What year is this?

As we come to the end of Black History Month, I'm left scratching my head over a 'decoration' I spotted in a nearby neighbourhood. It looked like an odd way to celebrate Christmas, but worse, I couldn't help but wonder who lived in that house. 

No, I didn't stop and knock on their door. In truth, I'm not sure I would have wanted to get to know them. 

Nonetheless, it made me question whether anything at all in our world has actually changed. 

Time to exercise your Freedom to Read

It's been slow seeping out, but news keeps circulating that libraries--especially those in schools--are getting rid of books. 

The reason for many of these culls has been absurd-sounding blanket rules that anything published before 2008 must go. 

Some of the glib reasons offered for these moves are that books before then weren't culturally sensitive enough to qualify in today's woke world. The overall excuse has been called an "equity-based weeding process" but under that banner books such as Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl have been tossed. Isn't it worth knowing what it must have been like to be a young Jew in hiding from Nazis?

I can't help but also think of Joy Kogawa's Obasan, the first book that really shone a light on facts of the internment of Japanese-Canadians during World War II.

How many other important books have been tossed in the name of this absurdity?

This week is the 40th anniversary of Canada's annual observance of Freedom to Read Week. Maybe it's a good time--quick, while you can--find a book that's been banned (or 'challenged' if you feel like using the current newspeak), and try to figure out what's so darn scary about it. 

So what really happened?

It was a year ago today that the world learned of the death of Alexei Navalny. He'd been jailed in Siberia for trumped-up charges that he and his law team continued to challenge. 

The jail, above the Arctic Circle, was part of the old 'gulag' system from days when the USSR still existed. Not surprisingly, conditions there sounded miserable. 

Although officials claimed that Navalny died of a blood clot, this has been questioned. 

I suppose because I remain somewhat of a paranoid type, I have my own belief of what the circumstance was. Maybe you do too. 

How 'bout those brrrds!

It's been colder than normal here for over a week now. Apparently, it's one of the longest spells of zero-ish weather the Lower Mainland of BC has experienced.  

Those whose lives keep them outdoors must be having a miserable time. 

The only ones I've been able to help are the hummingbirds, accustomed to their fix of sugary nectar at our feeder. But in temps like the ones we've been having, that sweetened water would have frozen for sure. And really, a lot of good a block of sweetened ice would do any of them. 

So when it gets cold around here, a low-light lamp serves as a mini-heater for the feeder. It seems to be just enough to keep the nectar from freezing without letting the liquid get too hot for those little beaks. 

These past few nights, before going to bed, I've been peering out the window, and sure enough, there have been a couple of hummers perched on the feeder, heads bowed and resting, but overall, staying a bit warm. 

Must admit, it breaks my heart, thinking how much they look like unhoused folks who've found themselves a grated heater, a feature on many sidewalks in Vancouver. 

I have a feeling I'm not the only one who doesn't put out any kind of heating unit for those unfortunate souls with nowhere to live, or maybe even to spend a warm night. 

Standing on guard for thee

This is the day for the introduction of tariffs on items shipped to the US from Canada. 

According to much of the analysis I've been seeing, the plan seems ill-conceived and quite possibly even illegal--not that the person behind this decision cares about such matters, after all, he's been declared above the law, immune.  

About the only positive slant I can find in any of this is the fact that many Canadians have determined they won't be travelling south--maybe not for the next four years. And, of course, that we'll be more than ever, buying our own products, especially the tasty treats in the photo above.