Wwwwwwhoooooooaaaaaa!!! 2020 is behind us.

It was a quiet, not quiet, quiet New Year’s Eve this year. I expected a relaxing quiet evening with a few things on the list; clean oven, clean fridge and fresh sheets on the bed! Once my list was completed Netflix and Turkish “sapunice” (soap operas/ series) was to be a MUST!! !! What did surprise me was the 10 minute BLAST of energy from outside to celebrate midnight. It was like a collective relief that 2020 was over.

I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet that feels differently and that is an interesting place to be at this point in time. Finally we come together over something. Sadly it wasn’t the case for people living in parks, alleys and streets as somehow there was no collective coming together to solve this and put people indoors where it might be safe and warm. The flags continue to go on the fence of Strathcona Park to show this issue is not forgotten to some of us.

Below you see Artdog Koko gathering the troops (her new ceramic friend SPOT and LOLA in the corner by the fence) to support the PHASE 2 of "piece flags” on the fence. CONNECTING THREADS now has 3 fence panels of slogans on the go, with 3 more coming. We just have to wait for the rain to give us a break! Today was a good day on the fence as usual there were encounters; the irony is that I lost my favourite stitching needle while reinstalling the flags of phase one. There’s a lot of work that goes into retying those one sided flags back onto the fence hahaha. Next time you walk by take a close look at how many threads are still attached to the fence and not the flags to give you an idea. It’s a lot of work and takes a village to be honest. Caroline and I were installing the slogan “Kind, Calm, Safe” by Evelyn today when Sally came along. She was grateful for the work and offered to come by and help with the retying and keep an eye on the one sided flags as well.

YEAH!!! It’s a beautiful thing when people jump in to help each other and work towards a common goal; as simple as the goal may be. Loosing a needle and gaining a kind person to help us remember we’re all in this together made for a very good day!!

Enjoy these few photos :

1. Koko (and SPOT) thinking about her park and how she only goes to the fence now since it’s too filthy and dangerous to play freely like she used to.

2. Slogan: KIND, CALM, SAFE (one panel installed 2 more to come)

3. Slogan: NEVER GIVE UP (LOLA on the fence)

4. Slogan: KIND, CALM, SAFE

   May everyone have a safe, calm, kind and healthy 2021!!!