(Edited to Add: Well, I did my duty and I feel fairly pleased about it. I voted around 7:30, and there actually a steady stream of people showing up, clutching cards in their hand. It was a good atmosphere. I wonder what it says that the song that was playing on my iPod was You Can’t Always Get What You Want as I left the car to go vote, but make of that what you will. It was a better choice, at least, than the previous selection, which was CCR’s Bad Moon Rising. )
Erin and I took the kids to Monarch Woods yesterday. Fall has snuck its way into our consciousness, but fortunately we managed to step outside to see the colourful leaves before they fell. Vivian was quite happy to troop through the “deep dark woods.”
I’ve almost been too busy to think about politics this week, much less write about it. I’ll be voting this evening, and right now the race seems too close to call. Tempers have freyed in certain camps, and some bloggers are posting dire predictions of the apocalypse if, alternately, Stephen Harper or Stephane Dion end up sitting in the prime minister’s chair.
So I just want to remind these individuals that, whatever happens today, whatever the results, from Conservative majority to Liberal minority, the sun will come up tomorrow. And the day after that. And the day after that. This nation is resilient — we are resilient. We survived Premier Harris. We survived Premier Rae. We can survive Prime Minister Harper, Prime Minister Dion and even Prime Minister Layton. The people who choose to vote the way they do, even in opposition to you, are good people, don’t forget that.
Indeed, this is my assignment for the fifth and final meme on the Canadian political blogosphere this election: I want you to pick a blogger or somebody with whom you are frequently in disagreement. Now write a post about what you respect most about that blogger. I count socialists and libertarians, Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats among my friends, and there’s a reason for that that’s outside me and that’s this: they’re all basically decent human beings inside. If we didn’t allow for a diverse range of opinion and thought, then what would the point of us being individuals in a democracy?
In other news, this is your last chance to make your second round prediction in the Bow. James Bow election pool. This round will close as soon as the polls close in Atlantic Canada. So far it seems like most of the participants in round one are letting their guesses ride, which I find to be a bold move that I salute, but perhaps also an indication of how close this election is. Anyway, I will tabulate the results tomorrow afternoon, once Elections Canada posts something approximating final numbers. It may take a little time to get the data up, so be patient; I hope to have the final results posted and the winners announced on Thursday.
In other news, I finished my non-fiction manuscript late last night: 5000 words on the invisible forces of our planet (weather, plate tectonics, et cetera) and the technology we use to see them. Even though I did pull almost an all-nighter, I’m quite proud of the result. I’ll let you know when the book, which I’ve unofficially called The Hidden Earth but will probably have a different title, is available to order.
I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving this past weekend, and best of luck to all in the coming days.
Monarch Woods
Here are some more photographs Erin and I took of our walk:
| When I was snapping photographs of our walk, Erin told me not to take any pictures of her from the back. “No butt shots,” she tells me. So what does she do when she gets the camera? |
| Vivian on her throne (a tree trunk cut down into a chair). |
| Erin, carrying Nora. |
| More fall colours in the canopy. |
| Vivian running in her colourful splendour. |
Screw the Canadian Election: Apple Unleashes New MacBooks Today!!