Bringing together their affinity for a great popular song with outstanding live performances, Irishmen Damian McGinty, Keith Harkin, Paul Byrom, Ryan Kelly and Scotsman George Donaldson of Celtic Thunder pay homage to cherished holiday favorites on their DVD Celtic Thunder – Christmas. Offering a holiday celebration for all the family, Celtic Thunder Christmas features all-time favorites such as ‘Winter Wonderland”, “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas” and “Let It Snow”, original compositions such as “Christmas Morning Donegal”, “Christmas Overture” and of course the Celtic Thunder fan favorites the a cappella “Amazing Grace” the poignant “Christmas 1915” and the Gaelic version of “Silent Night” amongst others. Celtic Thunder – Christmas is a diverse mix of international and Celtic holiday classics performed as always with the Celtic Thunder magic.
Then they sadly went back to killing each other.
Everybody could have just put their guns down and gone home and said
“We aren’t going to do this anymore. Why should I leave my family
and home to go kill people I don’t even know?”
But it never stops. And never will.
Tom Mix was the greatest of the silent-era movie cowboys, and a cowboy in real-life as well. He reportedly could knock a button off of a shirt with a rifle shot, and jump a horse into a railroad box car. He was married seven times to six different women. (MFW: Don’t try this at home folks. This is only for REAL Cowboys.)
But Tom was 60 years old on October 12, 1940, and behind the wheel of a V8 convertible, not in a saddle, when he decided to race north across the Arizona desert to visit his son-in-law. No one knows how fast he was going when he saw the road repair crew, but some say that he was standing straight up on the brakes, trying to stop, when his car flew into the washed-out gully. Tom’s aluminum suitcase was thrown out of the back seat and into the back of Tom’s head (He was wearing his trademark 10-gallon white Stetson at the time). Mix emerged apparently unscathed from the car — which was not badly damaged — took one step, and crumpled, dead of a broken neck.
The gully was renamed Tom Mix Wash as a makeshift memorial. Seven years later the Pinal County Historical Society erected a monument at the remote site. It’s a mortared, cobblestone pile topped with a two-foot-tall black iron silhouette of a saddled but riderless horse, its head bowed. The horse has several holes in it. At first you may think it’s rust — but then you remember that you’re in a desert, and there is no rust, and the holes are in fact bullet holes.
The monument was restored in 1990 when the horse, which had been stolen ten years earlier, was returned and had its first batch of bullet holes repaired. In the early 21st century a single, sheltered picnic bench was built just behind the monument, for those who want to eat lunch in the middle of a desert where Tom Mix died.
I didn’t just randomly pick this Tom Mix image for my Blog Icon.
I genuinely admire Mix as a real Cowboy who became a Film Star.
He really was an amazing character who did many of his own stunts.
The were a few Western Stars in those days – the 20’s –
who were genuine Cowboys.
This kind of Casting stopped after a while – possibly the reason being demonstrated by this famous quote from the
Great Western Film Director John Ford:
It is easier to get an actor to be a cowboy than to get a cowboy to be an actor. – John Ford
Yet later on we still found a few Cowboys that became BIG Stars:
Ben Johnson the 1971 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for the movie The Last Picture Show.
The great irony here is that Johnson’s career was started
by John Ford who had originally hired him as a wrangler
to manage the horses for his Movies.
Also Slim Pickens who had an astounding film career
started as rodeo cowboy.
Then appeared in nearly 90 Films
and 60 TV appearances
over 40 years.
It’s either in the chalice from the palace or the vessel with the pestle — or possibly, the flagon with the dragon. One of them has the brew that is true, but if you drink the wrong one? You’ve consumed the pellet with the poison and your goose is cooked.Some of the funniest movie dialogue ever. This particular “bit” has been going through my head since yesterday. Enjoy. Have a laugh. You probably need one.
When I spotted somebody out in the water.
What the heck was he doing?? Swimming? Drowning?
I looked closer.
He was wearing a black wetsuit.
And he had a surfboard!!
Good Grief! He was trying to surf!!!
I was astonished.
Nobody can Surf here! (thot I)
It’s too damn cold and the surf isn’t good enough!
This guy must be crazy?
I dismissed it all as a subzero anomy.
Figured I’d never see that again.
How WRONG I was.
Flash forward to September 20, 2021.
We arrive at Pacific Sands Resort on Cox Bay –
the exact location of the 3 day Canadian Surfing Championships.
(Another one of those crazy coincidences?)
I went down to the beach.
and took a video.
You can hear the Surfing commentator in the background.
We knew it was raining ‘up Island’.
We’d been watching the weather forecasts for a week.
But rain or shine, we were going to have a good time.
Guaranteed.
Snapping pics out the window on the way up.
We were running about 3 hours late – trying to find another car rental.
Didn’t happen.
I used to travel ‘on the cheap’.
Rose doesn’t do that.
Our digs
From our window
I can be content with very little.
So I felt like a King.
The Lockfence
Inspired by love –
Destroyed by Excess
On the way to Tofino there are many wonders –
both natural and manmade.
At Wally Creek one small wonder is now gone.
At it’s outset the popular Lockfence aloing the Alberni highway
was a sweet testament to Love which started when one person
placed a simple single padlock on the fence.
Soon others followed. Then hundreds. It inspired many
people and was a nice commentary about the best part of us.
Then the inevitable occurred …
people started to stick anything on the fence:
socks, flags, underwear – just about anything you can think of.
What had once been a Wonder eventually became a trashy eyesore.
And when the covid masks started to appear
that was the coup de grâce – the death blow of a dream.
At it inception: The Wally Creek LockFence / Google Maps ImageJust a few at the beginning / Google Maps ImageA popular rest stop – from riches to rags / Google Maps ImageWhat it became – Look at that garbage! / Google MapsCovid Masks – The final blow / Google Maps
So long sweet lockfence …
Lockfence is gone,
but this popular rest stop will remain.
And on a hot summer day
who wouldn’t want to stop here?
We’re back from a week on “The Island”.
Vancouver Island.
Around here when you say “The Island”
everybody knows what you’re talking about.
And if you’ve ever been there you know that
Vancouver Island is a piece of paradise.
That’s why a lot of folks here retire to ‘The Island’.
When we got back to Calgary we were pretty tired.
I often used to joke that I worked harder on vacation than I did at at work.
It’s true.
All the walking, hiking and exploring can wear you out.
Especially when you’re 73 years old.
30 years ago that wouldn’t have even made me sweat.
But those times are gone.
In all this, Rose and I took over 2000 photos.
It’s an old Photojournalism trick – take a absolute ton of pictures –
one or two are bound to be useful.
And thanks to digital technology you can do that these days.
In the past the film would have cost us a fortune.
A lot of our photos are just tourist quality fare though,
but we still came up with a few good shots to show.
Flew out. We only had a week and to drive from
Calgary to Tofino would have taken a whole day.
Calgary To Victoria: https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.7213336,-116.4069041,6.51z
It takes about and hour and a half to fly over.
Land at Victoria Airport (up the peninsula).
Take a boo.
Rent a car …
2019 Toyota
… head for Tofino.
It takes about 4 and a half hours – if you don’t stop.
We were off and running …
Kind of a teaser Holiday.
But it’s going to be good.
Won’t be able to post much likely.
Sorry.
But we will take a ton of photos.
Unless I drop my camera in the creek again.
There are a lot of nice Day Trips out of Calgary. Sheep River Falls is just one.
Sheep you ask?
We’re talking about these guys:
REAL SHEEP
Not those other things with the wool.
Fake sheep
Didn’t see sheep of any kind tho.
Anyway …
It was a nice day.
The Heat Wave is over. For now.
Sheep River Provincial Park is in the Rockies.
Kananaskis Country to be certain.
Campfires are OK right now.
And just in case you forgot this is the Wilderness.
They just discovered this gentleman’s body. Missing since May.
Cause of death as yet unknown.
Every year people go missing up here. Some are never found.
Advice: Don’t hike alone.
Getting there. The Foothills of Alberta.
It’s a nice drive. About an hour and a half.
I’m becoming an expert at taking photos from a speeding vehicle.
Sheep River at it’s low point. In the Spring it’s a torrent.
Right now it’s just a nice creek.
Lots of people here. It was a Long Weekend and families were out.
It’s no Niagara, but during Spring run-off Sheep River Falls is s raging torrent and pretty spectacular. And dangerous at that time and you definitely couldn’t be standing where these people are.
I’d say this (late Summer) is it’s lowest point.
There she is.
Small thunder.
I think it’s the purity that inspires me the most.
I often remove people from my photos.
But this time they added something that I could never have created.
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi Theme | Kenobi Series Unofficial Soundtrack
Another production I’ve been eagerly awaiting.
It’s been postponed a lot as well.
BUT that’s not always a bad thing.
Because many productions are released before they are finished.
The delays have given them time to refine their products.
Some have even undergone massive re-writes;
changed Directors; and Casting …
Wikipedia says:
Ewan McGregor is set to reprise his role as a Jedi master in Obi-Wan Kenobi, a live-action series for Disney+ set between the end of the prequel trilogy and the start of the original trilogy. The TV series will consist of six one-hour episodes. It was announced that Hayden Christensen would return as Darth Vader in the series and that it would be set ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith.
At the very least we’re given a lot of great posters/artwork.
A lot of these are not Official Posters – but some wonderful fan art.
Never forget.
I went down to the beach.
Snapping pics out the window on the way up.
This guy is ready for his own show.
Campfires are OK right now.
Getting there. The Foothills of Alberta.
“In my Soul I am free.”
