I can’t remember the last time I changed the oil in my car, but then again I haven’t driven it much lately. My biggest concern has been keeping the battery charged. A combination of Covid isolation, long winters, and increasing agoraphobia have meant that my car hasn’t been put through its paces for a very […]
To this outsider, the recent decision by the US Supreme Court that makes it possible for states to declare abortions illegal does not appear to have been decided based on law. Instead, the majority opinion began from personal and religious convictions and then extended to legal justifications. I say “justifications” because that’s what happens when […]
Today, I went through a time warp. I was reminded of an event about fifty years ago and was suddenly thrust into a subservient role that did not sit well with me. To an outsider, it might not have seemed like much at all. I had hired a plumber to come to the house and […]
This video was created by James and Tiffany Duggar of Eleven Films for the children who have been killed by assault weapons in America. It is very moving. Source: The Independent.
Who would steal a Pride flag? And, why? I suppose some people steal things just because they can, or because they need something they can’t afford, or because they want something removed from sight. The last of these is probably the reason my Pride flag was stolen on Sunday night. Edmonton is quite supportive of […]
The major theme of this blog is “Living and Learning,” and this week I have been living with and learning more about Covid-19. I first started to feel under the weather on Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday morning I had a scratchy throat and brain fog. Later that day, the cough set in and continued for […]
A couple of days ago, I told my eldest son that I wanted to thank him for being so supportive of his wife’s success. She recently had some good career news, and we were enjoying a celebratory dinner. My son said it was a “no brainer” to compliment her accomplishment, and I pointed out that […]
I am working on a crocheted blanket which will have one hundred and twenty-eight motifs joined together when it is finished. The pattern is stretching my capabilities a little, but so far I have been able to figure it out. Today I realized that, while I enjoy making each motif, I don’t much like the […]
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow was published in 2008 and, although it discusses computer technology that is now dated, it still has relevance today. It is a book intended for young adults and has teenaged characters who find ways to challenge and disrupt their dystopian world. Marcus is a tech-savvy seventeen-year-old who has figured out […]
When I checked in with family and friends on Facebook Stories a few days ago, I saw a beautiful sunset in Hawaii, a message about racism at the border of Ukraine and Poland, and an image of a golf resort in England set to relaxing music. It struck me that these three messages encapsulated the […]
After I had reviewed The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, her book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents was recommended to me. It is another brilliant and very readable analysis of the social and racial issues facing the United States. Those same issues are facing other countries, too, but the circumstances Wilkerson describes […]
Yesterday, Eminem took a knee at the end of his half-time show performance at the Super Bowl. This should not be newsworthy, but it was. Here is what I wrote about kneeling at public events back in 2018. ********************************************************************** All the brouhaha about the new Nike ad using Colin Kaepernick’s image has raised again the […]
These are two books that I heartily recommend, and both imagine worlds that could improve people’s lives. One is a fictional child’s world, the other is a social economic possibility. My grandmother sends her regards and apologises by Fredrik Backman Elsa is a bright and strong-willed seven-year-old who has an eccentric, devoted, grandmother. After Elsa’s […]
My doctor invited me back to her office this week so that she could share with me the results of my annual checkup. I knew this invitation was coming, so I prepared by looking up the results on the Alberta Health website. I saw that my blood test was mostly OK, but my urine sample […]
The Edmonton Journal censored my comment yesterday. I don’t know which rule I broke, but what I said was apparently bad enough to cast my words into the depths of local journalistic purgatory. I was responding to an article about the convoy of trucks that paraded through Canada to Ottawa. The truck drivers began their […]
These two books about migrations within America and to America have given me a lot to think about. They go beneath the surface and find both heartwarming and unsettling consequences. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson Between 1915 and 1970 six million Black Americans fled the South for cities in the North and […]
I’ve been making hats. It’s a pastime I began a couple of years ago and I picked it up again this winter. When you arrive at the confluence of time, isolation, terrible weather, and a supply of random leftover yarn, that’s what you do. I’m not a great knitter or crocheter, but I can handle […]
Yesterday someone with my garage remote was accused of stealing packages from the mailroom in my condo building in San Jose. To say I was shocked and horrified is to understate my feelings when I got the email from the property management company. The email was quite terse and, I thought, unnecessarily accusatory. Here is […]
Is there such a thing as empathy burnout? If so, that is what I am feeling. All my get-up-and-go got up and went. For the last couple of months, I have received one piece of bad news after another. People I know and love have died, are dying, cannot get the surgery they need, or […]
“There’s no crying in Alberta. P.S. Get a job & give back. Thank you. Merci. Hyi Hyi. Gratious & such. Be blessed & a blessing. Much love & respect. Strawberry. Amen.” Discuss.
Snowbird of Paradise 