Five Minutes from Home

We enjoyed summer-like weather over Thanksgiving weekend with clear skies and warm sunshine for several days in a row. Ontario is a great place to visit to view spectacular fall colours, from the Agawa Canyon in the north to the Niagara Peninsula in the south. Huntsville and Algonquin Park are favoured destinations in Central Ontario and anywhere along the 900 km of the Niagara Escarpment between Hamilton and Tobermory you are guaranteed to find superb of autumn vistas. I read the colour reports in the newspaper and planned several road trips in my head and then discarded them due to time constraints and the price of gasoline.

While driving to get groceries for Thanksgiving dinner, I took note of brilliant red and gold stands trees right in the city beside the shopping centre, the local library and the nearby Tim Hortons restaurant. I decided to drive around our end of town within five minutes from home and look for the fall beauty here.

The next morning before sunrise I took a thermos of tea to a nearby park and watched the golden light illuminate the trees along the river.

Why do we tend to think things will more 
beautiful...richer... inspiring... somewhere else?

Canadian Thanksgiving Prayer

Almighty and gracious Father, 

we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season
and for the labours of those who harvest them.

Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty,
for the provision of our necessities 
and the relief of all who are in need,
to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord... 

Amen.

Book of Common Prayer

Fear Not...

She walked into the coffee shop and sat at the table next to me.

“Hello!” she smiled brightly in my direction.

I looked past the bright pink jacket, fashionable sunglasses and short, stylish white hair and recognized an old patient who was headed for the obituary column the last time I saw her.

“This is the first time I have driven myself into town,” she said proudly.

She was a loner, crusty and irritable at times with staff. Untreated cancer gnawed her flesh and spread to her brain... two falls, two broken bones and two surgeries to fix them. But she refused any treatment for the cancer.

We recommended a move to a nursing home but she insisted on returning to the old farm house and her cats. She had run the farm alone since she found her young husband dead under the tractor decades ago. There were no children, just neighbours down the road who could not be there at her beck and call. She was not religious, nor was she delusional, but fear was a stranger to her. She was accepting of life or death on her own terms.

“I don’t think about what is inside me,” she said.  “The doctor told me the cancer is not growing...”

 “You know,” she said, “I do my own cooking, cleaning and shopping.”

Behind her smile she reminded me that we predicted she would always need help with these things.

She ordered lunch as I finished mine. I could not stop looking at her, sunken flesh filled out again, healthy, strong and independent.

We thought she was in denial of the reality of her prognosis. Maybe we were in denial of the power of fearlessness and determination in the face of a dreaded diagnosis.

I gave her a hug as I left and returned to work, less inclined to judge based on facts and appearances alone. Some things cannot be explained. 

The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit?
Proverbs 18:14

Do You Want Change?

A provincial election is a couple of days away. Some are quick to point out the inadequacies of the current party in power and call for change. Personally, I do not see anyone offstage who would do a better job. Canadians as a whole do not have the political polarities of our American neighbours. We do not claim a particular party as a birthright or a representative of our religious faith. Our Conservatives sit well left of America’s Republicans and Canadian Liberal policies also travel the middle of the road. The New Democratic Party shakes things up a little and they do enjoy growing popularity with our young adults. We accept our social programs and accompanying taxes without much fuss. Canada is a good country to live in and we have avoided the side effects of global economic woes to degree. 

Change on a personal level often brings more reaction than change on the political level. And small changes seem to upset people more than large changes. I hear more complaints about changes to Facebook (a free and optional service) than from a patient who has lost a leg and his independence. Our hospital received funding for new beds requiring staff line shifts and new hiring. There is more whining going now on than when we had bed closures and big staff cuts in the past.

Recently Blogger informed me via a pop-up window that the new “Dynamic Views” template was now available. I fiddled with the latest settings and promptly reverted to my old familiar design. Then I asked myself why I was not willing to give a totally new look a fair trial. After all, the pages load much faster, the template is compatible with all browsers and has more potential with mobile devices and tablets. The clean, minimalist views compete with new micro-blogging sites like Tumblr. (If you really like information in your sidebar or have a commercial blog, these changes are not recommended).

I like it!

Our local paper featured an article on drabble last week. What’s a drabble?
A drabble is a fiction story that’s exactly 100 words long. One of our universities held a competition for the best drabble and the winners’ entries are in the article. The stories are different, even strange and quite a change from the prose I am used to reading. I find the idea very compelling in a world that wants information and entertainment in a nutshell. It matches the new, pared down blogging interface.

After listening to the recent election debates, I wish our politicians would change their style to non-fiction drabble. There is nothing minimalist and clean about this campaign.

Cyberspace Birthday Celebration

We celebrate two birthdays today, a special day shared by our twins who now live thousands of miles apart. A laptop computer, webcam and Skype allowed us to sing Happy Birthday to both of them simultaneously and they "blew" out the candles together on the weekend. They are young, but when they were born we would never have envisioned such a celebration. After all, we were still listening to vinyl records and had just bought our first microwave oven which was the size of a small garage. We sent my parents a telegram to announce their birth and it took several days for the message to arrive in Mexico.

The view out our front door has changed little over the years. I see them run out to play with friends. I wave goodbye as they leave for elementary school, high school, university and then to make their way in the world. The years tumble together and memories leave their mark on the walkways of my heart.

Happy Birthday to you!!

Changing Seasons

What doesn't belong in this picture?

We drove north of the city this first weekend of autumn to get apples and passed this Old Order Mennonite meeting house. A large funeral service was underway and it was odd to see a car parked between the horses. A row of black cars lined the gravel roadway and at the bend in the road, a large yellow school bus was parked at the edge of a field, undoubtedly hired to bring mourners from another county. The 85 year old man who died had a family service in his home and was then moved to the meeting house for another service and burial in the cemetery. I listened to the congregation sing in four part harmony with no musical instruments as the horses snorted and pawed at the ground outside.

Fall is in the air and the trees are starting to turn to red, orange and gold. Nights are cool and mist rises from the warm ground in the early morning. Apples hang heavy on branches in the orchard and Cortlands, my favourite applesauce variety, are finally available. We carried away pie pumpkins, fresh squash and plums from the farm stand which was decorated with bright pots of mums.

Early fall colour above the apple orchard

The meadows have their own special fall hues with yellow goldenrod alongside purple and white asters. Monarch butterflies gather on the blossoms as they begin their long journey south. Even with shortening days and the surety of five months of ice and snow ahead, I enjoy autumn more than summer (definitely more than winter). There is certainty in the cycle of seasons...rebirth, growth, harvest and death in a world that seems uncertain economically and politically. Life has its ups and downs but it is a wise person who lets go, patiently sits back and allows things unfold as they should.

Photographic Memories

Our girls and their friend planted giant sunflowers in the garden in 1988

On May 25, 2011, Taylor Jones, a 22 year old resident of our city started a new blog on Tumblr called "Dear Photograph". His idea went viral and he has received worldwide recognition for his work and has signed a book deal.  Do take a look at his blog as it is a very interesting blend of old and new photographs. Today I pulled some photo prints from an album and experimented with the concept. It was harder than it looked to line up an old picture in a current context.

My youngest brother visited our family in Canada after his wedding

Raven is not interested in the big salmon my husband caught in 1989

We had our dog Thor from 1990-1999 and the Becka thinks this is around 1998. Somehow we count time in dogs.

A National Day of Service

Ten years ago today I was visiting a home care patient and remember watching with incredulity the TV images of the first attack on the World Trade Centre. Our world has changed much in the ensuing decade with ongoing wars, suspicion, fear and uncertainty.

This week our Prime Minister declared September 11th to be a National Day of Service in Canada. In his words Stephen Harper expressed "hope that this National Day of Service, observed hereafter on September 11, will inspire Canadians to once more show the same kind of compassion to strangers in need, by engaging on that day in charitable activities, fundraisers and community service for worthy causes ...."A National Day of Service will be a fitting way to pay tributes to the 9/11 victims and their families, to honour those involved in the rescue efforts, and to turn an infamous date into a day of hope marked by a communal outpouring of warmth and generosity."

I admire the many people in my community, country and around the world who quietly demonstrate charity and compassion to strangers on a daily basis. We do not have to look far to see those in need. For some time I have wanted to get involved in volunteering in our downtown core among the poor, ill and needy who live there. I worked in the area for five years when I did home care and was sometimes judgemental and cautious around my clients.

There is a large community centre downtown which provides a daily meal, a food bank, used clothing store, laundry and shower facilities, counselling and spiritual care for the needy. Monday was my first evening to assist with the meal. I was expecting to see the average "street person" there, addicts and homeless types. To my surprise, there were those with physical disabilities, the elderly and single family poor, skilled workers without jobs, and disadvantaged young adults. The centre feeds between 150 to 250 people a day. Various churches and charitable organizations take turns buying, preparing and serving the meals and local businesses and food outlets donate excess inventory.

Yesterday, after four hours of hard work, the meal was ready and the doors about to open. The volunteers took time to pray for those about to enter. An hour later, there still was a line to the parking lot of people waiting to enter but they would find physical and spiritual nourishment. 

I give credit to the volunteers at this centre who quietly donate many hours each week without the urging of our Prime Minister. They are not fearful of those who are different and they work to break down the barriers which keep the needy from having a meaningful role in our community. 

Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.

1 Timothy 6:17, 18