The big debate......

I was reading "Yahoo News" on my computer when I came across this article......

"Police say women would face charges for refusing to remove niqab for mugshots"

This article and debate has arisen in Montreal Quebec. The Montreal Police are saying that if anyone women refuses to remove her niqab for mugshots, or passports or in situation where it is imparitive that a complete facial is required charges would be laid.

In the aticle Farhat Mirza,vice president of the Council for the advancement of Muslim professionals in Montreal seen in the picture above believes this to be ludicrus. Farhat states that there are only "25" women in Montreal who wear the niqab and that the police are going overboard in requiring there be a law to require women to remove thier niqab.

The first thing that comes to my mind is how does this woman know for certain that there are only 25 women in all of Montreal that wear the niqab? Who's to says that at any given time there couldn't be a woman visiting from another country wearing her niqab and a situation might require her to remove it for safety purposes.

This article brings to light a very delicate subject of religious practises and the law. The niqab has been a flash point in an ongoing debate in Quebec about how far people should go to accommodate religious minorities.

I remember one of my first experiences with accommodating religious minorities was when the Sikhs were asked to remove their turbans when they entered a Canadian Legion. The rule at legions is that you do not wear a hat of any kind in respect for their fallen comrades. That was a very heated debate. Then the next thing I heard was about Sikhs wanting to wear their ceremonial swords into court houses and courtrooms. Again the Sikh community believe it is their religious right to wear these garments. The next came when the Sikh community wanted to wear their turban as part of their Royal Canadian Mounted Police uniform. After much debate it was decided that they could wear their turban instead of the hat worn by all other RCMP officers.

So now we are faced with another situation....should woman of the Muslim faith who wear the naqib be made to remove it for security purposes? To date there has not been an incident that it has been required. Montreal police are requesting a policy be established just in case the need should arise.

I have mixed feelings on all of these issues. We don't allow people to bring knives or guns into a courthouse or courtroom. Although the Sikh say it is a religious reason for them to carry their sword...I am not implying that they would attempt to use it...but it is a weapon...a weapon that could be used by anyone. This person could end up being assaulted and their sword taken away by the assailant thus putting others in jeopardy. As for allowing Sikhs to wear a turban instead of the RCMP standard uniform hat....again....the turban could end up being a weapon used against the officer or someone else....also...and I know this might not go over well....but if you know that this is the uniform of the organization that you want to join...then you take it for what it is.. and you can make a choice of whether you would like to join or not. Don't ask the organization to change for you because of your religious beliefs. That's like saying...I really want to be a pilot...but I have really bad eyesight but I wear corrective lenses so I should be able to fly a 747....I don't think so! Why should any organization have to change their rules because of your religious beliefs? You make the decision to join that organization or not.

There are days when I just don't want to have to wear the uniform I wear at work...but those are the rules...if I don't like them...there's the door.

It is my understanding that rules are put in place for the safety and protection of self and others. If the rules do not meet those criteria then by all means challenge them.

In the case of the niqab...I think there is a safety issue for the officers involved and possibly for public safety.

Interesting case.....I wonder how it will turn out.

Our day in Tofino and Ucuelet

My daughter came for a visit a little while ago and we went to Tofino and Ucuelet. It was a cool but glorious day. We went to Long beach where I danced in the waves and did a cartwheel or two....then off to Tofino where we went in a 4 seater plane and saw a pod of Grey whales. The coastline is simply spectacular.

After our plane ride we went for lunch and then took a little tour around town. We made a couple of stops at some look out spots and then made our way to Ucuelet.

Ucuelet is a quaint little village actually I believe they call it "district". The population is about 1500 in the off season. During fishing season which is tourist season the population swells. Ucuelet offers so much for the outdoors person. Fishing is awesome, hiking, kayaking, canoeing and so much more. We went on this most amazing trail in Ucuelet it was partial rain forest and open ocean views...simply amazing.

Here are a few photos of our day.......

One of the many wonderful sights on the road to Tofino and Ucuelet...

Lake Helen...again just another breathtaking sight on the road to the Westcoast

Long Beach Vancouver Island, and the Pacific Ocean

I have this thing about dancing in the waves when I get to Long Beach...I realize how powerful that ocean is and how small I am in comparison....so I thumb my nose at it and do my cartwheel...actually I find it all so very exhilarating and breathtaking....and thank god I have an opportunity to enjoy it.I took this photo and many many more when we were up in the plane....I was just in awe of the ruggedness of the shoreline.

When you click on this photo you will see all the sea lions on the rock....

In the photo you will see a pod of 4 Grey WhalesThis is one of the Grey's spouting and another coming to the surface...if you look to the bottom right of this photo you will see a boat...those are sightseeing trips you can take to get really up close and personal with these massive mammals.

Another wonderful bay and oasis on the coastlineA view of the Village of Tofino from our little plane

Tofino is also the end of the Trans Canada Highway....now we are off to Ucuelet(pronounced U q let)

Near the beginning of the Trail in UcueletFrom this vantage point you are looking southwest....towards the Broken Island Group

From this view the next land is Hawaii...there were so many wonderful sights to see and the photos truly don't do it justice. But these memories not only were capture on film but are etched in my mind forever.....near the end of the trail was this really cool tree that reminded me of a swing...being the big kid that I am...I just had to climb up on it....
Well thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the photos....we had a great day.....one I will never forget!

Saturday Scavenger Photo Hunt

This week's theme is "Fresh". Now I really had to think about this one...

Well this seemed a natural choice...fresh strawberries on a strawberry mousse cake I made...

Or fresh dungeness crab right out of the ocean....mmm they were good...boiled up right then in a big pot of boiling sea salt over a camp fire.....they were so tender you could crack the shells with your hands...Or fresh mountain run off water....

If you would like to join in on the fun please check out tnchick for all the instructions. Happy Hunting all!

Sky Watch Friday

Sunset over Hornby Island, British Columbia
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SkyWatch Friday

Trust....

~As the Captain puts his trust into the navigational guides, so must I trust my heart.~
~ Mary Anne Cumming~

Trust ~ 1 a : assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something b : one in which confidence is placed(Merriam-Webster).

When I have trust in a person I think Merriam-Webster describes it best. The assured reliance on the character and one in which confidence is placed speaks volumes to me.

When it comes to our children I think trust comes naturally as does unconditional love. Others I believe have to earn that trust. When our children do something to break that trust we try and teach them the importance of trust and why it shouldn't be broken. I always told my girls that once you have lost someones trust it is a very hard thing to get back, that is if you can get it back at all.

As I said trust for our children it natural and for others must be earned. This poses a question, why then for those who want to earn your trust do they so easily throw it away? How many times does it take for someone to lose your trust? Is there a limit? Or is it a one time thing? Does it depend on what it is they have done to lose your trust?

This could of course vary depending on whether the person who has broken your trust is someone in your professional life or personal life, or maybe it doesn't matter. Case in point, if you worked in an environment where there had to be a certain amount of trust in order for the situation to work and the person broke that trust, would you give them a second chance? OR is that trust at all and really a contractual situation?

When it comes to our personal lives, I believe we tend to push the boundaries of trust. We give that person more chances than we would give anyone else or do we? I know I do. I struggle with this. I have trusted people in my personal life and they have let me down on many occassions, but for some reason I give them another chance many chances in fact. I can always reason my way around why I should give them another chance, but am I doing myself and them a disservice? I don't know. I just know that once trust is lost it's hard to get back and can be so damaging to a relationship.

I like this qoute by Frank Crane

~ You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment unless you trust enough. ~

I think that sums it up for me what about you?

Another Insurance rant....

It seems interesting that I write this post on the heals of the American Health care reform bill. Almost a year ago I made a post about insurance and titled it "Insurance a False Sense of Security". I talked about all kinds of insurance and how in some cases the policies aren't worth the paper they are written on.

These past few weeks hubby and I have been on road trips. Those road trips have taken us off road. I recognize that if I choose to take my vehicle off road I should be willing to suffer the consequences should anything happen to my vehicle. Thank goodness nothing happened, well not until we got back onto the highway. I was travelling in the outside lane and a vehicle behind a dump truck when it kicked up stones which of course hit my windshield and caused it to crack. Dang!!!!

I pay higher insurance premiums to lower my deductible. Here is my beef...deductible. Why on earth should we have to pay deductible in the first place. I already pay my insurance premiums, but if I want to make a claim I have to pay the deductible. That just doesn't seem right to me. What's the point of getting insurance if you still have to pay in the end? It's not right....and I don't know why there is no public outcry. To me this is a shear rip off by the insurance companies. These companies are making record profits.

- Allstate insurance in January 2009 reported consolidated revenues were $6.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 and $29.4 billion for the 2008 year
- Geico reports a $649 million underwriting profit for 2009

These are only two insurance companies but every company I researched showed profits....multi-million dollar profits.

I was astounded when I read about all the tactics these companies use to either not pay a claim, delay a claim, or pay out as little as possible.

Now I recognize this is their business, but I pay premiums and I expect what they say they will cover and not only that I don't believe I/we should have to pay a deductible to make a claim. That is criminal to me

I feel like Micheal Moore when he goes to the big corporations demanding his money back, or that commercial where people are shouting out their windows "it's my money and I want it now", or better yet...why aren't we writing letters to the powers that be telling them how in just this is and demanding that deductibles become a thing of the past.

Well that is my rant for today. I don't know if I will get my windshield fix...not yet anyhow. I just hate the thought of paying the deductible to get it fixed.

Saturday Scavenger Photo Hunt

This week's theme is "Three". Well the first thing that came to my mind was my three daughters....but I thought I should try and be a bit more creative than that....next I thought about birds.....here is a picture of three eagles two are juvenile and the other is a bald eagle. YOu can click on the picture to get a better look.



My youngest daughter going after the ball during a field hockey game while her team mate wearing the number "three" gaurds the ball from the other player."Three" generations. My niece(mom), grandma(her mom) Great grandma(her great grandma)
and my figgity great nephew.

Anyhow those are some sample of my three...if you would like to play along please check out tnchick for all of the instructions.

Happy Hunting all!

Going on a Road Trip

Morning all...well the sun is out and it's a glorious day, hubby, eldest daughter and I are going a"Road Trip". See you in a couple of days and I'll share with you some of our adventures.

Cheers and have a wonderful day !

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well what kind of Irish Lass would I be if I didn't wish all my friends a Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Today we will see people of all walks of life toasting each other, singing Irish ballads and wearing green. I've always wondered where these Irish folks are the rest of the year! Well I shouldn't say much as I am only half Irish on me mum's side. Oh the parties we would have.

A couple of years ago I had planned a St. Paddy's Day party. My youngest daughter and I made this shamrock cake. Sad thing was my niece and her family were visiting, and her youngest son took ill and we spent the day in the ER so the party had to be cancelled. The cake never got eaten. I froze it and had intentions of having family over but it all fell through. Ah the luck of the Irish....NOT!

Speaking of luck, if it was a good sign, yesterday we had a terrible wind storm, winds up to 100km/hr, needless to say the power went out. At one point hubby was standing on the porch when he called me out to see something. Waht should I behold but the most beautiful rainbow....I mean it was the complete arch just to the side of our house. I have seen many rainbows in my time but never one as big and complete as that....yes I take that as a very good sign.

So to all my friends I wish you all good things on this St. Patrick's Day!

May you have no frost on your Spuds,

No worms on your cabbage.

May your goat give plenty of milk.

If you inherit a donkey, may she be in foal.

Don't walk in front of me I may not follow.

Don't walk behind me I may not lead.

Walk beside me And just be my friend.

Our trip North Part I

I've been on holidays for a week now. My first week was spent doing odd chores around the house. We had our roof redone and hence we needed to be home. It was great to get it done, I don't know about you but I really don't' like having strangers working on my home. I mean these men didn't give me reason for concern about theft or anything, it's just that I like my space. One of the issues for us is that living in the country and out of sight, we don't have window coverings on any windows....none, zippo. So I had to be organized in the mornings I had to be up showered and dressed before the roofers arrived at 0800. It was all worth it in the end. We have our new roof and I am a very happy camper.

Saturday arrived and we were up and at it early as that tends to be our norm these days. I don't think I had my first latte, when hubby said the infamous words "Road Trip". With that I rushed about tidying up morning dishes making the bed and then packing clothes. Not knowing where we were going and or for how long you can imagine the difficulties in packing. Well for me anyways that can be a challenge, as for my hubby I pack for him. Not that he can't pack....ah I won't even go there. Anyhow, it was mid morning by the time we had things in the truck Bert and included, all I knew was that we were heading north. Oops I tell a lie....hubby had called the Mayor of a little town called Port Alice to find out about accommodations and the likes. Figures, if my hubby is going to ask a question he goes straight to the head person to get the answers. So yes back to the truck and off we went.

Vancouver Island from one end to the other is approximately 600km and 35km wide. We live mid Island. To travel from our home to the most northern part of the Island which is Cape Scott would take us about 4 hours. Our destination was Port Alice, which is about 3 1/2 hours from our home. So here are some photos of our trip.....well Part l. As always you can click on the photos to get a larger shot.

As we decided to take Bert with us on this trip rest stops were frequent. Our first stop was a place called Denman Island rest stop.

To the left of that tall tree is Bayne Sound, there is great fishing, crabbing, oyster fishing and prawns. So if seafood is your thing that is a great place.

Another hour or so down the road or should I say up the road is a city ......yes a city called Campbell River. Campbell River boasts to be the Salmon Capital of the world....but then I have heard that of other areas on the Island, but suffice to say fishing on the Island is absolutely the best to be had. This shot was taken believe it or not from a pulp mill site, I was looking from the shore toward the casino, when a heron just so happen to perch himself on the pilon.

A little further up the road we came to a place as the sign says Seymour Narrows, the sign says it all, except the next photo really doesn't give you a good feel of what the tides would have been like.

You can see the tug boat pulling log booms through the Narrows a very tricky task and a job only for the very seasoned sailors. In this same area there is a place out in the narrows called "Ripple Rock". It was the largest man made "Non Nuclear" explosion. It was performed in order to deepen the Narrows for larger ships to travel. Now days large cruise ships use this passage on their way to Alaska.
This is actually a amazing feet. If you want to see some live footage of the blast you can go to YouTube and type is Ripple Rock Explosion and you will see actual footage of the blast. Simply amazing for the time 1958.

The next few shots are just scenic photos of the mountains and road we travelled making our way north. One of our most favourite shots was that of the elk I spotted on the edge of the road. You see signs of Elk on the road all over the island but my hubby who has lived on the island since 1996 his never seen any. So to spot these big guys was a real treat. When I saw them the funny thing was I yelled "moose". Now I know they aren't moose but that was the first thing that came to mind in order to capture my hubby's attention. His reaction time was awesome and was able to make a turn off and we drove up the road and I was able to capture this photo.

We finally make it to the sign telling us which way to go......


Well as you can see we make the left turn and off to Port Alice we go. I will leave you with this and post Part II entitled "On the Road to Port Alice".

Until then, happy trails to you!

Saturday Scavenger Photo Hunt

This weeks theme is "Spiral"
I had to think long and hard about this one. Then it dawned on me. Last spring I made a wreath for my door. I used a grape vien wreath to start. See how the viens spiral aroud to make a circle.

This was the finished product

If you would like ot join in on the fun please check out tnchick
Happy Hunting all!

And the weatherman says......

It's March 12, 2010. We haven't had snow all winter. Well at least not where I live. We have had temperatures as high as 16 Celsius. People have been walking around in shorts. The cherry blossoms are in bloom, the tulips and crocuses are rearing their heads, the garden shops are encouraging us to plant our late spring early summer bulbs. So wasn't I surprised when I came downstairs this morning to see snow falling. Yes snow!

I know my friends in the eastern part of the country are still experiencing the evil white stuff, but this is the first snowfall we have had in my area this year! Yes there has been snow on the mountains and skiing has been fantastic at our local mountain, it has over 500cm of snow!! Never understood why they didn't hold some of the Olympic events on that mountain....ah I digress.

So with camera in hand I went onto the back porch and started to take some shots of the white stuff...when what should I come upon but dear ol Robin Red Breast. He looked just as confused as I am feeling about this white stuff.I was suppose to go for my run this morning but even as I type this the snow is falling harder and the ground is getting whiter....I think I will have to just settle for going on my stepper. Happy Weekend to you all!