Thursday, July 1, 2021

From a friend (David Latimer) on Facebook: “Not just a day. We need a year of mourning. Cancel the Canada day celebrations nation wide. All of the resources earmarked for parades and fireworks and silly little plastic Canada flags should go to residential school investigations, reconciliation actions, clean drinking water for indigenous communities and the numerous other injustices this country constantly ignores.”

I don’t do a big celebration of Canada Day most years but this year I am acknowledging the day despite saying I wouldn’t. With the discovery of all the graves at various residential schools and the reluctance of the churches involved to release their records I just didn’t see much to celebrate.

But listening to some of the Chiefs and Elders I have heard them say that they are not asking anyone to cancel celebrations but to spend a bit of the day remembering their plight. They have said that no one living today made the laws that have so severely affected their lives; it is more important to focus on what needs to be done now.

I also heard an Elder say that right now their community doesn’t need anything; they need time to mourn, even though these atrocities have been common knowledge within their circles for many years.

So today, rather than wearing red, I’m wearing pink because I know that there are many, many good things about Canada. Also, it is hard to reconcile not celebrating the day when so many people, including many from First Nations, gave their lives for this country.

I’ve spent some time reading the findings of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation report; a very lengthy tome that it will take weeks to get through. It annoys me that only eight of their 94 Calls to Action have been implemented. At this rate, it is estimated that it will take until 2074 for all of the calls to be implemented. I’m also bothered that I can’t think of anything I can do, personally, to make Canada a better place for them.

And don’t even get me started on the drinking water situation for First Nations communities. I am trying to find a charity to donate to that is helping to solve the problem but so far I’ve only come up with one and you never know whether or not money is being spent in the way that you hope it is.

Happy Canada Day!

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

It was a little cooler today and there has been a breeze all day. I was up early and had most of my computer work done by 7:30. By 9:30 we had cooked a batch of beets, a batch of turnips and Pat had made a scrambled egg breakfast with garlic scapes, chard and green onions. All of that bounty was from our weekly produce delivery. To be honest we are still working our way through two weeks worth of scapes and the beets and turnips were from two deliveries. It is almost time to go downstairs and wait for this week’s goodies.

I had a few errands to run and made a trip to the bottle depot. I so love their return-it express; all I had to do was park, drop my bag off (already labeled), and leave. I was in and out before the person parked beside me had sorted out even one container of returns.

Since it was a bit cooler I started cutting out a mystery quilt. The organizer is a friend of Deloise’s; I did her mystery last summer and thought I’d try it again this year. I’m hopeful I have enough variety in my fabrics. I dug into my yellows and golds and so far have managed to get more than half of the pieces cut mostly from scrap pieces. Pat has an online event tonight and, if my back feels up to it, I may try to get a bit more cutting done. It would be lovely to be on track for at least the first week!

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

We always intended to come home from Texada today but we came on an earlier ferry than we originally planned. I think our theory that it would be cooler over there was wrong. Of course it is super hot in both places but, because we are back in the trees at the studio, there has been no breeze at all for the past few days of the heatwave. In Powell River we have a chance to get an ocean breeze through the house in the morning and evening and we have the cool basement to go to in the heat of the day.

For the first time since the pandemic and for the first time on the new ferry (although it is over a year old now) we sat outside for the sailing. We had some shade and a cool breeze and I felt like staying put and just crossing over and back, over and back all day long.

My upstairs studio is an oven and I’ve had my computer off most of the day. I haven’t unpacked my bin yet but I’m hopeful that if I get up here early enough tomorrow I can get something done before it becomes unbearable.

It is three weeks since I had my second Covid vaccination and I’m as safe as I’m ever going to be. I promised myself that the first thing I was going to do with my new-found freedom was to get a haircut. I was lucky that I was able to get an appointment for this afternoon.

I found a place that will accept my hair as a donation but it had to be ten inches long. The hairdresser measured a few times and thought she could get pretty close to ten inches and still have enough hair to work with. Although it is called Wigs for Kids they accept grey hair and I have more grey than ever.

Enough of this heat upstairs – I’m headed back to the basement. Pat has noticed there is a new season of two of our favourite shows – Bosch and Yellowstone – so we can sit down there for the rest of the week if necessary.

Saturday, June 26, 2021

I don’t know if it would be cooler in Powell River than it is here today. Inside the studio the temperature is 29 degrees and I know it is even hotter outside. In Powell River there is a chance of an ocean breeze at night but when it is this hot I’m not sure even a breeze in the evening will bring much relief. Yesterday morning I sat outside with my shawl wrapped around me and I had lunch on the deck just to warm up. I sat outside while I drank my coffee but I certainly didn’t need my shawl. At lunch we sat outside on the back deck because there was a bit of shade there. It wasn’t too aesthetic as we were sitting beside the stacked wood; it didn’t seem too hot but the studio felt cooler than outside when we came back in.

I planned to get out my sewing machine today but decided it was too warm to have the iron plugged in all day adding in even a small amount to the heat. So it was back to cross stitching my gift project. It went better today than it did yesterday; I think another couple of days will have it finished.

Pat just came in from a trip to the market. He said it was nice driving in the truck with the air conditioning on so we may go out for a drive after supper.