The numbers are the numbers

Sorry, but the last thing we need is an inquiry into missing and murdered native women because we already know the answers.  The Calgary Sun published the facts in an article entitled, "Enough is enough".  Here is the deal according to the RCMP:

• "Of the 6,420 missing persons in Canada, 1,455 are women; only 164 are native women;
• 88% of murders of native women have been solved;
• 89% of non-native murdered women have been solved;
• Between 1980 and 2012, 20,313 murders occurred in Canada; 6,551 victims were women, of which 1,017 were native;
• 30% of the 1,017 murdered native women were killed by their husbands, 23% by another family member, 30% by an acquaintance;
• Only 8% of murdered native women were murdered by strangers;
• 44% of those family members who kill native women were drunk;
• 74% of those women murdered were unemployed;
• 62% had a history of violence with the murder victim;

"Welfare
The billions of tax payer dollars given to natives in the form of living expenses, free education, free medical and no taxation has crippled them -- just as it does non-natives.

"Corrupt Leadership
Most leaders have no idea how to lead, manage, inspire or teach their people.  Rather, they steal from their own members for themselves, their family and friends and refuse to be accountable to anyone.  Theresa Spence in Attiwapiskat, I'm talking to you as a prime example. 

"Alcohol and drug abuse and gang violence
Each contributes to the crime rate on reserves, the lack of parenting skills, family violence and poverty. 

"A two-tiered justice system
This mess gives aboriginal offenders lighter sentences, or none at all, allowing them back into their communities to continue to abuse the same native women again and again -- often resulting in death.  If the Canadian public wants a national enquiry, how about this topic!?"

A national enquiry will fix nothing.  And let's get one thing straight, as I have always said, North America does not "belong" to natives.  Their ancestors did not poof out of thin air.  They came in waves across the land/ice bridge from Asia, a genetically-proven fact.  They are immigrants like the rest of this.  Period, the end. 

The Sun goes on to point out that natives were not peaceful, but violently warring on each other constantly.  "Just ask the Hurons," says the Sun.  "Oh, you can't.  The Iroquios wiped them out."  The only solution is to get rid of the reserve system, but that will never happen because The Indian Act that keeps it in place is the mechanism by which the money flows to natives.  So, they will remain trapped on desolate, crime-ridden reserves and not able to function, get jobs and pay taxes like every other cultural group that calls Canada home. 

So please Justin, give your head a shake and do something useful for natives.  And don't ask Bob Paulsen to sit there and take sh-t from one native after another.  He is the man with the facts.   

Heartening

Opening The Calgary Herald this morning, I was thrilled to see it was heralding the birth of our Lord and trumpeting Christmas.  What a concept these days!  Last time I checked, December 25th was Christmas day -- not "holiday day", not "season's greetings".  No, Christmas.  Actually, I have been surprised by how many folks in the public thoroughfare are saying, "Merry Christmas" here in Calgary.  And this includes ethnic people I know are not Christians.  Here are a few images from the newspaper this morning...................

 

The editorial was by Catholic Bishop Fred Henry.  Imagine that!

 

Yes, we have snow in Calgary!



Apparently......

....it's a genetic fact.  One of my friends is a Chinese doctor and she tells me that most of her race cannot drink alcohol and that the same is true for natives and aboriginals because they share the same genetic profile.  Remember, natives arrived here when there was a land bridge connecting Asia with North and South America, so the biology is the same. 

Man, that explains a lot!

We were out for dim-sum and I ordered a wine.  She never drinks and proceeded to explain that her race breaks down ethanol into water and acid more slowly than do Caucasians because they don't have enough ALDH-2 enzyme; apparently, it's all about chromosomes four and 11.  And the same is true for about one third of Jews, which is why you don't see a lot of Jewish drunks sliding about in the public thoroughfare.

Looked into this when another friend I was having coffee with talked about an AA meeting she had recently attended and complained about all the natives that were bussed from a nearby treatment centre.  "One guy stood up and talked about how he was in his fifth treatment program!  I'm sick of it," she added.  "And we're paying for it!"  Yep, we are.  But the treatment centres probably aren't going to let slip this little nugget about why natives simply can't drink because hey, they wouldn't get the money the rest of us hand over to uselessly treat them!

There are genetic racial differences.  Just ask any Caucasian runner trying to catch a Kenyan or a Jamaican. 
______________________________________________

While I am talking about natives, I'd like to say a few words about the just-released Truth and Reconciliation Report by native Justice Murray Sinclair.  Many of it's 94 recommendations are ridiculous, but our fearless new leader plans to implement all of them.  Please, give your head a shake!  It's all about the residential school system that saw native children taken from the reserve and sent to live and learn elsewhere. 

How is this different from any other boarding school?  The British upper-crust have not trusted their own to raise offspring for generations.  Every upper-class British child was sent to a boarding school at the age of seven to be molded in the "British" form.  And yes, they were -- and are -- regularly caned, bullied, shunned and strapped.  Who leads Britain?  Products of this system, that's who.  And by the way, Canadian private and public schools meted out corporal punishment with reliable results.  It was "normal".  One of my finer moments was being told to stand outside the classroom by my geography teacher, Mr. Qadri.  Me!  I was in grade 12, head cheerleader, girlfriend of the head boy and I was mortified!  The vice-principal happened along and asked me what I was doing there.  "Being punished, sir," I replied.  Didn't like it, but it took me beneficially down a peg or two. 

The many reserves I drive through in this area are places of squalor and desperation, where fentanyl, alcoholism and child abuse run riot.  The best thing to do is get off them.  Native North Americans did not have a written language, so it was concluded that children from these places needed to be educated.  Is that so bad?  Where it all breaks down is when natives stay on, or return to, the reserve.  There is absolutely no future in those hell holes and Justice Sinclair should be helping people move on, not encouraging them to dwell in, and dine out on, his personal despair, hopelessness and misery of the past.                

 

 

The hideous Christmas letter

"The reception was on the lawn, with pheasants, before guests moved to a glass-walled space behind the house (|The Gillyflower) for dinner........the wittiest speeches ever...........it was all a rose-filled dream...............October was euphoric................an absolutely beautiful humanist ceremony.......stained glass family crests (Beauchamp and Belknap).......Oh, the Belem waterfront along the Tagus and the Gulbenkian Museum!......Jack and Mabel Bush belonged to a supper club with parents of my St. Clement friend 'blah-blah' .....who was seeing a psychiatrist uncle of another friend...............they walked all the way past the palace, up the Mall and through Trafalgar Square to meet us for supper in Covent Garden......"

It goes on and on and on and on.  This woman is demented, totally unaware of what a grotesque bore she is and sends us one of the most pompous yuletide letters ever concocted each year.  Someone I would ordinarily have nothing to do with, she happens to be married to a very old friend of B's, a chap with whom he went to the London School of Economics a hundred years ago who sadly insists on keeping in touch. 

Anyone who knows me knows I cannot stand pomposity, phoniness and self-aggrandisement.  This broad boasts it all in spades.  Why oh why do some people think we give an s-h-1-t about what they do??!!  B also has another 'pre-me' friend who sends email missives from a winter get-away, filled with boring tales of all the bars they have frequented and the latest "friends" they have stumbled upon.  Please.  No one cares. 

Sometimes I am tempted to send a letter back, detailing all the laundries I have done, the toilets I have cleaned, the meals I have prepared and the front stoops I have swept.  Sadly, these writers-of-nothingness would not even get the message.  In fact, they would think there was something wrong with me! 

Please people, have a proper conceit of yourselves.    

A scandalous waste of time....

...and money.  I refer to the Paris Climate Summit, of course.  The self congratulating and smugness were breathtaking, in view of the vast "nothing" that was accomplished.  And I mean nothing whatsoever.  "It's a fraud really, a fake," said James Hansen, the former NASA scientist who is called the father of climate-change awareness.  "It's just worthless words.  There is no action, just promises.  As long as fossil fuels appear to be the cheapest, they will continue to be burned."

Yes indeed-ee.  And all the tree hugging in the developed world will do absolutely nothing to alter that reality.  Just watched a ridiculous piece on CBC TV -- is there any other kind on that network? -- about people eating less meat and selling their cars to reduce the carbon footprint.  The whole climate-change Paris thing was nothing but a "scouts honour" declaration because there are no penalties for missing targets and doing nothing. 

Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente wrote a piece today that pretty well sums up the charade and debacle in France.  "As the rich world swears off coal, the rest of the world is going crazy for it.  China alone is building 368 plants and plans another 803."  And Alberta is bragging about closing one!!??  Please.

"As long as China and India are on a growth path, it doesn't matter how many solar panels anyone installs.  The increase in their CO2 emissions will dwarf any cuts in ours," the article continues.  With billions up for grabs by the climate junkies and consultants pushing green infrastructure, clean technology and energy efficiency in the developed world, the cash grab will continue as jets filled with such charlatans fly around the world with gay abandon seeking it.

Someone called it Japanese Kabuki theatre.  That's exactly what Paris was. 





  

I almost cried

"This is my grandma," said grandson yesterday to a daycare worker when I picked him up.  That's when you know you've made the right decision about picking up and moving half way across Canada just to be a grandma. 

The family was over to decorate our tree and it was magical.  "Well, go and ask grandma," I heard my son-in-law say after bath was over.  Down the stairs came grandson.  "Grandma, can I sleep over at your house?".  Unplanned, this was an unexpected gift which I accepted immediately.  "Of course you can," I replied.  We had a great time, snuggling and making pancakes in the morning. 

On December 18th he will be four.  How that happened I have no idea?!  We moved to Calgary before he was born and now we love it and are happily ensconced.  Next stop?  Taking them to visit Santa on grandson's birthday.  Can't wait!

Tea at six a.m. 

   

Last time I checked.....

....December 25th was Christmas.  It wasn't "Happy Holidays", it wasn't "Season's Greetings".  It was Christmas.  I posted something about wishing people a "Merry Christmas" and a Jewish "friend" on facebook posted back, "Not going to happen," she wrote.  "Today is Hanukkah."  (Actually, she spelt it incorrectly, which is quite amusing.) 

Really?  If she knew what she was talking about, she would know that many days are Hanukkah.  If you research it, you will find that Hanukkah is a relatively minor Jewish feast, elevated to larger importance to allow Jews to join in the celebration around this time of year.  It is marked on numerous occasions in late November and December, but it does not have nearly the relevance for Jews that Christmas has for Christians.  Just a fact, folks.  Unfortunately, Christians have been relegated to the back of the bus when it comes to December 25th.  Frankly, I'm sick to death of it and I take every opportunity to reclaim this feast.   

And that facebook "friend"?  Just unfriended her.  Can we not have one day people!?

Speaking of facebook, my American "friends" are blissfully ignoring the recent massacre in California.  How can they?  This was the 535th mass shooting there in the past year and people ignore it?!  I guess this is the new and current normal south of the parallel. 

Sad.      

William Wuttunee, visionary

 



"He was a visionary and a true leader.  He pushed for natives  to become wholly independent of the reserve system and the treaty system," said Nola Wuttunee, daughter of Cree elder and internationally-recognized lawyer William Wuttunee who died recently at 87. 

Now, this is a guy to whom I can relate.  Long before I learned my birth great-grandmother had been a Mohawk from the Tyendenaga Reserve in Napanee, I wondered why natives lived on isolated reserves, not integrating into Canada.  So did Wuttunee and he was right.  I thank God my ancestor married off-reserve, thus giving her descendants the gift of being "Canadian".  Said his daughter, "My father saw the reserve as a very limited environment.  He saw no future there."

He was right, of course, and to this day native reserves remain poor, deprived and degenerate places, regardless of the $8.5 billion handed them by the Federal Government.  In fact, although I don't know many, every successful native I do lives and works off-reserve.  But here's the rub:  getting off the reserve, dumping the treaties and becoming "Canadian" means the money stops flowing via The Indian Act.  That's why Wuttunee was a pariah among his own people.  In fact, many tribal chiefs would not even permit him to come onto their reserves, so worried were they about losing the money funnelled them from the federal government via the Act. 

Wuttunee won a scholarship to McGill and became the first native lawyer to practise in Western Canada at the age of 26.  Successful , he was appointed to a cross-section of boards and commissions by both provincial and federal governments because of his unique perspective about life both on and off-reserve.  He chose off-reserve because, as he said, he knew firsthand the hardships and limitations of life on a reserve.  Sent to a residential school, he suffered abuse but chose to move past it.  "He wanted to move on and leave that psychological burden in the past," said his daughter.  He also would not teach his children Cree until they had first mastered English.  "No, you need to learn English to succeed in this world," he admonished.  What a brilliant guy.   

The "National Indian Brotherhood", which he founded, later became the "Assembly of First Nations" but unlike its leaders of today, Wuttunee remained a fierce advocate of integration.  Ironically, under Justin Trudeau's father Pierre, a white paper was published that proposed an end to "Indian status" and the dissolution of the federal Department of Indian Affairs.  Native matters would be transferred to provincial hands.  This is ironic because Trudeau-the-younger is gung ho to cater to the native leadership in whatever way he has to and however they want him to.  Trudeau mistakenly believes this will ensure they cooperate, but nothing is further from the truth.  Our new PM needs to channel his father and Wuttunee.   

When the white paper was published it was universally panned by native leaders.  No kidding!  But Wuttunee supported it because it promoted integration.  "He believed a better life was to be had for natives in cities, working and living alongside white people," said Doug  Cuthand, Saskatchewan native activist. 

How can anyone argue that?      

Has he taken leave of his senses?!

Calgary's Mayor Naheed Nenshi is pushing for our city to take in thousands of Syrian refugees.  I can't remember how many thousands, but enough to be ridiculous.  If anyone should know how Calgary is suffering with the downturn -- make that "tanking" -- of oil prices, it's the mayor.  Instead he says, "Let's get this right.  Let's be sure we can support the newcomers and integrate them into the economy." 

What economy?!  Now if he'd qualified that with, "And if we can't, they can't come," that would have made sense.  But, of course, he didn't.  The problematic words are "support" and "integrate".  With more than 45,000 people laid off in this province, people are suffering.  Yet he wants to "integrate" thousands more!?  Can't be done. 

I have experience with well-meaning, delusional messes such as this.  When I was chair of a parish council in Ottawa a few years ago, we had a refugee committee which sponsored several families from Bosnia in a moving, but naïve, display of charity.  What happened?  The refugees never got off the parish dole, so I eliminated the committee and the newcomers got on with it.  Seemed a scam to me and funnily, all those who were weeping and wailing about bringing them in, didn't utter a word of protest.  Everyone was over it.

Between the bogus climate change conference in Paris, where no commitments are binding, Rachel Notley basically shutting down the oilsands and Justin Trudeau giving away the store, this province and this country are in for a rude awakening.  The hubris of people to think they can affect climate is breathtaking!  Climate change may exist, but mere humans have absolutely no affect on it one way or the other.  The planet has been warming and cooling for billions of years with no help or hindrance from us.  Just ask the dinosaurs.   

Climate change reminds me of another bogus brouhaha, Y2K.  Remember that one?  The world was going to end and everyone's money was going to poof because banks were going to fail.  Naturally, a whole lot of "consultants" and "experts" made a ton of money out of that scam and nothing happened.  (I am acquainted with the carney barker who started the-sky-is-falling Y2K hysteria and he is a very rich man today.  He even made up those catchy call letters.  No dummy he. )

This cartoon sums up the whole sorry Parisian sting and swindle:

Courtesy of The Calgary Herald



  

Times have changed

Phone stores are jammed,.  Jewellery stores are ghost-like.  That's a very different Christmas experience from what I grew up with.  Tramping around a local mall yesterday, I was amazed at the crowds shopping for phones, as opposed to diamonds.  Hey ladies, get a grip!

Of course, back in the day we only had land lines and pay phones.  I mean, who would shop for a black, hard-plastic, dial phone for Christmas!?  Yep, that's how far back I go.  Back to the days of carbon paper, manual typewriters and white out.  Heck, I even remember my grandparents' home with a wind-up ring phone on the wall, which required an operator to plug in the number and connect the caller to the call-ee.

In recognition of my previous blog about women just wanting "the ring", I maintain self-supporting women are short-changing themselves if they opt for a phone or an IPad.  My message is don't sell yourselves short by dumping your education and sitting on your ass, being kept by some man.  But if you support yourself and are a true financial partner in a marriage, by all means get a little jewellery girl!  To those women who have taken up an expensive seat in an institute of higher learning, yet have wasted their education by sitting on their asses at home, I say, "You have betrayed the battle original feminists waged on your behalf.  Frankly, don't ask for jewellery from your benefactor, you don't deserve it."

Merry, merry. 

            

Food source secured

Scholars say that until a food source is secured, no society can progress.  Well, trust me, a food source has been secured at the House of Dior.  Just watched a documentary on Netflix about bringing out a collection by Dior and I was appalled by the ludicrousness of it all.  Here were hundreds and hundreds of people working all hours under incredible stress to make....dresses.

Really?!  All so unimportant.  I know this sounds bizarre coming from a woman who writes a blog entitled, 'The View From Hats and Heels', but this level of fuss and mega bucks over clothes is absurd and preposterous.  It was pathetic how everyone in the film thought every stitch was almost a religious experience.  Actually, scratch "almost".  It was a religion for these misguided souls. 

I like to look good as much as the next gal, but taking it to this level of worship is sad.  I mean, I can get as big a bang out of an outfit with a $7 pair of earrings from Shoppers.  Trust me, I can pull it off. 

The "big night", when the collection was debuted, was ridiculous.  I now put Sharon Stone in the same who-cares class as Anna Wintour.  They are both worshipping the wrong gods.  Fashion is run by hucksters and carneys, a cult into which women buy.  (And by the way, Donatella Versace's lips now resemble those old rubber tires we used to raft on as kids.  Ridiculous!)

Women haven't come "a long way baby".  Not by a long shot.  Witness this Birks ad running in The Globe and Mail, no less.  The advertising director -- must be a man -- needs to give his head a shake for thinking this a good idea:

Never mind getting a university degree, never mind starting an independent career, never mind being self-sufficient.  No.  Let's just get that ring on our finger!  What a sad state of affairs and what a demeaning, shocking and insulting comment in 2015 to those of us who have supported ourselves FOREVER.  It is a disgusting slur and an affront to women everywhere.  Sadly, Birks has no idea what its ad communicates.  None.  

Don't ever shop at Birks again. 

   

Most are dead

Boy, going through my address book to deal with Christmas cards was a revelation.  Most of the souls in the "M's" are dead.  Either that, or they don't talk to me or I them.  Monsignor Martineau is dead, my McKegney birth relatives are all dead, old friends Heather and John Munro are both dead and Hume Martin and I have lost touch.  That's the "M's" dealt with. 

There are others in there we met at cottages over the years, shared great times and with whom we vowed to stay in touch.  Didn't happen.  There are still others I hung out with in Ottawa, but who now never cross my Calgarian mind.  Some people continue to cherish high school friends until they are fairly long in the tooth; I don't.      

B's cousin -- also an "M" doesn't talk to him ever since he called her on her BS.  And all my cousins, save one, don't talk to me either.  A very good thing, frankly.  They may be family, but we have nothing in common anymore, our collective parents long gone.  I don't like people who don't like me, simple as that.  This year, the Christmas cards emanating from our house will be fewer, but I still send them because I think it is completely cheesy and appalling to send greetings via the Internet.  Go out, buy a few cards and stamps and spend a few hours sending messages to your friends.  For Gawd's sake!

If you send Christmas cards, please send "Christmas" cards.  I know it's difficult to find cards that actually mention "Jesus", but they are there.  Today I crawled around on my knees on the bottom shelf in a Hallmark store in Market Mall and managed to scrounge a couple of boxes.  I wear a lapel button which says, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" and it annoys many people who manage to read it as they pass me.

Too bad. 

  

Does anyone have the nuts?

Pierre Trudeau, father of our current PM, invoked The War Measures Act in 1970, when Quebec Separatists ran amok and actually -- actually! -- murdered a cabinet minister.  With what is going on in Paris, I have heard several pundits saying this is what must be done in France. 

I totally agree.  And by the way, where is Harry Truman when we need him?! 

Trudeau junior's "warm and fuzzy" policies about rushing to welcome to Canada 25,000 refugees doesn't cut it.  In fact, it's insane.  It is no accident that the flood of displaced Syrians pouring into Europe coincides with this latest mass killing in Paris.  Terrorists hide and infiltrate refugees and guess what?  Paris happens! 

There will be more.  At the first sign of anarchy and terrorism here in Canada, civil rights be damned.  When civil society is attacked by a violent mob, our country has the means to deal with it.  It's called The War Measures Act.    

Is he white?

That's what an East Indian woman I see regularly in the locker room asked when I told her my husband was born in Bombay.  We were talking about grandchildren and I mentioned I would be having them for the day the next day.  "Do you have them often?" she asked.  "God no.  I couldn't possibly manage that." 

I went on to say that I believed it was cultural.  "Many Chinese and East Indian grandparents seem to take their grandkids all day every day and it's really cultural, in my view.  In Western culture we don't tend to do that."  She snapped.  "No, it's not cultural, it has nothing to do with culture.  People are people!" 

Whoa!  Telling her that my husband's (white) family -- all born in India and there for generations -- did everything together and lived within shouting distance, I added that when the patriarch moved to Montreal they all moved there.  And when he moved to Vancouver, they all moved there too.  B's grandfather used to call them "the tribes of Israel".  And of course it was cultural.  Did she think there was no such thing as culture?  But I had to add, "Let's be clear, I'm not talking race here, I'm talking culture."  That's what most people get wrong.  The minute you talk about "Chinese" people or "Indian" folk, you are accused of being racist.  That trap I will not permit and I call people on it. 

"Do you think the Indians polluted your husband's white culture?"  That's exactly what she said.  No point in talking to people with chips on their shoulders.  Think I'll steer clear of that one. 

Here's why

I don't give a cent to Africa and I'm going to tell you why.  In spite of the billions we have given for generations, the middle class remains small across most parts of the continent.  Only six percent of Africans qualify as middle class, i.e., those earning $10 to $20 a day.  Judging by this, the number of middle-class earners has not changed since 2011. 

Where does your money go?  To the leaders who squirrel it away in Swiss bank accounts, leaving 90% of Africans earning fewer than $10 a day.  In spite of an average economic growth of more than 5% a year -- twice as fast as population growth -- the middle class remains insignificant because the proceeds of economic growth are not shared equally. Today, previously extremely-poor Africans are simply classified as merely "poor".  So, when I suggested my mother send my uneaten dinner to starving Africans, the effort would have done no good.  Neither do the many "Live Aid" concerts staged by millionaire rock musicians.  It's all a total "feel good" sham.

I feel the same about "pink ribbon" cancer campaigns.  The "Run for the Cure" is heartless because it encourages victims and relatives to cling to hope.  Folks, cancer is an industry.  No one wants to cure it because thousands and thousands would lose their jobs.  Cancer is all about money.          

I also don't give a penny to countries such as Haiti.  Do I need to spell out the reasons? 

No. 

A little harsh

Maybe saying that so many people I know were boring was a little harsh.  What I meant was so often I have to do all the work in social settings.  I mean, let's face it.  Conversation is work.  Sadly, too few people are willing to do it.  Can't tell you how many parties I have been to where people sit like bumps on logs -- the worst social sin one could commit in my late mother's world. 

"Don't sit there like a bump on a log," she used to admonish under her breath with a beaming smile.  "Speak to a person."  It was an ironclad rule in our house.  And shy?  That was simply another word for "rude" and she would not tolerate it.  I am very grateful for all she taught me about socializing because it has saved my sorry ass on more than one occasion.  Funnily, four topics were taboo:  money, religion, sex and politics.  Try filling an evening without those cushions, but that was how it was.  Actually, makes life so much easier if you don't know how much money someone has, or what their religion is.    

Actually, I like many people -- most folks I know, in fact.  Love most people at the pool, most at our parish and all of my facebook "friends"; any I didn't have been "unfriended".  So, didn't mean to come off as arrogant and if I did, forgive me. 

Boring

I was trying to figure out who in my life was not boring.  Couldn't think of a single soul.  Going through my old boyfriends, I realized they were all boring -- which was why I didn't marry any of them.  My ex-husband, however, was someone who was not boring, which was why I married him.  My current husband was also not boring, which was why I married him.

The Brits say the worst social sin one can commit is to be a bore.  Hear, hear!  For me, the definition of a bore is someone who is predictable.  I mean, when one is at a dinner party and knows exactly what a table companion will say......it's boring!  B and I went through everyone we knew and came up with.....bores.  The only people we could think of who were not boring were his grandfather and my father.  Everyone else was banal and predictable.   

I am sure I sound egomaniacal and I know I am a bore to many people I encounter because I am definite.  I see life in black-and-white, which is why I have a blog.  Oh, to meet someone who is not boring!       

A fashion don't

So, this is why one neither smokes, nor dyes one's hair after a certain age.  This is Our Queen's representative in Alberta, Lois Mitchell.  Hideous, but perfect for Halloween:



Got a ram

Son-in-law finally got a ram the other day, after many hunting trips high into the Rockies.  Congratulations to him.  There are very strict regulations about hunting here, including the restriction against killing any ram with horns smaller than the required curl.  A ram has to be at least seven years old to have a curl large enough to be hunted (his was 11).  And the hunter is also required to have it butchered for domestic use.  Here is the beast (sorry, can't seem to turn the photo?): 

 



I know many people are against hunting, but here in The West it's away of life I have to accept.  At least now I won't worry about him off in the wilderness for two and three days -- alone (albeit with bear spray) -- trying to find his ram.  The success rate for bagging a ram is about two percent, so his is quite an accomplishment.  And by the way, he caught a poacher and is working  with the authorities to help prosecute the offender.       
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I have finally had my little ceiling kitchen TV installed.  Why it took me four years, I have no clue!?  Twenty years ago, B bought me an adorable RCA set which was attached to a ceiling bracket and which allowed me to stay in-the-loop while tending to kitchen duties.  "I've never seen anything like this," said the young technician who arrived to set up the cable this morning.   He was actually impressed.  Trust me, you cannot find anything that small and efficient these days; everything is flat and HUGE.  And I will even be able to watch movies on it, should I wish.  Here it is:

_______________________________________________

I swim, but some runners seem to have a death wish.  Saw an article the other day about how runners seem to crave pain.  It came with this photo:

I rest my case. 
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The following CBC interviews and announcers produced the following abominable grammar mistakes:

"If they would've went......"  OMG!!!!

".....Alberta students......"  This from the head of the Alberta Teachers' Union! 

"One in five children are..........."  Yikes!  We all know it should be, "One in five children is....."

"I appreciate you speaking with us."  Carol Off, 'As It Happens', every effing night.  Hey Carol, it's "your". 

I continue to cringe often. 

More bad fashion. 





    

Musings on the new PM

My kids and step-kids went to school with Justin Trudeau.  They also played in the same soccer league, where I spent many hours chatting with his mother, Margaret.  Trust me, he takes after her, so taking him seriously is a tad difficult.  And I understand I am not alone.  Many world leaders are convinced he is a light-weight.  So am I. 

I guess we're in for more abortion, more injection sites, legalized assisted suicide, no more jets fighting ISIS and burgeoning deficits.  All very sad.  This is what happens when people are sick and tired of a leader.  Yet Harper has no one to blame but himself because he put himself front and centre -- not only during the campaign, but also throughout his tenure as PM. 

Harper was the PM, Harper was the government and Harper was Canada's face to the world.  I think Albertans were the only sane voters because they roundly rejected the Liberals under "Trudeau the younger". 

Friends, we are in for some very bad times.  With the hapless Notely in Alberta and the vacuous Trudeau in Ottawa, woe is us.        

Canadian tribes, 1500 - 1700

This is what the Indian map of Canada looked like when the "white man" arrived:

 

 

 







Me and my rugs

"They are works of art," said Javad Karamkhani, master Persian rug weaver.  He had come to evaluate our carpets -- carpets I was contemplating replacing!  Having seen an advertisement for hand-woven middle-eastern rugs, I thought we should get a new one for the living room.  "Geez, $4,000!" I said, looking at the sale.  "That's a lot of money!"  "What will you do with the one we have?" asked B.  "Well, it's shot, so maybe put it to the curb," I ignorantly replied. 

Except it wasn't.  Not by a long shot.  In fact, the weaver said it was worth at a minimum $7,000.  Whaaaaaat?  After looking at all our rugs, Mr. K informed us we had two Persian and five Pakistani hand-woven varieties, the Persians being far more valuable.  I remember buying the latter at Beaver Hall Antiques in Gananoque more than 30 years ago.  For the little 8 x 2 hall runner, we paid $750.  It's now worth $5,000!  For the big living room carpet we paid $1,200.  It's now worth $7,000! 

This master weaver will repair each, weaving strands in and re-finishing the ends with authentic, hand-woven fringes.  "When did you last have them cleaned?" he asked.  Never, was my ridiculous answer.  So, we are having that done too.  Apparently, they immerse the rugs in a swimming pool and then wash each delicately by hand. 

Asking the weaver how popular these rugs are in "cowboy Calgary", I was surprised to learn very.  "We get a lot of business from show homes," he told me, "because floors look so much better with the rugs."  Yes, they do.  And they give our townhouse so much. 

Can't wait to see their true, vibrant colours when they come home and shine for Christmas.           

Another sad tale

More arson on the Blood Reserve here.  This time it was the tribe's main business venture, a hay processing plant with $2.1 million US in inventory destined for overseas markets.  Throwing 100 people out of work, the arson also consumed the building itself, valued at more than $1 million.

That's quite a loss, coming on the heels of the arson which torched the first-ever native community college in Canada -- an $11 million loss.  Why in G-d's name would inhabitants destroy their college and largest, most successful employer?

It beggars the imagination.

The other outrage is the lack of safe drinking water on 133 reserves, with 93 boil-water advisories in place for more than two years.  Some, in fact, have been in place for more than 10 and a few since the 1990s.  Naturally, it's our fault.  But the truth of the matter -- which few people ever look into or acknowledge -- is that although drinking water on reserves is under federal jurisdiction, the more than $3.5 billion (yep, that's "billion") transferred to reserves from 1995 to 2008 still does not find its way to the solution, i.e., to provide safe drinking water on reserves.  This is the fault of native leaders and it is chronic. 

Why?  Because local councils are required to build and maintain the water purification systems for which the money is earmarked.  And this is where the whole ugly mess sits because obviously, local bands have not used the money for water. 

It's outrageous and even more outrageous that natives continue to put the blame squarely on "Ottawa".  It's getting more than tiresome to keep transferring monies to natives and having to sit by and watch it squandered to the detriment of their own people. 

I'm really sick of it.      

My take on the niqab

Have been thinking and thinking about why I oppose the wearing of the niqab for Canadian ceremonies and I think I have finally figured it out. 

I don't like it because the rest of us have adhered to Canadian rules, regulations and laws for generations -- whether we like them or not.  That is what the "rule of law" is all about.  That is what Canadians respect and expect.  Why should people who have been welcomed here ten minutes ago have the right to not adhere to our laws?  That is what pisses us off -- or at least that is what pisses me off.  I don't care what you do in your private life, but in your public life as a "Canadian", obey our laws and regulations.  Period, the end.

If one goes to the middle east, one covers one's head.  As Canadians, we obey jurisdictional rules in other countries and we expect the same here.  It's not about religion or gender, it's about what Canadians -- or would-be Canadians -- are expected to do in Canada.  Heard an idiot on the CBC saying that, "afterall, Laureen Harper covered her head when she visited the Pope in the Vatican, so what's the big deal about a woman wanting to cover her head here?" 

Well, the big deal would have been if Laureen Harper had refused to cover her head.  As a respectful Canadian, she covered it to adhere to the Vatican custom of doing so.  Quite apart from the fact that I find it demeaning and insulting to force any woman to cover her head, face and entire body, I am one Canadian who expects all to be universally treated and accepted.  Women should not be effectively shunned and publically shamed by having to hide themselves.  To me it is sexual.  Do muslims think that if a man sees one speck of female flesh he will be aroused to the point of rape?  It's completely insane!

Harper has hit the nail on the head and it is resonating with the public.  Mulcair and Trudeau have missed the boat.  Both profess to support women, but by endorsing the niqab they have done the opposite.   

     

Would never happen. Never

A woman I know recently competed in a 10-K race and came first.  This was a huge achievement because there were 4,500 runners in the race.  That's right:  four thousand five hundred.  In addition to being the first woman, she was 13th overall.  A very remarkable achievement.

But the timing was incorrect and she was mysteriously scored third woman.  Why?  Because the two women ostensibly "ahead" of her had registered for the 10K, but had only done the 5K.  So, the computer chip had them first and second for the 10K.  Get it?   

The race organizers blew this first woman winner off -- including the prize money she would have received, a not insignificant amount, by the way.  Would this have happened had the mixup been about the men?  Never, ever, ever, ever in a million years.  They would have turned themselves inside-out to correct the results and ensure the male runners got their due.  The time was eventually corrected, but this woman who won has heard absolutely zip from the organizers. 

This is totally unacceptable.  If you think things have changed between men and women, you'd be wrong.      

Mystery delicacies

"What is that?" I asked on more than one occasion as I wandered along the groaning buffet table last evening.  We had been invited to a fabulous gala to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Nigerian independence by good friends from our parish.  Four hundred people in the room, there must have been only about 20 of us who were white.  It was indeed an honour.

Calgary is home to many Nigerians because of the oil connection.  Knowing that all the women would be decked out in peerless finery, I wondered what the heck to wear?  One cannot compete with the glorious frocks and costumes of these glamorous ladies -- not that I wanted to -- and
not wanting to don black-on-black, as I often do, I dug out an extravagant pink boa bought in London a few years ago in an effort to attach "jaunty" to my outfit.  I love this boa, but don't have many opportunities to wear it in "jeans/Calgary".  The boa actually seemed happy to have been let out of its cage from the confines of the back of my closet!

The jewellery!  Must have been hundreds of thousands clinging to necks, ears and wrists in that room!

What a great evening!  The programme included welcomes by the Governor General, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Mayor, which indicated how "Canadian" these folks are.  As we stood for both the Nigerian and Canadian National Anthems, I was struck by how our wonderful country welcomes everyone and how each integrates while maintaining individual cultures.

Looking fabulous, B was singled out by the MC who came down from the stage, over to our table and asked if he had ever been to Nigeria.  "No," was all B replied to the mike in his face.  What he should have added was that his uncle was the commander of British troops in Lagos in 1956 and that one of his cousins was born there.  But he didn't because I guess he figured the gathered would see us as "the British enemy", which I guess the Brits were. 

"She's fabulous," I said to B.  We were enjoying a performance by a young lady who was a very talented singer and African dancer.  When they announced she was only 14, I changed my tune.  I thought with all that makeup and exposed boobs she must have been 20!  (When I was 14, no one even had boobs!)    "Way too sexualized," I whispered.  But this is a different culture with different values.  Would I have allowed my 14-year-old daughter to expose herself and bump-and-grind like that?  Never.  Made me feel uncomfortable, but I hid it because it was all very normal in the context within which we found ourselves.

The custom is for audience members to go up on stage and throw $20-bills to the performers -- again, something our culture does not do.  Later, in the washroom, a grandmother was counting the loot and distributing it to her granddaughters.  What an education I had yesterday!

Here are a few snaps:

B and me.  (The green thing on my glove is a re-entry band.  Ugly.)

Our host, Francis Igbelina

Our gracious hostess, Chinelo Igbelina
 

 

             

   

"Purity commitment"

"Pick your boyfriends wisely.  Find out beforehand if they are sexually active because unless they share your purity commitment, they will eventually start the sex pressure."

This, among many other words of wisdom, was contained in a pamphlet in our church pew entitled "For Girls Only".  Frankly, I think all teenaged boys should read it.  It's encouraging to know the Catholic Church is involved in helping avoid sexually-transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies.  God knows the world is full of both.  Some other advice?

• Consider group or double dates
• Be upfront
• Keep your clothes on (this one made me laugh because on first dates doesn't one tend to?) 
• Define lines

It also lists STDs, such as:

• HPV
• Herpes
• Chlamydia
• Gonorrhea, and 
• Syphilis

The booklet also lists the top 10 reasons for waiting for the honeymoon:

• Broken hears
• Getting a disease
• Becoming pregnant
• Hurting relationship with husband
• Losing self respect
• Stuck in 'sex-only' rut with your guy
• Trashing your reputation
• Getting distracted from life-goals (one of the reasons I kept my daughter in serious sports, so many girls drop out when they get involved with boys.  Pathetic)
• Feeling cheap and used, and
• Cheating yourself out of friendships with guys

It ends with "Aren't you worth more than sex?"  I think it's a great initiative. 

Montreal tales

"Let's have Chinese," said B the other night.  "We're right beside Chinatown."  Are you nuts?!  We were in Montreal and he wanted to eat Chinese.  Really?  So, it was French food for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week and it was wonderful. 

We were there for Concordia Homecoming weekend, B's alma mater (he actually graduated from Sir George Williams University, but when Sir George and Loyola merged, it became Concordia).  I went along for the ride because I love Montreal and Calgary isn't Montreal.  Getting there, as those of us of a certain age know, isn't half the fun.  In fact, it's none of the fun.  Schlepping through airports to gates you need a space shuttle to reach is a total pain.  The whole experience makes me hate people even more than I tend to.  Finally arriving at 8:30 p.m., we discover our room isn't ready.  At 8:30!  Probably a union-inspired problem, but this was Le Westin and I was not amused.  So, the desk gave us a couple of drink tickets as pacification.  After drinks, we headed to 'Boris Bistro' for dinner and I was amazed to learn that our 31-year-old waiter made annual pilgrimages to Ste. Benoit du Lac for meditation.  You never know what people are up to. 

By now it's 10:30 and we're back at the hotel and guess what?  Room still not ready!  Unbelievable, but true.  So, it was a couple more drinks and we finally crashed.  Next morning, one of my oldest and dearest friends arrived from Ottawa for lunch and we wandered through Old Montreal until we found a great little hotel with a charming dining room.  "You are absolutely gorgeous," I said to our young waiter.  "If Hollywood films here, you'll be switching careers."  I really don't care what I say to people anymore and he really was drop-dead handsome -- sort of like a young Alain Delon, if you remember him. 

Reading the Globe and Mail one morning, I marvelled at the page-one headline:  "Pope Francis's...."  I kid you not, they put an extra "s" for the possessive.  The Globe and Mail!  Pathetic.  Swam in the little lap pool, whose glass bottom allows you to see down to the lobby.  Much less boring doing laps when you can watch the comings and goings of various guests.  Sitting at the bar one night, I started chatting with a very boring American who's with a company that manufacturers hockey sticks.  But guess what?  The guy doesn't follow hockey!  Doesn't know squat about it.  I'd fire him. 

Got into a taxi driven by a Muslim man and got to talking.  "If I had daughters, I would never let them wear the hiqab or niqab, never," he told me.  Good for him, I told him.  "It`s degrading," I added.  "And simply a sexist control thing with Muslim men.  I was encouraged he agreed.  And don't even get me started on the niqab for the citizenship oath.  Thank God Harper is forcefully against it.  For that reason alone I'd vote for him, although there are many others too. 

So, back in Calgary where it's jeans, jeans and more jeans.  However, I have to say that today's fashion trends leave me cold.  Some of the outfits I saw in Montreal were downright hideous.  What are young francophone women thinking?!  When I am the best-dressed woman at a huge dinner in Montreal, there is something wrong.  Never mind, I intend to continue dressing the way I have forever.            

Where does it come from?

"You're too much of a bitch to die," I said laughing.  Had lunch recently with a friend from the pool.  She has stage four lung, brain and liver cancer.  Other than that, she's in fine fettle and good humour.  The first person to befriend me at the pool four years ago, she is someone with whom I clicked. 

We compared funeral notes.  Both of us have ours organized and paid for -- right down to the headstone.  All that's missing is the date of death.  We agreed we don't want our children cursing us as they try to tidy up our messes and stick us in the dirt or throw us over the water.  But I have to admit, I would not be as cheerful were I in her situation.  She is remarkable. 
_____________________________________
Toronto son left yesterday morning after a week-long stay.  Miss him already.  He spent two hours polishing the ancient, pocked headlights on my Civic while he was here.  Hitherto, I was not certified to drive at night because they were so bad.  He also swept out the garage -- which I have not done in more than four years.  What a lazy b-tch I can be at times!  We had a grand time, voici a couple of snaps:

Visiting the famous Ranchmen's Club.

Some of the whimsical painted mounts at Spruce Meadows.

     

More native woes

I know I bang on about this, but native issues continue to arise and continue to piss me off.  Here's a letter of mine, published yesterday in The Calgary Herald:

"Dear Editor,

"Both the issue of AFN chief Perry Bellegards's never having voted in a federal election and his on-going objection to bands having to disclose financial information are rooted in the same reality:  as a rule, aboriginals* do not identify as "Canadian".  If one is a Canadian, one`s civic duty is to vote; if one is Canadian, one must declare all income to the Canada Revenue Agency.  There is nothing "heavy-handed" about either of these obligations.  Frankly, Mr. Bellegarde`s stance is high-handed."  (The last sentence was deleted, but the rest of the letter went in as written.)

If you read a recent blog of mine, you know that Bellegarde refuses to vote, but urges all natives to.  Complete bullsh-t.   

On the heels of this nonsense, the first-ever native college in Canada was destroyed by arson recently.  Located on the Blood Tribe Reserve in southern Alberta, Red Crow Community College was an $11 million total write-off.  Immediately, the chief jumped in front of a microphone and blamed "faulty wiring", but when the professionals looked into it, it was clearly arson.  With native leaders screaming for better educational facilities and more money from the rest of us, why would they burn down this breakthrough building?!

Definitely more "forked tongue" speak. 

Sad. 
________________________
*I used the word "natives" in my original letter because there are no aboriginals in North America, but the editor changed it. 

Social life at the pool

Unable to fall asleep last night, I began to think of all the fabulous men and women I have met at the pool.  Going early every morning at roughly the same time, I have met serious working girls (no, not that kind) in the locker room -- all in great shape.  Then I began to count the number I have become closer with and met outside the pool for lunch or coffee.  Ten!  That's amazing to me because only two socialize together; the rest I know one-on-one and they don't really know each other. 

My late mother taught me one invaluable skill.  "Speak to a person," she would admonish me under her breath, with a huge smile pasted on her face.  This started when I was very young, as we walked into a roomful of strangers.  I was maybe three or four, but was expected to proactively engage adults in conversation, which I did because she gave me no choice.  Being "shy" was simply another word for "rude" and was not permitted.  This ability to talk with anyone anywhere led me to my first career as a journalist, where I had to walk into Toronto conference rooms filled with hundreds of strangers, walk up to them, stick out my hand, introduce myself and get the story.  I was in my early twenties. 

With my acquaintances at the pool I do the same thing.  I "interview" them about their work, their lives, their kids, their parents, their husbands, their ex's and they open up.  People love to chat about what they're up to, no exceptions. 

My pool buddies are all younger than I -- some much -- ranging in age from their twenties to their fifties.  I am the oldest by far and flattered they deign to consider me acceptable enough to hang out with.  One's a doctor, two are nurses, another a university professor, one the head of "Clinique" here, one a fire-fighter, two are teachers, one an accountant and one a retired professional.  No slouches they.

However, were I not a decent swimmer, other than "hi", they probably wouldn't speak much to me.  There is a certain camaraderie in the lanes that only occurs if you can swim well and obey lane etiquette.  Woe to those unfortunates who don't. 

Oh, and there is one man I have had lunch with; the rest of the males I chat and joke with only in the water.  Seems to be a gender line, which is rarely crossed.  Nevertheless, they are a great group of people.      

Heavy-handed?

There has to be something terribly wrong with AFN Chief Perry Bellegarde's brain.  The man cannot apply logic or reason to anything, a fact becoming increasingly-clear every time he opens his mouth.  The latest nonsense surrounds his bizarre and unreasonable pronouncement that, although he himself has never voted federally, he urges all natives to do so. 

Really?!  "I just haven't done it," he bragged.  "It's a real personal thing."  See how the logic falls apart?  I'm telling you to do it, even though I say it's personal -- something which, last time I checked, was....well....personal.  His lame excuse is "because as first nations' leader, I want to maintain an appearance of non-partisanship."  Guess he hasn't heard that Canadians vote by secret ballot.  Guess he also forgets that he slams the federal government every-which-way-to-Sunday every time he opens his mouth.  Clearly, by urging natives to vote, he is in effect telling them not to vote Conservative, to throw the bums out.    Again, logic escapes the man.

"Even though I may not vote, I am urging young people to get out.  I may, or may not, but that's why. (Huh?).  That's what I am wrestling with personally."  Man, there a statement of crystal-clear clarity if ever I've heard one!  Makes me long for good old reasonable, sensible, calm, intelligent, rational, judicious, even-handed, wise, level-headed Shawn Atleo.  Alas and alack, he was thrown under the bus and kicked to the curb by the likes of Bellegarde and his cronies for sitting down with the feds to work out crazy things such as educational funding -- the very battle cry Bellegarde is touting now.  It completely defies sense.

Bellegarde's other bug-a-boo is the federal obligation that bands report their finances.  He calls this "heavy-handed".  Really?  To ask natives to account for the money given them is heavy-handed?  The First Nations Financial Transparency Act requires 581 bands to post audited financial statements on the internet.  Apparently, 191 bands will not receive non-essential funding because they have not complied.  They will receive "essential" funding, but Bellegarde claims, "a lot of those people in those communities, you're going to make them suffer.  It's not proper.  It's not right," he said.     

What's neither "proper" nor "right" is Bellegarde's high-handedness in having the gall to believe he is above the law and does not have to comply, as all the provinces and territories must.  Claiming his people are a "nation" while at the same time refusing to act like one is the height of it.  If you do the basic math, 500,000 natives receive $8.5 billion every year from Canadian taxpayers, theoretically $1,700,000 each.  Insane!  And Canadians bitch about paying $1.60 each for our Queen.   

The real problem, as I have said before, is that natives do not identify as "Canadian", so they don't vote and they don't pay taxes -- two things the rest of us do because the former is our civic duty and the latter the law.       



 

Now I understand....

...what my late father was talking about -- sort of.  Everything in the universe was perfect, he used to say, which was why he was a devout Catholic, while at the same time a brilliant mathematician.  I couldn't understand how he could be both when I was a questioning teenager.  "There is so much we don't understand dear," he used to say, "but perfect math and numbers underpin everything, which means there has to be a God to have made it all so perfect.  Nothing is random."

Just watching 'The Code', a brilliant BBC series about how mathematical patterns and numbers govern everything in the universe.  And they are consistently uniform, regardless of whether applied to plants, animals, sea creatures, insects, people, flora, fauna or the planets and stars themselves.  Amazing!

Don't ask me to explain anything, but watching the series I am cluing in a tad.  I was terrible at math -- much to his patient and loving chagrin -- but I am now beginning to understand prime numbers and what they can and cannot do.  I also now have a clue about "pi", the infinite number formula.  My Dad lived in a "math" world and wrote about it every day of his life-- both before and after he retired.  He was not of "this world" and I think without my mother he would never have eaten, got dressed or left the house.  But she gave him an orderly life and he repaid her by pretending to be "normal".  A kinder, more patient and loving gentleman you could not meet.  In fact, I never saw him lose his temper or say a critical word about anyone.  Ever. 

He would have been 115 years old and I am only just figuring him out.              

Finally questioning their own

"The salaries should match the governance structure.  It doesn't make sense that politicians are paid more than $90,000 each to govern an on-reserve population of 7,000," said Harley Frank, a former Blood Tribe chief in response to revelations that the current chief and 12 councillors collectively paid themselves more than $2 million last year. 

Finally, the natives themselves are waking up to reality within their midst.  When you factor in travel claims, the total hits $2.13 million.  Chief Weasel Head's total remuneration and expenses were $133,130, while one councillor actually hauled in....wait for it....$210,982!

Just so outrageous.  "If you're getting paid that kind of money, I expect tremendous results," Frank said.  "And then you have people on that reserve living hand-to-mouth."  Yes folks, chiefs and councillors are raking it in, while their subjects live in shacks and defecate in buckets.  And whose fault is it.  Never mind, that was a rhetorical question.

No wonder they don't want their theft to be revealed in audits.  The Blood Tribe's biggest expense in fiscal 2015 was salaries and benefits, which clocked in at....wait for it again.....$45.96 million -- a figure that topped last year's by $669,850.  For governing 7,000 people?

Maybe now that natives know what their leaders are up to, they will start to demand reason, reality and accountability from these carney barkers.     

   

"...going forward"

What's with that new fad phrase?  Just dumb.  "I hope that next year is better, going forward."  Why do we need the "going forward" part?!  We don't.  The meaning is obvious without those two superfluous words, but one hears the expression everywhere out of the mouths of every expert on everything on every TV and radio show.  G-d!  Almost as hideous as the repetition of the word "is", as in, "The thing is is......"  G-d again.   

I do despair when it comes to grammar.

We're all huddled in our homes with the windows closed and furnace filters changed, trying to escape the smoke from forest fires in Washington.  The Rockies halt the spread of the BC smoke, but winds have pushed Washington's smoke up into southern Alberta and I'm pissed off about it.  Not that it physically bothers me -- thanks to my heart/lung capacity due to swimming -- but one has to keep everything closed, as dust accumulates on everything.  Guess we'll all have to pay for the smokers who have to get emergency oxygen.  Can't believe our young, dumb neighbours still sit out back smoking?! 

You should have seen the shape my filter was in when I changed it!  Absolutely clogged.  Supposed to clear by Thursday, which leaves me another day to binge-watch BBC on Netflix. 



 

 

Potty talk

At a dinner party last evening, talk turned to toilets -- or the lack of them in certain parts of the world, such as Eastern Europe.  One couple had just returned from three months there, visiting Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic and other places in which I would never set foot, let alone spend money.  I had introduced the topic by saying I don't go anywhere where I might have trouble finding a toilet; they told me you have to pay to use them most places and that they actually have "toilet police" stationed outside to ensure people don't crawl under. 

See, that's why I would never go.  We then continued on the toilet theme, discussing such riveting topics as hovering, squatting (done in India, yuck), paper-on-the-seat or not.....etc.  I expressed shock when one woman said she never puts paper down in a public toilet!  G-d forbid!  That's one of my all-time cardinal rules: never ride bareback on a public toilet.  Ever. 

All at once I felt my age.  "What has it come to that our main topic of conversation revolves around toilets?"  It's definitely our age.  The National Arts Centre springs to mind when it comes to insufficient numbers of women's toilets.  Bumped into our family doctor a few years ago while waiting in an endless line to pee.  "Can you please give me a note to use the men's?" I asked him, looking on with envy at the no-line men's toilets.  Apparently, the industry has now upped the building code on women's toilets in public facilities.  But one has to wonder, what are we doing in them?  I guess hiking down and up pantyhose and other such time-consuming tasks, versus men who simply have to zip, go and zip.  However, I also suspect fewer men wash their hands post-pee.  Yuck again.    

But the world travellers told us horror stories about being swarmed by Romas, reminding me it's not for nothing they have the reputation they do.  And the wife was actually terrified when a Muslim taxi driver started screaming and raving about the gay pride parade they were driving past.  "Geez, wouldn't want to be his wife, daughters or sons," I said.  Don't get me started on that file.

Just had lunch with a friend I met at the pool and it gave me great pause.  A better swimmer than I when we met, she now has arbitrary brain cancer and needs a cane to get around.  Makes me realize there are worse things than toilet problems. 

It's war!!

Those were the two words that B's ex said to him when they separated.  Having read "The Women's Room", she thought she was "libber incarnate", a clone of Gloria and blood sister to Germaine and Betty -- in spite of the fact that she earned none of her own money and did not work outside the home, something I would never advise any mother to do.  My mantra has always been, "Don't ever give up your day job, girls". 

So, B had to defend himself and thus engaged one of the best family law lawyers in the country, Bob Montague.  Sadly, sadly Bob died on Sunday.  He was only 71 and I was shocked to my core -- so much so that I began to weep uncontrollably.  Not that we were personal friends, but I credited him with enabling us to have a daily and close relationship with B's children, all because Mr. Montague won us majority custody in 1983, when this was unheard of.  The raw emotion of all those years ago, when it was an hourly fight over every cookie, came spilling out. 

Our case was also helped by Dr. Arthur Leonoff, a family psychologist who interviewed each of us -- children included -- and decided that B should have majority custody because he was prepared to grant access to the mother.  "I have no confidence that the mother will do the same," he wrote at the time.  Such was the precedent set that Montague and Leonoff subsequently co-wrote a family law textbook, based on what they had achieved for us.  We are forever grateful and hope that other fathers benefitted from our case.  No longer did fathers have to sit on the sidelines and toss money at their kids.  They could actually co-parent.

It's a great loss and a sad day for the legal community.  Rest in peace, dear Bob.   

       

Surprising

Today is our 32nd wedding anniversary and the only one who remembered was my stepdaughter, the one with whom I am now unfortunately least close.  But thank you, "S", so appreciated.  (My non-relationship is thanks to her renewed relationship with her mother, which became close when stepdaughter herself became a mother, and now everything has to appear to be perfect.  Too bad because I am the loser, but so are her kids who don't really know me.  Apologies for the ego there.)

Together 35 years, B and I have officially been married 32 and raised four children together.  What chaos it was many times!  We faced a myriad of obstacles because one parent was involved and fought anything and everything, and another was completely absent and uninvolved.  Two children suffered from the presence of a parent and two from the absence of one.  Should I be a child psychologist?  Maybe. 

But hey, we hung in there and now enjoy four wonderful grandchildren.  What other purpose does my life now have but to be a grandmother?

None.        

Sex in a canoe?

Apparently Ontario is the sex-in-a-canoe capital of Canada.  Fourteen percent of all upstanding citizens of that supposedly conservative province have had sex in a canoe.  Next is B.C., but far back, where seven percent of residents have bobbed and tipped getting it on in that vessel.  This compares to the least edgy provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan where only two percent of folks have indulged in such risky behaviour. 

These are a couple of weird facts I came across the other day in The Herald.  All were absolutely fascinating.  Here are a few more:

Married couples without children?                       Nova Scotia is tops at 53.8%
 

Percentage of singles?                                           Nunavut, 25.3%
 

Litres of beer per capita?                                       Yukon, 125.2%; fewest beers per year, Ontario at 70.7%

Number of marijuana users?                                  Ontario, 4,386,897; fewest is PEI at 48,886

Daily cigarette consumption?                                Quebec, 15.6 (no surprise there, Quebeckers love to smoke)

Annual total of Kraft dinners purchased?              Ontario, 40,611,406

Number of Tim Horton's?                                      Ontario, 1,858

Top baby names across the country?                      Liam, Emma, Ethan and Olivia (G-d I hate those names!)

 

Charitable donations?                                              Alberta at $2,316 (impressive); Quebec the lowest at $660 -- even lower than Newfoundland, $906, with a much smaller population (guess they're too busy smoking.)

So, a few facts to bore people with at your next dinner party. 

A family affair

The winner was 14 years old.  She did the 2K Lake Windermere Open Water Swim in 28 minutes.  Seriously.  I took more than twice as long, but then I am 54 years older than she.  Let's see how she does when she's in my age category.  By the way, I was the oldest (including all but one of the men), but I did it and felt great! 

Two K is a long way.  Try measuring it in your car and you'll see that it is quite the haul if you're in the water.  But as usual, the weather was perfect and the competitors in fine fettle.  Most were in wet suits, but I am not going to fork out $300 for one swim a year.  Growing up in the ice cold lakes of Ontario and Quebec, Windermere is not much of a hardship.  Last year, the organizer and I were the only ones using a "swim buddy" (google it if you don't know what that is), but this year a bunch of swimmers wore one -- probably because a young man drowned during a triathlon in that lake less than a month ago, giving everyone a touch of the jitters.

Husband B was asked again this year to blow the horn for the mass start, but for me, the big thrill was that daughter, son-in-law and grands were on the beach to see me off and cheer me when I landed.  Given that both are Uber athletes in the "iron man" category, I was delighted they delayed their departure from Invermere to support me.  At one, Hilary has no clue and at three Reed was simply bored waiting, but they were there. 

One thing that annoyed me in Invermere was a restaurant we visited for dinner last evening.  Empty, its maitre'd asked if we had a reservation.  Duh, no.  It's a tourist town -- who knows the name or phone number of anything?!  "I'm sorry, we're full," was his reply.  Don't ya just hate that BS?!  But it is an absolutely beautiful town with flowers on every corner, in every window box and on every lamp standard. 

 

One example of what adorns every corner of every street in the town.





The beach on Lake Windermere where we start the swim.  The 1K buoy isn't even visible, and then you have to turn around and start back!



 



   

No surprise there

Guess which country boasts the largest underground economy in the world?  Greece.  They cheat themselves to the tune of a whopping 22.4% of their GDP.  And guess what this criminal behaviour results in?  A failed country with ever-increasing taxes necessitated by the fact that no one pays their fair share! 

No wonder the Germans -- and everyone else -- don't want to support that stupid place.  But not to be outdone in this fiscal race to the bottom, next in line is Italy at 20.1%, with Spain following closely behind at 18.2%.  These are three of the most disastrous countries in the world and it's no surprise.  Skipping out on the tax man is a cultural badge of honour for the citizens of these dumps -- something which they proudly practice wherever they venture.  I certainly know CRA was well aware of these deadbeats when I worked there, although it couldn't say so publically. 

Here are a few other notables:

Portugal -- 17.6%
Belgium -- 16.2 (that surprised me)
Norway --  13
Finland --   12
France --    12.3

Canada stands at 10.3%, which is shameful, but the US -- which everyone condemns as money-grubbing -- has the smallest underground economy of any OECD country.  A paltry 5.9%.  Good on them!

In my own anecdotal experience, three of the most enthusiastic demanders of cash we hired as tradesmen in Ottawa were Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.  In fact, CRA actually put two of them in jail.  Just sayin.....

I am always on about the evils of the underground economy and the reason is very simple.  The larger the underground economy, the higher the taxes have to be to ensure a functioning society.  Harper is right to lower taxes because lower taxes discourage illegal cash business.  And he's right about the new NDP Alberta premier.  She will be a disaster.

So woe to anyone who votes for that other NDPer Mulcair.  He has absolutely no idea about how a national economy must function.  Not a clue.