Out of the Cold

I was just on my patio clearing frost from the vent for my fireplace. An easy fix so it will burn and add an extra bit of  warmth to my home. My big warm coat, toque, and gloves on, I stood on tiptop for this simple task. A light wind scraped across my face. I shivered and recalled the many patients I’d cared for, their only shelter was hospital, jail or a community shelter with limited bed capacity. On Vancouver Island the temperatures don’t drop out of the frigid north like they do here on the prairies. The folks out here have the same needs: shelter out of the cold.

Tonight I am grateful. Grateful for my home and all that it has brought me. Grateful for the people that man the shelters, hospitals and yes, jails. Families, friend and sometimes strangers that take people in out of the cold. No one can move forward when their world freezes.

“Cold is merciless. It shows you where you are. What you are.”

~ Wim Hof, Dutch celebrity

Temperature as I write this at just after 9 p.m.: -33Centigrade

Missed the Memo!

A potato plant - I think. This plant was not paying attention to the weather as plants are known to do. About a month ago, it sprouted. I had no idea what it was, but decided to let it keep growing. Because it rose from the soil right beside the Hens and Chicks ‘mom’, I thought maybe that’s what it was. But no, the stem just kept growing. In the last week, it has leafed out ~ barely ~ but continued to grow, despite the frost on the window. And the fact that, I have not watered the soil much because of the succulents there! This is one confused potato! 

Where did it come from? I had planted some sprouted potatoes almost a year ago. When I prepared the soil for the succulents, I thought I had all the old sprouts out. Wrong. I guess I’ll just see what happens to it - whether it's a potato or not. 

“But is there no intent of an analogy 

between man’s life and the seasons?”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

While the City Slept

December 07, 2020
(too cold for a walk today)

Frigid air settled in

while the city slept,

politely changing

busy stop and go.

“Every mile is two in the winter.”

~ George Herbert

Movie Review - The Color Purple - Directed by Blitz Bazawule

There is so much to unpack in this powerful movie. Set in a small black community in Georgia in 1909, Celie is pregnant and living with her sister, Nettie and their father. She has had one other child. When she delivers, she is allowed to keep the baby for two days, but her father takes the newborn from her as he had her first child ‘giving them to God’. Celie never told what that meant and mourned for her babies. Nettie has an admirer who asks for her hand in marriage. Her father declines that request, but soon after he tells Celie to pack her bags. She was to marry this man. He has three children that ‘need a mother’. Celie is beaten from the first day she is there if she doesn’t jump when asked, or if this man that they call Mister, is in a foul mood or drunk. 

Nettie had remained with her father, but turns to Celie when her father touches her indecently. She is allowed to stay as long as she pulls her weight and does as she is told. One evening, while she slept, Mister tries to climb in her bed. When she fights back he picks her up and throws her out in the rain. Holding a shotgun at her, he tells her to get off his land and not return. It will be the last Celie sees of her sister for several years. 

Celie learns of a woman who is her husband’s girlfriend. Shug is a blues singer who has Mister wrapped around her little finger. Shug, soft hearted and kind, comes to their home for a visit. She is the one to tell Celie her husband’s actual name: Albert Johnson. The children grow up, the eldest son, Harpo, builds a house for a new wife. The house is connected to his childhood home by a bridge across the swamp. Harpo and Sofia's marriage is tumultous.

In the intervening years, abuse of women continues. Harpo’s wife, Sofia, is one woman who will speak up for herself. Not a gentle woman, but kind hearted, she refused to bow down to the mayor’s wife. This scene is extremely troubling. She is beaten by white men, jailed and then made to work for the mayor’s wife ‘until she was recovered' from the beating.

It is clear that the women were controlled by the men. Sofia is the first person Celie saw who fought against the control. Celie had never been able to stand up for herself, didn’t know that she could and continues to tolerate the abuse. Shug is the second to see the abuse and finally take Celie away from it. On that day, her husband yelled her “You’re poor, you’re ugly, you’re black and you’re a woman.” That from the porch of their house as she was driven to safety by Shug’s new husband, Shug and another woman. 

Because of the cruelties they faced, women supported each other when they could. This movie told their story with wonderful choreography and song. Brilliant casting, wardrobe and lighting made this a joy to watch. I’ll not give away more of this story except to say that the ending was joyful and very satisfactory.

“Everything want to be loved.”

~ Alice Walker, The Color Purple

Directed by: Blitz Bazawule

Second movie adaptation of : The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Screenplay: Marcus Gardley

Abbreviated Cast: 

Fantasia Barrino - Celie

Taraji P. Henson - Shug Avery

Halle Bailey - young Nettie Harris

Phylicia Pearl Mpasi - young Celie

Danielle Brooks - Sofia

Colman Domingo - Albert “Mister” Johnson

Ciara - adult Nettie Harris

Cory Hawkins - Harpo Johnson

Deon Cole - Alfonso

H.E.R. - Squeak

Louis Gossett, Jr. - Mister Johnson, Sr,

Jon Batiste - Grady

On Stage

Snow lightly nestles

in the overture to

A Winter’s Play.

“Before the play begins, observe the theater.”

~ Jules Michelet, Histoire De France 

Jusqu’au Xvie Siécle, Volume 15

Invisible Whispers

Destiny is as ethereal

as an evening breeze,

a secret revealed 

but forever out of sight.

“You speak of destiny as if it was fixed.”

~ Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass

A Grateful Heart

Relying on myself has been a pretty big deal over the last many years. In retrospect I couldn’t have made my sojourn to Texas, my return to Canada, my move to Victoria and my return to Regina without the help, support and love of family, friends and neighbours. These big moves were each so I could move forward. Garage sales, a traveling companion, Trip Tiks from my Uncle, phone calls, meals, encouragement, muscle, a bed for the night and just being there when asked. Sometimes, even when I didn’t ask. With each move, someone helped me find my way around a new city, new job and new friends. 

I’ve made a lot of small moves within each city. I’ve received the same help and support regardless of my reasons. I bow my head to each of you. 

“Always remember people who have helped you along the way, 

and don’t forget to lift someone up.”

~ Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart