Something in the Air

Right next door, the largest security operation ever undertaken in this country is in full swing.

You would be hard pressed to tell. On this side of the Security fence, away from Huntsville, today was remarkably serene. It's like a duck -- on the surface, all is smooth and serene, while underwater it's paddling away like crazy, trying to kick the snapping turtle off its toe...

All this, and a moon that is waxing full.... Toss in a fistful of World Leader's to provide a focal point, add a dose of protest, and the silly season rises ascendant.

District Chair Gord Adams got kicked out of the Fake Lake in Toronto for dipping his toes in the water. Knowing Gord, who is quite the sport as well as quite the sportsman, we should perhaps be grateful that he didn't try skinny dipping...

If you hop in the car, you won't go far before you find evidence of Security. Plenty of it! In Huntsville, the streets seem to have more security personnel than "real bodies".

There were two small protests in town today -- one, from Oxfam, involved 'Big Heads" -- models of the world leader's heads -- wearing nude pregnancy suits tastefully adorned with red maple leaves. The cause is laudable, but the images left on the retina may well inspire nightmares. Another protest involved Maude Barlow, leading a small flotilla of canoes down Fairy Lake, heading for the Summit site. As protests go, it was stunningly civilized. Out in the middle of the lake, the police and the protestors exchanged protest messages and safety tips. "You should be wearing lifejackets," the police advised them.

Helicopters zoomed overhead all day. And they are numerous now, out there in the dark. We gather that they are busy shuttling the Leaders to Deerhurst late this evening. Too bad... they won't get much of a view of the place from the dark sky.

Meanwhile, we had plenty of air traffic right here at Bondi. The woodpeckers have their babies out of the nest and enrolled in flight school. The kids need some practice. Their shrieks of alarm as they attempt to close in on the feeders is quite entertaining. Mom and Pop look bedraggled and exhausted, but the youngsters are in their very best, fluffy, shiny new first-day-of-school feathers.

Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird are constantly coming and going to their nest. They could give the G8 Leaders pointers on the difficulty of feeding hungry mouths.

So could Mrs. Barn Swallow. Her babies have just hatched, and she is run off her wings bringing back food. It's a task made harder by Climate Change, which more and more puts stress on these beautiful birds, whose migrations now don't always mesh with the life cycles of the insects on which they depend.

They could no doubt give some messages to the World Leaders about Climate Change, and the importance of the Environment to all of us, as well.