Hockey, Training Camp, Flames and Memories.

Ever since the lockout ended I've been wanting to blog about hockey, not just because #hockeyisback, because it seems to strike to the very core of life for so many of us.

It's about rivalry, competition, gamesmanship, loyalty - and hope and faith. Seems to be such especially here in Calgary. During the lockout only 100 people gave up their season ticket rights. And season tickets aren't cheap and there is a long waiting list for them. Word is that about half of those took back their rights when the lockout ended. Word also has it that this is one of the best retention rates in the league. Or so I hear.

Yes there is a lot of complaining and grumbling about the lockout, directed at both sides, and yet, in the last week or so, it seems to me that despite the noise and the vehemence of some comments, Calgarians are still loyal to their team. Yes there has been complaining about what is perceived as an unnecessary and overlong lockout, and yes there have been threats of boycotts, and yet, as game day approaches, tickets sales are up, and people are eagerly waiting for that first Puck Drop.

People will be there cheering on their home team. It's already hard to get good tickets for the opening game on Sunday.

Training camp has been running all week at the Saddledome, with the Flames organisation trying to make up to fans with free concessions, public access to training sessions and half price merchandise, among other things. And it's working. Attendance at training camp has been high, especially the last two or three days. Today at 9.49 am there was a line 50 long, by 10.00 when the doors opened there were 100 people there. And more kept on coming, until the open section of the lower bowl was filled and people spilled into ever higher levels. All to watch "our" team practice drills. There's loyalty.

There was a tweet tonight "Only in Canada, do kids get pulled out of school for an NHL practice. Couple of dads get parent of the year today for sure."

Actually, it was a couple of hundred school age kids, and yes their dads do. Some were there with dad, some with mum, some with both parents. My son was there with me, with his dad's blessing, and he had a blast. He's 6, it was his first time in the Saddledome, his first time watching the Flames, and he was three rows behind the players bench. He had his jacket, jersey and hat and he rocked it.

He also got 6 more signatures on his hat, including Kipper and Baertschi - who seems to be making a name for himself for signing kids! He's going to be an asset to the Flames, on and off ice, IMO. He had the chance at a day that, while maybe not once in a lifetime, certainly isn't going to come his way often, and we took it. He's never going to wish he had spent an extra half day in school, yet he is going to remember today for a very long time to come. So he missed half a day of school. He made a memory that may well last him a lifetime. And that is something you can never put a price on. I'll never regret taking him there today, I know I'd regret it if I hadn't done so.

Also willing to bet that applies to every kid there today. Nothing say memory making to a kid like having what could be a unique experience. They may well see the Flames again, maybe even in training camp, but every one of them will remember the day they got to play hookey, with permission, and watch the Calgary Flames.

So now we await puck drop - in less than 24 hrs - 48 for Calgary fans. Hockey is back. And at least from what I've seen that's a good thing. A long overdue thing perhaps, still a good thing. Even if we do have long odds on the Flames lifting the Stanley Cup - who says bookies are always right? Faith in and loyalty to OUR team, right? And it seems to me that, grumbling and venting aside, 99% of us are still backing our team.

Do we love our team more than other cities? No idea. Maybe lol
Do we care less about the lockout? No, we care. A lot.

What matters most though is that now, it's over. Now, we can get back to the business of supporting our team, cheering their victories, drowning our sorrows at their losses, and supporting them with everything we have in the belief that they will lift the cup this year. We can go back to the business of raising the next generation of Flames fans, because if we don't raise them to have the same love, loyalty and faithful determination as we have, where would the Calgary Flames be in the future?

Hockey. Is. Back.

Time to don my jersey, set the TV channel, grab a last minute game ticket, and watch that puck drop!

Go! Flames! Go!

Community

There is a Mexican proverb than in essence says that a house is not built upon the ground but rather upon the woman at its heart.

We are women, we are mother, daughters, sisters, we are the givers of life.

Without us, a house is just a house. We are the heart that beats within, we are the soul that brings a place to life and enables it to grow into a home.

Without us there is less colour, less life, less soul, less vibrancy and less love. We are the ones that turn it into a home, whether it is a mansion, a small apartment, a trailer, a car, a cardboard box or a doorway. We are the ones who care, nurture, tend, love and protect our homes and those within them. It's what we must do.

It is also what we must do for our communities. We are just as much the heart of our community. We need to bring that life, love and nurturing to not only our homes but also to our wider community.

We must join together to breathe life into the community within which we live.  We must take it, shape it and nurture it, make it our own and help to create a strong, vibrant, living community for who live within it.

It is time to call on the memories of women of old, our mothers, and grandmothers, throughout time who did exactly that without even thinking about it. Community was a way of life for them, not something to work at or think about, simply something they did, every day. They were the beating heart not only of their families but also of their wider community.

It is time to assume the mantle that they bequeathed to us that was forgotten by progress and the advancement of civilization,  for if there was ever a time the world needed us to create community, that time may well be now.

Neighbours no longer know neighbours, families are scattered across the county and across the world. Community once had meaning, when joys, and tragedies, felt by one were felt and shared by all.

In many ways progress is a good thing, occasionally though there is a need to step back and recreate something from the past, in our own way, for our own time, and make it new and relevant again. It is time now to make community mean something again, not some vague ideal, rather a living breathing reality for the benefit of all who live there.

RAOK and my life in the 'hood

So I went shopping today - made myself broke but that's nothing new lol Did pick up a #Flames hockey shirt AND jacket for Spawn in Value Village for a total of $13 so that was a score! And a book for me - I'll ignore the evangelical and biblical parts of it - pretty sure I can still find something useful in it - Everybody wants to make a difference - practical ways to change the world.

Kinda fits in with my state of mind lately. The same state that asked advice from @careyfuller and now wants to strike up a conversation with the napping homeless couple and "just ask them what they need apart from housing" - asked her for advice on what an 'average Joe' can do for the homeless in their own 'hood.... Makes sense to me.

Last week when I made cupcakes I left a plate of them for the roofers - even though they were freaking out my dog - he has issues due to his life before he went to Oopsy Dazy Foundation - and today when I picked up the last books for Spawn's set I grabbed a second (almost( complete) set. Took that to school and gave it to his kindergarten teacher for her class - as I said to her, I wasn't sure if I was violating some etiquette or protocol but I wondered if she would like them for her class. She said yes please and thank you so.... Well, everyone is always saying how bad #CBE cuts are, and it makes little difference to me. And they ARE cool books for kindergartners lol

What can I say? It's just the way I roll - my own special brand of insanity :p

Halloween - Jesusween?

Jesusween? Seriously? Am I the only one who has trouble taking that seriously as a name?
Yep, it's silly season again when all kinds of opinions come flying out of the woodwork - yes I am aware that includes my own! Some though are definitely saner and more intelligent than others, no matter how heartfelt. Happens every year at this time. (Wonder if King Kev will make his presence felt again? Hmmm)

Whoever or whatever doesn't actually detract from what is one of the most fun filled nights of the year for many, especially kids young and old. Nor from what is for many people, myself included, one of the most important ritual/religious nights of the year.

If you want to hand out bibles instead of candy or treats then go ahead - but I'm pretty sure that means I can hand you a pentacle or a Wicca 101 book in return. Or even, as @ashareem suggested a Koran. After all it never hurts to learn about and understand another religion, right? (Why yes I have read and studied the bible over the years)

One commenter after the original story said that s/he would text a prayer for each trick or treater (not sure why text but that's besides the point), then I should be able to offer up an invocation for him/her in return, right? Fair's fair since we have freedom of speech and religion after all. You believe in your god and I believe in my gods. Or as facebook recently put it, "Sure you can offer up a prayer for me, and I'll dance naked in the woods for you." Each to their own ;)

Pretty damn sure though that you, whoever you may think you are, have no claim on my son's soul to a religion that neither his father nor I follow and FWIW I wouldn't want to be the one handing a bible to our son if he's trick or treating with his father. Just saying.

Yup, silly season is here, Halloween is coming. I thought twice about blogging over Jesusween but in the end..... I just couldn't resist. Let the countdown continue, and don't let anyone spoil the fun you want to have. Stay safe and don't let the ghosts and goblins bite!

Halloween pt1

This is about the third incarnation of a post on Halloween - yes I am aware it's a month away yet, however, it's been on my mind all week. Been thinking about ideas for decorating for (hopefully) all the little trick or treaters who usually come around. Wondering how many there will this year since last season was the lowest count in the 6 years we've been here - about 50% lower than previous years. We do get a high turnover of residents here since these are rental properties, and the vast majority of kids here are newer than we are, many new this year. Wonder how many of them are going to trick or treat, or even celebrate Halloween?

In the schools it's orange and black day, not Halloween, at home it's Halloween and the Witch's New year - don't ask lol That's just how it's known around here. That or Easter - slip of someone's tongue many years ago ;)

On the plus side there's Boo at the Zoo on the weekend before and both local malls will be handing out candy and treats to kids in costume.

There will be decorating and dressing up and handing out of candy and possibly partying. Possibly. Maybe. Perhaps. There will be pumpkins lit and candles and haunted trees - which if anyone looked REAL close also carry the names of those who have passed over. But no-one except me looks that closely and they make great decorations! There will be hats and bats and a big spider, a magical clock and a cauldron of plenty.... what else what else? Still working on it....

Livininthehood #4 #warongardens

As is usual I find myself wondering many odd things in the course of the day. @JeninCanada wondered how much trouble she'd get into if she turned her front yard into a vegetable garden instead of leaving it as grass. It's a question I've wondered too - not that I have a yard right now, front or back since we live in a rental complex that has shared green space - yet it's something I've wondered in the hypothetical.

Why IS it such a crime to take time and resource consuming lawn and turn it into something more useful, less wasteful and often more visually appealing? Everyone bombards us with instructions to eat better, get healthier, lose weight, feed our kids more fruits and vegetables, avoid pesticides, etc. Government is always telling us that north America is suffering a plague of obesity and poor health.

Then doesn't it make sense to allow people greater access to fresh produce instead of restricting it? To allow people to grow fresh fruits and vegetables in their own yards and to increase the number and availability of community gardens. Especially in less well off neighbourhoods where people often have least access to affordable healthy foods.

I know it's a pet peeve of mine that there isn't a community garden within walking distance of here, and I do still believe that our 'Hood is one that could seriously benefit from having its own community garden if we could find a space for it.

Seems to me that the so called war on garden ( #warongardens) has a lot more to do with power, control and conformity than it has to do with vegetables. Maybe my sense of logic is just skewed, but wouldn't we all be better off if there were more vegetable gardens and less lawn? Like a re-designing of the Victory Garden campaign? Wouldn't we all be better off, and healthier, if more people were allowed to plant up gardens and eat and share their produce? One neighbour has too many tomatoes, so swaps them with another who has a surplus of onions, say. What is wrong with that? OTHER than taking control out of the hands of government and putting it back into the hands of the people? (The people who government is supposed to be working for, FYI.)

Instead apparently there is a war on gardens in many places just now, we won't even mention the chickens ;) Is it any wonder that Guerilla Gardening is taking off in more and more places? There shouldn't be a need for it but there is - as the saying goes, it is often easier to get forgiveness afterwards than to request permission beforehand.

Meanwhile the powers that be continue to tell us to be healthier, while at the same time denying us the opportunity to do it for ourselves. As long as it is about power and control instead of about people and food, there will continue to be a need for guerilla gardeners and for those who dare defy convention and turn their lawn into vegetables. Just a thought.

Livin' in the 'Hood 3

Walk to school yesterday got a little faster when my walking companion got a text from her teenage daughter that she was having an asthma attack at high school. So L had to run grab the kindergartener out of school early then head for the high school. Last time it happened to the teenager she passed right out cold and the school had to call an ambulance. Same teenager already has issues since a tip to the dentist revealed that as suspected her TMJ is out of line and needs treatment. So a call was made to the specialist and guess what? That costs $230 just to walk in the door and get an appointment. Up front. No direct billing. And the insurance won't cover it. At least not unless the specialist direct bills, the insurance refuses it and then it gets appealed. But the specialist won't direct bill anyway.

AND that's $230 just to get in to see him, no treatment, nothing. Like most of us L doesn't have a spare $230, plus everything that'd come afterwards, in her pocket to pull out at the drop of a hat. So how is the teenager supposed to get the treatment she needs?

Everything is getting more expensive, almost by the day, and people have less and less money left over after they pay the bills, rent/mortgage, buy food, pay school fees, insurance etc. Especially around here. I know too many people here who were living pay check to pay check because there was never anything left over, only now, as the cost of everything is rising and wages are not keeping pace it's not so much living pay check to pay check as can we make it from one pay check to the next? Or, who can wait till the next pay check and who NEEDS to be paid now. Between what groceries/clothes/school stuff do we need now and what can wait until the next pay check?

It's not just a few facing those dilemmas nowadays, it's an ever increasing number of people as the cost of everything rockets. Something is very off in the 'Hood and getting ever more off as time goes by.