May 3

Sunday morning again. We awoke with heavy heads from our social distance fire the night before. It felt like a small price to pay to have had some social connections with our friends. It was nice to see our neighbours around a fire. Sitting far apart was better than not seeing each other at all. I am an extrovert so the last six weeks have been difficult.

Many provinces in Canada have decided  to start to open things up this coming week. Balance, caution, measured approach. These are all catchwords being used to temper enthusiasm for opening too soon.  Balance is a very important piece of the puzzle and one of the most important things in life. We need a balance between the safety of a full lockdown where no one moves and the economic implications of the lockdown and the associated cost to our society.  Alberta has opened golf courses and people are moving around more freely. In BC we are waiting until later this week to see what Dr. Henry has to say about the restrictions in British Colombia.

I hope we can move soon. I hope for a return to a semblance of normal. Concerts and big sport events are off the table until we have a vaccine. But a return to going out for dinner and hopefully being able to go out on our boat are things I hope that we can do very soon. I sat and had my third cup pf coffee and ruminated on all these situations this morning.

My daughter rolled out of her bed around eleven-thirty, not a care in the world. My young beautiful kid is oblivious to the whole seriousness of the Coronavirus. My amazing teenager and her friends are making the most of the time away from school. Marijke will be just fine missing this much school. Many others aren’t. I am grateful we have a country that took this situation very serious and is helping get the information out daily and is reacting to all new threats.

I wish I could grasp where all the money is coming from to pay for all the assistance the people of Canada are getting. South of us in the United Mistakes of America the people get one payment of $ 1200.00. I can understand why they are protesting their lockdown. The protests are growing, fueled by falsehoods on social media and by people growing frustrated with a lack of number of cases that they can see and most of all the lack of income. I feel another couple weeks of lockdown will cause immense hardship for many people. Will the number of case skyrocket? Will people die? Many people are willing to take that chance.

Today we walked to the nursery again, followed by a trip to the dump.  The line at the dump was long again and I suggest to my honey that is probably the reason they have seen a lot of illegal dumping lately. People are too impatient or lazy to wait in line. The new normal at the dump is much like the new normal everywhere. Spacing signs, longer lines, less people allowed and a slight feeling of unease inside the pit of my stomach.

Today was another good day for planning and working the yard. I fixed and added to another retaining wall. We planted flowers. Planting flowers is a salve on the soul and a sign of hope for the future. My wife planted Tulips; tulips will flower soon and go back into hibernation shortly after. A tulip is amazing in the early spring but its  beauty is fleeting. We plant seeds for flowers to sprout in our coming summer of uncertainty. 

We ended our day in front of the news. Canada has been wracked by tragedy this past two weeks. A mass murder in Nova Scotia, floods in Fort McMurray and there is the ominous underling tragedy we are dealing with daily. There are flashes of good news and this is what I try to hold onto like a life preserver in a wicked storm on the seas of life.  

The Snowbirds did a fly over of Nova Scotia today and they will be flying their way across Canada. These acrobatic aircraft are welcomed all across the land and they provide excitement and energy that goes a long way to lifting the spirits of many shut in and frustrated Canadian.

I look forward to seeing the iconic jets fly over Kelowna. I am excited for the show provided by them and their fifty plus year old planes. It proves that even at fifty they are still going strong; just like me. We don’t know how many years we have left so we make the most of every day we do have.