Posted on July 8, 2021 under Thursday Tidbits with 2 comments

 

Youth Day – Kangiqsujuaq

Representatives of the Fire Service, Police Department and Social Services meet to plan a Youth Day in Kangiqsujuaq.

 

“On the road again,

Just can’t wait to get on the road again.”

On The Road Again – Willie Nelson

What can I do?

Many of you are feeling distraught about the revelation of mass graves of indigenous children who attended residential schools. There is also a sense of helplessness. After all, what can one person do?

On a macro level, governments and the churches have to address this head on and make things right. At a minimum, they must act on the “calls to action” in the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This will take time. It’s hard to point a huge ocean vessel in a different direction. On a micro level, many Canadians expressed their concerns with muted Canada Day celebrations and plenty of people have taken to social media to express solidarity by posting orange banners with messages of “All Lives Matter”.

We all know that in all likelihood, there will be more revelations of mass graves and more outrage, but it seems that issues like these have a short shelf life. Other crisis will undoubtably emerge taking our attention (and the media’s) away form the residential school tragedy.

What can I do that might make a direct impact of the lives of indigenous people?

I have made no secret that I am turning 70 next month. Rather than lamenting the fact that my body aches, that wrinkles are appearing with regularity and that my eyesight is worsening (the list is considerably longer!), I feel privileged to have lived this long. Many have not enjoyed this luxury like the children who perished in residential homes.

Recently, I was in touch with community leaders in Kangiqsujuaq (where I taught school the past two years) to see if there was something that I might do that was positive and constructive. I received a message from the Fire Chief who informed me that the Fire Service, Police Service and Social Services in the village were teaming up to put on an information and fun day for the youth in the community sometime before school starts up in mid-August.

Covid has affected everyone in some way. It has been particularly hard on our oldest citizens and in many ways, our youngest citizens. Besides the fear of the virus, it has forced people to spend long periods of time away from friends and family. We were lucky in Kangiqsujuaq in that we were able to hold in person classes at school but most other extracurricular activities including group gatherings were cancelled or severely limited.

The event in Kangiqsujuaq will center around safety. There are many issues and challenges faced by young people in northern communities. The hope is to have a day of education and frank discussions with the young people. After all, they are the future leaders of the village.

This is where you come in.

I have committed to raising at least $1,500 to assist the organizers with the purchase of food and treats for the event.

So, here’s my plan. To celebrate my 70^th birthday, I have decided to go for a little stroll. My original plan was to walk 70km to match my age. After some consideration, I have upped that a bit to 75km which is the precise mileage to walk around “The Cape”. I will complete the walk over two days, August 9^th and 10^th. I will dedicate this walk to the youth of Kangiqsujuaq and hopefully draw attention to my fundraiser. Day 1 will be 40km and day 2 will be 35km. I have arranged overnight accommodations just outside of Ballantyne’s Cove. Many thanks to PP and MP for agreeing to put me up and put up with me.

I have set up an account at the East Coast Credit Union (it will always be the Bergengren Credit Union to me) called Len’s Walk, for those of you in Antigonish who want to make a donation in person. For the rest of my friends, you can send me an e-transfer at lenpdmacdonald@gmail.com.

Some quick math. As many of you brilliant mathematicians have already deduced, there is an easy correlation between 75 km and $1,500. It works out to $20 a kilometer. Any size donation will be greatly appreciated and will go directly to the young people of Kangiqsujuaq.

There is another way you might help. Why not lace up your runners and come and walk part of the route with me. I don’t expect that many of you would be keen to do all 75km but maybe one or two kilometers to help me pass the time. When we get closer to the date, I’ll give you more specifics about approximate times and locations.

I know that I always seem to have my hand out for some worthy cause. This one is personal to me, and I am confident that we will be able to raise the funds for this important event.

Thank you.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. I would be delighted if you would share this post with your friends. Tx.

P.P.S. The first person to donate $100 will receive a set (6) of my books. 

 

Posted on July 5, 2021 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

Ballantyne’s Cove – July 1

 

“They go down with their nets to the shore,

They go down like their fathers before,

And the sea seems to say, “If you ride me today,

I will grant you the wealth of my store.”

Sea People -Allister MacGillivray

Very often in life, it pays to be spontaneous.

Like many Canadians, I was conflicted about Canada Day. Make no mistake. Aside from all the warts and blemishes, I still love this country and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. Not all of my loyal readers are on Facebook. In addition to the pieces that I have written recently in this space, I have also been posting stories and images on Facebook about residential schools.

When I got up on Canada Day, I knew that this one would be far different than many others. It would feel different and look different, with the color orange possibly supplanting the red and white we normally see on this day.

There is a lovely, scenic drive not far from here affectionately referred to as “The Cape”. Some say that it is miniature version of the world-famous Cabot Trail in Cape Breton. I contacted my daughter to see if she and her daughter would like to go for a drive around The Cape and possibly (?!) get an ice cream at Ballantyne’s Cove. For good measure we decided to have lunch together before heading off on a 75km drive.

Lunch turned out to be very special. We decided to watch a video depicting the lives of Inuit people. We sat at the kitchen table and watched Young Inuk, a brief (32 minutes) video produced in my former home in Kangiqsujuaq. https://youtu.be/yXOqI1jFe0c. I was able to pause the video many times to explain some aspects of scenes being portrayed. I think my granddaughter learned a lot about the Inuit way of life, most notably that they are people of the land. A few people in the video are survivors of residential schools so we were able to address that topic in an appropriate way.

The weather in town was overcast but as we neared Ballantyne’s Cove, the sun burst through presenting us with a picture- perfect afternoon.

Ballantyne’s Cove is a very busy, active wharf, home to North Bay Fisherman’s Coop.

“They are sea people, the pride of the land,

Strong of the spirit and rough of the hand,

Sea people the waters command,

From their rocky old steeds of the strand”.

The primary product of the Cooperative is lobsters. In a good year, these tasty crustaceans are very profitable with one of the major markets overseas.  It is estimated that the lobster industry in Canada is worth $1 billion a year with much of the output coming from Nova Scotia. I think it is fair to say that the 2020 season was extremely challenging. Catches were good but prices paid to the fishers were very low as demand cratered because of Covid.

By all accounts, the 2021 season has been much better. Prices have more than doubled and the catches in most areas have been strong.

Our first stop was at the small, but amazing Fish and Ships food emporium a few steps away from the wharf and St.Georges Bay. If you want some awesome fish and chips, here is the place you want to go. Our bellies were still too full from lunch for fish and chips but there was still a small cavity that could accommodate an ice cream cone. With cones in hand, we walked over to the wharf.

One thing you will notice immediately at any active wharf is the smell. Of course, one would expect to smell fish but add to that, the aroma of seaweed and salt air and you have the perfect cocktail available in the Maritimes. Lobsters are harvested in Nova Scotia in different locations at different times of the year. As it turned out, the season in our zone was days away from drawing to a close. The wharf was a hubbub of activity as many fishers were hauling in their traps. Inclement weather was being predicted for the final day (July 3^rd) so many decided to haul their pots on this exquisite sunny day.

“As the waves rise to tumble and fall,

In the face of a wild summer’s squall,

All the traps will be cast, and the courses held fast,

For they brave through the worst of it all”.

My granddaughter was quite taken with the huge jellyfish floating in the water. She also clambered up massive rocks which form the breakwater. I chatted with a few of the fishers. Sometimes they can be reticent to tell you when they’ve had a banner year. Not this year. You could feel the elation that this had been a great season.

We strolled over to the Bluefin Tuna Interpretive Center. We watched an excellent video depicting the burgeoning tuna industry. My granddaughter was very interested to see the tuna captured and to learn that tunas caught in these waters end up in some of the fanciest restaurants in Japan the day after they are caught. Buyers for the Japanese market show up at the wharf when a bluefin is caught and bid for it at an auction. This was a great way of explaining to my granddaughter the notion of global economy.

It was truly, a wonderful afternoon full of sights, sounds and smells, with a dose of education thrown in for good measure.

I live in a housing cooperative. It is located at the end of a dead-end street. A river runs through the property, and it is surrounded by stands of gigantic trees. Of course, Covid has prevented the residents from gathering for nearly 18 months. It was decided that we would have an outdoor pizza party on Canada Day. Many of our residents are older and you could see them beaming just, to be in the presence of friends in a safe setting.

We happen to have a very accomplished fiddler as one of the tenants. After we dined, John pulled out his fiddle and played several lively tunes much to the delight of everyone. I went and got my guitar to chord along with John. This led to a two- hour spontaneous sing along. Another one of our residents it a well -known vocalist. She has sung at more ceilidhs, weddings, and funerals than you can shake a stick at… in English and Gaelic! My guitar was passed around to a few others. It was an impromptu ceilidh and it was awesome.

The evening was overcast with dark clouds looming the entire time. Miraculously the rain (and the mosquitoes) stayed away. It was a perfect evening spent with friends.

This Canada Day wasn’t a flag waving type of day for many Canadians. For many of us, it was a day of reflection. It was also an opportunity to connect with family and friends after a brutally long stretch apart.

It was a day of spontaneity, laughter and fellowship; fireworks of a very different kind.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

“I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sails shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking”.

Sea Fever – John Masefield

Have a great week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on July 1, 2021 under Thursday Tidbits with one comment

 

Eating and reading. These are a few of my favourite things.

 

Someone said that it’s a holiday today.

Thanks for the memo.

The only thing retirees know about the days of the week is that they all end in the letter Y. This wasn’t always the case. Most people of my generation have been working since they were teenagers. Many of us, especially in Catholic communities, came from large families. On our street alone, well in excess of 100 children occupied 27 homes. When you consider that 4 of these homes housed no children, you get the picture. I came from a family of 8 children. If you wanted the finer things in life like a CCM hockey stick, you damn well had to work for it.

At the tender age of 14, I got my first job. I was hired by Joe “Mike” MacDonald to cut the grass at the cemetery. I was paid the princely sum of $1.00 an hour which was the going rate for unskilled labor back in the 60s. In many ways, it was the ideal job. You worked unsupervised. No one in the cemetery was going to report a slothful youth. Other than the hum of the mower, it was quiet. There were only two times when you weren’t cutting grass: during a rainstorm and during a burial. I witnessed many committals from a distance. The hereafter was a mystery to a 14-year-old boy. It still is at the age of 69.

I am not going to spoil your holiday by giving you the details of my c.v. (Curriculum Vitae and not Corona Virus!). Safe to say, most of my loyal readers have worked all their lives. A few of us who didn’t get the memo that it was OK to stop someday, (?) continued to work beyond the normal retirement age of 65.

Now that I am officially retired, for the second time, I have been pondering the future. For the first time that I can ever remember, I don’t have many, if any, responsibilities. I have made inquiries about the possibility of doing a Masters in Adult Education at our local university. This has a lot of appeal: learning for the sake of learning. But it also sounds like it might be work.

After careful consideration I have decided that I will pursue a Masters in Doing Nothing (MDN). I seem to have already perfected the course syllabus. It involves sleeping, including power naps during the day… any time of the day. It incorporates a couple of walks a day, reading, eating, and consuming Netflix in rather large volumes. A glass of vino or a cold brew on a hot day, and, voila, you have attained your MDN.

I am reading a book about the life of Leonardo Da Vinci. I must admit that I know very little about art except our neighbor, Art MacD. who was the goaltender for our high school hockey team. Da Vinci was much, much more than an artist, as I have discovered. He had a brilliant mind and saw the world much differently than most mortals. However, he had one flaw that wouldn’t have gone down well with my mother. Leonardo was notorious for not finishing what he started. Many of his commissioned paintings were never completed.

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of a socially distanced outdoor meeting with Denise Davies. After traveling and working internationally for almost 45 years, Denise returned to Antigonish in 2010. In these past 11 years she has been photographing and writing about Nova Scotia. Recently she published an excellent book called “Out and About Antigonish”. If you want to explore nature, go for a hike, see our amazing beaches, learn about history, art, and culture, all within 2 hours of Antigonish, this is the book for you. When we are allowed to have visitors, this would be an excellent guidebook for them. www.outandaboutns.com

Are you bored with your cooking? So am I. While maple glazed pork tenderloin and sweet and sour meatballs sound yummy (unless you’re vegan!), after you’ve prepared and eaten them a gazillion times, the novelty and enjoyment fade quickly. Enter “Fresh Food Matters”. During my recent quarantine, I didn’t cook a single meal, unless you consider raisin toast and peanut butter a meal. Family and friends provided me with my main meal of the day. Never have I been so spoiled. My daughter suggested that I try one of Antigonish’s newest food emporiums. Fresh Food Matters prepares meals to go for unimaginative and uninspired people like yours truly. I am not suggesting that the rest of you are as unimaginative and uninspired as I am. They make delicious soups, hummus, fantastic salads and a variety of quiches and meals to go. https://www.talech.com/biz/ordering/328145/FRESH-FOOD-MATTERS-ANTIGONISH-NS#/menu. I may never cook again.

Part of my MDN involves childcare. I plan to spend time with my granddaughters this summer. A few days ago, I spent a few hours with one of them. With the school year ending in a few days’ time, I thought a little graduation ceremony (she’s in grade 3) was in order. We went out for lunch and then moseyed across the street to the 5 to $1.00 to pick up a graduation gift. She picked out a small plush toy and a box of Lego. We went back to my place. She quickly assembled a piano out of Lego and moved on to create a beautiful drawing.  I spectated. Watching a grandchild play might be one of the best spectator sports… ever.

The master of doing nothing will be hard at it on this holiday Thursday.

As Ringo Starr sang, “All I got to do is act naturally”!

Have a great weekend.