Jesse Collins, and then some. » Featured

The Family Virtual Christmas Card

Jesse, himself. — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:29:30 +0000

Hot off the hard drive, here it is. The watercolour is my first attempt at painting. An unapologetically blatant rip-off of a Tony Bennett masterpiece, it was just meant to be an exercise. His is three times as large, and a 100 times better (I can’t sing as well as him, either) but I was still pleased that mine manages to convey some of the serenity of a country Christmas. Click on the image for full-size view.

Have a Happy and a Merry, everyone.

Jess

Collins Christmas Card 2008

The Good Ol’ Hockey Game

Jesse, himself. — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:34:30 +0000

Some moments are priceless.

Like watching Toronto beat the Islanders from George Gross’s fabulous greens. Right on the rail—with narry a soul in front of you and a perfect perspective on the whole ice surface—these might be the best seats in the house. And they’re greens. There’s a lesson there somewhere.

We got it all last night: a win, some great scoring chances and goals, some wild hip-checks (courtesy of Ryan Hollweg), and a fight (courtesy of Ryan Hollweg). Let’s face it. His win percentage might be low, but Hollweg always shows up. There’s a lesson there somewhere, too.

My First Ride

Jesse, himself. — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:45:37 +0000

Murph dropped me a line about noticing a ’62 Plymouth Valiant on the road today and being struck by how ugly it was. It got me thinking about a post I’d been meaning to put up for quite awhile. A short tribute to the best car I ever owned. Flat-head 6, the last year of the 6-Volt battery and front-seat like a living room sofa: my 1954 Pontiac Pathfinder. The grill was a little dinged, and I was missing a headlight rim. Replaced that rim once from the Barrie Flea Market but hit a deer on Highway 12 and that was that the end of it.

It was a two-door coupe with a mint interior. What a beauty.

And it was also the perfect car to do bad James Dean impersonations in front of…

Wikipedia has a great entry about my first car.

Some of the more interesting optional items available for the first generation Chieftain included a radio with seven vacuum tubes, tissue dispenser, under seat heaters, and a Remington Auto-Home shaver.

Ah, those were the days!

Mind you – mine never looked this buff:

Back to Africa

Jesse, himself. — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:34:07 +0000

As much as I’d like to make this an evocative epic post, I’ve only just finished packing, it’s late and I feel like the past two days have been pretty much a blur. And the fyorenol I took this afternoon is beginning to wear off. But at this time tomorrow—we’ll be in a 747 bound for Zambia.

My original intention was to make an elaborate post describing our itinerary, reminiscing about the previous three trips to Botswana, and waxing poetic on that special something that makes Africa unforgettable, inescapable and intoxicating. It is all those things but I am at the moment too exhausted to even try to describe them.

But part of the process of getting ready was loading up an iPod Nano we’ve picked up for our friend and guide, Alwyn. He spends most of his year in-country, guiding and camping in the Okavango Delta. An iPod is the perfect companion. I loaded some music. But I also dropped a couple of videos that he had taken on his own trips. I thought I’d share them here now, as well.

For the record, tomorrow we fly to London and spend a day as tourists. Then it’s on to Livingston, Zambia to rest, see the Falls and shower. then, into the Kasane, Botswana and Chobe – an area of countless elephants. We’ll begin to move across to Moremi, and camp all the way: here’s a quick video of our typical accommodations in the Delta:

We hope to get one night in the Kalahari sleeping under the stars as we make the move across the country. We’re not quite as hardy as the locals, whom we have visited briefly on our journey through Kwai. The San Bushmen are regarded as one of the world’s oldest cultures, having lived as hunters and gatherers for over 20,000 years. From Wikipedia:

“Genetic evidence suggests they are one of the oldest, if not the oldest, peoples in the world — a “genetic Adam” … from which all humans can ultimately trace their genetic heritage.”

While there, I’m going to try and sketch out some blog posts by hand, and get some accompanying photos. many thanks to photographer Paul Eekhoff for the loan of an extraordinary camera body, the Olympus E-330, and Tony Delitala for his lens. I’ll gloat about the gear later also. For now, I’m prepping for two weeks offline, in a world where we camp like this:

Lion in Camp

The best part: Carol and I are taking Liam for his first trip to Africa. This will be the most special one yet.

More — much, much more — to come!