starting a wish list

at the top of the wish list is a cube van, something like this one, for picking up donated material for the ReStore. it's also an amazing moving billboard. also on the wish list are things like a forklift, pallet jacks, moving dollies, industrial shelving, and lots of high energy volunteers.

got the word from the local landfill administrator today that they're giving us a location with 3 reasonably good buildings, on trial, for a year - RENT AND UTILITIES FREE!!!! does it get any better than that? i can probably start setting up my office next week.

we do the dance of joy!!

a gathering of friends

Nancy, on the left, was having a birthday. so Flo, next to her, invited a bunch of us to a birthday feast @ her country cottage B&B. and taught us how to play a card game called Dutch Blitz. Flo was raised in the nearby Holdeman Mennonite community. the Holdemans are a very conservative branch of the Mennonite faith who still are shocked to see a woman's legs, arms or hair!!!! their women wear head coverings, and calf-length dresses with high necklines and sleeves. Flo was single when i first met her, so she made a living selling baked goods at the local farmer's market for years. it's how she financed the B&B, believe it or not! and her rep as a baker got the B&B customers coming. but she's been ostracized by her people, for being an independent, unmarried woman running a business. just a few years ago, she married a man from 'outside the faith'. so now she's not just ostracized, she's actually shunned. shunning is alive and well in some bleak places on the fringes of civilization. but Flo is a strong and courageous woman. she continues to treat the people of her community with respect, and behaves with integrity and dignity. but she's not letting them tell her how to live her life. she's even taken to wearing (shudder) jeans!!!

Come 'n listen to my story 'bout a man named Jedd

borrowed a truck and a buddy and loaded up, a' la Beverly Hillbillies, to move some of my locks, stocks, and barrels. the grandgirl thought it would be a good place to ride, on back there. i suggested a rocking chair and a shotgun. she didn't get it. the joke's not as good when you have to explain it. she was mildly disappointed when i pointed out there were no seatbelts up there.

signposts along the road of life

as i make the move to the city, things need to be sorted, gifted, stored and, when all else fails, become landfill. so i took my camera along to the dump with me. there were a few other industrious souls making deliveries there too. and they seemed to think it a strange place to be taking scenic shots. but they'll be great for my Earth Day power point presentation next week, introducing the ReStore idea to the city, and all its associated environmental benefits.... and beginning the campaign to recruit volunteers and contributors. know anyone in northern alberta who'd like to donate a cube van?

wicked stepmother

just spent the last two days in ICU with my stepmum and my dad. she's been a smoker for 56 years, and her lungs are shot. a lung cancer survivor, she's been packing an oxygen tank with her everywhere she goes for 5 years now. on sunday she stopped breathing and was rushed to hospital. they gave her 48 hours to live. that was about, (quick mental calculation) 72 hours ago. now they're making preparations to move her out of ICU into another ward, to recover more before sending her home. this is the second time she's fooled everyone. today she's angry, bitchy and poisonous. that's how we know she's getting better. i feel like i've spent 2 days marinating in venom.

an interesting fact. there are 5 siblings in the family. none of us smoke. makes me think of a quote a high school english teacher i had years ago had pinned above the blackboard. "there is something to be learned from everyone, even if it is only not to be like them."

amen