By Cathy Hird
Creation is in a hurry. One day last week, the tulip buds had barely formed when I went in for lunch. After the meal, there were ten brilliant red flowers near the tool-shed with rose coloured ones beside the lilacs. An hour later, there were yellow and red ones by the house.
It wasn't just tulips. When I walked down the hill to weed part of the garden, I saw dandelion leaves. When I came back to the house, fourteen were in flower. Until that day the only colour came from the daffodils, bright yellow trumpets, a double white one, and some with pale rose trumpets and white petals. Suddenly, there was colour everywhere.
Owen Sound's first food swap will be held Sunday, May 24 at the Owen Sound Farmers' Market.
In essence, a food swap is a free community event where participants bring homemade, homegrown or foraged foods - things like rhubarb, jam, lettuce, granola, bread, or pickles- and swap their goods with other participants. Everyone is guaranteed to leave with a bounty of delicious foods to try and perhaps make new, like-minded foodie friends, too.
One of the organizers, Melissa Monk, explained her enthusiasm, “Food swaps have been gaining in popularity for a few years, spurred on by media like this New York Times article and have become a bit of a mainstay in the urban eat-local scene. The entire concept seemed like a great fit for our town.”
The first event is going to be held at the Owen Sound Farmers' Market on Sunday, May 24th from 1-3 PM.
More information is on the website or Facebook page and people can sign up for the event for free here.
by Anne Finlay-Stewart
Another long day for Council and City staff. From 1 to 4 they were meeting with the consultant to discuss the most recent draft of the city's Strategic Plan. After the mission and vision statements, the longest conversation was about the Financial Sustainability piece, including "diversifying revenue sources" and "reducing the city's footprint" which, according to former City Manager Ruth Coursey means decision making about the number and level of city-provided services. The other three "pillars" of the plan are Economic Prosperity, Environmental Integrity and Society and Culture.
Verbs got a lot of attention, mostly around how they might be interpreted by the public, and how success will be measured. Does "support" imply financial assistance? How will we measure progress in "encouraging ethnic/cultural groups"?
At 5:30 Council met in-camera to discuss six matters, including litigation, land disposition and personnel matters. In less than six months in office, this Council has surpassed the 45 matters discussed in-camera (behind closed doors) over the last ten months of the previous Council's last term. Yet another in-camera meeting will be held May 13.
Just for comparison, Meaford Council went in-camera only six times in 2014.
The regular meeting began, as advertised, without any prayer or silent reflection. A public meeting on this subject was the first order of business, and only one citizen spoke. A pastor and member of the area's Evangelical Ministerial Association, Harry Zantingh, told Council that he was disappointed by the decision to amend the procedural by-law, but that it would in no way interfere with the private and communal prayers offered regularly for the city's decision-makers.
by Jon Farmer
It's easy to be cynical when glossy greeting cards and slick ads make holidays seem like superficial excuses to spend money. But as much as consumerism strips the spirit of a holiday it's important to remember why we celebrate, especially on Mother's Day. We all literally owe our lives to our mothers but the commercial expectations of a North American Mother's Day can taint authentic gratitude. As we celebrate mothers and motherhood today, let a small dose of perspective be a suitable antidote.
Mothers are incredible. They carry developing fetuses for 40 weeks, then give birth to babies and nurture them. The mother's hormonal shifts and physical changes to her accommodate the pregnancy and culminate in a birth that requires a baby to exit its mother's body – one way or another. Our mothers literally bleed to bring us into the world.
Language is important here. Saying that a mother 'gives' birth should remind us that a child has received something through the process: life. Every other gift we ever receive is a bonus on top of that first one. But as a culture we take birth for granted. Readily accessible and capable healthcare, caricatured portrayals of birth in popular culture, and polite avoidance of health-related topics in every day conversations make birth seem normal and simple.Enough of that. Today we express gratitude because the price of motherhood is high and too many women around the world die just becoming mothers.
by Kimberley Love
So was the October shooting rampage at Parliament Hill an act of madness or an act of terrorism? The despised Bill C-51 has now passed. Both the Liberals and the NDP have grudgingly accepted that the Bill should be amended – not revoked – but it's worrying to see how a few unsettling incidents can provoke a clamping-down of the rights of citizens. The trouble is, of course, that it's hard to have any kind of rational debate about an event that threatened both lives that matter to us, and symbols we care about deeply.
But if we're prepared to talk about the so-called terrorist threat, then it's high time we also had a rational conversation about mental health. This is the 64th annual Mental Health Week for the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA).
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