Readers of this blog know that we take a break from politics on holidays.
They also know that the Soapbox family is not terribly religious, but we do love our traditions.
One of our favourites is the Easter egg decorating competition.
This year in addition to usual categories–the prettiest egg, the most creative egg, etc–we added a new category to accommodate the entry below.
Every participant won a prize, a lovely gift from the cheapie aisle at London Drugs, and put their colourful hardboiled eggs back in the fridge to be eaten on Easter Sunday—a lovely reminder that what really matters is spending quality time with your family and friends.
This year Ramadan, Passover and Easter overlap. All over the world people are celebrating this special time in their own unique way.
To all of you, everywhere, we wish you joy.
The Soapbox family.
Susan on the Soapbox 
Best to you, and thank you for your work!
Thank you Judy, I”m glad you appreciate it!
Susan: Very cool looking Easter egg. The Ukrainans call them pysanky. I hope you and your family have a Happy Easter. I’ll share some more music. This is a composition from Gerry Rafferty, the late Scottish singer and songwriter. It is The Ark, and it is from 1978. This is in my music collection. A great song, and a great album. Baker Street, and Right Down The Line, are on this album.
Dwayne, I’ve never heard the Gerry Rafferty song. It moved me, especially these lines: “But now we know that we can wake up from this sleep/And set out on the journey/Find a ship to take us on the way.”
It’s a perfect for the time and place we find ourselves in.
Thank you!
Susan: Here is my second song pick. This is Stevie Wonder doing a composition by Ronald Miller and Bryan Wells, A Place In The Sun. It is from 1966. There is a good message in this song.
A place in the sun. Another great selection Dwayne. Thank you!
Susan: Here is my final song pick. This is a Bob Dylan composition, from his 1969 country music album, Nashville Skyline. It is an instrumental, called Nashville Skyline Rag. The album was released in April of that year. I have this in my music collection. I saw Bob Dylan live in 1990.
Dwayne, a Dylan instrumental, country no less. I”m not a huge country fan but I did enjoy this selection. How cool that you saw Dylan live (not that I’m surprised! :))
Who knew Mr Soapbox had hidden artistic talents?! Happy Easter to all of you!
Liane, I know!
And this was the first egg he did, no warming up for this guy, straight to the gold. (Or in this case a small tub of Play Doh).
Every participant won a prize,
And herein lies the problem of today’s society!!
Every day is a good day!
Be thankful for what you have not what you want!
TB
TB, yes when the participants are given eggs and dye and crayons that are so old they don’t colour anything then they all win.
It’s the least we can do. 🙂
Happy Easter and thanks for all your good work.
Thank you Ian. And a Happy Easter to you and yours as well.
Happy Easter!
Thank you Sharon. I hope you and those you love had a Happy Easter as well!
interesting that all religious overlap this year – Happy Ramadan, Easter and Passover to everyone.
Thank you Susan for your very hard work with this blog.
You’re very welcome Carlos.
It is indeed interesting that three of the big religious celebrations overlapped this year. Apparently, this only happens every 33 years, but it’s happened 2 years in a row. Maybe the cosmos is trying to send us a message…like life is short, don’t screw it up!
Taking advantage of the long weekend to spend time with family and friends, maybe eat some chocolate. All the best to you and yours Susan, and everyone.
Thank you GoinFawr. We have SO much chocolate in this house it will take us weeks to get through it (not that that’s a problem).
Happy Easter to you and yours!
I do love your celebration. Congratulations to Mr Soapbox on his use of color and theme. Happy belated Easter to you all.
Thank you Rose. We’ve been doing this since the girls were old enough to dye eggs without flooding the kitchen. We used to hide chocolate eggs around the house but stopped when we couldn’t find them all the next day. Can you image me, me of all people, not being able to find a chocolate egg. Talk about the agony of defeat!
To Lianne and Rose…thank you for your commentary about my egg colouring skills. I tried to think like a child when conjuring up the Easter Bunny with big teeth. Fortunately my drawing skills matched my juvenile tastes. You can now see why I try to keep my artistic talents hidden! Happy Easter and make sure there is no chocolate left too aged.
Another investigation on an UCP premier and who knows how long this one will be.
So much for the rule of law.
Just like it would happen if I was being investigated, Danielle Smith should be suspended until the investigation is completed. If the investigation takes three years just like the on for Jason Kenney, then she should be suspended for those three years and I suggest that as a promoter of lower minimum wages, she should try to get a job in MacDonald’s where I am sure her skills would be more appropriate.
As an alternative, a job with her buddy Pawlowsky, I am sure would fit her really well. She could continue living her libertarian dreamy world and we could continue making our province relevant.
Happy (belated) Easter to you & your family as well, Susan:)
Meanwhile Ms. Sith – er, Smith – continues to backpedal on various issues or try to obfuscate regarding her possible ethics investigation. I say possible, since the ethics commissioner can’t confirm whether Ms. Smith is actually being investigated for her alleged interference in the Pawlowski case. Apparently the rules under which said ethics commissioner must work do not permit matters of public interest such as this to be mentioned in public. Sounds very UCP, because I doubt the NDP put in such restrictions.
Ms. Smith is now declaring that the UCP (if re-elected) will not delist any currently approved medical services including the cost of seeing one’s family physician. Easy to say, but let’s review. Some services & medications were delisted under Tyler Shandro’s watch. Hence the whole Law Society review of Mr. Shandro, as he objected to doctor’s mentioning this conflict of interest given he & his wife own a company that offers to provide/broker those self same delisted services. Objected by obtaining personal phone numbers for said doctors, or confronting them (& their spouse, apparently) on one doctor’s front driveway. The initial excuse for this was he was defending his spouse/family; his story is now that he was very upset due to numerous death threats having been sent to his spouse which triggered his decision to personally confront said doctor – who didn’t send any death threat, but did post a comment regarding the perceived conflict of interest. Specifically, by mentioning how the delisted services would now be sold for profit by Shandro’s spouse. Long story short, the fox is now declaring a moratorium on the henhouse, but only if re-elected in the coming election. Could this be considered a bribe? Vote for me, I promise not to demand you pay a fee for seeing your doctor? Did anyone see whether she was crossing her pinky finger when she said this? Or if she does get re-elected, will said promise be promptly broken because the public ‘misunderstood’ what she meant when she said it?
I’d add I recently received a package from Alberta Health as I will soon be eligible for the Senior’s Health card. Let me just say that the ‘free’ health coverage provided is quite limited in scope. Some 2,000 drugs are on the current list of approved medications; not being a trained pharmacist I could not say what conditions said drugs might be used to treat. I did note the codicils regarding certain drugs requiring AHS approval before the cost of said drugs would be covered. Presumably the drugs so restricted cost more. Ground ambulance is free if going to a hospital. Air ambulance isn’t covered & if one is being transferred say from a hospital to a LTC facility the cost for an ambulance isn’t covered. No dental or vision coverage, though low income seniors to be can apply for such benefits. Conveniently enough the application forms came in the package. Oddly enough, there is a $200 per annum chiropractic benefit. So an annual eye exam isn’t covered unless one qualifies for low income benefits, but chiropractic visits are. I’ll take it, but I must wonder how many seniors actually use it. Note that if taken to hospital the Seniors benefit doesn’t cover the cost of a private or semi-private room. I’ve no idea whether one might be billed if one should end up in said room while in hospital, but am thinking the answer is likely yes. One final item of note: seniors coverage only applies to the senior. If one has a spouse or dependent under age 65 the coverage doesn’t apply, so younger family members must arrange for their own coverage. Naturally this will need to be paid for.
My point? While there is basic health care coverage available, it is indeed basic. Anyone who requires more in the way of services had best be prepared to pay for them, either by arranging & paying for a higher level of health care coverage or out of pocket. Fortunately OAS benefits become available at age 65 & will cover the cost of additional health care coverage quite nicely. Meanwhile, one wonders just what the basic seniors benefit used to cover compared to what it covers today. The UCP like other Conservative government have shown they are willing to chop benefits to those least able to pay for them – AISH is a perennial favorite – so I’d bet that senior’s benefits have seen ‘adjustments’ over the years which reduced what would be covered.
Who can trust this unique species of Dinosaur Smithii?
Maybe a bit more sophisticated as deserved
Danielish Smithii
Found in the Oilsands deposits – loves oil and lies a lot – colour changes depending on the day of the week.
Second try so I hope it does not repeat
Amazingly I just read only the first 2 sentences of Lorne Gunter in the Edmonton Sun. I have always found this man incapable of any common sense. Furthermore I read sometime in the recent past that his wife got a job with the UCP.
This morning (you can check) he said that despite Danielle Smith being an obstacle to the UCP winning the election, he would prefer another 4 years of Danielle Smith than 4 minutes of Rachel Notley. I would like to understand what is it that makes him hate the NDP other than the common socialist/communist song they seem to be born with in this province?
Like I said many times before , I am not a big fan of the NDP quasi neo-liberal mentality but she was there for 4 years and this province run well and she definitely started the energy transition better than any other province in the country.
Alberta, due to her policies, has the fastest growing green energy development in Canada. I am sure Lorne hates her for that, especially considering that it cannot be stopped now because unfortunately for him, it is cheaper than conventional energy sources and MUCH CLEANER.
Somehow he is on the front lines of convincing people that none of it works. He has said several times in his articles that Germany green energy is a failure and they are backing out of it. (Not True) Germany simply reinstated some coal and delayed the phasing out of nuclear power because of the energy crisis with Russia, not because their green energy failed. It is awful when one of our most senior journalists in Edmonton cannot see the difference between a fact and a lack of good judgment.