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Banff-Lake
Louise ”Watch out where the huskies go, and don’t you eat that yellow snow” Frank Zappa God
tipped over the snowglobe and fresh flakes fall, frosting the castle and the Canadian
Rockies. On
the banks of the Bow we sit, sprinkled with new snow, un-sullied by foot and tire
prints, un-yellowed by cats and dogs. It is the first snow of the season. Holiday
decorations go up, fireplaces blaze with bonhomie, while politicians in Ottawa
punch each other out over a kickback scandal.
Airlines come and go. But one airplane, put in service in 1970 by Pan Am and designed and built by Boeing is still flying, still being manufactured and, like Swiss Cheese or a Brooks Brothers suit, still looks the same. It is that ubiquitous, bulbous Cyrano of the skies, the Boeing 747. Joe Sutter, called the "Father of the 747", led a team of 4,500 (his number) engineers in designing what has been called "the old ladies' airplane" because not even granny is afraid to fly in it. At 85, Sutter is still flying too. We caught up with him in Hong Kong. Nirvana
Tonic I am a river rat. Not a rafter, but a lollygaging Huck Finn kinda swamp rodent who likes to flow with the current and poke around the slough. Lord Buddha describes The Dharma as a raft that floats one to Nirvana. A few days on a river and I find myself paddling pretty close to a perfect state of bliss.I love jungle rivers, draped with serpentine vines (not to mention envined serpents) where steam rises in the morning, macaques squawk and shake their hairy little fists, insects whine like powertools and plumy birds, aloft and aloof, snub me as a lower form of life while I stare at them in admiration. Thailand's
Kwae Noi, better known as the River Kwai, is such a river...
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