National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2023

We enjoyed a recent visit to the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg ON. I was drawn to this painting by Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, a First Nations contemporary artist from British Columbia, Canada. The museum description is on the left and states that the artist, born in 1957, is a survivor of the Kamloops Indian Residential School where the unmarked graves of 215 indigenous children were discovered in 2021. Today is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a time to reflect on the legacy of residential schools across Canada.

This week I treated another First Nations patient born in the 1950's who was in the hospital with multiple medical comorbidities. A chaotic childhood and disconnection from family left them on the margins of society throughout life. This person had several children from various relationships but was estranged from them all. The pattern of unhealthy relationships can continue for generations and is not easily corrected. I recognize again my position of privilege in society as a person from a white middle-class background who grew up on the advantaged side of colonialism.

Last year I lamented the destruction of a new potted sunflower plant that was eaten within a couple of hours of placing it in the garden. A squirrel bit off the flowers just leaving them on the ground. I would not have been as upset if the squirrel needed the flowers for food. I put cactus leaves, cayenne pepper and dog hair on the soil to deter the squirrel but the toxic additions killed the plant. 

This year a single sunflower plant sprouted on its own where I had placed the pot last year. I did not hold any hope for its long-term survival but cared for it as it grew. It not only survived but grew tall and continues to bloom abundantly. One seed survived and within it was the potential for years of productive growth. In the same way, we must make sure the survivors of abusive systems realize their potential and thrive in spite of their broken histories. In talking about the past we shine the light on vulnerable children and adults who continue to be at risk for abuse today.

Fall Equinox and Seasonal Changes

I took this picture during my bike ride on September 23, the first day of autumn. The wind was brisk and perfect for kite flying. Goldenrod, white and purple Asters and Sumac dotted the landscape with texture and colour. A brilliant sunset finished the day precisely twelve hours after sunrise. The first quarter moon was high in the sky. These days are equatorial in length for a short period but soon the hours of darkness will exceed hours of light.

I love autumn, our harvests, brilliant tree colours, brisk air and dramatic skies. Seasonal changes are inspiring and invigorating. 

Nature illustrates that change is inevitable. Time brings change and on an individual level, we can embrace it and grow or resist it and become bitter. If I could hold on to spring forever, I would never know the abundance of harvest. 

Sumac is in the foreground. The moss-covered roof of the park pavilion is in the background

Wild Purple Asters and Sumac

Link

Our pastor mentioned today that it would be very unfortunate if we confessed our faith as adults in the same way we understood it as a young child. Doubt is not necessarily in conflict with faith. As we grow in knowledge, we must continue to ask questions and challenge our beliefs. 

I read these two books recently and identified with the experience of both authors. The authors did not abandon their faith in Christ during or after their departure from the church organizations they grew up in. Jon Ward is the chief national correspondent at Yahoo! News. He has covered American politics and culture for two decades giving him a well-informed perspective of their influence on religion. 

Russell Moore's refusal to align with the Southern Baptist Convention politically and regarding the handling of sexual abuse in churches led to his leaving the organization. He speaks with a strong prophetic voice and I underlined many passages in the book.

Link

The world has changed a lot since the springtime of my life. Much of the change has been good. Discussions about Indigenous abuses, #MeToo revelations, systemic racism, misogyny, and spiritual control and abuse are long overdue. Some people feel threatened by the winds of change causing them to dig their heels into the past. They refuse to look critically at their own belief system and attack anyone with a different perspective. 

I still have a long way to go in removing ingrained tendencies to pass quick judgments and to know all the answers. I am happier in a world that is not black and white and want to focus on people rather than issues. Compromising the truth and having a lukewarm attitude regarding faith and injustice is not the answer either. The centre of my worldview and faith in any season of life must be Christ and his teachings, a view based on love and inner change over law and outward appearances. 

Family Artists

"Spiders Hiding" by Asher, aged 3-1/2    August 2023

Our three-year-old grandson loves his toy cars and is seldom inclined to sit and draw or paint a picture. When he visited our home at the end of August he crossed the road with me to the neighbour's house and asked the lady of the house,

"Could I see your Fiat? I have one just like it at home!"

I did not realize the car in their driveway, the one I had seen daily for many years, was a Fiat. 

Later that week I set him up with some paper and watercolour paint on the picnic table. He mixed every colour with black and created his masterpiece in about five minutes. It looked very similar to the painting below which is in the National Art Gallery in Ottawa, Canada.

No. 29 by Jackson Pollock (1950)- Black enamel paint on glass

His sister is pictured admiring this painting when she visited the gallery at age two. Jackson Pollock was in a "drip painting" period when he completed No. 29. This abstract technique consists of pouring and dripping paint on a canvas. I must admit that I roll my eyes when I see abstract paintings in art galleries. Unlike many people in my immediate and extended family, I cannot create an image on canvas but could throw some paint on the floor in an interesting design. 

My grandchildren are confident and proud of their creations. At what age do we become self-conscious and lose the joy of creating unique masterpieces? We learn to colour within the lines and try to please our teachers. I was a good student but never achieved more than a "C' in art which did nothing for my creative confidence.

I will keep "Spiders Hiding" in my special art folder as a reminder to appreciate creativity, even in its most abstract forms. And here is a sidewalk chalk drawing by Miss P of various family members and the dog.  It won't fit in my art folder but is digitally immortalized. 

Remembering Dad

April 2013

Dad's suffering from his long final illness ended four years ago today on September 16, 2019. I took this picture of him in April 2013, the day Mom's ashes were buried in this cemetery in the village of Camichín de Jauja MX. His ashes are buried in the same plot which is now surrounded by many more graves and monuments. (Mexican cemeteries are built like miniature urban subdivisions with basic to elaborate structures around the graves.) 

My parents were twenty-two years old when I was born and had five children in the next nine and a half years. I feel like the age difference between us has diminished significantly now that I am older. I also think of how very young they were when we were children. 

Dad never imagined that he would ever live without Mom. The years after her death were difficult physically and emotionally both for Dad and his caregivers after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's plus syndrome in 2012. 

Texas, January 2016

The last time I had quality time with him was in January 2016 when the family went to an annual January missions convention in San Antonio, Texas. I flew there to help care for Dad during the day while my brother Philip cared for him at night. Dad had already lost a lot of independence, but his sense of direction was 100% and he guided me around the city with ease from the passenger seat. One afternoon we drove north of San Antonio through Texas hill country. Dad was at his best that day and we had a lovely time together. After that trip, he was hospitalized with a stroke and sepsis. His cognitive and functional abilities declined steadily until his death 3-1/2 years later. I believe Dad's time was up in 2016 but as we see too often now, medical interventions extend lifetimes past their expiry dates. He never had a good quality of life again.

January 27, 2017

I love this picture of Dad's great-grandson following him as he walked around his house with his walker. Adiel patiently pushed his scooter along at the same slow pace. Parents and grandparents have a big influence on their children and grandchildren. I am a mix of both my parents but am most similar to my father in temperament and interests. He shared his love of photography, computers, science and classical music with me as well as an introverted personality. Mom contributed an optimistic outlook that Dad lacked. Dad was methodical, highly organized and very, very private. He wanted control of any family information that was shared with others. He was very thrifty, but could also be very generous. Family was important to him, but he struggled to express his affection openly. I see him in each of my brothers, some more than others, and it is a rare day that I do not think of him. 

It is good to reflect on the past and people are more open to discussing family relationships now compared to past generations. I was reading 1 Corinthians 13 this week as part of my yearly journey through the Bible. This chapter on love is quoted so often, but the words were extra meaningful to me this time. The faith of Dad's youth was based on a lot of rules that were not clothed in grace and love. He inched toward the side of grace in later years but would tell me that his goal in this life was to be perfect. That was a great burden for him.  I know he would want these words to be true for his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren as we remember him today.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

Boston Greenway and an Amphibious Tour

The Greenway

Boston is a city that has something for everyone. We visited several years ago in the month of December and enjoyed a Boston Pops Christmas concert and my husband attended an NHL hockey game. We went through some museums and toured the historic north end of the city and the Freedom Trail in detail. Last month I chose to spend all my time outdoors. The town has plenty of shade trees and an abundance of benches along the boulevards and in the parks.

The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is a 17-acre park that is 2.4 km long and features pollinator gardens, art installations, fountains, playgrounds and promenades. 

The Greenway includes "Harbour Mist" water art installation

The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is a 17-acre park that is 2.4 km long and features pollinator gardens, art installations, fountains, playgrounds and promenades. The Greenway runs through the downtown core but shields the city's bustle for pedestrians. 

The Greenway Carousel and Water Fountain/Splash Pad

At the historic pier known as Long Wharf, there is a carousel that features native land and aquatic creatures and a splash pad fountain that lights up brilliantly at night. The entire downtown core is very child-friendly.

Duck Tour 

On our final day, we went with friends on a Boston Duck Tour. The tours are conducted in replica World War 2 amphibious DUKW vehicles. The tour guide was flamboyant and hilarious, but also very knowledgeable. The water portion of the trip was in the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge at Harvard University. 

The Hop-on-hop-off trolley I took a couple of days earlier was very different and well worth taking, but the Duck Tour added a unique perspective and offered new views and insights. The seating on the amphibious vehicle was tight, especially for larger adults and the land portion of the ride was a little rough compared to the trolley. 

After the Duck Tour, we walked and walked and walked...Boston Common, Boston Public Garden, the Edgar Allan Poe statue, old cemeteries, Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, Haymarket and more. 

I have visited very few big American cities that I would want to see again, but Boston would be worth a third and fourth visit. I would love to do a road trip along the New England coastline and explore the area between Salem and Cape Cod. 

...maybe next year!

Whale Watching

One of the highlights of Boston was a guided sunset whale-watching tour. A catamaran travels 25 miles east of the city to the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary which is an underwater plateau of relatively shallow water that supports a rich aquatic ecosystem. It is one of the best places in the world to see whales. We missed an opportunity to go whale watching at St. John's NL a few years ago due to poor weather conditions but the conditions in Boston were perfect. We travelled through fairly dense fog on the way to the sanctuary where the water was much deeper and the air temperatures were warmer than the ocean. But when we arrived at the sanctuary the fog cleared. The setting sun on the water made it challenging to photograph the whales but we saw many humpbacks. 

We saw a very strange-looking Mola mola or ocean sunfish. It is one of the heaviest fish in the world weighing between 500 to 2000 pounds. 

The lumpy, bumpy Mola mola

The sun dropped below the horizon on the return trip to Boston and the sunset was spectacular. The guides aboard the vessel, which is affiliated with Boston's New England Aquarium, were very knowledgeable. They talked about the efforts being made to mitigate the effects of rising sea levels and warming temperatures. The guides update a blog weekly and summarize the sightings of each tour. They recognize and have named individual whales. Here is their summary of our trip on August 5, 2023.

The surprise fog was a bit unwelcome today...

For the afternoon, we started a bit farther to the south where we found Reaper and enjoyed several high flukes before A-Plus, her calf, and Startrail became visible. The calf enjoyed our company and rolled and swam toward the boat, so close that I couldn’t see from my vantage point on the top deck! We kept seeing whales dive just at the edge of the line of vision in the fog, and the flukes all looked different from each other, so we realized that we had way more whales in the area than we initially thought. Bolide, Sprinkles, and Woodwind zipped around while a Mola mola, gray seal, and shark (possibly a porbeagle) were spotted intermittently. Jabiru, Pele, and Eruption made waves while Joy and Mayo snoozed to the west of the crowd.

Laura L. and Jane

I was thoroughly chilled by the time we returned to the Boston pier even though I heeded the advice to wear a jacket and warmer clothes. Several people boarded in summer clothes appropriate for the city's summer temperatures, but not for the ocean. I was sticky with salt spray but thoroughly relaxed and walked the 40-minute distance to the hotel alone after dark. The streets were busy and safe. 

My daughter was busy at the Boston Comicon and we only spent one day touring together. But I am very happy with my own company and thoroughly enjoyed my wanderings around the city and waterfront. I picked up a meal at Trader Joe's every day and skipped restaurants other than occasional street food. I walked further than I thought possible on my aging joints. It was definitely my kind of vacation!

Lessons from History

Boston: Freedom Trail, George Washington statue, Tea Party Museum, me with a good/bad? soldier 

My daughter and I had a lovely holiday in Boston MA last month. It was the first time I left Canada since 2019 and the trip went as planned with no travel glitches. Boston is a beautiful city and is very walkable and safe. I started with a hop-on hop-off tour to familiarize myself with the various neighbourhoods and historic districts. The tour guide on the first leg of the trolley ride was knowledgeable but her version of the War of Independence was so superficial I was compelled to get a book that explained the conflict in detail. I wasn't interested in the re-creation of the Boston Tea Party and walked the Freedom Trail thinking about the people who lost the war. I am a descendant of Empire Loyalists who came to Ontario to escape the American Revolution and have my own biases.

I bought this book that describes the events leading up to the American Revolution with perspectives of British loyalists, Patriots, and concurrent conflicts with Britain, Spain, France, Black slaves and Indigenous peoples in the New World. The book is well-written and easy to read for a scholarly tome. Alan Taylor is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who writes objectively and describes violence, corruption, atrocities and genocide on all sides of the conflict. Current divisions and violence in America have deep roots in the 18th century. (I will be looking for more of his books at the library). My Canadian high school history classes involved memorizing names and dates that were important for passing exams and our textbooks were biased in favour of the British Commonwealth. The world has changed a lot since the 1960s. On April 23, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King led a civil rights march of 22,000 people to the Boston Common where he is quoted as saying, 

"We shall overcome" inequality and school segregation; "justice will roll down like great waters and righteousness like streams."

(from Amos 5:24)

Progress has been made, but racial inequality has not been erased. 

We recently re-watched the 1953 Walt Disney animated movie, Peter Pan and Wendy. Our children watched it when they were growing up and I had no qualms about the classic story. The racism, sexism and misogyny in the story and songs are very obvious today and a disclaimer has been added to the film. I won't be showing it to our grandchildren until they are old enough to discuss the negative stereotypes.

We used to play games like "Cowboys and Indians". Of course, the villains were Indians. Christmas Day 1960, I received a new baby doll and a case of homemade doll clothes. My 4-year-old brother got a cowboy shirt made by our mother, a cowboy hat, twin holsters and revolvers. My formative years in South Africa and Canada were marked by unrecognized white privilege in the twilight of the colonial era. 

Boston Public Garden

It has taken time and exposure to different people and cultures to see the world through eyes other than my own. There are people who never explore historical views and opinions other than the ones they learn from their tribe, ignoring other views of the past. Reading Alan Taylor's book, it is clear there is no such thing as "the good old days". We must keep moving into the future with wisdom gained from our understanding of the past. 

Boston Public Garden has a large number of trees with over 100 different native and introduced species. I like the Michael Crichton quote because it is important to understand our own historical tree as well as the historical trees of other groups of people. The park would not be as beautiful without this important diversity.