Goodbye Ford

 I woke up this morning to news that Ontario political parties are already posting ads, leading up to what many presume, will be an early election call. For so many reasons, I'd love to say goodbye to this premier.

 Today I'll just focus on one; special education in Ontario schools...and how it could be better funded. Click on If I Had 3 Billion Dollars, to see the piece I had in the Ottawa Citizen a couple of weeks ago. 

Sex Ed in Alberta

 Last week, Alberta's premier introduced legislation that would , among other important matters, make it more difficult for students to receive sex education. Click  here to read a CBC article which outlines the details. 

Click here to read the Ottawa Citizen article I wrote on that subject in February, not that it made any difference. 

Alberta, the U.S...why does it seem that we are marching backwards, not forwards? 

Grateful #1

 What a historic day! While we don't  have many American decorations, we have put out this meagre offering to mark the occasion. 

What am I grateful for today...besides the fact that I live in Canada? Well today I am grateful for my son Aaron and the opportunity to be a parent.

You see, the U.S. elections always remind me of labour and delivery.

On November 4th, 1980, I was induced, as Aaron was then two weeks overdue. Going into the hospital that day felt like every important day of my life all rolled into one; exams, graduations, our wedding . . . but this was the main  event ! My life was about to be transformed.   

After my doctor finished the procedure he informed us that it would be a number of hours before anything happened, so he was going home. He joked that he was going to start building a bomb shelter in his back yard.  This was because Ronald Reagan was widely expected to win the election that day and we were worried about the possibility of renewed wars. Aaron didn't arrive until the following morning, around the time this paper was being distributed.

Of course we survived the Reagan years. Hopefully we will survive the outcome of this election with a minimum of disruption and violence. I am grateful that President Biden stepped aside for Kamala Harris, and grateful for the hope that her campaign has offered us.

But mostly today, I am grateful for Aaron. Happy Birthday!

Grateful and Grouchy

I've just read over my last post and can't believe it has been over a year since I've posted here.  I have no extraordinary excuses for my absence. Life simply got in the way. How do all the super busy people accomplish all that they do? I have no idea. 

At times I have felt bogged down by the world around us. As a lifelong news addict, everything seems to be heading in the wrong direction: war/peace, climate change, politics, poverty around the world and in our midst. 

As a boomer, I feel  lucky to have spent my childhood in that relatively carefree time of the fifties.  I wish our current time period was like that...not for me, as much as for our children and grandchildren. 

It is the love and support of my family that sustains me. It is a joy to be with them. There is still much to celebrate in our everyday lives.

And so, I'm going to try to write again. It is  a source of satisfaction , even when I write the grouchy stuff. In that spirit, I think this blog can be named Grateful and Grouchy. I will attempt to limit my grouchiness.

Remembering Mom and Dad

 

This past week would have been Mom and Dad's 71st wedding anniversary. They were married on August 30th, 1952. While many families make a regular practice of visiting their loved ones'  gravesites, I've never found much comfort there. It's not a familiar place, a place they spent time. 

Fortunately, our family had the opportunity to donate a bench in their honour at Champlain Park, across the street from their house, where they lived for over 60 years. That neighbourhood, that park, the nearby Ottawa River - that is where I feel their presence. 

So, on some of the special occasions,  some of us in the family decorate their bench. It is our way of celebrating them. On their anniversary this week, I tied on a photo from their wedding day and a poem I wrote for their 30th anniversary. There are still many "old time" residents of Champlain Park who remember Mom and Dad, but many more newcomers, who will not recognize their names on the bench. This way they'll learn a little bit about them. We were so lucky, to have them, for so long!

Only five minutes of fear

 It's been a summer of extreme weather. All around the world and across Canada, people have experienced drought, extreme heat, typhoons, floods, tornadoes and wildfires with their resulting smoke. Here in Ottawa we have mostly been lucky. We started off the summer with wildfire smoke and extreme heat but that all subsided into a fairly usual summer.

Except for the storms. Last Thursday, August 3rd, a tornado touched down in the southern section of Ottawa. It's the the thirrd time that has happened here this summer. We are getting used to alerts on our phones, warning us of damaging thunderstorms and/or tornados. Click here to read Bruce Deachman's piece in the Ottawa Citizen. 

On Friday July 28th, I was driving near the Experimental Farm, about ten minutes from our house, when a violent thunderstorm hit. I couldn't see where I was going so I pulled over and waited it out, as hail pounded the car. For those few minutes I was scared, as I wondered how long it would last and what else might happen. 

When it subsided I slowly drove home, to avoid the gigantic puddles on many streets. It turned out that I had stopped in an area that was not that hard hit, compared to our neighbourhood. The hail where I stopped my car was not large enough to leave any marks. However, any cars that were parked in our neighbourhood were left with dimpled roofs. The hail here was golf ball sized! One of the unexpected outcomes was our damaged screens. The sideways hail was so strong that the screens on the west side of our house now have holes. The flashing on our roof is dimpled. Homeowners with older windows found some to be cracked or broken. 

As I spoke to my husband and others who were home at the time of the storm, they all said the same thing. They were scared. They thought all their windows were going to break. After it all stopped we surveyed the damage and got to work, raking the leaves and branches. It seemed like fall when you drove around, with so many folks out raking, in the middle of summer. (And then there was the totally annoying sound of leaf blowers, at all hours. How I hate those things ! ) We were lucky. We didn't lose any trees around us.

                                          Strange to be raking in the middle of summer !

And so, we got off relatively unscathed. We have 5 small screens to repair but that's nothing compared to the catastrophic weather events happening all over. If we were scared for five minutes, what is it like for those caught in a flash flood, or in wildfires ? What it is like to go to bed, with your bags packed, knowing that you might suddenly have to evacuate your home?

The 5 minutes of trauma here is nothing compared to what so many experience every day in war torn countries. In Niger now, in Syria, in Ukraine...how do those people go about their daily lives, knowing that everything could be violently destroyed at any moment? 

As I write this, it's a sunny morning and the cicadas are singing. to tell me that it's going to be a hot day, a day to go for a swim perhaps. And so we go about our ordinary lives, spending summer time with family and friends, while evidence of climate change hovers around us. 

Other neighborhoods had it worse than us.

What to do? We all need to do what we can, to be kinder to the earth. We need to encourage our children, grandchildren, and our governments to pursue policies and practices to reduce climate change. And, whenever possible, we need to offer support to those caught in the middle of natural disasters and war. Their ongoing pain is so much worse than what we have experienced here. 

                                        Hail, still on the ground, two hours later.

Happy Pride !

 Thank goodness for the young people in our lives! Whether they are our children, nieces, nephews or grandchildren, our relationships with them help to keep us current. One of the areas that we have been helped with, is our familiarity with LGBTQ2+ issues. 

A few years ago, Norah's family, who lives in Toronto, gave us a rainbow flag. We often fly flags so that was appropriate but this flag was not one we would have bought ourselves. "Why does this rainbow flag look different?" we asked. "Grandma",  our grandchild answered, somewhat impatiently. "It's not a rainbow flag, This is a pride progress flag." This updated flag is meant to include more marginalized communities. 

So we have flown our flag during June for the past three years. In Toronto, many businesses and homes fly similar flags. In Ottawa, not so much. We haven't seen another flag like ours in our neighbourhood. I wondered what our neighbors thought. How does it make them feel? Do they appreciate us flying this flag? Do they think it's strange for us to fly it? 

As time has gone by, and I have listened to more media reports about how this community is being treated, I have felt more strongly about how important it is, to show solidarity with them. In a time with so many more pressing issues to worry about (climate change, the war in Ukraine etc.) why are people wasting their time and energy targeting a group of people for no good reason? 

And then, out of the blue, a couple of weeks ago, a friend in the neighbourhood thanked me for flying the flag. It means a lot to him and his partner. I was touched that he mentioned it and told him we are happy to fly it. This community, made up of our neighbors, our friends and our family members, need to know that we support them, especially now.

Last weekend we were in Toronto. On Saturday, the day before the Pride parade, we drove to the train station and then decided to walk around. We went to the wonderful St. Lawrence Market, then walked around Church St. which was blocked off for Pride weekend. After that, we ended up at the old Maple Leaf Gardens building, which now houses a large Loblaws on the ground floor. 

Everywhere we went, we encountered people in a happy mood. It was like being at a Christmas parade but instead of hearing "Merry Christmas" we kept hearing "Happy Pride ! " We bumped into a couple of Norah's friends from her high school days here in Ottawa.  It was good to see them and all the other families out for a stroll, in a celebratory mood. I was impressed with all the creative slogans and displays at various businesses. You can call it mere marketing but it worked for me. Having these businesses put their money into supporting Pride events should help to make us realize that all of us, regardless of our backgrounds, are all part of humanity. We all deserve happiness, safety, comfort and love in our lives. Visible signs and symbols really do matter.

Along Church Street

The lobby of the Royal York Hotel

Rainbow pizza at Loblaws

Bubly display

 

Bakery counter at Loblaws

                                           My favorite sign of the day !