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My granddaughters used to enjoy wearing their mother's old Brownie uniform. I'm not sure if the family still has it around but even if they do, I rather suspect the kids may all have outgrown it by now. Of course, the uniforms of the Guiding movement are updated every few years to reflect current styles and Guide activities.

Soon, however, not only will the Brownie uniforms be obsolete - the name "Brownies" will be too! The rationale for this move is discussed on the Girl Guides of Canada page:

https://www.girlguides.ca/WEB/GGC/branch_name_change.aspx

Is the term racist? Personally I wouldn't have thought so although I'd be curious to hear from folks currently involved in Guiding, especially those who are racialized and work with racially and otherwise diverse groups, troupes and Brownie packs.

What of Brown Owl? Will she be rendered obsolete too? And what of the Pixies, Leprechauns, Little People and other folk that used to make up the sixes? As long as we're breaking down stereotypes, I'm sure the Fairy Queen - a different girl each week, on a rotational basis, who led the others around the circle while sporting an aluminum foil crown - will have to go!

I don't recall offhand all the badges they had back in the 1980s but I do remember there was a bannock badge, long before the days of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission or even the shuttering of the last residential schools. New badges get added on a regular basis and so they should, but most of the ones I do recall - Baker's, Cook's, World Friendship, Astronomy - are just as relevant now as they were back then.

A "short list" of two names will be announced around the end of this month and by the end of 2023, the phase-in should be pretty much done. Any guesses as to what the new name will be?

I suppose it could be something boring like Junior Guides. Maybe they'll use a bottom-up approach instead, moving from Sparks to Flames? Maybe they'll be named after toys - Dolls and Teddy Bears, anyone? Or will they be named for real live animals; Beavers and Cubs have already been taken by the Scouts but there's still Chipmunks, Bunnies, Owlets...

As long as they still sell those wonderful cookies, I don't really care what they call themselves!

Today is Maundy Thursday, a day for washing the feet. And even more so this year, for washing the hands. I got a kick out of this video that my sister alerted me to - you might too, if you're a fan of classic Fab Four:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxOJ7hh3H-I

Besides this one, there are hand-washing videos out there to suit every musical taste:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS5hAiBcijJBJzB0jxCiOxA

Throughout our community and around the world, people are gearing up to celebrate Virtual Easter or Passover or whatever they celebrate, using all kinds of creative tricks to maintain the required degree of physical distance or isolation. Human ingenuity will never cease to amaze me!

In our community that means there won't be hordes of cars and taxis crowding local streets as Muslims flock to Friday prayers. But I've no doubt they'll be washing their hands, and maybe their feet, and praying just as they did before Covid19. The recent restrictions have given us a welcome reprieve from door-to-door proselytizers with important messages about God and the end of the world. Perhaps they have finally understood that even heathens like us are now aware that the end is nigh, so their missionary work is superfluous.

Of course, Easter also marks the end of Lent and even we nonbelievers, who may not have been all that abstemious since pancake day, are not averse to marking the occasion with a few seasonal foods.

Normally at this time of year, we would visit the Wild Oat on Bank Street for our annual batch of hot cross buns. But this year, since they're not open for walk-in traffic, the resident bread baker agreed to bake some from scratch. They're quite nice, too, although we did have to scrounge a bit to find suitable ingredients (no candied fruit or peel, but we did have two varieties of raisins plus currants, and a decent selection of spices). I've since learned that the Wild Oat does deliver to our area through Ottawa Organics, although they're not taking new customers at the moment:

https://ottawaorganics.com/product-category/bakery/wild-oat/

We also got an order of maple products from Fultons - all in the name of supporting local business, you understand - though sadly we couldn't walk the trails, visit Barney's Grave or eat in their restaurant this year.

One seasonal food we don't have is Girl Guide cookies. They used to always be sold door to door around this time but now that Guide groups are no longer meeting (not in person, anyway), I'm sure they won't be sold in that way. Maybe I should check if they can be ordered online for pickup or delivery.

Food shortages and food surpluses are occurring in interesting ways during this pandemic. The stuff that IS readily available is nothing like war rationing or the powdered egg recipes of my mother's WWII-era cookbook - thank goodness! Apparently there is a bit of a shortage of flour at the moment, and of rice. Quite a change from the 1960s and 70s, when I recall that one novelty item sold at Four Corners was a little cloth bag containing a portion of the Prairie wheat surplus!

Then there's milk. When we last visited Loblaws, there were signs posted asking customers not to buy more than two of the 4-litre bags of milk. Now there's apparently a serious surplus of milk, to the point that some dairy farmers are actually being told to dump some of it. Since it's unpasteurized when it leaves the farm, it can't be readily donated to a food bank or diverted into making other dairy products like cheese. For my partner who comes from good dairy-farming and cheese making stock, that news definitely struck a sour note!

And by the way, if you're a fan of hard cider, consider going to the LCBO and investing in a few cans of Flying Canoe, made in Spencerville. Apparently the owner is a victim of the so-called 5-acre rule and is not allowed to sell it from his own property. He's already shipped out as much as he can to the outlets that carry it and will probably go out of business during the next few weeks if that rule doesn't change.

Anyway, we're fairly well stocked now for our home-based Easter weekend. The weather doesn't look that great for the next couple of days, though - rain and flurries are expected. I hope there will still be the odd hiatus when we can get out for our daily walk. We wouldn't want the "freshman fifteen" to blossom into the "self-isolating seventeen"!