Winter’s End

My pain is fading slowly, happy day!  I’m still not fully myself, but it’s getting closer.  Another day of being quiet should restore my equanimity, and I will make extra efforts in future to listen when my body speaks, so I don’t push past the point of endurance just for my pride.  Jerry is taking a rest from a busy day of schnoodle… he was getting into all kind of mischief a few minutes ago, and I’m not one to look gift horses (or quiet puppies) in the mouth!  Don is showing more energy than he has for a few days, which is good, and probably partly attributable to the lemon poppyseed cake I bought as a treat.  (He said that he wasn’t crazy about it, but it’s already more than half gone after a day, so… no comments!) 😁

My flight search to the Caribbean remains fruitless.  The least expensive flight that I can find is over $1000, and that means routing through the US with 3 changes and a travel time estimated at 30 hours.  Where do they think I’m going?  The moon?  Doing a circumnavigation round the poles?  I really wonder about the algorithms that schedule flights… they really have some highly unusual and outrageous routes to suggest.  A trip that’s just under 6 hours by a direct nonstop flight has no reason to last 5 times that while hopscotching across the USA.  Meanwhile, I checked a couple of other routes, and there’s an awesome fare heading west, so I’m contemplating that instead, and a trip to Europe is less than flying home, so my European friends may get messages that I’m picking dates!  I’ll keep you updated I need a short trip!

I heard again someone dismissing climate change as a “hoax designed to maximize profit on Nature.”  I wasn’t in a position to speak directly to them, but I was livid.  Sadly, his argument is nothing new, but I’m dismayed that it’s still alive.  The basis of his argument was that in the 1970s, there was fear of a new ice age, which became global warming, and is now climate change; people have been predicting disaster, he says, for almost 50 years and nothing’s happened.  That’s a stupid, tired argument, and overlooks the key point that there have been substantial changes in international policy and practice which have averted the worst of the predictions to date!!!  So the smug swellheads who say that climate alarmists are wrong are wilfully blind…  In the years since Silent Spring we’ve worked to reduce a number of damaging practices, banned a number of chemicals and reduced some of the worst pollution.  I mean, by the 1960s, the Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie, were so polluted that the water wasn’t fit for consumption, the fisheries were shut down, and the water could be lit on fire.  After 1972, when the water quality act came into force between Canada and the US, the lake’s waters were protected, cleaned and are now safe again.  There’s still work to be done, but that’s just one example of changes made to help protect the planet.  I won’t get into a detailed rant, but it’s super frustrating to have to rehash the same tired arguments repeatedly.  Those people who go around dismissing scientific evidence are, in my experience, also likely to be the ones who trust “Dr. Google” over the actual medical professionals and send me those foolish messages about lemons being better than chemotherapy.  (That really annoyed me!!)

As we’re getting ready for spring, the weather is going through numerous mood swings… we start off below freezing, get up to about 3, drops down to freezing again, and thaws… perfect weather for colds and flus!  Just a note to say that even if I’m travelling, I will be masked and sanitized for the next few weeks because I have this weird thing about avoiding illness as far as possible.  OK, I’ve got to throw the remains of a toy around the living room, because some puppy wants to chase it, and is otherwise trying to nibble on my sweater, so good night!