Time to Blame

 

The stories, photos, and videos coming out of Ft. McMurray are dramatic. The initial reaction of shock and horror is now being replaced by two things.

The first, is an outpouring of prayers, thoughts, acts of kindness and offers of help. It is heartening to see the resilience of the citizens of that city and the rallying cries of Albertans and Canadians alike.

The second is blame. I am watching this story closely because I have a close tie to that city, and after reading several articles and blogs this morning, I am amazed at the reactions of a few people, and more amazed that their ideas are gaining traction.

 

There are those who are saying that this is Karma. Those wicked people who are extracting that wicked oil (read carbon) from the land are getting what they deserve.

 

There are those who are blaming the Notley gov't for the fire because it could have been extinguished early on had she not knocked the wind out of this year's fire fighting budget with a $15 Million budget cut.

 

There are some who blame our Prime Minister because he is not responding as quickly as the Mexican state of Jalisco who sent firefighters the very next day.

 

There those who are blaming Global Warming and Climate Change.

 

Some blame the municipal and provincial gov'ts because they should have been clearing under brush in a two mile perimeter of the city.

 

The one that took that cake was the National post article that blamed each and everyone of us because this fire is the direct result of too much carbon in the air and we have all contributed to that and encouraged the tar sands projects with our insatiable appetite for oil and oil products.

 

Why do we, as a society do this? Do we need answers to these mysteries of life so badly that we let logic and common sense fly out the window?

Here are the visible and knowable facts. Ft. McMurray is a large city built in the forest, and surrounded by forest. The forest is old and there has not been a fire there in generations. Hence, fuel.

The temperatures are high and humidity low, ideal conditions for a fire. Throw in strong gusting winds and you have potential for disaster. The weather and climate patterns change and always will. The heat there broke a 70 year old weather and herein lies the rub. What was happening 70 years ago that it was so hot in Ft. McMurray. It could not have been anthropogenic climate change as there was none back then.

We have all the conditions right for a fire and it happened. Forest fires are natural and a way of the forest renewing itself and pine trees reseeding themselves. The fire does not care if there are people and buildings in the way.

Are those who are rubbing their hands in glee that Karma is kicking in, realise that the carbon in the air from this fire far exceeds anything the oil industry can accomplish? Who receives Karma for this? A single forest fire or a volcano can extinguish decades worth of attempts to reduce carbon emissions. But the world still goes on.

 

Let's top blaming and just help these people out as they attempt to put their lives back together.

Cleaning Out the Memory Card

 

Between Christmas and New Year, I posted a few photos of this puzzle as it was in progress. Then I photographed it when it was completed and forgot that I had done so. I took a few spring flower pictures last week and as I exported them to my computer, there was the puzzle photo. It was a very difficult puzzle but very beautiful when completed. The scene was taken from somewhere in the Colorado Rockies. I am done with puzzles until next Christmas.

 

These Daffodils are very early this year, but because they are in a sheltered location close to the house, they should weather anything a late winter storm will throw at them. It is amazing how a splash of brilliant yellow will enhance the mood after a winter of nothing but gray and dull greens.

 

Our front lawn is infested with these Sweet Violets, but we do not mind. They are very pretty as the early morning sun hits them at an angle that sets them among diamonds and jewels as the light reflects off the morning dew. I set my camera right down in the grass to get this worm's eye view.

We Are In a Shadowland

 

After a brief hiatus, I will make an attempt to post a few items in the next few days. I met one of my faithful readers a day or two ago and he was wondering if something was wrong with his computer because he was no longer getting any new posts on this blog. After 2200 or more posts I do suppose I was conspicuous by my absence.

 

busylizzy and I took in a live drama presented by the Gallery 7 theater group here in town. It was quite a few years ago since we saw the movie and also saw the first presentation of this drama by this same production company but in a different venue and with different actors. It was fresh for me not only because my memory about such things is not sharp, but the passage of time and some maturing on my part gave me a different perspective on the issues in the story, this time around.

 

For those not familiar with this story, it is about CS Lewis and his brief marriage to an American woman, Joy Gresham. 'Jack' Lewis was an avowed bachelor and indeed felt awkward around women, but was quite smitten when he met and fell in love with Joy, an effervescent and life-loving, yet divorced woman. They start out as friends, end up in a marriage of convenience so Joy could move to the UK, and after she is diagnosed with bone cancer, they truly marry and spend three wonderful years together before the cancer takes her life.  

 

The first scene shows Jack lecturing an audience on pain, suffering, loss, and a loving God. He is confident and has all the pat answers. Near the end of the play, Jack is again giving the same lecture but his beloved is on her deathbed. You can see, hear, and feel the doubt and questions he has as he utters the same words of several years ago. Now theory has been replaced with experience and he is doubting.

 

For me it was a very moving scene as I could identify with Jack, as I am sure many others could. I was glad to come away from the play encouraged instead of with further pondering of this important life question. The casting and acting were superb. Although the play has now run its course, I would highly recommend at least seeing the movie.

Nostalgia

 

Old buildings at Nighthawk Wa.

 

Black and white photos are nostalgic. Barn(old) photos are nostalgic. Black and white photos of old barns are particularly nostalgic. It got me to thinking about some of the big changes I have seen in my lifetime. Of course, they are too many to list in a format such as this, but one thing that has struck me lately is the advent of consumerism, and now, perhaps, the decline of consumerism.

We take for granted that growth and expansion is good, natural, and necessary to maintain and also to enhance our standard of living. We hear economists and politicians clamouring for more economic growth continually. Spend more money. Buy more stuff. Buy bigger stuff. Bigger cars. Bigger houses. Bigger vacations. It all stimulates the economy and produces jobs and fills government coffers. Hence, the forced and artificially low interest rates, so consumers will spend money they do not have. But debt is spending tomorrow's money today. What do we do tomorrow? 

 

Years ago, everyone was happy with no raise in pay, old furniture, a ten year old car, and a vacation to grandma's farm house in the country. Life was simple then. Expectations were minimal, and there was time for family and friends and fishing. 

 

We may have no choice but to go back to the 'good old days'. Expansion is not happening like it used to. Many folks are finding that their standard of living is quite stagnant these days, and maybe even in decline because of inflation. If we truly are in a Japanese type of stagnation, as some economists are saying we are, we may have the next twenty years to get used to it. 

 

But that is not necessarily a bad thing. That might just be enough time to straighten out our prioroties, and start living with a bit less stress.  "Be happy, don't worry." has become "Don't happy, be worry."   

Canada Day

We live so close to the Canada Day parade route that we thought we would walk the few blocks and look for our grandsons. We got there just in time to miss all the police cars and fire engines, and there they were. The Abbotsford Children's Theater troop was walking behind the Mayor's entourage and I caught a glimpse of the grandsons before they got past me. That's them in the top hats, center of the photo.

The parade this year was no different than last year, in fact a bit less in interest, colour and effort. As a result, I thought I would concentrate on people photos this year. I was in Boy Scouts when I was a young teen and this guy would have been kicked out of the troup for 20 reason. That whole troop looked like something I would not let my grandsons go anywhere near. Lord Baden Powell would not approve.  

I like to photograph pretty things so my lens caught this young dancer. She has cool hair.

I liked the way the light reflected off of the red flag and shirt to give this gal a warm glow.

This young lady was on stilts at least six feet tall. That joyful look was plastered on her face full time. She must have been overjoyed to have walked the whole parade route without falling.

No parade is complete without a gaggle of Ukranian dancers.

And, of course, Ronald McDonald was spreading the joy around. I thought this photo turned out rather nicely. (Click to enlarge) We also went to the fireworks in the evening. The Rotary Stadium was packed and it was most interesting trying to walk home. The streets were closed to vehicles and it was a wall to wall mass of people. Kind of unique for our little city in the country. I will check the fireworks photos in a day or two, but I doubt any of them turned out. I will have to do some research on that type of photography as I have never done it before. All in all, a good day. Happy Birthday Canada. (145 years old and still looking spiffy)

Watch This

I recently received a wonderful gift from busylizzy, this beautiful Skagen watch. So it was with this watch in mind that I perused a news item that highlighted some of the world's most unique and expensive wrist watches.

There were some very unusual and even outlandish watches featured, but the above watch was the world's most expensive. Owned by kings and queens and popes, the price on this item got me wondering how to compare value with mine. So here is the choice. You can purchase one of these, or with the same amount of money, you can purchase 29,629 of mine. When the battery runs out unexpectedly, and you need to know what time it is, personally, I would prefer to have 29,628 back up watches instead of one dud. I will not be purchasing one of these Patek Philippe Platinum World Time watches  any time soon, due to the above practical consideration.

Petition

Our usual place for Sunday Brunch is in a bit of trouble these days. It used to be that we would have to wait a while to get a table, but recently the place is almost always only half full. It is not the service, the food, or the prices that are keeping the customers away, but apparently the city. There is road construction at the entry to the property that has been ongoing for at least six months now. Business is down 50% and the gals who own the place are hurting. They get daily reports from regular patrons that they are turned away by construction flag people at the entrance to the restaurant. The city has an obligation to provide access to businesses when doing this sort of thing, but in this case, they are not being at all accommodating.

There was a petition on a table near the exit, and unsolicited, we signed it. It was simply asking for financial compensation for lost revenues due to the city's slowness and lack of effort to accommodate. There were hundreds of signatures and we heartily encouraged the owners to pursue their effort for justice. Government, at all levels, is supposed to be there to serve the people. Instead, we have a case where the tax payer is being trampled upon.   

Apples

We do not play as many games as we used to, so it was with a bit of hesitation that we accepted an invitation from some friends to join them in an evening of appies and apples. Perhaps as we age we are reluctant to expose our inadequacies of intellect, knowledge, and memory, things that are required in so many games.

The green card is held and read by the 'judge' while the rest of the players, who each have seven red cards, determine which of their cards best describe the word on the green card. Green cards have adjectives or adverbs on them, red cards have names of people, places, things, or situations on them. Example: Green card will read "Awkward". Red cards may read "Tom Cruise", "Strawberry short cake", "Plane crash", "My first kiss", "Power tools", "Honeymoon", or "Life Insurance".

After all the selections from all the players are collected, the judge reads the cards, and then according to what he determines, a winner is announced. The winner gets the green card and the player with the most green cards at the end of the game wins.

Now, I hope you all go out and purchase one of these games as I just bought a whack of shares the company. (Just kidding). There were ten of us and we had a great time with a lot of belly laughs, and great relief on all our parts that we did not have to use any intellect, knowledge or memory to have a fun games night.

Art Walk

                  
Sunday afternoon was not a great time for a walk as the wind was bitterly cold and the dark clouds were a constant threat of rain. But, we packed on the layers, grabbed an umbrella and set out. Half way through the walk, we needed to duck in somewhere to get our blood flowing once again. Because busylizzy only orders hot water at the coffee shops, they do not like us there so we surreptitiously entered the local Art Gallery. We do this occasionally in order to see where our hard earned tax dollars are being spent. We are usually disappointed and this time was no exception. There were several displays depicting local themes, such as a Police display with photos and uniforms from the old days, some painted furniture, some ink jet prints of various scenes from the Fraser Valley, and China (?) and a bunch of plaster of paris fish and plastic boats hanging from the ceiling. We saved the 'big attraction' for last, a gallery of Goya sketches, and I quote:

"This exhibition features Francisco de Goya's famous print suites: Los Caprichos(1799) and The Disasters of War(1810-1820) which document the brutality of the Peninsular War and the atrocities that mankind inflicts upon itself."

There were 80 3"x5" sketches in rather larger frames all depicting very gruesome scenes of famine, death and war. The single image at the top of this post is a scene glorifying the brave women of
Spain defending themselves against Napoleon's soldiers. Note the mother holding a baby in one hand while spearing her attacker with the other. All the other images were just as uplifting.

 As a depiction of a period of time in history, these are, no doubt, important images. They did not do photography back then. But as someone who appreciates beauty in art, this display was not something I expected in the art gallery. Fine for those who like this kind of thing, but I was glad to get back out into the brisk air and continue our walk.

Lost and Found

My son went on a hike in the Coquihalla mountains on Saturday and one of his hiking buddies took a bit of a detour to a small waterfall and made an interesting discovery. They found a cylindrical canister with a parachute attached. With only a small amount of mildew on the fabric, it looked like it had not been there too long. There was a notice on the canister that said to report the discovery to the police or the military. Andrew had his camera and his GPS with him and recorded the item and location. Not wanting to get involved with police red tape and paperwork, he came up with another solution. His Brother-in-law's sister's husband is in the Canadian Air Force based in Comox and he considered reporting it to Tyler on a long shot. That was yesterday, and today we find out that Tyler's friend is in charge of such things and he will take care of it shortly. Tell me? Have you ever seen anything regarding government moving at the speed of light like this has? Makes me wonder what is in the container labeled "Do Not Handle".

Fishing

I fail to see the attraction of fishing. In today's photo, you can see that there are a number of fishermen on the floating dock on Mill Lake. The lake is stocked with trout, but I have yet to see anybody ever catch a fish there. If they do snag one, do they take it home and eat it? There are signs everywhere warning would be swimmers about the poor water quality. Does this make the fish more palatable?

When I was kid, I went fishing with my dad, and it was more about spending time with him than it was about fishing. I enjoyed eating the freshly caught Northern Pike, fried in butter over an open fire on the beach, but catching them was another matter. I always secretly hoped that a fish would not bite my lure.

On one fishing trip, we were walking along the rocky shore of Long Lake in Saskatchewan, searching out a good place to cast our lines. That would be a place where the weeds were not so bad as to tangle the hooks and leaders to the point that you had to cut the fishing line. We came across a large Pickerel, half in and half out of the water, bloated to the point of bursting, but still barely alive. As we got closer, we saw the cause of its distress. Its mouth was gaping open and sticking out was the tail of another fish, about half its size. With his rubber boots on, my father walked into the water and stepped on the bloated fish with his heel on the tail and the toe of his boot near its head. As he put downward pressure on the fish, the dinner of the greedy Pickerel slithered out, half digested. Then to our amazement, the Pickerel rallied and after a minute or so, wagged its tail at us and swam rapidly out to deeper water, wisely leaving his dinner behind.

After witnessing that, as a small child, perhaps that is the reason I am not a fisherman.  

Overkill

I pulled into my bank a few days ago and spotted the only available space in the parking lot.  At a glance I saw that the car next to the spot I had my eye on was too close to the building and in fact had humped over the retaining curb, gone over the space next to the walkway, and was tucked up against the building. I then saw that the lady driver (I had to mention that the driver was a woman) of the brand new Nissan was inspecting her car while she was on her cell phone. She had lightly bumped the building, which has just been totally renovated from the outside with plate glass, and two of the panes of glass, about 3 ft. square, were shattered. There was another person on his phone a few feet away and I surmised that everyone was OK except for the glass. A minor mishap, so I proceeded to do my banking. When I came out of the bank, it was like a terrorist attack had just taken place. The complete parking lot had been blocked off with emergency vehicles. There was a fire truck with four firemen in full gear, an ambulance with paramedics about to pull a stretcher from their vehicle, and four police cars, one of which was a ghost car. I stood beside my truck for a moment, surveying the situation, and could not help but burst out laughing. I then approached the policeman nearest the ghost car and asked him to kindly remove his car so I could back out and get on with my day.

I have witnessed overkill similar to this too often to think it is unusual. Is there no common sense left? Is all this equipment and manpower brought out just because it is there and can be used? Are these people bored? Did someone send in a false report of supposed mayhem? Really, all that was required was a tow-truck and an insurance adjustor for the damage done to the building.  Perhaps a police report for insurance purposes.

As I drove away from the building, people were flocking down the street to see what all the commotion was about. Imagine their horror when they discovered two broken window panes!  

Heavy Traffic

Heavy cross traffic at Mill Lake loop trail.

busylizzy and I took advantage of a perfect morning and went for a very long walk. We have often driven to Mill Lake and walked around it, sometimes twice. However, today, we walked to Mill Lake from our home and then around it. Despite my not so subtle, whimpering suggestions to call a taxi, we walked home after that. Actually, it was not that bad. I have been walking everyday for a few weeks now and I was in good shape. busylizzy has always been a trooper when it comes to a long walk. We even stopped at a post office and did a bit of shopping in a mall on the way home. So many birds killed with one stone!

We were more than half way home when we had a really good scare. We crossed a very busy street, in a cross walk, with the light in our favour, when a fancy huge black pick-up, driven by a young man,  made a fast and wide turn, coming right for us and accelerating hard. I was about to jump one way or other, when he saw us and with a hard brake and a bit of a swerve, avoided killing two walking birds with one truck. When we reached the other side of the street, a bit shaken, I asked busylizzy why he did not see us. She did not know. I said to her, "We just passed the reason." busylizzy looked back a few feet over her shoulder and there stood a beautiful young lady, long slender tanned legs, white shorts, red top, and blond hair, waiting for the light to turn green. And they say cell phones are dangerous!   

Going to the Dogs

I have never been anti-
American as so many Canadians are. We have travelled in the USA very often and have rubbed shoulders with and become friends with many Americans over the years. There are many things I admire about the people and their country. They have been, arguably, the greatest nation on earth during most of my lifetime. But, here is a list, composed by an American, who bemoans the fact that his beloved country is going to the dogs. Judge for yourself.

 America is like an aging, bloated rock star that has become addicted to a dozen different drugs. America is a shadow of its former self and it desperately needs to wake up before it plunges into oblivion.

If you do not believe that America is in bad shape, just read the list below. The following are 20 not so good categories that the United States leads the world in....

#1 The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the largest total prison population on the entire globe.

#2 According to NationMaster.com, the United States has the highest percentage of obese people in the world.

#3 The United States has the highest divorce rate on the globe by a wide margin.

#4 The United States is tied with the UK for the most hours of television watched per person each week.

#5 The United States has the highest rate of illegal drug use on the entire planet.

#6 There are more car thefts in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world by far.

#7 There are more reported rapes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world.

#8 There are more reported murders in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world.

#9 There are more total crimes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world.

#10 The United States also has more police officers than anywhere else in the world.

#11 The United States spends much more on health care as a percentage of GDP than any other nation on the face of the earth.

#12 The United States has more people on pharmaceutical drugs than any other country on the planet.

#13 The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world.

#14 Americans have more student loan debt than anyone else in the world.

#15 More pornography is created in the United States than anywhere else on the entire globe. 89 percent is made in the USA and only 11 percent is made in the rest of the world.

#16 The United States has the largest trade deficit in the world every single year. Between December 2000 and December 2010, the United States ran a total trade deficit of 6.1 trillion dollars with the rest of the world, and the US has had a negative trade balance every single year since 1976.

#17 The United States spends 7 times more on the military than any other nation on the planet does. In fact, US military spending is greater than the military spending of China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined.

#18 The United States has far more foreign military bases than any other country does.

#19 The United States has the most complicated tax system in the entire world.

#20 The US has accumulated the biggest national debt that the world has ever seen and it is rapidly getting worse. Right now, US government debt is expanding at a rate of $40,000 per second.

The reasons for this decline are for another post.

"Always Be Prepared" (Boy Scout Motto)

When I was a young boy growing up in a small Saskatchewan town, it was the cool thing to do. Joining the Cub/Scout movement was encouraged and seen as an integral step in developing into a responsible young man. Our leaders were respected men in the community and were also the dad's of my schoolmates. It was a learning platform for many different types of skills. I no longer have the string of badges that I earned, but distinctly remember the pride of striving and achieving and being awarded the badges, and then having my mother sew them onto the sleeve of my uniform. The orienteering and fire making badges were the most fun for me, but the knot tying badge eluded me for a few years. Today, I am really good at lighting and maintaining a camp fire, but I still can tie only one kind of knot, but at least I know the name of it.

At the Canada Day parade, there was a small contingency of Boy Scouts. There were only a few that looked clean cut and normal. The rest were reason enough to stay out of the movement. Lord Baden Powell would not approve of these two fellows. I say that because appearance was always of utmost importance, indeed we were awarded badges for it.    

A Day to Celebrate

Canada is such a young country. 'Born' in 1867, founded by peoples from some of the oldest countries in the world, Canada is just now finding her stride. We are the coveted destination of millions of immigrants from around the world, and are becoming a player on the world stage. Our 'unlimited' resources, that we were taught about in school back in the 50's, are still in abundant supply. Our freedoms, though slowly being eroded, make us one of the best countries in the world in which to pursue our goals and dreams. I, for one, tend to be critical at times about our leadership and our national policies, but it is only because I see potential for even greater things than what we now enjoy. But, on a day like this, our country's birthday, I will see only the good, much like we do when we celebrate a family member's birthday. We count the years, and we count the blessings, and we pray for many more, of both.

GOD BLESS CANADA!   

Odds and Ends

I completed the book I mentioned in my last post. I have a very fine set of books on Christian history and enjoyed reading about the Crusades, the rise of Islam, and the Mongol Empire. What is very clear is that the timely death of one of Genghis Khan's heirs, his son Ogedei, changed the entire history of the world. The "Golden Horde", as his armies were known as, was spreading toward western Europe after conquering Hungary and Russsia, and were unchallenged in their next quest to "run to the sea". They would have held all of Europe and the Renaissance, the industrial revolution, etc. would never have happened. In fact, we would probably all be speaking a dialect of Chinese. But Ogedei's death necessitated the return of the Princes of the Empire from the battle fields to take care of things back home where there was an internal struggle for the title of Khan. I am finding it fascinating reading as I have now consumed all four of Conn Iggulden's books on the Khan Dynasty.

Like most other Canuck fans, I am counting down the hours to game time. Forty years of being an avid follower of the team, and a lover of hockey in general, will culminate in the following weeks as we head into the Stanley Cup finals. I make no apologies for revolving my life around hockey for the next little while. This may not happen again in my lifetime.

Shopping in the Costco in Bellingham, we were surrounded, at the checkout, by carts containing twenty or more gallons of milk. Again, stopping at Ed and Eileen's dairy on the way home, for the mandatory chocolate soft serve, we encountered shopping carts piled high with milk. There is a certain ethnicity that is milk crazy. What do they do with all that milk, besides make their sweet tea with it? If cows were allowed in back yards in our town, like chickens are allowed in back yards in Vancouver, we would be over run with mini dairy farms. 

Our 'mail in' Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) referendum is soon upon us, just in time to be delayed by a postal strike. Will the reduction to 10% be enough to save the tax? I have maintained from day one that if they had combined the taxes (PST and GST) and then dropped it 2%, it would have been an easier sell. It would then have approached revenue neutral and the politicians would not have been seen as the liars they are. In the end, we do not want a socialist government in this province, no matter what we call the tax or at what % it is.

My computer is doing hateful things to me. What did I do to deserve all the 'freezing and re-booting'? It was completely re-formatted about a month ago, and was working better than ever. Now, not so much. There are no virus issues, RAM or ROM issues, nor have I been tapping it with my sledge hammer, although I have come close. Technology is changing every five minutes and I would not even know what to get to replace what I have. I just know that it is inevitable.       

Signs of Spring at Last

Spring has been teasing us for about six weeks now. Was today for real? Evidence that the Tulips are finally on their last legs, and the Dogwoods are about to bloom would suggest so. But just as promises of warm weather come, we are being coerced into a negative frame of mind when we read that the world is coming to an end on Saturday, and a day or two ago the USA hit its legislated debt ceiling. These are the kinds of things that can really get us down if we allow them to. But lets just enjoy the blue skies and balmy temperatures because I have it on good authority that nobody knows when the end comes (so we can pretty much guarantee that Saturday is not the day) and the US government has a plan to steal money from private pensions to save its bacon. There, now we can get back to enjoying the outdoors.

April Highlights

We all have our favourite months, and our least favourite months. Every one of the twelve months conjures up some memory, event, or red letter day for each one of us. For me, April is one of the 'big' months because of all that is crammed into just 30 days. Here are some of the highlights for me, both good and bad. You be the judge as to which is good and which is bad. 

1. It starts off with a bang on the first day, when, every single year it is my birthday. (Go figure!)
2. It is the month in which I have to meet with my accountant and get what is usually dismal news, and then by the 30th at the latest, I have to write the big cheque.
3. April is the month when there is a distinct turning point in the weather and many tree buds break out, and the Daffodils and Tulips open their colourful faces to the sun. We try not to miss the big Tulip Festival in La Connor WA. 
4. It is the month when the Master's golf tournament is on TV and I watch it, rain or shine. (Most of the time)
5. It is the month when the NHL hockey playoffs start, and this year is particularly special as 'my team' ended up in first place overall, and goes into the playoffs with a very bright outlook. 
6. It is the month when, at times, we can actually spend some time in the outdoors without a winter jacket. 
7. This year, there is a Federal Election campaign and although the actual election is not until May, all the action happens in the month of April. (Tonight is the debate.) 
8. April is the month in which we open our summer vacation property and travel to the interior for the first trip of the new year. 
9. This is the month when work really starts to pick up, and often scheduling becomes a problem. It seems to go hand in hand with spring cleaning. 

10.  And lastly, but most importantly, it is the month of Easter. We have some special times planned around Easter, as we do every year, and it is always memorable.

If we had to scale back the calendar by one month, I would have a very difficult time choosing the month to eliminate, but it would possibly be November. (My apologies to all you people who have a birthday in November)

  

Reflections on Valentine's Day

I did not forget Valentine's Day yesterday. One can only reflect on a day when it has passed, so here is my Valentine's day post. 

I did the flower thing yesterday and was struck by how many men I saw rushing out of the store with a bouquet of roses clutched in their hands. I wondered how many were wracked with guilt, smitten by love, or relieved that now their duty was done.

The card and flower people love it and are the real beneficiaries of this manufactured and consumer driven day. But not to be too cynical, we all need a day to remind us that there is not enough love going around, or at least, there can never be too much. 

My choice would be chocolate, obviously, but busylizzy is restrained by dietary considerations so it would be rather self serving for me to buy her chocolates and end up eating them all myself, although I did consider that option. Every day should be Valentine's day, a day when we shower our loved ones with gifts and affection, so with that in mind, I will make another shopping excursion and get some of that chocolate after all. She can enjoy the roses and I will eat her chocolates. Our chocolates. My chocolates. Whatever. 

Happy belated Valentine's day.