Winterthur, Switzerland: 26 January 2016
Generally speaking I am not a fan of natural museums, for they often seem to me to be: well, unnatural.
“On the Mounted Animal Nature Trail, you’ll be sure to see
All Mother Nature’s favourite pets, all sitting rigidly.
They’re never hungry any more, their last meal left them stuffed.
Don’t worry, they won’t walk away if you try and pet their fluff.
And the dog goes…(silence)
And the cow goes…(silence)
And the bear goes…(silence)
And the pig goes…(silence)
And the crow goes caw! I guess it was alive.
You can see all this
On the Mounted Animal Nature Trail.
Arrogant Worms, “Mounted Animal Nature Trail”
To be fair, I will visit them along with whatever museums happen to be around a new place, but, more often than not, I find myself leaving depressed and disappointed rather than glad I stopped by.
I have visited natural museums in Ottawa, Freiburg im Briesgau, Zürich, Winterthur, etc., hoping against hope that these monoliths to nature will captivate me more than they do.
And there are brief moments when they do.
Ottawa impresses with the sheer size and age of its buildings.
Freiburg celebrates spring every year with live baby chicks and bunnies for the child in all of us to feel delight in.
The Zoological Museum of the University of Zürich has an impressive corner 3D mural inside its halls.
Winterthur?
The rats are as big as bears…
You can almost feel the motion of the sea as you travel the oceans in search of natural wonders.
And in a quiet and powerful way one is reminded of two powerful ideas:
- In comparison to the actual age of the planet, man´s presence is barely registerable.
- And this too shall pass. Who knows what/who will replace man in the millennia to come?
What would some future archaeologist make of our civilisation?
“I’ve seen the future, brother:
it is murder.
Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won’t be nothing
You can measure anymore
The blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of the soul.”
Leonard Cohen, “The Future”
In my typical fashion of overthinking, the fossilised Coca Cola bottle got me pondering…
How will I be remembered when I´m gone?
“I look around me,
But all I seem to see,
Is people going nowhere,
Expecting sympathy
It’s like we’re going through the motions,
Of a scripted destiny
Tell me where’s our inspiration,
If life won´t wait,
I guess it’s up to me.
Procrastination, running circles in my head
While you sit there contemplating,
You wound up left for dead (left for dead)
Life is what happens, while you’re busy making your excuses
Another day, another casualty
And that won’t happen to me.
Because every wasted day becomes a wasted chance
You’re gonna wake up feeling sorry,
Because life won’t wait,
I guess it’s up to you.
We’ll leave the past in the past,
Gonna find the future
If misery loves company well,
So long, you’ll miss me when I’m gone.
Simple Plan, “When I´m Gone”
Landschlacht, Switzerland: 29 January 2016
As the first month of this New Year draws to a close, I consider my own legacy.
Last year I wrote of some plans and ideas I had for this blog:
To those brave souls who have faithfully followed this blog since its genesis on 18 May 2015, and have loyally read all posts that came before, you will have noticed that I have tended to write in three directions:
– Opinion about world events and current affairs
– History (why things are and how they got that way)
– Personal thoughts about events and encounters in my daily life
For the Chronicles of Canada Slim, I will continue to do so, hoping that former readers as well as new followers will get the same pleasure and thoughtfulness in reading them as I put into writing them.
Look for my newest blogs soon:
– The Forest of Shadows: “Sometimes evil doesn’t die” (My novel released in serial form)(Feedback and criticism most welcome)
– The Anglo Guide to Switzerland: “Life, work and play in the Land of the Edelweiss” (Complimentary, not competitive with others’ existing blogs)
– Making It Work: “English for Employment” (mit deutsch Wortschatz)(Perhaps later “avec vocabulaire francais”)”
(See Old Dog, New Tricks of this blog.)
What has happened since?
Well, as my wife would often complain…
I lack discipline and focus, but, hey, a man can begin to change, eh?
I have decided that the Anglo Guide and Making It Work are not really what motivates me, so I have, for now, abandoned these ideas, or at least these ideas will become a part of the Chronicles of Canada Slim.
As for the Forest of Shadows…
Thanks to the wonderful couple, Natalie and Ricardo Utsumi who set up this blog for me, I now have a second blog, a blog I want to regularly contribute to as much as I have to this one.
Building Everest: The Writing of Canada Slim will be restricted to novels and short stories, including The Forest of Shadows, I am writing and one day hope to see published.
Check out https://buildingeverest.wordpress.com, starting tomorrow!
In the sheer grand scale of the future unwritten and the universe to come, my words will probably be forgotten.
But one can dream, eh?
Chronicles of Canada Slim 