Sleepy Time

Sarah and Dan

Mandara and Mark

Thank you!!!

Our work party accomplished a minor miracle!

When Carlos, Tammy, Mandara, Mark, Teddy and Shea arrived in their van, Carlos re-attached my clothesline.


Then Sarah, Dan and Remi arrived by canoe and we began work on the side yard.

We all cleared the debris and then attacked the load of topsoil that had been settling all winter. We broke it up with pitchforks, rakes and shovels.

The men spread it over the entire area, and we fenced it with chicken wire.


Then Sarah seeded it with clover (with advice from everyone) and Dan (who has farmer genes) raked the seed into the soil.

It looked beautiful. The dogs thought so too.

After appetizers, Dan became the barbecue chef and we ate and drank till we were ready to sleep! (especially Mandara, Mark and Sarah)

Thank you Carlos and Tammy, Dan and Sarah, and Mark and Mandara who did the bulk of the lifting and carrying.

My main role was confined to supervising and screeching at the wet dogs who got into the black earth. Tammy says I need to get into town more so that I can stop sounding like a deranged banshee of a woman.

And thank you to Pat and Julie, Ralph and Paula, Marta and Erin who wanted to come but couldn't because of prior commitments, illness or the surprise arrival of guests. Next time!

Tammy took photos of the work in progress which I will post when she sends them to me. I managed to get the later photos. I hope Tammy managed to get at least one of Remi the two- toned puppy. Kenya got just as dirty but she doesn't show the dirt the way he does.

Anne of Green Gables

I love this story still after all these years. This is a film based on one of the books I read and re-read throughout my childhood. The others were The Secret Garden, Heidi, and Little Women.

They were all about girls who were lonely and strong ... girls who had to be independent. Most of the strong women I know grew up hoping to be Anne Shirleys or Jo Marches ... and understood and empathised with Heidi and Mary, the unhappy but ultimately strong little wretch in The Secret Garden.

I will be bringing Anne to Wolfville with me this summer so that Arrow can have one more tool to help her become part of that company of strong young women.

3 Reasons the Dream Tarnished ...

1. Organizations, by their very nature, cannot help but become bureaucratic and impersonal eventually. The ones connected with the developing world often began as idealistic and pure ... and ... if not terribly efficient ... at least honest and caring. It seems that when they become bigger, slicker and more efficient, they lose their integrity.

2. People who spend a long time in the developing world do not become Malawian or Kenyan or Namibian ... but they change. Too many develop a love-hate relationship with the place and people. They love the fact that they can live extremely well on a Canadian salary, stipend or pension. They are the people who hire servants. They could not live in this style at home, of course, but they tend to forget that they are just ordinary folk, and begin to look down on the people around them. There are definite perks for whites in the developing world, not the least of which is respect whether merited or not, and this can lead to some ugly things.

3. I guess what bothers me most is that the ex-patriot communities I have seen in my travels become almost incestuous in nature. They become hotbeds of gossip and rumour, and much of what passses for conversation is based on ingrained ideas of we and they. I think their lives are so limited that they thrive on gossip ... anything to liven things up. And they are willing to believe the worst of everyone, not only those with black skins.

I wrote about this as a result of receiving more emails from Kenyan friends, and this led to my thinking about my last stay in Kenya when I found it necessary to distance myself as much as possible from the ex-pat community and from the Canadian-based organizations.

The original was much longer and more detailed ... but also rambling ... not ready for publication.

Exposed Belly

Kenya and Henry: their last day

Just walkin' in the rain ... in all my GT finery ...

Patch Adams

I think we all need to get a little "excessive happiness" in our lives. This is my favourite Robin Williams movie, I think. He is funny but not frenetic, and very very human.

Speaking of doctors: Kenya went in for all her shots today and met three golden retrievers and Wilbur's dad at the clinic. It was a good day, and she was a very good dog. She is almost all ready to be a nomad for the summer.

Kenya and Oma: Vagabonds for the Summer

I have begun to plan our summer as nomads.

I think we will spend the first week of July near Montreal with Maureen and Jeff, and then spend three days traveling to Nova Scotia, stopping in Riviere du Loup and Moncton at pet friendly hotels.

Then a month with Kerry, Maurice and Sam ... half of which will also be with the rest of the family. Kerry and I will see Ami McKay's play at the Two Planks Theatre near Wolfville.

Then I will head back by the same route, stopping along the way as before, and end up for a few days with Rob and Scott in Lanark.

Then on to Orangeville to see Deb, Rob and the kids for about a week.

And then to Haliburton to spend time with Linda, Bob and Atticus.

A quick stop in Peterborough to see Claire after all these years.

And back to Wakefield.

By then it will be the end of August ... and I will either move back home to the hermitage or stay at Tanya's on the lake or with Marta in Ottawa or Tammy and Carlos in Hull. In any event my home will be my own in mid-September.

I am feeling a little uneasy about it all ... it is a long time to be away and I will need to make my plans carefully ... but I am also looking forward to the adventure of being on the road with Kenya for two months or so.

Couldn't ask for a more compatible companion than Kenya. She has shared both my homelessness and my hermitage in the past two years.

Invitation

Hi All!

If you are in the neighbourhood and free on Saturday afternoon, (May 3, 2008) you are invited to the Hermitage Work Party. Bring work gloves and solid shoes.

By then Tom should be finished cleaning away the debris from the cottage and I can begin to see what needs to be done to get the place in shape.

I am hoping that we can seed the topsoil areas with clover and fence them in with chicken wire to protect them from dogs, and cart things up to the road for garbage pick-up. But that may not be all possible ... I have to talk to Eric Legros about whether I can seed the areas I hope to. He will have to bring in the fill for the garden area/old cottage foundation, and may need some places left unseeded. At any rate I think we can seed the area around the second holding tank and the septic field ... and bring stuff up the hill for garbage pick-up.

I hope the weather will co-operate ... but even if it doesn't, the food will be here for the eating! Right now they are predicting light rain for Saturday ... but that is a week away.

I have a beef tenderloin in the freezer that I will either cook whole on the barbecue or cut into steaks to barbecue ... and I will stir fry asparagus, make a potato salad and buy one of my favourite Costco salads. I will also make bread and fill it with a hot dip for an appetizer. Not sure what will turn up for dessert, but there will be beer and wine to quench the thirst of all the workers.

I hope you will come to share the afternoon and evening ... and each other.

Henry's Journal Day 12

Hi Marta,

Another nice day.

The most exciting thing we did was to go for a walk to Remi's house. We all went into the creek and I got about two dozen prickly branches in my undercoat. Sarah and Oma got them out and they gave me a cookie.

Later a white dog came to visit us. Oma gave his mom her roller blades and safety gear. The white dog was really timid even though Kenya and I were nice to her.

Oh! Tom and his helper came over to clean up more mess from the cottage. We went swimming while they were here.

And Rowboat Flo came over and petted me while she drank Earl Grey tea.

Later Kenya and I played in the dirt after swimming. Oma may have to give us another bath in our new tub. It has lots of rubber duckies all over it. They don't look much like the real ducks in the lake but they are cute.

Last night I was much better about going in to get cleaned up than Kenya was. Oma had to put her collar on her and go in with her ... barefoot.

The man next door spent most of the morning cruising around the lake in his rowboat with an electric motor attached. He was hoping to catch fish. Kenya told him he shouldn't be on her lake ... but she stopped when Oma said he could be there.

It will soon be time for you to come home. I will be happy to see you. I love you.

Henry

Russell Crowe

What's impressive about Russell Crowe. is that he can play two absolutely disparate characters like a schizophrenic genius in A Beautiful Mind and a family man fighting for survival as a boxer in Cinderella Man with equal credibility and integrity.

He seems to find the heart and the strength within his characters ... and that is what shines through.

Henry's Journal Day 11

Dear Marta,

I am really sorry I haven't kept my journal up to date, but we've been busy ever since the snow melted. We get a bucket bath every time we come in now, and Oma lights the fire so that we can get warm and dry afterwards. She is going to buy a wading pool for us today so that we can wash our own feet on the way into the porch.

We swim every day (well, you know, Kenya swims and I wade) and then we dig in the fresh black earth. Kenya made a really deep hole in the patch of clover Oma planted last year. Oma just sighed.

The black ash that we used to walk through is moved now and covered with sand so it is a little easier to go in the water without getting really dirty.

We still walk Remi every day and we have taught him to walk nicely on the leash without wanting to wrestle all the time.

Yesterday he caused a bit of a commotion by refusing to give Oma the woodpecker he was clenching between his teeth. She did that really stern thing she does and told Kenya and me to go in the house till she got Remi sorted out. We watched through the patio door while she made him drop it. Well I think maybe he just got tired of her holding his collar really tight and yelling at him so he finally dropped it of his own accord. Anyway she was pleased and let him inside with us and gave us all cookies. We told Remi quietly that he might as well just do as he is told right away; he'd get the cookie faster; but he's still a puppy.

At least this time he didn't growl or try to bite the human trying to take away his wild game. He is quite nasty with the beaver carcass apparently. Oma never lets him near it, but last night he dragged it onto the lawn and growled again at Sarah.

Not much new happens here every day. We play and run and walk and sleep and eat, same as always. And we get lots of cuddles from Oma and from Rowboat Flo when we see her. She likes me best. Yesterday I got pats from two other ladies on the lake. I think they like me because I go and stand close to them really quietly and lean into their hands. Oma says I am a real suck, but she says it with a smile and a hug.

I hope you are having fun. Say hi to everyone for me and give them one of my tailwags.

Love,

Henry.

... ready for anything now ...

a voice from the past ...

Everlyne just got in touch after a long silence.

It was Everlyne who was the biggest help to me as I attempted to help desperate high school students get their high school education. She combined a big heart, a wise head and great practicality, and, as a result, performed what seemed to me to be miracles.

She was diagnosed as HIV+ while pregnant with her second child and dismissed by the Canadian NGO she had worked for since graduation from college. The reason given: excessive absenteeism. Most people I know, who were connected with this NGO when I was, were, like me, horrified that a Canadian organization which espoused the right beliefs about living positively, would do this to a longtime employee.

The last time I saw Everlyne, the organization was harassing her and making her life hell. She and many other good people were frightened for their jobs. While I was visiting Kenya two years ago, Jeff, an older man looking after two orphaned baby grand daughters, was fired in his last year before retirement. Two other old friends of mine, Virginia and Julius, were fearful that they would be next. The new administration seemed to fear the employees who had been around since the inception of the NGO.


When I saw the heading of the email, I was afraid that something terrible had occurred, but ... Everlyne had good news!

Here is what she wrote:

Dear Bar, Greetings from Kakamega. I am fine together with the children. I wish to let you know that I got a job with an NGO dealing with street children. They do support them those who are at the age of going to school to pursue education. You had a dream and may be if you team up with this group you can realize yur dream. The main donors are from Uk and we have a lady who is in charge of fund raising who is very sharp and smart. Please let me know if you get this mail so that I can give yu more information about the organization. Thanks Ever

NB I met Jeff yesterday. He told me the little girls have gone to school now.


People who don't know Africans often think that the odds facing them are too great for any successful outcomes , but the one great truth I learned in Africa is that the people are indomitable. There is hope for the continent.


Imagine! She remembered my dream ... when I had almost forgotten it. I will definitely follow this up.

Overwhelmed ...

I am not sure how best to cope with the black soil, the open water and two large hairy dogs that love both. I have been vaccuuming every day ... sand and hair ... but this is worse. The dogs have to be bathed before you can let them in the house now. They dry and then the black dirt is everywhere. Today I cordoned off the stairs so that they cannot get up to the pine floors which all have to be washed this morning, and have banished them from the bedroom with its cream coloured carpet.

Maybe I will have to confine them to the porch till I have a chance to give them sponge baths.

The long term solution is to plant the clover so that they walk on grass rather than topsoil. And the other, shorter term, solution is to get the cottage debris including black ash cleaned up. Then I can take the dogs down to the lake on wooden steps, patio brick and decking before letting them in to dry them.

I can't seed until Tom and his guys clear the area. The side yard is covered in tin and other crap they have strewn there, and they need to get wheelbarrows up the hill.

Once I can seed I will have to keep Kenya off the newly sown area. One dog's access is more easily controlled.

Damn ... too many possible pitfalls ... nothing is simple ... I miss the cleanliness of winter.

Any ideas?

A Beautiful Mind

What a wonderful film! Hard to watch, but the most convincing portrayal of the realness of schizophrenia imaginable. And, as always, I cried at the end.

Summer on the Lake

It's finally here!

Once it started it galloped in.

The loons have returned ... and are swimming around the last few tiny ice floes left on the lake.

A skinned beaver carcass hauled by a rope out to the road has become a feast for flies.

I've turned off the heating cable to the lake and the hot water tank that feeds the in-floor heating.

My house is full of sand and dog hair.

Out my west windows the woods are completely snow-free.

All of the debris Tom still has to take away from the cottage demolition is showing now.

A somnolent fat frog dozes in the sun puddles on the road.

Birdsong before 6 a.m. wakes me before the sun has a chance to.

Tom, Clare and David, the flower gardeners on the lake, are outside planting and weeding.

Flo is waiting till she has broken up enough snow to start her vegetable plot.

My black earth needs attention, but I still have snow on the area over the septic field.

I should be able to rake the clover patch today. Lise and the Ryan's have done their lawns.

I am going to take my car to the car wash where I can vaccuum it today.

I have a tan starting on all my exposed areas ... and for two days I have been wearing shorts.

I barbecued last night.

Anyone who reads this and lives anywhere else is likely thinking "Ho Hum ... boring ... we've had summer for days or weeks now" but here at the lake it is still a novelty. Yesterday the lake was dotted with ice floes. This morning almost all have disappeared or melted to fragments of themselves.