Moving Day: Celebrating a Québécois Tradition

It’s a cool fact that July 1st has a long history in the province of Québec as Moving Day. As you will read below, leases in Quebec used to end on April 30th, much to the chagrin of parents of school-aged children. In 1974, a law made all leases signed on April 30th of that year valid until June 30. For many in la belle province Moving Day has been July 1st since that time. CBC cited that Hydro-Québec switched over 120,000 accounts for July 1st, 2004!
(See http://www.cbc.ca/montreal/features/movingday/ ).

A Wikipedia entry explains that Moving Day has its origins in the laws governing the seigneurial system. Seigneurs could not evict tenants before May 1st, around the time the snow melted (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_Day_(Quebec)). Sounds kind almost thoughtful, doesn’t it?

Is it because I love Montréal that I am moving for the third summer in a row?

Moving is acknowledged as a major stressor in a human’s life. I’m thinking I could be a case study. If only we were back in the days of travois or ice sledge, I know I would very quickly have my belongings narrowed down to only the most useful and essential items (skins; tools of stone, wood or bone; and cooking utensils). Our household items have been in storage for two years, and guess what I’ve missed the most??? (No, I said guess… answer later). What you would miss, I wonder, if your goods and chattel were separated from you for a long period of time. Let me know!

I will soon be rejoined with my beloved X and I’ve got some cool help lined up, so maybe I’ll just be having a little fun on my Moving Day this July 1st.

I’m signing off for a little while, but Canadians I wish you a Happy Canada Day. And for those of you who, like me, are celebrating the day in a Québécois manner: Bonne chance avec vos déménagements et amusez-vous bien!
lian goodall

Moving Day 1930s, from the McCord Museum collection, Montreal

Murder on Paul Street: Plant a Tree

Photo by Alecs.y, Wiki Commons

I thought she was nearly 100 years old. She stood and a house and a half tall. It took all day to kill her.

I know trees have life cycles, and this one’s life expectancy was normally about sixty years. She had a big split in her massive trunk and so, for human safety she had to die. But she wasn’t ‘put down,’ drifting off in dreamy seconds like a beloved family pet. It took all day to kill her—sawing, slashing, severing and then grinding up her limbs—all noisy, painful (for me, at least) day.

She was a stunning Catalpa or ‘bean’ tree, half way through her blossom cycle. Her beautiful white, frilly-edged wide-mouthed blossoms were only starting to descend from her broad-leafed crown. Only yesterday, I had looked at them on the ground, velvet yellow and deep purple throats beckoning to pollinators only a short time before, just starting to melt into beige brown curls on the green lawn.

When I picked up the blossom and held it in my hand wondrously, there was not even an orange ‘X’ spray-painted on the tree’s trunk to warn me to prepare myself, to say good-bye, to say, “Thank you Lady Catalpa. Thank you for your shade, your beauty and your sheltering branches. You will be missed.”

Will she be replaced?

Since I moved to Picton, Ontario, Canada, I have seen more than a half dozen of these elegant elders lose their lives in our neighbourhood alone. And have they been replaced? Has one home owner set a seed or sapling in the earth? I don’t think so, but I hope I am wrong.

I grew up in a family of tree planters (fruit trees, hard wood, and a Christmas tree plantation), so naturally I am surprised that people do not often make this simple life-giving action.

Perhaps people just need a reminder. So here it is:
Plant a tree. Plant a tree today, a beautiful tree. Please.
lian goodall

Note: According to Wikipedia Catalpa or bean trees grow 12–18 metres (39–59 ft) tall and 6–12 metres (20–39 ft) wide. I (and many other children) used to have a lot of fun playing with their long beans pods.

My Son is Rich

My son is rich—in extruded and moulded plastic that is.
I have just spent the morning in sorting and cleaning his toys in preparation to move. As I have gone over his weighty and extensive stash I have come to the conclusion that something has got to change in the world —our love of plastic and plastic toys.

That is not to say that plastic is a bad thing. Some toys are only possible or affordable because they have plastic parts. Like sugar, it has its purpose. But like sugar today, plastic is easily overused. I have just packed two tubs, three laundry baskets, and two three-drawer units of mostly plastic. My son is only three, what riches will he have amassed in another two years?

My friends and family are kind and thoughtful. They wish to honour Amzie on special occasions. They (and I) go into stores and say, “That’s cool! Bet he could use that!” And he does, repeatedly. Plastic parts break-off easily. Most of his plastic baby toys are either landfill-fodder (the ones with easily broken pieces) or passed on to other children (the better made toys). You won’t be surprised to read that only a few wooden toys have survived to make it into his Baby Keepsake box.

Plastic is clever. It melts and twists into the most winsome forms: bug jars, binoculars, tools and other irresistible products. I need to ask myself (and suggest you ask yourself), “Does this exist in another material?” I wish I had given him a ‘real’ small-sized shovel rather than the plastic one that broke in two almost immediately. I need to learn to rethink too: especially when I’m in a store faced with a razzle-dazzle of colours. Perhaps I will prepare my list ahead of time.

Plastic is affordable and easily-available. I do not intend that anyone should spend money on my son’s birthday. One of the few persons who asks me what I would like Amzie to have as a present, is my sister. I suggested she give him something used. One of his favourite pastimes has been putting together the floor-puzzle his cousins used to play with. I’ll list a few ideas at the end of this post.

Plastic is often ’easy’ and soon boring. The ‘bells and whistles’ on an extruded plastic toy are flashy and wondrous—at first. However, they do everything and there is not much left for the child to add in play. Looking around the room this morning, my three-year-old son has played with an old telephone wire (his ‘rope’), five John Deere metal tractors and a small metal tow truck with which he slept. Over the long term, he seems to prefer the vehicles to which he adds the sounds and invents the actions they will do.

What does he want to offer as gifts? When I asked Amzie what he wanted to give a friend for her birthday, his answer was immediate, “A tree. A red one.”And what does he want to wrap up for his Daddy for Father’s Day? “A fish.”

My Kid Gift-giving Ideas
I’m sure others have ideas to add to this list.

Books
I became a children’s author because people gave me books. Good ones.
Used toys
Clay
Books
Amzie reads to himself every day. Perhaps that is because I have read to him every day.
Clay or homemade play dough
Museum/park passes
Homemade toys
These needn’t be elaborate (i.e., a clothespin parachute). An Internet search or a look at books at your library might yield some do-able ideas.
Time
Your time is the best. Spend a few hours showing him how to throw a baseball, ride his bike, reading stories, going fishing, playing music. It’s all good.
Magazines
Party help
Can you face paint? Tie balloons? Bake a cake? Birthday party help makes a cool present.
Books
Did I mention books? How about great Canadian books? Ask your bookseller or read reviews in Canadian Children’s Book News. Support the creators of our zesty, yet somehow fragile, industry. Oh yeah, buy my books and those of all my friends.
© lian goodall 2010

Moving!

We’re moving! An increasing excitement of boxes piled high and higher, towers for the three-year old to explore and topple.
Where to?
Just down the road. How could we leave gorgeous Prince Edward County (PEC), Ontario.
Our hats will shortly hang at 3 Queen Street, Picton.

Haven’t been to PEC yet?
Come see why we can’t yet leave this place! Once here, you won’t want to leave!
lg