I posted a 10:00 Pm photo on June 30 to show how much sunlight we were getting at that time. Someone suggested that I post another photo on July 30. A suggestion like that was too good to miss.
So here is my photo from June 30.
Some comments that were made on my last post about immigrants and temporary status got me thinking about the broader issue.
I'll go at this in order. Well, from when people first came to North America. Aboriginals came across the Bering Strait and spread across North America. They were here first so have first rights.
Thousands of years later, Europeans showed up in America. At first it was very few. For hundreds of years there were no governments so no recognition of immigrant status. I believe most of the immigration occurred in the 1800. It wasn't long before they began fighting with each other.
Millions of immigrants came to North America. My family were immigrants. Mennonites who came later suffered extreme violence. Most of them lost everything. Mennonites here found them and paid to get them to Canada. They were here for economic reasons and to enjoy peace and freedom.
Now there are many many people around the world who find themselves in economic conditions where they cannot survive. Others do not have peace and freedom. They come to Europe in small leaky boats. Many of them perish. They leave family behind. The pressure is on them to support their families back home. Europeans are unhappy about the migrants. Europeans were in the same situation many times. After the second war many immigrants came here and it was with permanent status. They had nothing left back in Europe.
Globalization has made it easier for people to move around the world.
So here we are again with people who just want security, peace and freedom.
Here, is like many other places where Ukrainians have come for a time to live during the war.
I have met many different Ukrainians. They have all been hard working and willing to learn about us and fit in.
One 20 year old showed up here about 2 years ago. She took a waitressing job at the Casino. We were there the night she started. Her English was very limited. The first night was nerve wracking for her and she dropped all her money on the floor. She worked hard at her English and became proficient with the language. She's here for a set time and then she has to go back. She's hoping her time will be extended.
So I got it in my head that we should do more to support and mix with these people in our country. I asked her the other day how to say hello in Ukrainian. You should have seen her eyes light up. She wondered if my question was for real. So now I know one word in Ukrainian. So in Ukrainian hello is pryvit.
I'm going to ask the Ukrainian neighbors how to say thank you and then I can say thankyou to Karina at the restaurant.
I know that many people work to support some of the Ukrainians. I received satisfaction by seeing the obvious joy one little question brought.
So I will not be learning Ukrainian, but I will learn a few words.
The weather has been crazy this summer. Some places have been suffering from a heat wave . Other places have received excess rain. And then some places are cold.
This week we are cold in Central Alberta. . Today's high was 11 C. Last night it went down to plus 6 C. The furnace cut in. We are having extremes.
This reminds me of an extreme I experienced one time. It might cool you off.
I've said at least 1000 times that I spent 5 years in the Arctic.
I was single and so were most of the bush pilots. I could ask to go along for a ride and if there was room I got to go with them.
So one Saturday morning It was arranged that I would go to Ft Macpherson with them. I walked the mile down to the airplane. I was there before the pilot. When the pilot got there they had to cover the engine with a tarp and light a fire pot to warm up the engine. Finally the engine started. I had been standing outside all this time and it was minus 40 F.
Off we go but the airplane is just as cold inside as the outside. The flight was about 55 minutes. By the time we got to Ft.Macpherson the cabin had started to warm up. So we landed and picked up a mechanic and dumped off some mail. All the time the doors of the plane were open so it was once more as cold inside the cabin as outside.
We had a 35 minute flight to Aklavik. After a while the pilot was looking out the window . According to his watch he should have been at Aklavik. He was on the right path to Aklavik but we were against a strong head wind and it caused a slower air speed. We threw off mail bags and headed for home in another 40 minutes.
So what I thought would be a very pleasant flight turned out to be very unpleasant. The whole trip was miserably cold. Then I had to walk the one mile back to my residence.
So If your suffering a heat wave, I hope this cools you off a bit.
Every couple of weeks I call my brothers. The agenda for the call goes first; How are you doing; second what are you doing and then it wanders on to what happened in the family a long time ago.
A lot did happen in our family. My brother and I were Irish twins. Irish twins are when there are two births within the same year. My brother was born on the 6th of the month and I did not turn one until the 21st of the month
Twins get a bum rap for being able to get into mischief. We've all heard ,"What one can't think of the other one will."
However, I think Irish twins can get into mischief by just standing there.
When my brother and I were 3 and 4 we were sent up to our paternal grand parents in the middle of the winter. I'm not sure how long we stayed with them but I remember grandma had the big feather comforter that was about 12 " thick.
We then went to our uncle Fred's. We got into our aunt's cupboard and found her dried apples which she used for making pies. Fortunately we were caught before we managed to eat the whole package.
Then we went to Uncle Albert's . Here, we found a package of playing cards that we hid so that we could play with them but we didn't know any card games.
Then we went to Uncle Friske's, who had a large three story house. This was a great place to run around. The teacher boarded there and took us to school the next day. Some of the bigger kids supervised us. The teacher later became our Aunt.
At some time our family was rescued from us. The hostage exchange was made in the village.
Why were we away from home in the winter? We think we were sent away when our brother was born. You can see why they wouldn't want us in the house during a birth.
So did nobody want us and kept sending us to different families or did they all want us and took turns looking after us?
Memories of children is suspect. One of us will remember one thing but not another. How accurate is our memory as young children? The other factor is that now we are in our mid eighties. That's about 80 years ago the this happened.
For us it's pleasant to look back.
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The last post described a visit that was on the bridge for good beaver watching. This year a beaver dam has gone in about 60m from the walking bridge over the creek. It's a popular place for people to meet. Most of the time people are there watching for the two beavers. This is where I met the Ukrainian couple and last night I visited with man from New Zealand.
A large dam has been constructed. I think now they are storing food. On a stream like this they tunnel into the bank to make their lodge. So I thought, why not do a post on beavers?
A long time ago, a blogger I followed said, "A good walk is an excellent opportunity for photos." That has worked for me many times. Now I rarely carry my camera.
I try to go for a walk every evening. My walk is usually in the 4000 to 5000 step category.
I meet quite a few people and their dogs. Most nights I have one or two good visits.
My walk today was special. I met a Ukrainian couple who are doing quite well here but still struggling with things. They are both computer programmers. He had just lost his job but is hopeful he will find another job.
After a slow start to the conversation, it picked up. They were practicing their English with me. They found that as an older person I spoke slowly and was easy to understand. For them, younger people speak too fast and use more slang.
They like the beautiful area here. We were standing on a foot bridge watching a beaver go back and forth under us.
So I get to learn about some of their culture. I try and tell them that my ancestors, although they were German, came from the Ukraine. I'm not sure that they understand that. All my ancestors spoke German and Russian when they came here and some spoke Ukrainian.
So it was a quiet pleasant evening for a good walk.
Today is a day I really like. Or in other words , I like chocolate. World Chocolate day is thought to celebrate the introduction of chocolate into Europe in 1550.
There are several other days celebrating chocolate.
National chocolate day is a U.S. date celebrated Oct 28.
Candy makers have a day designated to celebrate chocolate.
So I like chocolate but there's no chocolate in the house to celebrate with.
I hope you will find some chocolate to celebrate World chocolate day.
I've commented many times on how much I love the long daylight hours we have here.
There's more to it than that. We get to be outside and enjoy long evenings. Now each evening has it's own characteristics. Many times the wind doesn't go down until just before sunset. We get to see some interesting sunsets.
What I really like are those very calm evenings. It seems that people follow a schedule throughout the year and they are not out in the evening. So it's quiet. No people on the street! Very few cars. So with the coming of sunset the day seems to quietly wind down.
So on June 30 I decided to go out just before 10 PM and see if I could catch the peaceful evening. When I looked at the photos, it surprised me at how light it was.
So here there's little activity in the evenings even if it's light. However, in the Arctic it as different. We had sun up for 24 hours a day. People were active at any time of the day. I met some of my students out at 4 AM. Inuit got up to hunt at any time to take advantage of the tide to go out of the bay. One teacher got mixed up with time and came to school just before 9 Pm. She got teased for a long time.
I have never gone out and attended a Canada Day celebration. Yes, I know I'm bad. I have attended the fireworks in the evening. I would take my family to a good vantage point and watch fireworks. It was fun when the kids were little.
So, today I was doing my regular grocery shopping. Yes, that's me . Grocery shopping on Canada Day.
I met an Asian woman with three little kids doing her shopping.
She had a three year old who was bouncing with great abandon. That kid had energy.
I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the seven year old had a tiny Canadian flag and he was holding it up. I realized that he was saying Happy Canada Day. I wished him Happy Canada Day and I got the politest "Thankyou" I've ever received.
The five year old girl had a pink birthday hat on. I asked her if it was her birthday and she said it was. I wished her happy birthday and also received a very sincere thankyou.
This really made my Canada Day.
It was better than fire works.
