And Time Goes By

It was the summer of 1972 when Grandma decided to take me on a summer road trip along the Bruce Peninsula in southern Ontario. I was a newly licensed driver and she gave me the wheel of the car for the entire trip which was a great confidence booster for a teenager. I dared not go above 50 mph on the highway (Ontario had not yet converted to metric measures) and Grandma made me pull over on the shoulder if cars behind were anxious to pass us. Our destination was Tobermory at the northern tip of the peninsula and we planned to board the ferry to Manitoulin Island. At that time the M.S. Norgoma, a 190 foot vessel, carried passengers to the docks at South Baymouth. We arrived and booked into a motel in Tobermory, but very windy weather prevented us from taking the boat across Georgian Bay for the next two days.

Young passengers on the Chi-Cheemaun

Today the Chi-Cheemaun, a much larger vessel, ferries vehicles and passengers both ways across the water from Highway 6 at Tobermory to the continuation of Highway 6 on the island. Last week I finally took the journey that Grandma and I missed almost 40 years ago. It seems impossible that so much time has passed since the summer I finished high school.

I returned from Mexico the day before we went north for our vacation. Mom had her first round of chemotherapy when I was there and endured a week of nasty side effects. She had her second round of treatment yesterday. Their home is situated in a beautiful area of the countryside in southwestern Mexico and I enjoyed the restful environment despite the circumstances around my visit.

Lighthouse on Cove Island

We do not know what the future holds and that is a good thing. A butterfly may live for days and its life is measured by moments. A bird may live a few years and its life is measured by weeks. A tree may live for hundreds of years with its life measured in decades. Our lives are a modest span that we measure in years. I couldn't help thinking as I spent time with Mom and Dad that they are living what my life may be in 20 years or so. And seeing how fast time has gone since that vacation with Grandma, those years may come before I am ready for them.

Perhaps life is best measured in "butterfly" moments, seizing pleasure and joy while releasing irritations and frustrations which drag us downward.

Fresh from the Garden

The weekend was muggy and warm with showers, grey skies, big clouds and sunshine. Spring usually comes gradually, but with the beautiful weather we had in April, it is progressing rapidly. I was shocked to see my lilacs in bloom yesterday morning. The flowers were just starting to develop last week. Lilacs are an end of May flower and here they are, fragrancing the yard on the third of May.


I was waiting to pick fiddleheads from the ostrich ferns in the back corner of the garden. Last week there were none, but today, most of the ferns were six inches high, far too advanced to pick and eat. But there were a few fern heads in the shade of the fence, just enough for a serving or two.


I usually buy fiddleheads at the grocery store once a year and an exorbitant price of $5 a pound. This year I was a gatherer of the tender green shoots. While I was in the garden, I picked my first bouquet of the year. Forget-me-nots provide a ground cover in the flower beds right now and come up every year even when I pull them all out later in the month. One of my elderly patients calls them "Forgotten-not" in the English translation from her native language. I like that.


My "Forgotten-nots", Pulmonaria, Violets, and big yellow blooms with no name (the roots given to me by another patient) make another free gift from the garden.


I ate my plate of fiddleheads (and the violet) outdoors on the deck. The Becka enjoyed them too and they were much tastier and tender than the ones we buy at the store. With the warm weather in the forecast, they will be the only ones we eat from the garden this year. There is early lettuce and chives plus lots of rhubarb for dessert, but we are far from self sufficient. My husband is bringing home his limit of Lake Trout from Manitoulin Island tomorrow so hunters and gatherers we are for a day or two.

April Wildflowers

Some of the April wildflowers I have found this year

April showers bring May flowers, so the old rhyme goes. But this year we had little April rain and lots of flowers, many of which do not usually bloom until May.


We walked through the bush this evening and enjoyed the carpet of wildflowers which spread in all directions. This week thousands of trilliums are open and their short-lived beauty is worth seeing. By the end of May mosquitoes will keep me away from here and the trails will be narrowed by leafy shrubs and trees.

Trillium carpet in Steckle Woods

Bird sightings have been slow but wildflower sightings have been exceptional this month. I can identify all the flowers in the collage but I have at least three flower pictures I haven't yet named. (I find flower and tree guides to be somewhat time consuming to navigate through.)

Trillium Grandiflorum surrounded by Wild Ginger

It is nice to be able to take pictures of flowers instead of picking them, which is illegal in our area anyway. And I want to send all this woodland beauty to my mother who had surgery this afternoon in Mexico. She remains in hospital but I pray that she has a full recovery and regains her strength. I love you Mom!!

Appearances

Think not I am what I appear.
Lord Byron

She is in her tenth decade of life, closer to 100 than to 90. Her body has aged more than her mind and she fights to overcome the illness that landed her in the hospital. She heard that two friends from the Polish Legion were on another unit and asked if I will take her over for a visit. I pushed her wheelchair and she whispered, "Do I look OK?" I saw an old lady with a lined face and shrinking body but there was nothing amiss so I told her she looked just fine.

I pushed her into the ward where two old men, also in their nineties sat in wheelchairs by the window. She patted her hair, smoothed her top, and I saw the same thing in her eyes as I see in the eyes of a teenager who is trying to impress someone of the opposite sex. I looked at these three friends as they were half a century or more ago and observed the remnants of youthful beauty. I could not understand their mother tongue but watched them reminisce, interact and even flirt with each other just like men and women who were half their age.


Another lady sits in a wheelchair crippled by arthritis and missing a limb. She has beaten back her latest physical demon and is regaining her independence. Her costume jewelery is on a stand beside her bed and she selects a piece to wear each day with her carefully chosen outfit. She worries that the hair on the back of her head may be flattened by resting in bed and I fluff up the section she cannot reach. She is only in her 80's and appearances are still very important.

I remember a lecture given by a professor/ physician when I was a student. When he noticed a woman put on lipstick after surgery, he thought she was well on her way to recovery.

One of my stroke patients appeared in the common area with lipstick smeared unevenly on the affected side of her mouth. She did not notice the uneven application due to neglect and decreased sensation on her stroke side. One of our male staff members asked me to help her fix her face without embarrassing her. I remembered the words of the professor and saw my patient's attempt to enhance her appearance as a sign that she was getting better.

We all judge by appearance and know we are judged by others according to our looks. I would say this never changes. Some will philosophize and dismiss this attititude as superficial and wrong, but we will cannot alter our social human behaviour.

Let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing to us our appearance only.
Samuel Butler

Willie was Wrong

Easter Weekend Daffodils

By the beginning of February most Canadians think winter will never end. Groundhog Day is a silly attempt to wish away snow and cold temperatures and by the time spring does arrive, most of us have forgotten what the groundhog predicted. I think spring is often a non-season in this part of the world. Some years we have snow and cold through the month of April and into early May, and then we get hit with a heat wave that lasts through the summer months.

But this year Wiarton Willie, our local rodent prognosticator was wrong!

He apparently saw his shadow and therefore predicted six more weeks of winter. Quite frankly, I believe his handlers had it wrong because the day was overcast and any shadow from the sun on February 2nd was 10% real and 90% imagination.

Guelph Lake near the end of last week

Spring came early and stayed on. We had no snow in March which is very unusual, and April arrived with summer-like temperatures. Forsythia is blooming in my garden a good three weeks ahead of usual and spring bulbs are coming up everywhere. This is somewhat alarming because we are sure to have frosts in April and May which could damage early blooming fruit trees. Our mosquito and black fly season is going to have a head start and the ground is exceptionally dry. Vernal ponds in fields and meadows are very small or non-existent so there will be fewer frog choruses heard during their mating season. My husband is concerned about an early start and end for spring lake trout fishing and lakes are rapidly becoming ice-free.

Forsythia in our garden today

Some people will preach global warming and win converts to their theory in this "El Niño" year. But weather norms are averages and our last two winters were exceptionally cold, snowy and long. Last summer was cool and wet and we never needed our garden hose. My niece in Spokane WA is experiencing snow and sleet this long weekend. I like to consider all sides in the climate change dialogue.

Weather is a favourite conversational topic for Canadians, and why not? I plan to enjoy each day as it comes.

Winter is not over but...

Unseasonably warm temperatures and sunshine are fooling us into believing that spring arrived on the first of March. I prefer to call the weather a treat rather than a trick. I start work as early as possible in order to leave in time to enjoy some day time hours outdoors. The melting snow turned many trails into mudholes so I frequent this one with the dry boardwalk. A female Mallard duck thought it was a good place for a walk too.


Snowmen are melting, migrating Trumpeter Swans are on the river, and cyclists are in shirt sleeves and bare legs. Hardy Canadians start wearing shorts when the temperature rises to a balmy 5C. Birds are visible, very audible and busy with territorial pursuits and mating behaviour.


The little duck on the boardwalk came right up to my feet to greet me. Happy Spring to you! Winter will have a few more gasps but we know its days are numbered.

Happy Birthday Aunt Lois

If you want to understand today,
you have to search yesterday.
Pearl Buck

Today is a milestone birthday for Aunt Lois, but I won't say the number because you wouldn't believe me anyway. Aunt Lois is the eldest of my father's two sisters, sisters who are very different but are still very close.

Aunt Lois on her wedding day (I love the dresses!)

In the past few years, I have come to know Aunt Lois much better through on line correspondence and in person. We are alike in many ways, in looks, temperment and interests. She is the family historian and has worked to keep the extended family in touch with each other. She has scanned old photos and kept track of events in past generations. Recently she gave me a box of letters including several from her grandfather which were written when he worked on the Panama Canal project in the early 20th century. She understands that generational history lives on in each of us even though we may not always recognize its influence until we are older.

Aunt Ruth, me, Dad, Aunt Lois in 1976

Aunt Lois is wise, patient, honest and insightful. I appreciate the time I have spent with her and the things she has taught me. Her life has had its ups and downs but this has not made her bitter nor made her lose faith in God. She is a special lady indeed.

Happy Birthday!!