Moving toward the light

Happy Solstice everyone!

  (This adorable image is from Bat World Sanctuary.)

And to help Mother Earth at this darkest time of the year, would you please consider sending a letter to the British Colombian government to demand they respect provincial parks and protect them from the energy companies that only want to line their pockets?  Visit the Valhalla Wilderness Society's website for all the details but I've included the letter I sent and the addresses/emails so you can just go ahead and use my letter as you wish. 
  Essentially, the government wants to change the Parks Act so that development can happen within park boundaries.  They also consider reducing various parks' boundaries.
  Thank you, and what you do DOES make a difference so please take action and voice your opinion.

Premier Christy Clark
Parliament Buildings
Victoria, BC V8V 1X4
Phone: 250 387-1715, Fax: 250 387-0087
E-mail: premier@gov.bc.ca

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Hon. Mary Polak
Minister of Environment
PO Box 9049 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
Phone: 250 387-1187, Fax: 250 387-1356
env.minister@gov.bc.ca

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Hon. Steve Thomson
Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations
PO Box 9049 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
Phone: 250 387-6240, Fax: 250 387-1040
E-mail: FLNR.Minister@gov.bc.ca

 

         

To Premier Christy Clark,

 With concern, I recently read that research permits are being given to energy companies to investigate within protected areas for possible drilling and pipelines.  Furthermore, the Park Act may be amended to allow pipelines to run through provincial parks. 

It would seem your government is willing to sell off our parks to development.  This is shocking and extremely short-sighted.  The short-term gains of allowing such development within park boundaries, such as jobs and energy, are nothing compared to the irreparable damage that will be done to the environment (not to mention the loss of tourism dollars). 

Please leave the existing protected areas in tact without boundary reductions. Further, I urge you to support adding more territory to our parks system.

Our parks are places that are important to and belong to all Canadians, irrespective of where they live.  Indeed, they have universal value that transcends the value they hold for a particular nation, and must be protected for all inhabitants of the planet including generations to come.

Please protect our parks and support them for the health of our entire planet.  Please uphold the Parks Act and enforce it, with no research permits granted and no pipelines within their boundaries.  

                                                          Thank you,

 

Creative touches

 You know, it's impossible to find cookie tins with Krampus on them.  I mean, really, doesn't everyone want to send treats to their loved ones in Krampus tins?  So I made my own:  Mom brought home these tins from the Dollar Store and I added the Krampus images.  So there:  Krampus cookie tins!  

As you may be aware, Christmas just isn't my thing and the more it gets crammed down my throat the more I grow to despise it.  I do NOT want to hear Christmas music all November and December and if you have your tree up before December 1st, you're way too early!  Anyway, no, I have never made any Christmas themed critters and this December I'm making 3 Day of the Dead bears.  I want them to capture the celebratory joy and solemn beauty of the Dia de los Meurtos, so I'm starting with creating unique paw pads for each.  

 The traditional black bear will have hand-drawn skeleton bones on his pads, the traditional white bear will have warm tan pads embossed with an organic pattern and the Hallowe'en/Day of the Dead bear will have fun, hand painted candy corn pads.

Because there are only 321 days to Hallowe'en!

The bats at Salthaven

Isn't he gorgeous?!  This is the bat we rescued on November 25th, Megan was kind enough to photograph the wee fellow, a Big Brown, who is now feeding himself and being housed with another male.   

Here's another stunning photograph of a bat rehabiliated at Salthaven earlier this year, so handsome!

And here is a Hoary Bat that was also in Salthaven's care.  Look at that face, what a cute smile!

Don't know what to get that hard-to-gift someone on your Xmas list?  Consider gifting a sponsorship for the care of a rescued bat, or an eagle, or a fawn or an injured owl.  Just visit Salthaven's Critter Care page to see all the neat things this sponsorship will deliver to your loved one, along with the knowledge that you're saving members of your chosen species!  What an awesome gift! 

Baking for the Holidays: Reward Doggy Cookies!

Before...

 

and after...

 

For my Willow and her cousins Mocha, Zima and Merlin, with love!

Go ahead, make some!  Show your pup how much you love him or her!  Here's the recipe, and double it up!  Go on.  If you get sick of cutting shapes, just cut squares.  Honestly, your pup doesn't care what they look like:  these smell and taste GREAT!

This recipe is from the book "Baking for Your Dog: Tasty Treats for Your Four-Legged Friend" by Ingeborg Pils, the best dog recipe book I ever laid my hands on. 

Better be good!

Merry Krampus Night!  
 

December 5th is Krampus Night, when the old fertility demon-turned-St Nic's buddy comes clumping into town to lay his switches on any deserving, naughty children!

Here's a very cute little video and song to tell you all about it: 


All together now! 

The Krampus Song by Jordan Dobbs Rosa

Every year on Christmas Eve

Children fear his name

He looks a lot like Beelzebub

But they are not the same

He travels 'round with Santa Claus

St. Nick ain't his friend

He comes from the northern Alps

Of rural Switzerland

Because he's Krampus, Krampus,

I'm telling you all about Krampus
Krampus, Krampus,
Swing your birch switch high

With matted fur and sheep's horns

Frankly dear he smells
Accompanied by the melody
Of rusty chains and bells

He'll scoop you up and throw you in

His nasty burlap sack
He rears back with a cane and switch
And takes a Yuletide whack

Krampus, Krampus,

Don't you know about Krampus?
Krampus, Krampus,
Swing your birch switch high

No X-Box games... or candy canes

Made of peppermint
He brings the pain of another cane:
Corporal punishment

So if the kids misbehave you'll do well to remember

To don the garb of Krampus on the 5th of December
(That's the traditional day for us to celebrate)
Krampus, Krampus
Look out kids he's Krampus
Krampus, Krampus,
Swing your birch switch high

Krampus, Krampus,

He's the anti-Santi Krampus
Krampus, Krampus,
Swing your birch switch high

Merry Krampus everybody!

Of course, in the Alpine regions, they have Krampus Night where you REALLY do need to watch out!  You can read someone's Krampus experience by clicking here.  

This awesome image is by Brian Leblancart.

I know I'd like to send Krampus to a few houses... Anyway, we've got a bundle of switches on our front door to welcome Krampus and will be celebrating.  

So Merry Krampus Night everyone!  

Our bat rescue!

What are you looking at here?  Why, it's the bat we rescued yesterday!  Early in the day I received a call from work about a bat that was in our building!  Clinging to the projector screen cover, it was distressing to my fellow employees and it was only going to become a nuisance if he started flying around.  So, on a ladder with a double layer of gloves on and some help, I firmly grasped the screeching little guy and got it into a kitty litter pail!

Now what? 

At first we thought he'd died, he was laying on the bottom of the pail and even stroking him with a stick didn't cause a reaction.  I was already trying to figure out how we could determine if he was really dead when we found him like this, clinging to the pail's edge!  Yippy!  

So today we handed him over to the great folks at Salthaven Wildlife Rehabiliation and Education Center where they will house and feed him over the winter and then set him free in the spring. (Thank you, Jason and Megan!)  

Look at those little feet!  Judging by his size, I'd guess he's a Big Brown Bat. 

 

 

November 27 update from Megan, Volunteer Coordinator at Salthaven: 

"He is an adult male and weighs a hearty 15 grams. He seems to be in good health and is only slightly dehydrated which is pretty normal when coming out of hibernation. He will be rehydrated and kept in isolation for a few days then introduced to some of the other bats we have in care. Thanks again for helping the little one!"

 

Food is love

Food.  I love food.  And I express love through food.  I make food for the people I love and send food to the people in my life that I value.  Food is love. 

This is a closeup of Mom's birthday cake, a plum flan: 

It looks a little like the Utah landscape near Kanab, hills and valleys, cliffs and rivers... a thing of beauty and yes it was delicious!

I've been thinking a lot about food in the past months as a friend has just had rather extreme surgery by choice and was, post-surgery, very limited in the kinds and quality of foods she could eat.  This led me to realize how social food is:  we get together to eat in a restaurant, we make special foods for special occasions, every Holiday has its own iconic foods, we show people how much we care for them by making their favorite meals, we gift food to people we want to make feel special, we say "thank you" with a gift of food...  So how much does your relationship change with a person who has a very restricted diet or basically can not eat with you or anything you could possibly offer?  What do you do instead?

I love food.  I love experimenting with food, trying different flavours and I love gifting food.  So I had a really hard time, antisocial as I am, to re-define my understanding of its role in my friendships.  If there is no food, no shared food pleasure, no food distraction, what is there?  Luckily, the friend is a gem and worth any little discomfort or awkwardness that might arise and we'll work it out.        


While some pieces of love are delicate and difficult (like these squiggles), others require a group effort (like a gazillion yeast organisms helping you out)

and still others (like these thumbprint chocolate cookies with Caramilk centers) are flat-out ease and comfort!



So, enjoy!  Savour!  And realize how lucky we are to be able to appreciate food as more than just a necessity.