Ya Didn't Need to Know

     I've been cleansed! That's right, I've been cleansed. You may ask,"How have you been cleansed or why have you been cleansed?" I'm glad you asked so that I have a reason to tell you.

    A few weeks ago a doctor  decided that I should have a colonoscopy. Those who've had a colonoscopy will say, "I know it all." Those who haven't had a colonoscopy will cringe with dread.

    The colonoscopy is done when it is decided that a look has to be taken inside the colon.  The scope is a four foot flexible tool about the thickness of a finger. It is inserted through the anus and is slowly moved along while the specialist looks at every nook and cranny. The apparatus can show the condition of the inside of the colon and also take biopsies. The procedure takes about 30 minutes. You are given a sedative which knocks you out and you are not aware of what's going on. This is the easy part.

     The cleansing is the nasty part.

      In order to see anything with the scope the whole system has to be empty. And I mean empty! The term they use is "cleansed". So this afternoon I've been cleansed. Well, what in the world is cleansing? Ya don't wanna know but I'll tell ya. You are given 8 liters of a vile mixture. You drink 250 ml every ten minutes until you've consumed two liters. Shortly after consuming this mixture, you find yourself emptying out violently and quickly! You feel pretty icky drinking this concoction. You drink the other 2 liters the next morning to make sure that you are really cleansed. 

     Now I have to wait 26 hours before I can eat again. I can have clear liquids until midnight. The next day, nothing until the procedure is over. I have to get somebody to drive me home and stay with me for at least 24 hours.
   
    Why go through this procedure? I'd rather know sooner than later if there is a problem. They are usually looking for cancer and colon cancer is quite curable if discovered soon enough.  It's recommended that people over a certain age have a colonoscopy every five years.

   So I hope that after all the cleansing, I'm a much cleaner person!

Happy Canada Day

        Today, July first, is Canada's birthday!  

       We are 148 years old! 

        Our birthday was originally called Dominion Day as we were first known as the Dominion of Canada.

        Most communities have some type of celebration today to mark the occasion. 

        So to all my Canadian followers  HAPPY CANADA DAY! And if anybody else wants to join us in celebration HAPPY CANADA DAY  to you too. We have been known to accept  many people in different circumstances. I hope we continue to make people welcome.

City Hall Park

    I think most city halls are placed in a  well planned park. I would think most people are as proud of their park as I am of our city park. Usually the city hall is in the downtown so parks and in this case it's a garden are very attractive.

    My last post covered the Mayor's Garden Party which was held in City Hall Park. Now I didn't  attend the Garden party. I used my time to take some photos of the park. I also ran onto many people I knew so I had some good visits. Now that I think about it, I should have got some people photos. 

    Our city hall Park make excellent use of shapes, colors and sizes. 

The park is a great combination of trees, shrubs flower beds  , grass and walks.

This was a weird one. I thought I'd take a shot and see what I'd get. When I looked in the view finder there appeared to be words written with the flowers but I could only see it in the camera. This is a small part but the whole thing  says stop and smell the flowers.  I wonder if very many people see this when they visit the park.

Figures emphasized with colors

lots of grassy areas.

The center is a  circle surrounded by flowers and shrubs.

The Mayor's Garden Party

     Every summer our little city, Red Deer , has a Mayor's Garden Party. The Garden party was probably started 25 years ago and has been a popular event. It's meant to celebrate seniors. At one time there were many seniors around who had been the movers and shakers to build the city so it was fitting to celebrate seniors.

     The garden party has great sweet treats, lemonade, coffee and tea. It's themed to the 1890's so the servers, council, Mayor and staff are in period costumes. There's usually great entertainment. It's a fun afternoon.

    The Mayor's Garden Party is one of the Micro Manager's favorite events. She loves all about this event. 25 years ago it was a great event as she would go with her buddies. Now she doesn't have anybody to go with. Many our age have passed on or are no longer active. Some I just don't recognize anymore. I had to twist her arm to attend. I don't do social events of this type so I'm no support. 

    So when I met the Micro Manager after the event she was excited. She'd enjoyed the afternoon , found one of her friends and won a book.

    Now I spent time taking a few photos. I met many people I knew and was conscripted on the spot to take some photos.

And I did meet the Mayor who's the one with the red hat and shoes!

A Little Old Lady in a Trans AM

          I was downtown early this morning when it was fairly quiet. I was approaching a street that I had to cross. On my right I noticed a rather dusty beat up old Trans AM. A closer look revealed the driver to be female.

         I waited for the light to change. The Trans AM was going to make a left turn. Well, you keep your eye on any car when you're crossing the street and somebody is turning left. I took a good look at the driver in the Trans AM to see if she was aware that I was crossing the street.   Not only was the driver female , but she was elderly, very elderly. A wool hat was pulled over great locks of white hair. This driver was alert and aware of everything around her...even an elderly pedestrian crossing the street. After I had crossed, she made her left turn smartly and proceeded with confidence down the block. She looked like she knew how to drive the Trans AM and had driven it for a long time.

        So I speculate. Was this lady driving her grand son's Trans AM?  Did this lady need a car in a hurry and just picked up a Trans AM?  Was this lady a rebel and chose a hot car? How many speeding tickets has she had? Had this lady bought her own Trans AM many years ago and had just continued driving it until they both became old? 

       What ever the situation, the two images were opposite to what you would expect. 

       So do you take a second look when the two images don't match? 

My 1978 Chevy roadster just before I sold it !!!

What Day Is It?

     Today is ;
         (a) Father's Day
         (b) Summer solstice
         (c) National aboriginal day
         (d) International yoga day
         (e) all of the above

    I woke up thinking about two things: Father's Day and Summer solstice. 

    Father's day things happened first. Sometime in the morning the Micro Manager wished me a happy Father's day. She'd taken me out for lunch on Friday. Later I got a phone call from my daughter and son in law. I think about my Dad most days so today there were a few more thoughts. Dad was a big influence in my life. As we grew older the influences changed but the influences were always there and they are still with me today.. 

    Now summer solstice is always a big day for me. It's a prominent marker in the year.  I did not get any special photos this year but I have some from a couple of years ago  when I was allowed to  stay out after 10:00 PM. The sun rose today at 5:14 AM and sets at 21:59. It's a beautiful evening and it will not get dark until around 2300. 

This is about 21:45

My back yard at 2200

This is as good as it gets with a point and shoot

    In Canada, it's also National Aboriginal Day. Since I did a post on the aboriginal issue a few days ago , it's a suitable day to recognize.

     Now I know nothing about yoga but I thought out of all things recognized today that this would be suitable. It will impress my 84 year old friend who is nuts about yoga.

   Now if you look up anything about special days you will find more than you ever wanted to know. So I can go along with the celebration of special days. I do keep things to my own country.

   I hope that you were able to do justice to the marking of Father's day and that you celebrated summer solstice.

Truth and Reconciliation Commision

      The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) gave its report to the Canadian government last week.

       What's the Truth and Reconciliation Commission you say? Well, it is a commission that was to discover the facts about the sad education system our government ran for aboriginal people

in Canada.

      More than 100 years ago an education system was established for first nations people. The government gave a pittance for funding and farmed the work out to churches. The system took aboriginal kids away from their families and put them  in residences. The goal of this system was to take their language and culture away from the kids so that they would become good little white kids! They took much more than that away from the first nations people. Kids did not grow up in a family and as a result did not get the family experience and became ostracised from their relatives. There were many very cruel teachers and residential supervisors who destroyed these kids forever. Physical and sexual abuse was common.

     So the TRC was set up to find out as much information as possible and then hopefully set about trying to right the wrongs of the system. Thousands of people told their stories. 

     I was a teacher who spent five years teaching  Inuit and first nation's children. For three years a very large residential facility was  with the school. The churches ran the residences and the government ran the school.

    I went north as a young teacher looking for adventure and bigger money. I was given in service about what I was supposed to do. Yes , we  were to teach English. Yes, we were to discourage kids from speaking their own language. Yes , we were to encourage kids to join another culture and leave theirs behind. I did what I was told and didn't question the administration. 

    It wasn't until years later when I was talking to a pilot who picked the kids up in their settlements and brought them into the residence that I realized the horrors that took place. He told about kids being taken from their parents and how awful it was for both. 

     Now the teaching experience was excellent and my contact with aboriginal people changed my life forever. 

    One year I taught in a temporary classroom between the school and residence. Many days when I left the classroom the little boys were playing around my portable. I received cheerful greetings that  I will never forget. They always called me Mr McKline. I observed their play. They would play dog team. I'm sure I had as much fun watching them as they had playing. Sometimes I went to the residence. Several times I went in the dormitories after the kids were in bed. I'll never forget the sight 40 little boys in one room on cots. There was some light left on for the supervisors. Most kids were asleep but there was always somebody who was awake. There was much moaning and groaning.

     I've thought many times of how these six year old boys were a thousand miles away from home and how horrible it was for them, their parents and their community.

    Now back to the TRC. Our government almost completely ignored the report. The next step is to right the wrong. It won't happen unless the government participates. 

    I'm one of the pessimistic people on this topic. I think the government will throw some beads and trinkets at the situation and leave it to continue causing damage and heartache to the aboriginal people of Canada.