I arose at six am, which is quite unusual these days, but it was probably because I was in bed at eleven pm, which is early for me. This weekend the much anticipated chinook blew in with its high temps, plus ten dC tomorrow, melting most of the ice and snow.

On Saturday I visited John at home, with Annie sunk deeply in her electronic world, but the Lindt advent calendar got het attention! You can’t get chocolates through an ‘application’. On Sunday I joined friends at the Palliser, which was full of family and kids for Santa’s visits, while we had a well attended session. The Patisserie celebrated its first lustrum serving hot chocolate and cookies, with ice sculptures for the eye to enjoy.

The Patisserie celebrated its first lustrum serving hot chocolate and cookies…

Saturday night Michelle and I went for ethnic dinner at ‘Southern Spice’ renamed ‘Shalimar’ with its south India kitchen and Naan bread. The meal was acceptable, but certainly not tops compared to our earlier ethnic eats. The place is next door to a large mosque of unknown allegiance. Going home, I gave Michelle a bum steer coming out on McKnight Blvd and directed her east instead of west; I had myself turned around but we soon realised our mistake as McKnight petered out into a dark country road!

Last Friday Herman and I met for lunch after a two month hiatus on account of is lack of mobility.

Last night I finally managed to formulate a description for my talk in March, which I titled ‘Maya Guidance’. I have several books on the Maya and already read about these Meso-American cultures when I was in Junior high. To do this talk gives me the feeling of redeeming an old promise and intent, to learn more about these maligned high cultures, which were no less significant than those of Ancient Egyptians and Babyloniansv.
<8:18am

>10:15am The preferred description is:
“What sustained a people that survived the destruction of their high culture, then endured centuries of repression, who yet continue their lives as a people this very day?”

The underlying thought here is that in our integrating global civilisation, every single culture is a minority when taken by itself. In that sense each one faces a severe adaptation challenge in our world today, possibly not unlike the one the Maya experienced.

We do not want to loose our cultural identity in this adaptation process, but we also need to adapt.

We do not want to loose our cultural identity in this adaptation process, but we also need to adapt. Therefore, we will need to determine what we want to change and what is essential to keep, as we search for a way to accommodate the required changes.
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