by Heather Plett | Jul 4, 2008 | Uncategorized
1. Maddie learned to ride a two-wheeler bike this week. Based on the less-than-pleasant experiences of teaching her sisters (cringe), I was dreading having to teach her, but she was much more relaxed about it (perhaps it’s a youngest child thing?) and it turned out to be fun and surprisingly easy.
2. I like to think of myself as a fairly tolerant person. I don’t yell at bad drivers (maybe they’re distracted because they just found out a family member died) and I try to give rude salespeople the benefit of the doubt (maybe their mother was never kind to them and they didn’t have a good role model). BUT… there are a few things I just can’t tolerate. Littering is one of them. On Tuesday (Canada Day), I saw three people casually toss garbage on the ground and walk away. COME ON PEOPLE! Let’s not be stupid!
3. Only one week until Folk Festival!
4. Maddie dropped in at the office this morning to donate the bag full of the change she’s been saving for months. She wanted to give it to the poorest country in the world – “because they don’t have enough food and they often have to drink dirty water”. I guess she WAS listening when I came home with stories of the people I’ve met in my travels! Ah, it swells a mother’s heart.
5. A few weeks ago, I went to a blogging workshop at a Christian writers’ conference (without having researched the presenter first). The blogger leading the workshop was shockingly right-wing, and what I’ve seen of her blog since is mostly anti-Muslim (with a little anti-gay thrown in for good measure) rhetoric – some of it frighteningly hateful. She has a large readership and it fills me with uneasiness that there are so many people who sing her praises. It also fills me with uneasiness that she was applauded at a “Christian” writers’ conference. (I could say more about that conference – but I’ll save that for another time.)
6. I’ve actually had time to sew this week. What fun! I’m finally putting my lovely Indian fabric to good use. Nikki has a new dress, and Julie has a shirt and capri pants. Maddie’s next. Watch for the family in the funky Indian tie-died clothes at Folk Festival!
by Heather Plett | Jul 1, 2008 | family, summer
Notice any difference between the months? In June, we had to colour code the calendar because there were so many days that two or three family members had to be in different places at the same time. And July? Well, we flipped the page, and suddenly there is a blank slate ahead of us. Ahhhhh… how I love blank slates!
We started off on the right foot with a trip to the beach yesterday, and a family bike trip to the Forks for Canada Day celebrations today. (That’s a 22 kilometre round trip! The longest we’ve done as a family.)
It’s hot, hot, hot, and we’re tired, tired, tired (in fact, Marcel is lying on the couch next to me snoring right now), but we’re oh so happy that it’s summer!
Happy Canada Day and Happy Summer!
by Heather Plett | Jun 27, 2008 | Africa
Today, as my heart aches for the people of Zimbabwe who are left with so little to hope for in an election that is not really an election, I wrote this note to my friend Pugeni…
Pugeni – my prayers are with you and all of the people of Zimbabwe today. I pray that God will see you through this time, and that your hopeful hearts and loving spirits will continue to shine through the shadows. I pray that peace and justice will come to your country in the months to come.
Every time I hear of Zimbabwe in the news, I think of you and your ready smile and teasing wit. I think of the fun we had when you first walked on snow and learned what a Slurpee is. I think of the way you challenged me to continue to seek justice and equality for people who live with hunger. I think of the way you marvelled at my big North American house and how you made me realize just how much I have to give away.
Peace be with you. I hope to see you again some day.
by Heather Plett | Jun 25, 2008 | Uncategorized
We went out for lunch today to celebrate the birthday of our receptionist, a university student who’s working here for her summer job. She just turned 20.
After lunch, it occurred to me that I am wearing a skirt that I got when she was about 2 years old.
Either I’m old, or I keep my clothes too long. Or both.
by Heather Plett | Jun 23, 2008 | Uncategorized
It’s been one of those months. The kind of month that sucks you in at the beginning, chews you up, and then spits you out the other side. There have been very few pauses in this crazy whirlwind of a month. A business trip to Toronto, a week of board meetings, a big event for our organization’s 25th anniversary (which I mc’d and did much of the organizing for), three weekend-long soccer tournaments (two of which were across the border into the States), multiple soccer games and/or practices almost every night of the week, meetings with out-of-town staff… I am exhausted. And chewed up into little bits.
This morning, when it occurred to me that Summer is officially upon us and I barely had a chance to slow down and enjoy Spring, I was left with an unsettled, dissatisfied feeling. It’s all slipping by too fast. I need to hit the pause button.
Fortunately, after this week is over (another busy week), soccer will end, work will slow down, and Folk Festival will be just around the corner.
On another note, I don’t know how much longer I’ll be blogging. It’s becoming less and less of a priority and interest.
