Life in Canada
Tom Thompson Trees
Yay! Back in Canada. I’m off to my sister’s cottage near the metropolis of Combermere, situated in northern Ontario amid the rolling, tree-covered hills of the Canadian Shield.
Ah, the rural life. Loons croon, sunlight dapples off pristine lakes and canoes paddle down gently flowing rivers. Oh, and the deer flies rip a strip out of your scalp at every chance, but that’s another story.
Here’s a cottage country joke, courtesy of Don Conway, the sports columnist for The Valley Gazette;
Bruce was at Tim Hortons yesterday when he suddenly realized he desperately needed to pass gas. The music was really, really loud, so he timed his blasts with the beat of the music. After a couple of songs, he started to feel better. He finished his coffee, then noticed that everyone was staring at him…Then he remembered he was listening to his iPod.
Recipe; Thai BBQ Thighs
It’s summertime, so break out the BBQ! This recipe is super simple to make, but so delicious.
Ingredients
8 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on.
¼ cup of fish sauce
1 teaspoon of red curry paste
¼ cup of brown sugar.
Directions
Heat BBQ to 400 F.
Mix fish sauce, red curry paste and brown sugar and marinate the thighs.
Place the thighs on the grill, skin-side up. Close the lid and grill for 4 minutes.
Turn the thighs and grill 4 minutes.
Turn the thighs one last time and grill for 4 minutes. Slit one thigh to check if the meat is cooked through to the bone; if not, leave on for another 2 minutes.
Plate the thighs, cover them with tinfoil and let rest for a few minutes. Serve with rice, potato salad or baked spuds. Enjoy!
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Movie Review
Jaws
It’s been half a century since the iconic movie made its summer debut, coining the very phrase ‘blockbuster.’
The movie is set in a seaside resort on the Atlantic. A young woman’s torso, covered in immense bite marks, washes up on the beach. Mayor Vaughn wants to keep it hushed up ahead of the long weekend, worried that the news might scare off tourists.
Police Chief Martin Brody (played by Roy Scheider), is more worried about public safety, but he keeps silent and pays the price when other swimmers go missing.
Ultimately, the town hires Quint (Robert Shaw), to hunt down the shark. He enlists the help of marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and the pair try unsuccessfully to harpoon it.
In the climax, Quint is devoured by the avaricious fish and Brody barely escapes with his life before the creature is vanquished.
Unfortunately, the damage was done, and many of the millions of movie goers who saw the movie never went into the ocean again!
Lots of lore surrounds the film; Bruce the mechanical shark played havoc with the film schedule, causing huge budget overruns, director Steven Spielberg laughed when composer John Williams played the now-famous two-note theme, Chief Brody’s famous understatement when the shark rips the back off Quint’s boat; ‘you’re gonna need a bigger boat,’ was an adlib.
All of it contributed to the epic that continues to fill you with chills and thrills fifty years later. I highly recommend Jaws!
Book Review
The Searcher
By Tana French
Tana French is a very talented mystery writer based in Dublin. Most of her novels focus on the police procedural, describing the gritty criminals and jaded police who haunt the cobbled lanes of the nation’s capital.
The Searcher is an entertaining variant. Detective Cal Hooper has retired after 25 years with the Chicago Police Department and purchased a parcel of land in the quiet backwaters of rural Ireland. His goal is to lose himself in the bucolic setting, healing a soul bruised by disillusionment with his career and an acrimonious divorce.
At first, all goes well as he patches up an abandoned farmhouse, using the carpentry tools inherited from his grandfather. His neighbors, including a bachelor farmer named Mart, provide charm and companionship at the local pub.
Things go awry, however, with the appearance of a twelve-year old child named Trey. Half wild from parental neglect, she is seeking Cal’s help in tracking down her older brother Brendan, who has disappeared without a trace; the police say he is just off having a lark and will eventually resurface, but Trey has her doubts.
Cal uses his detective skills to interview friends and family, searching for the reason the young man vanished into thin air. Brendan’s phone, credit cards and social media contacts are all silent, pointing to a potentially dodgy demise.
As Cal spirals closer to the truth, both he and Trey come under attack. He finds himself in a race to uncover what really happened to the lad before it’s too late for all of them.
The novel is a real treat because the author has the lyrical gift of the Irish and the penchant to spin a yarn out in a slow, measured pace that seductively pulls the reader into the lives and heart of the countryside. I highly recommend The Searcher!
Bonus Book Review
James
By Percival Everett
James
By Percival Everett
In Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Huck escapes his abusive father and sails away to far-fetched adventures with Jim.
In Everett’s imaginative re-imagining, the story is told from the viewpoint of Jim, the slave of Miss Watson. When Jim hears that he is going to be sold to a new owner in New Orleans and separated from his wife and daughter, he decides to run away with Huck until he can figure out how to rescue his family.
The story is a brilliant blend of humor and trenchant observations that ridicule the absurdity of racial supremacy. While steadfastly pursuing his goal, Jim endures the brutalities and humiliations that illuminate the vicious reality of being a slave in Dixie America.
Everett is a tremendously talented author and worthy of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for this novel. If you are unfamiliar with his work, I highly recommend James as a starting point!