Thoughts on Climate Change

Érablière du village de Compton

Today marks the beginning of COP26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. The highly politicized concept of climate change has polarized those who believe it is occurring and those who deny human activity is accelerating global warming. Whatever we believe, it is hard to change how we are accustomed to doing things in an effort to decrease our carbon footprints. 

I care very much about the world that my children and grandchildren will live in during this century! 

In the past few years, I have noticed changes in our seasons, as well as a decrease in the number and variety of birds and butterflies in our area. The Norway maple trees on our property dropped their leaves consistently on November 2nd and 3rd every year. The last few years they have fallen one to two weeks later, and this year, they are still green and secure on the branches on October 31. I know there are yearly fluctuations in weather, but the trends around the globe are hard to ignore. 

The David Suzuki Foundation suggests four ways we can cut our carbon emissions. 

1. How we get around. Choose walking, cycling and public transit over driving whenever possible. Choose more energy-efficient vehicles.
2. What we eat. Choose local foods, more plant-based meals, less meat and dairy, particularly beef and cheese, and don't waste food.
3. How we use energy in our homes. This is a challenge in Canada due to our weather. Canada is the number one per capita energy consumer in the world.
4. The stuff we buy. Buy fewer things, especially new things. "Refuse, Reuse, Repair, Recycle — with extra emphasis on refusing to buy goods with a lot of packaging."

Am I willing to make personal changes in line with these recommendations? I have a small SUV and enjoy driving. The public transit in our city is inconvenient at best and it would take me 40 minutes to go 4 km to work, with me walking half the distance to and from bus stops. I ride my bike as often as possible and try to consolidate my errands with the car. Train travel is also suboptimal in our area and very expensive, especially for families. Other countries in the world have superior public transit options. Canada is a large country with a relatively small population, so economic and energy-efficient options are a challenge.

Galloway cows- photo from@dedmandale_farms

I eat a plant-based diet and the carnivores in our household have decreased their meat intake significantly. We frequent our local markets and businesses. One of my co-workers and her husband raise pasture-fed Galloway cows and sell the meat from their farm. Dedmandale farms are one of several options we have locally in choosing more sustainable meat options. The CTV program W5 recently featured a report on the risks of industrial farming in creating new pandemics. 

"About 75 percent of new infectious diseases are zoonotic, meaning they started in animals...The stress that those packed animals in industrial farming are under also plays a huge role. The higher the stress an animal is subjected to, the less they’re able to fight new diseases."

The high demand for meat around the world has also led to widespread deforestation, which is also a contributor to climate change. Do we really need all the fast-food chicken and hamburger meat that is bad for our health and the environment? It bothers me to see acres and acres of corn and soybean crops that are destined mainly for animal feed. This type of farming has impacted our wild bird and butterfly populations.

Our home is heated with natural gas and the air conditioning is electric. Options for more sustainable energy sources are expensive and not readily available in our suburban setting. The best we can do right now is moderate our power usage and the temperature of our home. 

What can I say about all the stuff we buy?! In spite of aspirations to live a more minimalistic lifestyle, the easy availability of material possessions we do not need is hard to resist. We are a consumer society and "things" have become our idols. Much of what we buy has been produced on the backs of the poor in third world countries and with harm to the environment. Some people observe "No Buy November" and others observe "Buy Nothing Day" on Black Friday, the day after American Thanksgiving, to increase awareness of our society's materialism. Is the momentary gratification of "retail therapy" worth the harm to underpaid workers and the earth?

Érablière du village de Compton

We toured a couple of family farms in the Eastern Townships of Quebec earlier this month. The owners of this sugar bush remarked that 2021 was bad for maple syrup due to an early, warm spring. The leaves on the trees emerged about two weeks early and this stopped the flow of sap prematurely. It is important that spring temperatures increase gradually, with days a little above freezing temperatures and nights a little below freezing. 

Domaine Ives Hill

The owner of this Black Currant and Blackberry farm also commented that early flowering of their plants during a warm spring increases the risk of damage from a late May frost. They have noticed climate trends that put their crops at increased risk.

I need to try harder to reduce my carbon footprint. This may cost money and personal convenience, but it is important that we do all we can to sustain the planet for present and future generations. I was raised to believe this world would be gone in a few years as these were the "end times". Many people over centuries and millennia have believed they were living in the last days. We must live like the world is going to continue and be good caretakers of the earth. 

Autumn Seasons Past

Autumn 1968- my two youngest brothers are on the wagon

I spent a lot of time in the autumn seasons of my childhood on the Devins farm. My grandfather bought a large, sandy property five miles outside the town of Aurora, planting an apple orchard and a stand of white pine. He also had sheep and bee hives when my mother was a child.  

My brother Nathan and cousin Linda at the farm around 1963

After his death, Uncle Bill, my mother's brother, ran the orchard and planted acres of Christmas trees as well. Our family, along with other pickers, harvested apples every weekend in September and October. The apples were graded and put in cold storage in the barn before they were sold. In later years, the farm became a 'pick-your-own" orchard which actually saved time and money for my uncle.

Dad and Philip 

We strapped canvas apple bags around our bodies and when they were full, we opened the bottom so the apples could be emptied into bushel baskets. Uncle Bill paid a small amount of money for each bushel we picked but it was more lucrative than babysitting for fifty cents an hour. We collected "grounders" which we took home so Mom could make apple sauce. 

Mom and Philip making apple cider

This press was used to make apple cider. No one worried about contamination even though the juice was not pasteurized. I remember how quickly the cider fermented in an unpleasant way!

Autumn colour at the farm- Mom, Nathan, Philip and myself

There were several meadows, wooded areas and a pond at the farm where we spent many hours of exploration and play. This picture was taken in 1963. Our entire family was in a serious car crash in this white Ford Falcon in January 1965, an event that changed our lives for many years.

Long Lake, Ontario- Mom, Nathan and myself

We lived in Pembroke Ontario for a couple of years in between the years we lived in South Africa. This photo of Mom, my brother Nathan and myself was taken at Long Lake near Perth, Ontario in 1958. All these photos were taken with Kodak slide film on my dad's SLR camera and the quality after sixty years is excellent. The 1956 Chevy went with us by ship to South Africa the next year.

Meaford Orchard 2021

Grandad Devins grew up in the Meaford area where there were many apple orchards. His farm near Aurora with its apple trees and bee hives reminded him of home. When we visited Meaford a few weeks ago, we stopped at some newer apple orchards. The dwarf apple trees make picking much easier, but who doesn't prefer an apple tree that you can climb or use a ladder when picking the high fruit? 

Autumn always brings back many happy family memories. Apples are my favourite fruit but I buy them now at our local market and make lots of apple sauce, just like Mom. 

Hunter Moonrise

The October full moon, known in this hemisphere as the Hunter Moon, rose just over a week ago. This has been a very rainy month, but we were fortunate to have clear skies again on October 19 as we enjoyed when the September full moon rose. Each month the moon rises at a different angle in the sky while the sun sets in the opposite direction. Our neighbourhood has a good vantage point for watching the sunset and the moonrise and it is fun to be with other people enjoying the same view. I watched a dad and mom walk to the top of the hill with their five-year-old daughter, promising her a "big surprise". Dad set up a portable telescope and the little girl was so excited when the surprise came into view. Another young man sat on the ground playing his guitar while cyclists who use the BMX track on the hill, stopped to watch the sky too. I rode my bike to work early the next morning as the moon was setting in the west, a huge orange ball sinking below the horizon. If I had stopped to take pictures I would have arrived late to the hospital, so that image will have to remain in my memory. As a bonus, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter are easily visible in the evening sky this month when the skies are clear. 

The day is yours, and yours also the night;

you established the sun and moon.

It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;

you made both summer and winter.

Psalm 74:16-17

Stress Relief

Espaces Bleu Lavande, Magog, Quebec

The pandemic has taken a toll on people who have not been infected with COVID-19, particularly seniors and people with chronic illnesses who have been isolated for months, are more inactive than usual, and are experiencing increased stress and anxiety. Last year, the emergency department was often slow as people stayed away from the hospital for fear of coming in contact with COVID. Lately, the ER is bursting with people who have procrastinated in dealing with health issues. Inactive people become weaker and more prone to falls as well as having an increased risk of developing blood clots. 

We visited Bleu Lavende outside of Sherbrook, PQ this month. It is a large lavender farm with a very reasonable admission rate of $5.00 for adults 18 and older and free for children. Chairs, picnic areas, and play areas are found between the rows of lavender. I was surprised at how fragrant the fields were in October. The warm autumn weather has allowed a second blooming of some of the plants. 

The owners do not harvest the plants here and stated the plantings are just for people to enjoy. They encouraged us to pick leaves and flowers and to rub the oil into our hands. Lavender is a stress-reducing, relaxing scent. We sat outdoors and had a boxed lunch with a final course of Abbaye cheese, lavender tea and lavender chocolate. If I lived in the vicinity, this would be my weekly spa!

I did not realize how much I needed a change from our routines of the past year and a half. Nature rejuvenates me and the time spent enjoying the beautiful autumn weather and scenery was healing. It is easy to become accustomed to unhealthy levels of chronic stress which increase inflammation in the body. 

I have had two patients in the past month who were diagnosed with Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy, which is also known as stress cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome. A recent study showed the rates of this condition have risen significantly in recent years. The link above gives this information:-

"Triggered by physical or emotional stress, broken heart syndrome causes the heart's main pumping chamber to temporarily enlarge and pump poorly. Patients experience chest pain and shortness of breath, symptoms similar to those of a heart attack...the stress of the pandemic has likely led to a rise in the number of recent cases of broken heart syndrome, many of them undiagnosed. We know there have been profound effects on the heart-brain connection during the pandemic."

My sister-in-law had this type of heart event last year, a few months into the pandemic. I called the ambulance when she phoned to say she was having chest pain. Cardiac testing at the hospital showed no blocked arteries, but the cardiologist explained to me that her ventricle was "stunned" and not pumping properly. Sadly, this even led to a cascade of medical complications and she died several weeks later, never leaving the hospital. In all the years I worked in health care I had never heard of this condition, but now I notice the diagnosis quickly in patients I see. 

The body-brain connection is very complex and disruptions can be challenging diagnostically. Stress exacerbates many medical and mental health conditions. People often feel more comfortable talking about physical pain and dysfunction than underlying emotional pain. 

It is important to maintain healthy habits which include a good diet, sufficient rest, regular exercise, meditation, avoidance of drugs, alcohol and excessive food for stress relief, and perhaps most importantly, a supportive social network where we feel comfortable sharing honestly about how we are coping emotionally.

Accepting Change

Late newly emerged Monarch Butterfly- Magog, Quebec October 14, 2021

The world has changed and they haven't changed with it.

Miss Marple in Nemesis

I enjoy watching Joan Hickson as Miss Marple and cannot deny that I would love to have her observational and deductive skills. In the episode "Nemesis", Miss Marple says about a family of sisters,

 "I am sorry for those Bradbury-Scott girls. 

The world has changed and they haven't changed with it."

A crime was committed because one of the Bradbury-Scott girls did not want her world to change.

Our children change and develop quickly from birth to adulthood and it triggers an alarm if important milestones are not met. Small children are naturally curious, questioning and unflinchingly honest. They are like sponges, absorbing new information without effort. Unfortunately, a child may eventually come to a time or place where they resist change and close their minds to new ideas. I have met people in their 20s who are unwilling to change and people in their 80s who retain an optimistic interest in the world around them. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, loss of control, peer pressure, and mistrust all contribute toward resistance to change. It is human nature to want to fit in with a group or tribe even if the collective members fight progress. 

Whoa! These marshmallows are REALLY BIG!!

My daughter sent me this picture of our granddaughter examining her marshmallow treats with a magnifying glass. She is delightfully curious and very much her own person. The world of my grandchildren will continue to change and I want to encourage their exploration of new ideas and experiences. Younger generations do not need to hear their elders pining about "the good old days" because the good old days are really mythical!

"The good old days" Monarch caterpillars July 2021- Manitoulin Island, Ontario

Suckered!

We avoided rain until the last day of our trip to the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Fortunately, we had tickets to a three-hour brunch cruise on Lake Memphrémagog. This long finger lake is partially in Quebec and partially in Vermont and our cruise covered only the Canadian portion of the lake. Even in the rain, the scenery was beautiful and many spectacular homes overlooked the water.

During a lull in the rain, I stepped out onto the deck of the boat to take some pictures. A man stood at the rail and started speaking to me in French. I told him I only spoke English and he easily switched languages. (I wish I had worked harder at French in school!) 

"See that house over there?" he said, pointing to a large estate that had a boathouse larger than an average home. "That was my house. My ex-wife owns it now," he continued in a serious tone. "I let her have it when we got divorced." 

I didn't know what to say in response and murmured some kind of condolence. The man burst out laughing and told me it was a joke. I couldn't believe I fell for his story and laughed along with him.

I like to think I can discern truth from fiction, especially these days when false information spreads and deceives people quickly. I double and triple-check sources and seldom take anything at face value. But I am as vulnerable to deception as anyone else and will remember this incident whenever I am judgemental toward others who believe a lie. 

Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac

Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac taken from Lake Memphrémagog

We enjoyed a visit to Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac when we toured the Eastern Townships in Quebec this month. It is a Benedictine monastic community and a total of 24 monks live here in a lifetime commitment to a monastic life of prayer, work, humility, obedience and silence. Latin Gregorian chants are the preferred form of liturgical prayer at the Abbey but due to COVID restrictions, there was no singing nor any public services at this time. It is possible in non-pandemic times to stay at a guest house on the grounds if you want a time of rest, solitude and silence, even if you are not religious.

The lay employee who conducted our tour of the Abbaye told us the average age of the monks is 70 years old with the youngest being 40 and the oldest, 99-1/2 years old. There is an apple orchard on the grounds and a dairy where cheese is made. Much of the labour is done by paid employees, but the monks have a few hours each day to contribute to the work that is done. 

I mentioned author Louise Penny in my previous post. The Abbaye of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac was the inspiration for the fictional Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups in her book A Beautiful Mystery, the eighth installment in the Chief Inspector Gamache series. I re-read the book while we were away and it made the tour of this Abbey all the more interesting. 

As Louise Penny describes in her novel, the abbey is full of natural light and few religious icons adorn the walls. The monks sit in rows facing each other during the Liturgy of the Hours where they meet for prayer, scripture reading and singing seven times a day. Looking at the daily schedule below, they have about four hours each afternoon where they have time to work.

A lady beside me on the tour whispered in my ear,  "I am really ashamed these days to call myself a Roman Catholic". She was referring to past residential school abuses of indigenous children by Catholic as well as Protestant clergy and teachers. Sadly, religious institutions are still easily entangled in systems that are politically motivated, racist, money-hungry and power-seeking. The age of the monks at this abbey is likely typical of the average age of people attending churches across Canada. Many younger people are not choosing to be part of a church community at all, let alone making a lifelong commitment to religious service in a monastery.  

The beautiful property around the abbey was closed to the public. I watched this old monk walking along the pathways between services. Will there be replacements for these old men when they die? Quebec has become a very diverse and secular province and the influence of the Roman Catholic Church has waned. The local people here enjoy the wonderful cheese made at Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac. The recordings of the Gregorian Chants sung here are sold in area shops and tourists pay to tour the building. I am sure it is a wonderful place to visit to take a break from the pace of our busy world. 

Here is a YouTube recording of a Gregorian Chant by the monks at Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, as well as some beautiful autumn scenery around the abbey.

Fall Colours 2021

Lake Memphrémagog in the rain

The trees in our area have been slow to turn to the usual brilliant reds, oranges and yellows that we enjoy around Thanksgiving weekend each year. Even ornamental shrubs such as the Burning Bush are barely red in our neighbourhood. The weather has been unseasonably warm and wet this autumn which may be delaying leaf fall. We took a few days off to explore the Eastern Townships of Quebec a week and a half ago, an area south of the St. Lawrence River that I have never visited before. We stayed in Sherbrooke, Quebec and did short day trips around Magog, Lake Memphrémagog and Compton. 

 Magog River, Sherbrooke Quebec

This area of Quebec, which is close to the USA border in Vermont, has been made famous by the popular fiction series about Chief Inspector Gamache written by Louise Penny. Gamache lives in the fictional town of Three Pines which is in the Eastern Townships. Louise Penny lives in Knowlton which is just west of Magog and has taken inspiration from her environment in describing locations in her books. 

Lake Memphrémagog at Saint-Benoît-du-Lac

The mountains in the region are part of the Appalachian range and with the heavy winter snowfalls experienced here, skiing is a popular sport. We went to the top of Mont-Orford at Magog, but there were clouds at the summit so we could not see fall colours from the lookouts at that altitude. I am definitely NOT a skier and this was my first time jumping on and off a ski lift. The ride was exhilarating but I would not have the skill or courage to do the runs on this mountain with skis. 

Mont-Orford

The local people, who were nearly all bilingual, said this year was best in the past five or six seasons for fall colours. We arrived just past the peak but it was still beautiful. Leaf fall was happening quickly though, especially with the rain that fell every night. 

Parc du Domaine-Howard, Sherbrook, Quebec

We visited Parc du Domaine-Howard in Sherbrooke where there were several mosaics and living sculptures, including this one of a sleeping lady. She will be completely leaf-covered before the winter snows come.

I rode around our subdivision in southwest Ontario this afternoon to see if local tree changes were progressing even though it is a good two weeks later than I usually look for colour.  A few days ago I watched the Hunter Moonrise from a high hill at the end of our street and the city looked green with just a couple of spots of red. Today I found a few stands of trees along a local trail that were stunning.

My neighbourhood- October 23, 2021

I would definitely return to the Eastern Townships for another visit. It is worth the detour if you were near Montreal or Quebec City. Autumn is my favourite season and this area is one of the most beautiful for viewing fall scenery in Canada. 

The town of Magog, Quebec on Lake Memphrémagog

Abigail's Tea House

Abigail's Tea House in St. George, Ontario is my favourite restaurant of all time! I found out about it from an Instagram picture that a friend posted, and after my first visit, I was hooked. It is a lovely step into the gracious past when tea rooms served Cream Teas and High Teas. The proprietors, Lorene and Ivan White, are a husband and wife team who are the most congenial hosts, making it feel like you are visiting their home for the afternoon. While the menu is unchanged, there are always variations and seasonal offerings that make no two visits the same. We started this weekend with a visit to celebrate a family birthday. 

All restaurant patrons who dine indoors in Ontario must be fully vaccinated. We uploaded proof of vaccination onto our phones and our certificates and ID were verified before we were seated. I have no problem with this!

The vintage china place settings are mismatched and charming. I love the peacock plate that my tablemate used. 

I opted for the Pretty Ploughman's Plate with open-faced savoury sandwiches on herbed scones. The toppings included pimento cheese, brie with red pepper jelly, egg salad and cucumber with cream cheese. 

High Tea starts with a fruit salad, then a plate of pimento cheese with assorted crackers, a green salad or chicken salad, and then the platter of tea sandwiches, mini pies, scones with cream and jam. An assortment of sweet bites finishes the meal. Everything is washed down with cups of delicious tea chosen from the extensive tea menu. I always get the house tea, except when they have their Christmas tea available. 

photo by The Becka

We raved about the cranberry cake when Lorene stopped by to chat with us. She brought out a binder of her recipes and was pleased to offer us her sister's recipe for the cake. She warned us not to beat the eggs for 7 minutes as she felt that made the cake too tough. 

The proprietors are originally from Canada's East Coast and this cake put me in mind of a partridge berry cake we had enjoyed in St. John's Newfoundland. Partridge berries are like mini cranberries. 

I made the cake yesterday using frozen cranberries we had on hand. The ones at the teahouse were made with fresh cranberries and were superior in my opinion. However, if you could not compare the two versions, mine were very acceptable. 

As we chatted, our hostess commented that people in the community had been very supportive of their small business during the pandemic, and while they had to close down their separate bakery shop (they had the BEST chocolate tarts!!), the tea house was doing well. 

It is easy to grab a take-out pizza or go through a drive-through for a fast meal, but this kind of lunch is a special treat indeed. I have been to other tea rooms, but this is the best of them all with its homey offerings and atmosphere and the super-attentive, friendly hosts.

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