RBG

This image released by Magnolia Pictures
shows U.S. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg
in a scene from "RBG." (Magnolia Pictures via AP)

Tonight Rebecca and I went to the 6:50 pm showing of the doc RBG, the biographical story of the American Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

After buying tickets for both of us, Rebecca picked up a coffee and a bag of popcorn and then stopped in the foyer to make a phone call. 

I took the popcorn into the movie and settled down to the same previews that we have been seeing at the last four shows we have attended.

I went down the isle, but our seats were over to the left, so I went by the 8 people who were already seated in our row which was no problem since this theatre is seated with the big comfy seats.

Lots of room for passing. Just as Rebecca entered the theatre everything went pitch black. She didn’t want to walk over everyone so she went down a few isles and walked across where there were no people, intending to walk up the isle on the left. Unfortunately there was no isle there.

 She walked bang into the wall. I don’t know how fast she was walking.

Fast for she seemed to bounce off the wall. The whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion.

Well, she turned around after finding the wall, walked back down that row and entered row E to find seat 11 just as I had, by walking past people already seated.

She sat down and said, “Did you just see me walk into a wall.”

“I wish I could say no, I didn’t, but I did.”

“Well, I think that it is for the new white blouse I have on. There is going to be coffee splattered all over it.

She continued, “You know how some people just shouldn’t be given tools. This is true with my body, for it is just a danger to me.”

Back to the movie?

Both of us recommend it.

Arta

No straws, please.

My best photo of a crane at Arbutus Cove
in the early morning light.

Rebecca and Steve came home from an afternoon in downtown Victoria. 

They had been to a couple of places to eat, taster restaurants, I guess.

Rebecca said that the restaurants served drinks and said that straws were available on request. 

As an act of saving the environment and because so many fish are being caught lately, ones that have been strangled by straws, those restaurants that are environmentally aware aren’t serving straws – only on request. Well, that is interesting. We wash the plastic straws that we have here at home and re-used them. Why am I surprised at the restaurant holding back on straws. A couple of weeks ago, when we got home from grocery shopping and Rebecca was putting away the celery in the fridge, for example, I noticed that she was folding up those plastic bags that she gets as she shops and was putting them back into her larger reusable bags. 

 “Are you really going to use those over, again,” I asked. 

 “Why not?” 

Today when we were shopping, she actually pulled some of the lighter plastic bags our of the larger re-useable bags and used them. I shouldn’t have been surprised for on the West Coast I see so much activism in practise. 

A couple of days ago, I was mocking Rebecca, since sometimes I hear these people on the west coast of BC saying they want to drop out of confederation if the rest of us keep up needing and wanting the Kinder Morgan Pipeline. To finish this idea off, as we were driving down the hill, I looked out and could see the mountains in Washington in silhouette in the distance and I said to her, "Soon you guys will be part of the great USA, when you drop out of Confederation.  You are already right in their back yard.“

"Don’t worry. It is not going to hurt,” she said. “Those people across the channel are just about as environmentally conscious as we are. Not much will change if we have to join them.”

 I can’t say that the environmentalists  don’t put their money where their mouth is, here in lovely Victoria, B.C.

Measure ingredients the night before

This morning I slipped some Russian Black Bread into the oven.

Making that bread is easy if you have some fennel seeds about, some apple cider vinegar, cocoa, coffee granules, and a few raisins.

Check the dough out here.

What I can't capture is that smell of the bread as it is rising and before I put it into loaves.

Maybe you can see a few holes where I had to poke my finger in to see if it was really that good.

I just couldn't help myself from doing that poking action more than once, even though I am about to punch it down and pan the bread.

A

Arta

And another happy birthday occurs ...

... the sun rises on the ocean during 
my early morning walk ...

 I was invited to Steve Carter’s 56th birthday this weekend.

 We began with the whole family seeing the new Han Solo movie at Silvercity Cinema Complex.

 As we were going into the theatre proper after getting by the usher, Duncan told me to grab my 3-D glasses and he grabbed a pair for himself.

 I watched the previews and then when the show began I put on the glasses, hoping to see asteroids and stars coming toward me or flashing by me to the right or left.

...the tidal pools along the shores of Arbutus Cove ...

No such thing happened.

I am above the bay, looking down on the shore,
past the rose bush to my left,
4 long flights of stairs to get down there.

The opening scene has some beautiful fly over images. I couldn’t see much.

I took the glasses off and thought to myself, hey, I can see better with no glasses on, not even my regular prescription ones, than I am seeing now.

Then I looked down the isle and no one else had the dark 3-D glasses on, not to my left or my right.

So don't think this is going to be in 3-D.

... mine are the only footprints in the sand ...

We talked about this misinformation from Duncan to me over dinner at Montana’s after the movie.  Duncan just laughed and said he noticed it wasn't in 3-D as well.

 Steve told us that if anyone had arranged for the staff to singing the birthday song, to produced the clattering of pans and to have him wearof the moose hat and antlers, that said person would be walking home.

 None of us had.

 And none of us did.

 And another trip around the sun begins for Steve.

Arta

Sun rise at arbutus cove

... sunrise at Arbutus Cove ...

I should be deliriously happy since I checked my Fitbit tracker and I averaged 10,004 steps a day this week. 

Yes, I burst out laughing over the extra four steps a day.  Those came in handy toward getting me to my goal.

I have no idea where those steps will take me today.  I try to get them in before 8 am by going down to the cove and back.  But today I am watching some bread until it comes out of the oven, so I will try to walk in Finnerty Gardens at the university.  What slows me down there are tourists going up and down the paths looking at the arbutus trees.  The tourists are as old as, if not older than me, and other isn't a fast one among the bunch.

Arta

Mutsuki-an

In Cadboro Bay there is a spot called Mutsuki-an.

The lunch special is wonderful there.

But Rebecca can never order it for she thinks about the Spicy Tuna Avacado Donburi.

I followed her lead for lunch.

How can tuna taste that wonderful!

A good time was had by all.

... the wind blows the blossoms left, then right ...

We went after this mornings class where we heard Don Ryan, an activist from the Gitksan people.

An old timer.

A chief now.

A war chief.

Now there is a morning that deserves a deeper report.

Arta

On Walking during the Day

For me the best time to walk is early in the morning.  I can get down to the ocean and back in 6,000 steps and if I do that the rest of the day falls in place.

... my first evidence that someone else
was on the beach besides me ...

Today I tried to catch the sun coming through the trees with my camera. 

The brightness overwhelms me, even with my sun glasses on, so that is not going to work.

When I get down to the shoreline I have to assess how dangerous it will be for me to walk over the boulders before getting to the medium rocks.  So my head is kept down, not wanting to turn an ankle.

In the sand I can see someone has been there before me, but I don't know how to name the imprints of the bird tracks that I can see in the sand.

... waves of the ocean rolling in one after another ...

I study them as I walk along and then see a heron in the water, so I position myself to get the best picture ever.  After about 20 shots on my camera I look at the rocks again and laugh to myself, for I am in the middle of some geese and their goslings. 

Another 20 shots later I leave for I have bread rising on the counter that must be put in pans before Rebecca and I go to work.

I took cinnamon buns to class last week.  One woman told me that those were the best she has ever tasted in her life and that I should start a bakery business.  She gave me a name for it.  Arta's Bakery.

That made me laugh.  I have been in the business for years and though it has not made me a lot of money, at least I haven't gone bankrupt over it.

Today I am taking country seed bread to the class.  Thus the rush on this post. 

My walk was late, so i have timed the bread to the last minute. 

We shall take it out of the pans and have it there hot.

Last week I told the class that Rebeca had helped me by brushing the tops of the loaves of bread and putting black sesame seeds on top.

In the lower right hand corner of the photo are 3 or 4
little goslings huddling togther.  Very cute.

This week she was up greasing the bread pans, for she could see it was time to put the bread into the pans and I was no where about.

Yes.

She was right.

No where to be seen.

I was down at the shore, photographing goslings.

Arta
.

Smellerama

Today I am making cinnamon buns to take to class this morning, to the Indigenous Law Research Method and Practices class.  Rebecca calls it the Indigenous Summer Intensive.  That is because it runs for 3 hours, 3 days a week for one month.

It is hard to separate theory, method and practise. When Rebecca teaches the class it it more theory.

Val gives us more on the methods and practice side.

All of that doesn't matter.

Today there will be cinnamon buns to start the class.  Mmm.  Really the start of the class is going around the circle, each telling what they have been thinking about related to the last lesson.

However there will be coffee (bring your own) or tea on the table (make  your own) and a couple of loaves of bread that we can slice for people who don't like sugar.  As well she is taking in vegetables for the gluten-free people.

Why I am calling this post smellerama is I forgot to put the timer on.  I put it on, actually, but I don't know how to work the one on Rebecca's stove, so I have to count on the smell.  I can tell right now by the smell, about 7 minutes more without even looking in the oven.

Rebecca and Arta at the top of Mt. Pkols
The wind is blowing.

You can tell by the sweep of her feather earrings.
She will never change.

Just about 7 minutes more.

I can do the same thing with fondant.  I don't even need a thermometer anymore.

Too bad I don't make chocolates anymore.

I asked Rebeca what we are taking in for lunch.  She said we are eating the left-over cinnamon buns.

I hope not.

Arta

Hawaii - Banyon Trees

From Wyona

This is a picture of a banyon tree that I took in Hawaii

I am practising taking pictures with my camera.

What a place for practise!

Secwepemc, People, Lands and Law

Marianne and Ron Ignace

We are starting a Family Book Club. I am going to blog ideas I offer at the book club.

Together we selected a book called Secwepemc People, Lands and Laws and many families have the book now.

When I was in Calgary at Miranda and Richard's home, I picked up the book and there was an uncertain feeling to the physicality of it.

An unexpected stiffness.

I tried to turn the pages but they were sticking to each other.

“Someone might have spilled orange juice on that already,” he nodded when I asked about the book. I like that. The book on a family shelf, being read by someone, another little soul who can’t keep their cup of orange juice always upright near the book.

People are going to jump in on the emails, whenever they wish. I am hoping all will say something about the book – something about one page, a picture, a chapter, a story in the book, how the book is speaking to you, anyone new thing you learned.

 Here is what I first thought on picking up the book:

Secwepmec, People, Lands and Laws

I first noticed this is a 588 page book with a 35 page forward. I thought I would familiarize myself with the organization of the book. The title page is written in English and then Secwepemc -- Yeeri7 Stsqeys-kuw.  That must be the Secwepemc spelling of their name.

The next page lists the titles of the books from McGill-Queen’s Native and Northern Series.

I had no idea there were so many books in this series – 90 of them with fascinating titles.

I have some new florescent markers and I take them out, giving myself permission to write notes in the book along the margins or beside pictures. I don’t doubt that I will be wanting to talk about some of those titles later.

On first picking up the book, I spend more time looking at the table of contents, the index, the bibliography, and the lists of charts and pictures. I actually read part of the bibliography, each book in it, and then put a little tick mark as to where I stop reading so I can pick it up there, later, if I return to that task.

Arta

Lost in London

From Wyona

There is no better place to get lost that in London. I woke up at least once every hour after 3 a.m.

Finally I got up for the day just before 6 a.m. and I eft at 9:30 a.m. to go scout out show tickets.

Usually Greg does that now but I wanted to do it for myself and Moiya.

The 148 bus got me from Victoria to the hotel so I just wanted to get back to Victoria to get tickets for Wicked.

I just thought the bus went the same way only opposite.

The bus got really crowded and then emptied out. I used my brain to think about it and I figured out going and coming was not the same route.

So I got off the bus at Westminster Abbey, a great place to get lost. I walked across the river, looked for 148 to go back, but I could not find it.  I saw bus 88 and other familiar buses going on the wrong roads. I walked half way down the river before I figured out that all the buses were on diversion and none of them would stop.

I walked back to Westminster and changed plans.

I took five buses and three tube rides to check out 6 shows and get to Portobello, plus I bought a ticket for 42nd Street for 15 pounds.


I can hardly wait to take you there, Moiya.

I got an hour nap before leaving for the theatre at 6:25 p.m.

I got to Queensway tube station and the tube was closed so I had to go back to the bus stop which was crowded with people to get the bus and then another two buses and one tube ride to get to the show 10 minutes late.

There was ‘an incident’ one stop before Queensway tube station.

I am just happy that I was not the ‘incident’.

On the way to the show tonight I thought I might have to drop on the street and stay for the night but I persevered.

Victoria Station and the surrounding area has changed considerably since we lived here.

It is unrecognizable, there are so may high new handsome structures.

My room is very small, very small and it is at the end of a hall with no circulation, no air conditioning, and the window opens two inches.

Right now I am sitting with the hall door open to cool off the room.

The weather is grand though. I have to go outside to cool off.

Add caption

Now I am going to see if I can send some of the photos I took today while being ‘Lost in London’.

I am going to get tickets for’Bat Out of Hell’ at 9 a.m

I have to preview it for Moiya.

Love,

Wyona

Cinnamon Buns for D&D

... Rebecca's collection of colourful nesting bowls ...
As well, bread before I flip it over
so that it can rise again

Val Napolean asked Rebecca and me what we were going to do for the rest of the day after we finished our walk up Mt Pkols.

I knew I wanted to make cinnamon buns for the D&D Club that runs every Saturday at our house, 1 pm to 5 pm.

It was 1 pm. I went home and made bread.

Duncan has a credit card with which he pays for the pizza that he orders for the group.

Duncan is modest with his orders with the card, knowing that it is blocked from having too many charges put on it. 

Still he has no idea of what that final number is, the one he is not to go over.

He pays for 3 large pizzas at the door, I notice, as I am taking a small pile of compost out to the garbage and waiting for the bread to rise.

... pans read for the oven ...

Rebecca tells me that she will help roll the cinnamon buns. 

I have no expectation that she is going to help, so I am pleasantly surprised and the job is done so quickly that it hardly feels like a job.

We go downstairs to wait for the bread to rise and Rebecca puts on a u-tube lecture by Robin Wall Kinnerer.

She is an ethno biologist in her real life. And she is also an Annishnabee woman, who on this video is telling us about the Indigenous “Teaching of the Seventh Fire”.

 I take notes.  I am interested because she has laid aside her professional work and is story telling.  Or maybe she has combined both.

Having the words go though my hands and be captured on paper seems to be my best way of learning.

 She begins by telling us that she has nothing to tell us that we don’t already know. She feels that her lecture is just to help us remember.

OUR LEFTOVERS
cinammon and sugar in the red bowl
cinnamon in a glass jar
margarine in blue topped tupperware
We have a discussion about which of these items
it is ethical to waste.  We decide, none of them.

And then she says phrases like “our teachers are the plants” or she asks the question, “what is it that we love too much to lose?”.

So I can see she was right.

She is only helping us to remember what we already know.

Of course, the lecture gets interrupted every time there is another step to go so that the cinnamon buns get on the table fast enough that the boys can have their fill before they leave.

What they don’t eat, Rebecca forces them to take home.

That is not hard.

Arta

A Class Hike on Mt Pkols

... look way down the path for the rest of the hikers ...

People who are in the Indigenous Legal Methods university course decided to meet at the lower parking lot of Mt. Pkols for a hike on Saturday of the Victoria Day long weekend.

 Dr. Val Napolean and Rebecca said that they would stop along the way up the hill, talking about the plants on the mountain and giving us some stories to attach to the trails.

Liam. Emily. Catherine. Niko. Alex. Val. Rebecca. Arta. Liam’s puppy.

That was the group of us going up the hill. Val picked trails that I haven’t walked before. There was a rock scramble at the top to finally get to the summit.

One of the stops along the way was at a small bridge to talk about Skunk Cabbage.

I am not unfamiliar with skunk cabbage.

The flowers are gone now and the leaves are losing that new greenness and becoming more the forest green that I am accustomed to.

The leaves of the skunk cabbage are used to line fire pits.

... time for a rest and a drink of water ...

Then food is wrapped in them.

The leaves don’t smell, only the flowers do.

The plant has a waxy water-filled leaf.

The outside leaves eventually scorch in the pit fire and burn, going to ashes, leaving the food ready to be eaten.

Another interesting point is that if the deer are eating the skunk cabbage and are shot shortly afterward, the meat picks up that “skunk” smell.

The beginning stages of another flower in the forest in the Fall, signals that it is time to kill the deer, but not before then.

I think Rebecca also said that this is a plant that doesn’t want to attract the usual bees and butterflies to pollinate, but needs to have the same pollinators who will eat rotting meat: worms, flies and insects.

I like making lists, so I was interested in the four categories of plants on the hill: food, medicine, tools and indicator plants.

Moss on the side of a number of trees is a good indicator of where the sun is, for instance.

 This all goes to the argument that we can learn from plants – that they give us knowledge, food, etc.

Since I am thinking about this right now, there is no doubt that the trunks of young trees are tools for me.

 I was trying to keep up with people who can scramble up mountains.

 I feel some disconnect to the bottoms of my feet.

 They have fewer nerves than they used to have that help me find balance. But knowing that, I was careful to walk slowly, make sure I had the potential to remain stable, and I did grab onto branches when necessary since there are no bannisters in the forest.

The Douglas Firs are so large in the rainforest part of this hike. I stood by one and couldn’t see to the top of it. Rebecca told the story of Xels (sounds like hails, but spitting a bit on the “h” sound), a creation story. Rebecca said that the story goes, in the world, there had been a big guy, clumsy, knocking down streets and accidentally kicking people out into the ocean. He was turned into a Douglas Fir. The warning is that his big feet are still stripping people. I got it. I am to watch for the roots of the Douglas Fir as I walk – they are a tripping hazard. Rebecca also reminded us of the cedars, every piece of them giving – ropes, branches, containers, beds to lay on at night, etc.

The orange honey suckle is out on the hill– the vine weaving itself around trunks and branches so that it looks like trees are in bloom. The orange is so vivid that it is one of the outstanding colours of the forest right now.

We stopped to taste a small leaf growing by the path, long, green, delicious, the taste reminiscent of the lemony and bitter taste of arugula.

Broom is in bloom as well – a brilliant yellow flowers on the bushes. Purists know it is an invasive specious, and so there was some talk of trying to remove it from the hill, but bushes of it are everywhere. Not to make a laundry list, but all of the plants we saw were ones that are familiar to us from the interior: Oregon grape bushes along the side of the road, for example and Rebecca picked some salmon berry leaves to show how to make them into cones that can hold berries, when berry picking time arrives.

Val stopped us on the hill to point out the humming birds that were flitting, then diving in a small copse of trees. As well, below us, we could see the eagles soaring on currents of wind.

At the summit there is a 360 degree view of the world. Someone asked why some of the property looked like agricultural land, wondering really, why it hadn’t been sold into residential properties over the years. The reason is that on coming to this port, this area was taken over by the navy who used the large cedar pools for their ships. They had the prime interests in that land. So the cedar trees of the area were logged out by those early colonizers. Then the government took over the land and could see that it would be better to keep this area as a preserve. Thus the names of the streets around this district are Cedar Hill Road, Cedar Crossing, Cedar Hill Cross Street, Cedarwood Street, Cedar Cove, etc.

Dr. Val Napoleon invited us to her home afterward. We had muffins, one a blend of quinoa flour, millet seeds, dates and figs. The other muffin has sugar sprinkled on the top. Val said that was because she had forgotten to put it in the batter. I thought that was an innovative way to solve that problem I have had myself. I drank red Chinese tea brought to the party by Catherine, one of the students. Rebecca wanted to know what is special about red Chinese tea. There was no answer. I am going to have to go to google to find out.

After eating, the conversation turn to work we are doing in class, since that is the one thing we all have in common – trying to find meaning to the words Legal Process in the context of Indigenous stories. I don’t know how many times this fact has to be confirmed for me as we talk about these stories: there are no right and wrong answers. The stories have multiple interpretations and our job is to figure out what those are. The stories are coming at us with such speed, one layering on top of another. I love talking about ideas after a long hike and then having refreshments in front of us.

What is the issue in the story? Where are the facts (both said and unsaid)? What can the interpretation be. And what facts are bracketed – important maybe but to be thought about later.

It is Victoria Day week-end.

A marching band was out practising their instruments, going up and down the streets, marching and playing tunes. 

We heard and saw them going both ways, up the street and down the street.

Best day ever.

Arta

Deadpool, 2 by Arta

I joined the Johnson-Carter family as they went to see Deadpool 2 on Saturday.

I asked Rebecca what this film was about and she said “Don’t you remember? You read me parts of the review. You said, well, I can pass on that movie”.

Then I remembered that this is a Marvel Comics movie and that in the review the writer said that the film is full of allusions, and then laundry listing them. I knew that to really understand the film, I would first have to have a lecture on that list, since I could only figure out about 4 of the allusions and the catch-words for the other 11 -15 allusions was lost on me.

I did get the Barbara Streisand song from Yentel, “Papa can you hear me”, and “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow” from Annie was in my social memory. When we got home from the movie, Rebecca, Steve and I sat and talked about what had been fun.

Rebecca missed the first part of the movie for she was still in the food line-up at the theatre concession. Ordering a hot dog could be a fast option, unless the workers haven’t been putting them on the grill as fast as they have been selling them. So while she waiting for the internal temperature of a sausage to rise, we were seeing the smart and classy beginning to a movie that is filled with layers of meaning – most of which just go right by me.

I don’t know the actors. And I don’t know the previous movie that has carried the characters along to the point where we now see them again on film. This didn’t make the rapid succession of shots during car-chase scenes any less interesting, nor the reference to the jails less deep. I don’t know the characters, Dopinder or Negasonic or Cable, or even Deadpool so I came out of the starting gate a little slow.

I am glad to have read the review for the only jump-start available to me – I will probably go back to Deadpool 3 if such a movie occurs.

Arta

Sunstone, Toronto May 19, 2018

Here is a report on the Toronto Sunstone Symposium by Mary Johnson:

The Toronto Sunstone Symposium was a small conference. Perhaps there were 50 people there. I had 15 or 20 people in the session I ran and the other half of the people were in the other session.

After I did the test run in Ottawa, preparing for my presentation at the Sunstone event in Toronto, I could see that I needed to spend ½ of the presentation time on the history of residential schools. I forget how little the average person knows about this part of Canadian history.

Part of my talk during this presentation was telling how frightened I was to give this talk, even knowing fear is common, shared and that there is nothing to be ashamed about in that.

A lot of people came up to me afterwards saying what do I do, where do I start. Rebecca  always tells people get a book club going, take Volume 1 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Summary and dive in.

The conference membership was about 60% from the Community of Christ. That was interesting. What a totally different path they have taken. Community of Christ is the new name of the RLDS church. In the 1980’s they ordained women. Now 5 of their apostles are women, and one of them spoke at the conference. That was cool. I can’t imagine seeing this gender gap being closed in the Mormon church.

The apostle started out by explaining feminism, the 3 waves of feminism and the idea of the divine feminine, which they envision in the Community of Christ. They have a twenty-page policy for pronouns surrounding the idea of god. It will be 2,000 years when we see that in our church, I think.

Mary in the kitchen

I met an amazing gay couple in their 30’s doing graduate work.

One is a neuro scientist and one a graduate student.

The latter, J. Seth Anderson, presented his University of Utah research about when the Aids crisis first came to Utah, how many people got Aids, where they went for help, and what religious organizations stepped up to give help in that first 4 or 5 years when there was no medication to treat the disease.

He said he wasn’t interested in telling the story of how the LDS shunned and didn’t interact with gay people. He was past that story, he said. He was interested in researching what kind of words were being spoken by LDS apostles. He noted that behind the scene the LDS church was giving money in this state of crisis. One female physician treated many of these people. This is not minimizing the fact that there were other churches involved, hospitals run by the Catholic church for instance.

Seth Anderson gave a great talk. He framed it so beautifully. His first 2 paragraphs said this is a story about love, about people who love each other, and took care of each other, who suffered, and lived their lives. Very touching.

I didn’t get to hear his partner’s talk as he was presenting at the same time as I was. They were the first gay couple to get married in Utah. This was by accident. His partner, whose name was Michael did 10 years of reparative/conversion therapy before he left the church. He launched a law suit against the conversation therapy people and won. This is the first time someone had won. He argued that what was presented to him was fraud. The therapists said they could fix you and make you not gay. But the science shows us that being gay cannot be change. You can imagine how many lawyers and activists it took to support that.

Christine Cusack did a great presentation talking about her thesis: Mormon feminists around the world (and some in Canada) gather in secret. She said she would give a slice of her research to tell what we are doing in the capital region. She said women still must meet in secret to talk about their issues, their victories, their losses, since there is a fear of reprisal. She gave examples of what women have done, then been released and been ostracized by their community. For example, the women with ordain women profiles took them down, since they lost their callings. She told about the Women’s March in Ottawa, Wear Pants to Church Day, polygamy, and talking about mother in heaven in church.

Another presenter was a Catholic canon lawyer, Pete Vere, involved in the Boston litigation, a lawyer for the Catholic church working where victims were coming forward, and he was listening to victims coming forth. He did a lessons-learned presentation. He was associated with some of the high-up church people who refused to keep trying to create a cover up. This was a group who said we have to quit worrying about our priests and worrying about our congregations. He said if your clergy are found to be implicated then look at how to give reparations.

The main keynote speaker was Greg Prince. His talk was about the unintended consequences of actions the church has taken with regard to homosexuality. For example, Proposition 8. Throwing their weight behind trying to make sure gay marriage was not legalized only created awareness of the issue. And then there was a counter-movement and within every other state in the US.   Marriage was legalized. Of course, the other unintended consequence has been the loss of their own people who left the organization. He is a social scientist and has done over 1,000 interviews of Mormons.

Now that the Sunstone Symposium presentation is over for me, I can turn my mind to trying to do a Kairos Blanket Exercise. I have to get the materials ready for that. And I have to find a space to do it in and some participants.

Mary

On Arriving in London, England

On May 21, 2018, at 3:37 PM, Wyona Bates wrote: 

I have arrived and I am zonked. 

I had a middle seat on the airplane. It was just fine. 

I got to Gatwick and then pushed my suitcases  take the train to Victoria Station. 

...market at Portabello Road...
... a place to wander, to look, to buy, to take in the sights and smells ...

I did find the 148 bus and took the bus to my hotel. 

I unpacked and then took a quick trip to the markets on Portobello Road. 

Right now I am falling asleep. 

So I shall shut down and perhaps write again when I wake up at 3 in the morning. 

Travelling at its best 

Love, 

Wyona

The Book Club in Victoria

This is about the film and not our family book club.

Last night we took 17 year old Duncan to the film, The Book Club, which came out this weekend.  We were going with two of Rebecca's friends and just as we were going out of the house he asked us where we were going.

"To a film with my friends, The Book Club.l Do you want to come?"

He seems open and available to any mention of going to any film.

I heard him laughing, along with the rest of the audience.

When the show was over he said to his mother.  "That film was in-ap-pouh-pwri-ate," mocking a childhood lisp he had when he said something similar as he was watching Game of Thrones at a much young age.

Always good to have another perspective on the film available to us.  I enjoyed it.  Maybe not a film for everyone but in is genre, lots of fun.

Arta

The Lost Phone

Rebecca lost her phone a couple of days ago.  We searched the house both upstairs and down and in every room and under ever cushion, in her office (moving down and under at least 3 layers of books or papers but not to the very bottom), and underneath the seats of the car.  She went up and down the halls of the Law Faculty and searched the lunch room. She reopened classrooms where she has been teaching and looked in the faculty lounge.

Where else was there to look?

A lost phone is a problem. Steve texts her.  She can't answer.  She can't make appointments or call the tutor, since all of these numbers are on her phone.

I think she needs a new phone, but she resists.  Her phone works.  Why does she need more technology and is that really good for the environment?  I believe that is the deeper question and the reason she stays with her old phone.

Still moving in the direction of seeing if she will get a a new phone I suggest, just order a new one and you will probably find the old one and then can send the package back, but she is stalled and can't do that.

She even called lost and found this morning to see if it had dropped out of her pocket in the parking lot.

She told the person who answered the phone, that she was looking for her lost phone.

"Can you describe it?"

"Black."

"Anything else?"

"It has my phone number written on a  small piece of paper and taped to the phone.  My number is 778... "

He cuts her off in the middle of her telling the number and says "Never mind.   I don't need the full number.  That is distinctive enough.  NO ONE writes their own number on their cellphone!  I'll look and see if anything was turned in."

He returns a few minutes later and says, "So.  You said your number is 778- 350-9330?"

Rebecca shrieks with delight and says "That it!  Do you have my phone?"

He says "No."

She says, "Oh, drat.  Well, OK..."

There is a moment of silence, and he says, "uh... so if i don't have it, then how did I know the number to tell you?"

She is quiet for a minute, processing things, and then bursts out laughing, as he yells, "Gotcha!"

She says, "OK.  You win.  That was a perfect April Fool's moment.  I will be right there to pick it up."

Thus endeth the story of the day.

Rebecca united with her phone.

He also told her it was his best moment of the week. 

Good.

Arta  

The Happiest Place on Earth

LtoR: Dalton, David, Joaquim, Anita, Ceilidh

This is a picture of the other place I wanted to be this weekend.

In fact someone today asked me if I didn't miss the interior of B.C.

I had to think, for that was a lovely question.

It is possible to be in a lovely space and miss something else that is going on elsewhere.

Anita, Dalton, Doral, Ceilidh and Anita have arrived at the lake.

I think they are going to rake, plant, gather sticks together for the burn pile, shine windows, and whatever else hits their fancy.

I would love to be there as well as here.

Ceilidh and Bonnie

Is this what having a split personality is all about?

I find myself studying the pictures more closely than usual, trying to figure out what is happening.

For sure my lawn is filled with tiny daisies of some sort.

And it looks like cleaning the grill is Doral's job.

And whatever are they eating?

Must be something that goes with peanut butter.

And will they be missing the royal wedding?

And do they care.

Arta

Pho, Pho, Pho and Pho

 ... Pho Ever, 4 phos please ...

Celebrating Alex’s 20th birthday has brought challenges.

First of all, we can’t get the family home at the same time, meaning in the same city.

Rebecca has been away in London, Ontario with the I Testify project.

So on her return today, we had in mind to go to The Keg.

But timing made that impossible, so Fujiyma was going to be our take-out restaurant of choice, with a side trip somewhere so Duncan could have pizza. And this all happened before Steve got home, so again, not everyone there.

We all laughed to see a big sign on Fujiya’s sign “Close May 14th for Maintenance”. Who knew. We worked so hard at finding a place where we had a common interest.  I was yelling at the door, "Let us in."  But the place was dark.

Being so hungry we walked across the street to try Pho Ever, Duncan taking a hit and ordering his first bowl of pho. For him chicken, but still not a first, second or third choice. For Alex, the full meal deal with tripe and all. I am against Asian desserts in general. But Duncan wanted to order Bingsu, a shaved ice dessert if you haven’t tried it. We have tried it. Next time we might just go directly to the Bingso – so delicious.

3000 Steps to the Ocean

3000 steps to the ocean from Rebecca's house.

... a place to sit and catch my breath by the water ...

... a stretch of pebbles, water and trees at the beach ...

A fitbit can count the steps better than I.

I leave here in the early morning light.

Most of the sidewalk is downhill.

When the cement becomes pavement, big roots have pushed their way up, cracking the black tar, heaving it so that the ground rolls beneath my feet before I get to the water.

Along the way, I stop to look at the growth of thimble berries. I put my hand on one of the leaves and stretch it side for I know that from thumb to baby finger, the length is 6 inches.

I am right.

That leaf is six inches wide and still in baby growth.

 I take a picture of my hand on it, but when I go to look at the photo, the hand looks like it belongs to an old woman.

I decide not to put that picture on the blog for it belongs to someone who is much older than me.

I watch the birds in the water down at the ocean’s edge.

 The ducks are dippers, sticking their heads just under the water to get bugs, their tails slipping up to the sky.

I see a gull circle and light on the water.

 Crows are calling from high in the trees.

 I know that the serial tapping sound I hear is a woodpecker.  I stop to look for it, but I can only hear the sound.

... getting close to the descent to the water ...

And now the trip home.

Another 3000 steps, all of them uphill.

I am sure the stairs that lead me back up from the ocean’s edge to the pavement  are 4 stories high.

I have seen a little girl walk up them, catching her breath much less often than I have to.

The gift of walking home is that my heart rate will go up, a gift to cardiac good health.

A lovely start to my morning.

Arta

Milestones

... thimble berry blossoms by Arbutus Cove ...

Duncan’s Mount Doug Jazz Concert was down at the harbour in the middle of Victoria.

Float planes landing and taking off.

Yachts tied up to the shore

A white tent, peaked, with no sides, was set up for the band members and we sat in the hot sun of the promenade.

... water pooling in the rocks at Arbutus cove ...

Steve had on a baseball cape.

 I covered my neck and shoulders with one of Rebecca’s silk scarves.

We listened to Jail House Rock, Uppin Adam, Willow Weep for Me, Dues Blues, The Girl From Impanena, Xel-ha, Doo-Dat Blues (the one he had his solo in), and Back To Havana.

Tourists walked by, or perhaps fellow Victorians. 

One woman asked me if I lived here. I told her no, but did she live here.

Yes, since 1975, which I recognize as being a long time ago. She told me that the high school teacher and band master was her teaching student back in those days. All I could say is that he has made a permanent footprint into the lives of those to whom he has taught band. A well-loved band teacher. A one, a two, a one, two, three, four and the band breaks into song.

Duncan had not told his dad that he would be doing a solo. That is Duncan’s way. When the Grade XI’s had finished, it was time for the Grade XII jazz band to perform. We continued to sit on the cement abutment next to the water and listen.

Steve offered to take us out to dinner. Milestones, a restaurant on the bay, was on a few steps away. Duncan has been there before with Stacey and Felix for appetizers. We had the full entrees, three beauties after discussing whether or not the real food would look anything like the pictures in the mean.

It did.

Arta

Julius Caesar - yet another telling

The Guardian publishes as good a review as anyone would want to read on the Shakespeare play that recently played at the Bridge Theatre in London.  I knew that the play was going to be introduced by a rock concert.  I didn't realize that it would be 10 minutes of rock concert.  Too late to run when I saw that, so I settled in to enjoy the music and the play.

Brexit stage left … Michelle Fairley as Cassius and
David Calder as Julius Caesar in the Bridge theatre production.
Photograph: Manuel Harlan

Usually I count on Rebecca to have seen the show, but knowing she is at a conference in London, Ontario, I think there is no one who might have seen it.

Still I want to say a few words.

I didn't used to like the old plays being brought forward, performed in another century even.  Nor did I like having women play men's parts and vice versa.  A bit of a purist in me.  

I will say that giving up those old feelings and letting that suspension of disbelief take over was overwhelming.  I did read that the critiques didn't really like this play, but ticket sales were sold out -- a wonderful irony given that the play deals with ideological differences between the elite and the populace.

Well, having never used the word populace in a stentence, I back off or maybe back up.

What did I like?

1. I liked the rock concert beginning and wished that Duncan and Alex had been there, popcorn, drinks and candy in hand.  I counted up the number of people in the theatre.  Under 25.  The younger well over 50.

2. Cassius whom I let enter my heart guardedly, stole the show.

3. When the red billowing silk/parachute like fabric covered the audience and then was brought away to reveal a new stage?  Oh, that was a moment to remember.

4. I liked seeing the faces of the people in "the stalls", though who knew they could stand for 2 hours and be part of the play as well.  Fantastic!

5. NT Live brings those exquisite close-ups to us just the right lines.  Oh to the beauty of shots we call the extreme close-up.

6. How about the strobe-lighting, the balloons descending, the assassination scene (chilling?  frightening?).  Guns make me nervous.

I see that the show is replayed in some vicinities on May 16th.  I might see if it comes back here there.

Arta

Julius Ceasar

Ben Wishaw plays Brutus as a bookish academic,
happier poring over tomes of revolutionary theory.
Photo: Marc Brenner

I don't know how the National Theatre's production Julius Caesar snuck up on me, but it is here tomorrow.

Here is what The Guardian has to say about it in terms of a review.

The line that says Hyttner is the preeminent interpreter of Shakespeare in modern dress made me laugh.  Sometimes a line like that might keep people away rather than send them to a pereformance.

Yes, I shall look forward to that.  The reviewer also says the performance is not to be missed.  I will go and see and check back.

Arta

More on the story with no point

... stopping to point my camera on the way home from school ..

Grandmother Pilling wanted lots of flowers at her funeral.

I don’t know why I keep going back to that trope.

I am sure she knew the flowers weren’t really ones she would enjoy, since she would be dead.

I was wondering if she wanted lots of flowers there so that people would know she had been well loved.

I loved her.

That is why I keep telling my grandchildren about her.

It was Edna who taught me to say "Grandmother, grandmother, thith, thith, thith."

Then when I would do that she would tap under my chin and try to make me bite my tongue while I was saying the thith, thith, thith.

I don't remember that she ever tapped me very hard.  I do that with my grandchildren, though it doesn't make any sense.

In the ‘60’s I can remember people saying after funerals, “Oh, there were so many flowers there.”

If there weren't many flowers there, I seemed to know that people were poor.  Perhaps that is the reason she wanted flowers.  She spent a lifetime hiding the fact that they were down on their luck.

I ever never seen anyone furrow their brow after a funeral and say, “Not many flowers here today.”

I did have my dad lean over to me at the funeral of old Brother Davies and say, “You won’t see any of his friends here today. They are all dead. As is his son. Old Brother Davies has outlived everyone.  Someone has to do that. Do you want to outlive everyone?  This funeral will only be attended by his grandchildren and great grandchildren."   

I can still hear Doral's voice saying that.

I can’t remember if there were any flowers at Brother Davies funeral.

There are lots of flowers in Victoria.

Arta