How Community and a Tree-Climbing Cat Cured the Post-Election Blues!

It's hard to believe that it was more than a month ago since I've posted here...but fortunately Myriam has kept everyone up-to-date with what's happening with her beautiful pics of Pacific Gardens in bloom and its newest residents!

I could tell by the number of viewers that politics is not the favourite topic of those who read this blog, so that's a cautionary note for me that not everybody shares my passion for this topic.

I will say that I was both happy and unhappy with what happened, mostly unhappy.  I spent a few days trying to avoid feeling depressed about the election results, without much success.

It didn't help that Nanaimo city council had voted five to four to destroy Colliery Dam Park, one of the jewels in this city and certainly of the Harewood neighbourhood.

So I decided to give up and just wallow in negativity and get it out of my system.The best way to do this, I thought, would be to catch up on all the housework I had neglected during the election campaign.

I tussled with the dust bunnies, tossed out the garbage, sorted the recycling, and scrubbed the ring out of the bathtub. And you know what?  I started feeling better.

It was a case of if you can't clean up the world, you can at least clean up the grunge in the kitchen sink. And while I was vacuuming the grit out of the patio doors, I noticed something.

It was a beautiful spring day, and outside my window, the kids were swinging on the hammock and playing on the lush green grass, and the flowers were starting to bloom again in Susana's garden.

Some robins had built a nest in one of the old apple trees, and their song filled the air of the early evening, fragrant with the smell of grass and blossoms.  But something even  better happened - although it didn't seem that way at first.

A few months go Mykl and Laura had acquired a little tabby kitten, who is now at the stage of prowling outside.  The cat saw those robins, and immediately made a bee-line for the tree.

Up the trunk the feline scooted, tail switching, while the robins flew about in terror trying to protect their nest. The little cat went higher and higher until it was almost at the top of the tree, and then the robins began dive-bombing it.

The cat couldn't go down, and the robins wouldn't give up.  What to do? I rushed outside and got Mykl, who with the help of Kaj, put up the long, tall ladder we use for pruning and gleaning.

Mykly quickly clambered up the tree, and stretched his arm out as far as he could to haul down the recalcitrant kitty, who, despite the dive-bombing birds, was still determined to get at that nest.

So what was it about this little tableau that heartened me?  The coming together of the community members to rescue a cat up a tree?  The determination of the robins to protect their young?

I'm not sure. But it made me happy, and banished those post-election blues.

Kathryn

There Goes The Neighbourhood!

I was all set to write about what a wonderful neighbourhood we have here in Harewood, with friendly people, a caring community, and safe streets.

To label us as "Scarewood" - which crafty real estate agents had done in years past to persuade people to buy houses in the more lucrative north end - was not right.

This was a peaceful, stable, working-class, pedestrian-oriented neighbourhood, perfect for families, with little or no crime.

Then Godzilla came to Seventh Street, and everything changed.  A burnt-out helicopter and a car in flames, trains carrying nuclear missiles, army tanks -  yikes!

Godzilla, the radioactive monster last seen terrorizing Tokyo, had come to Harewood as the star in a movie that is filming here in Nanaimo.

However, in best Harewood fashion, this became a community-building experience. Crowds of people from the neighbourhood came out to watch the mayhem.

It was a thrill to watch the helicopter being burnt over and over again, and see the members of the army tackle the fierce - but invisible to us - beast.

Some of the residents of Pacific Gardens even got to be interviewed on TV. Soma, our nine-year-old, talked about how cool it was, and Susana, how exciting.

Of course, Godzilla's visit generated the usual e-mail debate at Pacific Gardens.  Should we invite him to our Thursday night potluck? And if he came, would we have enough food?

Of course, as one cynic pointed out, we might be the ones on the menu - this was Godzilla, after all.

Maybe Harewood should change its name to Hollywood. We always knew our neighbourhood deserved a starring role!

Kathryn