The most Canadian photo

 

The most Canadian photo ever appeared in my Facebook feed today. It gave me joy, so I had to share.

Thanks to Green Feet, Ecosystem Services greenfeetes.com for the photo!

I have no idea how I will cope

In March, they are tearing down our local community centre to completely rebuild it. Two years without a library within walking distance. I will not survive.

$1 Properties

Is anyone else bugged by the real estate ads that say the property is listed for $1? I know this is a ploy to raise interest, and usually the property is up for auction with a sky-high reserve price (which price is never indicated in the ad). The $1 is just click bait, really. But could you challenge that in the courts as misleading or false advertising? Could you insist the asking price really is $1 and hold them to it?

If so, bring it on! There's a six-bedroom house on acreage in Caledon that's got my kids' names on it.

 

Haiku at Christmas

 

Haiku at Christmas

 

Sharp realization,

sudden punch to the stomach

takes me unprepared.

 

Knocked breathless by this –

Last year I had two daughters.

This year I have none.

 

Beyond my control,

my life now has unforeseen

holes the shape of them.

Revelation 3:11

I'm rereading the Book of Revelation right now, because, well, you know, look at the times we live in, and I came across a phrase in chapter 3 verse 11 that jumped out at me: "let no man take thy crown." 

Instantly I thought of all kinds of instances where the world tries to "take your crown," reduce you, negate you, deprive you, deceive you, tell you you're not important or "enough." Society tries to make you lose your focus and distract you from your vision with less important matters, mundane stuff. People try to make you forget you are worthy, valued, and destined for greater things. They try to rob you of your self worth. Sometimes it's done in subtle ways and sometimes blatantly. Sometimes it's done maliciously and sometimes it happens simply because those people have also lost their vision.

If there's one wish I have for my grandkids, it's that they keep in mind all their lives that God loves and cherishes them individually and has offered them a path to peace and fulfillment. That they let that knowledge guide them, so that they keep ahold of their crowns despite anything the world and its evils may throw at them. 

President Nelson once said to hold onto your hats, because it's going to be a bumpy ride. 

Remember your hat is a crown.

The Futility of Gathering Nuts

The city comes around twice in the fall with vacuum trucks to pick up autumn leaves. You can save yourself the cost of yard bags by raking all your leaves onto the boulevard for the city to collect. This results in large mounds of leaves left on the curb for a few weeks at a time.

The other day, my husband watched an industrious squirrel busily collecting peanuts from the neighbour's feeder...and burying them in the leaf pile on her curb. It was heartbreaking, thinking of how gleeful he must be -- all these nuts, a bumper crop to store for the winter, the perfect hiding place that didn't require hard digging, couldn't believe his luck. There was no way to warn him what was about to happen. No way to tell him this wasn't a good place to store his winter preps.

Of course, the truck came by and sucked up the pile along with all his peanuts. I flinch as I envision him coming to the curb and finding it all gone, all his hard work for nothing. 

And I wonder how often I've done the same thing, putting my faith in the wrong thing, the fleeting and impermanent thing, the illusion of security, simply because I didn't understand the greater picture.