I’m sure every one of the thousands of Fort McMurray families has their own story of what happened to them during the evacuation, but here’s one of the most thrilling stories of courage that I’ve seen so far:

If Cora Dion only needed transport for two horses as she fled Fort McMurray with her twin 15-year-old daughters, three dogs and a cat, the family’s escape from Alberta’s worst wildfire in years would have been fairly straightforward.
But she had four horses. And a trailer for two….
So they joined the vehicular torrent on Highway 63 — Dion, the dogs and the cat in her truck; two horses in the trailer; and Gwen and Carly riding the two remaining horses.
They didn’t even have time to saddle them both: Carly rode bareback; Gwen took charge of Addie, a six-year-old thoroughbred who, as a racehorse, is high-strung by nature.
Sometimes they took the shoulder, Dion driving slowly alongside. Where there was no shoulder, they were on the road, in traffic. …
“Seriously, for my daughter to jump on a six-year-old thoroughbred and ride down the highway, that takes guts,” she said. …
“We had Harleys driving right behind. Normally a Harley would cause great stress, especially in a really young horse like Addie.”
“My horse, she’s very much the leader of our little herd there, and you could tell she was very visibly trying to suppress her stress. She was pretending to be calm, but when we pulled her off she was drenched with sweat.” …
As Dion and her girls waited for their next ride at the junction of highways 63 and 881, a stranger with a four-horse trailer pulled up beside them.
“I don’t know who you are, but load in — let’s get going,” she recalls him saying.
“He literally put my horses in his trailer and we were on the road in five minutes.”…
They’ve no idea when they’ll be able to go home or what will be left when they do. (So far, from what they hear, the house is still standing.)
Especially painful is the thought of the animals they left behind: a corn snake, a bearded dragon, and a ball python named Demetrius who probably won’t make it without carefully controlled heat and humidity.
Hunter, their 10-year-old cat, was nowhere to be found when they left. Dion hopes he can take care of himself for a little while.
“Honestly, now that I look back, it was pretty terrifying,” Dion says.
But at the time, she was in survival mode.
“I was just, OK, this is what we have to do.”

Other families evacuated included Syrian refugees who had only arrived in Fort McMurray four months ago:

As members of Fahed Labek’s family from war-torn Syria fled the inferno engulfing their adopted Alberta hometown, he recalls them staring back at the flames in Fort McMurray.
“They said, ‘OK. We left the fire and now we saw another fire. From fire to fire,’ ” said Labek, 43, who fled the approaching wildfire on Tuesday.
Labek lives in Fort McMurray with his wife and two children. He helped relocate his mother, sister, brother-in-law and their two children to his home in late February.
They are among about six families of Syrian refugees that resettled in the city in recent months….
Labek and his family left in a rush for oilsand workers’ camps to the north of the city, expecting a 45-minute drive. Instead they drove for eight hours and when they arrived, apologetic aid workers told them no beds were available.
The family, including his 68-year-old mother who is in a wheelchair, set off again for Edmonton.
When their car broke down they were picked up by other evacuees in two different vehicles. Labek was awake for 42 hours before everyone reunited in Edmonton at about 6 a.m. Wednesday.
“Now we have another story. I have to find a place to stay, I have to find some food,” Labek said Thursday.
“We don’t have clothes for my kids, we don’t have milk. For my kids, we don’t even have diapers.”

The evacuation order happened so quickly that people couldn’t fill up their tanks — now hundreds of cars are abandoned on the highways, and the government has sent tanker trucks and set up mobile gas stations to allow owners to get their vehicles moving again.
Here are before and after photos from The Weather Network:

Nobody has died so far, and two babies have been born during the evacuation.

Our new clubhouse is about a month from official opening and we are coping with the generous donations from the residents of Brantwell Village. Some of the donations are very large and expensive such as a beautiful grand piano and several pool tables. …

I have mentioned several times about the unusual weather patterns that have been plaguing our area this year. It is close to the end of February and the last few days have given us spring like conditions.  I am very worried about our trees which a…

You Are Not What You Think: The Egoless Path to Self-Esteem and Generous Love is the exact book that I needed to cross my path in this particular stage in my life. I’m going through a great deal of “self work” and unraveling some habits and thought processes to fully see how I operate in […]

The post Recently Read: You Are Not What You Think appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

Right livelihood. It can be yours even if it feels so far away. One step to make it even closer it to find someone who knows how to make it happen and can coach you. Whether it’s being overwhelmed, having fears about what this kind of transition would be like for your life (and wallet), […]

The post Towards a Liberation-based Livelihood in 2016 appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

It’s the time of the year where everyone’s feeling awesome and cheery and light. Well some of us. It’s OK if you’re not. Know you’re not alone in feeling sad, guilty, happy, miserable, lighthearted, messy, Christmas cheery and not-so-celebratory. But if you are in need of an ear and do need help – don’t be […]

The post Random Linkage: Season’s Weepings appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

Judging a book by its cover, this one features a color photo of a shirtless, tattooed man emblazoned across the book jacket. While this is quite common with many of the publications sitting on bookshelves today – memoirs of heavy metal musicians or biographies of male supermodels- this one is quite different and exceptionally powerful. […]

The post Recently Read: The Body of Chris appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

This is not a drill! The book that I’ve been working on is officially out! It’s been a complete labor of love, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that being a first time editor of roughly 30 pieces was easy – especially when working with the words of so many people who I […]

The post Lotus Petals in the Snow – Now Available for Purchase! appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

Here dear friends is a handful of items that have crossed my eyeballs on the internet lately. I like to call it Random Linkage. May you all be titillated, entertained and perhaps illuminated. Check out this interview from The Lion’s Roar with Mingyur Rinpoche after emerging from a four year retreat. They’re talkin’ bout my […]

The post Full Contact Enlightenment – Random Linkage: November appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

Been a while friends. Been a while. I’ve been studying a whole lot but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t on my mind. Here are a few distractions from my studies that I’d love to share with you all. This episode of this rather nefarious sounding podcast was something my husband said I’d quite like […]

The post Random Linkage: Podcasts, Miscellany and More appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

Every day there is a hawk which visits our home. It lands in a tree not fifty feet from our balcony and surveys the area. The first time I noticed it was during a kill. The hawk came out of the sky very fast and landed on a small rabbit.The kill was in…

I think Canada has had quite enough of Mike Duffy.I know I certainly have.Apparently we aren’t supposed to hold this grown man responsible for understanding such complex rules as:1.  If its not Senate business, don’t ask for reimbursement; and,2. …

So Saskatchewan NDP leader Cam Broten has resigned after losing his seat, and federal NDP leader Tom Mulcair was voted out – though apparently he still wants to hang around embarrassing the party for the next two years until they finally elect a new le…

My granddaughter Darcy is the coach of an elite midget hockey team in Guelph. This weekend her team won the gold in a tournament representing her large area. It is the Lower Lakes division and it is an excellent division for future elite women hockey p…

Most people believe that they have friends. Most of the people believe that they are a friend to several  acquaintances. I have several friends or used to have several friends. As I age the number diminished to a very few. Today I lost a dear frie…

Lynda invited some of her friends and family for dinner and was surprised that the whole gang were free to come. Only Dar and Mitch were unable to come from Ottawa. Twenty three of us came on a wintery day when we had power outages, ice rain and a coun…

Looking at what has happened so far, and at the contests coming up, here’s my unscientific view of what is going to happen over the next two months:
First fact: the total number of delegates needed to win is 2300.  As of yesterday, Hillary needed about 700 more delegates, and Bernie needed about 1400 more.
Second fact: From now until the end of May, there will be 13 primaries and caucus, awarding about 1,100 delegates.
Based on results so far with Bernie winning the smaller caucuses and Hillary the larger primaries, I think Bernie and Hillary will continue to split many of these votes.  But I believe Hillary is on track to achieve significant wins in the closed primaries in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky, while Bernie’s only large blowout will be today’s open caucus in Washington.
As a result, over the next two months, I think we will see Hillary gain maybe 600 to 700 delegates — which brings her pretty close to the goal — and Bernie gain maybe 400 to 500, which leaves him still about a thousand delegates short.  And there are only about 700 delegates remaining in all of the June primaries.  So even though he gained about a hundred at the Saturday caucuses, which is cheering to his supporters, in the long run these delegates aren’t going to help.
I must say now that its becoming clear that Hillary is going to win — because millions of Democrats actually like her a lot — I’m glad to see more people pushing back against some of the Hillary hatred which has polluted blogs like Daily Kos for the last several months.  In refuting Matt Taibbi’s incoherent Clinton trashing, Kevin Drum goes point by point while Booman gives everyone a valuable history lesson in what happened during Bill Clinton’s presidency. Booman concludes:

The choice between Clinton and Sanders is not a choice between today and 1992; it’s a choice about who you think is best prepared to be president and who can win by the biggest margin. It’s also a bet, or a gamble on how much change you think the system can bear. And it’s a guess about which candidate can get more out of a reluctant Congress.
It’s no easy choice, and I don’t want to pretend that it is, but it’s not a choice between good and evil, and it’s not obvious who is right.

The more I see of Bernie, the less I think of him. As Kevin Drum puts it:

Bernie Sanders too often lets rhetoric take the place of any actual plausible policy proposal. He suggested that his health care plan would save more in prescription drug costs than the entire country spends in the first place. This is the sign of a white paper hastily drafted to demonstrate seriousness, not something that’s been carefully thought through. He bangs away on campaign finance reform, but there’s virtually no chance of making progress on this. The Supreme Court has seen to that, and even if Citizens United were overturned, previous jurisprudence has placed severe limits on regulating campaign speech. Besides, the public doesn’t support serious campaign finance reform and never has. And even on foreign policy, it’s only his instincts that are good. He’s shown no sign of thinking hard about national security issues, and that’s scarier than most of his supporters acknowledge. Tyros in the Oval Office are famously susceptible to pressure from the national security establishment, and Bernie would probably be no exception. There’s a chance—small but not trivial—that he’d get rolled into following a more hawkish national security policy than Hillary.
I’m old, and I’m a neoliberal sellout. Not as much of one as I used to be, but still. So it’s no surprise that I’m not always on the same page as Taibbi. That said, I continue to be surprised by the just plain falseness of many of the left-wing attacks on Hillary, along with the starry-eyed willingness to accept practically everything Bernie says without even a hint of healthy skepticism. Hell, if you’re disappointed by Obama, who’s accomplished more than any Democratic president in decades, just wait until Bernie wins. By the end of four years, you’ll be practically suicidal.

Finally, here’s Hillary’s latest speech, on terrorism and how she intends to deal with it  — hint:  she’s not carpet-bombing ISIS, or closing the borders, or patrolling Muslim neighbourhoods. As well as laying out her own positions, she is also testing out the attack lines she intends to use during the election campaign against the Republicans.

LYING LIBERALS ON POT REFORM NOW !! – ‘Keep busting them’ says Trudeau!!!Justin Trudeau has advised the nations police to continue to harass and arrest Canadians for simple possession of marijuana. What a lying bunch of opportunists you guys are:Straig…

 (Click on image to enlarge .. )CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – Nov. 22, 2015) – Four of Canada’s largest oil sands producers have come together to demonstrate leadership on climate change. Canadian Natural Resources Limited, Cenovus Energy Inc….

In cased you missed my recent blog post about my recent big night out – well here’s a bit of serendipity after seeing this article a few days ago. “Something that meant so much to me was now part of the problem. Music is one of the most important parts of my life but I […]

The post More Extraordinary Circumstances appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

This is likely one of the more bizarre show reviews you are about to read. It’s written by someone who grew terrified of going to see bands. A panic attack during the opening act before the band OFF and boom, I was OFF. OFF to the bathroom to have a meltdown and then OFF in […]

The post An Evening of Extraordinary Circumstance appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

Yes. I know I told you that I had given up reading and reviewing books for a bit. After a few decent ones came my way, I decided to withdraw my ultimatum on book reviewing , but rather be more mindful with the amount of books I was signing myself up for taking on. Would […]

The post Book Review: Susan Piver’s Start Here Now appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

I am a voracious consumer of podcasts. Zillions of podcasts are just waiting to tickle my earbuds on a daily basis. I use Downcast to manage them all as it’s a pretty full feature “podcatcher” (I guess that’s what those in the know are calling this kind of tool). I listen to a whole bunch […]

The post Anxious and Angry and Helping Others so Very Much appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

  Want to take  your Product craft to the next level? Attend the Craftsman PM 2-day hands-on Product Management workshop. Think holistically about building and marketing The Whole Product Go beyond MVP/Lean Startup and dogmatic frameworks Raise your Product Management game Details are here: The Craftsman PM: A 2-day Hands-on Workshop  Where: Blue1647, Chicago, IL When: August […]

I like a Dave Matthews Band song. I have been crying more in the past 6 months in my entire lifetime and it feels amazing. Really. I’ve been doing a lot of self massage with tennis balls on my upper shoulders. Can’t recommend this enough. I am quite adept at keeping bamboo alive. My first […]

The post Confessions…. appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

Holy heck it’s June already! Are you feeling it? I hope wherever you are that the sun is shining on your pretty face and you have a nice cold drink chilling beside you. May you all be free from harm. Let it be known that long ago I once almost killed my cousin and I […]

The post Random Linkage: Is it June Already? appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

As a self-professed dog person (nothing against cats over here folks), I’m quite excited to hear about the new book A Puppy’s Path to Nirvana from Deke, The Dharma Dog. It’s a 29-lesson ebook, with Deke speaking throughout, explaining Buddha’s view of the world, his basic doctrines and practices, Buddhism’s early growth, and its development […]

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I had a mindblowingly glorious weekend friends. My dear, beloved teacher, Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche gave teachings in my adopted home of Montreal this past Friday and Saturday. We were all thrilled to have him back on the East Coast! It was the first time I as able to see him IRL so I was filled […]

The post Resting…. Resting… 1-2-3 appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

I’m reading more than ever, but not the kind of books I’ve been traditionally spending time with. For a while I was spending time reading and commenting on the latest Buddhist reads circling around the publishing world. It was enjoyable and I was able to satisfy my love of reading this way. Then some realizations […]

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As soon as somebody says you’re spending too much time on something, you’re on the right track.—Bob Lefsetz, American music industry author. There are two approaches to delivering stories to your product team: pull and push. Typically, product managers and executives “push” more and more requests to the developers. Even though the team already has […]

  I am so sorry! I’m not anti-social. I’m idiotic! Oh gosh. I’m just seeing now that I had comments turned completely off here on this blog. I really do want to hear from you. Leave me a comment. Say “Hi” and bring me up to speed on how you’re doing. Tell me something about […]

The post Not anti social, just idiotic appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

“Words don’t mean much to Stephen.”Preston ManningOur outgoing Prime Minister does not want to testify at the criminal trial of Senator Mike Duffy. He wants to use his Parliamentary ‘privilege’ to try and stay off the witness stand. If there is any jus…

A defeated, yet still highly offensive group of political like minds will join together in Ottawa today. They are known as the Conservative Party of Canada Federal Caucus.  While in power they raised the debt of Canada by tens of billions. Th…

Hey friends. Here are a few links that caught my attention recently: I’m currently trying to Fall in Love With My Work by taking this self-study course in order to figure out my professional shizz. So far so good! I’m seeing things a bit differently so that’s a promising sign. Letting Go of the Need […]

The post Random Linkage – October appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

The process of unlearning has been front and center in my life these days. My mother is dying and had packaged up a box of some various mementos for me – photos, notes, baby shoes, children’s books and every single one of my report cards. I haven’t been able to look at the box until […]

The post Unlearning appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

I can feel it. I have discovered in the past little while that I respond to ASMR triggers of the auditory kind. As a kid I had this kind of reaction but never really knew what it was and it seems like it now has a name and has become a recognized thing. I get […]

The post Can you feel the music? appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

Cover Art by Carole Leslie | ZenDotStudio I haven’t been speaking about it very often given that I’ve been pretty heads-down working away on it, but Sumeru Press and I are ever so close to releasing the anthology of Canadian Buddhist women’s writing. We’re now in need of a title. Please either email info@sumeru-books.com with […]

The post Help Name a New Buddhist Book! appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.

By Felicia Anderson SaaS provides a treasure trove of new user insights. As customers adopt Software as a Service (SaaS) in record numbers, those software providers that effectively leverage SaaS’ unique advantages will move into industry-leading positions.  Companies that fail to do so will lose competitive ground. Here are 3 areas that every SaaS product […]

Do you know that feeling when the right message comes along at the right time? Whenever I’ve gone through tough times, or been asked by a friend how I’ve coped with difficulties, my tried and true, go-to recommendation has been to read Pema Chödrön’s When Things Fall Apart. It has been a great comfort during […]

The post Bouncing Forward: Transforming Bad Breaks Into Breakthroughs | Michaela Haas appeared first on Full Contact Enlightenment.