Who am I? Why am I writing this blog? Legitimate questions. I am Adam Oliver Kerr, aka Canada Slim. In my travels across Switzerland, and eventually the world (I hope), I explore the places I encounter with a curious and open mind, wanting to know “What makes a place special and unique?” Sometimes it is… Continue reading Why I write
Category: Uncategorized
Memento mori
Maybe because today is Sunday, a religious day of rest in this wee Christian hamlet of Landschlacht, that my thoughts turn to the question of Death and some discoveries I made on this subject during my explorations of Schaffhausen of late. Death is viewed different ways by different people. Some view it with great fear… Continue reading Memento mori
Sweet Caroline and the Candy Man
“Sweet Caroline Good times never seemed so good I’ve been inclined To believe they never would…” (Neil Diamond, “Sweet Caroline”) “Who can take a sunrise Sprinkle it with dew Cover it with chocolate And a miracle or two? The Candy Man Oh, the Candy Man can. The Candy Man can Cause he mixes it with… Continue reading Sweet Caroline and the Candy Man
Tough to be the Chosen
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger.” (Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzche, 1844 – 1900) We live in strange times, built upon the past which itself was strange at times. Today, the world’s fast growing religion is Islam, yet simultaneously also one of the most hated since 9/11 is Islam. The main enemy of Islam?… Continue reading Tough to be the Chosen
The Little Shop of Ethics
As previously written in this blog, I have begun exploring the canton capital of Schaffhausen and started this discovery by wandering about willy-nilly seeing where my impulse and feet would take me. Webergasse (Weber Lane) is a short street from Vorstadt (the main pedestrian street) and Bachstrasse (Stream Road), a main road leading north out… Continue reading The Little Shop of Ethics
Oh, oh, Canada!
Yesterday was Canada Day, our celebration of nationhood since 1867. Wish I could have been up on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill to see the fireworks, but whether increased security would have diminished the fun factor is problematic. Two days ago at the Allerheiligen Museum in Schaffhausen I came across a German-language magazine, Transhelvetica: Schweizer Magazin für… Continue reading Oh, oh, Canada!
Along Trail 34
“Most of Canton Schaffhausen lies on a plateau dominated by the Hoher Randen. The summit of this mountain is 912 metres/2,992 feet. The slopes of the mountain are gentle towards the south where it reached the Rhine River valley. Short and narrow valleys interesct these gentle slopes. The Klettgau is one such valley.”(Wikipedia) There is… Continue reading Along Trail 34
Them and us: points of view
Young men and women have been, and will continue to be, fighting and dying in the Middle East, and though they do so in the names of their home nations, I wonder if they really understand WHY they are doing so. In the Gulf War and the War with Iraq and the War in Afghanistan,… Continue reading Them and us: points of view
The Last Chance Saloon
The mind loves its little games at times. It imagines things that cannot be. It invents ideas that have not been. It plays and teases with both the conscious and unconscious parts of our self. Especially when one emerges from the cocoon of slumber the mind still continues to operate in a dreamlike hallucinatory state.… Continue reading The Last Chance Saloon
Lessons from old Europe (and India) to America
Consider the teenager… Prone to emotion, quick to enrage, quick to find fault, filled with self-doubt, impatient, quick to hate, acting prouder and wiser than actual experience justifies, a dreamer but not much of a thinker, a braggart in victory, overly-sensitive in defeat, a bully who feels might makes right unless it is he being… Continue reading Lessons from old Europe (and India) to America