Reader’s gift sparked hope

One of the things I miss most about being editor of Rural Roots is the contact with readers. During more than two decades of newspaper work I greatly enjoyed reading your letters and, later, email. I loved receiving your commenting on what you had read Rural Roots. Also enjoyable were your phone calls with information about sightings of birds and other wildlife. It was gratifying to know that people were reading the stories in Rural Roots and that those stories made a connection with the lives of so many people.

This summer I was finding it increasingly difficult to use my computer to write this column for Rural Roots so I was considering letting it go. Then, out of the blue, I received a surprise gift from Marcy Armstrong of Nipawin. Her parcel contained some of the firestarters that she makes from natural items that she finds in the forest. When I phoned to thank her for her gift I discovered a very interesting story. Marcy and her dog. Midnight (a black labrador), used to walk the forest trails during which she picked up anything that took her fancy. The twigs and bark she brought back from their walks were the items that she used for her firestarters. The fothings she found in the forest were artfully imbedded into three-inch blocks of wax and attractively packaged for sale.

Sadly, Midnight has passed over, but he lives in the name of her company, Midnight Firestarters. Marcy individually decorates the firestarters, depending on the season or the situation. One of her firestarting bears the word Canada and two red maple leaves. She can also make custom firestarters to be used as wedding favours or specialized birthday gifts, for example. The firestarters are attractively packaged in tiny boxes she makes herself. Everything can go into the fire except the plastic wrapping. There’s a label stating that no kindling is needed, just place the firestarter between logs and light the wick. Her creations are decorative as well as practical.

Marcy said she wasn’t expecting me to publicize her product but I wanted to share with you a success story. You can contact her at sunflower1000@hotmail.com. I thought it was a happy coincidence that she sent me a gift in the mail when I was at a low point in my life. My conversation with Marcy certainly helped me to rethink my decision to give up writing this column. During the summer I took a vacation from writing. Several people from across north central Saskatchewan said they were missing reading my columns. Even though it is increasingly difficult, I plan to write as long as I’m able because it will help to exercise my brain. Maybe more importantly it will maintain my social contacts and keep me in touch with the wider community. Marcy’s surprise gift and your kind comments have given me hope.

Halloween spending is getting scary

Canadians spent 28 per cent more on Halloween in 2022 than in the previous year, says HelloSafe in a multi-source report. This year, without pandemic restrictions, Halloween spending is predicted to be even higher. About 49 per cent of Canadians who celebrate Halloween plan to spend more than $90 on Halloween this year.  Many people spend far more than that. Canadians will spend the most on costumes, candy and pumpkins.

The most popular costume in  2023 are expected to be:

    •   Barbie.

    •   Princess.

    •   Spider-Man.

    •   Witch.

    •   Fairy.

    •   Wednesday Addams.

    •   Dinosaur.

    •   Cowboy.

Spending on decorations has more than doubled in recent years. In Prince Albert I see evidence of that increased spending on Halloween decorations. In fact, it seems like more work is going into the Oct. 31 decorations than the Dec. 25 decorations. Maybe it has something to do with the weather. It’s easier to get out and decorate your yard when the weather has been as warm and sunny as we saw this fall. It takes more effort to decorate when the snow is deep and the mercury plummets.

Then, too, we have fairly high expectations of ourselves when it comes to Christmas decorations. They have to look jolly and pretty. No such expectations exist for Halloween… in fact the grubbier the better. It’s supposed to be scary!

But if the bill for Halloween looks big, consider Christmas. A NerdWallet Canada survey of more than 1,000 Canadian adults found that more than 30 million Canadians (82 per cent) plan on spending an estimated $20.5 billion (an average of $675 per shopper) on gifts this holiday season  Add the cost of  travel, entertaining and decorations and you have a big blowout in your budget..

But the problem with the holiday season isn’t the amount we end up spending in stores. A recent TD Canada Trust survey indicated that one-third of Canadians will end up buying Christmas gifts that they know they can’t afford, and nearly one in four will end up financing purchases on credit cards.

A few hundred dollars might not sound like a lot of money to have to pay off, but it could take months, even years to pay off your Christmas debt. Paying just the minimum payment of $15 on a $500 balance at 19.9 per cent interest, for example, means the bill will take more than four years to bring to zero – and an extra $233.90 in interest.

Now that’s really scary!

How Canadian women became ‘persons’

If you ask a young woman if she is a “person” you will likely get a quizzical stare in response. Of course she is a person …  who would think otherwise? But there was a time when women were not persons in Canada.

Oct. 18 is Persons Day in Canada. It marks the day in 1929 when the historic decision to include women in the legal definition of “persons” was handed down by Canada’s highest court of appeal. This gave some women the right to be appointed to the Senate of Canada and paved the way for women’s increased participation in public and political life. Though this decision did not include all women, such as Indigenous women and women of Asian heritage and descent, it did mark critical progress in the advancement of gender equality in Canada.

In Canada, the British North America Act (BNA Act) of 1867 set out the powers and responsibilities of the provinces and of the federal government. The Act used the word “persons” when referring to more than one person and “he” when referring to one person. Many argued the Act implicitly stated that only a man could be a person, which prevented women from participating fully in politics or affairs of state.

Governments also used the “persons” argument to keep women out of important positions. If the word “person” applied only to men, then the stipulation that only “qualified persons” could be appointed to the Senate of Canada meant that only men could be appointed.

In 1927, five women who have since become known as the Famous Five launched a legal challenge that would mark a turning point for equality rights in Canada. Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Muir Edwards asked the Supreme Court of Canada to answer the following question: does the word “person” in Section 24 of the BNA Act include female persons? After five weeks of debate, the Supreme Court decided that the word “person” did not include women.

Although shocked by the Court’s decision, the Famous Five did not give up the fight and took their case to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of Great Britain in London, which was then Canada’s highest court of appeal.

On Oct. 18, 1929, Lord Sankey, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, announced the decision: “The exclusion of women from all public offices is a relic of days more barbarous than ours. And to those who would ask why the word ‘person’ should include females, the obvious answer is, why should it not?” On Persons Day, we honour the bravery and determination of the Famous Five whose landmark case helped pave the way for women to participate equally in all aspects of life in Canada. We also honour all those whose work in the years since then has expanded and strengthened those rights.

The origins of 10-4 and ‘ok’

The dispatcher responded “10-4” to the bus driver. 

I’ve known that is radio talk for “message received,” or “understood,” but I wondered where this code originated.

10-4 is one of a group of “10 codes” that are used by radio operators as a shorthand for common phrases. The codes  first reached public recognition in the 1950s through the popular television series Highway Patrol.

10-1 meant “Receiving poorly,”

10-2 meant “Receiving well,”

10-3 was for “Stop transmitting,”

10-4 signaled “Acknowledgement,”

– – –

OK (sometimes written okay) is another shorthand phrase that has spread throughout many languages, but appears to have originated in the United States.

OK’s origins are disputed; however, many linguists think it originated in Boston as a joke or part of a fad for misspelling in the late 1830s. The first appearance of the word OK took place on March 23, 1839.

It all began in the office of Charles Gordon Greene at the Boston Morning Post. The trend for humours misspelling produced many unsuccessful terms such as OW — an OK-like term for “oll wright” (all right). Apparently OW wasn’t all right!

OK first appeared as an abbreviation for “oll korrect,” printed in a satirical article about grammar.

The word’s origins were revealed in the 1960s when etymologist Allen Read did some digging — through suggestions that the word might come from Europe, a Civil War nickname for biscuits, or an abbreviation for the telegraph term Open Key. Still others falsely thought that president Martin Van Buren had invented the term in his presidential campaign, which used the slogan “Vote for OK” in reference to both his hometown and his nickname, Old Kinderhook. But Van Buren only popularized the term, not invented it.

Read showed “how, stage by stage, OK was spread throughout North America and the world to the moon, and then took on its new form AOK, first used by space people.”

However some doubters continue to insist that the word in fact has a much earlier origin. We’ll just have to be OK with never knowing for absolute sure. OK?

Source: Smithsonian Magazine

What will you be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day?

Will you be thankful for family gathered around your table, loaded with the produce grown in your garden? This used to be the top of my Thanksgiving list, but it will not be this year because for the first time since 1971, I have not grown a garden. Because I have sold my house, my family will not be gathering around my table as they have since 1975. Instead, we will be meeting together for a meal at a restaurant that will no doubt serve us a wonderful repast.

I will be even more thankful for the presence of family this year, because my situation has changed so radically. And perhaps I will have more empathy for those who have encountered disruption and upheavals in their life this year.

I’m thinking now about the families who have left Ukraine to avoid the dangers of war and have found shelter in our city. I am sure they miss family, friends, and homeland every day.

I am thinking about the people who had to leave their homes this summer because of wildfire. Many are still unable to return home. How will they celebrate Thanksgiving?

I’m thinking about the people who sleep in doorways because there is no shelter for them. For what do they have to be thankful?

When my sister’s car was T-boned, it looked like the car was a writeoff. I suggested that this was a life-changing moment for her. She thought about it for a while and then texted me: Every morning when I wake up is life-changing.

It’s easy to lose track of the most important things in life … the things I should be grateful for this Thanksgiving. Family is at the top of my list obviously, but I’m also thankful for my body that moves me, helps me, heels me and takes me places I want to go.

My mind is a big part of my happiness and my life. It holds my thoughts, opinions, memories and emotions. To exercise my mind I will fill it with nourishing thoughts.

Friendships are one of the greatest gifts of life. Friends fill a part of your heart that no one else can. This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for a friend who has given me a  roof over my head, often cooked my meals, and allows me freedom to enjoy her garden. At this transitional stage in my life, continuing the activities that I enjoy has been especially healing. For this I am truly thankful.

Grandparent’s Day event exceeds expectations at Mont St. Joseph

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The return of the Grandparent’s Day Stroll-a-Thon and third annual Ball Drop were a huge success for Mont St. Joseph Home on Sunday.

This was the 24th Grandparent’s Day celebration and first Stroll-a-Thon since 2019.

Resource Development Coordinator Jessica Gale said this was the third time for the Ball Drop but momentum for the event seems to grow and so does the crowd.

“This has been the most fantastic turnout that we’ve had,” Gale said.

“We had a little bit of rain this morning, which kept the skies perfect and the weather wonderful for everybody to be outside today, so it’s great.”

The Ball Drop fundraiser saw 2,290 golf balls dropped from the top of a Prince Albert Fire Department ladder truck for three cash prizes. The Fire Department remained after the Ball Drop to offer tours of their fire engine.

“The partnership from the community is fantastic,” Gale said. “We’ve got a great relationship with Pattison Media and sponsoring our ball drop as well as RBC sponsoring our Grandparents Day and then the fire department coming out.”

Along with the walk and ball drop, a whole array of activities were planned.

“For Grandparent’s Day, because it’s a nationally celebrated day, we want try and make that a really great, fun filled event for our entire Mont St Joseph family, so we invite all of our families to come out and participate with us,” Gale said.

Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald Families and people who live at Mont. St. Joseph Home take off on the Stroll-a-Thon around the grounds for Grandparent’s Day on Sunday.

“We have live music with Donny Parenteau this afternoon, we’ve got face painting going on, we’ve got lots of games out in the yard and then we wind everything up with a great big family barbecue.”

Pattison Media as a platinum sponsor of the drop also donated $5,000 and RBC donated $5,500 towards Grandparent’s Day with this years fundraising goal towards enhancing the dining experience at the home.

Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald Wayne Nogier, CEO of Mont St. Joseph Home helps search for a winning ball from the annual Mont St. Joseph Home Ball Drop on Grandparent’s Day on Sunday.

“This year we’ve geared all of our fundraising efforts towards upgrading and redesigning the way we offer our meal plans in our home to make it more home-like,” Gale said. “(We’re taking one more step away from that institutional feeling and really making this a home … and really wanting our folks to better focus on their entire health care plan, whether that’s emotional, spiritual, physical, the entire income incumbent of health care for them.

This year there were 2,290 tickets sold for the Ball Drop, which raised over $22,000.

michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca

How do you remember your father?

If you have a living father, you are fortunate. For centuries, many children grew up not knowing their father except by reputation. But today’s fathers are more present than ever.

Sometimes the father was absent since before the child’s birth. During the years of the Great War and the Second World War, many Canadian children knew about their soldier fathers only through letters and maybe a photo. Family members filled in the gaps with stories about the absent father. Tragically, the man who returned was sometimes so changed by his experience of military conflict that no one really knew him anymore. And some never returned.

The Baby Boomers, children of the post-war era, might not have been war orphans but often in urban settings they were “work orphans.” Families flocked to the suburbs that required long commuting times for the “bread winner.” In a TV documentary, one man recalled: “If I woke up early enough, I could see his car backing out of the driveway and if I stayed awake long enough, I could see him for five minutes before I went to sleep at night.” Work had captured the father just as surely as war had captured the previous generation of men.

 Women now make up a greater percentage of the workforce and the stay-at-home daddy is more common, although not always applauded. Fathers are spending more time at home due to underemployment or working from home. How will their children’s memories of father be different than the previous generation?

Although we lived in town, my father was a farmer when I was a preteen, so he was usually at home. During seeding and harvest, he was just as absent as the commuting fathers of my city cousins. But Dad made time to stay connected. I remember the trips to town with a load of grain. He bought me a stubby bottle of Orange Crush to drink while we waited to unload our hot and dusty truck. My brother and I rode “shotgun” on the stoneboat while Dad drove the tractor out to the slough to get water. He taught us the differences between wild grasses during long hours roguing acres of Russian Wild Rye Grass.

I was fortunate to have known both my grandfathers. My mother’s father was musical. He entertained us by playing the spoons and the comb! I remember the twinkle in his eyes beneath bushy eyebrows. He was always busy in his garden or fixing something around the house in Burnaby.

My father’s father was a great gardener on the farm at Star City. Often I was recruited to pick pails of raspberries from four rows that went on “forever!” Grandpa Wilson liked to give me a “whisker burn” kiss. He taught me the joys of brown sugar sandwiches for breakfast.

Fathers had to be disciplinarians but grandfathers were slower, like kids. My father remembers walking with his grandfather, Henry Wilson. He had a characteristic cough and pushed stones out of the path with his cane.

As we celebrate Father’s Day, let us appreciate the ways the role of fathers have changed for today’s children.

Six ways to build your personal power

Personal power is the strength that lies within you to accomplish hard tasks. When you come to the end of your rope, it’s your personal power that helps you hold on.

It takes power to believe in yourself, to take on new tasks and to move forward.  When your personal power wanes, self-doubt, fear, lack of energy and apathy can take hold.

For example, the loss of a spouse or parent zaps your personal power. It can seem like the bottom has fallen out of your life. It can take all the energy you have to make that first step, but then you find it’s easier to take the second step.

Personal power is a well that you draw from, but it’s not a bottomless well. If you don’t replenish it, personal power can run dry.

Personal power is an inner strength you might not know exists until you need it. Each of us finds personal power in different ways.

      •     Spiritual replenishment – Meditating about spiritual things that are important to you is an amazing source of personal power. Adopt an attitude of gratitude.

      •     Time alone – Everyone needs time alone and in different ways. Sometimes it’s time at home; sometimes it’s with music or reading a good book. A walk around a park can do a world of good. Be good to yourself.

      •     Time with people you love – Instead of feeling guilty about not spending enough time with a spouse or children, plan time together. Enjoy being with the ones you love.

      •     Physical exercise –Your body needs regular exercise and when things are going rough, it needs even more.  When you exercise, your body produces endomorphines and these are great pain killers and mood enhancers. 

      •     Friends – Add personal power by spending time with your friends.  Go shopping, go to lunch, or just spend time on the phone. Volunteering in the community is another great way to be around positive people.

      •     Laughter – Laughing makes people healthier and shortens recovery time.  Watch a funny movie, play a fun game, attend a yoga laughter session.  Laughing alleviates stress and tops up the balance in your personal power bank.

Second World War tanked tea time

Early in the summer of 1940, calamity struck Great Britain … tea was rationed! The backbone of British culture, “a nice cuppa”, was threatened.

At the outset of the Second World War, shipments of almost everything were torpedoed or delayed by the war raging across the English Channel. The government issues ration books to every person. Most food, if it was available in the shops, needed a coupon from a ration book along with the purchase price.

At first, tea had not been rationed but by July 1940 adults were limited to  two ounces of tea each week, which would allow a person about three cups of tea daily. From July 1942 children under five received no tea ration and people over 70 were granted an additional allowance from December 1944 onwards. Tea rationing  ended in the fall of 1952.

Most tea drinkers thought the ration wasn’t enough. Many households drank tea at every meal, as well as in early morning, for elevenses (a morning break time) and sometimes during the evening.

A war-time publication suggested homemakers make the most out of their tea ration: “Instead of pouring away any remaining tea after breakfast, fill the pot with sufficient boiling water. Allow it to stand and strain off into a Thermos flask. This will be excellent for your elevenses and save not only tea but labour as well. The same can be done after the evening cup of tea. This will then be ready for the early morning cup or if you have to get up for an air raid.”

The British depended on tea for warmth, energy and solace. To limit the amount of tea available was deeply disturbing. But the Brits soldiered on and on and on. Tea was rationed until 1952.

Tea was also rationed in Canada. The Canadian government began a ration program in January 1942 beginning with gasoline. Over the next year, sugar, coffee, tea, butter and meat were also rationed. Canadians may have grumbled about food shortages, but on the whole they were willing participants. Rationing ended in Canada in 1947.

In the United States everyone was issued a series of ration books during the war. The ration books contained removable stamps good for certain rationed items, such as sugar, meat, cooking oil, and canned goods. A person could not buy a rationed item without also giving the grocer the right ration stamp. Coffee was rationed in the U.S. but I can’t find mention of tea rationing there. During the recent pandemic, Canadians were surprised by shortages of some foods. Having grown accustomed to an unlimited supply of a vast variety of food items, Canadians were unprepared to pivot their purchasing. The generation that lived with rationing during the Second World War could teach the rest of us a thing or two about making do and going without.

The fascinating history of napkins

The word “napkin” has a number of meanings in modern English. I decided to investigate the origins of this ubiquitous small piece of cloth.

The term “napkin”dates from the 14th century, in the sense of a piece of cloth used at mealtimes to wipe the lips or fingers and to protect clothing. The word derives from Old French nappe (tablecloth) from Latin mappa with the suffix kin (which is a diminutive).

The French also introduced the use of forks at the table. During the same era the English were stabbing roast beef with their hands and wiping their fingers in the hair of the dogs sitting at their feet. Sacré bleu!

Historians credit the Spartans with coming up with the concept of a napkin. They used a small lump of dough, called apomagdalie to wipe their hands at the table. Ancient Romans used the first cloth napkins at the table.

A napkin can also be a small cloth to protect garments, something like a bib. The cravat is a men’s garment worn around the neck, initially to minimize the soiling of a doublet (a short padded jacket).

Today a cravat is a form of neckwear that is worn with an open collar shirt, with the fabric tucked in behind the shirt to cover the lower neck and chest area.  Women used to wear a garment that served a similar purpose, called a fichu. In 18th century fashions, bodices were cut revealingly low, requiring a piece of cloth, known as a fichu, to cover a woman’s chest. Worn around the neck and crossed or tied at the bosom, fichus were either triangular or square in shape.

Squares of cloth have been used in many ways in North American culture. Think about the Texas cowboy with a bandana covering his nose to filter the dust on a cattle drive. My farmer father always carried a large cotton handkerchief that was supposed to be used to wipe his nose, but might be used to apply grease to the machinery, much to my mother’s dismay. Women of many cultures use a square of fabric as a head covering. Sailors often sported a piece of cloth folded into a triangle and knotted tightly about the neck.

A baby’s diaper is also referred to as a napkin by some people. When I hung diapers on the line, they were rectangular, but some of the older diapers were square and folded into a triangle before being pinned in front.

More recently, we created the sanitary napkin to prevent soiling of clothes during menstruation. They are now commonly called pads.

Ironically, disposable napkins were initially made for men. These disposable pads were developed by nurses in France to control the bleeding of the soldiers injured during battle. The first pads were made from wood pulp and bandages. The pads were very absorbent, and cheap enough to throw away afterwards. Commercial manufacturers borrowed this idea and the first disposable sanitary napkins for women were available for purchase in 1888.

Today we often use the terms napkin and serviette interchangeably when referring to an item used at the table.

Paper napkins originate in China, when paper was invented in the 2nd century. Chih Pha, folded paper square napkins, were used for serving tea. Today paper napkins have all but replaced cloth napkins except in the more expensive dining rooms. KFC was one of the first to introduce paper napkins, complete with advertising.