No time for a thoughtful blog today, headed out in search of Snowy Owls after physio. You can expect a post on our snowy countryside, or even with luck, a Snowy Owl sometime soon!
Thanks for your computer suggestions yesterday, it seems they may have helped.
Testing ''''' ????? Wow! Yes, thanks!
I got a new laptop recently, after some functions on my 15 year-old laptop originally bought for teaching gave up the ghost. I am slowly trying to get used to its idiosyncracies, with some frustration.
First of all, after bringing it home I spent 4 hours trying to get it to connect and another four hours on the phone waiting to get a Staples technician (who I had paid extra to get access to!). He concluded that the computer had been set up incorrectly, with no visible wireless adapter (the crucial bit of programming that allows you to connect). He told me to take it back to the store.
This was both a relief (because I had not just been an idiot trying to get it set up myself), and annoying (for the extra trip). They had it re-programmed in 15 minutes and I was then able to start the process of downloading software and getting on the internet to access this blog.
The next problems are the keyboard glitches. Typing an accent I get è. Same for quotation marksÈ. Same for question marks. And my delete key just types periods. Do you know how awkward this gets trying to write blog postsÉÉÉ (there, I canèt even ask you a question)!
Any ideasÉÉ (thatès meant as another question)!
The advice I find online is to type Ctrl-Shift. However this doesnèt work!
I still have to figure out how to use the microphone. I can dictate in Word, but not in Blogger. It would be so much faster if I could (with my slow two-fingered typing). I dictate almost all my emails and texts on my iphone and find it very accurate. Hopefully I can sort that out soon. You can only spend so many hours a day sorting these things out; I have other things to do too!
And then there is the keyboard spacing. Although keyboards are generally identical, there are tiny differences I have to train my brain to recognize compared to my ergonomic desktop keyboard.
However, in many ways I think this is going to be a big advantage. You may not even experience as many days with no blog posts.
Yesterday was the day for taking down the Christmas tree and a few more decorations in the house. Not much fun really, especially from a wheelchair. My job was to remove all the ornaments and wrap them up, a process which took nearly three hours (just double the time it would take you). But we persevered and got it done.
Now we head toward spring, though I haven't tasted fresh air for some time. No church, no coffee, don't even know about physio this week. But seed catalogues have arrived and plant nursery websites are being perused, so Mrs. F.G. says she is getting excited about the garden this year. Maybe there is a light at the end of winter's tunnel.
Weatherwise there is a certain sameness to the days, a lot of sameness in fact. Grey clouds, rare patches of blue sky but no real sunshine. Snow falls, temperature goes up to +1 during the afternoon and then back down to -1 overnight. An unending cycle of winter days. Occasionally I see people snowshoeing or walking their dog out back.
We're in lockdown here, not supposed to leave the house anyway, though my caregivers report that the toboggan hills are crowded and maskless. People still travel and then say it's ok because it was 'essential' to them. I may lose one of them this week because schools are closed for another week and parents have to stay home to help their children be online. What if you have two kids and one computer and both of them are supposed to be logged in to their classrooms!?
Here's a post-Christmas selfie for you showing off one of my Christmas gifts. Not a very good smile, but the best I could do while holding my phone with one hand far enough away and pressing the button with the other. Enjoy the New Year!
Over New Years we reflected on the year past, but the more important thing in my opinion is to look ahead. Here in Canada our Prime Minister has talked about building back better, moving toward a more just and meaningful society. There are a lot of sides to that; I am just going to touch upon a few of the things that really strike me about the future. But the dramatic stresses in the modern world brought on by the pandemic do push us to rethink how we do many things.
Soaring Interest in Hiking and Camping
One good thing I have noticed is the surprising rise in the numbers of people heading out on the trails and heading to our parks. Gone are the days when you could expect to enjoy solitude on the trail during the warmer months. And gone are the days when you could show up at a provincial park and expect to find a site; if you are not reserving soon for next summer you will be out of luck!
This reflects a broader interest in the outdoors, back yards included, but it comes with advantages and disadvantages. Popular spots are getting too popular, and needing more maintenance. Potentially we could see a rise in people interested in volunteering, but that takes organizing. Many trails in Ontario are volunteer run, and it is a challenge sometimes! And many new hikers or campers could stand to be a bit better prepared!!
Home Delivered Restaurant Meals
Ok, this is a small one and specific to folks like us, but the availability of restaurant meals delivered to your door every now and then is a godsend for us. And restaurants are going to have to adapt to survive, at least by developing take-out services, patios, catering, or other sidelines to stay in business.
Slow Travel and Purchasing
I have been fed up with the crowds at popular tourist destinations like Venice or Barcelona, and the dominance of Amazon for some time now. You may not see these going together, but to me they do, just like the slow food movement. The spread of AirB&Bs in popular destinations is causing local housing crises. Even here in the ski country of southern Ontario it is hard for employees to find accommodation during the winter season.
We should also be trying to buy local whenever possible, and I am glad to see local businesses developing online ordering opportunities, even if delivery is a little slower than from the giant multi-nationals! Here in Canada we certainly need to be able to provide our own personal protective equipment!
A Living Wage for Essential Workers
And what do I need to say about this! We depend totally on the essential workers who have kept us going through this, but with the exception of doctors, we pay them all too poorly. And it is not just medical workers, but the grocery store employees and the truck drivers and many others as well. I have always felt that the disparity between rich and poor was too great, but now itts very obvious!
I see this everyday in my caregivers, up close and personal! Three of them are young single mothers, and I simply do not understand how they can afford to pay rent, maintain a car, and raise their children. They and all other essential workers deserve a living wage! In my mind this is something that simply needs no debate!
That is it for my rant today.
It seems conventional on blogs to produce a year-end review, often consisting of your best photos. I do not have any photos from 2020 that leap to mind, and I expect that our year has been a little different from many of you, so I am just going to offer you a few thoughts.
Determination vs Acceptance
At some point last summer we both reflected independently that we were getting frustrated because of unfulfilled expectations and were no longer really enjoying life. Our physiotherapist and occupational therapist were trying to get me to stand up (in a. machine), and get me into a manual chair, almost it seemed, determined to get me walking again. But I was not making much progress. We were getting increasingly frustrated and realizing that there were limits to how far I could recover my former life.
Instead we thought it would be most effective if we focussed on adapting to this new life, and making the best of our situation. The biggest example of this was switching our attention to our own backyard, putting in that nice patio that will allow me more mobility, at least in the summer months. Between that and the planters on the deck We have a whole new set of opportunities, at least for half the year.
The Pandemic
We are all going to say it, we will be glad when this is all over and we can get back to normal. But for me and many others, this is normal. We are not able to just up and go visit friends; often going out to events means making special arrangements. True, our life has closed in on us much more than usual, but we have a pretty closed life as it is. Other than stores that offer essential services, there are few that I can get into or maneuvre around easily. And parking is always an issue.
And that is only talking about the warmer 6 months of the year. There are very few days warm enough or streets clean and dry enough that I could get out for a ride in the winter! As for the virus we are very lucky to live in a corner of southern Ontario that has not been heavily affected - no deaths yet and only a few hospitalizations since the very beginning of this. We do miss getting together with our family; that has been the biggest impact for us. But we stay in touch by phone and Facetime as much as we can.
American Politics
I have to say, that because of the U.S. presidential election and all that came before it, as well as after it, I feel I learned more about the American political system than I ever did in 71 previous years! For someone observing from outside, it has been really mesmerizing! I now understand (at least superficially) the three branches (or is it four) of the U.S. government, the Congress and Senate, the Supreme Court, and over all this, the President. I even have a vague understanding of how the Electoral College works. Sometimes I think I understand the American system better than our own.
Two things surprise me. One is the individual personal power of the President, who seems to be able to run the country any way he wants, regardless of which side you may be on. The other is the awesome stability of the politicians. Here it is not uncommon for one party to get almost wiped out in the polls, and one election cycle later to come roaring back to claim a majority. There are actual policies that get debated and make a big difference in elections. American politicians seem to stay in office for decades, and parties control the voting to such an extent that the party in power never changes. I can only put this down to gerrymandering, a phenomenon I still do not understand.
But certainly I will remember 2020 as the year I learned all about American politics.
Best wishes for a great 2021!
Most of my cross-country skiing is at Glenelg Nordic. There are 400 acres plus two more properties owned by avid cross-country skiers themselves, all interlaced with miles of ski trails. A lot of variety, ups and down, and almost all in the woods. Wonderful!
We enter the trails and immediately drop down through some coniferous forest, up the hill and onward, an invigorating start to our ski.
Once I saw the Boxing Day snowfall, a foot or more of light fluffy snow, I immediately thought of the winter walks in the woods I've enjoyed over recent years. I can mentally transport myself back to those days and enjoy a snowshoe tromp through deep snow. Here are a few photos of one of those walks.
This is the woods near our former home here in the valley. I must have enjoyed this walk in the winter woods dozens of times. We enter off the end of the cul-de-sac, and find two big old maples guarding the entrance to the old tractor trail.
One big branch has fallen, laden with new snow.
This is a day for the big old bear paw snowshoes, 4 feet long, originals from about 50 years ago. They still work the best for deep powdery snow.
It is a nice trail through the woods, mature trees with lots of undergrowth, and easy walking.
Snow lies heavily on the bows of the little spruce trees at the edge of the swamp.
And the branches of the dogwood in the undergrowth catch huge amounts of snow on their thin stems.
My snowshoes tracks across a corner of the field in the flat late afternoon light.
A few Beech saplings hang on to their dry leaves. Altogether a wonderful walk through the deep snow of the wintry woods. Tomorrow may be we will go skiing!
