Camera No

 When I was a world traveler flying with far less cost and hassle than now, the camera was always out there waiting to capture something rare. You wanted faces and people that were different than in your space. You were able to snap scenes with people in them freely and catch the smiles and waves to show everyone when you got back home. But now, when you go abroad, you don't take people pictures without asking, because it is considered an insult. And when you think of it, it is insulting for someone to photograph you and walk away with your image to do whatever they please with it including sending those images wherever and to whomever they choose. We have become what we might call more sophisticated about the matter of taking pictures of persons. I fully agree that we ought, indeed to be. Being no more, as I am now, someone who looks good in a snapshot from any angle, make-up or not, the camera on me, has become an offense. Cameras are not friendly machines. They "love" some people and do horrible things to others  who have certain shapes, shadows and bad reflective qualities. Saying "oh no, they tell the truth" is nonsense. They tell "a" truth, but not the true truth. If it were so, why would photographers spend time and money on special lenses, lighting and locations. And let's not forget the old fashion magazine habit of air brushing or digitally enhancing what they put on view. Everyone loves to look their best or film it, even if it means doing a little bit of magic using whatever tech methods are available. What I find the worst, is going to an event with friends and someone is cell-phoning everyone with this scary device. Cell phones, I admit do take great pics, and I am as guilty as anyone doing it, but with my efforts, a lot of editing time follows and I am being careful about where I am sending the pictures of people. If they don't look good, their picture goes to delete. When someone sends me their reams of photos after an event, I often see myself in them, at my worst. I recall that I tried to hide behind other people or put on my best face, but inevitably when I see myself  on film, I am horrified, and want to run behind the nearest tree and stay there. Who is this person, me of late, who looks like Jaba The Hut with an emphasis on hut because I am one. Others, who I assume are the same height and weight and width as I am, look far more appealing than this individual in the same scene, and the individual happens to be me. The truth is, I am not who or what I think I am. Apparently, according to psychologists, it's true. Most of us think we are pretty lovely but we have our flaws. And I get that. But I have to say, some people take great pictures when in real  life they aren't quite as perfect as their photographs. Do you know what I mean? 

Treasured Memories

To lose everything you ever loved or worked for and seeing it passing away before your very eyes as some  people did during the floods, is much like a deathwatch. Many of we elders have sat by a bed and held a hand, knowing that a life partner's end is near, very near,  and that when it happens, others will tell one to "let it go", "tomorrow is another day" and to "move on". None of these words meant in kindness, really help. They are usually spoken by those who have not been there, as you have. They're easy words to say, but impossible to follow. A friend of mine whose husband died, wore his sweaters and she was told at a counselling group for widows, that she should not wear the sweaters because they weren't allowing her to "move on". Moving on, is something different for everyone and there are people who do not want to "move on". They are happy to cling to memories because it gives them great pleasure to recall their past. And what is the harm in it? There are others, who cannot move beyond recounting their grief at loss to anyone who will listen. A very old man once opened every conversation with "I lost the wife, you know" and he found great solace in hearing back, the comforting words.  One person who lost family members decades ago, found his  comfort in relaying his losses to anyone who had also, and would join him in tears and hugs of grieving. Another individual "moved on" too quickly for his family's comfort, and they told him they would never forgive him. These examples are real and tragic and happen every day. They are about people, not things and "things" can be replaced we are told.  But to see your house filled with all your very personal treasures that took a lifetime to gather and are revered, but that are now sodden in muddy flood waters racing by, is worse. Much worse.  In the event of death, you  have memorials and funerals and gravestones and wakes, but when your home is ripped from you, there is no celebrating the terrible loss. Tomorrow comes and you are forced to wake up and start all over again. There are many tales told about the disasters but few that last beyond a few days. The media, now a  hungry monster in our midst, one that consumes us and feeds on us, and we it,  forgets and soon moves on for further events to report. The media monster seeks more prey and those who suffered the losses must depend on the more patient writers and documentarians to tell their stories of reclaiming lives once again, their trials and successes in rebuilding. Those with this sort of loss, are left to remember their past good experiences and treasured memories, to find the strength to build a new and hopefully, better life. 

Weather Watchout

 The earth is not ever completely stable however we wish it so. Since its first times, our world has been evolving and humans are part of this globe. Like all the other animals on our planet, we do our best to survive whatever our lives are presented with, in whatever ways we choose to deal with them. Unlike the other animals, we humans have brains that are highly creative and contemplative. We learn. We can learn to adjust our lives to meet challenges as do other animals, but we can do more. We are not content with simply surviving, we strive to do better in whatever way that we can invent. Most of what we do is positive, but negativity exists also. In the last few decades, our human selves paid attention to destructive human ways and a vast effort to be better people, arose more than ever. Now, during the past years, weather changes have caused upheavals that upset the balance of natural forces and some of them have been caused by Man's greed. What makes ambitious human beings good, makes them bad as well and there are those who care nothing about their fellow beings other than how much gold, a simple mineral, they can collect. It is a hopeless collection because in spite of the amount of gold, Man is mortal. He has an age limit. Speaking in terms of local issues, our lovely province, set on the shores of an ocean that is usually predictable, gentle and offering mild temperature influences. Of late, our temperate climate has been hit with floods, heat "domes", winds and rains, while at the same time, the ice caps and glaciers to our North, decline and there appears to be unheard of and unimagined surprising, and unpredictable to us, weather events. Today, I listened to my favorite government funded radio station and reports of November highway closures due to mud slides and floods. The announcer, an award winner, is someone who tends to ask challenging questions with a note of confrontation when a politician is interviewed. His questions posed to a Minister of our Province, were sharp and somewhat expressing a tone of "blame: for not being responsive enough to the recent  mudslide and floods of heavy proportion. Many people were stranded in their cars for more than one night as they were caught between slides and road washouts. Others' homes were destroyed by river overflows. The tone was that there was not adequate action or enough response by provincial government. The Minister's answers, however, were correct and informative and showed that all that could be done during such a surprising event, was being done. What I came away with, other than finding both interviewer and interviewee giving excellent presentations, was that we all need to be sharper at paying attention to weather conditions. When we are warned, we need to be actively responsive. We need to be sure to prepare for weather events at home and when and where we travel. No more, the report stressed, can we be complacent. Our creative and security sensitive natures as humans who want to survive, must be, when we are facing the natural changes of our earth, taken seriously and with serious effort. No more can we shrug off weather warnings.

Secret Gardens

 Where I live no pets are allowed. And that's fine with me even though I loved my once dogs and cats, birds and fish. What I do have to fulfill my pet need is a secret garden. It hides behind my couch right next to the west facing panel of floor to ceiling windows. No one can see my garden that lurks softly back there where no one can see, on a table shelf that holds a couple of  required artsy bits they can see. There is a fake fig tree rising above to distract and some peace lilies reaching up, but surreptitiously, at the floor level, grow oregano, thyme, garlic chives and a little tree of rosemary. No one knows they are there but me and I can keep secrets, other than telling you, of course. These verdant "pets" used to live outside on the deck, and likely dream longingly of their past homes through the glass in winter. Even though it is November, and while there is no frost in this temperate bit of Canada for now, they prefer to "winter out" in my living room. Everyone has a window, and everyone can have a green pet. It's not hard to garden even if you haven't reams of sunshine to bask in, during the winter. In fact, window gardeners will tell you that plants, or few of them, actually enjoy hot sunshine on their greenery. The greener your plant, the more it adores light, but not the heated kind. Most of the herbs you might grow, are green and if not watered too much and occasionally are given a touch of fertilizer, will thrive and produce enough herb for your enjoyment. Just seeing these greens thriving, or simply surviving, inside in places not drafty or icy, will thrill you with new tiny leaves to watch grow. I am not averse to sticking a garlic clove into some soil with its feet down of course, and the little pots of herbs you buy in the store, love to join the bigger guys in pots nearby. Naturally, you need to gather up your old saucers that hide in the back of the cupboards to put them under the herb pots. You don't want to harm those hardwood floors. Again, don't drown your green chappies, let them dry out, and then offer a lovely drink of water gently, and they will thank you. Of course, the old standby green onions, that you, I hope, have standing in water, changed daily, by your kitchen tap, to snip the tops off and colour your plated food, or to be put in a dish to dry for later, are a permanent joy. Very little of what I eat, whether it is a sandwich or fish or steak or soup doesn't have little green onion circles flitting about on top. The freshness in taste of green onion is Spring! And everyone can grow these that last from one shopping trip to another. "What is that smell" say my visitors. "Green onions of course" is my answer. You can take your sweet room scents, but leave me with the garden glory smell of cut green onion that tells me a story of something delicious in the offing. If you need a winter project, how about a secret garden? The rewards are much kinder than the daily news.