Wednesday 30 September 2015

September weather

Sept. 29




Sept. 28



Sept. 19th


Sept. 12/13

We had 17 mm, and a really cold couple of days. Overnight low of 6 C.!
We baked some chicken, in lieu of putting on the furnace.

Sept. 9

The Muskoka Region was hard-hit
with power outages.

We had little rain < 1mm!

Sept. 6

None of these brought us any rain!

I'm finished: 4 skirts!

I think, since they are so busy, and their other gramma is staying with them, I'll mail them. As with all kids there is Brownies, and ballet, plus their father is running for election. It's a busy household. I just didn't have time for fittings. I asked them to measure their waists and measured the elastic accordingly. I'll cross my fingers.

We chose the patterns on-line, when we babysat for a week, then we drove down to Sew Crafty (it's famous around here!) and we bought the material.

Later, I realized I'd bought the smaller size of the tri-coloured skirts (3 - 6) for one pattern, and the material requirements didn't match and I had to go back for more material. Thankfully, Sue still had the same colours, but one. She taped a sliver trio of the material on the back of the patterns for me, in order for me to figure out which girl wanted which colours.

I cut the pieces out, with feline assistance, as you can see. The krinkley patterns, the ones I didn't use, were a favourite for Annabelle. They played with that for days. Buster liked the purple, especially.
I usually keep the material and patterns in a shoe box, bring it into the living room while hubby watches TV, and spread the material out. Dorah liked the shoe box, as well as the blue bin, where I keep the leftover material. She had a particular favourite material, the 'Frozen' one. This was Isabelle's choice.

 I hope you get a kick out of this, as I did!
The 'indoor' plants are in from their outdoor summer holiday, the season has changed. We expect a low of 4 C. tonight. Now, I need another project.
 

Tuesday 29 September 2015

What do you know about the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)?

I didn't. I did some research. I'm trying to relax! I like research.

It is a secretive deal, rumoured to have an impact on Canadian dairy farmers, pharmaceutical access, automobile production.
We know how the safety of Canadians has been impacted by outsourcing.
We know how Canadians have been put out of work through outsourcing.
We know how overseas products can be contaminated.
We know how shoddy goods proliferate the market.
We know how frustrating it is to deal with IT support based in another country, where English is not spoken well by its employees.

Dairy farmers, from both Ontario and Quebec, have begun a protest. I don't blame them. Small farms, family farms, farms feed cities. It's shameful what this government is doing.

Quebec dairy farmers panicked over Trans-Pacific deal - CBC

Sept. 26th - Quebec dairy farmer Réal Gauthier says the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal may make him reconsider whether it's worth it to continue...



They worry about intellectual property laws.

Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement | Electronic Frontier ...

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a secretive, multinational trade agreement that threatens to extend restrictive intellectual property (IP) laws across the... 

What worries me most is the  secrecy around it. Of course, one doesn't negotiate in public, yet this is an aspect of the economy that affects employees, employers, consumers, farmers, and yet the government thinks this is a good deal.

The Macleans article is worrisome:
"The battle over automobile production could be epic. 
If all goes according to plan, the government will reveal details later this week of the Trans-Pacific Partnership at briefings in three different cities: Atlanta, Ottawa, and Montreal, which is hosting Friday’s French-language election debate. Should the negotiations in Georgia conclude successfully, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper will take to the stage heralding a new free-trade deal covering 40 per cent of the global economy."

Harper Conservatives hope to have TPP agreement this ...

Sept. 28th - If all goes according to plan, the government will reveal details later this week of the Trans-Pacific Partnership at briefings in three different cities.


Doctors Without Borders has been trying to raise this issue for months and we need to listen to the experts. 
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/.../trading-away...