Christmas Treats and Trips

There is very good chance in the upcoming months we will moving from British Columbia to Alberta. In the time we have, we want to make sure that we see a lot of local and nearby sites that we have not yet seen. There is all this talk of 15 minutes cities. I have to admit that I already live something rather like that voluntarily, with so much readily available nearby. Time to get out there and explore before we are tucked safely away in the tundra. Join us ... in pictures and not trudging in the snow. This Christmas season, we made an effort to get onto public transit and take in the sights on offer from other nearby municipalities.

But first, say hello, to Jasper the Elf on the carpet. He was our guest over the holiday season and here he obligingly poses for photos. Before he arrived, we made a trip out to White Rock Beach to take a look at their lights and dusky sky. My camera does not do it justice. We had a picnic and then we challenged ourselves but hiking up a very steep hill to the bus. We did it. My legs hurt for a day or two after, but we also felt like champions.

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The next night we headed out to Maple Ridge's Haney Center to watch the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train roll on in. Minime loves trains and I love seeing Minime excited.

Just before Jasper started his visit with us, we also went out for a celebratory feast at the Hotel Vancouver. We eat near-carnivore and very, very little bread, and so what you see before before you was an humongous treat. Fresh Brioche with whipped butter and tomato jam. Needless to say we ate the whole thing. The bread was paired with oysters, wine on my part and sparkling water and juice for minime. We went back to our meat-eating ways and followed up with an amazing charcuterie plate.

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There were a few other cheat treats during the season. Christmas morning was a chocolate covered apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolates for breakfast. Seven the Cat got a new bag of Temptations and Jasper got a dog cookie. So many treats. So many boxes and presents. If you scroll down to the bottom, you'll find the puzzle Minime and I put together on Christmas Day. Like I said, we are likely going to move; so the puzzle went back in its box. Once moved, we will reassemble it, cover it with an adhesive, and put it on Mineme's wall. Should look amazing up there.

Feudalism

From our studies ...

Today we are covering feudalism in Europe from the 8th century CE to the 15th century CE. There were four levels of society, with the king or monarch at the very top. The monarch led the country and generally had the most power and wealth. Usually through a belief in Divine Right, monarchs convinced all other levels of society to work for them. Next came the feudal lords, nobles, barons, and/or the aristocracy. These were the wealthiest land owners. Knights and vassals were the next most powerful group. They often battled on horseback to protect the realm.

At the bottom were the peasants/serfs, merchants, and craftspeople. This bottom level of society was by far the most populace. The greatest proportion of society inhabited the lowest rung. All three other levels of society together contained far less people.

Feudalism can be envisioned as a pyramid, with the king and high-ranking nobles as but one percent of the area, at the very top. In feudalism, a small group of people owned most of the land. Feudalism worked as exchanges of labour, access to land, and the goods they produced for protection.

From the top, access to land was granted downward. During the early Middle Ages, it was often difficult for a single king to rule over vast amounts of land. Europe was vulnerable to foreign invasion. Kings would divide up their land to lesser lords. In exchange, the lords swore loyalty to the king and they would back him in battle. The king might also demand taxes from the proceeds of the land. The king also kept a portion of the land for his castles and hunting domain. The noble lords would in turn divide up the land the king had granted them to knights and vassals, like the king keeping a portion for their personal use. The knights then had the peasants farm the land. The peasants or serfs were often tied to the land and not free to leave.

From the bottom upwards, the peasants and serfs provided food and labour to the knights and vassals. The knights and vassals provided protection to the peasants and military service to the noble lords. The noble lords gave taxes and knights to the king. The noble lords supplied an army for the realm.

Ultimately, feudalism was a hierarchal exchange of land for labour. It was not a fair system. No amount of hard work allowed an individual to escape their station in life. It was near impossible to improve one's station in life. If you were born a peasant, you would die a peasant.