Backwoods Wife

Whoopers!

Sunday afternoon Dwayne, Dad, the kids, and I went for a hike to the Salt Plains in Wood Buffalo National Park.  We were very excited to see something extremely rare while there - whooping cranes!  We spotted a pair off in the distance.

You could make out the white dots without any additional visual aids, but with binoculars and the mounted binoculars for sightseeing we were able to see much more detail of the birds.  This sighting was a first for Dwayne, the kids, and myself, and a second sighting for Dad I believe.  (For those of you interested in learning more, National Geographic's current issue has an article about whooping cranes.)

We told friends of ours at dinner and now they are going to try to squeeze in a visit after work one day this week in hopes of catching a glimpse of the cranes before they fly to Aransas, Texas for the winter.  I don't have any pictures of the cranes as they were pretty far off in the distance, but here is some of the other wildlife I spotted. ;)

We visited the salt mound down on the flats and tasted the very salty red plants growing alongside Saline Creek.

We were hoping to visit a fresh water spring as well but we didn't bring our rubber boots so we had to pass on that as it involved walking through a marshy area.  Dad tried to find us a way across and wound up with a soaker.  Note to self: always bring rubber boots or an extra pair of shoes to the salt plains (Dad did by the way!).  Between the mud and the water, it's a good idea. 

We missed the fall colour this trip, the Salt Plains are particularly beautiful when the trees are covered in orange and golden leaves.  Next year!

 

Slave River

Here is a nice little video of the Slave River produced by a German company. I don't understand German, but I was able to get the gist of things, and the language barrier does not apply to scenery anyway!

Slave River

Der Slave River in Zentral- und Norwest-Kanada mit seinen gewaltigen Wassermassen gilt als hochgefährlicher und unberechenbarer Strom. Mit seinem Team hat Olaf Obsommer das Abenteuer gewagt und ihn im Kanu bezwungen.

Sometimes you just have to bawl your eyes out...

I was perusing the People.com website last week. I like a bit of entertainment news every now and then and I like to keep an eye on the causes celebrities are promoting. I saw a photo of Courtney Cox wearing this shirt. 100% of the price of the shirt is going to an organization called Millenium Promise which is trying to end extreme poverty by the year 2025. The shirt was by Omni-Peace. I went to their website to read more. As I finished reading the home page I saw an image at the bottom that will be forever ingrained in my mind. I couldn't look away.

A toddler in Africa squatting down in a field with his/her tiny forarms resting on the ground, supporting his/her head.
In the background, a vulture waits.

It is truly horrible to see but I can understand why it is on the website. It certainly made me think. It made me grateful. It made angry to think that there are children who suffer because of corrupt governments. It made me want to help. It made me think of my own children and how it must feel to be a parent in such desperate circumstances. It compelled me to pray. I wonder what it must have felt like to be the photographer and the feeling of helplessness that must have filled him at seeing such a sight. (The photographer, Kevin Carter, won a Pulitzer prize in 1994 for the photo.)

I hope it will make more people consider helping those less fortunate than themselves, particularly those of ample means. Perhaps this is something Paris Hilton could get on board with now that "prison has changed her". We can all do something even if it is a small something. A lot of small gestures can become something great.

My own toddler happened to see me viewing the photo of this small child. He said to me, "Baby sad. Baby sad." He wanted to help the baby and he wanted to me to help the baby. I told him that the baby needed food and medicine and love. To which he replied, "Buy food. Buy food. Baby sad. Love." All afternoon he asked to see the picture of this sweet baby over and over. Finally I had to tell him that we couldn't buy that baby food but that we were helping other babies that needed help. I told him that God would have to look after this baby as we couldn't. I told my little son that the baby might have gotten food and medicine and love from another mommy or that God might have the baby with him in heaven. I asked him if he wanted to me to pray for the baby. "Pray Mommy. Baby sad." He has asked about the baby once or twice in the past couple of days but has not been so anxious about the baby anymore. Isn't it amazing that even the tiniest of children can feel such deep concern?

We are so blessed.