I hope everyone had a warm and peaceful Christmas with family and friends. This is the time of year my wife Christina scans the Optimist and then goes to all the fundraisers and craft fairs. She always comes home with exceptional and unusual finds that raise the level of Christmas joy in our home.
This year she found both quality and good prices at Ladner United Church for active wear and returned from St. David’s in Tsawwassen with a whole room full of brand new boots. If you have never been, it’s worth a walk through just to enjoy the baking, a coffee and a visit with the great community we live in.
We also went to the carol ships in Ladner and a dinner cruise in Vancouver. Those are two activities that can’t be done in much of Canada at this time of year.
While I’m thinking about Christmas, I recalled over the holiday that when we bought our first house north of Toronto in the early 1970s we decorated the entire outside with red Noma Christmas lights. All the evestroughs and bushes were covered with these red lights. We did that for almost 20 years. Of course, bulbs got broken or burnt out and had to be replaced, but these lights saw us through all those Christmas seasons.
I still have Noma lights but they aren’t made in the U.S. or Canada and they are nothing but problems. What’s more, I now can’t find new bulbs for these light strings. A trip through the Christmas lights section at a store shows there is a plethora of different types of lights and light bulbs but not the ones I need.
Some have fixed light bulbs that can’t be replaced. I just find all of these changes and light types to be frustrating and I know none of them will work as well as our original family house lights did almost 50 years ago.
On another topic, back in the November the Optimist ran a story about Bev Day, the bird lady of OWL, and her challenges in court with the board of OWL.
Several years ago when I was in the Tsawwassen Rotary Club we learned that a large snowfall had collapsed many bird pens and was affecting OWL’s ability to look after the injured birds. One weekend over 20 Rotarians showed up with tools and managed to fix most of the damage.
While we were there we saw OWL from a different perspective -- all of the volunteers caring every day for the birds and feeding them rodents to keep them healthy. When you saw how things were done, it became obvious how this caring operation managed to survive.
Day got the wood we used to repair the cages, she was there all weekend co-coordinating the volunteers and showing the public all the birds on display.
Now I have learned that after providing this service to the Lower Mainland for almost 40 years, the OWL board has taken her to court but lost the case.
South Delta has been blessed by people like Bev Day and Eliza Olson who have dedicated the majority of their adult lives to the preservation of the natural attributes of South Delta, relying on volunteers and constant fundraising to protect what makes South Delta unique in the Lower Mainland.
I don’t know the details of the lawsuit and I don’t really care because the judge ruled in favour of Day. People who give this much to their community for such a length of time should not be treated like this.
OWL’s board has decided to appeal the ruling forcing Day, who now lives in a trailer and spends her time looking after her husband who is not well, to pay for more legal bills to defend herself.
I can’t think of a better person for the subject of a Go Fund Me page. In the spirit of the season, could someone set this up and announce it in the Optimist.
This lady has given so much to South Delta. It’s time South Delta gave back to her.
Best wishes for 2019.
Greg Hoover is a project manager in industrial and commercial construction who has lived with Christina in Tsawwassen for over 25 years.
