SoCS: D’oh…

D’oh… I forgot to write the Saturday SoC blog post!

I have been very excited and happy. I may have talked about a new volunteer gig that came from a seminar I took called “Bridges Out of Poverty”. The program I was already volunteering in sent us to the seminar covering the cost for us.

Earlier this month we all met for the first time over dinner which volunteers make for us.  There are ‘leaders’: the young people who have been raised in poverty and have taken a course to get them in this program. They call them ‘leaders’ because they are leading their families out of poverty.  They are set up with ‘allies’ who are older people able to give them guidance and encouragement. Help them with things life throws at you.

Friday I was asked to be an ally. I knew this girl as a teenager and I knew her mom who died of a drug overdose just a few months ago. When I saw her at the first dinner I knew…… on Friday it was confirmed.

So Saturday morning I wrote to some friends because I was so excited and missed the SoCS.

This is truly an amazing program. The book that started it all is “Bridges Out of Poverty”.   Here in Canada its called “Circles”. In the USA the program is called ‘Bridges’. We meet once a week for dinner and it costs nothing; no dough. Just being there is great because the people you are with are all there because they want to help. You could volunteer just to cook and have dinner with everyone or babysit while leaders talk to their allies.

 

Woke up to snow this morning…… D’oh crap.

 

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “dough/d’oh.” Use one, use both, use ’em any way you like. Enjoy!

 

https://lindaghill.com/2019/03/29/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-30-19/

SoCS; electricity

Electricity. Like our health, we forget how important it is until we don’t have it. When our power goes at night I miss my TV so much. When you live with another person you can play a game or…. do something else. But living alone…. OMG how long can you read or do a crossword with a little tiny light?

Luckily, I have a wood stove. How fast does a place get cold when the furnace shuts off? FAST! I would have to sleep on my couch in a sleeping bag because my bedroom stays so cold all day that I need an electric blanket to warm it up. Without an electric blanket, I couldn’t get in that bed.

I often compare electricity to God. You can’t see electricity but you can sure see the effects of it. Luckily we all believe in electricity so it works.

I remember being very young and looking at the empty socket in a string of Christmas lights….. so I stuck my finger in it. Holy Moly, I’ll never forget what that feels like.

My mother was severely electrocuted. We had steel cupboards, which was the newest thing back in the early ’60’s. One day my mom went to open the fridge while still holding a handle of the cupboard and made a connection. I remember coming home from school and our neighbour ran out to tell me my mom was at her place, resting on the couch, lucky to be alive. I think steel cupboards did not catch on for that very reason.

Yesterday I got my electric bill or ‘Hydro’ as we call it here; a throw back from when all our electricity came from Niagara Falls. Now it comes mainly from nuclear fusion (or something nuclear) but they are a lot of windmills around here because we are by Lake Huron.

Electricity…. I love it!

 

https://lindaghill.com/2019/03/22/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-23-19/

SoCS: a bash

Well now, I always knew the word ‘unabashedly’ so it stands to reason there would be an abash.  OOhhhh, according to the ABC check there isn’t but I cheated and looked it up in the dictionary.

Nah, I’m not going to use it. I’m no Charlotte Bronte; (“He had never blushed in his life; no humiliation could abash him.”) That was in my dictionary.

I would love to have a bash at my home. I have tried and failed. My friends all live far away. Sometimes we have a reunion and I’ve tried to have it here but apparently my place is too far away. They need to go the other way to Muskoka or stay in Toronto.

Its true; I do live in the land time forgot but you can make noise and party all night with no complaints. We even get fireworks happening on any given summer night.

I feel bad I’ve been neglecting my blog friends. Recently I found an old friend on Facebook and since then we have been writing almost everyday. It’s really cut into my writing time in the morning. And its given me someone to talk to besides you guys!

My exercise class was succesful and I started a new volunteer position in Circles. This is a program to help people who have been raised in poverty break the cycle. We met for dinner for the first time just to meet each other. “Wow” is all I can say right now. It was wonderful being in a room where everyone is there because they care about others and want to help.

I’ll write about it another day. I’ve already written to my friend this morning so now I want to get off this thing and get down to the sunny side of the house.

A little taste of spring today….. I am going out on the trail.

 

https://lindaghill.com/2019/03/08/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-9-19/

RDP: trial?

Canada and the USA both had damning testimonies the same day Trump was negotiating with Kim J U.  It was a big day for news.

Of course everyone in the world probably knows what Cohen said about Trump being a con-man, liar and racist but we all knew that. It was just so good to hear it from his lawyer under oath.

And then Kim J U walks out of negotiations. Big news for sure!

How many people in the USA know about what happened in Canada that day? We had been waiting for weeks for the testimony of Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former Justice Minister and Attorney General of Canada.

She said she had been unduly pressured by Trudeau and his government to find a way to help a corporation skirt around the law. For a couple of weeks she said she could not comment until she testified. They covered the story everyday saying she couldn’t comment so we were all waiting, anticipating….

Finally her testimony was on the same day as Cohen’s testimony. Similar to Cohen’s, it was damning. She testified she was pressured to find a way out of prosecuting this big, international corporation with headquarters in Montreal. When she stood up for doing what she felt was right, she was removed from her job.

In her testimony she talked about the values she was brought up with being a First Nations Matriarch. Trudeau is big on feminism and reconciliation so this was a huge blow to his character.

Here a link for the whole story if you are interested:

 

This was so disappointing. We liberals and left-wingers are slinking back into a corner in fetal position. Unlike Cohen’s testimony, where we were laughing, clapping and looking forward to Trevor Noah’s take on it, this was sombre, serious and sad.

So: our two nations are shaken up by testimonies that could lead to trial for both our leaders. We will hear about the USA everyday, I wonder how much the rest of the world will hear about Canada.

With Cohen calling out Trump and Kim J U walking out of negotiations on the same day; I can see how we could slip by unnoticed.

Now we are not so smug.

 

https://ragtagcommunity.wordpress.com/2019/03/03/rdp-sunday-trial/

SoCs: cele

At least we can celebrate we made it into March although we can’t celebrate spring yet. Yesterday we got a teaser.

The cardinals are celebrating. Big Red is in his spot every afternoon “Tyu, tyu, tyu!” (Yes that’s really what they say)

I am celebrating the sun coming in more and more every afternoon. However its showing some serious cobwebs. Yesterday I started pulling out furniture and vacuuming walls. Its yucky.

I have to accelerate my morning and get into TOWN. It’s supposed to start snowing now and snow all day.

Oh, but you gave me an earworm;  “Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the music!”

It’s an inspiration: Our program director left off the ‘dance’ part of my exercise class and just put “low impact exercise”. I’m very disappointed, however, they are going to dance!

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “cele-.” Find a word that starts with or contains “cele” and use it any way you’d like.

https://lindaghill.com/2019/03/01/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-march-2-19