CogBlogged from ‘September, 2011’

cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog One of my mom’s recently acquired phrases was her being “blown away” by something positive, and I am sure those would be her words at seeing what by internet friends are doing in her honor tomorrow. Thanks to Martha Burtis and Giulia Forsythe (I think those are the idea spawners), and idea is spanning to celebrate Mom’s make the world better one bag of cookies at a time philosophy via the Day of CookieLove (see http://bit.ly/cookielove): In tribute to Alan Levine’s mom, who passed away unexpectedly last weekend, we’d like to invite you to participate in Cookies for Cogdog. One of the wonderful things that Alan’s mom did was bake chocolate chip cookies every Sunday and then give them away to strangers. This Sunday, September 4th, we’re hoping to get people to follow in her footsteps. Bake some cookies and [...]

We carried the box out of the car and set it gently on those straps, suspended over the hole. I shall never ever forget that lonely creaky sounds those straps make when released, when Mom went into the ground. I spoke about how I was worried when I told mom in March that I had quit a well paying job to spend 5 months touring the country, without a plan to get a job or line up health insurance. I imagined she would let me know what a foolish choice this was, yet that was far from what she said. Mom was so excited for my plan. I told them about the “Cousin Bobby” postcards I sent from every state and province; that Sunday afternoon I was almost out of Ontario when I remembered to get her a Toronto card (this one in my hand). Now Mom I am going [...]

It’s been a busy 2 weeks, and I completely lapsed on last week’s notes. I doubt anyone noticed. I managed to cross almost all the way the super landmass known as “Ontario”, and might have made the eastern border were it not for the sad call that cam with bad news about my Mom. cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog Number of days on the road: 70 Miles Driven: 8635 Number of States/Provinces driven in: 14 Number of US/Canadian Border Crossings: 2 Money spent on gas: $2147.17 Photos posted: 1629 (that is an average of 25.2 per day) Number of nights in hotels/B&B: 9 Number of nights camping: 16 Number of nights spent in sailboats: 1 Number of New Vehicles Driven 3: (Jet Ski, 4 wheel Quad, tractor) Best Beach Walk: Batchawana Bay Provincial Park NUmber of Moose, Bears, and Sled Dogs seen in Ontario: 0 [...]