Really....a gold star?

Remember way back in grade school when teachers gave out stars for good work? Recently, while going through some of our "kids" childhood memory boxes, I came across our eldest son's collection of Stars of the Week, those weeks when he was chosen as the star of his class. Being a nostalgic fool, I put them back in the box...I cannot throw them out. I also still have my very  first piano books. When I had a half decent piano lesson, my teacher would paste a star on the piece I played best. It didn't happen often.

 Anyhow....I just had a message from CBC's hyperlocal, informing me that today, my grouchy neighbourhood piece has been chosen as an editors pick! So if you go to their site you will see my shiny gold star, hovering over my piece! It turns out that a star still has the power to make me feel good...who knew?

CBC's hyperlocal site

Have you heard of CBC radio's hyperlocal challenge? It is a month long event, with listeners invited to write about how their part of Canada is changing. It's an interesting site with stories from all across the country. If you go to the story gallery and click on Ottawa, my first submission appears there...or you can read it below....I'm working on another submission for Friday's deadline. I should probably be working on income tax.

Warning...this is me at my grouchiest.....

It's difficult to have a relationship with your neighbours when they look down at you from their 3rd story, roof top patio.

Progress in Kitchissippi?

For many Ottawa residents, it feels like we are losing our neighbourhoods, one painful death at a time. This thought struck me as I came across a bulldozer, demolishing yet another house in my neighbourhood in Kitchissippi ward. As with a long illness, I had known the end was coming. The beautiful home, in the middle of a treed lot, had been sold a while back. We all knew it would go, but to see its actual destruction...well it felt like a deathbed scene.

I had the same feeling a couple of weeks ago, while walking along Byron Avenue behind the former Visitation convent. We knew that Ashcroft, the developer, would be killing that huge willow tree. It was doomed, just like all the living things on that block. Even with the knowledge of its impending demise, I was shocked when I first saw the huge pile of rock that now sits in its place. Future historians will find it hard to believe that west end Ottawa had a beautiful, ready-made park at the convent site and allowed it to be destroyed for the erection of condos.

This is a sad time to be a resident of  Kitchissippi ward. It’s hard to know which is worse: the destruction of perfectly fine houses or the erection of condo after condo along Wellington Street and Richmond Rd., resulting in the loss of many independent businesses that cannot afford the astronomical rents. With this new status as a hot neighbourhood, comes traffic gridlock and the largest tax hike in the city.

When we returned to Ottawa, in 1988, we selected our neighbourhood because there were plenty of big trees, front and back lawns for families to play in and porches where folks could socialize. The solid brick houses were all about the same height and size.

Now, all of us who want to remain here live in fear of our neighbours putting up their homes for sale. They are bought for the lot, not the house. Builders raze the original house, fill the entire lot, build within 4 feet of the property line, put up a 3 story, flat roofed double, cover it in corrugated steel, add a roof top patio and then....look down on the single, 2 story, sloped-roof brick home beside them, blocking their sunlight and invading their privacy.

Although we are now called West Wellington Village, it is less like a village every day. There is less opportunity for folks to interact because new home owners pull up to their front yard garages, and disappear inside their gigantic houses. It’s hard to have a conversation with your neighbour if he is looking down at you from his roof top patio.

There seems to be no sense of vision, no regard for our quality of life. Yet most people grumble quietly, without protest to their elected officials. Why are we being so polite as our city is being transformed into something we hardly recognize? 

Best Laid Plans

Clearly I was over-confident. Earlier this year I managed to obtain a great camping spot at Sandbanks Provincial Park, which is not an easy feat. Having used our trusty laptop to win that online prize, I was feeling pretty optimistic about being able to wrangle tickets to Paul McCartney's Ottawa show in July.

Tickets were to go on sale at 10:00 AM this morning. My friend Sheila came over and we planned our strategy. She would try the 2 phone numbers while I used the laptop. At 9:00 AM I went on the capitaltickets site and created my account with them. I checked things out and left the site at 9:15, feeling totally prepared to do business at 10:00 AM.

It was a busy morning at our place with our son and a couple of friends in, to work on our porch project. They all had pancakes before heading outside. After serving them I wolfed down a couple of pancakes myself. Then at 9:53, Sheila and I sat down together on the couch, ready to slay the ticket monster.

It was not to be. As soon as I entered the ticket site I was notified that I was in a queue and advised not to leave the page or I would give up my place in line. And so we sat, staring at that message , waiting for it to change. Of course the 2 phone numbers were busy as well.

My question is...when did the queue start? At 9:15 there was no lineup but by 9:53, I was way too late. Sheila and I had a good visit while we sat staring at the screen that never changed. At 11:15, we gave up. Later we heard that tickets had sold out in 10 minutes!

Although disappointed, we really shouldn't complain, as we went to see McCartney in Toronto in 2010. It was one of the best concerts ever. He is a remarkable performer, with so much energy.  In a CBC radio interview that year he said, "I go out there and try to give people the best night of their lives." He delivers. There really is nothing quite like belting out all those great tunes with McCartney as the very enthusiastic choir leader. As the  cameras panned the crowd that night I was struck by the sea of happy, joyous faces....all these people, of various ages and backgrounds, all these strangers, united in song, in the pure joy of singing, in celebrating this performer, even with a totally silly song like Ob La Di, Ob La Da.

McCartney was so thankful throughout the show, always thanking the crowd profusely after each song, sometimes just pausing, drinking in the applause. After a particularly big hit like Yesterday or Hey Jude he would bow, and often raise his guitar in a salute to the crowd.. For a moment, in the pause after the song, as applause rained down on him and he acknowledged us...it was as if he and us...we were connecting after all these years. On both sides of the stage we were remembering and saying..."Hey, that was a great hit, how we enjoyed that when we were young. " With our applause we were thanking him, not just for that particular performance but for the fun and enjoyment we had with each song, over the years.

My Paul trading card

Enjoyment..that's what he gives...joy. Because he still loves to give that joy to his audiences, he still tours. What a great gift, to be able to give joy to so many.

Well that's enough of that. I can't think about it right now. Next time...when I  really want tickets...I'll go online long before the sale officially starts.

Trudeau revisited

I know that non boomers get tired of us boomers extolling the virtues of the 60's but really.... it was quite a time, especially 1968. By that time my life long addiction to the evening news was well established so I was swept up in the turbulent events of that spring. I'll never forget the morning of June 5th, (the day of my grade 10 final math exam) when my mother awoke me with the news that Bobby Kennedy had been shot, following his victory in the California primary. 

Bobby Kennedy 1968                mentalfloss.com

That was just two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis....another messenger of hope lost to his nation and the world. (A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to visit The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis ...it's located at the Lorraine Motel where King was shot.)

In Canada however, we were still on a high, following the Centennial celebrations of the previous year, with Expo 67 in Montreal as the highlight. As well, we were experiencing a political happening unlike anything before...Trudeaumania! Women of all ages were crazy for Pierre! After he had been PM for a couple of years, my sister went on a school trip to Parliament Hill, accompanied by her history teacher, a nun who was...perhaps in her 50's? (Don't all teachers seem ancient to teens?) At any rate, when Trudeau appeared, the teacher vaulted across the lawn and threw herself at him! Such was the power of Pierre! 

Prime Minister Trudeau, on the cover of Time (Canada) Magazine, July 5, 1968
Photo: Duncan Cameron 
Library and Archives Canada 
C-027281

www.civilization.ca

One of the perks of living in Ottawa is having the chance to witness national events like Remembrance Day ceremonies  or  Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill. If you're so inclined, you can cheer on the Queen or protest, as many of us did, when President Bush came to town. 

Anyhow......on the night of the federal Liberal leadership convention  (April 6,1968), my friend Jane and I went to the Ottawa Civic Centre after the formalities were over. There we scooped up posters and campaign buttons. Then we went to the Chateau Laurier Hotel to watch for celebs. My Trudeau poster hung over my bed for years. I wonder how many Canadian teens sleep with Stephen Harper posters in their bedrooms?

My 1968 bedroom

No, Pierre Trudeau was not perfect....I won't say that but....as a Canadian, I was always proud to say that he was our Prime Minister.... an intelligent, well spoken representative of our country on the world stage.

So, this past Sunday night I couldn't help myself. Because I am a nostalgic fool I had to go downtown to the Liberal announcement event. My husband and I arrived at The Westin Hotel, wearing my 1968 Trudeau buttons.  Chretien and Rae addressed the enthusiastic crowd, before the results were announced.For a political junkie like myself it was a thrill to be  there.

                                          
Part of the excitement was to see many of the past leaders in the room. At one point we were standing close to Stephane Dion so I took the opportunity to speak to him . After the Conservatives crucified him so cruelly on TV, I  intended to write to him and thank him for his service..to tell him that I was so impressed with his integrity, his decency. As my mother is fond of saying,"The way to hell is paved with good intentions." I never did write that letter. So, I was happy that I had an opportunity to meet him and to thank him in person.

                                          With Stephane Dion

There was a really positive feeling in the air, a feeling of a new beginning, of promise. There were certainly many young people in attendance so that is a good sign. With so many people swarming around Trudeau after his speech and as he entered the after party...it was reminiscent of his father's days. So good luck to Justin Trudeau...perhaps he can lead us out of this misery that is the Harper government.

(The after party was held across the street from The Westin, at what used to be our train station...a great idea for a future blog...The city of Ottawa's 5 biggest mistakes...) 

Bob Rae - The best candidate?

Since I am about to write about the federal Liberal Party I must confess, that I am not a card carrying Liberal. For a couple of elections I had the priviledge of voting for Ed Broadbent in my Ottawa Centre riding. You see, I am an ABC voter.....Anyone But Conservatives.  I have always voted  Liberal or NDP, federally and provincially, depending on who is running and who has the best chance to win. I think Joyce Murray's ideas for the next federal election make a lot of practical sense.

Today is the last day for Bob Rae as interim leader of the Liberal party of Canada. I was profoundly disappointed when I learned that he would not be running for permanent leader. What an accomplished person he is...intelligent, well spoken and compassionate. It has not been an easy job, to manage the Liberals, after their catastrophic defeat, but he has done so with with his usual flair. His performance was so inspiring that he was selected as the Parliamentarian of the year by his peers in the House of Commons.

Many claim that he could never have won as leader of the Liberals...that his track record in Ontario would always haunt him. However there are many, including Steve Paikin of TVO's The Agenda, who think his social contract with its infamous Rae Days was really a good idea. When you look back at elections and political decisions you can't help but wonder..what would our country have been like if things had gone differently. Here in Ottawa, we lost a heartbreaker when a good man, an experienced city councillor named Alex Munter, lost to  businessman  Larry O'Brien. Ottawa would be in different shape today if we had the benefit of Munter's positive guidance. And what of folks like Stephen Lewis and his father David....how might our country have benefitted from their leadership?

But it's Bob Rae I'm thinking about today. While listening to an interview with him on CBC radio last Saturday, I was left with the impression that he is truly a classy guy. If Justin Trudeau manages to defeat Stephen Harper we can only hope that he will surround himself with such cohorts as Bob Rae...he still has much to contribute to our country.

sleeping with crickets

So...I'm back. This time I really am going to keep a regular blog. There have been many times over the past 6 months that I have written blog posts, mostly while lying in bed late at night. Unfortunately none of them made it onto the computer. This time I am determined...if I don't start new habits now (I am dangerously close to the big 6 0) ...all of a sudden I'm going to wake up and be 95 and still waiting for my new leaf to turn over. At the present time I have a number of news items that I'd love to write about...Bob Rae's departure as interim head of the Liberal Party, the new Pope, Justin Trudeau...but before all those guys, I must write about my latest fave...our little grandson, born 6 months ago.

There is probably not much new that I can add to the literature on the joys of grandparenting. Many other grandparents have told us.....it is way more fun being a grandparent than a parent...so true. These past six months have been wonderful, exciting and exhausting. How soon we forget what a demanding job this is! However, the smiles that you receive, the indescribable warmth of that little person cuddled up under your chin or against your face....that more than makes up for rinsing out poopy clothes and endless walking and rocking.

As with every other aspect of life, technology has changed the baby job. We've had to relearn all the rules, to readjust to the new expectations of parents and grandparents. No more do babies sleep on their tummies or sides..back is best is the  current mantra. When you do manage to deposit your sleeping infant in their crib, he or she will be wearing a sleep sack...sort of a mini sleeping bag with armholes. Blankets....well they are the new enemy..banished from cribs forever...as are bumper pads...both implicated in sudden death syndrome. No juice..only water...and of course breast feeding is not only encouraged, as it was back in the stone ages when I had babies...Our daughter told us that in her prenatal class, formula feeding was equated with feeding your baby Kraft dinner.

Yours truly in my 1953 crib...note the bumper pads

Perhaps the greatest change in parenting has been wreaked by the internet. In the 80's we went to the public library, once in a blue moon, to take out a parenting book..or maybe a friend gave us one...or we talked to a friend, family member or neighbour for advice. Parents today have the web, which is both a boon and a curse. Young parents are bombarded with info and advice, much of it conflicting. Someone told me that he thinks all this advice has taken the intuition out of parenting. Perhaps...or maybe today's parents are just in a whole different league than we were.

Of course the products now available to clothe, educate and care for your infant are endless. While much of it is unnecessary there are a myriad of fantastic offerings. One of my favourites is the new sound machine that our daughter recently purchased. It offers a variety of sounds, all designed  to soothe baby to sleep. My favourite is the cricket option. For the past 4 nights we have all fallen asleep to the cricket sounds coming from the baby's room. There may be snow in our back yard and the windows are still tightly closed against this winter that does not want to quit but.....it sounds like late summer at our house...like we are in a tent at a campsite. Many would not agree but I find that cricket sounds are very relaxing. Who knows...when they go back home I may just have to buy one of these sound machines for myself.

For a funny story on a very quiet cricket, listen to the late Peter Gzowski and Stuart McLean describing a cricket on a CBC Morningside episode here

For a great intro into modern parenting issues, the Fiat motherhood ad is a blast. Watch it here.