by Heather Plett | Oct 4, 2005 | Uncategorized
These things I hate:
– when your staff member thinks that bad-mouthing you to anyone who will listen is an effective way of protecting her job
– when your daughter is reduced to tears while trying to do her homework because trying to remember French numbers makes her feel stupid, and tomorrow is Judgement Day when her teacher will test her and label her competent or incompetent
– when your other daughter comes home with reports of being bullied on the bus by mean-boy from across the street, and a bus driver who (apparently) turns a blind eye
– when your children fight ALL the way home, and you’re stuck in bumper to bumper traffic so it takes twice as long to get home
– when you feel completely overwhelmed and perhaps even a little incompetent because your absence from the office for a week means that you are miles behind and your workload seems like an insurmountable mountain
– when it takes all evening for your kids to get through homework and piano practice and cleaning up after supper and packing their lunches, and you realize they have barely had a moment to JUST BE KIDS!
– when, after listening to demand after demand after demand, it occurs to you that your children see the world through self-centred lenses and the only communication out of their mouths seems to be some version of “Me, Me, Me”
– when you look at the diminishing pan of brownies and realize that, at the end of a long and stressful day, you’ve turned to food for comfort
These things I like:
– when your wonderful husband realizes you’ve had a stressful day and makes sure supper is waiting for you in the oven, even though he has an evening class and it’s your night to cook supper
– when you emerge from a self-imposed timeout in your bedroom and find your daughters clearing the supper table even though they haven’t been reminded, and you consider that possibly they DO have a shred of conscience after all
– when you realize that tomorrow night you get to go to a concert and that your ROCKIN’ brother-in-law is willing to babysit
– when you watch your three-year-old daughter dance around naked waving a pom-pom just like a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and you realize that a good laugh cures a lot of ills
– when you sit down to relax at the end of a LONG day and realize you can do it guilt free because the dishes are done, the laundry is clean and put away, the floor is swept and vacuumed (at least upstairs), the housework is basically caught up, and even your sink is shiny and clean.
by Heather Plett | Oct 2, 2005 | Uncategorized
I thought I’d take a moment to answer Dale’s question. About the pumpkins.
Why did I spend my Saturday morning picking pumpkins with about 40 other people? Well, the short answer is that they planted all those pumpkins to sell to raise money for Canadian Foodgrains Bank, a food aid and international development organization that I work for. The purpose of my trip was to visit churches and community groups who are supporting us through various efforts. The pumpkin project was one of those efforts.
The Foodgrains Bank is a christian-based organization that was originally started by a group of farmers that wanted to find some way of sending their surplus grain to hungry people overseas. Since then, it’s grown, and we now receive about $7 million in donations from Canadians, as well as $16 million from the federal government. The unique thing that I love about this organization is that there are 13 different church organizations that are part of it – everything from Baptists to Presbyterians to Seventh Day Adventists (and including your United Church, Dale). All these churches that preach different doctrine from the pulpit, work together to help hungry people. On Sunday, while I was in Nova Scotia, I visited 3 different churches, belonging to different denominations but still serving the common purpose.
The pumpkin project is one of our community growing projects. Rural communities get together, set aside a portion of land, and grow a crop which they donate directly or sell and donate the proceeds. I love the pumpkin project, because it includes 6 or 7 local churches in the Annapolis Valley, and they get a wide range of people working together as a community to pick and sell a field full of pumpkins. It gives you warm fuzzies to see something like that.
So now you know why all those pumpkins. And since I took all this time to put in a good plug for the Foodgrains Bank, next time you want to support a great organization, check us out! (That’s also why I was in Africa – to read more about it, feel free to peruse my February posts.)
by Heather Plett | Oct 1, 2005 | Uncategorized
The trip was GREAT! Better than I could have expected! I didn’t know how it would go – I was travelling with the staff member that I’ve had the least contact with and didn’t know if we’d gel or not, but we did. It was worth the investment – to build a relationship that needed a little work.
Here are a few of the highlights:
1. A visit to Peggy’s Cove (the first 2 pictures below). It’s a rugged rocky area with crashing waves beating against the shore. It was a grey day, but still pleasantly warm. The woman on the plane said she HATED Peggy’s Cove, but I think she was deluded. I don’t know what’s to hate. ‘Course she was a transplant from Barbados, so she compared every coastline to her home – not a fair comparison. We had “Finnie Haddie” (I think that’s what it’s called) which is a local dish of smoked haddock, at the restaurant overlooking the shore and the lighthouse.
2. Reconnecting with my friend Tim. He was one of my travelling companions in Africa. It was fun to meet his wife and three kids. His oldest son Noah was quite determined he would help me figure out when to pay the waittress at the restaurant, his second son David was more intent on figuring out my digital camera, and his daughter Laura was fascinated with my beaded African bracelet.
3. Riding the ferry to Prince Edward Island. (Sixth picture below) I love ferries. I love looking out over the ocean looking for land. I love spotting lighthouses. I love the faraway lights of other ships. I love the dipping, gliding seagulls diving for fish. I love the swirling water at the back by the propellor. I love the sea breeze on my face. The only part I’m not too fond of is the foghorn – when I’m out on deck and it blows right in my ear (remember, D & C?).
4. Picking pumpkins with about 40 people from the local community – people ranging in age from 3 to 80. (Fourth and seventh pictures below.) Wonderful people, who give up a Saturday morning to wonder around a field collecting pumpkins because they believe their efforts will help feed a hungry family somewhere overseas. And the sight of plump orange pumpkins, with a background of the Annapolis valley just seems like a scene begging to be painted.
5. A visit to the parents of a good friend of mine – in a beautiful home on Prince Edward Island. Tea and cookies and pleasant conversation.
6. Two words… LOBSTER SUPPER! (Fifth picture below) There’s a trend on the island that I believe was started by community centres in small towns. They put on a lobster supper that’s similar to a fall supper in churches across the prairies. It’s in a big room like a community centre, with very little decor (other than red checkered tablecloths), but AWESOME food! You get a full meal deal (and I do mean FULL!) – mussels, seafood chowder, salads, beverages, lobster and dessert. YUMMY!!!
7. I got to stay in a hotel. (Third picture below.) I thought I’d be staying at the home of my colleague, but his son and daughter-in-law had just moved into their spare room, so they didn’t have room for me. Yay! I got privacy and lots of time to myself, and I didn’t have to think about being social and making polite conversation all the time. The hotel (actually it was a motel) was rather primitive, with seventies decor and no phones in the rooms (or even a pay phone anywhere that I could find), but nonetheless quite lovely, relaxing, and picturesque. It was just outside Truro, so there weren’t any modern conveniences close by, but it was on the edge of a valley, with a river flowing out to sea right in front of it, so the surroundings made up for the lack of conveniences. And it had a GREAT restaurant, with some of the best service I’ve ever had in a restaurant.
8. A very quick visit to Green Gables (yes, you’re right AC, it’s the ninth picture). We had a bit of time to kill before our lobster supper, so we stopped. It was closing in 15 minutes, so it wasn’t really worth paying the entrance fee, but then, almost by accident, I snuck in the exit to snap a few pictures, and soon found myself wandering through the house. It was a bit of a drizzly day, so the tourists had all disappeared, and I was all alone wandering around the house and yard. It was a brief, but rather enchanted moment. Not too many people get to see that overly commercialized tourist attraction alone, so I count myself blessed.
9. Speaking in three different churches in one day – 2 in the morning and one in the evening. They were 2 very different denominations (Presbyterian and Pentecostal), so it was kinda fun to see the different traditions and realize what things people incorporate into their faith traditions and accept as “gospel truth”. It was also nice to realize just how GOOD our church is. Not that any of these was bad, just that they were way more stuck in tradition, and less grounded in community than ours is.
10. A rather rainy day that I got to lounge around and hang out by myself (mostly – I had to go to a meeting in the evening). I get so few of those opportunities these days. I was a little disppointed that it rained and I couldn’t wander far, but it was delightful nonetheless. When I wandered over to the drink machine to get a drink, covered up in my rain poncho, a friendly staff person said “miserable day, eh?” and almost by instinct I agreed. But then I realized that no, in truth, it was FAR from a miserable day. I got to curl up with a good book in a quiet hotel room in Nova Scotia – what’s not to like? When the rain let up, I wandered into town to visit the infamous Frenchies (a second hand store that’s known for having lots of good quality used clothes) and found a few bargains. I had to buy the rain poncho there, though, because when I was done shopping, the rain had started again.
11. Reading a great book recommended by Linda. It’s called “In Praise of Slow” and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to enrich their life (and who doesn’t?). I may blog about it more another day. I bought it at the airport when I was leaving and finished on the flight home from Toronto yesterday.
12. A great meeting in Toronto. I was hosting and chairing the meeting with about 15 people, many of whom I’d never met, so I was a little nervous and felt frightfully ill-prepared, but it went quite smoothly and exceeded my expectations.
And now I’m happy to be home. I had a really lovely day off today – a visit to Sugar Mountain with the girls, lunch at Bread and Circuses, a bike ride, a visit to the library, date night with supper at Homers with my wonderful husband, and then a public lecture at the university with an inspirational address from Dr. Lloyd Axworthy.
A good week, all in all.
by Heather Plett | Sep 30, 2005 | Uncategorized
Yes, I’m home! I don’t have much time to blog – the girls and I are spending the day together and they don’t want me to be too distracted on the computer, but in the meantime, enjoy some pics (sorry – no time for commentary!) 
by Heather Plett | Sep 23, 2005 | Uncategorized
I’ll be up late tonight packing my bags – getting ready to catch a flight tomorrow morning. Gotta get the laundry all clean so that everyone has clothes to wear while I’m gone. Marcel is pretty capable of coping with everything in my absence, but the laundry is still usually my job.
I’m off to the East Coast for a few days – Halifax, Truro, Annapolis Valley, PEI, Peggy’s Cove. These are all places I’ve dreamed of visiting some day and now I get to. The beauty of it is I don’t have to spend a penny of my own money doing it. 🙂 I’m going for business reasons – travelling with my Atlantic-based staff member – visiting supporters and volunteers and getting to know the region a bit. On Saturday, I’ll be picking pumpkins. A community group in Annapolis Valley grows a field of pumpkins which they sell and donate the proceeds to our organization (which, for those who don’t know, delivers food aid to developing countries).
I consider myself pretty lucky. Not only do I have a great job, but I get to travel to interesting places and meet interesting people. One of the greatest feelings I know is the feeling I get when I hop on a plane bound for a place I’ve never been before.
And my luck doesn’t end there. I have an amazingly supportive husband who forgives me for abandoning him now and then when I have to travel. (Thanks Marcel.) He’s gotten pretty used to being the primary caregiver for the girls. Nowadays, ever since I took off for three weeks in Africa, he barely blinks when I leave for ONLY a week.
The girls have adjusted to Mommy being gone too. They don’t love it, but they cope. Tonight Maddie tried to find every reason she could think of to convince me I REALLY should bring her along. “They probably have little kids in Halifax, so I should go along.” “I like lobster, so I should go with you.” (I don’t think she’s ever EATEN lobster, but she’s seen them in their tank at the supermarket and she calls them her friends.) “Do they have sheep? I’d like to see sheep, so maybe I should go too.”
I love to go, but in the end, there’s always a bit of a churning in the pit of my stomach when I leave my family behind – a mixture of guilt, worry, and a longing to bring them with me. It doesn’t last, though, and I don’t dwell on it when I’m gone. Thankfully, I do it just enough to keep me happy and not so much that my family resents me.
So, for now, good bye.
by Heather Plett | Sep 22, 2005 | Uncategorized
Time for an updated family photo, so my sister and I exchanged photo shoots. (Go see the one on her blog too 🙂
Good looking bunch, eh? (Just don’t look too closely at all the bird poop in the duck pond behind us.)
