To Bee or Not to Bee

Utrecht Bee-friendly Bus Stop 

We have a bees' nest under one of our decks and we're pleased as can be. When we're sitting out with our morning coffee we watch them come up from between the planks and head off on their appointed pollinating rounds. If they were wasps or hornets we might feel compelled to do battle but these are bumblebees. 

They are benign, although don't try to convince our cats, Merlin and Arthur, who we can tell feel harassed. Bumblebees are in serious decline, along with many other bee species in North America and it would be an agricultural disaster if bees disappeared. Humans use pesticides which kill them or stress their immune systems so thoroughly they can't survive. We are a rather stupid species, but not always.



According to the Guardian: 

The roofs of hundreds of bus stops have been covered in plants as a gift to the honeybee, by a city in the Netherlands. Mainly made up of sedum plants, a total of 316 have been covered in greenery in Utrecht. 

The shelters not only support the city’s biodiversity, such as honey bees and bumblebees, but they also help capture fine dust and store rainwater. The roofs are looked after by workers who drive around in electric vehicles, and the bus stops have all been fitted with energy-efficient LED lights and bamboo benches.

How hard can this bee? (sorry) Every day we can choose the strategies and solutions which will make God's good Earth a habitable place for all. Doesn't that sound both reasonable and faith-full? 

Our Young Climate Prophets

A ridiculous number of politicians around the world have criticized Swedish Greta Thunberg, the remarkable sixteen-year-old who began a one-person climate change protest which has become a world-wide movement of students. They realize that they must leapfrog over the greed and short-sightedness of their elders to ensure a future for themselves and the planet. Thunberg has fearlessly addressed huge crowds of adoring teens along with gatherings of officials who aren't always receptive to her blunt and even scolding speeches. 

Some leaders are listening, thank God. Speaking at her annual mid-year press conference Angela Merkel of Germany  said that Thunberg and the Fridays for Future protest movement taking place across Europe has motivated her government to expedite decisions on tackling the climate crisis.



Stuttgard Germany 

I wonder if more politicians will get on board after the extreme temperatures of this past week. Most European nations experienced record high temps, which soared above 40C in many places. Train tracks are buckling, forest fires are raging and people are dying of the heat.

Why not have children and young people as our climate prophets if adults are ignoring the crisis? We need them, today. 

Butterflies and Sparrows

1 God of the sparrow God of the whale
God of the swirling stars
How does the creature say Awe

How does the creature say Praise

God of the Sparrow - Voices United 229

We did some vegetable planting early in our raised beds this Spring but the wet and cool weather made for a very slow start. Then the heat came and everything flourished. We like to go out early each day to take a look and I'm convinced I can hear the peppers and tomatoes singing.

Yesterday I looked over to see a sparrow splashing about in one of our bird baths and seeing this tiny creature lifted my spirit. Today I was cutting the grass and I noticed a Monarch butterfly flitting about a milkweed plant which has just shown up along the back fence. Again, I had a sense of satisfaction and gratitude. 



Are my responses to veggies and sparrows and butterflies weird?  I honestly don't care about how anyone would answer that question, at least not if they were negative. If ypu also enjoy these simple encounters then I'm glad that you are a member of the band of weirdos. We are responding to the work of the Creator, it seems to me, and it's important to cherish these moments. We've seen a North Atlantic Right whale and calf. We've admired soaring eagles and come around the bend in a river to meet a moose and her calf. While these are powerful moments it's the simple daily encounters which sustain me.

How about for you? 

6 God of the ages God near at hand
God of the loving heart
How do your children say Joy

How do your children say Home

Safeguarding Sacred Water

Assembly of First Nations Exchange of Water Ceremony

I have to like a national gathering which begins with a canoe on a river. The Assembly of First Nations convened in Fredericton, New Brunswick  yesterday with an "exchange of water" ceremony, where six participants travelled by canoe along the St. John River to give thanks to the body of water. 

Perry Bellegarde, the national chief of the AFN, pointed out that talks on water protection and climate change will take priority on the first day of its 40th annual general assembly. He spoke of the importance of water as a vital resource and a powerful force in the form of flooding during his opening speech in Fredericton on Tuesday, the first day of the three-day event: "Water is going to be such a precious resource. People are going to be fighting over water. And now we have to use our sacred knowledge to safeguard that. Protect that."

Clean, potable water is a scarce commodity in many Indigenous communities across Canada. On the weekend Seamus O'Regan Minister of Indigenous Services, was in the Northern Ontario community of  Attawapiskat to address the water crisis it is facing. 

While O'Regan was there he was confronted by a distraught eight-year-old girl "She was quite shaken and and burst into tears," he told CBC's Morning North. "I went over and comforted her as best I could and said, 'You know, Canada does care about you. We do care about you, and we want to make sure that we do right by you. This sounds like a compassionate response but there have been many assurances and broken promises to Native communities by federal governments for decades. 

Just down the road from Belleville in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory work will soon be getting underway for a new water system for a significant number of households. This will bring to an end the regular boil-water advisories. But again, how can the miserable conditions exist just down the road from a city where everyone takes clean water for granted? 

Perry Bellegarde spoke the truth when he said that water is sacred. It is for Christians and in many other religions. Perhaps First Nations will lead the way into a more wholistic appreciation of water as a source of life. Meanwhile, let's ensure that all Canadians have access to clean water. 

Chief of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte R. Don Maracle. (Photo: John Spitters/Quinte News)

Requiem for a Glacier

When we were in Iceland nearly three years ago we visited a couple of popular glacier national parks as well as spots where glacial ice had spectacularly floated into lagoons by the ocean and out onto the beaches. There were lots of people around in these places, but we also drove in several kilometres on a rough rode to a remote spot where we were essentially alone with a glacier. I found it a moving, spiritual experience as we hiked around a glacial lake to the ice. There is a sense that these are massive living entities and we are very small. There are only a few mentions of snow and ice in the bible, and no references to glaciers, yet these are an exquisite part of Creation

Of course this glacier was on the move, as all are in places around the world, and with increasing speed. The term "glacial" is no longer a synonym for "exceedingly slow" and places such as Glacier National Park in the US may the Park Formerly Known as Glacier in a relatively short period of time. Glaciers are a dying species even though they were never technically alive. Even in Iceland glaciers are endangered. 

Recently Iceland put up a plaque which is sort of grave marker or tombstone to the former Okjökull glacier, which has shrunk to non-glacier status. It is also a challenge to humans regarding the climate crisis. It reads in both Icelandic and English:

“In the next 200 years, all our glaciers are expected to follow the same path. This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it.”



The memorial is dated August 2019 and also carries the words “415ppm CO2”, referring to the record-breaking level of 415 parts per million of carbon dioxide recorded in the atmosphere in May this year.

This is poignant and ironic. Iceland is now almost 100% fossil-free when it comes to generating domestic energy -- an impressive achievement, thanks to thermal power.g. But tourism is now the number one industry with about 2 million visitors annually - six for every Icelander. And how do we all get there and travel around the island? Fossil fuels. Our rental vehicle was diesel-powered. 

Well, perhaps this sign will be a prophetic call to action rather than a death knell, God being our helper. 

Photos from our trip to Iceland 

Can Climate Change be Today's Moon Shot?

Earth from the Moon 1969

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

John 3:16 (NRSV)

I had not realized until a couple of days ago that the moon is essentially Earth shrapnel, as one scientist describes it. At some time in the unimaginably distant past chunks of the Earth's mantle flew off into space and the Moon is the one that has remained in orbit around the Mother Ship. Cool. It is relatively lighter than the Earth because it doesn't have the iron core of our planet. At least that's what I thought I heard. If it is all in error, may the Creator forgive me. 

A number of writers, including John Schwarz in the New York Times, are asking why humanity can't devote the same energy to addressing climate change as we did to the Moon Shot. The entire Apollo project cost $150 billion in today's dollars. 

They're right, from my perspective. If we make such an effort to get to a desolate satellite of the Earth, why not save the beautiful home we are desecrating and rendering inhabitable? We humans are a strange and sinful lot, but apparently God loves us a lot just the same. 

Here are a couple of paragraphs from Schwartz's piece, We Went to the Moon. Why Can’t We Solve Climate Change?

Could a “moon shot” for climate change cool a warming planet?

Fifty years after humans first left bootprints in the lunar dust, it’s an enticing idea. The effort and the commitment of brainpower and money, and the glorious achievement itself, shine as an international example of what people can do when they set their minds to it. The spinoff technologies ended up affecting all of our lives.

So why not do it all over again — but instead of going to another astronomical body and planting a flag, why not save our own planet? Why not face it with the kind of inspiration that John F. Kennedy projected when he stood up at Rice University in 1962 and said “We choose to go to the moon,” and to do such things:

“ … not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win …”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/climate/moon-shot-climate-change.html

Big Lonely Doug and Cathedral of the Trees

Big Lonely Doug, Douglas Fir, Port Renfrew, British Columbia (note the size of the climber)

Emily Carr is one of Canada's foremost painters. A curious soul, she created in relative obscurity on the West Coast, eventually catching the eye of Group of Seven's Lawren Harris later in life and achieving some recognition alongside more famous men. 

Carr was a Christian and while she studied Harris' Theosophy, as well as Buddhism, she  felt the need for Jesus in her own quiet way. She did find the Anglican church stuffy and for most of her adult life she was not a regular churchgoer, claiming that  "the woods are my cathedral."



Odds and Ends -- Emily Carr 1939

I thought of one of Carr's starker images when I read about  British Columbia's decision to protect 54 of the province’s largest and oldest trees The trees are on the University of B.C.’s Big Tree Registry that has identified 347 of the largest of each species in the province. All these trees were at risk of being harvested. While this is a good step it also seems rather pathetic as ecosystems are destroyed by clear-cutting and some of the oldest creatures on the planet are mowed down. Carr was far ahead of her time in painting these clear-cuts which are usually far from the public eye.

I read this week that some of the oldest, largest tree in Ontario have been discovered in Algonquin Park, where I will lead a Cathedral of the Trees worship service next weekend. One hemlock is at least four hundred years old and all the trees are in an area slated for cutting. Let's pray that a plan can be developed to save them. 

God's Creatures, Sea to Sea

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
    In wisdom you have made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
    creeping things innumerable are there,
    living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
    and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.

Psalm 104: 24-26

After yesterday's Groundling blog about declining biodiversity in Canada and the need to dramatically increase protected spaces it seems fitting to follow up with the story of a new coin in Canada which depicts Canadian wildlife. It's obvious that you won't be carrying around this one in your pocket, or using it to buy your summertime strawberry sunday. The Royal Canadian Mint has released its first-ever coin shaped like the country itself at a eye-opening price of $340. — and an Ottawa illustrator came up with the design.

This is the creation of Alisha Giroux is an Ottawa artist and her original design was for the 150th anniversary of Confederation. She playfully created a Canada as it's creatures including a snowy owl in flight for Quebec and a spirit bear for British Columbia. 

I'm a big fan of Psalm 104 because it celebrates many creatures brought into being by the Creator with hardly a mention of humans. It is a lyrical corrective to the hubris of the species which is the biggest threat to all others, especially as world population climbs well above 7 billion humans. 

The Canadian motto "from sea to sea" is taken from another psalm, 72. It's lovely to have a coin which depicts our diversity from sea to sea to sea. Let me know if you get one in your change. 

Alison Giroux

God, Biodiversity, Beauty, & Responsibility

Mergansers on the Moira River

For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,

for the love which from our birth, over and around us lies,

God of all, to you we raise,this our hymn of grateful praise.

A vehicle accident in June meant that we weren't able to put our kayaks or canoe on the roof and head for the water for nearly a month. I fretted during those weeks, especially since there was so much good paddling weather during that time.

We have a new vehicle and have immediately got back out paddling. We were on the Bay of Quinte one morning and the Moira River the next. We encountered no other humans but plenty of critters, I'm happy to report. On the Moira yesterday we say multiple blue herons and kingfishers, frogs and turtles, butterflies and dragonflies, a muskrat and a beaver. There were plenty more birds and bugs and we were content. Actually, content doesn't due justice to the way I felt. These were soul-healing experiences through Creation. 

Kayaking on the Moira

Of course I have no benchmark against which to assess the diversity of these two outings. Were there many more creatures 25 years ago, or 100, or a thousand? We are told by the scientific community that the planet is experiencing catastrophic declines in insect populations. large mammals, biodiversity in general, Despite its size Canada is not immune and a new report suggests that we must act immediately to increase protected areas to maintain and increase diversity.

Before you read a portion of a CBC report today, I encourage you to live and act with hope "for the beauty of the Earth." This is a spiritual challenge as well as a biodiversity crisis. Oh yes, get outside and pay attention to the world your Creator God has made. 

Against a backdrop of shocking declines in the health of the world's ecosystems and species, a new report from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) says the federal government must commit to much more ambitious targets to protect the country's land and water if it's to have a chance of staving off a "nature emergency."

The report says biodiversity is declining faster than at any other time in human history — over one million species worldwide are facing extinction, according to a recent, groundbreaking study. It argues Canada must adopt aggressive measures beyond current targets by promising to protect and restore 30 per cent of all the country's land and inland waters by 2030 — about 330 million hectares.

That proposed goal would almost triple the amount of land currently protected through measures by federal, provincial and Indigenous governments. As of 2016, 11.8 per cent of Canada's land mass had been set aside for conservation.

But the advocacy group says Canada shouldn't stop at 30 per cent — that it should commit to protecting half the country's landmass from development (including extractive industries like logging and oil and gas) at some point over the next century.

Another recent announcement committed federal money to buying at least 200,000 hectares of private land and fresh water in southern Canada, where experts agree nature and wildlife face the greatest pressures.

But even with that financial commitment and a promise to reach the 2020 goal, CPAWS maintains the 17 per cent target is still "woefully below what results of most scientific studies show are necessary to meet widespread conservation goals, such as maintaining viable populations of native species."

"There needs to be a much greater recognition of the magnitude of the problem. The evidence is showing we really need to think on a much bigger scale and make sure we are focused on protecting and restoring enough space for nature to thrive," Woodley said.

"We know what's needed. We really just have to scale up those initiatives and that requires finances, political will and leadership."

Here is the link to the CPAWS report

https://cpaws.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/CPAWS_ParksReport2019_fnl_web2.pdf

New Orleans & the Rising Waters

New Orleans last week

I've mentioned before that we came late --years late-- to the HBO series, Treme (2010-13). It is set in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and has both great acting and great music. The cast is an ensemble and the characters give us a sense of what recovery efforts meant for that unique city. The effects of the storm itself and the catastrophic flooding went far beyond physical damage and multiple deaths. Individuals were traumatized and the social order broke down in a variety of ways explored most effectively in the first season. 



This past weekend Hurricane Barry weakened to a tropical storm and then slipped past southern Lousiana and New Orleans. The warning was that 10 to 20 inches could fall on this area, or 250 to 500 millimetres. If we receive 30 to 40 millimetres it's a deluge. As it was, enough rain fell over a few days to flood historic parts of the city. 

There was a modest amount of 'ligion in the first season of Treme with Mardi Gras and funeral processions and the like. We all need to get religion and understand that addressing climate change and its effects are a God-given responsibility for a planet in peril. The United Nations is warning us that one smaller-scale climate crisis occurs every week now, far more than predicted. We can pray for the storms to pass us by, but God is probably sighing at our unwillingness to act decisively as a form of prayer. 



Treme Funeral Procession

The Hope of Trees

Catalpa in Bloom -- Cobourg Ontario

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, 
the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 (NRSV)

Am I a fan of going to crowded public beaches on a hot summer day? Nope. Do I love my grandchildren and want to spend time with them and the rest of our family? Absolutely. So, we gathered Saturday morning in Cobourg, on the shore of what proved to be an intensely cold Lake Ontario -- it was ocean frigid! The three grandkids, who are 2, 4, and 6 (ish) had a great time in the sand and the water.

Then we moved away from the water and under the shelter of a large maple tree to enjoy our potluck lunch. There the temperature was moderate and there was a slight breeze. Children were lifted up to try hanging from the branches. It was wonderful. 

While we were eating Ruth pointed to another tree across the lawn which was in glorious bloom. Was it a Catalpa or Chesnut, we wondered. It turned out to a huge Catalpa which was late-blooming, perhaps because of proximity to a cold body of water. I stood beneath its canopy and revelled in its beauty. 

We've heard lately that there is enough land on planet Earth to plant a trillion trees, which would be hugely helpful in counteracting the effects of climate change. This seems daunting, but Diana Beresford Kroeger, the Canadian scientist who has written on trees and is the host for the documentary Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees, She encourages each of us to plant a tree each year as a way of achieving this goal. 

Planting trees is uplifting, in every sense of the term. We planted a cherry tree when we moved to Belleville home six years ago. It has tripled in size, but no cherries...until this year! We managed to get to a modest crop before the robins took over, and were so pleased with the outcome. And, hey, robins gotta eat. 

Recently we planted some seeds from a grand American Elm in Trenton, one of the few survivors of the devastating Dutch Elm Disease. Several have germinated,  and while we won't see these trees grow to maturity, or even close, we do this as an act of hope for our grandchildren's generation and beyond. It is also an act of faith, as we choose to be stewards of Creation in all the ways we can. 



American Elm Seedlings

When the Moon Hits Your Eye

O Lord, our Sovereign,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.
     Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
    to silence the enemy and the avenger.

 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?

Psalm 8:1-4 NRSV

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie
That's amore

The July full moon will be Tuesday of this week and it is called the Buck or Thunder Moon...or so the moon people say. I've written before about the many verses in scripture which include the moon, usually as a portent of change and even of God's judgement. Jesus was in Jerusalem for Passover, a moon related festival,  in the days which led to his crucifixion and may have been in Gethsemane under a full moon.

There is a new exhibition, Apollo’s Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art which the New York Times describes as "a testament to the human drive to know and explore, and it quietly affirms the growing influence of visual representations of the moon from the invention of the telescope through the first manned moon landing 50 years ago." 



It sounds fascinating but the exhibition on at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, The Moon: A Voyage through Time, is excellent as well. It explores the religious significance of the moon in Islam and I really enjoyed it. 

It's interesting that a relatively recent human achievement, the lunar landing, has inspired so much reflection on the importance of the moon to science and religion through the ages. We will be in Newfoundland in September for the Harvest Moon and we'll experience daily tides which are the influence of the moon's twice-daily gravitational pull. We won't take for granted the glory of the heavens. 



Georges Méliès’s “Square in the Eye"
 a preparatory drawing for the film “Le Voyage Dans la lune” 
(“A Trip to the Moon”) from 1902, re-created in 1930.
CreditGeorges Méliès/Cinémathèque Française, Paris

Canada's Fossil Men

Canada has a global reputation for being a progressive society in many respects. We regularly score in the top ten of surveys on the best countries on the planet. As always I'll note that Indigenous peoples are less than impressed by these surveys, given disparities, and others argue that we have paid too high a price for our prosperity because of our dependence on fossil fuels for revenue, both provincially and federally.

At the moment we have a raft of white guys in leadership who to my mind are fossils themselves, stubbornly committed to an economic model based on resource extraction and damn the environmental consequences. These premiers and prime minister wannabe toss "climate action plans" at us that are not plans at all, setting no targets and proposing fantasy scenarios which belie their woofing about fiscal responsibility. Here in Ontario the Ford government is dismantling environmental protection, cancelling green projects at great cost to the taxpayer, and spending millions on fighting a federal carbon tax (they've already lost the first round.) Perhaps the slogan should be changed to "open to mismanagement".

I realize that many people who "live in the real world" figure that tree-huggers, including lots of people of faith, don't understand how the economy ticks. My biblical faith requires a commitment to "home economics" with an awareness that the root for economy and ecology are the same. The Greek word oikos relates to the family, family property, and the home. Wake up guys.



Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, UCP leader Jason Kenney, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Big Little Lies & the Whole Truth

The air has gone out of the tires of several TV series after amazing initial seasons; Killing Eve, The Handmaid's Tale, and Big Little Lies come to mind. BLL has a great cast, and first time around it addressed the disturbing realities of domestic abuse, an often hidden problem because of shame and concerns about breaking up families. Season 1 reminded that this can happen anywhere with anyone, including those who are wealthy and give the appearance of happiness and stability. Season 2 feels more like "the real housewives of Malibu" and hardly any character is likeable. Not even this year's addition, Meryl Streep, can save the story.



I did appreciate the episode in which a second grader has what turns out to be a panic attack in the classroom. While her parents wonder whether it is the stress from financial turmoil and bickering in the home, the big issue is climate change. Her school is making an effort to educate children about the implications of their own actions and what the consequences will be. A child psychologist named Dr. Little Bo Beep discovers that the girl is terrified.  

Later there is a school assembly in which entitled parents vent their anger until mother Madeline, played by Reese Witherspoon, takes to the stage and weepily, half-coherently, speaks about how to talk to kids about difficult subjects.

Our kids are afraid. They’re afraid to go to school; they’re afraid they’re gonna get shot. We don’t prepare them. We fill their heads full of happy endings and happy stories and lies. We have to tell the children that life is an illusion and things don’t work out sometimes. You can’t tell them part of the truth. You have to tell the whole truth.

I thought it was excellent and a reminder that adults are often as confused and fearful as children about a lot of stuff, and often in denial. The amount of venom launched by adults toward climate activist teen Greta Thunberg astonishes me. Every day we hear another report about a planet in crisis, yet a 16-year-old is the problem here?

Maybe we should all be passing out in our version of the cloakroom. Not long ago our six-year-old grandson was teary because he didn't want to be eating plastic every day. His Mom comforted him and wondered where he'd heard about this (apparently adults consume the equivalent of two credit cards worth of plastic every week!) Should he know about this at age six? I don't really want to know about it pushing 65, but that doesn't mean it will go away by denying it.

There's never a hint of religion or spiritual hope in BLL and certainly not part of this episode. It is my faith which keeps me hopeful for the future of Earth, and for the future of my grandkids. Maybe there is a conversion episode if BLL coming up?

Bears, God's Choir, and Keji

We've enjoyed many wonderful rambles at the Keji Seaside Adjunct, a detached portion of Kejimkujik National Park near Port Mouton, Nova Scotia. This is a Canadian gem of a park, one which has become increasingly popular through the years.

When we were staying nearby last October we would get up early, be the first to arrive in the morning, and walk for hours without seeing another soul. The souls we were quite willing to forego were the bears, which we never saw, but had left enough scat on the trails that we could have sculpted a life-size model. We sang and even prayed our way through areas of thicket near the sea beaches in the hope we wouldn't scare up a bruin. We laughed but it was definitely nervous laughter.



Still, we were surprised to see that the park was closed on the Canada Day Weekend because bears were foraging in numbers along the shoreline, close to trails. They rummage in the "wrack" the seaweed which is home to maggots and other insect goodies. This year berries are late so the bears have stayed longer along the coast.

What I appreciate is that this is being done more for the wellbeing of the bears than humans. This area is now a remarkable habitat for many creatures and while humans love it, so do other forms of life. The news release says:

"By reducing the potential of bear-human encounters through the guidelines and closures, Parks Canada is encouraging natural black bear behaviour and reducing the likelihood of risky behaviour which can happen when bears become habituated to humans."

Of course we want humans to be safe from harm in possible encounters. And we would have been devastated if we couldn't have hiked there, which we did several times over the course of a week, including on my birthday. Still, "all God's creatures have a place in the choir" has to mean something in practical terms.

Turtle Rescue 101

We went for a local cycle this morning, first along the Bay of Quinte (the trail is still flooded) and then up the Moira River to the 401. Along the way we saw half a dozen blue herons, ospreys, frogs, rabbits, a fox, and a mess of turtles.

One of those turtles was in danger of becoming a mess of road kill as it made its way across a busy Highway 2. We realized that drivers were narrowly avoiding it so we stopped and I walked into the intersection with helmet on and lights ablazing. Another passerby saw what I was up to, so he headed for the turtle while I made like Moses, addressing traffic. Why did the turtle cross the road? To get to the river, thanks to the guy with a big grin and hardly any teeth. Someone rolled down his window and called out thanks, then we were on our way.


As we got closer to home I noticed a snapping turtle attempting to lay her eggs in an abandoned lot, and it looked like she'd made a few unsuccessful attempts at getting through the rubble. They may be slow, but they are eternal optimists.

We human residents have certainly made survival for these other ancient creatures of Turtle Island a challenge. Nearly all the turtle species of the province are in decline, so it matters to help even one fulfill its goal of procreation. The Earth is the Lord's, and all that's in it, including turtles.