Recycling for a cause

Every morning (except when the temperature is lower than -12C) I walk my little dog, Billie. We typically walk 2-3 kilometers around our neighbourhood.

For a couple of years now I have been picking up aluminum cans and alcohol bottles while out walking. This behavior started because a friend of mine collects recyclable materials, sells them every fall and uses the proceeds to fund a Thanksgiving turkey roast for family and friends. Disgusted by the amount of trash I see as I walk, inspired by Tracy’s generousity, I decided to pick up the returnables and give them to her.

This morning, as I walked, I saw and empty plastic bag, appropriately, a Beer Store bag. I  picked it up. Not fifty feet down the street I saw a beer can, then, within the next fifty feet, three more beer cans and a pop can. IMG_2999 *sigh* I wish people wouldn’t do this. I wish there were no cans or bottles for me to pick up. IMG_3001Above are the cans (several bottles under the cans) I’ve picked up over the last couple weeks. The Beer Store wants the beer cans un-crushed. The pop cans I step on to conserve space. The tabs I remove — Tracy gives those to an organization that uses them to fund wheelchairs.

Here’s a picture from Tracy’s 2004 Turkey Roast: 0053Tracy is on the left. She is now raising the turkeys herself to about 40lb each and roasts four birds for this event.

 

Lost and Found

A long time ago, in that other lifetime when I had a toddler and a baby, I considered getting my ears pierced. Having grown up Mennonite, when my parents never even had wedding rings, jewellery was a little suspect. I liked pretty things, but preferred rings and things to be small and unpretentious.  And so I couldn’t quite decide — did I want to have my ears pierced or not?

I’d almost decided not when, for Christmas, 1979, Volker gave me a pair of opal and gold earrings. I have a fondness for opals, the way they aren’t just one colour, the colours seem to move inside the milky whiteness of the stone.

These were tiny, quite unpretentious. Hand-made by a man I’d known in highschool they’d cost a ridiculous amount of money for the financial shape we were in. They were beautiful. I got my ears pierced.IMG_3013

In March 2013, in Santa Clara, the evening before I was getting on the airplane to return home I realized one of my earrings was missing. I figured I’d lost it while playing with Mina. I did a search, but couldn’t find it. I felt so bad. Those earrings are very special to me; after all these years, to have lost one….

I was so relieved when Trina sent me a message the next day that she’d found my earring! I had to wait till my next visit to California to retrieve it but that was not a big deal, as long as I got it back!

Well, recently again I realized one earring was missing. Again I looked for it. I found the back, but not the earring itself. Again I felt so disappointed. But then I decided that I could take the one remaining earring to a goldsmith and have him/her make a matching earring for me. No, it wouldn’t be the one Volker gave me, but I’d still have a set.

That evening, as I stepped on the mat in the bathroom I felt something under my foot — Yes! it was my earring! Relief flooded me again. I was so grateful that I had the original back.

But I wonder, should I put them away to ensure I never lose them? No, I don’t think so. It may happen some day that one (or both) are lost for good. But I never put them on or see them in the mirror without remembering the man who gave them to me and the love they will always represent.IMG_3016

Pass it on

I remember the year that my mother made clothes for my dolls as a Christmas present. We didn’t get a lot for Christmas; as small children we each got something, but even that stopped by the time we reached our teens.

But one Christmas, when I was four or five I knew my Mom, after we kids were in bed, was still up sewing. I don’t know if I knew it then, though I did later, my Mom did not like to sew, she sewed because she had to! So Christmas morning I awoke to a wardrobe for my doll — I don’t remember how many pieces, but I know along with the usual dresses there was a little coat — that impressed me!

As I have four older brothers and two younger I felt obliged to keep up with the boys and didn’t spend a lot of time playing with dolls, though Mom tried hard to encourage me. My brothers also had a doll each, but they were more inclined to other kinds of play; though they would sometimes play “house” with me.

Barb with dolls and dog
Barb and friends

I enjoyed sewing much more than my Mom ever did. When my kids were little “Cabbage Patch Kids” were all the rage. I started making soft sculpture dolls for sale. For her 5th birthday I made Trina a large doll she named “Randy.” Not only does she still have that doll, but Mina loves to play with it.

Trina's 5th birthday -- with Randy, her new doll.
Trina’s 5th birthday — with Randy, her new doll.
Mina with Randy, March 2014
Mina with Randy, March 2014

Trina loved sewing even more than I. She not only sews, but designs and drafts patterns to sell as well. Although she made a doll for her new daughter, she also worked with Mina to make her own doll (after reading the book “Fanny”) when she was only four years old.

Mina and Annabelle
Mina and Annabelle

So where will Mina take this tradition?