J'ai beaucoup réfléchi ces derniers jours. Chaque printemps ramène les mêmes préoccupations: la fête de la reine vs la fête des Patriotes, la Fête nationale, autrefois la St-Jean-Baptiste, vs la Fête du Canada, les manifestations souverainistes vs les professions de foi envers le Canada. La défense de la langue française vs les revendications légitimes des québécois de langue anglaise.
À l'instar des plantes qui bourgeonnent, nos vieilles querelles ressurgissent et, comme l'herbe-à-poux et l'herbe-à-puce, viennent nous empoisonner la vie.
Pourquoi, habitants d'un pays envié partout dans le monde, devons-nous tout faire pour nous rendre la vie désagréable? Au cours des dernières 6 années nous avons réussi à détruire l'image de travailleur pour la paix que nous avions chèrement acquis à travers les missions de gardien de la paix de nos soldats et de ressource fiables de médiation par les prises de positions de notre gouvernement minoritaire conservateur.
Nous n'avons jamais été un pays totalement uni...mais nous avons toujours trouvé un compromis permettant de passer au travers des crises. Pourquoi cela devient-il si difficile maintenant?
Anybody out there with a suitable answer?
mardi 26 mai 2009
vendredi 22 mai 2009
Tagged
Rosaria tagged me today. Reminds me of my youth: tag, you're it.
So six unimportant things which make me happy:
1) Chatting with my grandson;
2) The smile, not frequent, of my granddaughter;
3) A black-headed grosbeak couple at my backyard feeder;
4) A ride in my beloved Laurentian Hills, we call them mountains but the Rockies' folks figure it's a gross exaggeration;
5) Meeting old friends;
6) Crossword puzzles.
Six blogs to play along:
1) The Commentator;
2) Marc-Aurele;
3) Neil McKenty;
4) Tony Kondaks;
5) Chimera;
6) Barbara.
Hope I did it right.
So six unimportant things which make me happy:
1) Chatting with my grandson;
2) The smile, not frequent, of my granddaughter;
3) A black-headed grosbeak couple at my backyard feeder;
4) A ride in my beloved Laurentian Hills, we call them mountains but the Rockies' folks figure it's a gross exaggeration;
5) Meeting old friends;
6) Crossword puzzles.
Six blogs to play along:
1) The Commentator;
2) Marc-Aurele;
3) Neil McKenty;
4) Tony Kondaks;
5) Chimera;
6) Barbara.
Hope I did it right.
jeudi 21 mai 2009
Company
This morning I felt nobody was reading this blog. Tonight, I have three members. Of course, from the onset, Rosaria was kind enough to comment on my bread making; it helped a lot. Then The Commentator wrote: "A face to the man", so he had been on the blog.
I must admit that I am still testing the ground. I have many ideas about which I would like to write or comment, problem is organizing them...and documenting them. One that I have been toying with: how canada went from peace keeper to warmonger? Lestr B. Pearson then our foreign affairs minister won the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1957, for inventing the U.N. Peacekeepers. Then we went into Afghanistan under a U.N. mandate...but stayed under NATO and became an occupation force disguised as a nation building mission???
Well I'll keep working on it. (To be continued...I hope)
I must admit that I am still testing the ground. I have many ideas about which I would like to write or comment, problem is organizing them...and documenting them. One that I have been toying with: how canada went from peace keeper to warmonger? Lestr B. Pearson then our foreign affairs minister won the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1957, for inventing the U.N. Peacekeepers. Then we went into Afghanistan under a U.N. mandate...but stayed under NATO and became an occupation force disguised as a nation building mission???
Well I'll keep working on it. (To be continued...I hope)
mardi 19 mai 2009
Happinesss
I just got back from a trip, with a small group of M.I.L.R. people, to le Musée ferroviaire canadien in Delson, about 35 minutes from Lomgueuil. We had lunch, visited the old streetcars and locomotives and shared fond memories. All very friendly and hearth warming.
As I opened my computer, I surveyed the blogs I follow and had an added pleasure. I saw that a blogger friend who recently got the news that her husband came up with type 2 diabetes and she could be next, had seemingly come out of the gloom and was back to her former warm and charming self.
Sickness is not the enemy, our attitude towards it is. François Rabelais, a 15th century french doctor, treated his patients through laughter, he even wrote books to make them laugh because he felt morale was the main remedy and laughing helped it.
So keep smiling and your health will not deteriorate...so fast.
As I opened my computer, I surveyed the blogs I follow and had an added pleasure. I saw that a blogger friend who recently got the news that her husband came up with type 2 diabetes and she could be next, had seemingly come out of the gloom and was back to her former warm and charming self.
Sickness is not the enemy, our attitude towards it is. François Rabelais, a 15th century french doctor, treated his patients through laughter, he even wrote books to make them laugh because he felt morale was the main remedy and laughing helped it.
So keep smiling and your health will not deteriorate...so fast.
dimanche 17 mai 2009
Identité?
Demain, 18 mai, les canadiens jouissent d'un congé férié. Tout le Canada sera en congé...mais pas le même congé partout. Outside Québec, it's the official Queen's birthday (Victoria that is). In Québec, some will celebrate Victoria Day, some will celebrate Dollard des Ormeaux (He fought against the Iroquois and reportedly saved Montreal, although this has since been put in doubt), others will celebrate Les Patriotes. Voici quelques années, un gouvernement du Parti Québécois a proclamé le troisième lundi de mai Fête des Patriotes, en mémoire des combattants de la Rébellion de 1837. Cette année-là les colonies de l'Amérique du Nord Britannique sont en effervescence. De L'Ontario à l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard on s'agite pour obtenir le gouvernement responsable. Les maritimes opteront pour la voie parlementaire et diplomatique...avec un certain succès.
Ontario and Québec were then ruled by two powerful cliques grouped around the Governors and the big merchants who were quite satisfied with things as they were. Those wishing for change had no ways of making their points as the Maritimers had...so they became more aggressive. In Ontario William Lyon-Mackenzie and a ragged troop took arms and shots were fired around a York tavern where they had congregated to oppose the Army. Mackenzie fled to Buffalo where he proclaimed the Autonomous State of Upper Canada. He was promptly arrested and jailed by the USAers`for breaching their neutrality.
Au Québec, les Fils de la Liberté s'opposèrent à la clique du Château de Ramezay dont la composition était assez proche de celle du Family Compact ontarien. Les Papineau, Callaghan et Nelson galvanisèrent la population et l'affrontement devint inévitable. Papineau ne voulait pas de confrontation armée, les frères Nelson et l'Irlandais Callaghan étaient plus belliqueux. Ce sont eux qui prirent les armes suivis par ceux qui devaient devenir "les Patriotes" suite à la récupération de l'évènement par le mouvement souverainiste du Parti et du Bloc Québécois. Un des frères Nelson, suite à la défaite des armes, se réfugia au Vermont, avec 300 hommes, d'où, à l'instar de Mackenzie, il proclama l'État Souverain du bas-Canada. Il fut promptement arrêté et jeté en prison...pour importation illégale darmes
So tomorrow we all have a day off, well not really since us retirees do not have days off anymore.
However that day has been stripped of it's festive attire and become, in Québec at least just another occasion for politicking. .
Ontario and Québec were then ruled by two powerful cliques grouped around the Governors and the big merchants who were quite satisfied with things as they were. Those wishing for change had no ways of making their points as the Maritimers had...so they became more aggressive. In Ontario William Lyon-Mackenzie and a ragged troop took arms and shots were fired around a York tavern where they had congregated to oppose the Army. Mackenzie fled to Buffalo where he proclaimed the Autonomous State of Upper Canada. He was promptly arrested and jailed by the USAers`for breaching their neutrality.
Au Québec, les Fils de la Liberté s'opposèrent à la clique du Château de Ramezay dont la composition était assez proche de celle du Family Compact ontarien. Les Papineau, Callaghan et Nelson galvanisèrent la population et l'affrontement devint inévitable. Papineau ne voulait pas de confrontation armée, les frères Nelson et l'Irlandais Callaghan étaient plus belliqueux. Ce sont eux qui prirent les armes suivis par ceux qui devaient devenir "les Patriotes" suite à la récupération de l'évènement par le mouvement souverainiste du Parti et du Bloc Québécois. Un des frères Nelson, suite à la défaite des armes, se réfugia au Vermont, avec 300 hommes, d'où, à l'instar de Mackenzie, il proclama l'État Souverain du bas-Canada. Il fut promptement arrêté et jeté en prison...pour importation illégale darmes
So tomorrow we all have a day off, well not really since us retirees do not have days off anymore.
However that day has been stripped of it's festive attire and become, in Québec at least just another occasion for politicking. .
jeudi 14 mai 2009
We almost saw the tulips.
Yesterday was a gloriously sunny and warm spring day. The early sun shone on my backyard neighbours' trees. A very tall one was all red blossoms while a shorter one was shocking pink. The third one, the shortest, was all white blossoms. Today is grey, 46 kilometers an hour winds from the south and a storm seems to be brewing. All the red blossoms are gone and tender green leaves have sprung. The shocking pink is darker and the white ones are less numerous. Before lunch we had to run after our sundeck chairs blown away by the wind.
But let's get back to yesterday. We had our monthly brunch scheduled in St-Jérôme, 60 kilometers and 5 bridges away. The usual merry bunch was there and we chatted our heads off. Two, man and wife, were freshly back from Guatemala where they had spent the last 4 months as lay missionaries. Another was back, 3 weeks ago, from Mexico where he had spent the winter. That 3 weeks delay allowed us all to shake hands with him.
After lunch the wife and I made up our mind to go Ottawa, another 2 hours drive, to see the annual tulip festival, the 57th. During the last war (39-45) that is, a Dutch princess was born there to the Dutch queen then a war refugee in Canada. Our goverment decreed that the hospital room where the birth would take place would be ceded to Holland for the duration of the birth so that the baby would be Dutch. The Dutch have kept a soft spot in their hearts for Canada and Canadians because of that and our participation in the liberation of Holland from Nazi occupation. As a token of gratitude Holland, in 1946, sent thousands of tulip bulbs to flower Parliament Hill and the surroundings. Over time the Tulips spread all over Ottawa and now, each first two weeks of May, a Tulip Festival is held.
So off we went. We traveled over the back roads, much nicer than the highways, and more relaxing. Those roads move up and down along ridges and valleys, quaint little villages and summer resorts. We stopped, for some leg stretching, in Montebello. This is where my 78 years opted to manifest themselves. When I got out of the car I could barely walk straigth. Had a police officer been there he would have submitted me to a breathalyser test. After much wobbling I managed to walk reasonably well...but the wife ordered us back to base. We were about an hour away from Ottawa. Suddenly I was to tired to argue. So back we came. Well today is a grey day...but I walk straight, or mostly, and I should be chipper by tomorrow. No Tulip Festival for us this year.
But let's get back to yesterday. We had our monthly brunch scheduled in St-Jérôme, 60 kilometers and 5 bridges away. The usual merry bunch was there and we chatted our heads off. Two, man and wife, were freshly back from Guatemala where they had spent the last 4 months as lay missionaries. Another was back, 3 weeks ago, from Mexico where he had spent the winter. That 3 weeks delay allowed us all to shake hands with him.
After lunch the wife and I made up our mind to go Ottawa, another 2 hours drive, to see the annual tulip festival, the 57th. During the last war (39-45) that is, a Dutch princess was born there to the Dutch queen then a war refugee in Canada. Our goverment decreed that the hospital room where the birth would take place would be ceded to Holland for the duration of the birth so that the baby would be Dutch. The Dutch have kept a soft spot in their hearts for Canada and Canadians because of that and our participation in the liberation of Holland from Nazi occupation. As a token of gratitude Holland, in 1946, sent thousands of tulip bulbs to flower Parliament Hill and the surroundings. Over time the Tulips spread all over Ottawa and now, each first two weeks of May, a Tulip Festival is held.
So off we went. We traveled over the back roads, much nicer than the highways, and more relaxing. Those roads move up and down along ridges and valleys, quaint little villages and summer resorts. We stopped, for some leg stretching, in Montebello. This is where my 78 years opted to manifest themselves. When I got out of the car I could barely walk straigth. Had a police officer been there he would have submitted me to a breathalyser test. After much wobbling I managed to walk reasonably well...but the wife ordered us back to base. We were about an hour away from Ottawa. Suddenly I was to tired to argue. So back we came. Well today is a grey day...but I walk straight, or mostly, and I should be chipper by tomorrow. No Tulip Festival for us this year.
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