Sea Calvalcade

Went to the Sea Calvalcade Parade this morning and despite all the work it took, having to get up at the unholy hour of 5 am to catch the early ferry to the Sunshine Coast, as well as leaving Lucy with someone for the day(I have never left Lucy with any one but family before and I felt like a new mother....almost phoned home to check on her!) it was well worth it. I got to relive a little of my childhood. In Gibsons, a town where they roll up the streets by 6 pm ,a festival no matter how small is a big event and one of the major high lights of school vacation for me growing up. I remembered the endless chatter with friends about what we would wear and what events we could go to and of course the one thing no one wanted to miss - the parade. Today, it seemed to me, as it did in they days of my youth, that the entire town turned out for it and as though to emphasis in no uncertain terms the importance of this event nothing less than a mounted RCMP in full dress regalia led the parade! You could see the awe and expectation on the faces of the children as, with incredible pomp and ceremony, that horse and rider elegantly,wound their way down the hill with the Canadian flag snapping in the breeze. What truth there that old cliche "every one loves a parade".

It's a purple hued night out there!

"All that you see or seem, Is but a dream within a dream."

Edgar Allen Poe

It is one of those warm calm evenings when the sky turns that wonderful purple hue just above the mountain tops and there is a big round full moon hanging there like a big yellow ball. It is just these kinds of evenings when I like to sit back and let my thoughts drift. I think about other full moon, purple hued evenings. Evenings when I was young and slept out under the crab apple tree and stayed awake for hours watching for shooting stars or when I was a teenager and sat on top of the roof of the rooming house I lived in and chatted with the other tenants. My thoughts on these evenings are always sweet thoughts. Thoughts of family and good friends. It is as though I am wrapped in the delicious warmth of a downy soft purple blanket and my soul is at peace witht he universe.

My world according to Jones Cola

Three days of Jones sayings.

Go easy, be moderate and patient. (aren't I always?)

Financial security is just around the corner. (what corner??? where??? damn I was never good at scavenger hunts)

A new chapter in your life is being written. ( does it include me being a blonde, 29 and size 6?)

Fun and excitement will soon be yours. ( really? does this mean I finally get to play with Pierce Brosnan?)

You will find Monday an especially important day. ( an hour left still time for this one to come true!)

Greener Grass

For Lucy, my sheepdog/lab cross, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I sit and watch her stare across at the neighbors lawn with longing, while our entire yard with it's dog toys, water bowl and dog house go unnoticed. Lucy does not live in doggie Beverly Hills. She has much less than some of her doggie pals. Her buddy Monty, not only had his own water bed, but his own air conditioned bedroom to go with it and some of her doggie pals can afford to go to the dog spa for a spiffy grooming every week, while Lucy has to rely on her doting guardians to bath her and brush her. No high priced doggie perfume or jewelry for Lucy. It isn't in the budget. However, Lucy is well fed with proper high quality dog food, plenty of toys, lots of trips to the park and beaches, not to mention being allowed to crawl into bed with her doting guardian (I have sworn Lucy to secrecy about this) for an early morning cuddle no matter how bad she smells. All in all Lucy pretty much leads a pampered dogs life. Still, she sits and stares longingly at the neighbors yard and sometimes sneaks past me on the way to the car to run little circles around it as if to say" Yippeee I finally get a taste of that better grass!" That is of course until I manage to bring her back to earth with a "Lucy!!!! COME NOW!"
As I sit, on this lazy sunny afternoon, watching her gaze at the green grass of my neighbor, I can't help but think how much she resembles the human race. Rarely do we stop, think and give thanks for what we have. Instead, like Lucy, we seem constantly driven to look for greener grass.

Being Human

"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in time
and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated
from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind
of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few
persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our
circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its
beauty."
Albert Einstein

Summer!

"That beautiful season the Summer! Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape Lay as if new created in all the
freshness of childhood."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Summer, with it's hot days and warm nights seems to finally have arrived in BC. Despite it's tardiness in appearing this year people seem to be very forgiving and the sun puts a smile on most everyone's face. Summer has a way of helping people to put their problems aside for a little while. Vancouver gets very laid back in the summer. People head for the parks and beaches with subway sandwiches in hand and beer hidden in their back packs. Late into the evening people stroll along, their dogs happily loping along side enjoying the freedom. Summer has always meant freedom for me as well.
As a child growing up I would head for the beach and spend hours playing in the water. I loved it! The smell of the salt air, the warm sand between my toes, the sound of the waves as they hit the rocky coast and the sea gulls screaming over head all brought me immense inner joy. Today when I get the chance to take in a day at the beach I begin to feel the same way inside. It feels as though thanks to summer I have hope again and dreams become possible once more.

Will this be here for my grandchildren?
Catz

Beautiful British Columbia

This province is truly the most beautiful place on earth. The more I see of this province the more I am convinced that the greatest resource we have is the incomparable beauty in every little corner of it. When I was a child my family used to take camping vacations in various parts of this province. We traveled to many different towns and of course as a child you don't think of the esthetics of the area as much as the fun you can have and for me fun was nature. I loved the excitement of having bears and skunks and raccoons invade our campsite! While everyone screamed and ran I was fascinated by it. The towns along the way always seemed to be built around some wonderful resource of nature. Towering mountains, rolling hills, rivers that changed colors, lakes that went on endlessly into the sunset and sandy beaches that seemed to beg to be explored added a grand dimension to even the smallest town and made me dream of returning long after I had gone home. I myself was fortunate to grow up in what I consider to be one of the most beautiful places on earth - the Sunshine Coast.
Today as a middle aged woman I have again lucked out - I live just a few blocks from Burns Bog. I walk there most days with my dog and as I watch her run through the forests chasing the squirrels, birds and butterflies I wonder what this place and this province will look like when my daughters are my age. I see governments who are more interested in the bottom line than in preserving the natural beauty of this province. Roads cutting through environmentally sensitive areas so tourists can flock to Whistler to ski, forests being clear cut to build more condos for tourists and foreign investors and rivers polluted by companies who feel they cannot compete on the world market if they spend the time, manpower and money on environmentally friendly manufacturing equipment and practices. Our oceans , not only are becoming polluted and destroying natural habitat for sea life, but the oceans are being fished out by improper fisheries management. The majority of the people of this province seem unable to grasp the incredible richness that is in their backyard and is their rightful inheritance to it let alone put any kind of a value on it. I wonder if they will feel that concrete towers, miles of pavement , polluted rivers, lakes and oceans were the right economic choice when they show their grandchildren pictures of what this province used to look like. I wonder if that generation will feel that the bottom line in the bank statement that their was their grandparents choice justified the destruction of their inheritance. Once it is gone it can never be restored.