Month: April 2020

My niece Amelia was shopping at Apache Seeds this week and while she was there she noticed an elderly woman, perhaps 75, carefully and at great length making selections of a few plants and packets of seeds.  She would look at the prices, add them up, put some back, take another, add them up; all with a look of concern on her face.  Finally she made her way to the counter where she asked the clerk to tell her how much it added up to, which was just over $25.00.  When she was informed of the price, she looked through the few packets, and once again and took some out to reduce the expense.  Amelia, noting her dismay at the cost said to the lady at the till “I’ll be paying for these seeds and plants.”  The elderly lady just looked at Amelia and started to cry.  Then Amelia started to cry with the lady behind the counter added to the flow of tears.

In relaying the story to her mother later that day Amelia was incensed that our eldest citizens, in such an affluent society, have to worry about buying a few seeds.  It is upsetting …. but I just want to say to Amelia, thank you, from all of the rest of us, for taking matters into your own hands, for not waiting for the government or someone else deal with the matter.  You are creating community in a concrete jungle by sharing a few seeds and bedding plants.

In the morning I love to step on the thin clear sheets of ice covering the spring puddles.  They sag with my weight and crack as I slide across them trying to be quick enough to keep my feet dry.

As a child in Fairview spring was so much fun.  We made little boats and raced them in the ditches.  We carefully waded into the deep puddles and watched as the weight of the water collapsed the rubber boots around our legs, and then we retreated just before it spilled over the top and filled them with ice water – we were quick enough most of the time.  Getting wet wasn’t really a tragedy.  The mud was also magnetic.  I remember being stuck so solidly once that I couldn’t pull either of my feet out and so just stood there and hollering for help until someone came to the rescue and pulled on my boots until at last, with great slurping and sucking sounds they were free.  It felt to me as though I was saved from being sucked right down into the ground.

But alas, here I still am, 9 years after writing this entry, still enjoying this spring ritual!!

So many things to be grateful for:

All those small, medium and large business owners who have worked so hard to get businesses up and running, who have hired people, who have gone the extra mile to deliver good products, and who have paid taxes to help get our public services where they are today. Thank you Graham, Carol, Dan, Chris, and so many others.

And a special thank you to all the farmers, who we could not live without; and who are that special class of entrepreneurs whose whole business depends on the weather! Now there is courage! Especially in Alberta. Thank you Fraser, Nolan and all the farmers I know in the Peace. And thank you Wallace for your years infusion of vegitables.

A huge thank you to those who are keeping the heat and lights on, the water clean and running, the garbage taken away, and the sewage… well whatever you guys do with the sewage! Thanks all of you, and thank you Jeff!

And how about all those who are working in grocery stores and places that sell food? I love food! Thank you so much, your work is appreciated! Special thank to Mike, who just started a butcher shop, so food provider and entrepreneur!

Thank, thank you to all the guys who keep the roads open and running. What a thankless job – YOU ARE AMAZING. Especially in a place like Edmonton where the weather reeks havoc with roads – it seems so wrong that you are just constantly attacked for potholes and then when you work to fix them you are attacked for endless construction. What gives! Thanks so much for all of your work.

And a big thank you to the health care workers who keep us all up and running so that we can do the things we want to do, and create our lives and society in the way we want it created. This is the physio therapists, chiropractors, midwives, nurses and doctors, the massage therapists, the nutritionists, the lab tec people, the heart surgeons…. Thank you Laura, Wendy, Stephanie, Elise, William, Oksana….

Oh yes, and what about the artists, the writers, the painters, and musicians. You bring your soul to our lives, remind us who we really are and show us what we could possibly be. Thank you Jeana, Caroline, Amelia, Karen, Donna and all the other amazing artists in my life.

This could go on forever, and it most certainly will. I am so lucky that everyone I know is so important! So, THANK YOU, everyone I know, for what you are doing to keep us all moving forward!