Bill-Worthy Women

Bill-Worthy Women

     In 2011, the only Canadian women ever on a bank-note, The Famous Five, were erased and replaced by an ice-breaker.  

The Famous Five

The Ice-Breaker

     On International Women’s Day in 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister, Bill Morneau announced that a Canadian woman would appear on a Canadian bank-note in 2018.  This was in response to an online petition initiated by Merna Foster which garnered 73,123 signatures.  So the BIG question is, who shall grace our Canadian bills.  Who, indeed, is “bill-worthy”, as my friend put it?

International Women's Day

     

The Extraordinary Ordinary Woman

     When I challenged myself to suggest women for Canadian currency, naturally my thoughts turned to women I personally admire.  Could the woman on the Canadian money be The Extraordinary Ordinary Woman? 

     The first woman who came to my mind was a grandmother I know who participates daily in the parenting of her four grandchildren.  By participating daily, I mean making meals, doing laundry, giving hugs, coordinating appointments, supervising homework, tucking into bed, instilling values, teaching manners, and fostering responsibility.   She does this while holding down a full-time job, dealing with personal health issues, keeping tabs on an aged mother and nurturing the rest of her extended family.  In spite of obstacles, she soldiers on without complaint.  Her grandchildren are the most important thing in the world to her and she is making sure they have the best foundation she can provide.   She has my vote for the $100.00 Bill!!

Extraordinary-Ordinary Woman $100 Bill

     My search for Bill-Worthy women sparked a lot of discussion in our family.  In an effort to determine exactly what characteristics I admire in women, my daughter Emma sent me the following nugget by Elizabeth Gilbert.  She says it quite nicely.  

According to Elizabeth Gilbert...

Other Possibilities:

      And just in case my Extraordinary Ordinary Woman does not make it, I have 10 other names to suggest.  Remember, this is MY playlist of bill-worthy women; you may have other ideas!! While I have attempted to represent various disciplines in my selection, unfortunately, my list is limited in the area of ethnic/cultural diversity. 

Nellie McClung

Shanawdithit

Louise Arbour

Alice Munro

Joni Mitchell

Sarah Polley

Mary Pratt

Naomi Klein

Roberta Bondar

Sandra Schmirler

      So, which notable women would you choose for our Canadian currency?  You can send your suggestions to:

Bank of Canada

234 Wellington Street

Ottawa, Ontario

K1A 0G9

Bank of Canada

.....Until Next Time.....

   

"The Young Fella": A Tribute to my Uncle Shirley

      It’s been seven months now since my Uncle Shirley Fullerton passed away at the age of 91.  I started writing this the day we got the call from his son Terry telling us that “the old man slipped the clutch.”  I’ve procrastinated in my tribute to this man long enough. 

S.W. Fullerton

     My father’s younger brother, who lived closest to us geographically, was probably closest to me uncle-wise as well.  My father always called him “The Young Fella” as in, “Barb, run up the road and get some baler twine from The Young Fella.”

Bales and Bales and more Bales

     He loved his family and was so proud of each and every one of them.  That was no secret.  Happily married for 65 years, he often referred to his wife Isabel as “a terrific life-partner.”  

Shirley and Isabel

      They had four children, eleven grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. 

Shirley, Isabel, 

JOAN and Bill; TERRY and Nancy;  

TREVA and Mike;  KEVIN and Beth

     I’m sure there are many more descendants to come. 

Shirley with his youngest descendant, Claire

     He was a true farmer and successful in his “fields”.  I went to him frequently for advice about my not-as-successful gardening forays.  In fact, my last visit with him revolved around the benefits of chicken manure.  "It's gold, Barb."  As a matter of fact, every visit I had with him eventually got around to chicken manure.  New Brunswick politics, who died, the river, squash, weather, rhubarb, chicken manure.  And neither one of us used the word “manure.” 

Ah, The Benefits of Chicken Manure

     He was kind and caring to me.  He was an outspoken man but I never felt personally under attack by him.  He was interested; some people might call it nosy, but I never felt his questions to be invasive.  I’m sticking with interested.  How many people do you know who are really interested in you?  And how many people do you know who talk only about themselves, their children, their accomplishments, their health and never once ask about your kids or your aches and pains?  The “it’s all about me” set.  Well, Shirley was not “all about me”; he wanted to know all about you, too!

Shirley in his Nineties

      He had his opinions.  And he would share them with you.  They could be pretty strong but you could counter them, you could disagree, you could state your own viewpoint.  You might not change his mind, but you felt safe enough to voice your opinion.  He did hear you.

SWF:  1924-2015

     I could go on and on about this man.  How he lost three fingers on his left hand at the age of five when he slipped on the ice while carrying a sharp axe to the woods.  I could challenge you to imagine being a farmer and a woodsman with such a disability.  You never heard any complaints about that.  I could tell you about the personal losses and setbacks he had during his life and how he soldiered on through them.  I could tell you how he loved to dance, to laugh, to travel.  I could tell you how he would share both shad and gaspereaux with me.  I could tell you how he loved music, loved his church.  I could tell you that, unlike many Fullertons, he was able to feel emotion and was not afraid to show it. 

My Uncle

     It is all about perspective, isn’t it?  Every relationship in life is as unique as the people involved.  This is my story, my experience; this is what my uncle was to me. I’m a niece, a little more removed than some, and a little closer than others.  He was a great uncle and I do miss him. 

......Until Next Time.....

My Playlist

My Playlist

I know there are a lot of list-makers out there. Many of us structure our days with lists; there is such a sense of accomplishment to strike the items off.  There is the grocery list, the honeydew list, the hit list, the to-do list, the wish list. Although I love lists, I steer away from the currently trendy “Bucket List” as I find the finality of that idea hard to face.  

Bucket List

Then there is The Playlist.  I love the CBC radio show, Inside the Music: My Playlist where well-known Canadian musicians play their favourite pieces of music and talk about them between songs.  It is interesting to hear what they like and see how that music might have influenced them.

CBC Radio: My Playlist

I decided I would create my own playlist.  Hmm!  Harder than I thought!  After hours of reflecting and sifting and sorting and revising, I'm still not totally happy with my final list, but at least I have something to work from when CBC gives me a call!  I see that my narrowed list mostly represents the artists I loved in my "formative" years.  There is probably something significant in that!

Boulder to Birmingham—Emmylou Harris

Unknown Legend—Neil Young 

Rainy Night House – Joni Mitchell

Forever Young---Bob Dylan

Light as the Breeze—Leonard Cohen

Angel From Montgomery—John Prine

Lucille --- Fred Eaglesmith

North Country Blues--Joan Baez

Fields of Gold--Eva Cassidy

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face--Roberta Flack

Now you give it a try.  What would be on your playlist?  

Until Next Time......

Binge Reading

Happy New Year!!!

I don't make New Year’s Resolutions because I don't like to disappoint myself.  Historically, I’m a failure at following through, so in recent years I have decided not to set myself up.  

No Resolutions

However, I am a list-maker and record-keeper.  That habit sometimes borders on resolutions.  Take my BookList for example.  I did sort of set a goal to read one book a week in 2015.  That’s only 52 books and I had come close to that in previous years.  On December 29^th, when I counted up the titles on my BookList, I was at 47.  Only five books short of the magic number and three days before the year was over. 

Countdown

Fuelled by an overdose of WTN movies, a bout of insomnia, and a compulsion to fulfill my goal, I went on a reading binge.  I was craving solitude.  Houseguests gone, social engagements fulfilled, a day or two of reading sounded inviting.  If I can binge on TV and chocolate, why not reading.

One Starry Christmas

Favourite WTN movie of 2015

I did reach my goal, of course, or I would not be writing this blog.  I did not cheat, but I was strategic in my choices.  I was halfway through a fast-read romantic novel so I finished that during the first night of insomnia.  It was like reading a WTN movie.   

Romantic Easy Read

The next day, I pretty much stayed in bed and read one of three books I had just gotten out of the library--the one with the fewest pages.  I was inspired to read Beryl Bainbridge whom I had heard interviewed by Eleanor Wachtel on Sunday.  I look forward to reading more of her.  

Eleanor-Inspired

My Christmas book is only 112 pages long so it only took an hour to read.  Well, maybe two hours.  Anne Lamott is so wise and down-to-earth.

Quick and Good

I then looked through the various piles of unread books in my bedroom for a skinny one.  Jane Urquhart’s Storm Glass won the draw.  That book has been staring me in the face for years.  Happy to move it off the "To-Read" pile.

Short Stories

Today I finished up #52 with How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous a non-fiction work about the deaths of 19 famous people from King Tut to Albert Einstein.  Although it was the 168 pages and several illustrations that initially attracted me to this book, I really enjoyed it!  Informative and entertaining!

Entertaining Non-Fiction

So here is my 2015 BookList for your viewing pleasure.  I realize it includes two Nancy Drew books but The Goldfinch should balance them out!!

.....Until Next Time.....

Books Read in 2015

• How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg
• Storm Glass by Jane Urquhart
• An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
• One True Theory of Love by Laura Fitzgerald
• Help, Thanks,Wow by Anne Lamott
• Turtle by Gerard Beirne
• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (again)
• The Eskimo in the Net by Gerard Beirne
• The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny
• Sleeping Funny by Miranda Hill
• The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
• The Water's Lovely by Ruth Rendell
• The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
• The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
• Full of Grace by Dorothea Benton Frank
• The Birthday Lunch by Joan Clark
• Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon
• The Truth About Herself by Wendy McLeod MacKnight
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
• Deadly Nightshade by Mary Freeman
• Farewell my Subaru by Doug Fine
• Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
• Life after Life by Kate Atkinson
• Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje
• Garden Meditations by Peggy Holt
• A Lockdown Murder by Mary Sawyer
• In the Company of Others by Jan Karon
• The Clue of the Dancing Puppet by Carolyn Keene
• La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith
• The Clue in the Old Album by Carolyn Keene
• At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
• The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin
• Crime and Punishment (abridged) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
• Adrenal Fatigue by James Wilson
• The Handmaid and the Carpenter by Elizabeth Berg
• Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg
• The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
• Friend of my Youth (again) by Alice Munro
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
• The Corrigan Women by Jean Dohaney
• A Question of Blood by Ian Rankin
• Harbour Street by Ann Cleves
• The Memory Chair by Susan White
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• Road Ends by Mary Lawson
• All Wound Up by Stephanie Pearl-McGee
• A Passion for Narrative by Jack Hodgins
• A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber
• Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
• Just One Evil Act by Elizabeth George
• Noah's Compass by Anne Tyler
• The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Jotter

    
The Jotter

     I like to think I invented “The Jotter”, a little notebook I take to my social engagements with a list of items we should discuss over dinner.  I started doing that because often I would come away from a 4 hour meal at Dimitris thinking I had forgotten to ask so and so about her daughter, or her sciatica, or her fantasies.  So now in preparation for my dates, I update The Jotter.  Consistent topics include Children, Husbands, Books, Movies.  Here is a sample of an expired jotter from a year or two ago.  You can see traces of the meal smeared across the surface.  

Expired Jotter

     The term “Jotter” was the result of one of those nasty Scrabble games I had with my room-mate at the camp.  Although I had never really heard the word jotter before, when I got the appropriate letters, I feigned self-confidence and laid those Scrabble tiles on the board.  After all, the J is worth 8 points, and if you can get it on a triple letter score, you might have a chance of beating the brilliant strategist across the table.  My room-mate, aka Brilliant Strategist, snarled at me.  “Jotter.  I don’t think so. What’s a jotter?”  I snarled right back with false bravado.  “One who jots.”  Tom would not let it rest.   He challenged.  I surreptitiously held my breath as he consulted the Scrabble dictionary.  Fortunately it was there!!  I got the points and the upper hand …for a moment.    

Scrabble Dictionary

     According to the above definition, "a memorandum book", I guess I did not invent the jotter idea, but I am going to take credit for putting it into practice.  Many of my social circles have come to expect The Jotter at our outings.  They might even contact me beforehand with a request to put a certain topic on The Jotter.   

Commercial Jotter

     Most of my social circles consist of groups of four.  In a group of four lies the danger of two conversations emerging simultaneously.  I HATE that because one of my ears is always straining to hear what the other two are talking about.  I don’t want to miss anything!!  

Social Group of Four

    The Jotter helps alleviate that "missing out" problem to an extent.  If I catch a word of the other conversation, I can jot that down then get back to it when my one-on-one conversation is over.  That way I have not been TOTALLY rude to my conversation partner by only listening with one ear, and I have a reasonable chance of retracing the other conversation. 

Common Ear Strain

    The Jotter also helps with brain hyperlinking.  You know when you are in a conversation and someone says, “I have great hope for Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister”, and you want to blurt out, “What kind of shampoo do you use, Paula?” but you know it’s rude to interrupt.  The hyperlinking goes like this:  Justin Trudeau; nice hair; Paula’s hair looks nice tonight; I wonder what kind of shampoo she uses?  With a jotter at your elbow, you simply jot down the word shampoo so you will remember to ask Paula that important question.  You don’t need to interrupt and you do not need to expose your circuitous brain functioning to your friends. 

The Circuitous Brain

Hot Tub Jotter

     With a bit of ingenuity, the jotter can be adapted to suit various environments.  A few years ago, I had a hot tub party in our backyard in December.  There was wine, bubbling hot water and snow falling….absolutely too much liquid for a paper Jotter.  Solution?  I wrote the jotter items on large graph paper with heavy marker and duct-taped it to the side of the garage.  

Recognize Anyone??

     I’ve had various versions of The Jotter over the years.  I was being all 21st Century and keeping jotter items on my cellphone for a while.  Because I’ve had 3 major cellphone mishaps in the last 3 months, I no longer trust that format.  I'm back to paper.

Broken CellPhone

     Back in the day when I was working for a living, I created The Environmental Jotter, a bunch of scrap paper cut and stapled together in one corner.  Very rough but a respectable effort at recycling.

The Environmental Jotter

     I do buy the occasional jotter, if it’s a bargain.  My Nancy Drew Jotter is probably my favourite, and coveted by many.  I found Nancy at a dollar store in Quispamsis for only 50 cents.  What a jewel.  Jot on!!

The Nancy Drew Jotter

Until Next Time......

Reverse Halloween

October 31st

     Although I’m not a great fan of Hallowe’en, I do capitulate to societal expectations in this area.  We are just hours away from the little Halloween goblins ringing our doorbell for candy and I am prepared.  

Kids at the Door

     Two weeks ago my “Little Brother” Noel and I did the candy shopping at The Superstore.  After careful mathematical calculations, we agreed that the 90 piece box of bite-size bars offered the best taste appeal and, at $10.00, the best bang for the buck.  Like me, Noel’s math skills are quite sharp when there is a dollar sign involved.  In an effort to be well-prepared, I snapped up a box of Hershey Bars, brought it home and put it out of sight.  It took about 2 days before my room-mate Tom spotted it.  Another day passed before one of us eased open the box lid.  The 90 morsels were gone within days.  

Bite-Sized Bars

     But that was OK; the sale was still on at The Superstore.  With only a week to go before October 31^st, Tom came home with another box.  Within a day, the lid was lifted....and you can guess the rest of that story.  Here it is October 31^st, and there are 24 treats left…..all Reese’s Pieces, obviously the least favorite in the collection.  

Pre-Halloween Leftovers

     Not wanting to be caught without candy, Tom picked up a little more at Costco yesterday.  Now I think we have invested about $50.00 in candy, and we have consumed several thousand nutrient-deficient calories.  I am hoping we can resist opening this shipment until the doorbell rings this evening.  

Calorie Content of Mini-Bars 

     In the midst of one of our post-supper, candy-eating frenzies a couple of days ago, Tom came up with a great idea.  He does that sometimes.  Perhaps it was the sugar, the serotonin, the dopamine, or, as he likes to think, sheer brilliance.   He proposed that instead of kids coming to the door to GET candy, they could come to the door and give US candy.  Yeah!!  I liked the idea.  A sort of REVERSE HALLOWEEN.  

Reverse Halloween

    When we told Noel, our Little Moral Compass, he said he didn’t think that would be fair. He suggested that maybe we could TRADE candy at the door, you know, look in the children's bags, see what they have, and offer a trade from our big bowl of Reese's Pieces. 

Moral Compass

     Maybe we’ll give that a try!  If you drive by and see egg all over the side of the house, you will know Reverse Halloween was a failure.

Egged House

..........Until Next Time...........