Spring ....

seems to be in the air. The skunk cabbage is blossoming and permeating the air with it's pungent odor. Everywhere in the bog new life seems to be waking up from it's long winter snooze. Birds are singing and creating nests. The leaves are unfuling on the trees and the wild rose bushes are in bud. At last the hard part of winter is over and soon we will be sitting in the sunshine on the beach I hope.

Poor Lucy!

She didn't get to go for Easter Dinner and she didn't catch the Easter Bunny!

HAPPY EASTER!

Vaisaikhi!

Today I had the fun of walking in the Vaisaikhi Parade in Surrey. Vaisaikhi is one of the larges Indian celebrations that takes place here in the lower mainland. Somewhere around 90,000 people from all over the province as well as some from the US come here to celebrate in the various parades that take place in various Indo Canadian communities here. I can not tell you how many took part in just the one parade that I was in today, but it was in the thousands! For miles all you could see was a sea of happy faces and bright turbans and colorful ladies suits.. Unlike western parades, people do not stand neatly on the sidelines watching an orderly procession. On the contrary, the parade, by caucasion standards, is total confusion and the people who one would think should be watching the parade are busy dishing up free platters of roti and curried chickpeas, samosas,pakoras,chips, soda pop, fruit juice, ice cream and well... just about anything you can think of. Meanwhile the people in the parade slowly make their way along the route while gorging on all this food! The parade ends in as much chaos as it started in a school field where everyone who is anyone from around the province are invited to get up on the podium and speak. The cold wet weather did not seem to dampen the excitement for anyone and everyone seemed to leave with a smile on their face. Next year I am not going to eat breakfast before I go!

So Much Happening!

Life is funny. It seems as though it is always a case of all or nothing. Either everything is happening at once or nothing is happening it seems. I seem to have been assaulted with things happening and things to come.
The week has started with the MS Walk which, while always an exciting day, is also filled with stress. The walk always seems to remind me that someone I love has this illness and as a mother always wanting to stop their child's hurt I become obsessed with finding a cure for this illness. To that end I have been given the opportunity to set up a permanent fund raising event here in Delta. Both Guy Gentner, NDP MLA for this area and Lois Jackson the Mayor have offered to support this endevour. They have offered letters of support as well as the help of the city planner. It will tax my organizational skills, but I am determined to get Delta on board with finding a cure for MS.
My dear friend Aero's daughter Diane is getting married and honoured me by asking me to help plan it with her. She will make a lovely bride and I hope I can justify her confidence in me. She has chosen to get married at VanDusen Gardens one of the most beautiful garden spots in Vancouver and it is a fitting place for this beautiful bride.
My friend Ruth is coming back for the summer and I can hardly wait to talk politics and share concerns for her country as well as mine. Not to mention the laughs we are sure to have together.
As well, this summer I will be working with some great people in the NDP to plan several functions the most important of which is the Salmon Barbeque and with luck we will get Carole James out to it.
Of course topping the list of good things to come is my long time friend and sister Frances and her family. As the days go by I am getting more and more excited about not only meeting them, but being able to show Frances some of this beautiful province I live in.
Whew! such a lot of things happening. Thank goodness they are all good!

MS Super Cities Walk for Hope!

The morning of the MS Super Cities Walk for Hope arrived and we hauled our tired bodies out of bed at 6 AM to find that as usual it was wet cold and miserable. I can not remember an MS walk that the sun shone for us. Despite that many more people showed up to support this worthwhile cause this year. For most of us it is a personal matter. We know and love someone who has this disabling illness.
This year Lucy made the walk with us dressed for the occasion as always and was really the only perky one in the whole team. She got rave reviews for her spiffy MS shirt and in the spirit of giving her all for the cause she graciously allowed us to tie a balloon to the back of it.
The rain was mild and Lucy and I made good time doing 10K around the seawall. We finished in an 1 1/2 hours and raised 1,811.00. Next year we are going to break the $2,000.00 mark and maybe they will find a cure. There is always HOPE!