The Pits and Pieces

  It’s hard to know what to write about these days, given the state of the world. I hung my Canadian flags inside my window on Flag Day on Feb. 15 th , the 60 th anniversary of the Maple Leaf flag. Canadian patriotism has been on the upswing, and I am here for it. A writing friend was cautioning on the dangers of patriotism veering towards nationalism. She explained it this way: “ patriotism is a feeling of love and loyalty for one's country; nationalism, on the other hand seems to emphasize disdain or even hatred for other countries and a feeling of superiority for one’s own ”. My thoughts are that what Canadians are feeling right now is patriotism, and in general (and I admit this is a generality), Canadians don’t have it in them to be nationalistic. (However, the truck convoys come to mind and I am glad we’ve been able to take back our flag). We’re not overtly patriotic enough to segue into nationalism. And besides, given the recent weather, it’s just too darn cold and snowy....

  January 2025 felt like the longest January ever. We had extreme cold, snow, the inauguration south of us, threats of tariffs, a mid-air collision followed by the most appalling comments, LA fires. The month went on and on, finally coming to an end with one more blast of winter. Birch Trees On the personal front: Creativity :   I took four watercolour in-person painting classes at my local community centre and how I love watercolours. Painting with watercolours is so different from acrylics. The water does its own thing, running off in a different direction, creating unexpected patterns. Sometimes you just have to sit back and see what emerges. I am including some of my watercolour paintings in today’s post. Health: When people say things like ‘age is just a number’ – what the heck does that even mean? I’m the kind of person who silently cringes and rolls their eyes when platitudes are offered up as wisdom. Is this saying supposed to make you feel less bad about your a...