Thursday 30 September 2021

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

I knew I had to mention this. I knew I should, as a white woman of privilege. Many whites ignore it, which is a shame. They reveal their ignorance. Systemic racism exists in Canada. 


Go to a pow wow: Spirit of the Drum Pow Wow – Smiths Falls | Smiths Falls Pow Wow: Spirit of the Drum | Missing Murdered Indigenous Women: displays | 

Read a book or three: Oka crisis, Kanesatake, The Sixties Scoop, Phyllis' Story - Orange Shirt Day.

Read anything

Dr. Peter Bryce: whistleblower, is in Beechwood Cemetery, Ottawa.

Who was Dr. Peter Bryce? Public tour at Beechwood ... - CBC.ca

    Read about how whites tried to tell truth to power: Treaties, Residential Schools, First Nations.

    National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada – June 21

    Learn about First Nations traditions 

    Buy an orange shirt from a First Nations company.

    Watch a video: The Land Between: Southern Ontario.


    Music Art Dance & Drama

    6 Indigenous artists you need to know in 2021 | CBC Music

    Willie Dunn – 1971 Pity the Country

    This guy is really fun! Dakwäkäda Road Report

    Walkies with Cinnamon

     Fairly soon all the foliage will change, leaves will drop, as well as the temperature. I have to enjoy each mild day! Off we went. Cinnamon was snuggling an interesting tree. There is a large crack in it. I shall watch it.


    Down he comes!

    I paused to take a photo of the fungus, Cinnamon was curious.

    The fungus and mushrooms have been amazing. We had a ton of them after the heavy rains.

    The tree above is dead, the fungus is so pretty. The mosses, below, are a bright green. For now!

    Up another tree!

    Amanita muscaria var. guessowii, commonly known as the American yellow fly agaric

    I found another interesting tree. They have fused together over time. Imagine, we have passed into our 11th year in this house (Sept. 15th). Think of the number of trips I've made through this forest and this is the first time I noticed this one. 

    OK, back to the trek. The old birch trees have fallen. They make room for the young trees!


    "Wait for me!"

    Here is Nutmeg. The collar worked well. 

    Nutmeg beat me home!

    On Sunday, Nutmeg turned up without the collar. Twerp. Back to square one. I have another collar that I made for Annabelle, but not the tear away insert. She looked quite arrogant about it! I shall have to think this through.

    Self-care

    Things have opened up in Ontario. Our particular health unit is doing very well, with 90% of 12+ people vaccinated, we are ahead of the other Ontario health units. All this with a dippy anti-vax, conspiracy theory MPP. Maybe it's our way of fighting him?

    The protocols are pretty good here in town. Some are over the top, but what can one say? That gruesome hand sanitizer they make customers use is horrid. I was in a craft store, they insisted I use it, and they didn't let me touch anything, either. It was comical, but it did trigger anxiety. They were quite assertive. 

    Anyway, it was time for self-care. I went for a massage to ease my soreness. It was wonderful. I headed home, and back out for a pedicure. It was lovely. Wearing my favourite Autumn dress, I had dressed up for the day! I'm booked for a haircut this week, too.

     

    So, the hotel has hand wipes for after you push the button on the elevator button.  I haven't been in an elevator for ages.

    As we watched TV in the evening, Cinnamon didn't want to sit on my lap for long. This is his fun perch. You can see Nutmeg's box in the background. He crawled into it last night.

    Wednesday, Sept. 29th, I rose from slumber, let the cats out, and went to sit in my chair.


    The deermice are beginning to look for winter homes. That's two this week, indoors. 

    Things are settling into Autumn. I am watching the temperatures. Soon it'll be time to bring in the goldfish. Yes, Yam, we approacheth the time, but I hope I have a bit more time. The trick is to do it on a warm day, prior to freeze up. The furnace is on, so I best make a plan. 

    Wednesday 29 September 2021

    Mouse tails...


    JB was sitting in his chair, Friday night Sept. 24th at 8:45 p.m., watching TV. Nutmeg came in with a toy in her mouth. OK, that's a mouse, he thought. She ran away after he got up. She knew it was a bad thing, even though she was quite proud of it, enough to show JB. Next, he went to the door to get a net, and started looking for her. 

    Eventually, we found her downstairs with the mouse in her mouth, just outside the cold storage. She dropped it and it ran behind the shelving unit. It stayed in there, He couldn't get it out with the stick. It was my turn. I knelt down and grabbed it, couldn't get it. I moved the shelving unit, JB moved the iron. We put it out the back door. 

    Here we be. Nutmeg, AKA Killer, was wearing a collar. JB is giving her some treats. They are going out for a couple of hours, then coming in to eat, and then are grounded.  Cinnamon went walkies with me later. I can wake him up and get home going. He'll come back to the house and sleep.

    The orchid cactus is indoors, and I've pruned it.

    I was preparing the garden for winter, and found two caterpiglies! Submitting the photos to BAMONA, I had IDs. They are the same species. 

    Salt Marsh Moth or Acrea Moth
    Estigmene acrea


    Salt Marsh Moth or Acrea Moth
    Estigmene acrea


    What a change from summer! These are from August...

    And now, it's all dead or dying. I didn't want to water it too much, not knowing how the precipitation was going to be. We had a bit of drought.

     🐻SNUGGLE Bears

    September 27th –  ♪♫Angels we have heard on high!

    JB is faithfully doing his walkies, and the doe did a walk-by.

    walkies from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

    I was outside, and the doe was following Cinnamon

    Cinnamon & doe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

    This is part 2


    Cinn & doe part 2 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

    Tuesday 28 September 2021

    The Auction Pickup in Spencerville Part 2

     The quest for the Culvert

    We were headed to Spencerville for the auction [The Auction Pickup in Spencerville Part 1]. I usually tell Caitlin that we are going to take a road trip. She texted back, "Say hi to culvert 448 on the 416 for me. I’ve been working on an MTO project".

    I asked if she wanted a photo, but she was dubious that we could find it. She sent an image. I did some work online, and figured out where it could be. The trick was getting on to highway #416. We circled it, on backroads, and had to go back to Spencerville to access the highway ramp.  


    I found this on Google maps, and knew where to look. I didn't find the second photo (below) until I was curating the trip photos. I took us up #44, and along Ventor, trying to find where a culvert would be obvious. We had to circle back to get onto #416.

    We looked around for the likeliest spot. The bridge over the highway didn't tell me anything. There is lots of swamp and wetland.




    After circling, I found it! I hope you are impressed. This is a drive-by shooting! It was a delightful challenge.


    Back on the road home

    We saw some fun homes, some old ones, and new ones. 


    Of course, the trees...


    The sumac is changing colour. 







    I used both the GPS we have in the car, although it's getting old, but I also used my mappie thing on the cell phone. I needed all the help I could get. The road names are fun!

    Harvest time


    This is the GPS. We went to Spencerville via Jasper, and did a circuitous route home (pink).

    The clouds appeared!

    Smiths Falls, on Old Sly Rd. were bikers doing a tour.


    They have all these post-war homes, originally built by the government for veterans and WW II workers. Linda Sescapina wrote about them. Also, from the history corner, Toronto.com
    "Over all, 46,000 similar homes were built across Canada, during and after the Second World War, by the Wartime Housing Corporation (which became the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 1946.) Initially these homes were built to house people working in war-related industry." 


    Isn't this pretty?!

    That is two roofing jobs I spotted this trip. As we head into winter, you want a good roof over your head.

    Whoa there!

    This was a car dealership and auction house, prior to that a second hand store, now shut.

    OK, I did snort at this. There is a food truck here.

    I like this shot! It began to rain on our way home. We arrived home, unloaded our loot and put our feet up.

    The season is changing. 

    Time for 🐻SNUGGLE Bears; JB is pretty creative, all things considered!


    The Bears from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.