Hello to our Friends!
This is Lisa writing to you from Woodstock in the month of June.
It is so wonderful to hear from you. We enjoy your letters so much, and enjoy learning about your lives in Harar and some of the history of your country, Ethiopia. I loved hearing about mangoes in your last letter! The pictures you sent were amazing! I really enjoy using mangoes in my cooking but I must admit it is hard to get good mangoes so far away from their source!
Two foods that are very popular this time of year in Ontario are strawberries and asparagus. This is the time of year when they are ready to be picked, and people tend to eat a lot of those foods while they are so plentiful, fresh and delicious. Of course, by the end of June, I am very tired of asparagus, because I have eaten so much! We are able to buy most fruits and vegetables all year long at our grocery stores, but most of those foods (at least in the winter when it’s not our growing season) are imported from other countries. There is a big difference between food brought from far distances and food grown close to home. There is a growing trend to “eat local” as much as possible and not buy produce that has travelled so far, as a way to reduce pollution caused by air travel and sea freight. However, we cannot grow foods like bananas and pineapples and mangoes, for example, in Canada, so we do need to import them. Bananas are very popular and are very good for one’s health. Do you enjoy eating bananas? I do! I try to eat several bananas each week for my health.
Today is Sunday, June 11, and it is a cloudy day. We had some rain showers earlier this morning and expect some rain tonight, too. The rain is very welcome. It has been extremely dry here for many weeks. Farmers have planted their crops, but without rain, there is worry that some of the crops will not survive. I hope that the rain we get tonight will make a difference.
As you may know, Canada is a huge country with large areas of forests. Our forests are beautiful, with a mix of evergreen trees, like pine and spruce, and deciduous trees, which shed their leaves every fall. I know that Shelley has described the beautiful colours of the leaves in the fall. Our forested areas do not have many people living in them. Forests are mainly home to wildlife, like deer, bears, foxes, rabbits, and many types of birds. Canada is going through a bad wildfire season right now, with forest fires burning in northern Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, northern British Columbia, and even in Nova Scotia, a province that hasn’t had many fires in the past. While forest fires are a natural part of the cycle of nature, this year is very extreme and some of the fires are getting close to communities where people live. People are having to leave their homes in some areas to go to safety. There are no fires near us – we don’t have large areas of forest in Southern Ontario – the forests are much farther north. Rain is helping, so we all hope that the fires will be under control soon. If it stays hot and dry, though, people will not be allowed to build any fires anywhere this summer. Campfires are popular when people go camping, which many people do on their summer vacation.
Fire fighters from other countries have come to Canada to help control the fires. It is wonderful to have the support from our neighbour, the United States, and other countries. When other countries experience natural disasters like fires and floods, Canadian troops and first responders go to help them. It is so important to help each other as a global community. There was a wonderful newspaper story last week about a small town in Nova Scotia that hosted a lobster dinner for a group of fire fighters from the United States. One of them was celebrating his 60 th birthday, so the community decided to have a party for him and to thank the fire fighters for their help. (Do you know what lobsters are?)
I have two sons who are in their thirties. I remember when my sons were small, they called June their “happy month”, for two reasons: one, both of their birthdays are in June; and two, the school year ends at the end of June and school children then have two months off (July and August) for summer vacation.
The first big event of the summer holidays is Canada Day, which falls on July 1 st every year. Canada Day celebrates Confederation, the day that Canada became its own country. On July 1, 1867, the British Parliament passed the British North American Act, which created a “dominion” of Canada within the British Empire. The four provinces that joined together in 1867 were Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. That means that Canada is only 156 years old this year! Ethiopia’s history as a country is so much older!
Other provinces joined Confederation over the years. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, which means that the British monarch (King or Queen) has power to govern Canada, although in fact, the Queen or King gives that power to our elected governments. Our current Prime Minister is Justin Trudeau. You may have heard that Britain has a new king, Charles III. His coronation was held recently and was quite a spectacular event. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last year after more than 70 years as Queen of the United Kingdom.Canada Day, July 1, is a national holiday and people get the day off work. Many cities, including Woodstock, will hold events during the day, such as concerts, lots of food, crafts and activities for children, and then beautiful fireworks displays at night. Fireworks light up the night sky with so many beautiful colours. They are noisy, though. My dogs are scared of the noise! Oh well, I just cuddle them more.
Just a small personal note, this July 1 is my husband’s and my 40 th wedding anniversary! We will have been married 40 years! It is hard to imagine how quickly those years have passed, but I am very grateful to have had such a wonderful husband all of these years. He thinks he is very lucky, too!
June is the month when baby birds leave their nests and learn to be on their own and to fly. We had a robin’s nest on top of a light fixture on our back porch. For a couple of weeks in May, once the baby robins had cracked out of the eggs, the mother and father robin were busy gathering worms for the baby birds to eat. One day last week, I looked outside and the two baby robins were not in the nest. They stayed nearby, though, and the mother and father stayed close to them. Apparently, the father robin stays with the babies in safe spots in trees for about 2 weeks, until the babies are strong enough to fly well and get their own food. I guess the mother robins are the ones to get their food while they’re in the trees.
June is one of my favourite months. I enjoy seeing the baby birds and hearing the birdsong. I am happy for school children who are looking forward to summer vacation and are having fun at end-of-school events like Track and Field Days. I know that all of you work very hard at your studies, but I am sure you look forward to some time off school, too. I enjoy going for long walks outside, before the summer gets too hot, and I enjoy playing golf. I like to plant flowers in my back yard, too, so that we will have something beautiful to look at all summer. I remember all the beautiful plants you have at your home. Do you know what we call someone who has talent for growing healthy plants? We say that they have a “green thumb”. Tesfa must have a green thumb!
Well, that is all the news I have this month. Your Friends here in Canada think about you often and are so happy to get your letters and hear your news.
Wishing you much love on behalf of Friends Ink,
Lisa