Post Election Pause

We had a busy weekend, (last weekend), as Tyler and Jill came to visit. We also celebrated Ashley's 14th birthday. In an attempt to keep the 12 party goers busy, we devised a Denman Island scavenger hunt. Groups of girls had to hunt for things such as... the name of the event taking place at the hall that night, a piece of driftwood shaped like an animal, and the signature of a ferry worker etc. (I'm sure those deckhands had never experienced teen groupies looking for autographs before.) The girls all seemed to have had a good time. The next day, we ventured off-island for a walk at Nymph Falls on the Puntledge River. The salmon are just beginning to spawn and could be seen at the bottom of the "fish stairs".

I'm still more than a little puzzled by the outcome of our federal election. Maybe my memory is better than most? I couldn't bring mself to vote for a party that would have had us fighting in Iraq... that broke it's own law on set election dates... or that embarressed it's country last December at the Bali climate talks. I somehow believed that Canadians were going to give Mr.Harper a message that the environment is an important issue... Now I realize that it is an important issue as long as it doesn't cost us anything. Now that the "world financial market" has gone for a big dump we can put the environment on the back burner and concentrate on "economic growth". I'm still waiting for some political party to have the nards to say it out loud .... that economic growth is the reason, not only for the world's economic problems, but also the sorry state of our environment. Economic growth is not sustainable.
"Economic growth, the root cause of our unsustainable ways, is creating a serious conflict with the ecosystems of the Earth. Because of this fundamental conflict, biodiversity loss is likely to become a problem of far greater importance, even than that of climate change, unless we stop our perennial drive for more and more growth and move to a sustainable economy." Qualicum Institute.
On the news today Harper was suggesting that the world must have more financial ties...... The Bilderbergers must be rubbing their hands together in delight. They couldn't have planned it better themselves.... or did they? (Bilderberg has now endorsed Obama???.... but does he want it?))

Strawbale House Update: This week the re-screen went down. Next will be the heating tubes for the radiant (in-floor) heat. There will be a learning curve for this, but the cost savings of doing it ourselves is huge. Garage entry doors are in and I'll buy the materials for the carriage door next week.