Saturday Morning

Well... after my last two posts I thought it was time to post something nice to look at. Lucy has met a new friend. Her name is Calli and she and her guardian meet us on Saturday morning for a two hour trek around the lake. Lucy and Calli have a ball while Brenda and I chat. Of course I also have to be snapping pictures.

This past weekend while the east coast shivered under  mounds of snow we basked in beautiful sunshine and warm temperatures.  The mountains in these pictures have about half as much snow as usual  for this time of year, but they look like sparkling gems in the early morning sunlight.

Olympics - Party On

The previous post was to give you and idea of the kind of media we have been experiencing in the lead up to the 2010 Olympics. Little wonder that most people are not exactly rejoicing over the soon to be Olympics. What is a wonder is that VANOC and our government can't understand why most of us are not really looking forward to hosting them. 

VANOC has;
Closed our streets
Changed bus routes
Told us to expect 2 hour waits at sky train stations just to get to work and back.
Put in 900 cameras all over the city that we are not sure are going to be gone after the games.
Told volunteers that they have to tape over any logos on their shoes or clothing before coming to work for them for free. 
Closed schools for the period of the games
Filled the streets with military and police
 Closed the sea to sky highway to anyone without a pass even if you live there. No pass no go.
They have sued everyone and anyone who dares even appear to be using their name, the year, or the circles to obtain money even when the name is part of a family business that has been around almost as long as the first olympics!!
They have told us to welcome the world and help tourists etc. while they demand that the Australian team take down their mascot flag from their accommodations.  Why? because VANOC deemed it too commercial.
Forced businesses to close down for two weeks and their employees are unemployed with no way to pay their rent or bills.
Insisted on breaking our laws by having smoking pits for the "Olympic family" at the games venues. 

It seems that when a city "wins??" the Olympic bid they give up all their rights to VANOC. Worse through out most of the last few years we have heard little about the athletes of whom this is supposed to be about. And even less about sportsmanship or good will. It has been primarily about greed. About contracts for buildings and roads. Who gets them and who doesn't.  About people desperate for affordable places to live while landlords evict tenants so they can rent the buildings for inflated prices to tourists. It's about where they can hide the homeless and mentally ill so the tourist won't see and if they do how can we put a positive spin on all of this. 

Don't get me wrong I think that the Olympics could be a good thing were it not that there are so many bad things happening to people in my province. We have the lowest minimum wage in the country while we have the highest rate of child poverty. We have  workers who are having their contracts rolled back, teachers laid off and hospital surgeries canceled. while watching our government pour billions into this two week party.

They keep telling us how this will benefit us all in the end, but all that most people can see is more lay offs, higher taxes and no jobs.

When I think about all the ways we have been bullied as a citizenry in the last year to accommodate the Olympics and how our city seems taken over by a group of people that most of us will never even see I have to ask myself why we put up with this? Why do people allow themselves to be pushed around by this for the sake of a very small part of the population? What exactly does this teach our children?

Oh Boy The Olympics are Coming!!!

LOCAL  NEWSPAPER  HEADLINES FOR THE  OLYMPICS

"900 RCMP CAMERAS INSTALLED FOR OLYMPICS ....AND BEYOND"

"BOMB SNIFFING DOGS ON VANCOUVER TRANSIT"

"BC GOVERNMENT SPENDS NEARLY 1MILLION ON OLYMPIC TICKETS"

"800 TEACHERS RECEIVE POSSIBLE LAY OFF NOTICES AFTER DEFICIT FORECAST" (think this one doesn't fit read the one above)

"WHISTLER INTRAWEST ON THE AUCTION" "BLOCK: BUSINESS AS USUAL"

"MONTH TO GO...WHERE'S THE SNOW?"

"BAILOUT GAMES"
All levels of government have had to come to the financial rescue of the 2010 Winter Olympics, leaving you on the hook for the tab."

"RED TENT CAMPAIGN PLANNED FOR HOMELESS DURING OLYMPICS"

"OLYMPIC ROAD CLOSURES START IN NOVEMBER"

"SEX AND THE GAMES"
industry gears up
Vancouver escort agencies and strip clubs report huge surge in demand a head of Olympics; bishop warns of human trafficking threat

"SEX SELLS DURING OLYMPICS"
Sex trade workers across the country converge on Vancouver

"FREE REHERSAL TICKETS BEING SOLD ON CRAIGSLIST"
Scalping by volunteers, performers criticized in online forums

 Well, I don't know about you, but I can hardly wait for the five ring circus to begin.

Thomas Crapper - September 1836 - January 27 1910

It would only be fitting if all of us  at that time of day we all have would take a moment to remember this man.

After all - just think what life might be like without the crapper!

VANOC and the FLY!

Yes ... flies... or I should say fly as there is only one, has taken up residence in our apartment.  I have no idea where he came from or why he seems to be the only one. For that matter I don't know that it is a HE, but no woman would be as annoying as this guy. The fly keeps flitting about my desk as the worst times. Either I am on the phone trying to make appointments and there he is bouncing off my desk lamp or worse walking across my computer screen. One time he was actually cheeky enough to bounce his creepy self off my forehead. I grab magazines, rolled up newspapers and anything else handy and try to smack his little brains out. But he is clever and just when I think I am about to get him he flits off and hides somewhere in the house only to reappear at the most annoying times. Funny thing is he never seems to bother my partner one little bit. In fact my partner claims to have never seen the little bugger.

My guess is that the fly is here because the weather in Vancouver has been so mild much to the chagrin of VANOC the Olympic bullies organizers. With the winter games about to begin VANOC is about as annoyed with the mild weather as I am with THE FLY! They have had some snow on the mountains, but not in the amounts they had hoped for and the temperature keeps on being very mild without much relief in the forecast. So the weather is as annoying to VANOC as the fly is to me. However, while I will continue to roll up newspapers to swat frantically at it, I, unlike VANOC, will not spend a small fortune to resolve my angst.  

 VANOC and the fly have much in common. They are both annoying!

Drizzle

Lucy and I have been walking in the drizzle down by the lake for most of the week. Lucy, like me, does not really like being out in the rain all that much however it is a fact of life we take for granted if we want to live on the lower mainland of British Columbia. Because Lucy and I are out so much in it Fred got me a really good water proof jacket and two pairs of water proof walking boots/shoes. I am usually warm and dry for the most part. Lucy however much shake violently every now and then to stay reasonably comfortable.

Last year at this time it was a very different scene here. There was snow and ice most days through January. I thought it was never going to end.While I did not like it I loved some of the beauty it brought. Trees covered in snow and icicles hanging from roof tops.

This morning as I was going through my pictures I came across this one that I took just a couple of days ago and I realized that every season seems to bring it's very own beauty.  I never really think that it is beautiful out when I am walking in the rain, but when I look back over some of my pictures I realize just how gorgeous even the drizzle can be when mother nature creates it.

Today as I run off to give a workshop I am wishing I had more time today to walk in the drizzle with Lucy and just enjoy the beauty. Where ever you are today I hope that you can get out and enjoy the beauty of the day.

Mellow Yellow Monday

Mellow Yellow Monday

Filling the Pages

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Painting Blank Pages - Deborah DeWit

The last decade brought great challenges to my life. There were pages written about the loss of loved ones and the sadness this brought my life. There were physical challenges, family challenges and financial challenges. Many pages were written with tears this past decade.  However there were also  pages of travel to new places and new friends and new career paths. Many exciting opportunities came my way and many happy memories were made

Now a whole new year and  a new decade begins.   I like imagining this as blank pages to be filled with  new adventures, new ideas, new friends and maybe even new family members. I dream of new pictures just waiting to be taken. I see the book filling up.We can never be sure of what will be written in our books from month to month or year to year.  However, one thing the last decade has taught me is that I can choose how I respond to the various chapters in my life. I can decide if I am going to let the bad times destroy the good times. I can not control the pages in the book, but I can decide how I will let them affect the rest of my life.

What will your book be filled with this coming year? Will you set out to create new pages or will you let life fill them in for you?

Have a wonderful adventure filled New Year and a decade filled with great chapters.

Happy New Year

Boxing Day!

Everyone feels like this on Boxing Day don't they?

Time for a little exercise to burn off those calories

One and...two....

Merry Christmas

It was a green Christmas here on the lower mainland this year. Yesterday Lucy and I too a long walk at the lake to clear our minds and burn some calories. It was beautiful there with the misty look that happens to the sky and surroundings on a cold day in December.
I took this picture of the cormorants that seem to sit on top of the water on the lake. They have been there for months now and they look like such a happy family.
Last night was our annual community dinner. We always go to the downtown east side, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Canada, to feed dinner to the people who have so little. Old men and women, young women, babies, the disabled, the mentally ill and those that just have no one to celebrate the holiday with  lined up outside in the freezing cold for a little food and a little warmth and kindness. 
After... you come home and sit down to a warm meal, good food and the company of your close friends and loved ones you can not help but be a little changed by it.... a little more grateful.

Have a safe and happy holiday!