04:45 - 02.05.07
Mayday
Our city is guaranteed 100 consecutive frost-free days each year. Just over three months. We have a lot of other frost-free days interspersed throughout the entire year - they are called chinook days. Unfortunately, there is no way of predicting when they will occur - could be December, could be March. Sometimes only one day and sometimes a couple of weeks. Therefore during my little planting ceremony today I had to be content with demonstrating intent, rather than actually planting a garden. I had a bag of potting soil and those packets of seeds I bought last round of grocery shopping. Mixed the two up with cayenne pepper to keep the squirrels from devouring the seeds before I even re-entered the house. That mixture was spread evenly in two protected spots where there are enough sunshine hours so that those seeds might even germinate. Maybe. I chose hardy, local plants so at least they have some chance to survive and thrive. Right? Also got brave enough to tackle the rose bushes. Some of the stems are taller than me, but I was armed (handed) with gloves this time. I managed to corral the lanky and leafy stems in a couple of plant cages, so maybe they'll be able to produce with greater ease. Truth is I bought them at a hardware store on sale years ago. I didn't really hold out much hope of those two bushes surviving more than one season given how bitter our winters can be. It has been one of those pleasant surprises that I get two or three rounds of blooms off them each year, even when they are left to their own devices.
I received messages from a couple of the women who worked for me during elections. Ones who still want to keep up the friendship even without any advantage to them. That has been one of the nice surprises with respect to the posting of my electoral district. It echoes the experience I had when I ran in a by-election for city council many years ago. One of the most painful lessons was finding how many of the people I was working with as a volunteer were "friends", because of the benefits that they could obtain through using me or my name. Some approached with lists of goodies they expected if I wanted their "support" during that run for office. I had only run in the by-election because so many of my volunteer projects were in very vulnerable stages and I wanted to see them through to completion when the alderman who had been supporting them quit the position abruptly. I explained that the goodies that each person could expect were exactly the same ones that were available without me being elected - that is completion of those volunteer projects. They would serve and enhance the quality of life for decades to come. At that point, a lot of people backed away or went and bargained for a deal with one of the other candidates. It was disappointing to see how many of the people I thought were friends weren't, but it also removed a lot of people from my life who had been feeding off my energy without helping in any real sense with respect to those projects I was working on. I needed to see that truth, but it wasn't easy to look at. Naive, I know. A number of "supporters" also only really wanted access to all my networks and contacts so they could use them to promote their own enterprises. What many found out was that those contacts really weren't accessible to anyone else but me because I had built up my network based on delivering what was asked of me and because I was trusted. When I contacted those people they would respond in kind for me, but not for people using my name. That was a surprise too. At least I had gained the respect of people who I also admired. That meant a lot to me. So do the people staying in touch now.
Anyway it's very late and I have a lot of work to complete tomorrow. Talk with you later dear diary. Good night.
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