Summer

Ah, summer! There are peonies in the garden and swim suits on the clothesline; it doesn't get much better than that.

Yesterday we went for our first outdoor swim of the year. It was heaven; warm water and even a heron who landed near us, to provide visual entertainment. What a perfect way to celebrate the first official day of summer.

The summer solstice always reminds me of our time in Exeter, Ontario. We lived there from 1976 to 1979. Those three years, in small town, rural Ontario, were a special time. The friendliness of the people more than made up for some of the  big city  conveniences that we missed.

On June 20th of 1977, I was a desperate teacher in need of a movie. We were nearing the end of the school year and I was trying to keep my Grade 7 and 8 class occupied. In those days you could order movies from your local public library. The order went to a much bigger branch library, (probably Stratford) and they sent it out. The movies were on those big metal reels and were shown on the school projector.

I had placed my order but had forgotten to pick it up. At the end of the school day, while writing my daybook for the next day, I suddenly realized my mistake. I had been counting on showing the movie the following morning. It was almost 5 pm, closing time at the library.  Thankfully, the town librarian, Elizabeth Schroeder, answered my frantic phone call. She assured me that my movie reels had arrived. I told her that there was no way I could walk over to the library before her closing time.

It's funny what my small brain forgets and remembers. Somehow I can still recall her cheery reply,
"Don't you worry about that. Isn't it the longest day of the year?  Surely I can stay here until you arrive. Let's just make the most of this long sunny day."

Here's to friendly folks, summer and long sunny days!

Ottawa Citizen Article

After quite a hiatus I'm happy to have a piece in today's Ottawa Citizen. I wrote it to try to promote the idea of Ottawa's Giveaway Weekend, which takes place this weekend. It's a great recycling idea that needs more publicity. I was also happy to promote a couple of Ottawa charities which deliver furniture to needy families. In the piece I mention my prize from last year's  Giveaway Weekend. It's a great camp kitchen that was in this battered box.

Here's a link to the piece.

http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/kot-dont-throw-that-useful-item-out-its-giveaway-weekend-in-ottawa
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Great Glebe - the 2016 version

In June of 2014 I wrote about the Great Glebe Garage Sale. Here's this year's recap.

The Great Glebe is the granddaddy of Ottawa garage sales and always takes place the Saturday after the May long weekend. It is immense and you would be foolish to try to drive anywhere near there that day. Thousands of people descend on the area to buy, sell or volunteer. This year's weather was hot and sunny so it was a perfect day to go for a walk among the lovely houses with their gardens all in bloom.

My favourite quote of the day came at 7:30 am, when I overheard a young child ask his Dad, "Is it later yet?" I wouldn't actually recommend bringing young kids to the Great Glebe. It's a very crowded event.  Some folks seem to think this is a fine time to show off their dogs. We even saw two dogs strapped into strollers. Now that's what the Great Glebe doesn't need...more dogs in strollers.

We didn't eat breakfast before we left the house. We were counting on finding last year's house that sold tasty breakfast sandwiches. However healthy food seemed to be in short supply this year. By 10 am we gave up looking for the breakfast sandwiches and settled for a hot dog. There were plenty of homes selling cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies. We did enjoy some fine fruit kabobs near the end of our morning.

The shopping itself was the usual interesting recycling experience with plenty of  surprising finds.  Perhaps our best buy of the day was a folding double stroller for $20.00. Avery and Eliza were thrilled with the little dinosaurs I brought home and proceeded to chase us with them, complete with scary dinosaur roars! Nothing says fun like having a twenty month old chase you with a tiny plastic dinosaur!

It seems nuts to say bring a cell phone but with that crowd it is so easy to get split up. The three of us were constantly texting our new positions. "Hey I'm at the corner now. I'm going to turn right on Fourth."

As usual there were so many good folks volunteering or working for good causes like Ecology Ottawa.  My favourite Great Glebe musicians, the Swampwater Dixieland Jazz Band,  were there again, raising money for the Ottawa Food Bank. I was most impressed with a group of young boys, about 10 years of age. They had a  bake table with a handmade poster explaining that they were raising money for fire victims in Alberta.

Here's the best part of the day. We walked around in that throng of thousands of people for four hours. In that time I never heard one angry word. I never heard an argument or any raised voices. Cars were crawling along, looking in vain for a parking spot or trying to pick up their purchases. Never once did I hear someone honk their horn. People were friendly, polite and accommodating. I came away with nothing but good feelings. How lucky we are to live in a city, where you can have so many people in such close quarters and they treat each other so well.

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Sunny Ways?

I have spent so much time bad-mouthing the Conservatives and praising Justin Trudeau and his new government that it would seem wrong not to comment on what happened in the House of Commons yesterday. Basically I simply can't believe it. Last night I couldn't believe what I was hearing and seeing on the tv news. Trudeau was totally out of line. His behaviour was rude beyond belief. His "sunny ways" mantra is gone, his reputation is changed forever and the opposition will surely hold onto that video for the next election campaign. What a foolish mistake.

I haven't done a lot of reading about this yet but it seems that there has been a lot of tension on the Hill this week. The Liberals have been trying to change procedures to get their legislation passed. However, no matter what the background, there is no excuse for Trudeau's behaviour. He's let everyone down...his government, his family, his supporters, the whole country and himself. No doubt tonight's CBC panels will have a field day with this episode.

Service

In the midst of the distressing news that usually permeates the media, I have been heartened to hear some good news lately. When fire struck Fort McMurray, good news stories just kept coming. People in small communities gave such a wonderful welcome to the evacuees. Some folks walked up and down the long line of cars with cans of gas for motorists who were about to run out. Others stood with signs offering free meals and places to stay. That tragedy has brought out the very best in so many people. It was particularly touching to hear that Syrian refugees, new arrivals in Alberta, were doing what they could to help the evacuees. Those people understand better than most, what it means to lose everything. These many tales of generosity restore your faith in humanity.

At this point Canadians have donated millions of dollars to the Canadian Red Cross. In turn the Red Cross has been able to make the largest individual payouts in their history.There have been some interesting questions raised about donations. Charity Intelligence Canada suggested that the small independent charities (like the Edmonton Food Bank) should also be receiving donations. CBC's The 180 talked about the importance of donating money rather than stuff when disaster strikes. All the donated items actually create a lot of extra work with sorting, storage and distribution.

All around me I constantly hear stories of goodness; people who volunteer with so many worthy organizations, people who cook meals for patients, people who constantly give so much time to serve others. In a recent interview on CBC's The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers, Governor General David Johnston offered three quotes on service:

"Service is an act of love."

"Love is service made visible."

"Service is the rent we pay for our space on earth."

If we pay attention, we can hear and see examples of service every day.  They are as welcome as the signs of rebirth all around us.

Feelings..nothing more than feelings

Have you ever been fired? Have you ever had your boss criticize you, in front of your peers? I've been thinking about this, after the very public firings of Tom Mulcair and Dave Cameron last week.

I've worked for a number of school principals. Many of them were intelligent, inspiring leaders and certainly worthy of respect. And then there were others. I've had a few rough moments with principals over the years. It hurts to have your work criticized. It must hurt a whole lot more to be fired. Most workers will suffer the hurt in private, hopefully behind closed doors where colleagues won't hear.

If it hurts to be chastised or worse yet, fired in the privacy of an office, how does it feel to be fired in public? I don't know how politicians do it. Once you put your name in the political ring you have little control over the next chapter of your working life. I've written before about our former MP Paul Dewar. He did an outstanding job as Foreign Affairs critic and yet he lost his job in last October's election.

Worse than individual MP's losses is what happens to their bosses. Take Tom Mulcair. It's hard to believe but less than a year ago Mulcair seemed well on his way to become Canada's first NDP Prime Minister. After his exceptional performance on the floor of the House of Commons as Leader of the Opposition, Mulcair was riding high in the polls. Everyone seemed fed up with Harper. It was Mulcair's time.

But then along came Justin Trudeau and voters jumped on his bandwagon. Now I have written before that I'm pleased to have the Liberals in power but I would have been just as happy to have Mulcair as PM. He has so much experience and intelligence. He could talk circles around Trudeau. And yet here he is today. He's just lost his job as leader. The results of the leadership review at the recent NDP convention were shocking. The NDP is now a deeply divided party, well back in third place. Politics is a very tough game.

I don't know how you make that emotional adjustment, from PM-in-waiting to ousted leader in such a short time.  How do you stand in front of your party convention where more than half the delegates have just voted to dismiss you? Somehow he stood there and gave a classy speech, urging the party to work together. And this week, there he is, in the House of Commons asking the tough questions and offering opinions on issues like yesterday's acquittal of Mike Duffy. You would never know by this week's performance, that this man was recently run over by his own party. No wonder the House of Commons gave him a standing ovation on his first day back.

And then there's Dave Cameron, now former coach of the Ottawa Senators. Like Mulcair, he didn't deliver a winning team so he's out. Wayne Scanlan of the Ottawa Citizen wrote."Here's hoping we see him again in the NHL. Whoever hires him will be getting a good man and a good coach."

Like politicians, professional athletes and coaches suffer their firing in public. What was different with Cameron's firing is that he spoke about being hurt, not by the firing, but by the way Senators owner Eugene Melnyk criticized him publicly three weeks prior to firing him. "I think what got lost in the comments is that you can evaluate me all you want on my coaching and fire me-I understand all that," Cameron said. "There's no need to be hurtful. We're all human beings at the end of the day."

That's something to remember. Our comments hurt, our criticisms hurt. Whatever a person's station in life, we are all, as Cameron said, human beings with feelings. I am often reminded of that as we journey with our family member who is affected by Alzheimers. Her memory is fading, names and facts are disappearing. Her ability to perform basic tasks is severely diminished. However her emotional memory remains intact. She is somehow able to remember who makes her feel good and happy. She also remembers who makes her feel uncomfortable and uneasy.  It seems that her emotional memory may be the last part of her to go. She can still feel much joy and she can still be hurt. Just like the rest of us.

Playgrounds

Ah spring! It might actually make an appearance this weekend! The arrival of warm weather marks the end of our social hibernation. I love it when neighbours are strolling around and enjoying conversations on street corners. It's a welcome contrast from fast-paced winter walks, with rushed hellos as we hurry along to get in out of the cold.

For young parents and grandparents, spring marks the return to playgrounds and parks. What a relief to put the kids in a wagon or stroller and head to a park, to let them run around in the fresh air. Right now parks are a muddy mess but kids don't mind.

Playgrounds have improved a lot since I was a young parent. It's not just that the equipment is safer and more creative. There are also the shared toys. That never happened before. If you wanted to dig in a sandbox, you brought your pail and shovel from home. Now all kinds of parents are leaving their toys, both big and small, at neighbourhood playgrounds for others to enjoy. They could try to sell them but instead they give them to the neighbourhood. I find that a lovely gesture, a recognition that "we're all in this together."

There are invaluable lessons to be learned by sharing equipment with other kids at a park. This current generation of parents who hang out together at parks, with a collection of toys, shared by other parents, have got a good thing going. It really does take a village to raise a child.