The sun sets, silhouetted trees punctuate the sky
Just a quick post for today’s Monday Lunch Blog as I’m going to play frisbee in the park shortly.
Yesterday the whole family went to our favourite park, Cates Park, near the family home. We enjoyed swinging and sitting by the ocean, climbing on rocks and taking in the fresh air and sunshine. The leaves are slowly turning. I remembered the photos from last year and realised how much I love this time of year, even though I’m hanging on for dear life to the heat and freshness of the middle of summer. August is usually hotter than this but I’ve never liked sweltering heat anyway. We’ll enjoy the sunshine today and hopefully break some frisbee tossing records.
See you next week!
Enjoying the view at Cates Park last summer (photo by my father)
As summer draws to a close here on the west coast, I reflect on this and past summers while starting to think about the new season fast approaching. It’s been an eventful summer, kicked off by graduation in May, a new job in June, and followed by three road trips and lots of family visits. (In the end, somehow not enough of the last two.) I was fortunate to reunite with four “long-lost” cousins this summer, three aunts and one uncle. I went to places that were new to me — Salmon Arm and Princeton — and truly went camping for the first time. Yet somehow, after all this adventure and enjoyment, it feels as though summer as a season didn’t really happen. I couldn’t manage to attribute it to taking on a full time job for the first time — I didn’t want to admit to it and previous summers with almost as much work involved didn’t pan out like this one. As it turns out, I’m not the only one to have noticed the lack of heat and lack of “summeriness.” It’s not the job at all (thank goodness). It simply hasn’t been hot! We had a couple blazing hot weeks way back in May and a breathtakingly hot day awhile back, but generally it’s been cooler overall. We also had a very, very wet June. It all boils down to me struggling to keep what’s left of the summer, enjoy it, bask in it, and convince myself it’s still July. HA. So I took a short trip to the swings in the park yesterday (gotta love my office’s location).
Continue reading From one season into another »
This is the third official installment of the weekly Monday lunch blog. Please do check in the rest of the week for other posts.
In last week’s post, I discussed a recently-released movie titled “The 11th Hour,” a documentary on climate and environmental change. I mentioned I was going to watch “An Inconvenient Truth” soon, so I did over the weekend. (I’ve left my quotes at home so I’ll put them in later.)
This film was, as critics often say, eye-opening. I couldn’t believe the amount of information I didn’t know, and how much of it is shocking, and how much of it MAKES SENSE! There is absolutely no doubt that unnatural, human-produced global warming is occuring. The film wasn’t nearly as frightening as I expected, but rather insightful and very optimistic that we can change and we must. That the individual has so much power to make an impact on the environment is probably one of the few ways in which one person can truly be world-changing. (I personally think one person’s vote is, unfortunately, quite unimportant in the grand scheme of a Canadian or American election; it is the force of all of them that swings the result.) Small measures at home can, in fact, make grand changes: changing a lightbulb, turning off some lights, switching to energy-efficient appliances, taking shorter showers, adjusting thermostats and hanging clothes to dry.
It doesn’t need to be inconvenient.
Continue reading Inspiration from “An Inconvenient Truth” »
When I walked in the door this evening, our angelfish, Agnes, was poking around at the back of the tank, which is on the other side of the large room. No sooner did I look for her as I closed the door, did I see her excitedly approach the glass and start flitting about. She saw me from clear across the room! We’re talking about a fish with eyes the size of capers. Smart fish! I thought to myself, it’s like having a dog to come home to. “Hello, Agnes!” before I could even take off my shoes. She follows me back and forth when I walk by, begging to be fed. I’d show you a picture, but she moves too fast for the camera’s liking.
This is the second official installment of the weekly Monday lunch blog. Please do check in the rest of the week for other posts.
Perusing through Apple’s film trailers last night, I discovered a documentary called “The 11th Hour,” produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio and featuring the likes of designer Bruce Mau and scientist Stephen Hawking. While at first it might appear to be another “An Inconvenient Truth,” which I actually haven’t seen yet but will soon, the content seems to be more diverse and equally urgent, if not moreso. The film’s main tagline is “consuming less, living more,” and it’s in this consumption that lies the greatest problems for the earth. Fortunately, the messages present a very positive, action-oriented, YOU can do it approach that I think will be successful. Mobilization of individuals is key.
Continue reading Climate change, global warming: what’s in a name? »
Britain follows suit on the current discussions of whether or not to administer the vaccine against HPV (human papilloma virus), several strains of which cause most cervical cancer. The article from BBC News, titled “Public in dark on HPV cancer link”, reveals how few respondents to a survey are aware of HPV as a risk factor for the prolific cancer, and even its STI nature. The title suggests perhaps that the public has been kept in the dark, but the article seems to me to do what everything else I’ve read does: it puts the blame on women for not knowing.
Continue reading Oh, you didn’t know? Shame on you! »
(August 9, lunchtimeish)
Here we are at Stemwinder Provincial Park, about 25 km east of Princeton, BC. The boyfriend has taken the car to the next town, Hedley, to get some foodstuffs and fishing bait. It’s a bit dusty and I’m on battery power so I won’t keep Peanut (that’s my laptop) on too long, but I thought it would be interesting to write a post while at the site rather than after. Obviously there’s no wireless here so I’ll post when I get home. (I brought Peanut along to watch The Departed one evening.)
We arrived yesterday afternoon to find Bromley Rock’s campsite full! I knew there was another one further down and we found it only half full with plenty of choices. This spot is quieter and today is only about as full so far as it was when we arrived; many people have left.
Continue reading Gone fishing »
Beginning next week (well, last week, but today’s a holiday in BC), I’ll be writing a blog post at lunch every Monday. It gets me motivated to write, to think and to explore. A weekly “routine” is good when it’s something one enjoys (hence not a “chore” kind of routine). It gently forces me to get my thoughts out on virtual paper and to learn more about my topics. A regular post will hopefully bring readers in more. (Selfish? not at all! If anything it’s easier for you.) This doesn’t mean I won’t write other days of the week — I did last week — and I may occasionally miss it, but this is quite a feat unto itself. Once a week! Will I run out of things to say? If I do, I’ll have to take photographs.
It being a long weekend, this isn’t a “lunch blog” as such, but will do just fine for non-British Columbian readers for whom this isn’t a holiday. But I’m sure you have your own I don’t know about!
