A Little Encouragement for Canadians re: COVID19

Posted on March 26, 2020 Updated on March 27, 2020

Hello everyone!
I just wanted to share this graph I made, using the daily reports on the Alberta Government website. These numbers are real.

You will see the blue line is confirmed cases. The orange line is new cases that day. The dots are the exponential growth of COVID when that number doubles every 2 days (which I read about here) We probably would have seen numbers like that if we had not done the social distancing we are doing.

Highly populated places have a hard time containing this virus, but it can be done. I am so proud of how Albertans have responded and just wanted to encourage you to KEEP IT UP! It is NOT time to relax the social isolating or physical distancing you’ve been doing. It is WORKING! KEEP IT UP!

The graph for the US (source), as of today is not looking so good:

There are many, many reasons for this, I am sure. One friend pointed out that perhaps we have more unreported cases, or unconfirmed cases, since people are being told to stay home. It’s hard to say. But if you are on the fence about this, just isolate.

May you live in interesting times. – Chinese curse

These are interesting times alright. But they do not have to be a curse. Keep in mind the hardest thing you will ever try to do is make someone do something they don’t want to do. We can’t make people isolate. We can’t make people pay attention, or think they are indestructible, or think ANYTHING else. All we can do is choose our own actions, which includes how we think about what’s going on. So, please, don’t worry, but don’t be foolish.

The graph for Canada (source) looks more like exponential growth.

This makes me wonder why we haven’t been able to “flatten the curve” as a nation. I guess that’s something we need to work on.

Take care, everyone! Keep taking care of each other as I know you have been. I’ll blog about that soon!

If anyone has a graph for the other provinces, I would love to share those here too. Thx 😀

New Growth

Posted on November 28, 2019 Updated on November 28, 2019

I am sucker for plants for sale at hardware stores. Sometimes, I want to take them home and nurse them back to health. Other times, they are well-cared-for and they look so lush and vibrant, I can’t resist buying them. Such was the case with a beautiful, blooming African Violet.
I put it in a spot in the living room where it lived for a long time. I transplanted it once and it grew more, although it did not bloom that much. I didn’t mind; it was still lovely to me. Then one day, I noticed that it wasn’t doing so well.
I thought that perhaps I should move it to a new spot. Maybe it needed more light than it was getting. I put in in our porch with a south-facing window, but kept it out of direct light. It should have been happier there.
It continued to go downhill. I’ll admit, in its new spot, I may have forgotten to water it occasionally! One day I noticed how rough it looked and decided to do something about it.
Sitting at the kitchen table, I carefully removed all the dead leaves. It had been two plants, side by side, but one of them had died. I pulled all the dry material off, carefully, and watered it thoroughly. I decided to keep the plant on the kitchen table so I wouldn’t forget it again.

It started to look a little better. I gave it small amounts of water more often. Today, I removed a few more small, dry leaves that I had not noticed before and I gently cleaned all its leaves off. I mixed up a batch of special plant food, just for African Violets. I watered it again, lots, careful not to wet any of its leaves. African Violets don’t like their leaves to get wet. Then I noticed something new.

Despite its straggly appearance, there was new growth in the center of it. Tiny, bright green leaves were slowly bursting out from the rosette in the middle.

I also realized something else. Although the porch has more light, it is also colder. All winter long, the door lets icy cold air in and I think my violet was struggling even more there.
Isn’t this just like life? Sometimes, in the face of a struggle, we make a move to somewhere that we think will be better. Later, we have to admit that it wasn’t, or at least life didn’t go according to plan. Some parts of life were better but other parts got worse. Sometimes, we have to look at the dead leaves in our lives — the ideas that are not serving us, or old habits that are not helping our growth. We have to trim things out of our lives and then take on some water — a metaphor for nurturing ourselves, being kind to ourselves. We must be open to living in a new space, and to letting Spirit tend to us… to be open to its pruning and guidance and love.
You’re so much more than a plant, and yet you also need light, water and nutrition. In seeking more light, you may discover you get cold. All the elements need to be optimized to really grow. When you realize you need to make a move again, be gentle and loving with yourself and remember that growth takes time. Everything is going to work out.
Whatever you do, don’t get so distracted by the dead leaves that you don’t notice the new growth at your core. The tiniest new leaves are so promising! Take heart; you are doing amazingly well.

Baffin Island Pictures – Akshayuk Pass

Posted on May 10, 2019 Updated on May 10, 2019

It took me a while, but I finally went through all my photos from my epic Baffin Island expedition and chose the best to share with you! 🙂 Enjoy!

Lest We Remember

Posted on November 11, 2018 Updated on November 11, 2018

I wrote these few paragraphs lest we remember the past incorrectly.

Thousands of men and women died in World War 1, World War 2, in Korean and Viet Nam, and other conflicts in more recent times. What I would like to remember and affirm is that although their bodies died, their spirits went on. Their essence went back to source at the moment of death. Their love of life and individuality was completely absorbed back into the essence that Source is. For those who died on the front lines, I know that none of their pain was lost, and none of it went on either. At the moment of death, all anguish was converted into love by All-That-Is, by Source.

If we are to remember these people, let’s not think of them as victims. Let us not label their deaths as pointless. Let us not focus on their deaths alone; let us remember that they lived a life they chose, and that they acted in faith and to the best of their ability. In their deaths, let’s not propagate the ignorance, racism and the many other causes of their deaths. Let’s go forward and forge a brave new world.

Let’s remember that they loved and were loved. No one ever lost their humanity in any sacrifice. No one ever lost their sanctity in being tortured. The Spirit we all share cannot be crushed or diminished in any way. It is the core of us and it is indestructible.

Please stand with me if you agree that we’d like NOT to repeat the circumstances of the past. Stand with me if you would like to remember past soldiers’ ingenuity, which is our ingenuity, their courage, which is our courage, and to appreciate the immense change they contributed to. Let’s remember the love they were, and let’s go forward from here. Please stand with me in 1 minute of silence and hope.

– – – – – – – – –
I was honoured to read these paragraphs aloud at the Sunday celebration at the Centre for Spiritual Living that I attend. I was singing and playing keyboard in the band and got to read this near the end of the service. 🙂 Hope you find that it gives you a new perspective — certainly something very different from the usual Remembrance Day talk.

If you’d like to talk about this, please leave a comment. 🙂 Take care, everyone.

Frankie’s Here!

Posted on July 22, 2018

It’s a boy! After waiting 11-and-a-half months, Daisy finally had her baby!

Isn’t he adorable?

When I got home that day, all the girls were in the barn. As I approached, I saw Uki standing in the doorway with a big smile on her face. (Once you know alpacas, you know what their smile looks like.) So, I went in the barn and immediately saw that Daisy’s belly was gone! See pic at right of her big pregnant belly. So, I knew there was a baby to be found! Yay! And guess where I found him? In a corner of the barn! Oh no! My heart sank. He was a “wall baby.”
Sometimes, I don’t know why, baby alpacas don’t know how to find their mama’s milk properly. So, when they get hungry, they go looking for any dark area — this is some kind of instinct — and they often end up against walls and in the dark corners of a barn. Allie was a wall baby, and we don’t think she ever did nurse properly (although we don’t really know the full extent, because we were less experienced then). Ten days after being born, she died of unknown causes, but she was certainly weak from not eating well.
So, I was devastated. The baby we had been waiting for for so long had the same condition that Allie had. Would we lose this little guy too?
I tried not to worry too much Sunday night, but as Monday wore on, it was getting hard not to panic. I sat in the sun Monday morning, knitting and watching him and his momma. He did not nurse once for 3 hours! A very experienced alpaca farmer friend of mine said that on a full tummy, they might not nurse for 2-3 hours, but often they have small snacks more frequently. Three hours would be the most between feedings. So, I worried more. I felt so horrible, and relived all the angst and pain from that day Allie died so suddenly. I am still having a hard time forgiving myself for all that happened with her.

An Adventure in Bottle Feeding

Tuesday morning came and we decided to do something about it. We would mix up some milk — we found a formula and some really helpful instructions on the internet — and feed him a bottle. We were pretty hilarious shopping for baby bottles; “Should we get these ones? Those ones look weird.” “I think we should get the 3-pack so we have extras.” “I guess we’ll get the pack with blue, since he’s a boy.” We bought whole goat’s milk, which is available in regular grocery stores here, half-and-half and plain probiotic yogurt, bottles, extra nipples, and we headed home. It felt really good to be doing something proactive. The plan was to feed him a few bottles, and teach him to nurse off his momma at the same time.
Getting him to suck on the bottle that first time took a while. I had to pry his mouth open and get the bottle in, but he’s so tiny, the bottle kept slipping out on the sides of his mouth. Eventually I figured out what I was doing and he figured out that the milk was tasty! He had no trouble sucking once the bottle was in place. We had cut the nipple a little to make the opening bigger, so he soon had a milk mustache and a trickle running down his chin! All the while, Daisy was right in our faces, not spitting, but letting us know she was not happy with us messing with her baby.
Frankie perked up considerably after a bottle, and even moreso after two. On the third bottle, he really knew how to suck and the nipple didn’t slip off to the sides any more. Twice a day, we put a harness on Daisy and held her and put Frankie under her to show him where the milk was. We even milked her a bit — her tiny little teats — to keep the milk flowing.
It is surprisingly hard to get a baby alpaca’s head into the right place below his momma’s hindquarters! I felt like I needed three arms — one to hold his whole body in position, because he would get wiggly, one to hold his neck in position, and one to pry his mouth open and get it onto Daisy’s teat. He would resist, probably because he didn’t like being forced into some sort of yoga position — body in line, neck down, then up, head pointed nearly straight up to the sky (the teat). Alpacas normally have an instinct for this, and trying to teach it was incredibly hard. I don’t know if Frankie doesn’t have the instinct, or if he did nurse that first day a few times, but perhaps Daisy kicked at a fly/mosquito and that startled Frankie and turned him off the teat, or perhaps Daisy’s mom, Uki, interfered with Frankie. Uki has been a momma the last three years with us but wasn’t expecting this year; she may have thought Frankie was her baby. She was very bossy that first day when I went in the barn and I immediately separated her from Daisy so that we could work in peace (Uki is a spitter)!
Whatever the reason, Frankie just could not seem to figure out that his momma’s dark places had the milk, and if he got too hungry, he would start searching in other dark places. So, we’ve been bottle feeding him to keep him from getting too hungry, and trying to teach him to nurse. We tried many, many times, but Daisy’s milk was gradually decreasing, and yesterday, we decided to consider him a full-time bottle baby.

So, this will be our adventure! We will feed him about every 3 hours, every day, for the next 7 weeks (minimum). We’ll be mixing and warming bottles, washing nipples, and feeding that adorable little fella to keep him growing. Initially, it was an intervention to keep him alive, and now we are keeping him growing and thriving. Daisy still looks after him great — making sure he’s safe — and he stays fairly close by his momma. It’s going to be challenging with work schedules. We’ve already had to get my mom, dad and cousin’s daughter to help out a couple of days. It’s going to be fun watching him grow and the first time he actually ran, I felt so happy! He was getting more perky and full of life.

I’ll try to keep all of you, my lovely blog readers, up to date as he grows! 🙂 This whole situation has been a big growth curve and I appreciate my dear husband more than ever for his attitude, hard work and wonderful perspective. He’s been such a good partner, in the true sense of the word.
Take care everyone! If you happen to know me personally, live close by, and want to come meet Frankie, email me or leave a comment and we’ll set something up! I’m planning to share Frankie’s story on reddit. Don’t you think he belongs in the “aaw” subreddit? Let me know if he becomes a star, because I’m not on reddit every day! 🙂

Nonviolent Solutions are Not What you Think

Posted on January 30, 2018

I celebrated the beginning of the worldwide Season for Nonviolence with the loveliest like-minded people in Edmonton today. We all met at city hall and had a short ceremony to commemorate it. People read prayers/statements for peace from many world religions and we sang songs together. We even stood on the steps in the shape of a peace symbol. It was all very nice and, well, peaceful.

Nothing anyone said surprised me. It was so lovely, make no mistake, but I did feel that it was a little platitudinal. That’s a word I just made up today. It means, it was full of platitudes. Of course, we have to be the change we want to see in the world. Peace begins with me, definitely. I really don’t want to be disagreeable in this post. Public displays of intention are so important. And perhaps they aren’t the place to get into the how. But I can’t resist — so I’ll do that here (platitude-free).

We fall into a trap if we think that peace is simple. Choosing the non-violent solution, every time, is complicated. It’s tricky. It requires us to be aware of what makes us mad and then, before we can take any angry action, to write a new ending and flawlessly act it out. This is not easy, not even for those of us who are working on being aware of what makes us tick. It’s tricky coming up with a peaceful solution. It’s complicated and messy, although no more messy than violent solutions. Choosing nonviolence still leads to casualties — your ego, your pride, your wallet, perhaps. It is not simple, and in a world where a simpler life is almost worshiped, complexity, and therefore nonviolence, is undesirable. Getting mad is simpler! Being aware and maintaining ears that listen and a desire to understand others is a difficult and multi-faceted enigma. Life is complicated, and so is nonviolence.

There will always be differences between us. There will always be reasons — even good ones — to fight against someone different than ourselves. We simply have to find a way to rise above the differences and accept each other. We need to love and accept ourselves to do this, of course, but doing that alone is not enough. We have to take action, or non-action depending on the situation, with the ultimate goal of peace. Sometimes, we have to focus on de-escalating the situation. We have to face angry people and not add to their anger. We must consistently look for ways to build each other up instead of tear each other down.

Let me give you an example of a messy, non-obvious peaceful solution. One spring, my cousin contacted us and said that she and her husband had booked a bulldozer to come and knock down all the trees on the 19 acres adjacent to our land. She hoped it would not bother our animals, and that was that. The bulldozer was coming, sometime in the next five days. We were devastated. We loved those trees! I grew up exploring that bush and loved it dearly. It was valuable habitat for deer, porcupines and skunks, not to mention birds and squirrels and countless other critters. It was a valuable wind break, shielding us from the harshest north winds. My husband I were outraged, overwhelmed and felt completely helpless to stop it. For about an hour.

Somehow, I was able to stop villainizing my cousin and start thinking straight again. Why were they doing this? They valued farm land more than bush land. They wanted to turn the bush into arable land, probably because they had such large farm payments. They were feeling the pressure of making their big mortgage payments. So, we offered them the radical, messy, nonviolent bulldozer-less solution: we offered to rent those acres of bush, at the rate of farm land, each and every year, to help them make their payments and just because we wanted to. No bulldozer required. They would be making as much money off that land than if they had gone through the years of work it takes to clear the land. We could go for walks without feeling like we were trespassing, and put horses on that land or whatever we liked. It was a win-win solution! I was so thrilled they agreed.

You may be thinking, “how is paying a big bill every year win-win?” I don’t see it as a big bill at all. When the land was divided in the first place, that bush should have been included in our section. But it wasn’t — we didn’t think we could afford such a large piece of land, so we left it out. So, we rent instead of paying a MUCH larger mortgage. See, it’s still win-win. 🙂 This is my favourite example of a non-traditional nonviolent solution, and it just came to me out the blue sky — once I was calm enough to receive it. Some people would see it as ridiculous — to pay prime rates for less-than-prime land — but it really is a fabulous solution.

The nonviolent solution often means thinking outside the box. You may have to really stretch to understand the person you feel like fighting with. It might cost something — your time, your attention, your pride or even a bit of money — but all our actions cost us something if you really think about it. The peaceful answer may feel completely foreign to you. It might be a huge change and something you can’t imagine any rational person doing. Try it out.

Yes, we need to be serene down to our core to affect the world, but we also need to be peace-lovers and take non-conflictual action. I think I just made up another word! Non-conflictual!

So, throughout this season of nonviolence (until April 4), let’s all keep our eye out for those unexpected, nonviolent solutions and actions. After April 4, go back to your old ways — just kidding! 🙂 Some random acts of kindness would be awesome, too.

Love you all! If you have an example of a bulldozer-stopping example of a nonviolent solution, leave a comment! 🙂

Alex the Alpaca Video

Posted on August 26, 2017

Enjoy this adorable video of Alex, just a couple of days old, running around!

Alex the Alpaca from Darren Griffith on Vimeo.

Previous post introducing Alex