I'm Voting YES on the Happiness Ballot.

No, there's not a referendum going on (although I do like a good referendum now and again). In my town, there is a civic election going on. Yes, I am an avid poli-watcher. I think we're so very lucky to live in a time and place where any citizen can participate in government and where we are free to speak out and vote safely. But lately I've noticed a tendency in myself toward aversion when it comes to local politics.

As I was trolling around my social networking sites today, one of the candidate's posts caught my eye. He is suggesting that new candidates, or those who don't get elected, create a collective list of their best ideas and present them to the new civic Council in December. On so many levels I like this. It's collaborative, it's positive and it suggests that other candidates have good ideas, too. 

This, though, is the line that grabbed me: "Let us use social media to sort out the cranky ideas from the practical".


Okay. I'm a social media advocate, so I love the idea of using the tools to collaborate further (he had me at social media) but it was the word cranky that was the real snagger.


I am so bone-weary of the politics of negativity and so utterly filled with longing for a different kind of dialogue. Even though I am eagerly engaged in local issues, have a heartfelt and almost obsessive passion for community, and nearly always vote in the advance polls because I just can't wait,  I find myself avoiding the general crankiness (and, dare I say, sometimes downright snarkiness) that surrounds much of the online and offline debates.


In my systems coaching work, we have a tenet: "Everybody is right. Only partially." 


I am looking for candidates to stretch into a framework that allows for a diversity of 'rightness' (or even leftness :) - that embraces the encouragement of good ideas from any source, that celebrates joy and shared success, that seeks wisdom rather than scores points. 


So I'm voting. I'm voting yes for happiness, yes for joy, yes for collective wisdom. And when I stumble across candidates who share my platform - why, I'll vote for them, too. 


Don't get me wrong. I get cranky. Sometimes I even get the blues. I can be negative. Human. what interests me is the choice about where I take action from - do I act and speak from my crankiness and negativity? Or, do I act from my joy - from the place inside that is untouched by circumstance? There is power in choice. Freedom. Something a little like voting. 

If you live in my part of the world and you vote in Maple Ridge BC, click here for info on where and when to vote. See you at the polls. I'll be the one at the front of the line with the 'Vote Happiness" button on.

The Friends of Facebook Love Song Jamboree

Last week, inspired by a post from the Vancouver Observer, I asked my Facebook friends to post their favourite love songs in time for Valentine's Day.  I kicked off the request by posting two of my faves, "Dance Me to the End of Love" and "I'm Your Man" by the inimitable Leonard Cohen, who some say sounds like a week of hard road, but whose dark, gravelly forest of a voice gives me shivers (the good kind) and whose poetry simply breaks me open.

I admit it. I have a weakness for love. I prefer it to a lot of other things. Too many to name. So, in honour of Saint Valentines Day, I am posting my official Friends of Facebook Love Song Jamboree.   I offer it with a wide-open heart and a million thanks for sharing these intimate, haunting, romantic, beautiful, tender, evocative and even quirky-charming tunes. The VERY BEST part of putting together the playlist is the glimpse it's given me into the romantic musical preferences of my Facebook community. As I listen to the songs (pretty much daily since I started building the list) I find myself fondly connecting the song to the sender, and in true Valentine's spirit, getting the message.

My heart has swelled, my eyes have brimmed, and my poetic little soul has been wailing "At Last" in true Etta James style, as I connect to my deep, abiding, and often neglected, love of spoken word, poetics and lyrical renderings.

I am poet. Hear me roar.

Your songs and postings stirred a voice within me. I hear it whisper (in a voice not unlike Leonard's)...
"Be Mine".

Please visit the page Love Song Jamboree to see the Valentine's playlist. then visit iTunes and create a list for yourself.  Spend some time playing it for that special someone. You.

A Perfect Sunday: Visiting Fort Langley

On a recent weekend, my hubby promised me a blog-worthy outing that would allow me to indulge in some of my favourite idle pursuits. Walking, daydreaming, picture-taking...all at the contented slow-mo pace that suits me best when chores are done, work is tucked safely away for the weekend and the pantry is stocked with endless possibilities for meal-making. Yes, I'm talking Sunday. A sunny one at that!

So, on a beautiful October Sunday we crossed to South side of the Fraser River and meandered throught the countryside to the Salmon River Trail. A modest walk along the riverbank through grassy fields, scrubby bushes and cottonwoods that leads to historic Fort Langley. Fort Langley is a dreamy little village chock-a-block with heritage buildings, antique stores, tea shops, galleries and, of course, a 19th century fort - one of the first on the Canadian west coast.

On this particular Sunday, we didn't visit the fort itself (well worth a Sunday afternoon of it's own and a great spot to take visitors). Our first stop was at a roadside stand to buy some tiny sugar pumpkins. Oh, I love these pumpkins! So cute, so round, so jolly! They are my one weakness, and I emptied my wallet of loonies and bundled an armful into the car.

Our next stop was the Salmon River Trail, where we stood and watched the water snake toward the Fraser. A truly idyllic little waterway, and easy to imagine long-ago picnics on its banks or berry-picking children splashing among the bushes.

The trail took us to the banks of the Fraser - it forks around McMillan Island, and we followed the South Fork - greeting other couples, annoying the cyclists and generally dawdling and stopping to discuss and photograph whatever caught our imaginations.

A boat lazily navigates the Fraser.

The church on McMillan Island

Cottonwoods against the blue, blue, sky.

Once we got into Fort Langley proper we browsed through gift shops, admired antiques and stopped to read plaques and markers. Time stretched in such a luxurious way on this particular afternoon that we were not surprised to find ourselves at the perfect time in the perfect place - teatime at Tracycakes! We stopped for tea, cranberry scones and cucumber sandwiches - Tracycakes is a sweet little cupcake house where our bill was presented on a silver tray accompanied by inspirational sayings for us to take home. Tea, cupcakes, and inspiration. My kind of place! (not to mention the very clever black & white decor).

Antiques and collectibles line the sidewalks.







A plaque commemorating...something. (It was really interesting at the time!)

 

A classy touch at Tracycakes.



Pumpkin, bench, pig.
  

Fully satisfied by our afternoon tea, we took to the other side of the main street, peeked in a few more windows, bought some cozy early Christmas pajamas for me and then wandered back along the trail to our waiting car. On the way home we spotted a shameless cranberry bog displaying its redness in the almost-twilight. I wasn't the only picture-taker gobsmacked by the scene.

Cranberries are a many-splendoured thing...

Patience on the bog...

We arrived home full of fresh air, happy weariness and Devon cream. Some time later, I snuggled into my new PJs, warmed up a most delicious mushroom tart and turned on an episode of Doc Martin. Our perfect Sunday turned into a perfectly contented Sunday night. All within twenty minutes of home. *Sigh*

Visit them online:

Historic Fort Langley
Tracycakes
Doc Martin on Wikipedia

Bring on the Dancing Blueberries

"Wow, look at them dance - the blueberries, can you see them?" This is a funny little memory of mine, one of the latter ones I have of my Dad, who having just woken up from one of a series of surgeries, displayed a very uncharacteristic child-like wonder at the anaesthetic-induced visions he was having.  This particular one involving blueberries.

I can relate - I think fantasizing about blueberries, dancing or not, is a good thing. And another good thing is that it is blueberry season in the Fraser Valley. I have been stuffing myself with these dusky blue anti-oxidant filled fruit wonders in their natural state, with ice-cream, in bluebery turnovers (omg), and in blueberry peach shortcakes. And - oh yes- Blueberry Cake. A simple and delicious variation of the Famous Raspberry Cake (for the recipe, visit my July blog archive - simply replace raspberries with blueberries).

I just can't seem to get enough of these, and canny as I am (an inherited trait and also good for a food preservation pun), I know blueberry season will (sadly) end, so I want to preserve their amazing summer sweetness for as long as possible.

So, I spent the cool of a summer morning making blueberry jam - which I dedicate to my Dad. I used barnesgirl's recipe which you can find on her blog: http://barnes-girl.blogspot.com/ and from the sound of lids pinging and the slow roll of the jam in the jars when I tilt them and squint to inspect them - a very good batch indeed.

Canny Stan's

Dancing Blueberry Jam.