idle thoughts

November is about over and Christmas is near. Whew!!! where has this year gone?

Most of the post-harvest cleanup at the farm is done. Another year...

Alley is off visiting Jessie in Nova Scotia. I'm glad that she could work in the trip before starting a new job. That work-a-day thing pretty much gets in the way of cross country family visits.

I spent the better part of today cleaning the carpets in the house. Well, in truth I cleaned half of them. Moving bookcases and such out of the front room required moving the books and albums and I couldn't resist stopping to look through the old photos and spending more than a few moments delving into books that haven't come to hand for a time. I can hardly call this exercise procrastinating. Or is it that I won't call it such? When pushing 60, one should seek out moments to indulge in visiting memory lane.

Alley is going to move into her new suite in Poco on the fifteenth of December and I will have to get used to being an empty-nester. Should be a challenge. I don't think most of us really engage with the concept of being alone until we are.

Sheila's cancer has moved into yet another nasty stage and this winter will be long for the whole family. I think that she and Dick have been married for almost fifty years. It is a blessing to them both that they are together.

Well, this is bordering on maudlin, so I'll put it to bed and head there myself.

another harvest

This can will hold about 60,000 pounds of cranberries when full. Sounds like a lot. This year harvest came in at about twenty percent less than last year. The joys of farming! We pulled off about two hundred and forty thousand pounds of berries, which is fifty thousand below 2008. Trash and rots were high and the price is low.

Oh well, as farmers are wont to say, next year will be a new year.

I am attending a series of seminars in North Vancouver on Contemplative Prayer. The program rises out of the work of Fr. Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk from Snowmass, Colorado. The material is a loving exposition and extension of an ancient tradition in Christian practice. One of my many guides in recent years has been Thomas Merton, also a Trappist, and the work of Brother Keating encompasses much of the personal journey of Merton.

Given the precarious state of the farm's affairs I have taken a layoff for the balance of the winter. I expect that, in between seeking work, I will spend a good part of the winter doing small stuff at the farm to pass the time and in anticipation of my recall in late winter. Thank God for Canada's Employment Insurance program. I am not certain that the powers that be at EI would understand the concept of me working for no money during a layoff, but just ignoring the day to day necessities on the farm while I await recall seems wrong to me. Of course I will seek a like position in the cranberry community during the winter, but it's not likely that anyone will be hiring before my expected date of recall.

My friend Sheila's cancer has entered a new and difficult stage. She is such a strong person, physically and in faith, and is doing much more than just coping with this new reality. I do wonder at the strength that adversity reveals in folks who are tested beyond what seem bearable limits.

Alley has finished her care aide course and will now begin looking for work in the real world. Jess continues her piano teaching in Sackville, Nova Scotia. She called a couple of days ago to report fresh snow on the ground. I remember the wonders of first snow and am excited that she is experiencing them.

Well, enough of this for now...