migration

The Real Santa Claus
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The Real Santa Claus

Hail Bravehearts

The holiday season is upon us, filled with love, light, peace and happiness.
Joy to the world, even nature sings!
Some lucky people witnessed the unusual event of a caribou sighting at Marmot Basin Ski Area, Jasper National Park on December 17, 2014. Eight handsome caribou, made a grand appearance on the ski run. These are eight of only 41 left in the Park.
The significance? Come Dasher, come Dancer, come Comet, come Vixen, come Prancer, come Cupid, come Donner, come Blitzen, and the rarest of them all, the Mountain Caribou.
My photo shows a female caribou and her calf on a snow patch, taken from the top of the Mt Edith Cavel Meadows, in July 2014. We needed binoculars to see them.

http://www.thejasperlocal.com/caribou-make-rare-appearance-as-closures-loom.html Caribou sighting at Marmot Basin, Jasper,Alberta, December 17, 2014

The Christmas season is heralded by a merry old gent in red who brings us gifts of Christmas joy. No poverty during this warm season of friendship, worship and brotherly love. The real Santa Claus is not an elf, but a real person, so revered for his abilities to enact miracles. A marvelous human being with powers so great that he could raise the dead and bring gifts of gold to the needy.

Miracles! The holiday season is filled with joy and fellowship. A miracle of humanity and community sharing, of peace and goodwill. The merry old gent, who fills your stocking, is a saint of immense proportions for humanity. His story is told and his contributions deserve our continued respect. Jolly old St. Nicholas who helped to ease the needs of the poor in his day, is remembered still as Santa Claus.

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/ Who is St. Nicholas, the real Santa Claus.

Merry Christmas to all of you. Happy holiday season.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
December 24, 2014

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A Time for Peace

Hail Bravehearts!.

To a strong and brave new day.
The ancients rose to a world of grandeur. Awesome planet with marvels to explore. Awesome human with daring to discover. Brilliant exchange of the marvelous wonders of the Earth, to stimulate the intellect of brilliant human minds. Where shall we go, oh brave ones? Where does the fascinating wonder take us?
The hunters and gatherers followed the great herds of migrating animals. The roaming beasts led them through valleys and plains, following a path of instinct to fertile areas for feeding and mating and bearing their young. The vast herds of wildlife, co-existing with their own predators. The migrating humans, following their food supply, the migrating predator, following their own food supply. A compatible niche of predator prey relations, of environmental sustainability, of the Earth, keeping its ecosystems intact.
The human, with simple needs of survival, but a brain in need of self fulfillment. Go there, oh brave ones and seek the destiny of your fine minds. Oh brilliant inventors, who eased the struggle of the masses, who taught the people to hunt and fish, to build and cook. The need of the brain is high. Explore and adventure, stretch your legs and your minds. Fine humans, to evolve to such greatness, of medicines and industry, of space exploration and travel, of culture and music and games and sport. Fine human, with skills so worthy, the Earth is your home and it saves you.
Plunder no more, oh great ones, for in this festive time of feast and plenty, of holidaying and cheer, of goodwill and peace, the Earth gives up more of its bounty and your stomachs overfill.
We starve!
Where is the food in a world with so much plenty? The starving, again. Our farms are productive, our industry secure. Food is wasted and the people starve.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/holiday—celebration-recipes/christmas-recipes Christmas holiday recipes

Yet in this time of celebration and joy, we cast off our burdens and sing with praises: Joy! Joy for the living, joy for the earth, joy for creation and joy for the birth!
It’s time, in our weary lives of strife and struggle, to throw off the chains of pain and animosity and rejoice in the wonder of the heavens and the earth. A time to sing, a time to pray, a time to laugh and a time to play. The joy of creation, where all is one. An Earth of beauty, of prosperity, of hope and caring. A birth of great wisdom, a holiday of peace, to all of you living, this holiday is for giving. The child of wonder, so dear and so pure. To celebrate living, only once a year!
This holiday is for everyone, regardless of everything. Christmas is a time for holiness and love, peace enduring. What represents life and love and humanity, only comes to us, once a year.
Hail, oh brave ones, in this time of gladness, spread peace and joy and love and kindness. A short season of happiness and giving, of love, laugh, life and living.
To celebrate peace, only once a year. A marvelous birth, to bring us great joy. Lay down your weapons and war no more.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
December 20, 2014

Into the Sea
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Into the Sea

Hail Bravehearts

To the adventure of your lives! What’s out there?
The inventor is the genius who calls us. Rally your spirits oh brave ones and join the adventure of the day. To challenges and perseverance, to the call of the wild and the wind, to set sail on the great ocean and to let your spirits soar with the thrill of adventure.
That far off land mass, too far to swim to, the oceans too dangerous, with lurking sea life. To swim the channel and cross the strait, hopping from island to island until what? Now, that ones too far, so great genius, show us the way. Invent something, so that we can continue on our journey of discovery.
The fabulous planet, so awesome and intriguing, compelling the spirit of this early species, to explore. Come, oh brave ones, venture forth, into the wonder of the great planet, into the wonder of the world. Cast your eyes, oh brave ones, onto the splendor of the earth. Feast from the fruits of the trees, the abundance of the vegetation, the shy prey and the tantalizing delicacies of the sea. View the wondrous, breathtaking awe of the beauty of the earth. Explore, oh brave ones, see the marvelous planet and behold the wonder of its creation. Another new land, another new world, still more beauty, more life, more variety, more wonder and more greatness. The awesome planet, compels the early human, come, venture, there is still more.

http://www.dnalc.org/view/15892-Human-migrations-map-interactive-2D-animation.html map showing the migration of homo erectus

This early man, with skills and tools, has imagination and daring. An intelligent mind with creativity and curiosity. Great inventor, who’s skills create tools, who hunts and roams, and travels the world, spreading himself throughout continents and crossing seas. Cast yourselves adrift, oh mighty ones, into the roaring seas and set your focus on the new world. For man is man and the species of a million years ago, spread himself throughout the warm climates of the earth. A migration from land to land to island to island, by means of some sort of seaworthy craft. Following game, hunting and gathering. Exploring and building and populating the world.
Hail, oh brave ones. Follow your instincts. The world opens it’s divine doors and presents the fabulous, the exciting, the intriguing, the breathtaking, the challenge.
800,000 years ago the challenge was to reach an island and homo erectus built a raft. A raft that carried him to the new world, a land of beauty and discovery. A new world and a new home. A raft that carried him all throughout the islands of Indonesia. Some were close, some were far. The daring adventure of the seafaring sailor, travelling the mighty oceans in search of the new world.
Oh spirited species, with brave intentions, to venture to the unknown. Time and again, to cast the raft into the sea.
Climb aboard all you stalwarts, brave hearts are we. Come, join us. Into the world, into the land of discovery. Come with us, as we cast ourselves, into the sea, for exploration, discovery and for adventure.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
November 5, 2014

Boats and Things
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Boats and Things

Hail Bravehearts

To the ingenuity of early man. Praises to the brilliance. To the inventor, the genius who can’t stop learning. Since the time before humans, boats have been built. With skill and ingenuity, to cross the high seas, in search of discovery, new worlds, new beginnings, new adventure, new life, new home, a new land.
Brave homo erectus, 800,000 years ago, lashed together reeds to sail the high seas. An intelligent forerunner of the human, so daring and interested, to find out what lies beyond the comfortable domain of his estate. To hand to us the skills and invention of ocean going craft.
A daring adventure on quiet waters, poling a raft around the rivers. Caution and careful, trial and error, not to tip or fall into the water. The genius at work, preparing for a great day. A day on the water, maneuvering carefully, learning skills without a teacher. Teach yourselves, to build and propel, to drive the craft and to be in control. Time and again, the master at work, reading the water, for eddies and rapids and rocky outcrops, sand bars and current, undertoe and dangerous deadfall. What catches the craft and spins it out of control? Into the deep water, where the pole cannot touch bottom. Dangerous, yet thrilling! The raft moves on, controlled by the current, until, luckily it breaches on the rocky bottom. Victory! Another lesson learned, the hard way, but this is the only teacher they had. A longer pole, a larger raft, another attempt. Try again, to build and control, to master the water and to ride the seas.
The destiny will be to conquer the ocean and reach the land mass that lies beyond.

http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/~vaucher/History/Prehistoric_Craft/ sail the high seas.

A simple vessel, but not from a simple mind. The migration of the species to lands beyond is accomplished by the brave and the daring, the curious and the willing. Who would like to ride in the boat of simple reads, lashed together, and to take their chances on the high seas? The migration to the new worlds has begun and the pursuit of adventure and discovery is upon us. 800,000 years ago, the spirit of discovery is compelling. To new worlds, to seek new land, to discover more and more. Ancient as they are, the drive for discovery and adventure is in them. A new frontier to be explored. A quest which ignites the flame of power and curiosity. What lies beyond our own safe home? What is out there?
Brave homo erectus, who sails the oceans, the mighty waters couldn’t stop them. Only the discovery, the opportunity, the chance to answer the still, so often asked question. What lies beyond?

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
October 30, 2014

The Fishing Hole

Food. Fill your stomachs and ease the pangs of poverty. Cast your nets and fill your boats with the precious catch of the day.
For thousands of years the oceans have filled our plates with free food, a commodity of substance and wealth from the planet. The nets cast into the seas, to draw the needed food source from its home in the high water. The oceans provide and the human soars with the advantage of free food for the hungry. No starvation, no poverty. The seas give up their glorious catch and the evils of hunger subside.
An expectation of success fills our minds. The ocean has always provided for us, this is our right and our lifestyle. Our livelihood and our culture. Many nations survive from the oceans and the plunder of the deep waters reduces the catch to a fragment of what it once was. The crisis for the oceans rises and the plight of the wildlife within it, screams for the efforts of conservationist around the world. Oil spills, contamination, pollutants, over fishing. The perils of the oceans calls to us as the human mind reels in the wake of yet another catastrophe that leaves our planet dead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxacxShp3LY overfishing – the consequences.

The rights to fish the oceans have been undenied since mankind cast his nets and lines into the sea and returned triumphant with yet another tasty meal. So easy, so little effort, a hook, a line and bait and then to the fishing hole. Young and old remember their days, drifting in easy summer weather, with baited hook and happy smiles, as the waters reveal a dinner or two, to the patient fisherman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDAC33InIHs ending overfishing

Fishing the deep has been an easy joy for us. The lakes and oceans produce an amazing number of fish and other water inhabitants. Crustaceans and eels, fish and whale, shellfish and turtles. The water is fun and filled with life. For a day at the beach and a day on the water nurture us with sun and summer care. The carefree days of endless sunshine, the powerful waves as they crest and splash and entice us into the water for summer play. The life and the living that the oceans bring us, not only back from the brink of starvation, but to a new purpose in sport, leisure, games and holidaying. The oceans and lakes give us undeniable joy.
Bountiful great waters, our cups overflow with gladness, for the discovery of the mysteries of the deep. Ocean songs and ocean conquest, ships and adventure, the great seas call to all of us as sailors and fishermen and the marvel of our days on the decks of sailboats, casting our lines and unfurling the sails, gives us freedom and the thrill of adventure.
Four hundred years ago, at the dawn of European time in Canada, came an expedition to the coast of Canada, to fish the great waters of the grand banks of Newfoundland.  The fishing was superb!  Cast your nets and take home a catch of fishes to save the starving peasants back home.  Cast your nets and be saved.  The catch is your income, your food source, your work and your daily bread. The fishing was superb and from this came the endless voyages of fishermen bound for a harvest of ocean gold.  Food!  Made from the planet, where no one shall starve. 
7 billion. 
To traverse the great Atlantic ocean in search of a food source out fished in Europe, was the means to an end of hunger and poverty.  400  years ago the population of Europe was substantially smaller, but the need to traverse the ocean for food was already a pressing concern.  Feed the hungry.  The ocean is called upon to provide.  Fishes for the ever climbing hungry of the world.  Food.
Still the demand is upon the ocean, to fill the needs of the hungry as our population climbs and soars. Still, the ocean, with it’s free and bountiful harvest of fish. Still the human calls to the planet, feed us!
Written by Dr. Louise Hayes
June 21, 2014

The New Planet
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The New Planet

Hail Brave hearts!

This glorious day of the risen lord brings peace and hope to a weary world.
The earth moans under the weight of 7 billion humans. All of the rest of its creation needs room to grow. Room for trees and plants and landscapes, room for animals and birds and insects. The awesome creative powers of the planet need to be expressed. Like the fine aptitude of an artist, needing to paint a brilliant canvas, the earth needs to cover it’s surfaces with beauty and colour and life. Awesome great planet with life giving forces. The beautiful great planet surrounds us with nature. Each and every delicate balance, a life sustaining act. The trees, recycling the carbon dioxide of our breaths and returning fresh, clean oxygen into the air. The trees, our life support system for clean air. 7 billion breathing humans, destroying forests, up routing plants, filling in ponds, covering the earth with pavement, building, building, building.
Hail, you awesome human! The earth struggles to support you, struggles to feed and nurture you, struggles to provide air for you, clean water and good food. The self destructive human, unthinking in it’s quest for income, housing and land, destroys the very thing that provides the most. Hail, to the almighty human, who protects the only thing that we have in the universe, the mighty great planet earth.
So much taken for granted, so much destroyed for no reason, so much loss of habitat and loss of life, human, wildlife, plant life. From the tops of the mountains to the depth of the oceans, the environmental destruction is severe.
In myth, the world of the gods lies in the heavens, in science fiction aliens inhabit other planets. In reality, will that save us here. The awesome mind of science tells us that there is a possibility of life on other planets. The constant search of the heavens and the universe for life sustaining planets, challenges us to think outside of this small, rotating sphere of life and look to the possibilities of new life among the stars. Our imagination takes us in leaps of wonder and anticipation. Could it be real? Could we live somewhere else? What would it be like?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/earth-sized-planet-found-in-star-s-habitable-zone-1.2613794 The new planet.

Now,at last, there is a possibility. An earth like planet, found only 500 light years away. We could escape this rotting, dying, war torn, diseased, overpopulated earth and escape into our spaceships and be gone! Gone to the heavens, gone to the perils of the universe, into the last great frontier of human experience. We’ve done it all here. The dying planet entertains us no more.
Off to the greatest challenge of our lives! Off to discover the universe and inhabit the new world. Like our ancestors before us, the age of discovery is upon us. Like Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Francis Drake and the Apollo Astronauts, we can pack our bags and venture forth again. Into the great unknown, to prove that the universe is not flat, but we can navigate it and we will not fall off.
Hail, to you almighty human! Flee the dying planet and explore the universe. You only have 500 light years to go.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
April 20, 2014

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The grand dictator

Good morning Brave hearts!

Colour your world to the dictates of fashion. An array of beauty unfolds to greet you. The grand master of influence and adventure. A call to the superior mind, to the inferior will, to the jealous and the courageous, to be spoiled and to secumb, to the master of human destiny, to be fated and ill fated, for necessity, for income, for prosperity and for nation building.
Fashion!
The word echoes in the ears of centuries old man. The fine garments, the decorative interiors, the gilted gold and bejeweled ornaments. The fun of the grandeur, the privilege of the covering, the daring to be individualized and the refreshing outlook of a different approach.
Hail, great human! Come to the wild! Here is where all destiny awaits. In business and trade, in negotiation and marriage, in adventure and lifestyle. Come, live your lives in the great Canadian north, where the dictator surrounds you and compels your compliance. Look to the forest, almighty human, there is the answer to your needs.
The aboriginal peoples of Canada clothed themselves in the finest and most sought after garments in the world at the time. Fur and leather are the trademark of their apparel. Hunting and trapping are the trademarks of their lives.
The bountiful forest and the open tundra yield animal life by the thousands. The daring lives of the bold northern hunter as he skillfully sets his trap line and waits in eager anticipation of the dollars to come. The stealthy hunter who stalks a prey of fleet footed wild for food and for fur. What brings you here, oh brave hearts, to settle in the remote far north? A land of danger and destitution for most. A land of changes and peril.
Cloak yourselves like kings. The seal gives up hides of waterproof warmth, for snugly insulated footwear, warm and impermeable. No dampness there, no winters chill, no ice cube toes or frostbitten feet. A necessity of an age gone by, where warm mukluks, kept us warm and dry. A coat of caribou, deer or bear. For centuries old man clothed himself in the finest cloth that man could find, fur.
Bejeweled in feathers, claws and teeth, bone for knives and ornamentation, the life of the land drew the cunning and daring, the strong and agile, the persistent and healthy. The clever craftsman of ingenuity and necessity, created a culture, a life, a world of their own.
Drawn to the hunt, by need or adventure, the northern man is a rightful settler. The need for the wild, as it gives up it’s treasure, is returned in the dutiful knowledge that waste is intolerable. All parts must be used, in meat, in fur, in bone, in teeth. The wild gives up their lives so sparingly, that precious gift must not be wasted.
Cloak yourselves in fur and feather, leather and hides from hats to boots, to mitts to coats, to pant and shirts.
Oh great dictator, you dress so well, for fashion calls us from our warm abode to venture out into the cold, to the north, to Canada, to settle and trade and to become the nation that we are. The nation of the fur trade.

This clip is about building an igloo, but look at their traditional garments!
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
January 17, 2014

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The Inuit

Hail, you awesome human

To the great frontier of the far north. A call to the spirit of man, to traverse the land bridge and build a home in a land of diversity. To you the mighty hunter, surrounded by herds of migrating caribou. Their numbers in the hundreds of thousands of animals. Brave the elements, oh fearless fighters, to the call of the wild, to your own destiny, to the land of fur!
The caribou, always plenty, although now in decline, has served you for hundreds of years. Brave hunters, whose passions led you to the remote north, whose eyes spied the massive herds of roaming wildlife. Brave hunters with your sharp skills and agile bodies, keenly aware of the dangers that stalk you. The predators, the remote tundra, the climate, hunger and the deep chill.
So it comes to pass that the lifestyle of the remote and rugged Arctic, appeases the instincts of your fine survival aptitude. Aptitudes of daring, of athletics of hunting of settlement, of navigation, of founding new lands. A will to conquer and to be free.
Here in the remote Arctic, your skills are challenged. The daily bread is the catch of the day. Walrus, whale, seal, caribou, wildlife is plenty.

http://nides.bc.ca/Assignments/Nunavut/Inuit.htm

The far north, in the Northwest territories, where home is, to a growing number of Inuit, has a land of diverse landscape and animal life. The land, the ocean, the ice and snow, make this almighty human a man of his own making.
The Inuit, once known as Eskimo, are the aboriginal inhabitants of the far north. A land of challenge, but also of great beauty. Of hardship, but also of great abundance. A lifestyle wrought from living off the land, from hunting and fishing and having skills to survive. The inventive mind for making harpoons,for whale hunting, kayaks and igloos.
Thousands of years of habitation in the north, across the Arctic of Canada and into Greenland. The story of the Inuit is a story of peoples adapted to life of ocean seafaring and polar conditions. A story of people whose planetary niche is in the remote Arctic, where unique skills are honed to perfection to provide for a life of unusual adventure. Where the sea offers up its bounty of fishes and the land provides for endless hunting.
The sun has set on the land of the Arctic and the dark skies of endless night are upon them. Still, the dauntless human of this territory emerges the victor each spring.
Praises to you, the peoples of the north, for the habitation of the great land. Praises to you for your ingenuity and strength and for claiming your heritage in this nation, in that remote place and for the daily adventure of your skillful lives.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
January 14, 2014

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Igloo

Good Morning Brave hearts

Wake up to a day of architectural delights. Fascinating domains from our cold climate. The perfect dome shape of carved snow, of barking dogs and aurora borealis brilliance, to start the morning off right. Add endless darkness, sub zero temperatures, a little wind chill and here’s the start of a great day in the far north.
Brave human, a day of reckoning with severe climate, possibly predators and elusive game makes today a day of challenge for the Arctic champions of survival. During the darkest months of the year, when the cold is the deepest and the snow is the highest, those tiny domes in the snow, protected small villages of independent and high spirited individuals, who saw the great north as a frontier, called home.

Click to access 2_a_history_of_igloos.pdf

Way back in far off history, tells a time of human migration throughout Asia to Canada. People were mobile and robust, following herds of game animals, in search of food. Following the call of the wild, to the daunting task of immigration and settlement, of the new frontier, of the far north.
These ingenious people with inventive minds, created the dwelling of snow for shelter and habitation. The landed migrants of Asia, set up domiciles of snow, igloos, to house themselves, during the long winter’s cold. A snow house of warmth and comfort, easy to build, with readily available building materials.
High up in the Arctic tundra, above the treeline, where wood is sparse or non-existent, remains the ancestors of those ancient pioneers. Settlers to the far north with courage and creativity, the daring human, with perseverance and skills, tackled a task of bold survival in extremely harsh conditions and carved a niche of humanity, in a land of constant challenge.
Out on the barren landscape, stands a village of domes. An Inuit village of igloos, carved from compacted snow and filled with an Inuit family and their precious belongings. Furs to sleep on, whale oil for light and cooking, utensils and tools. The daily awakening to a wind swept view of barren, snow covered land. To temperatures dropping to more than -40 and to the more chilling need for food.
Feed the hungry, great hunters. The caribou roam in herds and the walrus plays in the ocean. Yours is a land of extremes. A call to the will of the indomitable human.
Bravo to you, almighty human and to the will of survival. To your place in our history and to your perfect domes, the igloo, on our list of the seven wonders of Canada.
written by Dr, Louise Hayes
January 10, 2014

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Barren ground Caribou

Hail brilliant mankind

Cast your eyes upon the wilds of the great land. The wilderness stretches out before you and you are saved. The new land, freshly washed of glacier ice and snow reveals the tundra and the life within. Brave hunters, your lives await you there. Up, way up, above the treeline into the Arctic.
Cast your eyes upon the land and view the newness of the Earth. Your lives await you here, almighty human, the brave explorer, the clever hunter. The wild beasts roam and in your view is the vast herd you’ve been searching for.
Caribou!
Here in the far north is a large migrating herd of caribou. The home of the barren ground caribou as they move across the northern plains of the North West Territories. A way of life for nomadic peoples as they follow the herds for food and clothing. A lifeline, a support, a tradition. Beware, almighty human, the world changes.

Click to access 2011-2015_Barren-ground_Caribou_Management_Strategy.pdf

The barren ground caribou is in decline. It’s once magnificent numbers in the hundreds of thousands of animals is now declining and the great herds are vanishing. A way of life vanishes with them. Gone is the migrating hunter, who’s dependency upon the caribou sustained them in food and clothing. Gone is the sport hunter and with the loss of the wild herds eco- tourism vanishes as well.
Hail bravehearts to the call of the wild.
The exploitation of the far north is a blight upon us. Overharvesting of a national treasure affects our cultural identity. As an environmentalist and a conservationist, the predation of the wild is a long standing concern. Hardship for the people, hardship for the wildlife and loss of culture, a food source, a tourist delight and a way of life.
The sustainability of the land appears consistent. The food source for the animals themselves seems stable. Overhunting is identified as a factor in the rapid decline and the dwindling numbers of caribou are a threat to the sustainability of the wild.
Eager hunters, your bellies are full and hunting of the magnificent wild is no more.
The lands set aside for wildlife habitat is immense in Canada, but still, the plunder increases. The far north, the tundra, uncultivated, unproductive land, whose resource value is low, but for the wildlife that resides there, it sustains them. Specially adapted animals, whose lives have supported the indigenous peoples of northern Canada for centuries. To loose the herds of the wild is to loose our national, cultural identity. The migration of the early peoples, the fur trade, the choice to inhabit the north. The integrity of the wild is essential to us.
Hail mankind. The world is yours, to protect or discard, choose wisely.
written by Dr. Louise Hayes
November 20,2013