Tuesday morning I wrote:

Sitting at my desk this morning I glanced up and over my monitor. A troupe of dancing angels met my eye, just outside the window. Straight –laced angels they were, tall and willowy, gathered thickly together, swaying in unison just this side of the pine bough. They paid me no heed as they hung there enjoying the scenery, suspended at the border between domesticity and natural chaos. Such visitors come to call on special days, days of wonder.

If one gets technical about these angels, one might say that they are actually a reflection in the window. They are a reflection of sunshine glowing through closed vertical blinds opposite. That is what logic would have me believe, and science too if I was listening to it. But today is a day of wonder and I am not listening to logic or science. Today the angels are gathered outside my window.

The weather has turned suddenly. We woke this morning to falling snow. Pine boughs were laden with white and swaying in the cold wind. It seems winter has arrived.

Although Attila did not like the sourdough bread made with my original starter, he does like my latest sourdough loaf.

“What has made him change his mind,” you might ask.

Several days ago I separated out a cup of the starter and put it into separate Mason jar. To this batch I added rye flour rather than unbleached hard wheat flour. This starter seems much more active than the original and aroma is much less acidic. Attila likes the sourdough bread baked using the rye starter. We both agree that it is delicious.

Earlier in the autumn a researcher in Scotland collected some information about my maternal ancestors. He sent along copies of census pages, marriage registrations and birth registrations. Finally the information in these documents has been transcribed into my database. It is a good beginning, but one crucial element remains a mystery. My GG Grandfather is a mystery man. I can find no trace or record of his birth or his death, after ten years of searching. I will not give up the search and have requested microfilms from the Archives of Ontario to further my investigation. What I do know though, is that he was not born in Scotland. It is something that will help me narrow my explorations.

There are companies that raise the business bar. For instance, a piece of software I use every day offered a free upgrade. The new version of the software had a few issues on my computer and a few other customers were having a similar problem. I queried the issue on their software forum, tried all the quick and easy fixes recommended by other customers and when none of them worked wrote an email to the support staff. They responded the same day with a few requests, and I sent them a crash log from my system. The problem was identified and solved within the hour and the support team posted a do-it-yourself, easy solution to the forum for future reference. Business practice doesn’t get any better than that. No hype; no apologies; just fast, efficient and effective action.

Last evening Marketplace (a Canadian TV program that explores the marketplace in Canada) did a feature on high speed Internet service, comparing Bell, Shaw, Telus and Rogers, Attila and I stopped what we were doing and sat down in front of the set. Bell high speed Internet service did not fare well in the comparison, rating significantly below the others. Calls to Bell Canada made by the commentator of the program did not result in a resolution to the problem. There was a time when you could rely on Bell to provide reliable, reasonably priced service.

We have had three difficult issues with Bell Canada over the past year or so, each problem the result of errors made by Bell Canada employees. The errors were understandable, human kinds of things that happen when the tools provided for the staff aren't up to the job at hand. I found the resolution process time consuming and extremely frustrating.

Hope the biggest wigs at Bell Canada get it right soon, a lot of jobs will go down with the company otherwise.