National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

This is the second annual day to commemorate the horrors committed against Indigenous People.

Sept. 30 is also Orange Shirt Day, which honours the story of Phyllis Webstad, a former residential school student who had her orange shirt taken away on her first day at a residential school. The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is encouraging Canadians to wear orange as an act of solidarity.

 

I bought us orange shirts from a First Nations company. I'm not going anywhere today, I will wear my shirt. I am overwhelmed with the talk of a new gun club out our back yard, across the wetland. My anxiety has kicked in. The OPP have recertified here for 22 years, but this will be a private gun club. More on this another day. 

Finally the pumpkin plants I'd grown from seed are blossoming. It's a bit late. They'll never amount to anything. I'll have to figure out something different for next year! In the meantime, our local farm has lots.

The orchid is doing well, four blooms now!

I submitted this to iNaturalist: Rusty Tussock Moth; Orgyia antiqua

I've my warm, cozy slippers on! They were a gift from my friend, Natrice.

Our furnace is on in the morning to bring up the heat. The season is changing. It was a mere 2 C. this morning. Critters are on the move. They are looking to hibernate or migrate. We're just going to hunker down. The other day I spotted Clover and her fawn. The fawn was hunkered down under the tree, sheltering from the rain. 

The trees are wearing orange. I watched as JB fetched our mail.

Flying geese and hurricanes

 Yes, it is that time of year. We knew it was coming. This is, I think, a small flock of geese practicing their formation.

They sure have grown! Our geese from our time in Muskoka.

🌪 Tropical Storm Fiona has ravaged Puerto Rico. Then it attacked Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador.  Armed Forces are going door-to-door the check on folks. There are reports of people being sucked into the water, and fighting for their lives. Three dead, last reported. Many left the coast to go stay with relatives. Many lost EVERYTHING. Thisvideo shows the shoreline, with houses 6 deep lost, and the land scoured down to rock.

Robin lost two cottages, a shed, and his teeth in the storm. He is still smiling and thinks the gulls got his teeth! What a character. Everyone is taking in friends and families, as houses were washed away in the storm surge.

The wild horses on Sable Island fared well. Staff hunkered down, and their buildings lost some siding, but no one was hurt. The horses were seen out grazing after the storm passed.

In the meantime, Hurricane Ian attacked Florida, having smacked Cuba upside the head. 

What struck me are the planes gathering data from the storm – according to Flight Radar! There are so many doing this work, or storm chasing to give us information. 

This is what it is like in the NOAA42 plane:

OVER THE CARIBBEAN- @NOAA WP-3D Orion “Kermit” #NOAA42 flies into the eye of Hurricane #Ian 09.27.22. Credit: Nick Underwood, NOAA. Visit https://t.co/Wv5xRkqsl1 for info on the storm. #FlyNOAA #Science #aviation pic.twitter.com/lUP9JMNfFD

— NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (@NOAA_HurrHunter) September 27, 2022

The eye of #Ian was 60 km in diameter. Hurricane Charlie had equivalent winds (250 kph/155 mph) but only a 5 km diameter eye of the storm. Storm surges are expected as high as 5 m (16'). 

Catalpa tree pruning

The trees sure have grown.

2011

We've two big Catalpas out front. This one is doing well. The leaves are huge. The buds and flowers are wonderful.

The other tree didn't start well or end well that year. My theory is that the sun bouncing off of the house heated the tree and killed off the cambium layer. 

Dead branches little the sidewalk. 

We managed to trim the second last branch of the catalpa tree during Week 37 of Gramma Camp with my helpers.

Finally, Sept. 24th I managed the last big dead branch. There are new branches growing up from the base of the trunk. We'll see what happens next year.

The kids arrived!

Yes, the kids came to visit Saturday. JB went into the market and fetched six of Jinny's fabulous Korean dinners. It was a lovely day. I was finishing up cutting the dead branches on my Catalpa Tree. They arrived just in time to pull help me clean up.

Papa took a photo of them doing the heavy lifting for me. 

helpers from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

The girls sat out on the back deck, after their work was done. They found Maple tree frog on the back railing, and had a visit. 

Dinner was great. The girls made up their bed in the basement and we all konked out early after a busy week.

Breakfast was on the front deck. Then then played cards. They took a walk in the forest and found mushrooms as well as the bear poop!

kids from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Nutmeg was playing with something in the window. It was another tree frog on the outside of the window. Out Jos went to find it.

Caitlin made a box on the floor, but Cinnamon wasn't playing along.