Sometimes an advertisement so captivates your eye that it makes you think. So it was with a picture of a single small seedling, bearing only three or four tiny leaves, with a developing root system apparently thriving in hospitable soil.  The caption read: "Your food starts here". It was but a single tender seedling, not a field, not a vast prairie, not an extensive productive farmland - just one solitary, lonely seedling. But wait, surely the seed came first?

Leaving aside the puzzle of "Who or what came first?", we soon realize that there are many players who provide food for our table. Out crops are part of the great plant kingdom. They need sunshine, water, carbon dioxide, other nutrients, and a sustaining soil medium replete with beneficial bacteria in which to grow. Toxic substances, whether natural or man imposed, need to be absent. The grains give us our daily bread. In the animal domain, the herbivores graze on nature's providence, the carnivores eat the herbivores, and we eat the beneficence of both of them for our food.

Today I erected a clothes line. I realize it is against some bylaw but happily the bylaw doesn't apply to me. After 20+ years I am no longer a villager. I can have a clothes line. Sustainable, green, environmentally friendly. James Nelson

Let’s tip the hat (if we have one) to Mr. Gershwin:

Fish are out there on the Sound, the bald eagle is hovering over Brunswick Beach; not sure about the cotton. In any event, it’s summer, a little late arriving;  but for one and all, it’s time to go easy on the rules which by necessity, whether applied with discretion or enforced boot camp style, each household has them to prevent descent into borderline chaos.

For the younger folk it’s the end of school and the morning’s parental screaming to get out of bed, a well-earned respite from disciplined homework, the evening meal and bed later than usual; and heaven! sleeping in! For more mature members, vows to get in better shape so life at this time of the year can be more enjoyable and promises made, hopefully to be fulfilled, of a thousand household projects from fixing the unruly backyard to reading unread books gathering dust on the shelves. Perhaps even re-create the spark in your love life.

Rules? They are always out there, in some form or other, but make them a more balanced ingredient in your life in this beautiful time of the year. It is the season for fun. Indulge yourself.

It’s summer. An’ the livin’ is easy.

RE : Proposed By law Change regarding secondary suites. 

The councilors are explaining in their update email it was determined in the OCP.  that suites should pay a fair contribution for the extra services which they use. fair when it comes to services, what about people who use very little water, and those who only have one garbage can per week, are you also intending to make their contribution fair?  Whilst I agree that everything should be

What exactly are these extra service costs in Real Dollars that Basement Suites create, do you have any actual statistics from Lions Bay to prove that suites are using more water, and producing more garbage, or are you just making that assumption? There are many people who have 4 or more children who use far more water, and create far more garbage than some of the basement suites.What is wrong with paying for the number of cans you put out, by having a permanent, one time only,  pre- numbered and assigned, hard plastic tag, attached to each handle. Just like parking permits are issued once a year, homeowners can then pay for the extra service that they need, by purchasing extra tags. Suites would need the extra tags, and so would the other residents who create more garbage.  

A new survey of each home with no. and age of people occupying could result in the approx calculation of the amount of the water usage charge and also provide the no. and age of people residing in each dwelling in case of emergency, re: fire and earthquake.  Age statistics would also provide the means to survey the older generation just to see how many older people are really interested in AGE FRIENDLY dwellings. Personally I do not think water is a problem, as long as it keeps coming down the creek, the next thing will be you charging for, will be people who leave hoses running and washing cars too much! or heaven forbid putting in water meters! 

The solutions discussed above would not require the need to Legalize suites or create a billing system to charge for extra services or require the need to hire more office staff, it would also ensure that residents only use CANS and not plastic bags, like many still do, and would be a much fairer way to charge everyone than what you are proposing. I am not in favor of charging a set fee for services for suites, and neither am I concerned as to what the larger Municipalities charge, as we are a small community and we do not necessarily need to follow like sheep.  Personally,  I am content to see things left the way they are, rather than put any more work on the Administrative staff in the office.  The wheel is not broke, why fix it? Regards, Philip Bromiley