Getting Some of that Blue Inside

On the evening before the Summer Solstice this year, the sky was clear and there was no wind, so the water on Georgian Bay near Waubaushene was glassy.  We wanted to do something to celebrate the longest day of the year, the beginning of summer.  Last year we went out in the boat with some friends and launched Chinese lanterns into the night sky.  But this year I wanted to do something quiet.

So my partner and I decided to take the big freighter canoe out into the middle of Sturgeon Bay about an hour before sunset.  We got out of the boating channel and he cut the engine.  We put lawn chair pads on the wooden seats and life jackets under our heads for pillows and lay across the twenty foot canoe with our legs dangling over the edge.  The boat rocked us as the wake from other boats traveled across the lake.  We looked up at the big wide blue sky and watched a few wispy white clouds make their way above us.

Floating out there on the lake, the horizon formed a big circle around us.  I thought about the social philosophy of the circle and how it can get bigger or smaller to accommodate those in it.  I thought about all the life within this circle we had chosen that night.  The gulls, terns, turkey vultures and cormorants flew overhead.  Canada geese, ducks and mergansers moved along the surface of the lake along with a few boats.  And hundreds of fish, mollusks, and water plants lived beneath the surface of the lake.  Beavers, muskrats, otters and weasels moved through the water as well. We were a part of all that life.  And all that life was part of us.

The sun sank closer to the horizon in the west as the full moon rose in the east. Grandmother moon and grandfather sun equally balanced in the sky as we rocked in our canoe cradle on the still water coming into balance with ourselves, with each other and with all of life.

Finally the sun set and the sky blazed with purple, orange and yellow light.  Clouds above us glowed with soft pink light and the sky turned darker blue. 

I had a copy of Richard Wagames’s book Keeper ‘n Me and I read from my favourite part of the book. where the young man goes out into the lake in his boat and watches the sun set.  “A peaceful, silent blue. The only word I ever heard that comes close to explaining how that blue feels inside me is ‘eternal.’ Eternal blue.  My favorite color and my favorite feeling.”

Turning the bow east, we faced the moon`s silver light on the water, guiding us back to the dock before it got too dark.  I held a large flashlight to alert other boats to our presence but the light of the moon was all we needed to navigate by.

It felt right this year to start the summer with stillness.  The cottagers have arrived from the city with all kinds of plastic watercraft, loud music and alcohol.  They bring the city`s noise and bustle with them.  I work in the city and I understand how it becomes a part of you.  But as I get older, I want to be a part of what I find out on the lake and know that it is a part of me. Wagamese says it best, “I go out on that lake to get some of that blue inside.”

Richard Wagamese (1994) Keeper ‘n Me. Anchor Canada, p. 212

Being the Change

Here are four urban stories that I read in the last few months in the Toronto Metro newspaper that are a part of the new story that we are creating.

The most recent one was about a group called Not Not Far From The Tree, a Toronto organization that harvests fruit from urban trees and bushes.   Not Far From The Tree was founded in 2008 when the founder noticed the amount of fruit falling from trees that was wasted or became food for raccoons.   Apples, pears, cherries, service berries, sumac, grapes, apricots, elderberries and other fruit that homeowners can’t keep up with are picked.

Their website is the place that connects homeowners, volunteers and local community organizations that distribute food. This fruit picking project splits the harvest between volunteers, homeowners, local food banks, shelters and community kitchens.

Volunteers pick fruit 

 Not Far From The Tree’s website states that they are inspired by “the spirit of sharing, the desire to give back to our community, and a passion for environmentally sustainable living.”  This innovative group has harvested nearly 13,000 lbs of fruit so far.

Another urban gardening project that caught my eye was the Grow Potatoes program that is asking people to grow potatoes in containers in their yards or balconies to donate to Ottawa shelters for the homeless.  You can read more about this project on the Just Food website under Soldiers-Helping-Soldiers (SHS).

Coordinated by retired Sergeant Dannelle Gauthier the website gives instructions on how to grow 100 lbs of potatoes in planters, garbage bags or other containers. 

Potatoes are among the biggest expense in soup kitchens. The average Ottawa one uses around 120 lbs. a day.  The Shepherds of Good Hope go through 15,000 lbs every year.  Since they are inexpensive to grow and store well SHS hopes to harvest 40,000 lbs. by Sept. 17^th. 

Just Food’s Community Garden Network Coordinator Jordan Bouchard said, “We are supporting this project as it increases awareness about food insecurity among homeless people, while also encouraging a team approach within the community to grow fresh food for those who need it most.”  Just Food’s mission is “to work towards vibrant, just and sustainable food and farming systems in the Ottawa region.”

Soldiers Helping Soldiers is a volunteer organization that “seeks to connect homeless veterans with the services and benefits to which they are entitled.”   Grow Potatoes is a collaboration between SHS, Just Food and the City of Ottawa. 

In March I read a story about a group of families in Ottawa who decided to tap the maple trees in their yard and in their neighbours` yards and make maple syrup.  They reported that people stopped to talk to them as they gathered the sap, which made it a positive community experience.  It is estimated that there are around 16,000 sugar maples in Ottawa.  Technically it is illegal to bore holes in city trees but if the community decided to amend that law, imagine what they could produce.

A fourth story comes out of the Rocky Ridge Royal Oak community in Calgary.  Volunteer drivers will pledge to go the speed limit or drive for the conditions at all times in their cars adorned with “Community Pace Car” logos.  The Community Pace Car program has been successful so far in other parts of Canada.

Right now the Calgary one is in the pilot project phase but if it is found to be successful, it can be expanded to other neighbourhoods in that city.  There has been lots of interest because the program allows people to take action to create safer neighbourhoods.   Apparently, the stickers actually change people’s driving behaviour through good example.  The program raises awareness especially in school zones and where there is a lot of pedestrian traffic.

The program is detailed on the Parachute website.  Parachute is a national, charitable organization formed by the unification of Safe Communities Canada, Safe Kids Canada, SMARTRISK and ThinkFirst Canada in 2012.

Parachute awards grants of $1000 to Pace Car Communities to help promote the program.  This year`s recipients were Alberton, PEI, Assiniboia, SK, Stratford, PEI, Sherbrooke, PQ and Vernon, BC.  The website gives all the information needed to start up this program in your own community.

All of these stories are about ordinary people connecting with each other to make their communities better places to live, through very ordinary activities like growing and sharing food and driving responsibly.  These programs allow people to do something positive and create change by setting a good example.  The people who are participating in them are being the change they want to see.  They are writing their own story.  They are writing our new story.

There's Magic in those Shells

On the first weekend of June this year, the weather was overcast and windy, making paddling a bad choice, so my partner and I decided to walk at the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre since it was turtle nesting season.  Once there, we were told that there had been a sighting of newly hatched snapping turtles emerging from their nest.  The eggs may have been laid unusually late in the fall and overwintered underground. 

Female snapping turtle

So off we headed over the new boardwalks that span the marsh and onto the earth berms that were created decades ago when the marsh was dredged to provide an open water habitat for fish, turtles, muskrats, otters, geese, ospreys, swans and other marsh life.  

Along the way we encountered a number of large female snapping turtles on the berm, digging holes with their back feet, to lay their precious eggs. Some were two feet long with long scaly tails that looked prehistoric.  They looked at us with their striped reptilian eyes and most of them ignored us but one decided to crawl back into the water until we were gone.  

Snapping turtles dig their nests in gravel and loose soil

Finally we arrived at the place where the hatchlings had been sighted.  We stooped over and walked carefully as we scanned the ground for the babies. 

Suddenly my partner spotted one impossibly small turtle, the size of a loonie, covered in the mud, now dried brown, that it had crawled through to emerge from its nest.  It looked dead, but on closer inspection, we realized that it was just resting.  Then we saw another and another, all heading in the same direction along the path.  They struggled to clamber over blades of grass seeking the water. We took pictures of each one and counted nine. 

Most of the turtle nests get predated by racoons and other animals so the miracle of their surviving long enough to hatch, was amazing.  Their continued survival looked unlikely from their size but we know that some of them will make it age 35 when they too can start procreating for decades in this protected area.

Eventually we decided to walk a different way on the return berm and a hundred feet or so from the others, we found one bold little turtle making its way on its own in the opposite direction – the outlier turtle.  We took its picture as well.

On the way back we came across one more, large snapping turtle digging a hole.  We had met no other people the whole time due to the poor weather but across the water on the boardwalk we noticed a woman, a man and three girls aged between eight and ten.  My partner and I are volunteers at the Wye Marsh and we take people on canoe and hiking tours, so we offered to show the family the newly hatched turtles.  The girls were dip netting and didn’t want to stop but the mother convinced them that this was a rare occurrence.  They went running on ahead and my partner kept up with them to make sure they didn’t step on any of the nearly invisible youngsters.

I walked more sedately behind with the parents.  The mother confided that she had had a lot of difficulty getting the girls away from their electronic devices to go out for a walk and she had been hoping that something would happen during their visit to the marsh to justify this in the eyes of the girls.  One of the girls was a neighbour and she loved nature but the other two girls were not so keen. 

As we walked, I showed her the holes turtles had dug, predated nests and broken egg shells and where the turtles came up onto the berm.  The previously sighted mother turtles were all gone by now.  As we came up to where the girls had discovered the baby snappers, we could hear the excitement in their voices.  When they saw their parents, they called out, “Come and see them!”  My partner kept a close eye out as he protected the tiny ones from the children’s excited feet.  The kids took pictures of the turtles -- yes, every one of them, and marveled at their cuteness and tiny features.  They searched the area as if they were looking for Easter eggs and called out each new discovery.

Just as the excitement was starting to wane, a Canada Goose family climbed onto the berm from the marsh – a mother, father and goslings following behind.  They walked away from us and the kids followed them as if pulled by a magnet.  More pictures were taken and the tallest girl gave them all names starting with the letter G.  This time I kept up with them to make sure they didn’t get too close to the protective parents who might “goose” them.  My partner stayed behind with the parents who had joined in the excitement as if they were children once again.

Eventually the geese made their way through the shoreline bushes and went back into the water near a bridge.  The girls ran onto the bridge and we all strained to see them and then watch them make their way out of sight.

Tiger Swallowtail butterflies

Returning to the berm, we spotted a beautiful yellow Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.  It fluttered around our heads and then was joined by another one and then another and another.  I watched the butterflies dancing around the girls as the girls began to dance in delight, twisting and turning to see these lovely creatures floating in the air.  And then just as quickly as they came, they were gone.

Osprey on nesting platform

Looking over the marsh, we saw the mother osprey standing on her nesting platform over the marsh.  The young may have hatched already but we couldn’t see them yet.  I told the girls how ospreys plummet down into the water from a great height to catch fish with their talons.

We continued along the berm a few feet and a green frog hopped across the path and landed at my feet.  “Cue the frog,” I said as if we were in some kind of choreographed nature movie.  I put my feet together to prevent it from hopping away while the girls took pictures.  And then I stepped back and it hopped out of sight.

A few minutes later, my partner who had caught up with us spotted a painted turtle on the path ahead.  Much smaller than the snapping turtle, it has delicate red markings around the edge of its dark green shell. Once again, I briefly obstructed its passage so the girls could take pictures.  A bluet damselfly landed on the mother's arm.  More pictures.  I told the mom how I go home after one of these walks and google some of the things I've seen to learn more about them.  She liked that idea and the girls talked about emailing their pictures to friends.

The girls skipped along the path.  I told them how amazing it was that they had seen so many animals.  It was like they were attracting them somehow.  I have taken other people on hikes where no wildlife is seen at all.  The mother told me how much she loved this kind of thing when she was a kid and she wanted her children to love it too.  I had deep respect for her intention that got the kids outside and then being happy to have two “strangers” share a magical experience.  I don’t think she will have so much difficulty getting them there again.  The dad who initially looked like he had been a not so willing part of this “forced family fun”, broke into a big smile when we finally said goodbye.

I fully expected David Suzuki to appear out of the cattails telling us why it is so important for kids and adults to spend time in nature.  The David Suzuki Foundation has among many projects, two initiatives to get people out into nature.  One is to get parents to pledge to help their kids spend the same amount of time outside as they spend on screens.  This helps their kids to be healthier, happier, more creative and more likely to value the planet and be willing to take care of it. 

When I was raising my kids, they always wanted to be outside and I had to make the choice to be out there as well supervising when we lived in a big city.  This meant that floors didn’t get washed and the house was not so neat, although it was full of found “treasures” such as rocks, feathers and sticks.  I eventually moved to the country where the kids were allowed to roam the farm freely exploring and learning from nature.  The house was no neater but it was full of life.

Snapping turtle 3 hours after hatching

Now that my partner and I are grandparents, we make sure we offer our grandchildren outside experiences in boats, canoes and in the woods.  But they all live at a distance from us and so we have decided to be “grandparents at large” sharing out enthusiasm for nature and whatever knowledge we think children might take in.  As we share what we find magical, kids tap into their innate sense of magic, adults become children again and nature provides the rest.  The connections become stronger and we are all the healthier for it.

Celebrating the Global Family Peace Tree

Peace Tree Day is an annual festival for children, youth and their families to share their cultures and faiths and to celebrate peace and diversity.  Created in 2005 by Mitra Sen, Peace Tree Day was first celebrated in Toronto and Vaughn, Ontario on June 1^st of that year. 

Eleven years later it is still being celebrated and has spread to other areas of Canada as well as  India, Pakistan, Israel, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Sydney, Germany, South Africa, England, Taiwan, Korea, Scotland, Dubai, France and Cyprus.

Mitra Sen is a teacher with the Toronto District School Board who also creates socially relevant films that portray young people dealing with diversity and peace.  Sen tries to inspire youth to create social change by taking action through intercultural celebrations that foster respect and peace.  Her films have won twenty-five international awards.

Sen got the inspiration for Peace Tree Day when she was making the film The Peace Tree (see the trailer) which was about two girls who wanted to celebrate each other’s holidays.  Sen wanted to create a festival that celebrated all cultures and faiths that would unite people.

Peace Tree Day is celebrated every June 1^st in classrooms, homes, hospitals and public spaces.  The kids work together to create symbols of peace from their diverse cultures and faiths which they hang on a living tree or on the bare branches of a tree arranged inside.  These symbols could be a dove, an elephant, the moon and star, or the Hindu symbol for Om for example. The work can be done and added throughout the school year, gradually growing in diversity and beauty as kids add symbols of peace, messages or the word peace in various languages to the tree. 

The culmination of this combined effort on June 1^st is Peace Tree Day, a multicultural festival including food, dancing, music and other cultural activities that allow the kids to share their cultures and gain respect and understanding of the cultures of their schoolmates.  This festival can also be used as a fund raiser for kids in war torn areas of the world.  This empowers the children to create change in the world by working together and gives them an experience of the strength and beauty of diversity.

The Peace Tree Day website includes a wealth of resources for teachers and parents including songs, ideas, videos, stencils and more.  The pictures of peace trees created by children in various parts of the world are a feast for the eyes.  They are created by children who understand that they are part of the global family.  If you want to see the world through their eyes, then take a look.

“There’s just a sense of peace that you can only feel under the shade of a tree,” said Mitra in a recent interview for the Metro News.  Sen added that she sees the Peace tree as “a sign that we all grew from the same roots branching out.”