by John McCrae, May 1915
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
It's Remembrance Day! Hopefully I won't lose my poppy like i do every other year before the day is out. There's so much to say about today and it's impossible to do without sounding trite. I'm not going to bother though, i'll leave that to the real writers. Suffice it to say today I will Remember. I'm good at trivializing things, so here goes! The other day i'm at the Queen subway station in that no man's land between the Bay and Eaton's Centre. There's a veteran there with his box of poppies and there's a homeless man there too. The homeless man was picking a fight with the veteran b/c the veteran was on his "turf" and was distracting people from giving him money. But the veteran was all like i'm a veteran and i have a permit. It was getting really REALLY heated. I didn't stick around to catch the rest of it, but neither of them were there when i was going home. Like you'd think that the homeless guy would've let the veteran sell his poppies! If it wasn't for the veteran the homeless guy wouldn't even have the freedom to panhandle there.
When i was a kid, Remembrance Day was such a HUGE deal for me. Invariably i'd get to read one of my poorly written poems (they were seriously hurting) during the school assembly every year. Our teachers used to make us memorize In Flanders Field, i still know it by heart. It's engraved there like the Lord's Prayer (which is embedded in French as well thanks to Mme McQuaid.) Then there were the songs that we used to sing as part of choir and the little movie that we'd watch. It was the same movie every year, but it still made me sad even in grade 6 (my last year in elementary school). What i used to love BEST about Remembrance Day was when my classmates' grandparents who were veterans used to come in and talk to us about the war, we'd all cram into the library and sit on the brown patchy carpet and i'd devour everything they sad. Michael's grandfather came every year until he died and so did Danny's (he was my dance partner in folk dancing lol) grandmother. I think that's what makes me the saddest about Remembrance Day is that I don't see as many veterans around anymore.
Lest we forget.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord!
A public service announcement followed me home the other day,
I paid it never mind. Go away
.....
Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord!
Count your blessings.
The papers wouldn't lie!
I sigh. Not one more
It's been a bad day
Please don't take a picture
It's been a bad day.
Please.
....
The lights went out
The oil ran dry
We blamed it on the other guy
Sure, all men are created equal*
What a week eh? The kind that makes you want to clear your head with some good music, a pint (of vanilla Coke!) and a good long bike ride. Weeks like this are good every once in awhile, reminds me of how small and insignificant i am in the larger scheme of things.
First off
Bush gets re-elected. Was not surprised in the least bit but still really disappointed. At least this time around his win was legit (yeah i'm being naive, whatever.) Am I scared? Yeah for sure! Ammi sent me a forward the other day written by a Christian lady, it was her take on the rise of the religious right in American. She had some interesting points (and some really bad ones too lol). It's worth a read though.
I was reading the headlines on the BBC yesterday and i caught sight of this
When i was in Senegal, i befriended some missionaries who had to evacuate from the Ivory Coast during the September 2002 uprising. They were seeking safe haven in Senegal while trying to tie up loose ends in Abidjan before leaving back to Montreal. M. Gaucher's son Emmanuel was the same age as Josh, (the little boy whose family i was staying with) they came down for a play date and M. Gaucher ended up getting stuck at our place b/c the Autoroute was closed down for the Telefonica Paris - Dakar rally race (it's really fascinating, and a whole other story really, it would take pages!) Anyways what resulted in that day was us having a 4 hour conversation about life in the Ivory Coast for the believers in their church during that horrific time. There is so much political unrest in the world, and it's sad that certain countries just want to add to it.
Well not everything was bad
Ollie and i raked an obcene amount of leaves last week but really to no avail. Thathi was supposed to mulch them but he never got around to doing that. Now all my time was wasted b/c he's getting the gardener to come and do it instead!
(leaves in my back yard)
(Ollie vamping for the camera)
My room is ugly. It was worse before we moved, but it needs an extreme makeover. So far we've stripped the walls of the hideous incandescent wallpaper, the evil carpet needs to GO. I won't be satisfied until i have hardwood in there. Well last week ammi made me a new bedspread (out of a burgundy Sari). She used my ancient Beauty and the Beast comforter as the base. I still remember when she and thathi got it for me. I was in grade two and was flipping through a Zellers catalogue with amammah (my grandmother on ammi's side) and i saw the comforter. I FLIPPED out, b/c i LOVED Beauty and the Beast. LOL Ammi went out and bought it THAT very day (i'm not spoilt. I swear.) She was so taken aback that i was interested in something remotely girly that she didn't want to waste the oppurtunity to go and get it for me. And that is how the Beauty and the Beast comforter makes its way lovingly back onto my bed (when i make it) 12 years after it first found its way there.
(l-r Ammi and Aiya; Ammi looking totally paked out, and Aiya just looking fat ;))
l-r Ammi and her assistant)
(Ammi's assistant couldn't handle the pressures of being a seamstress and eventually broke down)
Oliver graduated from his puppy class. I don't really know how he managed to, but he did. And he won a prize too!! He was the fastest dog in the class in the little race that they had (which was run to your owner, and you'd only win if you sat down first, and surprisingly he did!!)
(l-r Me, Oliver, Kristi (his teacher), Terror (a Vizsla's whose owner's name i don't remember), Toby (Golden retreiver, again the name is non-existant), Max (an English Springer Spaniel with his owner's daughter. Max didn't win anything, and he got in a LOT of crap from his owner. Poor guy)
(l-r Oliver, his prize and Thathi)
I watched Rick Mercer's Monday Report today and there was a little segment of him and Justin Trudeau together chilling out in Montreal. It's so sad that he's engaged!! There goes the only thinking Canadian woman's man! Here's hoping that eventually he'll run for office, he's a great speaker, remember the eulogy he gave at his father's funeral? Speaking of his dad, today thorn and i were wondering around the nether regions of UC after a morning spent chatting in Diabolos and we stumbled on the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies . Kind of scary b/c all the doors had pictures of Pierre's head floating on them b/c of his nomination as the greatest Canadian. But back to Justin, as Rick Mercer pointed out, how wicked would it be if he ran for office against Ben Mulroney who for the record, i can't freaking STAND. Let's not even start about his dad.
*http://www.retroweb.com/rem/lyrics/song_BadDay.html
I paid it never mind. Go away
.....
Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord!
Count your blessings.
The papers wouldn't lie!
I sigh. Not one more
It's been a bad day
Please don't take a picture
It's been a bad day.
Please.
....
The lights went out
The oil ran dry
We blamed it on the other guy
Sure, all men are created equal*
What a week eh? The kind that makes you want to clear your head with some good music, a pint (of vanilla Coke!) and a good long bike ride. Weeks like this are good every once in awhile, reminds me of how small and insignificant i am in the larger scheme of things.
First off
Bush gets re-elected. Was not surprised in the least bit but still really disappointed. At least this time around his win was legit (yeah i'm being naive, whatever.) Am I scared? Yeah for sure! Ammi sent me a forward the other day written by a Christian lady, it was her take on the rise of the religious right in American. She had some interesting points (and some really bad ones too lol). It's worth a read though.
I was reading the headlines on the BBC yesterday and i caught sight of this
When i was in Senegal, i befriended some missionaries who had to evacuate from the Ivory Coast during the September 2002 uprising. They were seeking safe haven in Senegal while trying to tie up loose ends in Abidjan before leaving back to Montreal. M. Gaucher's son Emmanuel was the same age as Josh, (the little boy whose family i was staying with) they came down for a play date and M. Gaucher ended up getting stuck at our place b/c the Autoroute was closed down for the Telefonica Paris - Dakar rally race (it's really fascinating, and a whole other story really, it would take pages!) Anyways what resulted in that day was us having a 4 hour conversation about life in the Ivory Coast for the believers in their church during that horrific time. There is so much political unrest in the world, and it's sad that certain countries just want to add to it.
Well not everything was bad
Ollie and i raked an obcene amount of leaves last week but really to no avail. Thathi was supposed to mulch them but he never got around to doing that. Now all my time was wasted b/c he's getting the gardener to come and do it instead!
(leaves in my back yard)
(Ollie vamping for the camera)
My room is ugly. It was worse before we moved, but it needs an extreme makeover. So far we've stripped the walls of the hideous incandescent wallpaper, the evil carpet needs to GO. I won't be satisfied until i have hardwood in there. Well last week ammi made me a new bedspread (out of a burgundy Sari). She used my ancient Beauty and the Beast comforter as the base. I still remember when she and thathi got it for me. I was in grade two and was flipping through a Zellers catalogue with amammah (my grandmother on ammi's side) and i saw the comforter. I FLIPPED out, b/c i LOVED Beauty and the Beast. LOL Ammi went out and bought it THAT very day (i'm not spoilt. I swear.) She was so taken aback that i was interested in something remotely girly that she didn't want to waste the oppurtunity to go and get it for me. And that is how the Beauty and the Beast comforter makes its way lovingly back onto my bed (when i make it) 12 years after it first found its way there.
(l-r Ammi and Aiya; Ammi looking totally paked out, and Aiya just looking fat ;))
l-r Ammi and her assistant)
(Ammi's assistant couldn't handle the pressures of being a seamstress and eventually broke down)
Oliver graduated from his puppy class. I don't really know how he managed to, but he did. And he won a prize too!! He was the fastest dog in the class in the little race that they had (which was run to your owner, and you'd only win if you sat down first, and surprisingly he did!!)
(l-r Me, Oliver, Kristi (his teacher), Terror (a Vizsla's whose owner's name i don't remember), Toby (Golden retreiver, again the name is non-existant), Max (an English Springer Spaniel with his owner's daughter. Max didn't win anything, and he got in a LOT of crap from his owner. Poor guy)
(l-r Oliver, his prize and Thathi)
I watched Rick Mercer's Monday Report today and there was a little segment of him and Justin Trudeau together chilling out in Montreal. It's so sad that he's engaged!! There goes the only thinking Canadian woman's man! Here's hoping that eventually he'll run for office, he's a great speaker, remember the eulogy he gave at his father's funeral? Speaking of his dad, today thorn and i were wondering around the nether regions of UC after a morning spent chatting in Diabolos and we stumbled on the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies . Kind of scary b/c all the doors had pictures of Pierre's head floating on them b/c of his nomination as the greatest Canadian. But back to Justin, as Rick Mercer pointed out, how wicked would it be if he ran for office against Ben Mulroney who for the record, i can't freaking STAND. Let's not even start about his dad.
*http://www.retroweb.com/rem/lyrics/song_BadDay.html
Monday, November 01, 2004
Fermez - la Bush!*
So, tomorrow's the US Presidential election, the real halloween if you ask me. Just wanted to get my presidential prediction out in the open before the 2nd. I think that Bush will take it by a very small margin, and i'm praying that i'm totally WRONG about that. Osama might have scored a victory for his buddy Bush but resurfacing in videotape format and scaring the crap out of Americans right before the elections. But then again, Kerry is pretty greasey, and the yanks don't really have that much to choose from. Unfortunately for them kerry is the lesser of two evils. I really wish i could like Dubya, but it's so not working.
To my American friends, GO AND VOTE!!!
And remember, if Bush gets elected and you need a place to stay after he imposes mandatory conscriptions for all his pointless wars, you can always dodge the draft at our place, we can squeeze at least 26 people in. I wouldn't want your blood spilled for oil or daddy.
*fingers crossed* Here's hoping (for the first time in my life) that i'm wrong!
*for the anglophones: fermez-la bouche = shut up; like the little pun? First saw it at an anti-war rally outside of the US embassy, our Frenchies seem to really like it!
To my American friends, GO AND VOTE!!!
And remember, if Bush gets elected and you need a place to stay after he imposes mandatory conscriptions for all his pointless wars, you can always dodge the draft at our place, we can squeeze at least 26 people in. I wouldn't want your blood spilled for oil or daddy.
*fingers crossed* Here's hoping (for the first time in my life) that i'm wrong!
*for the anglophones: fermez-la bouche = shut up; like the little pun? First saw it at an anti-war rally outside of the US embassy, our Frenchies seem to really like it!
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