35th Birthday

In my "Traveling North" post I forgot to mention that when we purchased our bus tickets, they misspelled my name as "Grython Fibbald". Seems like an error of judgement, not a slip of the fingers. The "t" key is more than half the length of the board away from "p", and "f" is buffered from "s" by "d". It just sounds like a fake name too, with the word "fib" integrated into it.

People have really been struggling with my name lately. When me and Lee-Anne were out buying a few items to accomodate my family after the fire, we dropped by a Starbucks and this happened:

Brethon!

I just uploaded some images to my Gallery blog of my time up North. You can find it here: https://gryphonsgallery.blogspot.com/2024/10/kenabeek-pics-fall-2024.html

Before I posted it, I glossed over my previous entries to see if I'd ever made one before. I had, in 2012. You can look and compare here: https://gryphonsgallery.blogspot.com/2012/07/kenabeek-pics.html

I guess I didn't used to make commentary on my images back then.

I mentioned it in a previous post, but this was my first trip up North where I had a smart phone. In 2012, I was using a point-and-click digital camera that was noticeably primitive even by the standards back then. It's what I used in Canada World Youth and got a lot of commentary on it. But I did take some good pics with that thing.

 Something interesting I noticed was that during my visit in 2024, I took this photo:

And in 2012 I had this one:

I think this is the same birch tree! I didn't have that in mind when I took the more recent pic. It's not so weird, as its proximity to the house lends itself very well as a photo opportunity. I think the 2012 shot was more appealing, as it features a more drastic bark peel. The most iconic feature of the birch.

You might notice that the title of my older post specifies that I was in "Kenabeek" while in my two recent entries I only ever state that I went "up North". I also made an effort to only show images of nature, not the house and not much man-made (I did show autumn leaves on a small staircase and my aunt's stone circle, if you caount those). The reason is because at this point of time I am a little hesitant to share identifying information. But I've been documenting my experiences on the Internet long enough that there is enough content from a time when I did not feel this way. I can't completely scrub it.

On another note, I hadn't planned it this way but I wound up having my 35th birthday while I was up there. It just made the most sense scheduling-wise. I wasn't going to remind anyone but my grandparents remembered and we had a wild blueberry pie to celebrate.

I'm sure I've mentioned it several times before, but blueberries naturally grow in the area. When I was a kid, I used to pick them and my grandmother used to bake them into pies. It was a fun way to feel like I was part of the process. I alluded to this in a recent post when I said we mostly came up during Christmas and blueberry season, which is why we'd never visited in Fall.

It's funny because there was a recent study where people with ADHD and neurotypical people were observed picking blueberries. The people with ADHD consistently picked more than their neurotypical peers, implying a potential benefit to the disorder. This is kind of in line with the "hunter gatherer theory", which is a controversial idea that ADHD is not really a disorder, but rather an evolutionary trait that was beneficial for millenia but does not serve well in modern urban settings.

As a former kid with ADHD that prided himself in his blueberry picking skills, it was hilarious to read about this, as it seemed so targeted to me. Also, whenever this theory is brought up it seems like people hone in on the hunter side of things. Good to see the gatherers getting some love too.

Another thing I got to do while I was out there was practice driving. I avoided saying the date until now, but since I mentioned having the 2012 Gallery post, I'm pretty sure that was the last time I'd visited. We'd seen them annually since then, but they would come to Guelph. It makes sense, because it would have been after I did Canada World Youth and before I went to college. I expressly went there to learn how to drive from my grandfather.

I tested up there but didn't quite make it. The instructor said that I "didn't make any disqualifying errors, but made an accumulation of minor ones". Since then, I've either not had the time or the money to do lessons.

Until now. I've currently had 5 lessons with a driving instructor and a test date booked for November 20th. So while I was up North, me and my grandfather got to pick up where we left off.

We also met a neighbour of there's who they've known for years but was new to me. He gave us some buckwheat in the form of "groats". He also gave us a recipe to make chocolate groat squares. When I make them I'll post a pic here.

His wife has a falconry license and has tamed a red tailed hawk. I showed a picture of my grandma with the hawk and it's one of the reasons that I have a coworker who is a big fan of my grandma. She was excited to meet her at mine and Lee-Anne's wedding.