Mary Soderstrom's Blog, page 111

Temperature has dropped. Ought to get back to work on the next thing. But I came across this: a great spoof of the writing life.

Until today, we've had more than two weeks of drought, along with horrendous temperatures.  Water levels in the rivers and lakes are as low as they usually get in August, and there has been much talk about water conservation. 
I got concerned (growing up in Southern California where we were always supposed to be careful with water) and decided to see what I could do about watering my garden without damaging things. 
The answer was simple: the condensation from the air conditioner had been going down the drain in the basement, but slipping a bucket under the hose, turned it into a great source of watering water.  On the hot humid days of the weekend, I ended up with a couple of gallons, even though we ran the AC only for four or five hours.    But obviously I'm not the only person to have this idea.  One or more of the  taxi drivers at the stand at Avenue du Parc and St-Viateur have started a little flower garden in the space around a street tree.  To get water, they are pirating the condensation from an air conditioner in the apartment building on the corner.
It's raining today so we don't have to collect water, but as soon as it dries out, the condensation will do its job.

Way Number 1: Take your breakfast to the park.

This couple were reading the weekend papers early the other Saturday morning, and I was charmed at the idea of  escaping the heat of your apartment to eat outside.

They were there again this morning  at 7:30 a.m., hidden a bit behind a tree from those who might be jogging around the park.  A little later in the day, the place will be overflowing with kids from day cares and day camps, but at that moment all was pleasant and still cool.

Lee, after more than a year of post-fire tribulations, is back in business as a furniture maker.  He had to spend 8 months away from his work shop while the house was repaired, and the following months were busy with redoing what had been done poorly.

He still has a number of mainteance projects underway, but he has been able lately to turn his attention a bit toward his great love: fine furniture.  He finished up benches that had been in the works when the fire happened, and now has gone on to planning a chest of drawers/changing table for Lukas and Sophie's baby, due in early September.

He made one in yellow birch for Jeanne, which has been most useful and is also extremely lovely.  Sophie and Lukas chose cherry wood, and that is what you see in the photo, taken last March when it was sitting the basement, acclimatizing.  Now, after a couple of weeks of planing, he's got the sides ready level and ready to glue up.  Progress is being made, thanks goodness!

I heard the first cicadas on Sunday--just one,  tentative buzz.  But by now the buzzing begins in the early morning and continues through the heat of the day.

One of the sounds of summer...

I heard the first cicadas on Sunday--just one,  tentative buzz.  But by now the buzzing begins in the early morning and continues through the heat of the day.

One of the sounds of summer...

Goodreads finally caught up with me, and so I've joined.  One of the things they have is book giveaways, so here's one for my novel about people who make mistakes and then have to live with them.  The background is the beach, specifically Ocean Beach in San Diego, which is where I spent a lot of my time growing up. 

But don't take my word for it: here's what Jacqueline Turner of The Georgia Straight said: "This is a thoughtful book, one with a mysterious plot and a dramatic twist. Perfect reading for any beach."

If you'd like to join the giveaway, here's the link.  Or you can buy the Kindle version directly from  Amazon.com.

The rumor mills are buzzing with the news that Jean Charest's Liberals are going to call an election for Sept. 4 or Sept. 10.  Which makes it quite apparent that he is planning to make student protests of tuition fee hikes a major element in the campaign.

The draconian Law 78, passed to cool things off in May, put off the continuation of the winter term in 14 cegeps and several university departments until the middle of August.  Today one of the student groups has begun a tour of the province (with a sortie into Ontario) to rally the troops.

This sets things up for some pretty hot August days when students are supposed to be back in school (according to the govenrment) but student groups are in the streets, continuing unfinished business from the Printemps érable.

This is in line with what I've been expecting all along: why else let a rather simple conflict fster and grow unless you want to make political hay from it?  Charest doesn't want social peace, he wants social subjugation.

Yesterday Canadian scientists protested the cuts to scientific research included in the recently passed omnibus budget.  Facebook was full of "shares" of this photo and others similar showing scientists and their colleagues "burying" research and truth. 

Their protest got some good press, but that didn't stop the news this morning that the federal government will be financing research into the health effects of windmills as electrical power generators.  The anti-wind power  advocates are delighted, and so, I imagine, are all the fossil fuel folk.   Studies into the  health effects of oil sands and other fossil fuel exploitation projects haven't got the same kind of support lately, to say the least.

And, as the scientists said yesterday, if you don't study something you don't have the facts to make decisions...

In an op ed piece in The New York Times today, Thomas E. Ricks says: Let's Draft Our Kids.  He writes;

"In late June, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the former commander of international forces in Afghanistan, called for reinstating the draft. “I think if a nation goes to war, every town, every city needs to be at risk,” he said at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “You make that decision and everybody has skin in the game.”

"This was the first time in recent years that a high-profile officer has broken ranks to argue that the all-volunteer force is not necessarily good for the country or the military. Unlike Europeans, Americans still seem determined to maintain a serious military force, so we need to think about how to pay for it and staff it by creating a draft that is better and more equitable than the Vietnam-era conscription system."

Very interesting proposition, particularly since the major reason the US quit the draft system was because Main Street was affected by it, prompting massive protests over the War in Vietnam.  I thought that argument was over, particularly since so much of the jobs formerly done by grunts are now done by contract workers with the profits spread around quite cozily. 

But maybe it will be open again, which might be a very good idea.  As Ricks ends his essay: maybe "having a draft might, as General McChrystal said, make Americans think more carefully before going to war. Imagine the savings — in blood, tears and national treasure — if we had thought twice about whether we really wanted to invade Iraq"