If I can't go to Paris...

Conditions at 7:00 am: Sunny and 16*
Expected later: 25* and a mix of sun and cloud later in the afternoon

....at least I can support a good cause. The past few weeks Timothy's have been selling draw tickets to raise money to buy a beach wheelchair for Camp Gencheff. This morning the proceeds from the sale of all small coffees and any baked items will also be donated. The coffee shop is donating the coffee and their bakery suppliers donated the baked goods. So, only in the interest of supporting a good cause, of course, I'm enjoying a Cinnamon roll with my coffee. I decided to forgo my usual oatmeal that I have each morning. They have a draw later today for a coffee maker and several other prizes.

Yesterday afternoon I attended one of the sessions at the Lucy Maud conference. What an interesting time. But at the same time it makes you feel pretty stupid because I don't have the kind of mind to pull all this stuff out of a novel. It made sense when I heard it but I can't begin to imagine coming up with all this stuff by myself.

The session I went to dealt with the domestic life and somewhat about the old time kitchen.
It did raise some interesting points about what life was like at that time and how very compartmentalized life was. Woman looked after the children, cleaned, cooked, tended the garden and did the canning, while the men tended to the livestock, farmed, cut and split the wood for the winter, and rarely did the two cross into the others areas. They talked about how a community was generally somewhat isolated from the outside world, and each woman usually has their own special talents. They supported each other by trading, bartering, doing things for each other. They had little need for outside influences or help. Each community was pretty much a self contained unit and were very supportive of each other. Then they talked about how progress came in the form of magazines, newspapers, radio, etc that opened up the outside world and the younger people began to feel they were missing out or there were other things they needed. Thus began our consumer driven society. Once advertising told us what we had to or needed to have, it changed the dynamics of our whole society, to what we have today.
But on the other hand, it also talked about the new 'trend' to locally grown, locally produced products when in essence that was the reality of life.

Now one hundred years later, we are desperately trying to get back to that way of life but have we gone too far in the other direction?

So ended my first foray into the world of academia. Having never gone to University this was an experience.

On my way back to my office I ran into the President of the Student Union, who just happens to be working in our department for the summer. He was on his way back from AVC where they were having an Ice Cream Social = free ice cream across the way. So off I went and of course I passed several department members on their way back. Loaded up with ice cream topped with fruit, whipped cream, caramel AND chocolate sauce, made for a pretty tasty afternoon.

Last night I did some tidying up and some laundry and now it's FRIDAY - and our 21st anniversary to boot. Lloyd is arriving (hopefully) around 11:30 so I'll pick him up and he can take the car for the rest of the afternoon. When he picks me up, we'll decide where to go for supper.