First things first. I'm currently blogging from Prince Edward Island, Canada. A place few in the western US have heard of. PEI is the smallest province in Canada and it casually lounges off the East Coast across from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. (Think Maine and go north east.)
I'm four time zones east of LA and one time zone east of New York. I don't have a TV. Just dial up internet and the CBC radio (think NPR). I also have the the local weekly newspaper (The Eastern Graphic)which doesn't have much good to say about the prospects for the island's principle industries of fishing, farming, tourism and the Liberal Provincial Government.
Why am I here? Check the Dunn Creek Farm blog. I'll be updating that after scribbling some notes on Canada and the US election.
* * * * *
CANADA'S ELECTION COVERAGE
Coming here has made me realize just how thoroughly the media in the States have sucked the air out of the room by hyperventilating over the minutia of this election.
Wow, I can breathe again! No talk radio. No 24 hour spin channels, just news summaries on the hour and a full half hour national news broadcast at 6:00 PM.
I woke at 6 this morning to the news that Obama had crushed Clinton in North Carolina and that she had barely won a squeaker in the early hours in Indiana.
CBC had a no nonsense, "just the facts" report with some sound bites that
told me what I needed to know. Obama sounded jubilant while Clinton said, "He wins one then I win one - this election is so close!" Yeah. Except that it isn't.
To Canadians who don't live in our media bubble but are very much interested in the election there is really only one issue. The Bush Presidency is nearly over.
The locals here (think white, working class) are surprised that America has been effectively supporting a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama over Hillary Clinton. One gets the feeling that this shouldn't be possible in the America they know so much about. "Can he win?" I was asked. "He's winning." I said.
* * * * *
HILLARY - THE GIBBERISH IS WEARING THIN
From what little I've been able to see here, the facts already on the table are making it clear that time is running out for the plucky little non-elitest, "just like you" former First Lady and independently wealthy Senator from New York.
After news that she "lent" herself another 9 million dollars of her egg money to stay in the race (how's that feel Chelsea?) she keeps stumping for the no-win issue of Michigan and Florida and contrary delegate math that says she ought to invest in a hedge fund and get back to work in the Senate.
I can't help but gloat a bit that the candidate which smeared Obama as elitist decided she could afford to write a 9 million dollar personal check to the campaign. How'd that turn out for Mitt Romney?
Obama has now erased her delegate gain in PA, increased his popular vote margin, won another state and keeps raising more money with an effective organization. What's left for her to show us? A graceful concession would be nice.
Showing posts with label PEI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PEI. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Screw it - I'm Moving to Canada
Yes friends, I am moving the blog to Canada.
Why? Because I can. And because free health care and cheap lobster sound good to me.
Also because I own an organic farm on Prince Edward Island and it's time for spring planting. So I'll be packing up the studio gear in California and heading for the Great White North.
Yes, Canada. The other first world North American Democracy that doesn't care what Stephen Harper says. Harper decided to become a Bush Conservative as Bush himself hit a new low in approval ratings.
So I'll pick up the blog in a few days - when I have a chance to hear what CBC Radio 1 has to say about American politics. That ought to be pretty good reading here.
And before you feel all cocky about being home in the States while I plant produce in the north...Canada owns more oil and natural gas than almost anybody. That means my farm is valued in petro dollars while your So Cal condo withers in a market so depleted that your hourly wage hovers just above third world status.
It's not like I'm going to get rich growing organic produce. But I will have plenty of cheap food to eat this summer. And as soon as global warming makes it possible to grow wine grapes, citrus and palm trees, or somebody decides to start another global war, I'm gone for good!
Why? Because I can. And because free health care and cheap lobster sound good to me.
Also because I own an organic farm on Prince Edward Island and it's time for spring planting. So I'll be packing up the studio gear in California and heading for the Great White North.
Yes, Canada. The other first world North American Democracy that doesn't care what Stephen Harper says. Harper decided to become a Bush Conservative as Bush himself hit a new low in approval ratings.
So I'll pick up the blog in a few days - when I have a chance to hear what CBC Radio 1 has to say about American politics. That ought to be pretty good reading here.
And before you feel all cocky about being home in the States while I plant produce in the north...Canada owns more oil and natural gas than almost anybody. That means my farm is valued in petro dollars while your So Cal condo withers in a market so depleted that your hourly wage hovers just above third world status.
It's not like I'm going to get rich growing organic produce. But I will have plenty of cheap food to eat this summer. And as soon as global warming makes it possible to grow wine grapes, citrus and palm trees, or somebody decides to start another global war, I'm gone for good!
Friday, May 18, 2007
Planting Summer in the Snow
Okay, what happened? last week was sunny and warm in the Canadian Maritimes. The door to Spring was thrown wide open as temperatures climbed into "balmy" territory. Locals were giddy after the long winter. Then it was as if Ma Nature flipped us back into winter, yelling,"Psych"!
On Wednesday the air temperature was hovering near freezing. As a steady wind blew down from the north I bent over the prepared soil in a field I have been fallowing for 3 years. I carefully placed each seed for our potatos, peas, spinach, beets and chard into the moist earth. My hands were numb. I kept working. My back hurt. I kept working. My legs ached. I kept working. Snow and rain in the forcast that night meant finishing all of the field work 3 days sooner than I had expected. After snow and rain soaked the dirt it would simply be mud. Too wet to plant. So I kept working.
Why?
All winter I had been making plans. Placing seed orders, organizing tasks so I could optimize the 2 weeks in May when the farm wakes up. My vision of summer bounty required that certain work be done - no matter what.
My plans were largely destroyed by first contact with reality on the ground. I spent time revising expecations and re-organizing tasks. I juggled my time around weather forcasts and visiting neighbors, production work in the studio and just plain daydreaming. But the real test of my creative vision was on that cold afternoon when my body wanted to quit and accept the consequences. I kept working.
And here's what I learned:
Make plans. Then scrap them.
Reality just is.
It's amazing how powerful an intention can be.
I beleive in what I'm doing enough to be uncomfortable in the process of doing it.
It's about love!
Tomorrow, I will leave for Santa Barbara. My seeds are planted. The weather will soon be warm and summer will come. The fields and flowers will be beautiful. I will pick beans with my wife, I will smell fresh mowed grass, I will watch my children steal sweet peas in the late afternoon, I will meet charming couples from Montreal, freckled kids and their parents from Ontario and smiling locals. I will laugh with friends who come home to the island each summer for wine and potluck suppers at the shore and a pack of kids and dogs will scream and shout into the deep twilight.
Summer.
Sometimes you have to plant it in the snow.
On Wednesday the air temperature was hovering near freezing. As a steady wind blew down from the north I bent over the prepared soil in a field I have been fallowing for 3 years. I carefully placed each seed for our potatos, peas, spinach, beets and chard into the moist earth. My hands were numb. I kept working. My back hurt. I kept working. My legs ached. I kept working. Snow and rain in the forcast that night meant finishing all of the field work 3 days sooner than I had expected. After snow and rain soaked the dirt it would simply be mud. Too wet to plant. So I kept working.
Why?
All winter I had been making plans. Placing seed orders, organizing tasks so I could optimize the 2 weeks in May when the farm wakes up. My vision of summer bounty required that certain work be done - no matter what.
My plans were largely destroyed by first contact with reality on the ground. I spent time revising expecations and re-organizing tasks. I juggled my time around weather forcasts and visiting neighbors, production work in the studio and just plain daydreaming. But the real test of my creative vision was on that cold afternoon when my body wanted to quit and accept the consequences. I kept working.
And here's what I learned:
Make plans. Then scrap them.
Reality just is.
It's amazing how powerful an intention can be.
I beleive in what I'm doing enough to be uncomfortable in the process of doing it.
It's about love!
Tomorrow, I will leave for Santa Barbara. My seeds are planted. The weather will soon be warm and summer will come. The fields and flowers will be beautiful. I will pick beans with my wife, I will smell fresh mowed grass, I will watch my children steal sweet peas in the late afternoon, I will meet charming couples from Montreal, freckled kids and their parents from Ontario and smiling locals. I will laugh with friends who come home to the island each summer for wine and potluck suppers at the shore and a pack of kids and dogs will scream and shout into the deep twilight.
Summer.
Sometimes you have to plant it in the snow.
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