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Here are a few of my favorite online haunts:

REALTOR.ca
[This is the site I visit to fantasize about living in Toronto again, which is almost every single day during the winter]

Jonathan Cainer's Zodiac Forecasts
[This is where I visit in the morning, when I need a positive spin on things past, present and future.]

Living Local
[This is where I go to see what Canadians are up to, sometimes I even buy things from the businesses listed there.]

Environment Canada Weather
[This is the site I visit every morning, and before every road trip during the winter]

The leaves are popping out all around us. The weather has been lovely for the past week, sunny and mild each and every day, Monday to Friday. Today is Saturday and the temperature has dropped to 5 degrees, and we are receiving much needed rain showers.

The black flies are just starting to roar. Their numbers have been increasing over the last week. They have taken over outdoor life completely now.

Attila and I are settling into the routine of going to work each day, and enjoying our day off together. Last weekend we both worked on Saturday, and Sunday was dedicated to assisting friends with one of their cherished projects. Attila is working this morning, Saturday, but will return home by lunch time. We will take the rest of the weekend to hike and enjoy the outdoors.

I am spending my Saturday morning searching in vain for a place to have a necessary routine blood test done. There are medical labs an hours drive from here, but they are open only during the hours that I work. The hospital is a one hour drive from here, but they will not do routine blood tests. I have found a lab that is open Saturday morning, but it is a three hour drive from here. Too late today, since they are only open till noon. I would have had to leave at first light to get there in time to wait my turn for the test. The expense of a six hour drive and parking means that this blood test will be a significant investment in time and money.

I think the implications for Ontario health care are obvious. A significant proportion of the working poor cannot afford to take advantage of available health care.

Yes, we can visit a doctor. Yes, we can get free health care support services. No, we cannot reasonably access free health care support services.

No Test = No test results = No diagnostic process = Effectively, no health care.

The emergency services are still in existence. It is comforting to know that one can face death with assistance. This is not the aspect of health care support services that I would like to see experiencing unprecedented growth.

Due process is alive and well.

I have called my local political representative to ask for assistance in finding a place to have a blood test. Of course, the answering machine informs me that they are open Monday to Friday during office hours. Please leave a message after the beep...

Send a comment to Maggie at:
maggie@maggieturner.net

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RECIPES :: Cast

Worldly Distractions

Welcome sight.

Airwaves
Bone Machine
Tom Waits

WEATHER
Temperature 5 °C
Pressure/ Tendency 101.3 kPa?
Humidity 73 %
Dewpoint 0 °C
Wind NNW 18 km/h

Page by Page: A Woman's Journal
Photography
Poetry
by Maggie Turner

Canadian Maggie Turner writes and publishes poetry, photography, and a personal journal online. Her work reflects the current way of life in Canada, embracing Canada's past, present, and future in a unique portrayal of everyday life. Maggie's voice is one of the many that actively depict the rich diversity of Canadian culture.

Photography: "a term which comes from the Greek words photos (light) and graphos (drawing). A photograph is made with a camera by exposing film to light in order to create a negative. The negative is then used in the darkroom to print a photograph (positive) onto light-sensitive paper.
Source: University of Arizona Glossary

Poetry: "a form of speech or writing that harmonizes the music of its language with its subject. To read a great poem is to bring out the perfect marriage of its sound and thought in a silent or voiced performance. At least from the time of Aristotle's Poetics, drama was conceived of as a species of poetry."
Source: Creative Studios

Journal: " "Though a journal may be many things - a treasury, a storehouse, a jewelry box, a laboratory, a drafting board, a collector's cabinet, a snapshot album, a history, a travelogue..., a letter to oneself - it has some definable characteristics. It is a record, an entry-book, kept regularly, though not necessarily daily.... Some (entries) will be nearly illegible, written in the dark in the middle of the night.... Not only is it a record for oneself, but of oneself. Every memorable journal, any successful journal, is honest. Nothing sham, phony, false...." (Dorothy Lambert from Ken Macrorie's book, Writing to be Read )
A journal is a way to keep track of your thoughts about what you read... as well as what you did on any given day."
Source: Journal Writing

A Blog is an online journal created by server side software, often hosted by a commercial interest.

"The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger[4] on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999.[5][6][7] Shortly thereafter, Evan Williams at Pyra Labs used "blog" as both a noun and verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog") and devised the term "blogger" in connection with Pyra Labs' Blogger product, leading to the popularization of the terms."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_blogging

What the beep!

Page by Page: A Woman's Journal Photography Poetry by Maggie Turner

Page by Page: A Woman's Journal
Photography
Poetry
by Maggie Turner