Stuffs

A 10 year old photo from where I used to live right on the bay. I love the sky and the reflections of the boats.

I always like the way Andrew says "Stuffs" referring to minor tasks or items and have used it now in family settings. It's far, far better than the singular "stuff". Apologies to so many of you for what Blogger does to your comments. I just went through Blogger Jail and rescued so many of your comments on my blog which were trashed without rhyme nor reason - many of you frequent bloggers. I will try and make an effort to make this part of my routine now - checking the blog comments. 

As to other stuffs, I've been busy writing an article for a magazine based in England. It's about my mother's experience with birthing which was an absolute hell of a torturous experience for her. More on that later.

The other bits of writing is my own memoir of a period in my life where the participants and identifiers are now all passed on so I am free to write about it.

More is editing of a anthology which is hard going. Some of the writing is great, others not so much and requires far too much extensive editing. And this I find exhausting and maddening which is not good for my innards.

I waited and am waiting today for a call from my nephrologist to follow up on recent lab work. Nada. Already an hour has gone by and here I am, trapped, writing the blog, neglecting leaving as I have my own on line lab-work results in front of me and I have a myriad of questions on the line items ticked for "not normal". I imagine elders (and I have anecdotal evidence) are shoved aside in a stretched health care system that focuses on the more viable of its patients.*

I am reading Richard Flanagan, an Australian author I have fallen in love with. His writing is superb.

Question Seven was my introduction

And now I am reading The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

I hope to read all of his oeuvre. At times he is lyrical. 

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*update she did call and apologised for delay. Amongst other stuffs I have to go to hospital for more blood infusions. I've been struggling with exhaustion and putting it down to old age. Relieved it's not that.

Sibling Time

I'm the eldest, in the middle, with baby sister on my lap, surrounded by my four brothers.1959.

We come together from 4 different time zones every Sunday afternoon and have been doing this for nearly 6 years. We never miss. We tune in from cars, from parking lots, from beaches, from cabins, from little nooks in our homes away from everybody else. We are siblings.

The conversations lasts for hours. You'd think 6 people would have run out of topics, out of conversation. Some of us quietly get served dinner or lunch or a snack by spouses or grandchildren who tiptoe away quietly knowing this is a sacred, private time for the 6 of us.

We were six siblings, now we are 5. We lost our third eldest in November last year from cancer. It broke us all for a while. So 5. We changed the name of our group to his name.

We go on Zoom religiously for this weekly meeting and check each other out, talk of health, talk of childhood, talk of memory and challenges. 

It was fairly uptight when we started, little deep or personal sharing but as the years swept onwards, there are no holds barred and often we go on our private WhatsApp during the week too if things are getting a bit rough with one of us. We are carrying the fifth born of us at the moment with a rare form of cancer he has been diagnosed with. He had an operation last Friday. 

We have the odd political disagreement but are secure, very secure, in the knowledge that we care deeply for each other and are there through thick and thin.

We don't talk about how extraordinary this is. But we have said to each other we have come a long way in getting to this place of peace and love and harmony. Something that would have been impossible to imagine even a decade ago. There were mini-alliances within our sibling framework and a lot of petty infighting and yes, jealousies and failures. Magic like this doesn't happen. It is work and consciousness and someone breaking the mould of silence and secrets.

But we did it. We now trust each other without reservation. And look out for each other in thick or thin.

I feel blessed.

Shopping for Non-US products

 

Some of you may not be aware that when Trump launched his trade war on Canada there has been a huge rebellion in Canada on travelling to the U.S. and buying U.S, products here. Some I know are disposing of their US real estate and refusing to travel through the US to countries elsewhere. Usually inconvenient but nevertheless adhered to.

Canada is not a flag-waving country nor into the jingoism that characterises some countries. But there's a fierce patriotism nevertheless.

I feel for my dear US friends who suffer from this embargo but they understand our rage. Tourism and exports have been massively affected in the US. Hotels and inns are shuttering and other businesses (Liquor, farms, etc.) similarly affected. 

We are their biggest trading partner and it must hurt.

Meanwhile our prime minister is trotting around completing trade agreements with other countries.

I offer you this:

Mandarins from Spain (along with orange juice) - a huge deficit for Florida.

Many of us now buy only  cereal made in Canada. Goodbye Kelloggs.

Ketchup made in Canada. Goodbye Heinz.

And these heavenly biscuits (cookies) made in Australia. Real chocolate, organic. Note most US"chocolate" is actually "chocolate flavoured" whatever the hell that is.

I'm also noticing that everything I buy is much tastier, more flavourful, less sugar. Shelves are clearly marked in grocery stores and on line. "Canadian Made or Canadian sourced.|"

But for my US readers, I wish you this for your Thanksgiving. Fervently. With love.