If I were to say that I haven’t been busy lately, I would be stretching the truth far beyond the reaches of its capacity.
If I were to say that I haven’t been enjoying myself I, too, would be stretching that little five-letter word which seems to vex competitive political arenas to the max. Actually, it has been a fun, fun, yet fluctuating, emotional summer and fall for me.
It was jump-started by the launch of my fourth book, which is the third of The Best of Bits & Pieces, in late spring, at Roxanne’s Book & Card Shop. From then to now, it was followed by several craft shows that tumbled me into the seemingly endless Fall Fair season. The latter was a marathon for me, allowing me to meet literally hundreds of dedicated readers who gave encouraging feedback on many of the controversial articles that I seem, on occasion, to get entangled within.
In addition, this time was amply punctuated, by colon: semicolon; comma, exclamation mark! question mark? and period. by a devastating tornado that flattened, in fewer seconds than you could count on both fingers and toes, many, many trees on my son’s family farm, and spread his huge barn and large driving shed over many multiple acres, some sections of roof with suspicions of a mile away.
When Mother Nature takes on human ambivalence and power, it terrorizes us, yet she is just showing us a small example of exactly what we have been doing worldwide over many generations to the existing environment. Should not a lesson be learnt here?
This, too, was an education for me as dozens of volunteers, both known and strangers, showed up to help with the cleanup. And I’m happy to report that at the time of this writing, arrangement for some tree replacement has been made and the roof trusses on the new barn will be raised and the cement floor poured as soon as the wind and rainy weather give the Mennonite group who are so doing a favourable break.
Further to that, I’d been asked to be the guest speaker on two different occasions – one Legion, one high school – and the third was to address a neighbouring county council on the tree-cutting bylaw in place here in Wellington. Naturally, I, a self-proclaimed tree hugger, and proud of it, favoured the no fee for tree-cutting permits as is here in Wellington, as I felt it would be counterproductive to what was being sought, as the existing woodlands are there simply because of careful stewardship down through the generations. Why, for now, should the county power trip control?
And I, no doubt, overflowed with a strong recommendation for them to come and see for themselves the very successful Green Legacy Program, backed by Wellington County, where, thanks to dedicated, hardworking staff and volunteers, the seemingly impossible has become the possible. It would be wrong to not show, tell and brag of their amazing successes to surrounding counties.
Now, if only we could get other councils, city planners, developers, engineers, politicians and aggregate exploiters to wake up to reality and stop the raping of our countryside while forsaking the environment in search of the almighty dollar, we would have little or no trouble in reversing the downward spiral that we are on and taking everything with us into extinction. The legacy slated for the yet unborn is certainly not anything we can yet brag about, nor can its reversal be put off any longer.
But one of the little things that I feel our Greenspaces for Wellington environmental group should brag about is we were able to supply 200 bluebird house kits to be assembled, make and take, by the children at the Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. Our thanks go to none other than John Powers, the Cambridge Butterfly Man, for chairing this project. And, too, to the nurses and doctors who volunteered their time to help the kids assemble them. A tip of my soggy sombrero is due each and every one of them.
Some other pleasant flashing moments of time were spent accepting, on behalf of our Greenspaces for Wellington membership, from The Wellington County Historical Society, a complimentary copy, at the book launch, of the recent publication of The Flora of Wellington County by local authors Richard Frank and Allan Anderson. This book, which took a decade in making, should interest every horticulturist clear across the county. I understand copies are available at Roxanne’s in Fergus.
Right now, to use a favourite expression that once was that of my mother’s, I’m going to make myself busier – I’m heading back up to my son’s to plant some more replacement trees.
Take care, ’cause we care.
barrie@barriehopkins.ca
519-843-4544