Thoughts from Chickadee Lane

Happy Halloween! The first snow of the season has arrived here in Chickadee Lane and decided to stay… at least for a day or two! As I put out the treats this morning, memories of childhood Halloween come to mind. Memories of turnip jack-o-lanterns. Memories of how my sister and I, along with a few neighbour friends, would practice Halloween.   We would head out several nights before the big night, walk up and down the country road planning and plotting tricks we would do. Tip over someone’s outhouse. Move a road sign.   In preparation for the scary night, we would gather bulrushes and soak them for several days in used diesel fuel to be used as torches. I can’t imagine how our parents allowed us to play with torches! As wisdom would have it’s way, we never did use the torches. We never did move a road sign nor tip over an outhouse. The thrill was in the planning and possibility.   It was a different time. A night when mischief was expected. No adult accompanied us along the 3-4 mile wa

It’s Thanksgiving! A time to focus on gratitude.   Today’s thanksgiving thoughts come to you mostly from 10,000 meters above earth - thoughts revealed while flying home from a family visit to Alberta and Manitoba. Landing yesterday in Moncton, it was delightful to catch a birds’ eye view of how blazing colours fill our landscape - maple crimson, pumpkin orange, golden yellow.   At 10 pm last night a 17 pound turkey was delivered to our door. Thank you Burton. And thus the preparations for Thanksgiving dinner begin. I give thanks for being able to gather with family around a table of abundance... mostly from neighbouring farmers. I give thanks that our families are able to, and want to travel to be together.   I also give thanks for the opportunity to hear hard news. I give thanks for Michael, a young man I met on Monday when I had the opportunity to visit the tragic and hauntingly sad Brady Road landfill in Winnipeg - where the remains of indigenous women are believed to be buried. On