Mother’s Day at Kananaskis. This day is often celebrated on the second Sunday of May and is a time to reflect on the mothers, parents, other family members, mentors, or friends in our lives and our experiences together!American singer-songwriter Jennifer Judy “JJ” Heller seems to give an autobiographical account of her family experiences in A Mother Like You. Gratitude for people, places, and life’s golden moments is of critical importance, including during a pandemic. This audiovisual presentation features Kananaskis.

Kananaskis is nestled in the Rockies Mountains, and it is about 99 kilometres from Calgary. This location’s valleys date back at least 12,000 years, and the mountains are predated to around two million years (Alberta Parks, 2018). During the story of our earth, we have had avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and the like! Humankind has survived natural, and human-made disasters. COVID-19’s effects have been with us relatively speaking for the “blink of an eye.” The COVID-19 pandemic is not likely to be infinite, although it may test your capacities to bounce back, plan your short- and long-term goals and daily activities. The COVID-19 pandemic is life-threatening and, for the foreseeable future, seems to be an ongoing situation.

Mothers, parents, family members, mentors, or friends on this special day and other times of the year often try to support and shelter us from extreme events and contexts. In the absence of others, we have opportunities for self-nurturing activities to replenish our mind, body, and spirit! Stress management can be both unique and a shared process and is a step towards cognitive and physical health, lessening blood pressure levels, cardio, lung, and musculoskeletal challenges and increasing equilibrium (John Hopkins University, 2020). As part of a rudimentary and continuing resilience toolkit to develop or restore physical and cognitive fitness, please remember to:

– Focus on your deep breathing.

– Envision that each “cloud has a silver lining.” If you have difficulty in believing this, nurture a hopeful mindset.

– Walk a mile in another’s shoes and have social and self-empathy.

– Be receptive to new experiences. For example, immerse yourself in the green and notice what you can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste.

COVID-19 has engendered or exacerbated feelings of being alone, even in crowded rooms. This period is a time to read and reflect on how you can letter write, phone, and virtually communicate with others through email, text, and listserv. Ongoing stress is often tiring (Rau & Fanselow, 2007)! Life during a pandemic often heightens fatigue, and it at such a time that you pause to smell the roses and to ponder upon the beauty of blue skies and white puffy clouds!

Read More

See:

Mother’s Day. On The Trail.

Mother’s Day at Jasper, Alberta.

Nathan Lay is an Australian opera singer, and he gives a touching version of the song, ‘And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.’  Two of Nathan Lay’s grandfathers fought during World War I (Kelly, 2017).   Lay’s grandfathers and other fallen and wounded soldiers paid with their lives to keep Australians and others safe. Australians service personnel often fought beside their allies, and their persistence and sacrifices are remembered on April 25, and this is ANZAC Day!

The image above is of an Australian Digger who stands guard at Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia.

Conflict management methods do not need to be limited to armed conflicts and wars. The binding decisions of arbitrators may determine disputes that occur in connection with domestic and international agreements.  A judge is a kind of arbitrator who presides over proceedings.   In arbitration, the parties who have a distinct legal association agree to arbitrate their disputes. An arbitrator often hears the parties’ positions, receives evidence, and makes findings.

The written arbitration agreement may be contained in a contract or stand independently from this. Deals are preferably in writing; the parties should retrieve an ‘electronic communication’ for their future reference.   If arbitrators are selected often, they will be impartial.  They may be members of good standing of an association and appear in a directory of arbitrators.   The arbitrator’s authority is a derivate of this agreement. Unlike a judge, the arbitrator generally does not have inherent jurisdiction to adjudicate’.  Arbitration and litigation are kinds of adjudication.  Arbitrators may consult and depend upon earlier cases in the development of arbitration clauses.

Arbitration could be applied to address complex content and to develop procedural safeguards, including confidentiality.  Non-parties to the agreement are not bound by arbitration.  Arbitration awards could become frustrated by including others and matters outside the scope of the initial agreement.  The arbitration may occur online, potentially bringing arbitrators and parties together across nations to manage disputes.   A contract to arbitrate can be autonomous from another agreement or be included as part of a central accord.  The costs of war to human life and the planet are unbearable, and conflict management methods that do not involve wars or armed conflicts are options of choice. (Kernaghan, 2018).

Also see:

• ANZAC and 1770: Times to Remember
• ANZAC Day Lest We Forget !

Further Reading

Allan Edward Barsky, Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions (2000, Wadsworth) 10.Boulle, Laurence, Mediation Principles Process Practice (2^nd ed, 2005, LexisNexis Butterworths).

Boulle, Laurence, Mediation Skills and Techniques (2001, Butterworths).

Commercial Arbitration Act 2010 (NSW) s 7

Fran Kelly, RN Breakfast

Gabrielle Kaufman-Kohler, Arbitral Precedent: Dream, Necessity or Excuse? (2006) 357.

Innersense International Inc. v Manegre, 2000 ABQB 424 s 28.

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Approved Providers for Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution, Policy Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

Jonette Watson Hamilton, ‘Arbitration” in Julie Macfarlane (ed), Dispute Resolution Readings and Case Studies (WordsWorth Communication, 2^nd ed, 2003) 615,623.

Lee Kernaghan, Oh Passchendaele

Lee Kernaghan, The Unbearable Price of War

Nathan Lay, And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.

National Alternative Dispute Resolution (NADRAC), Alternative Dispute Resolution < https://www.ag.gov.au/legal-system/alternative-dispute-resolution>.

Sourdin, Tania, Alternative Dispute Resolution (2^nd ed, 2005, Lawbook Co) 231.

Such countries as Australia, Brazil, China and Mexico have a rich biodiversity. This audiovisual material includes parts of the coastal area and The Glass House Mountains in Queensland.

Beach Beerburrum & Glass House Mountains, QLD

Lyster, Lipman, Frankin et al. noted in 2007 that the surface area of Australia, Brazil, China and Mexico is but one-tenth of the earth’s surface but holds seven-tenths of this planet’s biodiversity. In 2007 eight tenths of Australia’s florae and animals were unique to this nation. Our focus in this post and website is to provide you with images from  Canada, Australia, and the United States.

Biodiversity fluctuates and is not fixed (The Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, n.d.). Perhaps each year, our ‘furred’ and other animal friends suffer from loss of territory through human agency, including the mismanagement of environmental assets, alterations to waterways and the forces of nature, including winds and erosion. When you visit your favourite lake, mountain, ocean, or river, please remember to bring nothing with you but memories and leave nothing behind but footprints to help protect our earth!

You can travel from the highest peaks to the deepest caverns in your mind’s eyes and enjoy reflections from our continuing and breathing earth and its supporters.

See:

John Denver – Earth Day Every Day

John Denver – Thank God I’m a Country Boy

Lee Kernaghan – Flying with the King

Read More:
Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Australian Government, Threatened Species Under the EPBC Act

Rosemary Lyster, Zada Lipman, Nicola Franklin et al., Environmental & Planning Law in New South Wales, The Federation Press (2007).

See also:
In commemoration of Earth Day 2021: Hillarys and Mullaloo

Towards Earth Day on April 22, 2021

Easter is a time for family or friends in person or virtually and sharing hope with a new unique season. Of course, projects like decorating your hard-boiled eggs or looking for chocolate ones can be loads of fun! You can also go on virtual tours to mountain terrains.

On The Mountain 2020: The Easter Bunny in AB and BC

For an image of beautiful mountains in Alberta, please click below:

The Rocky Mountains on Easter Saturday

Whatever your thoughts or beliefs are about the meaning of Easter and its significance, the long weekend is a time to spend time with family as you are reminded that it is no longer winter, and you can look forward to a new season.

You may note down items in your gratitude journal. You could write, I am grateful to be in another season. You can do this kind of activity and support your family and friends to think about what is positive in their lives. Metaphorically each dark cloud may have a silver lining! The sun is shining, and if you listen carefully, sometimes you can hear the birds singing, and this is nature’s lullaby. To read more about this particular time; please see:

The Easter Woodpecker in Bow Valley Provincial Park

From the United States to Australia and other parts of Canada, please join Alberta in celebrating Family Day tomorrow! Let’s reflect on the healing power of nature of which we share. See Let’s cherish life and the world around us; from the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Oregon (pictured below) to Australia’s coastal and rainforest areas to Canada’s glistening lakes and towering mountains, this planet is home to all of us!
For an additional message, please see

Reptiles Down Under and the Red Centre

: Happy Family Day, Alberta!