….but I am inclined to suggest that we all raise some honeybees (I know!  How weird is that?).  I am pretty sure I am going to do it.  Here is the rationale:  aside from ‘recycling and composting’, we don’t actually do much to save the planet.  Well, a few friends cycle to work and, OK, we buy ‘hemp’ products and protest Monsanto but, really, how many of us plant trees, hatch salmon, keep streams or raise Vancouver Island Marmots or Spotted owls as a hobby?  I suppose raising honeybees is just about as weird but they, more than marmots or spotted owls, are critical to the survival of the planet and they are verging on the brink of annihilation. Maybe we should all put a hive in the back yard?

Jus’ sayin’….

On to other things.  Greece, first – (for a paragraph).  The drama that is Greece is fascinating to me. More than any other story it illustrates the decay of the nation state as a force to be reckoned with in this new world of globalization.  Fuggedabout (for a minute) Greece’s own role in bringing itself to it’s economic knees, the reality is being made clear: they were not in control of their country the minute they joined the EU.  Without your own currency (and it has to be one that other countries respect and accept), you got nuthin’.  In fact, you have less-than-nothing.  You have given over virtual subservience to whoever operates the currency you use. See Puerto Rico and El Salvador – nation-slaves to the US.  It is one of the main reasons the US is so powerful – everyone uses their currency as the global go-to ‘common’ currency.  And, of course, they can ‘print’ as much of it as they like.  We all know that but Greece is the one proving the concept right before our eyes. Greece is just the first in the line of obvious, high-profile sacrifices to globalization by international and US corporations.

The IMF may as well start to issue passports.

“Is Canada exempt because we have our own dollar?”

No.  Our dollar is tied to the US dollar so that is a compromise. Plus we have NAFTA and that is a further compromise.  And we rely on them for defense.  Worse, we have an economy that is largely reliant on the US one, anyway….not to mention almost all US corporations having a major presence in our country and their constant exploiting and mining of our resources while selling us back their products at higher prices than they charge 100 miles south.  Like fuel. We are a nation-state in name only.

We are simply just Greeks who obey the rules as established by our overseers.  They didn’t.  We do.  So, we may NOT have lost our sovereignty ‘brand’ completely because we still have Tim Hortons and Hockey Night in Canada but pretty much everything else that might have been ours is now theirs.  Even the national railroad (that seemed to define us for so long) is owned by Bill Gates.

“So, what does it mean to be a Canadian?”  I dunno…..ask someone from Minnesota.

But let us get away from that for a minute and talk about beauty.  It is gorgeous up here right now.  The heat wave is gone, the sun is out.  It rained for two days – lightly – but it rained.  And, like everyone in BC, we needed that.  Desperately.  Everything is like the Garden of Eden right now only better (no snakes).  When I was away for three days, Sally had only a few visitors and they were all whales and otters, eagles and seals.  I was actually an intrusion when I came home.

OK, I am an intrusion wherever I go but you’d think it would be otherwise at my own home!

So, anyway, we are back ‘on the job’ of not having a job and being retired.  I’ll cut some logs today.  Work on the non-functioning fire-pump carburetor.  May get to some railings that need installing…probably not…..then a glass of wine later in the day.  Geez, it is great. REALLY GREAT.

Maybe we could use a few more bees…….