This claim raises serious questions

 I love cities, towns and villages. I truly love investigating what makes an urban area tick, so to speak. I could be wrong but I sincerely believe many of our communities in North America "ticked" better 70 years ago.

In my rather brief lifetime, I have watched entire communities die as the one industry that made the place work packed up its bags and left. All too often it was the call of offshore sirens that were responsible.

The story is always the same: making the widget is cheaper done offshore. The widget factory is closed, production moves offshore and society benefits from the availability of a less expensive products. Well, not every one benefits. The employees, especially the older one, find themselves unemployed, unable to land another job paying a comparable wage. The community suffers from the loss of the business paid by the departed company and other associated losses. The community may even be saddled with the task of finding a new use for the now empty building or for the land it sits upon.

But, it was inevitable, right? This is where my puzzlement comes in.

Some Kamik boots, made in North America with some offshore materials, cost in the neighbourhood of $80. Some Sorel boots made offshore in Vietman also cost in the neighbourhood of $80.

That's right. No difference. If there is a savings it is not being passed on to the customer. And, these boots are just one example of something that I have been noticing for years. The local factory closes, the buy-straight-from-the-factory discount outlet closes, the workers are left to fend for themselves and the local suppliers may also close.

Yet, the price of the product doesn't go down a noticeable amount. In fact, some products go up and go up a lot, when the original factory is closed and production moved offshore. 

I've been known to complain about this, I'll bet you are not surprised. One reason, I've been told, is that it costs more to ship a shirt from China half way around the globe away than to ship it from Toronto, not even two hours distant.

My gut feeling, and it is just that, is that the savings are being hoarded by the company behind the product. If a hedge fund owns the company, my gut feeling is even stronger.

Oh, one last thought: when we last bought winter boots for our youngest granddaughter we noticed that the Kamik, made in North America boots, were about twenty dollars less than what appeared to be comparable boots from Sorel. Offshore production. Humbug!

Kamik boots are NOT made in China

 

For years I have liked the boots made by Kamik. My aging memory tells me that Kamik boots have been made and sold in Canada since my boyhood days. Am I right? I don't know. It hardly seems possible and yet, the boots carry a Made in Canada label.

Our communities have changed a lot during my lifetime. One of the big changes is the loss of manufacturing jobs as many factories closed and the jobs were sent off shore. I went looking for an answer and I was surprised at what I found

Click on the link. You will be surprised as I was and you might decide that the next winter boots you buy are Kamiks.

Where are Kamik boots made?

Elf on a shelf: gimmick or tradition?

 

Elf on a Shelf is a Christmas tradition. I know because the book, published in 2005, says so. Right on the cover it says so very clearly, "A Christmas Tradition." 

I think of the little elf dolls as a fairly new Christmas gimmick but then I'm a bit of a crotchety old codger. I like my traditions to have been around longer than me. 

My middle granddaughter is quite taken with the little dolls and carries one around in its box all through the Christmas season. She never touches the little doll as that would strip it of its magic powers. Humbug!

Today she made ginger bread cookies, now there's a tradition, and gave one of the cookies to the elf whom she had carefully seated in our Christmas tree. I took a picture of both the cookie and the doll and it was either out-of-focus or suffered from camera movement. Taking blurry pictures, now that is a Christmas tradition celebrated all year long.

Decorating the family tree: a tradition in Canada

 

Isla is only eight. She is younger than almost every decoration that she and her sister hung on our family Christmas tree. Some of the decorations are more than seven decades old. Many of the decorations were hung by the girls' mother when she was a child. All of the decorations carry a family Christmas memory.

Santas welcomes all to court

It is difficult to show the visual impact of the large, twin Santas welcoming folk to the small suburban court. Yesterday I tried to show both Santas in one shot but it is difficult as they are on facing sides of the court entrance. The long lens I used compressed the visual space. There is a road separating these two.

Clearly two neighbours are cooperating in order to mount this display. The cooperation, as much as the two Santas (only one shown above) says Christmas as much as the large inflatable Saint Nicks.

A pair of welcoming Santas

The little suburban court has two immense, welcoming Santas at both sides of its entrance. The inflatable Santas tower above the cars passing by on the main road. Many of the vehicles slow down for a better look at the simple but dramatic display.

Really? Shoplifters take these pots?

 

Unbelievable. And a sad commentary on life today. These pots are heavy. Massive pots in enamelled cast iron are not easy to hide under a coat or slip into a bag. And yet, the display of the French made Staub pots and stove-top grill plates must be anchored to the display with a stainless steel cable to prevent theft. A staffer first unlocks the large padlock to enable someone to make a purchase.