Blog Archives: December, 2006
More Japan photos
Matsumoto-jo Castle I’ve posted a gallery of photos from my trip to Japan in October. The photo at left is from Matsumoto-jo Castle, apparently one of the finest and most authentic surviving samurai castles in the country; Matsumoto is not too far from Nagano, a couple of hours north of Tokyo.
Paper cranes, Children's Peace Monument In the Peace park is a museum documenting the devestation that followed. It includes copies of the letters of protest that the Mayor of Hiroshima now traditionally sends to the leaders of nations after a nuclear weapons test; 592 had been sent as of our visit, the most recent being just a few days earlier to Kim Jong-Il of North Korea. Outside the museum is the Children’s Peace Memorial, filled with school groups presenting chains of paper cranes.
Himeji-jo panorama After Hiroshima, Paul and I visited Himeji which is home to Himeji-jo Castle, the most beautiful samurai castle in all of Japan. Paul then headed off to Osaka while I made my way to Nara and then back up to Tokyo. Pictures from both those locations, and many others, are in the gallery. Enjoy!
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IQC Christmas
Donny, Gus, Mike, me, and Lana at the IQC Christmas party My research group, the Institute for Quantum Computing had its Christmas party at the beginning of December. We had dinner and then went curling, which I am not very good at but enjoyed nonetheless. It was a family party, so Pere Noel and his elf came to give presents to the children. My supervisor Mike was dressed up as an elf (with curly elf shoes too, which unfortunatey you can’t see in this picture). We asked him to take a picture with us when he was done with presents. He suggested we wait a moment so he could go change out of his outfit, but we said it would be fine. I’m sure you can imagine why.
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A Dog’s Christmas
When I was in Grade 7 in 1991, I submitted this Christmas story to the Windsor Star’s Christmas story competition. I came across the newspaper copy recently and want to share it with you.
Douglas, Grade 7
A Dog’s Christmas
by A. Dawg
Around the time of year when it gets really cold, I mean REALLY cold, all the humans start getting really weird. Everywhere I go, I hear this music playing. It’s nice music, but I think the humans would get bored of it after a while, but they don’t.
When the first snow falls, everyone starts getting REALLY happy. All these different coloured lights go up on the houses. It’s really weird. I myself hate it when it gets really cold, but these humans, well, they like it.
My owners, they aren’t immune to it either. After that snowfall, decorations start going up all around the house. Some I don’t really like, and I’d love to chew, but I know if I did, I’d be in the doghouse for at least a week. Whenever the family isn’t home, I walk into the closets. A lot of times, there are boxes in there, with coloured paper on them, and bows, too. Some of the boxes smell very delicious.
And when it gets even closer to the day they call Christmas, people start coming around to the houses, singing. How I’d like to bite them. And then there’s the poor mailman who, if it wasn’t this time of year, would have a bite mark on his ankle. He doesn’t though, because I feel sorry for him. He looks so loaded down, with all those letters and parcels, it’s amazing he can carry them all.
Pretty soon, my family brings home a tree. Sometimes the trees are so tall that they reach the ceiling. I don’t know why they get a tree, all it does is make a mess. Then one night, they start putting lights on the tree, and decorations, too. Even though it’s a hassle, I must admit, it does look a little nice after it’s done.
I know they water the tree, but am I supposed to water it, too?
When we go over to relatives’ houses, they all have trees, too. Some of their trees smell like plastic though.
And then, on the night they call Christmas Eve, everyone goes to sleep early. Everyone, that is, except for me. At the time when the clock bongs real loud, I hear feet on the roof. Then, as I hear a crash, a man with a white beard in a red and white suit falls down the chimney. I think the humans call him Santa Claus, but I’m not sure whether to bite him or not, after all, he is an intruder in my house. He walks back into the fireplace, snaps his fingers, and flies up the chimney.
In the morning, everyone wakes up. The start opening the boxes and tearing the pretty paper. Humans are weird, aren’t they? I feel a little left out, them having all the fun. There seems to be one box left, and someone opens it. Guess what’s inside? A BONE for me. I wasn’t forgotten after all. Maybe Christmas isn’t so bad after all.
by Douglas Stebila, 12,
Grade 7, Notre Dame School
Third Place, 11-13
