HAPPY HALLOWEEN.

I love Halloween. I always have.

I thouroughly enjoy the "commercial" aspects of it. I love the traditions that bring me back to my childhood. I love the smell of wet pumpkin as I try to carve it into a masterpiece.

For a few years I felt completely jipped.

Adult Halloween didn't seem to have much to offer.

I'm not a club girl- never have been. I'll do it for a friend's b-day or a stagette, but that's it. I am not interested in dressing in lingerie, paying four times the regular cover charge and dancing with strangers who feel that it's their divine right to grab me... no thanks.

One year, however, I did go downtown with my bubbs and my oldest brother, Scott, to people watch. It was incredibly funny. I have never seen so many bare bums before- especially when it's so cold out.

I'm not much of a partier either. It seems that any Halloween parties that I have been to have fallen way below my expectations. Probably because my expectations are so high. I remember the days that I would rush home from school to touch-up my costume. I would wait anxiously for darkness to fall so that I could go out, running door to door collecting sweets.

Many of the costume parties I have been to just don't add up.

Some of the costumes are really impressive, but it's obvious that most of the people there are uncomfortable dressing up, and only do so out of obligation. So there sits, and stands, a bunch of adults in their costumes- feeling awkward and uncomfortable.

Not nearly as fun as my days of trick or treating.

Four years ago, my friend, Jac, and I went out on a dare. We swung it so last minute, and thought it'd be hilarious. We expected to hit up a couple houses, get nasty glares and rude comments... maybe even a couple doors slammed in our faces.

But by the fifth house, it seemed that it was more of an inside joke. Not one person seemed to notice or care. In fact, many gave us "big kids" an extra serving of candy, while our "older brothers" (husbands) waited at the end of the driveway for us.

Finally.

Us girls who always looked younger than we were found a bonus: we can STILL trick or treat on halloween!!!

I remember HATING it when people would assume I was years younger than I am. My mom and her friends always said I would like it when I got older, but I wasn't convinced. Especialy when I was 16, and one of my friends always got asked what college she went to... apparently it looked as if I was the kid sister, or she was my youth leader. Or when I worked at the pool, teaching aquafit, the ladies would ask if I was old enough to drive... I was 20 at the time. Or when I worked as a waitress, I often got sideways glances as I corked a bottle of wine. I could tell that people were wondering why the busser was serving the alcohol, and some people actually questioned me on it. I was 22 and married.

When Scotty was a youth pastor, I worried that rumours might start after someone saw him kissing a "16-year old girl" in the parking lot. Thankfully that never happened.

On wednesday I met up with one of my old youth girls. She's in grade 9, but she looks older than she is. We were standing beside the football field after practice. She was waiting for her boyfriend, and I was waiting for my husband. We got talking to one of the guys, and he kept trying to figure out who I was. I gave him my first name, and he
looked confused. He then asked my last name as if he was trying to place me as one of the students at his school. Even after I said Martens- it didn't click, so I told him I was the coach's wife.

The look on his face was priceless. I laughed and acknowledged that, yes, I look much younger than I am.

And that is why I still get to go trick-or-treating... this will be our 4th year in a row! I've got pumpkin-coconut soup with cheese dumplings ready to be heated when I get off work tonight. We'll be getting ready at my house, and then we'll leave the guys to hand out candy while we run around in the dark for a few hours, laughing until it hurts, collecting a big bag of sugary treats, and waiting for the day that we get doors slammed in our faces because we're "too old to trick or treat."

Until then, we'll keep doing it because adult Halloween ain't got nothin' on my trick-or-treating.



(devil-cat panda, and pumpkin-head hanzel... don't they look thrilled?)

J’taime le Vino

Okay, so my French is likely to be way off, but I don’t care. I hated my grade eleven French teacher, so mock him for being a lousy teacher if you’re gonna mock anyone.

It seems that every Saturday I find a section in my Globe and Mail on wine, and because of the current financial crisis- these articles are tailored to finding good, cheap wines.

I am so sick of writing down names of bottles I would like to try only to have them vanish- so I’m putting them up here whenever I come across them. You’re welcome to try them and report back to me, and perhaps, suggest some.



“Crowd Pleasing Reds at Reasonable Prices”… according to Beppi Crosariol.

Who wouldn’t want to listen to wine advise from a guy named Beppi?

*Red Knot Shiraz, 2006. Austrailia. $21.99

This one features a ZORK!!! I had no clue what that meant until I read the article. In Beppi’s words “it’s a bulbous [yum… words like ‘bulbous’ should be juxtaposed more to food and drink] turban-like top on the bottle that peels off in a circular manner.” Now you can impress your friends with that little piece of knowledge… if they’ll believe you and not just think you made up the word “zork.”

“Red knot is full-bodied and teeming with black fruits, enlivened by notes of black pepper, chili powder, cigar tobacco and herbs”

[sidenote: cigar tobacco??? I once saw a wine discription list pencil lead… hahaha. Just another reason to love it!]

*Lourens River Valley Morgenster [merlot], 2003. South Africa. $21.95

“Dominated by concentrated currant, spice and tobacco, and a bit of that smoky, love-it-or-leave-it quality of cap reds. Consider decanting it before serving. It should match nicely with roast lamb.”

*Beringer Founders’ Estate Merlot, 2005. California. $19.99

“You have to be impressed with the precision engineering in this wine, which is far better than many $20 competing big brands. The fruit is intense with almost-sweet cherry and plum, the texture is smooth as ready-to-drink merlot ought to be, with good acidity and just the right amount of vanilla and other oak-bourne influences.”

*Sumac Ridge Black Sage Vineyard Merlot, 2006. British Columbia. $20

“Decant the wine before serving if you can; it’s still youthful and tightly wound, exhibiting notes of black olive, new leather, plum, cherry and coffee.”

*Inniskillin Okanagan Merlot Reserve, 2005. $17.99

“There’s no mistaking the New World sunshine in this rich BC red, showing intense raspberry flavour and spicy oak”

*Quinta de Crasto Flor de Crasto, 2006. Portugal. $14.49

“One of the great things about portugese wines is that most people, including wine aficionados, know nothing about them. Portugal also delivers great value. These two considerations make it possible to skimp on price, deliver big flavour and nobody’s the wiser- the perfect wine equation… a medium full-bodied red… the texture is almost chewy, with delicious notes of cherry, plum, black pepper and wood.”

The Strategic Vote

I’m 25. I didn’t grow up in a home that spoke a lot about politics (although my mom and brother now go way over my head in their discussions). I don’t know a lot about each party’s platforms. I also don’t know a lot about their histories, and I can’t always imagine the benefits and consequences of what their platforms promise.

I do know that I lean left, more to the left than Liberal (as I recently found out
that the current Liberals actually see fairly eye-to-eye with the Conservatives on keeping our troops in Afghanistan until 2011). I know that my concerns about the environment rate at the top of my list, along with social issues and foreign policy.
I have to say that I was impressed with parts of every left-leaning platform and didn’t feel quite as partisan as I would have predicted (although Elizabeth May as PM would have been a sight to see, and likely would have garnered a lot more interest in politics among young voters and much higher sales in tricycles). All I knew is that I didn’t want Harper getting his majority and I wasn’t alone. There was quite an anti-Harper movement already in the works.


For those of you who don’t know much about politics, I beg you to at least review what Right wing vs Left wing means (knowing that not all right wing and left wing parties stick to their corresponding policy). Canada’s multi-party electoral system has only one right of center party, the Conservatives, but we have 3 Left wing parties (Bloc Quebecois is a whole ‘nother story). Liberals are left of center, NPD further left and Green very left. That means that the left vote is always split, while the right isn’t.

…Hence, the anti-Harper movement.

Tories benefit from having the left vote split into three, so websites such as www.voteforenvironment.com were designed according to the lastest polling information about each riding across Canada so that people could know which party to vote for to overcome the potential for the 3-way split to benefit the Tories.

I went to it on election day morning and typed in my postal code. One second later it came back with, “you live in a Conservative stronghold. Do what you can for the environment.”

Can’t say I didn’t feel defeated as I walked to the polls that afternoon. I wished that I lived in the Delta-Newton riding where the race was close, and my vote wouldn’t feel so voiceless.

Thanks to the Bloc Quebecois, Harper didn’t get his majority… phewf!


Point is, you don't have to spend tons of time researching each political party to make an educated vote (although knowledge IS power, and people know far too much about "Brangelina" and not enough about the stuff that is actually affecting our lives). Voting for the environment is admirable because where is is currently headed is truly terrifying, so if you don't have "time" to do the work prior to an election- websites such as this are an extremely useful tool.

Where Were We?

This election saw its lowest numbers of voter turnout ever… 59%.

Back in the 60’s voter turnout was somewhere close to 80%, and you know what? People who were around in the 60’s are still showing up to vote. The age cohort with the greatest voter turnout is the 50+ group. That translates to campaigns aimed at this age-group.

Which came first the chicken or the egg? Do we wait until we’re old enough to finally be interested in pension-plan politics, or do we get off our facebook and start using our voices?

Many young people don’t vote. Approximately only 38% of young people ages 18-24 actually showed up at the 2006 polls (and I’m sure that number is down in this most recent election). When polled for why they don’t vote, most said that they didn’t know enough, followed by those who said that they didn’t have time, and lastly, they simply didn’t care.

We make up the cohort with the WORST voter turnout, and that translates to not only having a nearly silent voice in the happenings of our country, but it also means that our needs and interests will never be catered to. Political platforms won’t speak to our interests, passions or concerns until we become a force to be reckoned with. Rick Mercer of the Mercer Report said that if most university students simply showed up on election day to vote, the entire political system would be changed because politicians would no longer be able to ignore our interests.

The Carbon Tax proposal of the Liberal platform was extremely unpopular, and many suggest that it (along with voter distaste for Dion) cost the Liberals big time. But the truth is that environmental advocacy groups support the carbon tax plan as one of the best ways to hit the issue of global warming head-on. Most environmental economists say that the only way to really address greenhouse gas is to put a price on carbon emissions. I believe that the coming generation actually cares about our environment more than previous generations. My mom says that our generation is paying for the “sins” of her generation (be it politically and environmentally). She feels that we’ll do things so differently than hers… I really hope so.

Both Green Peace and Sierra Club issued statements urging Canadians to “vote for any party but the conservatives” because the Tories were the only party who lacked any real environmental solution to greenhouse gas emissons (in fact, the Tory’s action plan is deemed by environmental experts as tepid, at very best, and the environment will only continue to get a lot worse under such regulation).

As I sat in a room election night, hugely outnumbered by Conservative supporters, I couldn’t help but wonder what the polls would reveal had we actually showed up. I dare to think that the outcome would be quite different, and perhaps I would’ve been spared listening to all the poorly constructed left-wing jokes while I sat blushing and biting my tongue.

Pumpkin Patch

Despite our best efforts, the bunnies destroyed most of our efforts at a vegetable garden this summer. They ate all the shoots before they ever had a chance, but they DID leave us the summer squash (which were delicious) and the sweet pumpkins.


This year yeilded 16 sweet pumpkins (they are small with thick, sweet flesh for cooking and baking).

Three of our neices spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's last weekend, so we invited them over to pick pumpkins.



Apparently our back yard is a blast. Our little Himalayan lop, Pancake, was quite the hit. The girls picked apples from the apple tree to feed to her. Our Holland lop, Coconut, wasn't interested in the kids- he prefered to stay out of reach, but even he, seemed to enjoy the sunshiine as he bounced around the yard.

What’s wrong with this picture?

The Greens got 7% of the popular vote while the Bloc got 10%. The Greens got more votes this election than in the past, yet they lost their one seat (won in the 2006 election). The Greens have no seats, yet the Bloc, who got only 3% more votes, won 49 seats. They even beat out the NDP who won 37 seats and got 18% of the popular vote...

...what?

A long standing critism of Canada’s electoral system has been that its inner workings were designed for a time when only two parties were running.

An editorial written in Thursday, October 16th Globe and Mail by Ed Broadbent (President of Rights and Democracy) really gets at the issue of proportional representation.

Most European democracies have successful systems of proportional representation. He said that a system such as those in Gremany, New Zealnd and Wales would work well in Canada and would make our Parliaments both more representative and more stable.
Broadbent points out that if our seats represented the proportion of actual votes, the Liberals, New Democrats and the Greens would have a majority of seats (yay!), and if they followed the European pattern, these would combine to form a government with each party having seats in the cabinet and a program that actually reflects how a majority had voted.

“As Canadians know, the Liberals, New Democrats and Greens did agree on a number of economic measures, on social policy, the environment and protection for families in the current economic crisis. Since the majority of Candaians voted for these parties, they, not the Conservatives, should be determining our political agenda…In Canada as a whole, the NDP received a million more votes than the Bloc. Yet the Bloc recieved 50 seats and the NDP only 37… It’s time Canadians got the governments we vote for, not the ones our outmoded electoral system continues to regurgitate. It’s time our neanderthal journalists and politicians started telling the truth about our lack of democracy”- Ed Broadbent.

Amen.

So what’s a person to do? How can it be changed?

Here’s a start:

Sign this petition.

Go to the Fair Vote BC website and join the campaign. We have a provincial election coming up in May 2009. Add them on facebook, and empower yourself though knowledge.

In Response to Last Post

I lied.

And I'm sorry.

I had said I wouldn't steal pics from Google Images, and I did.

I take back my promise because there are some pictures that I simply will not take.

So I will steal those.

And just to be clear, Google-imaging THAT was my second week's scariest.

I couldn't look directly at it, and now I have to post a bunch so that it don't have to see that on my main page.