Living Under the Eye of Mordor

This past Wednesday I left to go to work and found that everything was bathed in yellow light and smelled of smoke. There were fewer people outside than I was used to. I checked my work chat to see if there were any accommodations to the schedule, but I had no new messages. I shrugged my shoulders, thought "Well, this feels like the end of the world" and walked to WALES as usual.

I had failed to pay attention to the news. Apparently this was smoke that had drifted down from the Thunder Bay area. These past four years or so in North America, we have had particularly ferocious wildfires. I have family scattered across the continent and it feels like every year we need to check on one of the branches to see if they're alright.

For people in Southern Ontario, it's easy to feel like there has been a linear progression in severity. However, if we only compare with the last half-decade, it hasn't been a particularly bad year for them.

Here was a picture of the sky around noon:

 

That strange little dot in the centre is the sun. I noticed it, realised it wasn't hurting my eyes, then remembered the warnings we got during the Solar Eclipse. We had been cautioned not to look directly into it because, while it wouldn't cause pain, it would be damaging. The reason being that an eclipse causes sort of optical illusion, where the eye doesn't know to use its usual defence mechanism of dilating, even though it's just as dangerous. I wondered if this smoggy sun had a similar nature and averted my gaze as quick as I thought of it.

One of my coworkers referred to the eerie red dot in the sky as The Eye of Mordor.

The conditions of our climate have been noticed by the WALES members. One asked me, "Is fire just part of the weather now?

I got kind of fatalistic during a discussion at lunch, and, trying to be reassuring said "The Earth has had four mass extinctions in the past and life has always sprung back more sophisticated than before. If humans disappear, it's likely that whatever replaces us will be better suited to handle situations like this"

This failed to have the reassuring impact that I hoped for. It turns out, I was the only one with mass extinction on my mind. 

We had to cancel all outdoor activities due to poor air quality and postpone a community barbecue. People are spending as much time as they can inside and often wearing masks when they venture out. COVID vibes.

Most of my pea plants are dead. We had two types of sunflowers and the smoke killed one but not the other. We did get our first bell pepper of the season, though.

I'm also a little contrary, in that when things are bad I start to notice what is still good. I got these pics during the smog storm

 

It's mulberry season and I was trying to find time to harvest some. Thought I might try making pie and maybe jam, but don't feel comfortable going out when the air quality's so bad. It's supposed to be better by Monday.

In other news, Lee-Anne finally had her surgery booked for this coming Wednesday. About seven months past my prediction. She had a couple of pre-op appointments that she needed to flex her schedule around, them only giving us a day in advance to plan for. After completing these, she was immediately informed that they had broken the equipment needed for the surgery and had to postpone the procedure until further notice. 

Canada Day and Cherry Festival

Last Wednesday was Canada Day. I really think they need to shorten the name to Canaday, since as-is it sounds like it has a built-in stutter.

We went to the fireworks display in downtown Kitchener. It was our first time going. The previous few years we went to the drone show in Waterloo, which is their equivalent. I had been avoiding going to the Kitchener show, as the past few years I'd seen articles about young people shooting fireworks at bystanders.

Reactions always seemed toned down. I would see comments talking about how "irresponsible" it was for them to do this. I'm not usually one to avoid areas that are viewed as dangerous, or to assume trouble from any particular group, but this seemed like a predictable, reoccurring instance of fairly significant violence that could easily be avoided.

It's also not usually difficult to get Kitchenerites angry and exaggerative about a local issue. But for some reason, in this particular case, it was just mumbles about irresponsibility. Isn't getting shot with an explosive pretty dangerous?

Lee-Anne and my brother wanted to go, and just like everyone else, they didn't seem worried about it. So I reconciled myself with my fate and we went.

There was actually a local fireworks ban in place because of this issue. Although, based on how many we saw being set off on our walk over, this effort hadn't proven totally effective.

The show was supposed to start at 10:30, but it didn't wind up happening until like, 11:45. It was preceded by live music from The Last Tiger, which had proven to be a pretty good draw for the crowd.

Despite the place being crammed by the time we got there, somehow we found a pretty central viewing spot. I don't think it's good practice to do too much recording while at events like this, as it leads to living through a screen, but I did snag this pic just to kind of show how optimally we were positioned.

 

At one point, fire erupted from each of the side buildings. First in bursts, and shortly as a sustained stream. This is what really got a reaction from people, and it was intense enough that one could feel the temperature rise. I think it's a little funny that with all our advanced pyrotechnics that can make the sky glitter in every colour and send streams of light curling over a crowd, what really makes people pay attention is just a big old bunch of fire.

The turnout was impressive. Much more significant than Waterloo's. Part of me was proud that my city is more ready to come out, have fun and be together. But it was also a little overwhelming and I probably wouldn't come back.

But the reason is the crowd, not because anyone got hit by a firework. I realised once we got there that I'd always heard about shenanigans happening at Victoria Park. I assumed that's where the display was, but it's actually always been at Kitchener City Hall. So I had imagined people shooting into the crowd, when in reality it was mostly at each other and I guess sometimes at random park goers. Still bad, but we weren't in as much danger as I'd thought.

Somebody did pass out near us, though. Also there was a clown.

Then on the weekend we had the Cherry Festival. It's an annual event held in a smaller local park in our neighbourhood. Not quite as grand as Canada Day, but still pretty significant. It included the sale of cherry products, as well as some food trucks, stands with local artists, live music, carnival rides, professional wrestling matches, and an antique car show.

I probably mentioned this joke last year. But sometimes I like to say that, since Cherry Park is on Park Street, they missed out by not naming it Park Park. Then at the Cherry Festival they have antique cars parked in it. This could have been the Park Park Park. 

Lee-Anne's parents came down for the event. It was raining slightly but the turnout was still pretty good. My brother came later, but we'd left at that point. We all bought some cherry stuff, and Lee-Anne and I got a little rock goose to put in the window with our succulents.