I can't help it

I have a dental appointment first thing Monday. No, I'm not stressed about that. My teeth are in pretty good shape, a bit of staining from coffee and wine aside. Plus my dental hygienist is awesome! I've been seeing her now since some time in the mid-90's, and I'd bear her children if she hadn't already done that for herself. Best hands in the business. I'm going to cry when she retires.

No, I'm flashing on the last dental appointment I had, when working for my current manager. That was the day Penn West spilled it's guts all over downtown, demonstrating they had not one effing clue about what they were doing. That was traumatic for all involved, even me.

Now they've moved on, as have I. Still, I can't help thinking of it. I hope I haven't triggered anything for my manager. If so, sorry, and I'll buy lunch next time. I've no reason to think a repeat is remotely likely, but then, one never expects the Spanish Inquisition either.

Unless you live in the USA, they're firing up their own version of the inquisition. Instead of heretics, they're looking for women, people with anything other than pure white skin, people who go to the wrong church or none at all, people who seek to cross the border going in, and people with enough functional brain cells to string together the endless stream of lies from the Trump kleptocracy and decide to vote against them, if there's another election. All those people are being assaulted in any number of ways, mainly to soothe the egos of those who have been running things since forever (mainly old white men) and who are terrified of sharing the pie.

I digress. I've been trying not to follow the news from the USA, but it makes me nervous. What happens there will happen here, unless we stop it. There's a foothold of stupidity established in Ontario. The voters were rightly pissed at the Liberal government, but I think they cut their nose and head off to spite their body. Or something.

Here, we have Jason Kenney. I saw him in action on the weekend. I first saw our local councillor, Diane Colley-Urquhart. She showed up at the pancake breakfast, flipped pancakes, and settled in with the rest of the volunteers. The wind was making it hard to keep the pancake griddle going, and they were working with tables and foil wrap trying to shelter the burners. She was right in there working as part of the team. She stayed till after the event's published end time. I saw her working on a coffee with one hand, spatula in the other, but I didn't see her eat.

Kenney showed up with an entourage, flipped a few pancakes, posed for photos, shook a few hands, worked the line up a bit, and disappeared. That is exactly what we are getting from him as an elected rep, the 'Leader of the Official Opposition' no less. Except he doesn't participate in debates and yanks the whole caucus out. Recently he complained about funding for police, yet voted against the NDP increasing funding substantially. He is only in this for himself. I think he's biding his time while Trudeau is in office, figuring it would sully his image to oppose him.

But opposing the NDP, and restoring the "natural order of things" in Alberta, that seems to be something he can tackle. He's done better than anyone has expected, but then, he's not actually a stupid man. He sees where the opening is, and what buttons he can push to motivate a group of people into becoming his base. And boy, is he good at pushing buttons.

As one of the volunteers asked, when they saw me getting some photos of Diane, had I managed to get any of Kenney? "No," I answered, "I didn't want to risk corrupting my camera sensor."

On to happier things.

The first day lilies are out! These yellow ones were glowing in the morning sun.

The roses were doing pretty well in the morning sun too.