My Aunt Erva

 

Erva Parsell
... a study in old photos of loved ones from the past ...

I don't know where I was now, but I was somewhere on the internet and found this beautiful picture of my Aunt Erva Parsell when she was younger than I ever remember her.

For some reason I put the picture on my desktop and have been looking at her ever since, stopping to think about her when my eye is going across the desktop, looking for something else.  

That is what happens when my electronic desktop takes the form of some of my other desktops -- piled high with old files, projects to do in the future, Halloween .gifs, electronic files full of work.

I have written about Erva before, so I won't stop to do that again.  But I have stopped at this picture many times, wondering what questions I would ask her about her life if I could interview her now.

I am going to link to another post.  One where I try to talk about my mother, and Erva gets in the way, as she has been doing again when I see her face on my desktop.

Arta

A Walk in the Fall Leaves

The cat is everywhere, but mostly under my feet when I am trying to change from my inside shoes to my outside shoes while sitting on the porch ,  or when I try to navigate the thin sheet of ice on the stairs that lead from the deck to the ground.  

That is when the cat is either curling around my right foot  or my left foot or between or trying to stabilize itself between both of my feet.

I try to give him a few knocks with my walking stick.  Not enough to knock him out, but enough to let him know that there is plenty of other space in the universe than space that is one foot or less away from me.

Then when I get walking I forget the cat until a see a picture that reminds me Cruise sometimes likes to be a few yards ahead of me as if leading the walk for the full 1,500 steps to the tracks.

I like walking this curve in the road, the poplar leaves still falling from the tree, half covering the road until a CPR truck churns them up with the power of its exhaust and the speed of its huge frame.

The truck passes us and the leaves continue to settle.

A lovely time had by all.

Arta

Face Mask - Ladies in Red Series

Rebecca Johnson models a gift not everyone would wear.

My iron and ironing board are still out by my sewing machine.  

I leave them there as a message to myself that I have 13 more "Ladies in Red" facemasks to sew now that they are cut out.  

Instead of listening to the message about sewing, all I do with the ironing board and iron is touch up the wrinkles on articles of clothing that come out of the dryer.  

I like to look pressed, and pressing is easier than finishing off the last 13 sewing projects.  

Maybe on the weekend.  

But which week-end?

Arta

A Bear on My Mind

 

...checking under the deck before sunrise ...

... I noticed I stayed close to the door
and was in a position posed for flight ...

Bears getting ready to hibernate!  

That has been on my mind. 

They haven’t retreated to their lairs in the mountains,  yet. 

Bonnie bought bear spray. 

I have brass handbell that we sometimes carry – its continual sound begins to be annoying after about 20 minutes, but we carry it. I small annoyance when measure up against the fear of seeing a bear in front of me. 

I have seen fresh bear scat on the roads and under the apples trees. 

Now last night, Bonnie heard movement on the lower deck. She jumped up from watching TV and turned the lights on under the deck to see if it were a bear (small chance) or Cruise the Cat (99/100 chances). She couldn’t find either the bear of the cat under the deck. Still, when she came inside, she locked the door. I was curious as to why a human would think it is harder for a bear to get through a locked door than just a shut door. 

 A lot of faith in the power of a very small lock.

Arta

The Fall of the Best AppleTree on the Property

"Oh no! Look at Wyona's apple tree!"

Those were the words that drew my attention lakeward.

And yes, the tree was laying on the ground.

While Glen and I stood looking at the tree, Bonnie went onto Greg's porch, knocked on his windows, on his doors, made noise going along the porch, trying to see if he were home or out on his daily 2 hour walk.

How could this have happened?
We found bear scat, fresh bear scat within a few yards of the tree.

" No!" again from Bonnie. "The best apple tree on the property."
She took an apple in her hand.
"At least they are low enough to pick."

"Please take all you want," said Greg,

"The fallen tree may be from the weight of the snow," said Glen.
As we had been walking from my place to his, we had stopped at 5 Corners
and looked down Pilling's Road. 
"Dave Wood is going to be happy to see all of these fallen trees when he gets back," said Glen. 
Without Glen bringing it to our attention, I wouldn't have seen all of the deciduous trees hanging over both sides of the road, bowed as though in a military arch.
"What has happened," questioned Bonnie.
"The leaves haven't finished falling.  The roots just aren't strong enough for the weight of the snow that is on the leaves," explained Glen.
I have spent the days since the snowfall, enjoying the sight of the leaves that can fall, no longer floating down as they do in the late fall, but twirling with speed -- it must have been the weight of the snow on the leaves that I was noticing.

"Are we going to be able to fix this," Greg asked?

"If you can get the apples off, there is a possibility that the tree the tree can be uprighted," explained Glen, standing as he was with a broken scapula.  I think that is the reason the pronoun was you and not we.

Cruise, who thinks he is a human, has been following us from my house. 
"I like that cat,"  Glen had said.  "He does what cats are supposed to do.  Mouse."
Soon Cruise was playfully running up and down the fallen trunk, in and out of the leaves and the apples and the bits of snow.

When we called Wyona to tell her the news, she asked, "Which way did the tree fall?"
Glen told her, "Down."
I would have said, "In the direction of Moiya's house.

This is my poor attempt of giving Wyona a close-up of what the roots look when exposed.

Arta

A First Snowfall

 

Bonnie told me there would be snow today.

I haven’t put away all of the deck furniture.

I am trusting that this is only a first snow fall that will melt and that I can get those last pieces of furniture under the deck. 

What I have never seen before is snow gently falling and at the same time rust coloured leaves from the deciduous trees twirling down, speeding actually, as if they have an important place to go. 

What I am noticing is the two different speeds: that of the snow and that of the leaves.

It must be the weight of the snow on the leaves that makes them fall, and that probably gives them the speed I am noticing. 

A privilege to sit in this moment of falling snow and leaves that need to be grounded.

Arta

The Lonely Apple

 

Bonnie and I have been watching the apple trees that Glen planted on the 66 foot road, and indeed, we picked up windfalls – three of them.  We placed them by the side of the road to pick them up on our return to the house, but then we took a different way home.

Again, Bonnie took a walk to see how the tree was doing, and all that was left was one lonely apple.

The bear took everything from three trees except one apple which she  brought home and we kept on the counter for a while.

Dave Wood came over and Bonnie asked him if he would like to taste the only apple. 

 He said yes. Then she asked him how it tasted, and the look on his face told all. I was wishing she had asked me that question about would I like to eat the apple, before she asked David. 

In fact, I thought Bonnie and I were going to share that singular apple, after using it as a table decoration, and further, talking about it so many times. Even photographing it.

Ah well, grieving the loss of one apple when I have fifty in my fridge that were picked from the apple tree of David Camps. 

What’s up with the human heart. 

Mine has to travel the road until it is as generous as Bonnie’s.

Arta

A Cookbook Diagnosis

Dr. Perle Feldman

Catherine Jarvis put the following link on her facebook page today.  And yes, I have always love cookbooks, as does Perle Feldman. 

I didn't start out wanting to collect them. But one cookbook leads to another and in a lifetime that can mean a lot of cookbooks.

I don't have my own copy of the cookbook referred to in the following article, though I did find a copy of the recipe book at the local thrift store -- $2 a book, the sign said, and one of the books was The Joy of Cooking.  

I bought the book for Bonnie, since I have borrowed it from the library, and knew that just having it in ones' bookshelf is half way to becoming a good cook.

Since I have heard Catherine speak warmly of Perle, maybe even reverently about Perle, I decided to click on the link of the Canadian Healthcare Network to enjoy Perle's memoir called "A Cookbook Diagnosis".  

Well worth the read.

Arta 

Happy Persons Day

 Rebecca bought two tickets to the LEAF Edmonton's Persons Day Breakfast, entitled "Contested Legal Personalities: Indigenous Women".  

Rebecca shared one of the tickets with me; I attended

... Professor Val Napoleon ...

virtually -- I think the moderator said about 350 people had gathered together.

The speaker was Val Napoleon, whom I think of more, as a friend.

This morning I saw that the ReconciliationofYEG blog did their reflection on Val's talk.   I was curious as I read, thinking how reading someone else's notes capture thoughts I heard but didn't write down.

I was doing my reflections on the event in yesterday evening,  rereading the notes I had taken.  

I am lucky for I was in a class taught by Val and I am familiar with the Gitxsan story of the mother who raises triplets without the help of her family or community.  All abandon her.  The story has a happy ending: resilience from her and reconciliation with her family and community when her family is older.  I am left wondering about the bracketed story, the one of a lifetime of mothering in the absence of help from loved ones or community.

... painting by Val Napoleon ...

I thought I would read the Gitxsan story again, knowing that I have it in my notes -- but that is the trouble with my continued pattern of living with my loved ones across Canada -- Victoria, Annis Bay BC, Calgary and Montreal.

I have a string of notes, housed thousands of miles apart.  I love those notes -- not that I can always find them, but that I made them, know I have them, love them and know I will keep adding to them.  That is what fills my life with such happiness.

Thanks to Val yesterday for more ideas to collect.

Arta

On Relaxing Less

... cartoon from the archives of The New Yorker...

I had such a relaxing day yesterday. Anything that was going wrong, was righted. And when there was nothing that was going on, the day got filled with so much happiness that Bonnie and I extended it until 5 am this morning. The morning had started with Bonnie wondering if it would be ok for us to sing together – no one else in the house and maybe we could learn some tunes.

I thought I could work through Sally Go Round the Sun with her, and add 50 or so songs to her musical backpack for work. We did that for about an hour. 

But that is not what Bonnie wanted.

It seems she wanted to sing popular songs, or show tune songs, Canadian folk tunes, or arias from operas.So today she choose “Stars” from Les Miserables, the first tune that we hear sung by Javert (Russels Crowe). You may know it: There, out in the darkness / a fugitive running / fallen from God / fallen from grace . So for yesterday, the tune of the day was “The monkey stomps, stomps, stomps his feet”, and the melody for today has all of the key changes and chord resolutions over which a person might love to sing lyrics that set up a great musical show and at the same time give a person a good chance to practise control of the diaphram.

One of the light switches at our house had a sizzling sound when it was turned on and off. Both Bonnie and I had noticed it. After a question went to Google, “how do you fix a sizzle in a light switch”, the answer came back, “get a good electrician”. 

We phoned Dave Wood. He was so much fun, checking out the problem, going to town to buy the switch, and then letting Bonnie do some of the electrical work as he supervised. She is not afraid of copper wiring she told him, at the same time showing him the copper necklace she made in a metallurgy class. He stood back and coached her until the job was done – telling her that for perfection, the screws should be twisted until the groove into which the screw driver fits was vertical. She laughed, and only did good enough – not perfection on that piece of the job.

Little Women (2019)

The day continued in a perfect way. I wanted to watch some of Kurt Weil’s opera, Street Scene, but I could feel that it was getting set up for some sadness. 

Not having researched anything about the opera and wanting to stay relaxed, I decided to take the evening to a less stressful place: Little Women on Amazon Prime, I didn’t want to see it. Still, it seemed it would take no emotional toll on me. the reviews in the newspapers had been charming and though I could not remember a word of what the reviews said, I had enough faith in them to relax and just let the scenes go by, having them bring back all of the memories around Louisa Mae Alcott and that lovely book so beautifully brought to the screen. 

 Biopic: Miss Potter (2006)

Since that movie was good, we decided to follow it up with another movie and we began to watch Miss Potter (2006), a wonderful true story of Beatrix Potter, who lived in about the 1900’s -- a charming story with extreme long shots of the Lake Country that reminded me of the Shuswap. I noticed that the movie budget was about $30,000,000. That seems like a lot of money and as I watched I thought how I lucky I am to be alive and see this kind of film. 

I told Bonnie, when I had a chance to see the Lake District, I was wanting to see ghosts of Wordsworth or at least some daffodils or an unusual cloud, “I wander lonely as a cloud” always on my mind. I didn’t see any of the three, but often on the ride through that country I could see what looked like my own home at the Shuswap, the still , the low hills, the meadows, the trees. Amazing, Bonnie and I agreed afterward, that Potter had purchased a lot of land from the proceeds of her earnings and then left it in trust for people to enjoy as a park. I guess the amazing part is that though she was a scientist, she made a substantial amount of money from her books and associated products and then turned the earnings back into a park for the children who had read her books, but were now adults.

It was midnight and I thought I was going to bed but Bonnie brought out the game of Lost Cities to play. We kept dealing the cards until we noticed that it was 5 am and then we went to bed. I usually get up at that time.

Arta

A Cruise only Imagined ...

In 2019, Moiya, David Wood, Wyona, Greg, Bonnie and I signed up to take a cruise down the St. Lawrence and ending in Florida, a dream we had and so signed up for a wonderful tour.  

By April we were wondering if it were going to happen and by the end of June our hopes were dashed,.

Still Moiya dreams that the 6 of us are making that trip.  

So she writes to me about what is to happen today if it weren't COVID times:

We are to set off at 4 pm Eastern Standard time. That is only about 2 hr. until we set sail.

We’re on the ship now, just sitting and having our first meal together;

So many items of food to choose from.

I am taking a long time going around to check out all of the items, before even picking up my plate.

We’re there because we can’t go into our rooms yet.

We each have our carry-on bags still.

Our suitcases are probably not even sitting in the hallway by our rooms yet.

So relaxing … ours is to enjoy each other’s company and just be waited on hand and foot.

I’m sure we are looking at the daily outline of the ship's activities (What is the proper name for that???) of which we all have our own.

We have a pen in hand and are ticking off the times of those things we think we’d like to attend.

We all get to make our own choices ….

Mmmmm … the food is so delicious … I can taste it now.

I’m not eating very much because it is only a couple of hours until we go for our evening any time dining meal.

Don’t forget the Mustar Drill!  We will be lined up on deck and learning how to vacate the ship in case of trouble.

It’s great to be with you today.

I’ve been looking forward to this for a very long time now.

Moiya

More Covid Haikus

By Mary (inspired by trips to Calgary and the Shuswap)

I don’t like to be

The one who breaks covid rules

But still I visit

 

By Mary (inspired by weird Johnson strategies for processing grief)

Covid trauma hits

We write the poems in jest

A crazy family

 

And Cathy's response

Add them to the blog

In seventeen syllables

Johnson Haiku fun