Milk bag mats for Haiti

February 9, 2010.

Our regional recycling program has a mission—to allow no more plastics in the landfill site. That’s a tall order, considering that so much of what we buy comes wrapped in plastic, like bread and milk. I try to cut back, including the use of the plastic wrap to store food in the refrigerator, so I’ve bought containers with resealable lids.  Sigh. Many of them are plastic too, but at least they last a long time.

Here’s an interesting fact that I learned yesterday— it takes 15 years for the plastic milk bags to break down in a landfill site.  Some creative person has come up with a better use for those bags, one that considers its long life and washable qualities and that does some good for people.

A friend of mine said that she collects milk bags for a special project. She cuts the bag into strips, connects those loops, then crochets the lengths of plastic like yarn to make the mats.  I dropped off some bags last week that I’d been collecting for her. I don’t remember where they go, only that they are useful to people in Third World countries.

This week a fellow writer from The Word Guild sent a message to our listserv yesterday that she’s collecting the bags too, and asked if fellow members would save them for her. She is involved in a mission that makes mats for people in Haiti.

A mission to keep plastic out of landfill sites connects with another mission.

Northwest Haiti Christian Mission Canada has been helping Canada recycle while providing sanitary and comfortable sleeping mats for Haitians.

People in Haiti must travel great distances for medical attention. Having those mats means that patients have a sanitary mat to rest on while they wait, and insects that would normally nest in the natural palm leaves do not like the plastic.

These mats have travelled far into the mountains of Haiti with those who have received healing for their bodies at the Mission.

These mats may also be of use in the earthquake district of Port-au-Prince. I wonder if anyone has thought of that. Granted the people there need much more than mats. They need shelter, food, water, and hope for a better future. Read more about the mats4Haiti here .

Perhaps you’ll be the next one collecting bags or making the mats.

Duo Helmer at Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, WLU

February 6, 2010.

Last evening my husband and I attended a concert at Maureen Forrester Recital Hall at Wilfrid Laurier University.  Duo Helmer, the title of the concert, featured Sebastian Meadows-Helmer on violin and his father, Dr.Paul Helmer, on piano performing Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 47, and Fauré’s Sonata #1 in A Major, Op. 13. The fund-raising event celebrates the creation of Kanata Centre for Worship and Global Song at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario.

Sebastian Meadows-Helmer, who holds a Masters of Music in Performance from McGill University, is a candidate for ordained ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada, having studied at Waterloo Lutheran Seminary these past few years. With experience as  principal 2nd violinist in Sherbrooke’s symphony, he has more recently played violin with the Kitchener- Waterloo Symphony.

Dr. Paul Helmer, born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, has a varied and extensive career in performance.  He holds a PhD in historical musicology from Columbia University in New York. In his career, he has played both soloist and accompanist parts and has been recorded by the CBC. McGill-Queen’s University Press has recently published his book Growing with Canada, about emigré musicians from Europe and their contributions to Canadian music. The program gave much more information about him.

Reviewing music is better left to those who know the terms and have more theoretical and practical experience. Let me just say that the Helmer duo have earned their accolades and accomplishments by their attention, hard work and passion for classical music. Both Helmers performed challenging and lengthy movements, dazzling the attentive audience with their quick fingers and the deep feeling their music produced.

I had heard Sebastian play violin accompaniments to our Inshallah choir instrumental ensemble at rehearsals at the seminary, Inshallah concerts, and ordination services last year. I always found it a treat to listen to him. The notes that came from his violin I call heavenly, for lack of a better word. I could listen as long as he wants to play. Having heard him play before, I especially wanted to attend this concert.

Perhaps it’s being right in the concert hall with the performers that makes the performance so special.  It’s been some years since my husband and I have taken a yearly subscription to hear our local symphony perform. The online video of the Beethoven sonata I had listened to the night before was intriguing; I liked the music, but I found Duo Helmer much more attractive than the online video, with no offence to that highly trained musician. Maybe it is also the personal connection with Sebastian and having met him before.  Maybe it was just that he and his father worked so well together.

I would have liked to tape this performance to listen to again and again, but in its place, I will just remember a stunning and magical performance from two skilled and passionate musicians. I hope I may hear them play together again sometime.

Toastmasters– what is your goal?

February 3, 2010.

What is your goal this year in Toastmasters? Think about where you were when you joined Toastmasters and what else you want to achieve. Please don’t compare yourself with someone else. Instead, allow more advanced speakers to share the benefit of their experience to help you get where you want to go. Ask them questions, use their advice on successive speaking projects. Pay attention to their evaluations and use what you can.

Stuck in the first manual?  Make a commitment to give one speech every three to four weeks. Work at it one project at a time. One bite at a time is easier than thinking about 6 speeches or 7 and freezing.

Want to be a better leader? Take on more meeting roles that require organization and speaking. Volunteer for an executive role for the next season.

Want to achieve an advanced designation?  After the first manual, there are 15 advanced manuals that give you practice at giving a toast, a sales speech, television communication to humorous speaking.
Remember, the more advanced speakers in your club were once beginners. If they can do it, so can you!

Toastmasters again–contest season

January 30, 2010

For anyone who wants to learn to speak well, Toastmasters is an organization you’ll want to check out. On its home page, you can read:

The nonprofit organization now has nearly 250,000 members in more than 12,500 clubs in 106 countries.

Toastmasters is not only for those who want to speak professionally, but also for those who want to improve their communication skills, both for impromptu and prepared speeches. By being involved, one also learns leadership skills.

You can read more here and find a local club.

We approach  the second contest season of the Toastmasters year— the Evaluation Contest and the International Speech Contest. Contests are an opportunity to have fun with our speaking and to recognize the skill developed through Toastmasters programs. If there are other reasons, someone else can supply them.

In the Evaluation contest, the Vice President of Education puts out a call ahead of time for a target speaker, which some call a test speaker, usually from another club in the area. The speaker’s name is not made known ahead of time. This Toastmaster arrives at the host club on the contest day and gives a speech. Those who are competing in the club contest evaluate the speaker’s performance. The competitors are judged on their evaluations on how relevant and helpful they are to the speaker. The winner goes on to the area contest, and if that person wins at the  area contest,  he or she goes on to Division contest.

The International Speech contest is the only contest for which speakers must have achieved a certain level— the sixth speech of the basic manual. Winners from the club go onto Area contests, then Division and so on, like the other contests, but this contest goes right to the International level. We see the quality of these speakers who give keynote speeches at our district conference, and we hear the run-off of the contests with members from our own district. What a feast it is to hear them all present.

Our club is getting ready for the contests, on the 4th and 11th of February respectively. This time I’m competing in both. Should be interesting and entertaining. We love to have guests, so let us know if you’re coming.

Giving the toast to Canada at the District 86 Fall conference in Collingwood.  Next to me is Merri Macartney, DTM, Lieutenant Governor Education and Training.

Josh Groban sings “You Raise Me Up”

January 24, 2010.

I’m not sure the writer intended this, but for me, this song relates to my faith.  Think of God as your father and how much he loves you. Imagine yourself  as a child riding  high on God’s shoulders and how so much more is possible with God carrying you.

This song is one of my absolute favourites. I hope you enjoy it too.

To all the survivors in Haiti and to those who go to Haiti to help, I dedicate this beautiful song to you.

Canadian nurse who died in Haiti

January 21, 2010.

On the front page of our local  paper, The Record of Waterloo Region, today is a photo  of Yvonne Martin, the area nurse who died in Haiti’s earthquake last week. In the photo she holds two Haitian babies. One baby sleeps, cradled in one arm, and the other lies awake in the other, gazing into Yvonne’s face. Yvonne wears a smile as she looks into that small dark face. Her arms must be very strong, for she holds them like she’s used to doing so.

Martin took the latest trip to Haiti, arriving just a short time before the earthquake hit last Tuesday.  She apparently was the only one of the seven-member team inside the Port-au-Prince guest house when the building collapsed.  Her body was recovered the following day. While her family awaits her body’s return, they gather,accompanied by many in the community, to celebrate her life and mourn their loss.

Brent Davis, Record reporter, wrote of the pastor’s eulogy that Yvonne had a heart for the poor, for the needy, and for the oppressed. “That’s what took her to Haiti, to be the hands and the feet of Jesus.”

According to the paper, she’s worked as a nurse for 36 years at the Elmira Medical Clinic, prior to her retirement, so many people knew her.  She’s also a grandmother of 10. Seeing her in the photo smiling and holding those babies makes me believe that she showed the same warmth and love to her patients and her family as she did to those babies in Haiti.

Son Terry said, “My mom’s desire was to be a faithful servant of God.”  His words were affirmed by their pastor Karen West, who said, “She not only died doing what she believed in, she actually lived them too.”

As we pray for the people of Haiti and send them aid, let’s also remember Martin’s family who have lost their loved one.

Read more here .

Trouble in Haiti– watch where you send your dollars

January 17, 2010.

Imagine, if you can, waking up in Haiti any day this week since the massive earthquake, if indeed you could find a safe place to sleep, to see destruction all around you. Imagine that you are a child and your sibling is dead, or a mother and your family is buried in the rubble of broken buildings.

No water, no food, no one to help. Imagine the desperation. In a country already under great duress, the  aftermath of the earthquake would certainly  bring on additional fear and anxiety.

The news brings this disaster into our homes by radio, television and newspaper. We cannot pretend it away; the devastation is real and people are hurting and desperate, and in great need. The Waterloo Region Record reported yesterday:

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Drumbeats called the faithful to a Sunday Mass praising God amid a scene resembling the Apocalypse – a collapsed cathedral in a city cloaked with the smell of death and rattled by gunfire, where rescue crews battle to pry an ever-smaller number of the living from the ruins.

Our pastor talked today about the actions such catastrophes bring about: the good, when people offer their help financially, and physically by being there, but also the bad, when people are angry, upset and so desperate that some people search for whatever they can find, whether it belongs to them or not, or they storm supply vehicles that are there to bring food and water. Not only that trouble, but also Internet sites set up supposedly to collect money for earthquake victims—people looking to make a buck at others` expense and goodwill.

It would be easy to say that there are others who can help, or that people bring such trouble on themselves. I knew before I even set foot in my church today that I would send a donation. I sent  it through Canadian Lutheran World Relief that I know is working there already beside the Canadian troops and other aid organizations.  My dollars are not a great amount, but when they are matched, the whole sum of many such dollars  mutiply the aid available. I hope that by this evening, a few more poor souls have some food and water, and a shelter too.

I cannot imagine living through such an ordeal. I knew that even as I sat on the church bench that our prayers for the people of Haiti will be answered, perhaps not in a hurry, but that there is help coming.  Jesus comes to the poor and desperate; he is there with them in Haiti, he who died for us to show his Father`s love is there with them too.

Some may wonder if God has abandoned them; they may think God does not care. Jesus came to help those who need it most. He comes to bring comfort. People act in his name, through thankfulness of what God gave them.

The nurse from our area, who went to help on a mission trip, died with the people of Haiti. She had no idea, nor did her family, that she would be in the middle of such a massive upheaval. She went because there was a need and she could help. She`d been there before and probably felt the calling to go back. So soon after her arrival, the earthquake hit and she was another one of its victims.  Now her family mourns with the thousands who survived but lost everything including their loved ones.

If you`re going to send aid, do it through recognized charities like the Red Cross, Canadian Lutheran World Relief or whatever agency your church works through, to make sure your dollars count, and to make sure they get there. Meanwhile pray for the people that the help can reach them in time.

Paw prints in the snow…

January 11, 2010

The snow that came down a few days ago was light and fluffy, landing as soft as feathers. It covered the dirty snow and pathways, the black driveway and the car’s tire tracks. I love that kind of snow; it makes everything look clean and sparkly.

 My husband was eager to get out and shovel snow, but I told him to wait, or to shovel the neighbour’s driveway first. I got dressed warm and grabbed my camera and headed outside. First to the backyard where small animal prints made a pattern across the yard next to the cedar trees.

Being careful not to make too many tracks of my own, I walked along the side of the workshop as close to the building as I dared, then figured out my site line so I could get enough natural light and capture the prints. The snow is not nearly as deep as it seems. I think some small rabbit with long legs made the trek across the yard, in search of what, I don’t know.

 After getting backyard photos, I walked to the front yard  and took one with the sun behind me. Standing in that place, my body cast long shadows across the yard, making me look the giant that I’m not. The snow is deeper here, for these plants in my raised bed were nearly 10 inches high.

 Once I had all the pictures I wanted of the clean, unprinted snow, I resisted the urge to make a snow angel and opted for shovelling the driveway. By this time, my husband had already cleaned one of our neighbour’s driveways and was on to the next one. I shovelled the light snow easily and tossed it across onto the bank alongside the driveway.

 The air had a bit of nip to it, but not as bitter as it had been a few days previous.  The snow was indeed as light as it seemed; the task took some time but was quite enjoyable.  When I finished my task, I went indoors refreshed and ready for breakfast. It would have been a good day for a walk, but I had other tasks awaiting. There’ll be more snow like this.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Tomorrow is my father’s birthday.  He’s shown here on one of the farm tractors, and as we so often see him, he’s smiling.  He’s a pretty optimistic guy, generally, and he’s also been a loving and attentive father.

When I was just a small child, my father built a sandbox outdoors for my sisters and me to play in. He also welded a frame together and built a swing set, and a  teeter-totter (that some folks call a see saw). My sisters and I spent hours outdoors playing  on that equipment, and more hours filling that sandbox with water and making mudpies and lakes and valleys. He knew what would make us happy.

In May, about Mother’s Day, Dad liked to take us on a walk to the bush lot at the back of the farm. It was quite a trek across the ploughed field to get there, but the walk was always worthwhile, for that’s where we saw the trilliums blooming, the mayapples, moss on rocks in dark corners, and the jack-in-the-pulpit.  We learned the names of trees, plants, and saw tracks of deer. We carried bunches of  dogtooth violets in our hands, and burdocks on our sweaters, even when we tried to avoid them. Dad was there with us, teaching and guiding us, and loving  us.

Dad made sure we had skates for the winter.  At one time, before the field was tiled, we had ice patches in the corn field to skate on. Dad brought bales of straw out from the barn so we had a place to sit and rest or change from skates to boots and back.  Sometimes, our parents took us to the arena in town so we could go skating on a Sunday afternoon.  Dad always skated with us. Much later, he built a rink in our yard, putting in hours on a cold winter night, scraping off snow from the surface and flooding the packed snow (that we girls stomped down). He flooded it until we had a good surface. It was cold work, but he did it because we’d have a place to skate and play hockey.  When chores were done, he often came out and skated with us.

In summer, we had a ball diamond. Our parents supplied us with ball and bats and we learned to play catch first, then how to play baseball. Having played on a league,  Dad eventually had his own ball team to train. Not quite enough for a team, but when we got together with family or friends, we played baseball together, Dad in there batting and catching too.

When we were old enough, he taught us how to drive tractor, mow lawn, gather eggs from the henhouse. We worked at harvest together, and in evenings or on weekends, we played together,  board games, sports, puzzles. We went for drives in the car or visiting with friends and family. A hard worker, Dad  knew that it was important for all of us to have some fun. Maybe not so much on harvest days when there was a lot of work to be done.

Dad taught us how to drive,  let us practise (parallel) parking between bales of hay or straw, taught us how to change tires, check oil and how to care for the car. He  and Mom were there at the end of the day when we came home from school, and we sat around the supper table together, talking and eating.

When Dad walked me down the aisle on my wedding day, I appreciated all he had done and been for me. I still do.

Dad, I’ll just remind you once again how blessed I’ve been to have you. Happy birthday and may your day be a happy one. With love.

Sir Cliff Richard singing “The Millenium Prayer”

I did a little search on New Year’s Eve and found this video through a link on Kathryn Darden’s December 26th  blog.

Enjoy!