A satisfying project by the water

Ingredients: hammer, saw, nails, cedar, pine, spruce and sweat.

Here's what I was up to in cottage country for a few weeks. This is the middle of construction, as you can see. Not quite ready for use.

Roof, siding, door, windows, a porch--now it's ready to go. The project was to help inlaws add a bit of space to their camp. We found a clearing in the woods and didn't cut down any trees to add the shed. That log on the saw horses turns up inside, in the final picture.

Not sure if it shows up in the photo: the stairs are cut from a log, a big white pine that blew down several years ago.

The view through the trees is of water in two directions! Very pleasant.

Here I am, posing on the finished project. That look is supposed to pride in a job (reasonably) well done, but I think I was too tired by then to show it.

The "ladder" to the top bunk is another fallen tree, with big pegs added, after this picture was taken, as steps up. The gun in the corner is a pellet gun, by the way, used on empty cans only. 

                                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New post coming soon

Continue being patient. Just back from my northern adventure, and the time has been quite full since then. Updates on the building project and recent campaigning coming soon (probably tomorrow).

What matters and how to get it

I'm back from the north for a few days, and able to blog again this weekend, then there will be another gap till late July.  

What matters to me is a fair society. Getting one is difficult, it seems. People have been at it for a long time, sometimes at great personal sacrifice, and we're not there yet. 

No mistake, there is much fairness in Ontario and Canada already. But many people are falling behind, and vulnerable people are called that for a reason. In fact the gap between the rich and the rest of us is growing. I was talking yesterday with some people who get by without much day to day food security. Kind of humbling what they consider enough certainty about where their next meal is coming from. They are also volunteers who process reclaimed food each week. They sort and process non-perishables from area food stores taken off the shelves because they are just past their best before date. Then collections of this still-nutritious food are distributed to various groups--area community meals, the food bank, low income seniors and so on. One of the men has a medical condition requiring a special diet. He gets an extra $1/day to purchase it. The man with diabetes copes without any extra money for his diet. He gets his insulin at no cost luckily, but he has costs every month for some of his insulin equipment out of his $598/month. He saves rent by sleeping in his truck. The group was passionate, informed, articulate, and willing to work for change. They inspire me.

The food reclamation project, an initiative of the York Region Food Network, is good stewardship of unsaleable food, unless you count the extra trips it makes, and the large number of unpaid hours put into handling it several extra times compared to groceries purchased at the front of the store. Then it begins to look like an expensive way to distribute leftovers. What seems more fair than handouts is enough income that people didn't have to rely on them. If people received a living income and didn't need charity, we would quickly find something else useful to do with leftover food, I feel sure. In the meantime, the system we have, if it can be called a system, brings disgrace to all of us.  And now pressure is on pensions, as corporations try to slip out of commitments made in previous decades, trying to leave seniors to their own devices in the days and years ahead.

And we have this exercise called an election every four years in the hopes of getting change, getting what we want. The playing field in elections seems to be tilted toward those with a great deal of money. Not the fairest mechanism I can think of. So the campaign team here in Newmarket-Aurora is using creativity instead of bottomless resources. They are an exciting group, and it is wonderful to be surrounded by such strong commitment. It will be interesting to see what we can do together to move closer to a society where true fairness is a routine expectation, not a distant hope.

Tomorrow: off to market (farmers' markets, that is), in both towns to meet people and hear what's on their minds. More on that later.  

On the hustings

(What is a husting, anyway? Does anyone have one I can use for a few months?)

The rubber hits the road when a person starts knocking on doors, or chatting with people at a big Canada Day celebration. I was out there late last week after wrapping things up at church, and taking away the last few books and personal items from my study. The reactions, as you would expect, range from warmth to hostility. ("I never vote. All politicians are lying, cheating, so and sos." That sort of thing. How I'd love to spend time with those folks to find out where they got their ideas, but there is only time to press on, and talk to people who are willing to talk.) One great thing? It's not February.

The level of taxes is uppermost in some people's minds, and they seem to be the more comfortable ones, to judge by my very unscientific polling. Just getting by is the reality for others. But the variety of us never ceases to amaze me. There are certainly common threads, but we are very different from each other. Canada Day on Main Street in Newmarket was a joy. Perfect weather, good eats, good music, good mood in the thousands of people on the street and in the park. I heard such relief and pride at being in Canada from people who clearly were new to the country. Awesome.

I was encouraged with the number of people willing to work on the campaign both days I was out. I'm working on my approach, trying to figure out which questions allow people to say what's concerning them. There is usually initial caution when someone opens their door. It's almost as if other people have been at the door before me selling/asking/preaching something people didn't want. Go figure.

Now there is a little pause in the blog, till I get back from some away time in the middle of next week. Talk to you later. 

Change that puts people first

Now that the dust has settled, I can tell about last weekend. What a whirlwind of emotions.

I said hello to a party and goodbye to the congregation that has been my home for fifteen years. Both were good events for different reasons. I'll come back to the NDP convention. The last church service and parties that followed on June 26 were deeply touching. It was moving to think back over all the highs. lows, achievements and powerful relationships at Trinity United in Newmarket. A minister gets pretty close to people, depending on what is happening in their lives. There were the usual events--baptisms, weddings, funerals--of course, but also illnesses, employment changes, parenting and relationship issues, and many others that brought me to people at vulnerable times of their lives. In the midst of that was the congregation's varied worship life, and its outreach into the community and the world. A lot to let go. Tears flowed, naturally, and there were good laughs together. Church members were very generous to Rita and me as I stepped down, and I thank them for that and all their kindness and support over the years.

Along with sixty others, I said hello to the provincial NDP on June 24 and 25. Another emotional time. It was great to be with rooms full of people who share a commitment to social justice, and, as the campaign slogan goes, "Change that puts people first." Check out the platform at http://ontariondp.com/en/policy. Candidates learned about policy, and also how to be an effective candidate at the door, on the air, in a public meeting. Gradually during the weekend, we built our appreciation of the fact that we each represent the party for the next three months, wherever we are. There were official portraits taken, and a pose with the leader.

Speaking of the leader, Andrea Horwath gave a great speech on Saturday afternoon surrounded by hundreds of supporters. She pointed out what is missing from the plans and performance of the parties, to loud appreciation, and went on to give hope by outlining what an NDP government will do instead. As I keep saying, she will be a wonderful premier of the province. It was highly energizing to be with her and all our teachers, some of whom are sitting MPPs. Ontario needs the steady hand of the NDP to balance the interests of everyday Ontarians with those of big business. It's just not right that people are getting left behind.