The way I see it

FOR MY FRIENDS WHO LISTEN TO THE EXPERTS

FOR MY FRIENDS WHO DON'T WEAR MASKS

AND REFUSE TO SOCIAL DISTANCE

Letters to Santa

This week we started answering letters to Santa.  He's pretty busy right now and we help him out.  This year with COVID, we have to be doing things a little different.  Many of last year's elves are answering from home.  We are fortunate in Cloverdale to have a large training boardroom at the local postal depot where we can social distance.  Some of the elves drop in to take the letters home.  We are delivering letters to another elf whose immune compromised and doesn't want to come in.  

So far we've been doing letters from all over BC.  Lots of great artwork and requests for toys I've never heard of.  I hope Santa knows what they are!  I've also had a few letters without a return address.  It's very frustrating as we want to answer them all, so please make sure you put your name and full address so we can answer them.

Santa has asked us to pass on:  please do not leave out cookies, milk or carrots for the reindeer this year.  The North Pole is COVID free and we don't want to bring any viruses back.  Mrs. Claus is baking lots of cookies for his trip.  We'll make sure we pack enough carrots for the reindeer. 

Here are the official instructions from Canada Post:

The time has come this year to send letters to Santa. Last year Canada Post received 1.8 million letters addressed to Santa from all over the world! They were forwarded to the North Pole to Santa's elves to reply. This year they are waiting for the letters so if you know of anyone who wants a reply:

1. Make sure to include your full return address. Santa may know where you live, but his postal elves need this information to deliver your letter!

2. Santa really loves to read about children’s favourite sports, jokes, school activities or family fun (even if Mom and Dad help with the writing). And, of course, he loves to get pictures and drawings from even his youngest pen pals!

3.Send your letter soon. December 10 is the last day to mail letters to Santa (it’s a long way to the North Pole and back!). Letters mailed after December 10 may not receive a reply before Christmas.

4. If you mail in Canada, you don't need to put a stamp on the envelope!

Santa Claus

North Pole

Canada HOH OHO

Santa has already received 20,000 letters and it's still November. Those elves are really going to be busy!

If you are a parent, here is the Canada Post website with more information and templates you can download. Your children can colour and fill them in. We love receiving these!

Canada Post Santa Letters

From a Fraser Valley Doctor

My cousin Sharon sent this to me.  She knows the entire family.   

Dustin Mattie

Long post and angry rant warning:

Hi friends. I'm going to take a break from social media for a while. I've been very disturbed to see so much terrible misinformation about Covid, and it's really distressing me. In the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, where I am working in a regional hospital, the number of covid cases is rapidly on the rise (as predicted and anticipated by epidemiologists and public health experts). There is a corresponding rise in very sick covid patients in the hospital (both in the designated Covid ward and in the ICU). The curve is on the rise, and if we don't do something, I hate to imagine what going to work is going to feel like.

I work as a Palliative care doctor. I've had people ask me why I would worry about Covid when my patients are going to die anyway. Can you imagine? My patients potentially have months of life left, which they would like to spend as comfortably as possible with family and loved ones. Instead, because many of the broader community has not followed the advice of public health officials and cases are on the rise, these people are spending the most difficult part of their lives largely isolated, with severe visitor restrictions. Many chose to avoid medical care, and consequently suffer physically. Covid has also directly affected some of my patients who got to spend the last moments of their lives isolated as they died from a potentially preventable infection.

I am so angry with people who produce false and misleading information about this pandemic. I am so angry with people who openly flaunt the advice of public health officials by refusing to wear a mask or put any effort into social distancing. It really pisses me off when people act like they are big heroes or so smart... that they aren't sheeple like the rest of us who happen to take the advice of real experts who have devoted their lives and careers to understanding things like pandemics. That they have the gall to think they can be presented with complex epidemiological data and make sense of it. That they cherry-pick information from a very small minority of doctors that suits their paradigm. I can't believe that for many, the most likely scenario here is that this is all part of some grand conspiracy to control the masses, and so they engage in behaviour that endangers their communities, their loved ones, and themselves. I am connected to a lot of doctors and nurses, and I don't know any who aren't losing sleep over this. I don't know any that are psychopaths engaged in some sort of bizarre conspiracy with the governments of literally every country in the world.

Because of the willful ignorance of many people out there, and because they are so selfish they can't be bothered to do the right thing, my vulnerable patients suffer. Vulnerable people in nursing homes suffer. Vulnerable people in our community suffer. Our hospitals are already becoming overwhelmed, and it is only bound to get worse. There will not be enough ICU beds or staff to care for the very sick. That doesn't just mean sick covid patients... that means if you or a loved one has a heart attack, or is in a car accident, or becomes septic, they may not get the care they need. It means that elective procedures (things like removing cancerous tumours or performing colonoscopies to detect cancer early, or my daughter's eye surgery to preserve her vision), will be postponed, and people will suffer. It also means that small businesses and families will suffer once again as lockdowns take place to flatten the curve.

My colleagues and I in the Fraser Valley are just starting to see the tsunami coming. People I know in other parts of the country/world are in the midst of it. It is time to change our behaviour now. Do the right thing. Care about your fellow humans. Care about my sister and me who are in the hospital. Stop pretending you are ignoring public health advice because you are standing up for your rights. You may not think it, but your behaviour is selfish and cruel and has the potential to cause unimaginable suffering. I know many of you are confused about who to trust, and what is truth. The fact of the matter is that you are witnessing the scientific method in real-time, and experts are having to make very big decisions in order to save as many lives as possible. Let's work together to save lives. Do the right thing.

Rant over. I care about you. Stay safe.

Schools and COVID

Yesterday BC had 887 COVID cases, the highest number of cases we've ever had!  We live in Fraser Health and it's the hardest hit community.  

I know children needed to go back to school in September.  The elementary school close to us was closed for two weeks.  The music teacher, Darlene Lourenco, tested positive and has been hospitalized.  There were a lot of cases in that school.  She teaches many music students in a portable.  Portable classrooms don't have sinks and the air circulation is poor!

Darlene Lourenco, was interviewed on TV and if you want to see her interview:

Cambridge Elementary Music Teacher

Cheryl received letters from Fraser Health saying there were exposures at Lexie's school, last Friday, Sunday, Tuesday and yesterday!   Lexie said all the students in grade 10 wear masks in class and in the halls.  She said they never take them off.  Only a few grade 8's don't wear them in class.  It's mandatory in the common areas, except when they are eating lunch when they must be two meters apart.

It's time to go back to online school.  There is a vaccine in the future so this isn't for a long time.  Let's keep the teachers and students safe!!!!!!

T-shirts

Some good ones here.  My favorite was a T-shirt I bought in San Francisco years ago:

I CAUGHT CRABS AT FISHERMAN'S WHARF

I always checked the T-shirt shops in Steveston but no one ever copied it!

      

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
  
 

 

 
  
 

T’was a Month Before Christmas 2020

T’was a month before Christmas,

And all through the town,

People wore masks,

That covered their frown.

The frown had begun

Way back in the Spring,

When a global pandemic

Changed everything.

They called it corona,

But unlike the beer,

It didn’t bring good times,

It didn’t bring cheer.

Contagious and deadly,

This virus spread fast,

Like a wildfire that starts

When fueled by gas.

Airplanes were grounded,

Travel was banned.

Borders were closed

Across air, sea and land.

As the world entered lockdown

To flatten the curve,

The economy halted,

And folks lost their verve.

From March to July

We rode the first wave,

People stayed home,

They tried to behave.

When summer emerged

The lockdown was lifted.

But away from caution,

Many folks drifted.

Now it’s November

And cases are spiking,

Wave two has arrived,

Much to our disliking.

Frontline workers,

Doctors and nurses,

Try to save people,

From riding in hearses.

This virus is awful,

This COVID-19.

There isn’t a cure.

There is no vaccine.

It’s true that this year

Has had sadness a plenty,

We’ll never forget

The year 2020.

And just ‘round the corner -

The holiday season,

But why be merry?

Is there even one reason?

To decorate the house

And put up the tree,

When no one will see it,

No-one but me.

But outside my window

The snow gently falls,

And I think to myself,

Let’s deck the halls!

So, I gather the ribbon,

The garland and bows,

As I play those old carols,

My happiness grows.

Christmas ain’t cancelled

And neither is hope.

If we lean on each other,

I know we can cope. 

Copyright-Shawna Hickling

By: Shawna Hickling, Calgary, AB, Canada

November 19, 2020

P.S. – I NEVER use the word ain’t but isn’t had too many syllables for the poem!

COVID humour

Some oldies and some new ones: