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Farmer's Market, Archery Lanes

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Other

Published: 31 January 2012

Hits: 1539

So out with the boy on another failed Sunday - Farmer's market for lunch, we try some organic, free range, hormone free burgers. $12.00 per burger, no sides. 

They're shit. Lots of meat, but overcooked, you could get a far, far better burger at Notables or any other fine restaurant served to you, not a mall style kiosk, for far, far less, sides included. I have the feeling of having been ripped off in a big way.

Mini Donuts after, the lady running the mini-donuts stand looks exactly as you'd expect, in that "One for you-One for me" sort of way. Someone in a neighboring kiosk gets her attention, she takes our order (small bag - $5.00), then she turns and ignores us for a few minutes.

I'm getting pissed off, starting to suspect that we just paid her to eat our mini-donuts, and I voice my concerns - perhaps a trifle loudly - to the boy....

...She turns and gives us our donuts with a saccharine smile upon her face. They were being fried fresh, this isn't the comic-con where they're scooped hot - always hot, always in demand...they're delicious, we trade a few for some samples of bacon, together an amazing combination....

Lunch done, we head off to the Archery Lanes in SE Calgary. Deep South East.

Something new, we haven't done this before.

It's busy, surprisingly busy, who would have guessed such a subculture existed? More of a family atmosphere than the gun range, with men, wives, children all taking part in the glorious sport of Archery. There's no hope of us getting a lane today, and nobody to talk to about when is a good time to come. Another long drive for nothing.

While we're there we look at the bows, the merchandise, there's a clearout bin of old VHS "Archery Videos" - "Corn Crazed Does" and "Legends of Old Mossy" - a hundred other titles that are somehow suggestive of ripped off porn classics. Archery porn. 

It's a different world, we've gone far enough outside of our box for the day, "Next Week..." I tell him "Bring your swimsuit and friends and we'll just go swimming. Everyone has fun at the pool...."

Fucking Poetry

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Other

Published: 30 January 2012

Hits: 1458

For something different I take the boy to a poetry reading. He's never been to one.

It's at the Auburn Saloon, beneath the Calgary Tower, an interesting crowd, poets, poetesses reading their work. And every poem uses the word "Fuck". 

Every single one.

Now I can see using it if the intent were to shock, you don't generally see it spoken aloud in public forums other than by Comedians. It would appear that comedians and Poets have something in common. But, as we listen to more and more of this poetry, the power of "shock" is eroded, it has been overused, shocking, now, would be a poet who got through their work without using it.

The boy, he's not so impressed, not his thing, really, it's really not that interesting, I have to agree, we'll try and attend a poetry slam, where there's a little more audience involvement and the possibility of more interesting, less poetic material.

Black and Gold Orb Spider

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Written by: Rod Boyle

Category: Dreams

Published: 25 January 2012

Hits: 1311

I'm shoving my way through a brightly lit, cluttered attic. There's a hole in the floor where the light fixture used to be, a couple of big bodied orb spiders have taken up residence there, black and gold, shiny gold, the black markings a silhouette of a recent adaptation - a horse and buggy, perfect outline of a horse and buggy that went by the house outside near the church.

Peculiar, this evolution, this too quick adaptation to an environment they haven't even seen....

I go to plug the hole with a little jadeite bowl, these spiders are rare, one of a kind, and the bowl falls through the hole to the floor below taking the spiders with them, they're crushed and now they're extinct....