My husband and I are off to Missionfest Toronto, today. Not quiet sure what to expect. It's a sort of trade show for Christian missions organizations, of which I sort of am one. Sort of.
I tend to approach these things with a bit of cynicism. Part of me wants to roll my eyes at any seminar with "women's" in the title. Past experience has not been helpful. And any event I'd want to attend comes with a price tag attached that I just can't afford.
But it'll be interesting. Maybe there'll be someone there with info on housing issues, addiction, mental health. Hope so.
Dinner on Wednesday was provided by St. Thingy's Anglican, their usual week. It was very good. Ham, scalloped potatoes, lovely chocolate eggs with dessert.
Heard some hopeful news from C. She and her man are looking at renting a house for $350 a month. A whole house. The catch is that it needs "some work". Apparently, someone broke in and stole the plumbing fixtures. Including the toilet and bathtub. Must have been some cat burglar. But at least the landlord is replacing the tub, so that's good.
I drove by the address last night, expecting to see some disaster, but it's actually quite nice from the outside. Not more than 20 years old, brick. Rather far from downtown for someone without a car. But considering what they've been living with, a bit of a walk is a small price to pay.
She told me the other week that she has a nice TV that a family member is using right now. She bought it through a "rent to own" program. Over several years of "renting", she figures she paid about $8,000 for the thing. This industry is, I suppose, helpful to a lot of people, but it seems to make most of its money off people who have none. If you can rent a computer for $12 a month, you can manage that. But after enough years of payments you end up with something old and useless that you've paid twice the market value for.
Breakfast is coming up again Sunday morning. Back to normal. We hope. Last month was the tailgate party. We talked about that on Wednesday night. How great it was that the debacle happened before all of the 6 dozen eggs were cracked and scrambled. The way it worked out, S. was able to just give them away intact, which was very welcome.
Last night when I left, A., who lives there, and S., who doesn't, were doing that thing where guys stand around with their heads under the hood of a car. S.'s radio had quit and A. is quite the mechanic. Apparently, fixing the radio involves the engine. I'll have to take their word for it. But A. looked like he was enjoying himself.
A. is a man in his 50s or 60s. He's got a van parked outside his room that hasn't moved all winter. It needs some parts to get it going. As I understand it, he could get the parts and do the work, but then he'd have to get the thing inspected and it would need an emissions test, which he can't afford. He also expects that, once it was in someone's garage, they'd tell him it needed some work to pass the road-worthiness inspection that he can't afford to have them do. So there's no point in fixing the thing. But he's keeping it because he's got a really good deal on insurance that he'd lose if he let it lapse and he can't afford a rate increase if he ever got another vehicle. So he's hanging on to it.
H. has been working on some birdhouses to sell at a local music festival in September. He spent Easter weekend busking outside the liquor store and said that business was down from last year at the same time.
The pot holes in the driveway at the Motel are reaching epic proportions. I'm not sure they qualify as pot holes anymore. Pot holes should probably not be bigger than your car.
We're talking about having another yard sale in the spring and hosting another 'meet and greet' for people in the area working in the fields of justice and social issues.
Life goes on.
r
I tend to approach these things with a bit of cynicism. Part of me wants to roll my eyes at any seminar with "women's" in the title. Past experience has not been helpful. And any event I'd want to attend comes with a price tag attached that I just can't afford.
But it'll be interesting. Maybe there'll be someone there with info on housing issues, addiction, mental health. Hope so.
Dinner on Wednesday was provided by St. Thingy's Anglican, their usual week. It was very good. Ham, scalloped potatoes, lovely chocolate eggs with dessert.
Heard some hopeful news from C. She and her man are looking at renting a house for $350 a month. A whole house. The catch is that it needs "some work". Apparently, someone broke in and stole the plumbing fixtures. Including the toilet and bathtub. Must have been some cat burglar. But at least the landlord is replacing the tub, so that's good.
I drove by the address last night, expecting to see some disaster, but it's actually quite nice from the outside. Not more than 20 years old, brick. Rather far from downtown for someone without a car. But considering what they've been living with, a bit of a walk is a small price to pay.
She told me the other week that she has a nice TV that a family member is using right now. She bought it through a "rent to own" program. Over several years of "renting", she figures she paid about $8,000 for the thing. This industry is, I suppose, helpful to a lot of people, but it seems to make most of its money off people who have none. If you can rent a computer for $12 a month, you can manage that. But after enough years of payments you end up with something old and useless that you've paid twice the market value for.
Breakfast is coming up again Sunday morning. Back to normal. We hope. Last month was the tailgate party. We talked about that on Wednesday night. How great it was that the debacle happened before all of the 6 dozen eggs were cracked and scrambled. The way it worked out, S. was able to just give them away intact, which was very welcome.
Last night when I left, A., who lives there, and S., who doesn't, were doing that thing where guys stand around with their heads under the hood of a car. S.'s radio had quit and A. is quite the mechanic. Apparently, fixing the radio involves the engine. I'll have to take their word for it. But A. looked like he was enjoying himself.
A. is a man in his 50s or 60s. He's got a van parked outside his room that hasn't moved all winter. It needs some parts to get it going. As I understand it, he could get the parts and do the work, but then he'd have to get the thing inspected and it would need an emissions test, which he can't afford. He also expects that, once it was in someone's garage, they'd tell him it needed some work to pass the road-worthiness inspection that he can't afford to have them do. So there's no point in fixing the thing. But he's keeping it because he's got a really good deal on insurance that he'd lose if he let it lapse and he can't afford a rate increase if he ever got another vehicle. So he's hanging on to it.
H. has been working on some birdhouses to sell at a local music festival in September. He spent Easter weekend busking outside the liquor store and said that business was down from last year at the same time.
The pot holes in the driveway at the Motel are reaching epic proportions. I'm not sure they qualify as pot holes anymore. Pot holes should probably not be bigger than your car.
We're talking about having another yard sale in the spring and hosting another 'meet and greet' for people in the area working in the fields of justice and social issues.
Life goes on.
r
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