Day 273: Letting Go

Day 273: Letting Go, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I'm getting my kitchen redone. Everything has to be packed up. This is part of my get rid of pile. Even it is full of reminiscences. The ceramic pumpkin, with candle inside, would glow on our table at supper time in October. My children are well in their twenties; the custom has fallen by the wayside.

This plastic car was given to me by my sister-in law. She knew my then young son loved anything with a motor. What could be more fun than a jello car! My son was sick with a sore throat. It seemed the perfect time for cool jello. I prepared the jello, poured it in the mould and walked gingerly to the refrigerator. As I opened the door the car tipped, spilling jello on the floor and into the fridge. What a sticky mess! That was the last time I used this car. Yet it has sat in my cupboard for over twenty years. Time to let go. Time to move on.

Day 272: Pumpkins

Day 272: Pumpkins, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Nothing quite confirms autumn as the piles of pumpkins. Each year I am astonished at the variety that appears at Atwater Market. There are the more traditional ones for carving as well as gourds of every shape. Then there are pumpkins known for their flavour that can be cooked for soups or pies.

A few years ago I noticed something growing in my garden that looked very much like a pumpkin vine. How did it come to be growing there? I let it grow and waited to have my own pumpkin patch. Unfortunately it only produced a couple of small ornamental gourds.

As the days get shorter and drearier, we need the bright colours of pumpkins and the changing leaves to offset that feeling of impending gloom. My trips to the market may become more frequent as I feast on the autumn colours.

Day 271: Rainy Night

Day 271: Rainy Night, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Rain fell steadily. Lights spilled onto the mirrored streets creating painted puddles. Newly fallen leaves made the surface slick - autumn's ice rink.

Day 270: Snail Mail

Day 270: Snail Mail, originally uploaded by susanvg.

I was thinking the other day how rarely I have something to put in a mail box. So much of what we do now is online. I keep up with friends and family through email and social networking sites and most of my bills are delivered and paid online. My mailman delivers far more requests for charitable donations than personal mail. While I still have a childish anticipation of his visit, it is rare that there are any gems in the bundle he drops off. I do still receive some magazines (hard copies are still better for reading in bed), but so much of my mail makes a quick trip into the recycling bin.

But for those times you need to post a letter or parcel, these bright red boxes are very handy.

Day 269: Red Barn

Day 269: Red Barn, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Driving between Casselman and Ottawa I spotted this red barn (I was the passenger so this was taken from the car window while we were moving). It reminded me of the games we would play in the car when my children were young.

Game 1 - Spot the.... I would have a list of things and the children would be on the lookout for them so they could cross them off their lists - somehow a red barn was always on the list.

Game 2 - Alphabet - Find something that you see, starting with A and then through the alphabet. Needless to say, some letters were harder than others. Clotheslines helped as we got to U - underwear and sometimes they had to get creative V - very small house.

Game 3 - Geography - This is one I played in my childhood and continued with my own children. Someone starts with the name of a place (can also be a body of water, mountain range...). The next person has to respond with a place name that starts with the ending letter. There was always a groan as we fell into the a's. Alabama, Asia, Alaska, Antarctica.....

Game 4 - Ghost - This is a spelling game. One person starts with a letter. The idea is not to finish a word, but you can't just say random letters as you can be challenged and have to reply with a word you had in mind. Words have to be at least 3 letters. If you finish a word you get a G (and subsequent words continue through the letters in Ghost). The first person to get Ghost loses.

These games, along with music tapes and songs (especially those where we could make up our own verses) provided me with peace as I drove. Though occasionally the car battles erupted anyway. The children were not immune to the issues of "he's looking at me", "she's in my space". But mainly we had fun!

Day 268: Franco Ontarian Pride

Day 268: Franco Ontarian Pride, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Trying to Work

I sit
My back to the window
Staring at my computer screen
Sounds reach me
Pulling me from my online world
To real life outside
Geese fly by
Their honking a haunting reminder
Of the coming cold
Train whistles sound
Gaining and losing intensity
As they approach and pass by
But suddenly pounding and shouting
Fire engine sirens
Percussion sounds
Coming closer
They pull me from my seat
Students, many dressed in green
Parading their pride
In their Franco Ontario origins

Then back to work

Day 267: Ubiquitous

Day 267: Ubiquitous, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Driving between my two residences I had to stop for supper and like many who travel highways, I stopped at a fast food place. It was a question of convenience as I really wanted to get from point a to point b quickly. These so called restaurants are ubiquitous, homogenizing the world with their lack of character. This sign could be anywhere in Canada and with slight variation could be in many places in the world.

Often when you drive in the suburbs of a city there is a strip with one fast food place after another. You have no sense of where you are. There is little to identify one community from another. Aside from the fact that they are ruining the health of our nations through their plentiful servings of over-processed food and fried offerings, they are ruining our taste buds.

So many people eat here because they know what they will get. Even in a city like Paris, where there is a plethora of good restaurants at fairly reasonable prices, fast food places do a brisk business both with locals and North American travellers. There seems to be a need to stay with the familiar even when venturing away from home.