Thanks to Ottawa Police

What a weekend in Ottawa!  Thank goodness we have been able to rely on several police forces to protect our city.

It's a privilege to live in Canada's capital. We can go skating on the Rideau Canal, visit the national museums, and attend shows at The National Arts Centre. Living here makes it easy for us to celebrate special occasions, whether that means going to the National War Memorial on Remembrance Day or to the grounds of Rideau Hall when a new government is sworn in. These are our country's special places and we're grateful to have easy access to them.

Parliament Hill is our gathering place, whether it's for Canada Day festivities or other more sombre events. I remember going to the lying-in-state for John Diefenbaker and  then being there years later, with throngs of people, to pay respects to Pierre Trudeau. In the summer, we always take out of town visitors to see the Sound and Light show.  Protests are a part of life in Ottawa and we've been to many.  Last fall we went to the Hill to view the sad displays after the Kamloops graves were discovered. 

So, we're used to Parliament Hill being the place where citizens express their triumphs, tragedies and frustrations. However, this weekend's protest is something altogether different than anything we've ever witnessed. Someone on the radio this afternoon said that some of this weekend's visitors clearly did not understand the significance of some of our nation's capitals  monuments, like the Tomb of the Unknown Solider and the statue of Terry Fox. Susan Delacourt stated on CBC Radio that this was like a "national temper tantrum". 

It feels like our city is being held hostage. No one really knows when this is going to end.  Roads are closed, most of the interprovincial bridges are closed, the downtown shopping mall (Rideau Centre) was forced to close because of unmasked demonstrators, and a soup kitchen felt harassed into providing meals to protesters. How is the city going to get back to business tomorrow? As I write this (10 pm Sunday) school boards are considering keeping some schools closed. After so many school closures, some parents may find out tomorrow morning that there is no school ?!

My sister lives close to a parkway where trucks parked all night. Last evening an unmasked protestor came to her door, asking for access to bathrooms and information about restaurants. The protester was told that many of the neighbourhood restaurants were closed - because of the truck convoys being nearby. My sister was awakened early this morning by the steady blaring of truck horns. Pity the residents of downtown Ottawa, listening to that blaring, all weekend.

Over the past couple of years we have heard demands to de-fund the police. Really? What would we have done this weekend, without a heavy police presence? We were told to stay away from the centre of the city. What could we do except remain in our neighbourhoods, hope that the demonstrations would remain peaceful and leave it all in the hands of the police? 

This afternoon we went cross country skiing along the Ottawa River. Usually the only sounds you hear are the crunchy squeaks as your ski poles pierce the hard-packed snow and the swish as your skiis glide along. 

Today though, there was an unusual accompaniment - the steady drone of a helicopter, as it hovered over the area. No doubt it was a surveillance operation, keeping an eye on the truckers' movements. 

I cannot imagine all the coordination and planning that has taken place, among the various police forces. There is the Parliamentary Protective Service, the RCMP,  the Ottawa Police. and the Ontario Provincial Police.  Across the river, we have the city of Gatineau Police, as well as the Surete Du Quebec. Toronto Police vehicles have also been seen. I am grateful to all of them. Imagine being a police officer last night, working outside, in frigid conditions, in such challenging circumstances! Imagine what this has cost all of us, in policing costs!

So, although police organizations could be improved with additional specialized personnel (social workers, psychologists and psychiatrists) to assist at challenging  situations, we cannot afford to reduce  overall funding. This weekend shows how much we rely on well-funded police forces. Thank you to all our hard-working police officers for protecting our city. 

Louise Penny

Well, here in the nation's capital we are awaiting the truck convoy. It is such a ridiculous, scary, unnecessary disruption that I'm not going to comment on it. Instead, I'll write about something positive and that is my enjoyment of Louise Penny's books. 

The last time we went to Parliament Hill was in early January, to see the Christmas lights, on and around the Hill. I love how they use the Parliament buildings as a movie screen, whether it's in the winter or summer.

However, it wasn't just the Parliament Hill display that entertained us that evening. Maybe it's because we just don't go out at night anymore, but I was surprised at the many homes that were still lit up for the holidays. All those lights reminded me of Louise Penny and a short but meaningful paragraph from her novel, A Great Reckoning:

" It was now early January. A peaceful time of year, when the cheery lights and wreaths were still up, but there was no longer the pressure of the season. Their fridges and freezers were full of shortbread and fruitcake and turkey casseroles. Their own form of insulation against the winter."

I enjoy Penny's novels for many reasons, but one of them is her ability to summarize something in such a concise and accurate manner.  "There was no longer the pressure of the season "

She doesn't go on and on about holiday season decisions and shopping and preparations - the endless job lists going through your head  (women's heads?) in December. In a deft manner she simply acknowledges that Christmas brings with it a lot of pressure. 

Another example just jumped out at me, in the book I've just started, Kingdom of the Blind. She writes about a man who is living with dementia. "For the last year of his life he no longer recognized family and friends. He was kindly to all, but beamed at some.They were the ones he loved. He knew them instinctively and kept them safe, not in his wounded head but in his heart. The memory of the heart was far stronger that whatever was kept in the mind."

Penny's husband Michael died in 2016. He had dementia, so her knowledge is first- hand. I love her observation about dementia. When we visit my mother in-law, people ask us how she's doing and if she recognizes us. Penny's description here, is very similar to what we experience. She beams at us. We are still in her heart, if not in her mind anymore.

Most of my reading is done at bedtime. It is a comfortable way to end my days, to snuggle under the duvet and resume my travels to the village of Three Pines, where her novels are set. 

That is not to say that her stories are predictable. She's not on the bestseller lists because she's predictable. These murder mysteries are riveting and entertaining. I love how her characters develop throughout the series. 

To call them murder mysteries is perhaps a disservice They are much more than interesting whodunnits. As Penny herself writes about her books, in the acknowledgements to Kingdom of the Blind,  "They're the common yearning for community. For belonging. They're about kindness, acceptance. Gratitude. They're not so much about death, as life. And the consequences of the choices we make."

To date, Louise Penny has written seventeen books in her popular Inspector Gamache series. If I like her books so much, why am I just starting number fourteen? Well, I am reading them slowly and interspersing them with other reading, so that I always have some of her books to look forward to. I don't want to be up to date. It makes me happy to know that I have four left, plus the one that she just wrote with Hilary Rodham Clinton, State of Terror. 

And so, on these dark winter evenings, I take comfort in the opportunity to end my days with the characters of Three Pines. They're much more admirable than the characters invading our city this weekend. 

I'm Back!

 I wonder how many times I have apologized here, for not writing more often. Who am I apologizing to? Myself? At any rate, here I am. As of January 10th, (after 15 long months) Mom's estate was more or less finalized. There will be some wrap up work in the spring, but that should be fairly straightforward. The worst is behind us. For the past couple of weeks I have enjoyed the lack of emails, meetings and phone calls. Now it is time to get on with my life. Hopefully that will include the usual New Years resolutions - more writing, exercise, piano playing, and reading.