean cruise
- December 17, 2010
- Walking Requires Two Legs
- ...she began walking around the house without crutches today. It’s fairly ungainly, but it is progress.
- ...she began walking around the house without crutches today. It’s fairly ungainly, but it is progress.
- November 15, 2010
- A hidden website ‘camera’
- Far more people visit this website than I had ever expected!
- Far more people visit this website than I had ever expected!
- November 15, 2010
- Not an Ordinary Holiday
- Tony and Heather go to Toronto, attend a wonderful concert, and have some notable family encounters.
- Tony and Heather go to Toronto, attend a wonderful concert, and have some notable family encounters.
- October 23, 2010
- Churchgoing Report
- Before we’re done, we should have managed to visit and worship with Christians of almost every possible stripe.
- Before we’re done, we should have managed to visit and worship with Christians of almost every possible stripe.
- October 19, 2010
- Feedback about the Old Spouse video
- “OMG! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!”
- “OMG! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!”
- October 4, 2010
- The Old Spouse Video
- in tribute to a popular Old Spice commercial
- in tribute to a popular Old Spice commercial
- July – September, 2010
- The Summer of Being Seated
- Another entry in the cottage diary series
• Part 1 – Getting There is Half the Fun... Isn’t it? • Part 2 – Have a Seat • Part 3 – Rafting, Rescue, Return, and Resumption of Play • Part 4 – Homeward Bound - Another entry in the cottage diary series
- June 28, 2010
- Tony and Heather Tiptoe Away
- Tony’s last few moments at St. Luke’s parish
- Tony’s last few moments at St. Luke’s parish
- June 26, 2010
- Change is underway
- ouch! ...this website wasn’t updated for almost two years!
- ouch! ...this website wasn’t updated for almost two years!
- October 20, 2008
- Watching a Dancing Bear?
- ...Tony plays his clarinet in a concert with his friend, Russ Greene
- ...Tony plays his clarinet in a concert with his friend, Russ Greene
- July 5, 2008
- Re-Connecting a Large Family
- “...the first-ever Harwood-Jones Family Reunion”
- “...the first-ever Harwood-Jones Family Reunion”
- May 11, 2008
- Back in the Saddle... Again!?
- “...the parish leadership was adamant that I be given the assignment”
- “...the parish leadership was adamant that I be given the assignment”
- November 25, 2007
- Retired Guy – Gone to Work
- August 6, 2007
- Late-summer update, 2007
- May 22, 2007
- Life on the Internet
- – finding scholarly treasures;
- – how not to have a life; and
- – re-connecting with my extended family via “FaceBook”
- – finding scholarly treasures;
- March 11, 2007
- Calyn Treads the Boards
- February 25, 2007
- A Proud Parent Boasting
- “‘Opera Canada’ magazine has now published its review of the performance, from which I delight to quote...”
- “‘Opera Canada’ magazine has now published its review of the performance, from which I delight to quote...”
- December 20, 2006
- A Christmas Letter for the year 2006
- “...many good things happening, and nothing really bad.”
- “...many good things happening, and nothing really bad.”
- September 26 - October 4, 2006
- It’s our Pleasure to Serve you
- A major entry in the Diary of an Inheritance series
• Part 1 – Peas and Carrot at the Wake? • Part 2 – Welcome to Bell Canada! • Part 3 – The Leaning Toolshed • Part 4 – From Here to Bombay? • Part 5 – Going Home
(afterword) Reader Responses - A major entry in the Diary of an Inheritance series
- August 15, 2006
- Of cold showers and pirates
- A small entry in the cottage diary series
- A small entry in the cottage diary series
- May 24, 2006
- On the Road with the Islam Presentation
- Notes from a hotel room in Regina
- Notes from a hotel room in Regina
- April 9, 2006
- Better than Working!
- The first winter of retirement races by!
- - Christmas in Vernon;
- - numerous classes to teach during Lent;
- - a trip to Toronto to see Rachael in “The Marriage of Figaro,” and
- - an extraordinary reunion!)
- The first winter of retirement races by!
- November 5, 2005
- Retirement life begins
- August/September, 2005
- (Two brief instalments in the Diary of an Inheritance)
- Peace, relaxation, and a wedding at the cottage
- A sudden departure
- Peace, relaxation, and a wedding at the cottage
- July 27, 2005
- A time of transition, preparing to go to the cottage, and looking ahead to life in retirement.
- March 28, 2005
- Announcing my Retirement
- September - December, 2004
- Tony goes on Sabbatical
- Is this what is called a “blog?”
- It certainly is an online diary. Whatever, it begins here.
- Is this what is called a “blog?”
- July - August, 2004
- And so, Another Summer...
- Vacation doings, and a continuation of the Diary of an Inheritance
- The vacation begins well
- Going to the opera
- Back and forth
- (the most hilarious adventure of the Summer)
- Washing in the woods
- Epilogue...
- (previous instalments of the Diary are found in August 2003,
- July 2002, and July 2001.)
- Vacation doings, and a continuation of the Diary of an Inheritance
- May 18, 2004
- Now this is a Mother’s Day Present!
- Heather gets a wonderful surprise.
- Heather gets a wonderful surprise.
- November 30, 2003
- Update on our lives, late Fall, 2003
- A general overview of the everyday stuff of life
- as Manitoba's cold weather once more sets in
- and Heather and Tony are immersed in their respective professions.
- A general overview of the everyday stuff of life
- September 9, 2003
- Of Mice, and Power, and People...
- A continuation of the Diary of an Inheritance
- ...the first instalment being July, 2001
- ...the second instalment being July, 2002
- A continuation of the Diary of an Inheritance
- July 24, 2003
- Camping in the Age of Flab
• A Bit of Background
• How I Didn’t get S.A.R.S...
• The Old Man and the Mountain Bike
- June 11, 2003
- Introducing Princess Annabelle Pirouette
- take a look...
- take a look...
- July, 2002
- If a Tree Falls in the Woods...
- A summer holiday in which the old adage, “A change is as good as a rest,” is tested.
- A continuation of the saga of restoring a dilapidated cottage in Québec.
- Links to some of the chapters:
• Introduction
• The good ship, “Jack Aubrey”
• A Sudden Surprise
• Doesn't anybody know where the dump is?
• Intrepid Mice
• Dealing with the tree
• Epilogue - A summer holiday in which the old adage, “A change is as good as a rest,” is tested.
- March, 2002
- A Huge Event
- Heather & Tony move downtown.
- There is also a memorial to our dog, Socrates, on this page.
- Heather & Tony move downtown.
- September 23, 2001
- Divas and September 11th
- Creating an "instant concert" in response to the terrorist attacks in the U.S.A.
- July, 2001
- Diary of an Inheritance – the beginning
- Taking over and beginning to restore a cottage in Québec.
- Taking over and beginning to restore a cottage in Québec.
- March 19, 2001
- Rachael wins the Rose Bowl!
- Photo and article from the Winnipeg newspaper
- describing Rachael's great accomplishment
- Photo and article from the Winnipeg newspaper
- January 31, 2001
- How Time Flies...!
- A brief update on the ordinary events of
- November 2000 - January 2001
- A brief update on the ordinary events of
- October 30, 2000
- Impressions of Vienna
- Heather and Tony on the trip of a lifetime!
- There are two parts to this ‘Oxbow’ - a verbal description of Vienna, and a photo album.
- Heather and Tony on the trip of a lifetime!
- September 2, 2000
- Refreshment and change... in a confusing mix.
- Holidays, but also very intense daily life
- Holidays, but also very intense daily life
- March, 2000
- Lorna Harwood-Jones, 1916 - 2000
- My Mother dies and is given a wonderful send-off.
- My Mother dies and is given a wonderful send-off.
- December 13, 1999
- Updates on...
• Life at St. George’s
• Heather's Law Practice, as at December '99
• The most FUN news of the fall of 1999! - August 1999
- Vignettes from our 1999 Summer Holidays:
• Colloquy with Two Moose
• Driving Through a Landslide
• Colloquies with Grandchildren - May 13, 1998
- Changing parishes... after 17 years!!
- Reflections on my recently-announced appointment as Rector of the parish of St.George, Cresentwood.... A “written for the web” account of my impressions in the early days of what turned out to be one of the biggest transitions I’ve faced in a very long time!
- Reflections on my recently-announced appointment as Rector of the parish of St.George, Cresentwood.... A “written for the web” account of my impressions in the early days of what turned out to be one of the biggest transitions I’ve faced in a very long time!
- January 16, 1998
- What happened to your face..!!??
- Heather and Tony live through an auto collision.... Excerpt from an email sent a couple of days after the event to a number of our friends and relations.
- Heather and Tony live through an auto collision.... Excerpt from an email sent a couple of days after the event to a number of our friends and relations.
- November 10, 1997
- Why life is busy for an Anglican Priest in Manitoba
- Excerpt from a letter to a Californian describing what parish life is like in Winnipeg during our extreme prairie seasons
- Excerpt from a letter to a Californian describing what parish life is like in Winnipeg during our extreme prairie seasons
The Diary of an Inheritance
Our Cottage in Québec
After my mother died in 2000, her various children came into possession of an extensive lake property. Several of us got a cottage of our own. However, the one that came to me was very run down, and we had many adventures bringing it back into use.I have kept an online diary of those adventures, beginning with an entry in 2001. I would love it if you read the whole thing right from the beginning (heck, a writer must have readers), but after so many years the Cottage Diary is getting rather long. Whatever else you do, you will want to read how we felled a tree (2002), and the time I had encounters with Hydro Québec, and with Bell Canada (October, 2006). But for the brave and/or the curious, the next paragraphs give a synopsis of every segment in the diary. Click on any year in those paragraphs and see if something strikes your fancy.
A Brief Synopsis
In 2001 there was basic cleanup and a new roof. In 2002 we got a proper boat, we had adventures finding the dump, and we felled a tree. In 2003 we had some adventures with mice. 2004 saw the coming of a new fireplace. By 2005 the place had become what it was intended to be: a pleasant place to spend a vacation. That year saw a family wedding, and a lot of peacefulness, but also a very sudden departure.
In 2006 I wrote a short segment detailing the addition of a cold shower, and the presence of pirates, but also, later that year, the major entry exploring my encounters with Hydro Québec, and with Bell Canada.
A couple of years went by without much happening at the cottage. We went every year, enjoyed our time there, and returned to our lives in Winnipeg without serious incident. However, things pick up again in 2010, when (following my second retirement) I was able to stay at the lake from early July until mid-September. We arrived with an over-full car and no cottage keys, and then I spent much of the summer seated, from which position I still managed to get at least one minor injury.
Much of the cottage story has a funny side, so be prepared to laugh (and sometimes cry).
Oxbows...
Prairie rivers snake and turn across the vast plain with no forests and no rocks to guide them into channels. The land, at one time the silted bottom to a vast sea, gives little resistance to the water, and if the river wishes to turn right, it does; if it wishes to turn left, it does. Sometimes, after travelling on one direction for a kilometer or more, a river might double back upon itself, and return almost the entire distance, forming a great loop on the land, like a festive ribbon tied in a bow.But floods come upon this flat plain from time to time, and the excess water - too enormous and hurried to meander down the various loops - carves swift shortcuts and leaves the bows to sit, truncated, as strange silent curly lakes that have no beginning and no end. The water remains in them, a mute reminder of the former days, but it is still, and goes nowhere.
The word “ox” was added to these “bows” in the days when the primary freight hauler used by prairie settlers was a wooden cart drawn by a single beast - an ox - whose huge and dreary shoulders pulled at their rolling burden by means of a bow-shaped haltar.
The human propensity for naming things sometimes leads to peculiarities, as in this case, since a turn in a river pulls no freight. An “Oxbow” on the prairie is merely a cutoff chunk of no-longer-a-river. Quietly growing lily pads and butterflies in summer. Sometimes skatable in the winter. A sign of something past, and ended.
So... select from the list at the top of this page to see the ‘oxbows’ in my life. Little snippets that used to be currents, now resting quietly, pulling at nothing except perhaps the tasseled ends of memory. Eventually they will evaporate.