Calm morning with Fooey and her playdate actually playing together, while CJ napped long and hard (he woke at 6am crying, perhaps from a nightmare, and couldn't settle after that). I cooked a tomato sauce for supper and shopped online. I keep meaning to blog about our attempts to continue to source local food without the help of our summer CSA box, and Nina's buying club, but truthfully, I haven't been able to find satisfactory replacement. It feels very cobbled-together. As mentioned before, I often order groceries online for delivery (for a modest fee), but the supplier isn't particularly locally-oriented. The main pull of that service is the delivery of bulk items not easily hauled home in the stroller, not to mention the convenience. It's a huge time-saver. Aside from that, we've been using the Saturday Kitchener market as a local-food source; but when Kevin's working on the weekend that's not feasible (no, I'm not heroic enough to take the bus with four children to the market in order to haul home fresh meat, carrots, eggs, and cheese!!!). I also frequent our local organic store, Eating Well, in uptown Waterloo; but they don't always carry local foods either. The big grocery store within walking distance has improved recently, often labelling local produce as such. There should be a variety of local vegetables still available despite the cold weather ... hot house tomatoes and cucumbers; those tough greens; carrots, potatoes, beets, turnips, cabbages, winter squashes, onions, leeks (??), help me out here, I know there are more. Parsnips, sweet potatoes.
Cold cellar update: The onions we so carefully stored this summer did not all survive ... we lost a few to rot. I think the basement is too warm for their liking (they aren't in the cold cellar because they aren't supposed to be stored with potatoes, which we have in abundance--those are doing fine). We also have a whack of garlic stored in there, and a giant pumpkin that needs dealing with.
But, really, what's on my mind tonight is this parliamentary crisis. I actually started to feel anxious about it tonight. I fear Stephen Harper's ruthlessly divisive nature, and worry he will say and do anything to stay in power, even if it means inflaming incendiary tensions between fellow citizens--gee, not "even if"; I think for him that's a means to an end. Right now, he's painting a whole bunch of people (the majority of voters who voted) as commies and separatists, and claiming a coalition government would be illegal. It's not. It's not necessarily a great idea, but that doesn't make it illegal. It's hard to imagine this unlikely coalition coming together without being goaded into action by Harper's tragic personal flaw, which is his utter lack of grace. He couldn't quite believe the election hadn't handed him a majority. And he behaved as if it had. Instead of seeking common ground between parties and creating stability (in everyone's best interest, including his own), he kicked a little sand.
I thought I'd be all for this coalition; but I'm not, exactly (not exactly against it, either; horribly waffling). I think they'll have a tough time getting along with each other, which will make it hard to create and sell coherent policy, and that could really turn citizens against the left. It would require us all to be quick studies in how coalition governments work (likely messier than what we'd become accustomed to with that string of majorities), and I'm guessing Canadians won't have the patience for that, what with this full-blown "Global Economic Crisis." (Is anyone else really really sick of that phrase?).
My best-case scenario would be that this stagnation jumpstarts the move toward proper proportional representation--genuine electoral reform. And that Stephen Harper steps aside as leader, say, tomorrow, and the Conservatives present us with someone who is conciliatory, gracious, and eager to work with opposition parties. If the infuriated, abusive, downright frothing at the mouth Conservative MPs I've been hearing on the radio are representative, that's a fantastically tall order. (Jim Baird??? James Moore?? Even Tony Clement sounded like he might blow a gasket). I hear Jim Prentice is the best they've got.
The coalition has gotten along in theory and in practice so far; but let's be brutally honest, the divisions are plenty, the Liberals are in the midst of a leadership race; it would be crazy hard to pull off long-term. If Harper doesn't personally step aside, they're the best chance we've got for stability, and they should have the chance, but ... Yah. I'm a little anxious. We'll see what happens tomorrow. It seems to be changing by the minute.
The good news is that the American ambassador to Canada (Wilkins) doesn't even plan to brief his president (W.) on these goings-on; so it's small potatoes in a world of crisis.Labels: CSA box, local food, Nina's buying club, politics