Friday 30 September 2011

Crime and Punishment: Corrections Canada or Punishment Canada?

The Conservatives, I wrote about prior to the last federal election...

The Tories keep sending out those darned fliers, asking if we want them to be 'tough on criminals', while crowding penitentiaries and undermining any progress in reducing crime, and rehabilitating criminals. Having volunteered in a minimum security prison, facilitating a Creative Writing class, I've seen what can make criminals turn around, rather than spending big bucks on increasing prison capacity and putting more in jail. Our prison system is working hard to make a difference. Stuffing people in overcrowded prisons is causing chaos and undermining this work.



Use this form to easily send a customized email to your MP and the Clerk, Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development.

This is a wonderful commentary by the infamous Rick Mercer. My hero!

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Doors Opened in Delta, Ontario: Old Stone Mill

Open Doors Delta called us!


We visited the Old Stone Mill museum. Built in 1810, it is an amazing piece of machinery. The first of its kind in this area, the old beams, milled from solid huge piece of timber make the building very special.


The mill has artifacts of days gone by.

This makes a great shot, doesn't it?!
And cheaper than Clement's lake for G8!

View from the upper story - rushing water.

The size of the mill stones

The Old Stone Mill was first built on this site around 1796 by Abel Stevens, a loyalist from Vermont. AFter 1800 the property went to William Jones, who constructed this mill in 1810. One of the oldest surviving mills in Ontario it is an historic site.







Tea Party heads north?

I hope not, but it may well be so.
Tea Party Consultants Head North

Michael Prell, who bills himself as a "strategist for the Tea Party Patriots," has joined the campaign of Tim Hudak, the Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. 


Hudak is part of a new generation of politicians pulling the Progressive Conservatives further to the right. He pledged to abolish the Ontario Human Rights Commission, for example, in a deal to secure his position as party leader. In 2009, while speaking to a Canadian Christian right group, the Association for Reformed Political Action, he declared that he was opposed to abortion and had signed petitions calling for the defunding of abortions. He has also supported taxpayer funding to religious private schools. Recent proposals for tax cuts and changes to the healthcare system are very Tea Party-esque.

I know my American friends will sympathise.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Praying mantis creeps slowly





A bit of a face wash!
On incredible legs, she crept along the back deck. Crawling up the metal railing, she looks like some prehistoric beast out of a horror movie.
She looks unreal!

Two frogs went into a bar

Pond is still lively!
Actually, they hopped into a pond with a bar. A nice pond, built this month!


This one has been going in circles

seems pretty happy


These 2 were hanging out at the bar.

Ya seen that cute chick over there?
She single?

Idda know.
Wanna buy her a drink?!

Grumpy looking gremlin, head in his hand, says, "Young people these days."

Monday 26 September 2011

The call of the geese

someone killed a red snake
The family that shares a meal...
Oh, yes. Fall is here. We had a warm weekend, and I've been spending 5 - 6 hours working outdoors. Great exercise, if sore muscles.

Cleaning up brush, chopping down dead trees, creating more garden art and tweaking the pond.
Buster was a great help.
Felix and Sadie were breaking bread together.

We had some dead elms taken down. That wood is stacked.
Felix wanted to help get the paper.
Bear and sumac



Newly done garden art
Buster Brown shows me the dead tree!
The geese have been flying overhead. It is beautiful. It is the demarcation point between summer and fall. Not really a point, but signs that allow us to prepare.

I loved living by the lake, watching the geese raise their young. That is all behind us now We are happier watching our children raise our granddaughters!

What a helper!
I told many stories about Eddie and Eva (for those of my generation, 'Green Acres is the place to be!).
We watched these geese come back year after year. They complained about weekend tourists. But they were beautiful to watch.


This video is a short one featuring the sounds of the geese honking, with a few close-ups of my old friends.

Sunday 25 September 2011

Will the provincial election mimic the federal?

It was a shock that the NDP managed to go from 1970s meetings of only a handful of people, to becoming the official opposition in this year's federal election. The pollsters are admitting their screwup. They totally screwed polls by unfairly comparing land lines to cell phone responses.

With the passing of NDP leader Jack Layton, the NDP will have to regroup federally.


A pollster’s painful reckoning: ‘How could I have screwed up so badly?'
 In 1967, the median age was 26. It's now 42. Today's average voter is in his or her early 60s. Young people aren't getting out to vote. At the turn of the penultimate century, 1900, average lifespan was 40. Now it is over 80. A vastly different perspective.
A recent CBC article:

Pollsters grapple with methodology, impact of election polls

Polls seen to have had a 'major impact on the outcome' of last federal election

"I do think this was an interesting election in that it's hard to deny that polls themselves had a major impact on the outcome of the election," said Derek Leebosh of Environics.
He said a CROP poll published shortly after the televised leaders' debate and showing the NDP had leapt into a commanding lead in Quebec was like "a depth charge" exploding in the campaign.

Sweet corn signage- ironic!
Our politicians need to represent all constituents' points of view. Young and old, rich and poor, advantaged and disadvantaged, healthy and sick.
With several provincial elections on the way, we shall see what happens. The Ontario election is coming to a close (Oct. 6th).

Rick Mercer had it right: let's unite the liberals and the NDP. What a hilarious 2011 rant.

Thumbnail


Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

Rob Ford made it into the Toronto mayor's office on the strength of older voter support, they say. Ontario "Conservative Leader Tim Hudak is probably hoping the same generational fault line will work to his advantage in the October election, Mr. Graves said."

Hudak seems to be relying on the familiar rant, 'healthcare system is broken', and making false claims about the regional LHIN system. It does not cost $300 million to administer it. And if he intends to dismantle it, what kind of system does he envision?

If you have a weak candidate and a weak platform, wrap yourself up in the American flag and talk about the Constitution. -Matthew Stanley Quay, senator (1833-1904) 

Saturday 24 September 2011

Rideau Canal Museum















The 3 Smiths Falls Museums
(1. Train Museum 2. Rideau Canal Museum 3. Heritage House Museum)

Friday 23 September 2011

Bob's Diner, Delta, ON

This is a fabulous place! The photos speak for themselves. We were in Delta for the Open Doors Tour.