As
one tear
rolls slowly down
my cheek with love
another one starts to form
in the well of my eye
and it slowly slides out
to follow the path
of it’s predecessor
towards my
chin.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Missing you
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Yikes - They got it Right!
After expending much energy and time criticising the Liberal Party of Canada on this blog, I must be man enough to admit it! I THINK THEY GOT IT RIGHT, THIS TIME!
With so little to choose from (in terms of character, principle, scruples, honour - and so on) they actually ended up with the only choice for a leader who could actually bring these most important characteristics along with him.
Yeah, I know - there is still the old argument that another French Canadian leader just won't fly with the rest of the country - and maybe that's true... but if it is, it is a sad comment on Canada!
Stephen Harper had better wake up and smell the environment (and fast) or the Dion led Liberals are going to cause the Conservatives enormous difficulties in the coming months and years. Dion hit it on the head - there are many issues and policies to be considered and to be handled but none - not a one - matters a wit, if we don't get our environmental house in order (and fast!).
He continues to use that important word - SUSTAINABILITY! Watch, it will become the rallying cry of these DION led Liberals and I, for one, am listening. For a SUSTAINABLE economy, a SUSTAINABLE environmental policy, a SUSTAINABLE industrial policy, SUSTAINABLE agriculture, SUSTAINABLE social policies, SUSTAINABLE taxation - will be the most important keys to our survival as a world, a nation, a people, as a community and as families not to mention as a government in this rapidly changing world of the 21st century.
LISTEN MR. HARPER - and respond. Embrace this real need, endorse this only acceptable policy, welcome Mr. Dion and listen to him. Work with him, utilize his brilliance and his concern (we all share it) and LEAD this country away from the idiocy of the world gone crazy industrial, military, commercial greed - move us forward to a place of caring, of sharing and of leadership in the race away from a global economy and global annihilation!
Congratulations to Stephane Dion - congratulations to a completely unworthy party. Ultimately the real losers yesterday just might have been Martin, Chretien, the Raes, and the rest of the POWER corporation lackies who have used this country and it's people for their own SUSTAINABILITY for long enough!
With so little to choose from (in terms of character, principle, scruples, honour - and so on) they actually ended up with the only choice for a leader who could actually bring these most important characteristics along with him.
Yeah, I know - there is still the old argument that another French Canadian leader just won't fly with the rest of the country - and maybe that's true... but if it is, it is a sad comment on Canada!
Stephen Harper had better wake up and smell the environment (and fast) or the Dion led Liberals are going to cause the Conservatives enormous difficulties in the coming months and years. Dion hit it on the head - there are many issues and policies to be considered and to be handled but none - not a one - matters a wit, if we don't get our environmental house in order (and fast!).
He continues to use that important word - SUSTAINABILITY! Watch, it will become the rallying cry of these DION led Liberals and I, for one, am listening. For a SUSTAINABLE economy, a SUSTAINABLE environmental policy, a SUSTAINABLE industrial policy, SUSTAINABLE agriculture, SUSTAINABLE social policies, SUSTAINABLE taxation - will be the most important keys to our survival as a world, a nation, a people, as a community and as families not to mention as a government in this rapidly changing world of the 21st century.
LISTEN MR. HARPER - and respond. Embrace this real need, endorse this only acceptable policy, welcome Mr. Dion and listen to him. Work with him, utilize his brilliance and his concern (we all share it) and LEAD this country away from the idiocy of the world gone crazy industrial, military, commercial greed - move us forward to a place of caring, of sharing and of leadership in the race away from a global economy and global annihilation!
Congratulations to Stephane Dion - congratulations to a completely unworthy party. Ultimately the real losers yesterday just might have been Martin, Chretien, the Raes, and the rest of the POWER corporation lackies who have used this country and it's people for their own SUSTAINABILITY for long enough!
Friday, December 01, 2006
HERE THEY GO AGAIN!
Phfew!
Gotta love those Liberals!
Hardly even a day into their National Leadership convention and already they're showing their hypocritcal ways.
Whining and bleeting ad nauseum about the conservatives being in bed with Bush and about the need for "Made in Canada" policies - about the horrible fate of Canada as the conservatives move us closer and closer to the United States....
...and they lead off their convention with a keynote speech from none other than American super liberal Howard Dean???
Once again, this is a case of the Liberal sense of entitlement. Nothing is "out of bounds" for them. They can spend valuable time, resources and tons of money creating false impressions about their opponents, to score political points with the public and then commit exactly the same sins and somehow, walk away feeling completely justified - even good about it all!
And what national press organization has said even one word about this total inconsistency, hypocrisy and repugnancy? What reporter has asked "How dare they bring in their Big American Hitter" in light of their feigned outrage about Harper and the conservatives.
Frankly, I am not much of a Harper fan. My allegiances lie with the true Progressive Conservative Party of a bygone era - a party that cared about people, about the less fortunate, about independent business people and farmers and the everyday Canadian. The neo-conservative movement leaves me unimpressed but, at least, they are not the bare-faced, opportunists that make up the Liberal Party of Canada who will stop at nothing to snatch power and then to fill their own pockets and those of the multi-national big wigs whom they serve and answer to with glee.
What pretense! What gall! and they do it right in our faces, knowing that if they just keep repeating their mantra that Canadians will look right past their behaviour and buy the snake oil that they are selling.
Remember good old Dr. Phil's most lucid observation - "the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour" before you place your next vote!
Gotta love those Liberals!
Hardly even a day into their National Leadership convention and already they're showing their hypocritcal ways.
Whining and bleeting ad nauseum about the conservatives being in bed with Bush and about the need for "Made in Canada" policies - about the horrible fate of Canada as the conservatives move us closer and closer to the United States....
...and they lead off their convention with a keynote speech from none other than American super liberal Howard Dean???
Once again, this is a case of the Liberal sense of entitlement. Nothing is "out of bounds" for them. They can spend valuable time, resources and tons of money creating false impressions about their opponents, to score political points with the public and then commit exactly the same sins and somehow, walk away feeling completely justified - even good about it all!
And what national press organization has said even one word about this total inconsistency, hypocrisy and repugnancy? What reporter has asked "How dare they bring in their Big American Hitter" in light of their feigned outrage about Harper and the conservatives.
Frankly, I am not much of a Harper fan. My allegiances lie with the true Progressive Conservative Party of a bygone era - a party that cared about people, about the less fortunate, about independent business people and farmers and the everyday Canadian. The neo-conservative movement leaves me unimpressed but, at least, they are not the bare-faced, opportunists that make up the Liberal Party of Canada who will stop at nothing to snatch power and then to fill their own pockets and those of the multi-national big wigs whom they serve and answer to with glee.
What pretense! What gall! and they do it right in our faces, knowing that if they just keep repeating their mantra that Canadians will look right past their behaviour and buy the snake oil that they are selling.
Remember good old Dr. Phil's most lucid observation - "the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour" before you place your next vote!
Friday, November 17, 2006
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE MUSIC?
From the time that I was very young, music was an integral part of my life. I began violin lessons at a very young age - thanks to the generosity of my parents next door neighbour who was a brilliant teacher.
My lessons were each Saturday morning at the Royal Conservatory on Bloor Street in Toronto. Although I was likely too young to really appreciate all that I was given, at that time, even to this day, I know that the experience elevated my love for music and fuelled my desire to be immersed in it.
My teacher, Jim Coles, had been a high school music teacher in Toronto who went on to work with the ministry of Education of Ontario in music. He conducted the Ottawa Civic Symphony Orchestra from 1969 through 1975 and subsequently held conducting positions with numerous orchestras in the Kingston / Quinte regions. More recently he has been an important member and contributor to the Kingston Arts Council as well.
He made violins in his basement when we were kids. I remember the parts and pieces hanging and drying on the downstairs clothes line!
My genetic love for music - my paternal grandfather was the Pipe Major of the Queen's University Pipe Band for many years and he taught the better part of a generation of student pipers in his home in Kingston, was initalized by these wonderful lessons and by a remarkable and generous man.
A few years later, when I entered Junior High School (at a time that we were privileged and lucky enough to be provided with musical instruments and teaching) prepped to move right into my comfort zone with the violin. The teacher, unimpressed with my Conservatory background, took one look at my hands which were a bit larger than most and immediately assigned me the Double Bass, standing in the corner of the music room.
What was searing disappointment quickly turned into a profound passion and affection for an instrument which few understood or appreciated. I spent the next 7 years playing the string bass in both chamber and symphony orchestral settings as well as in jazz, blues, rock and folk frameworks.
From there it was natural to pick up the bass guitar, the guitar, the tenor banjo, piano, a few years working on drums and then an insatiable appetite took me to wind instruments including the flute, clarinet and trombone (the latter, a cherished antique inherited from my grandfather about 30 years ago).
I just plain loved anything to do with Music.
Not only did I love to play but I loved even more to listen and play. All the way through university, I would sit up through most of the night with home-made headphones (made from two coat hangers and speakers removed from a small stereo) on my head and my guitar in hand. I wanted to play everything I heard and I would listen over and over again until I found the right chord or note.
Eric Clapton was my inspiration - I loved everything he did but it really didn't matter, in the end. It could've been anything from Jethro Tull to Yes to John Sebastian to the Stones. If it could be played - I loved to listen to it and even more to play it.
Camp was a great place for music as well since it was such an important part of life there too. We played and sang folk songs - which I really did love - and then as staff we listened to the tunes of the day which in my time there included Three Dog Night, CSNY, Clapton, The Stones, Joni... and all the artists of Woodstock.
I long for those days. Years have gone by without picking up an instrument - without listening to my favourite tunes - there just doesn't seem to be time anymore to get lost in the music of a great artist.
I will find that time again and find the reason to pick up a guitar and strum a few chords - because without it, I fear that I am neglecting to fill my life completely. And that is something that I no longer want to do.
My lessons were each Saturday morning at the Royal Conservatory on Bloor Street in Toronto. Although I was likely too young to really appreciate all that I was given, at that time, even to this day, I know that the experience elevated my love for music and fuelled my desire to be immersed in it.
My teacher, Jim Coles, had been a high school music teacher in Toronto who went on to work with the ministry of Education of Ontario in music. He conducted the Ottawa Civic Symphony Orchestra from 1969 through 1975 and subsequently held conducting positions with numerous orchestras in the Kingston / Quinte regions. More recently he has been an important member and contributor to the Kingston Arts Council as well.
He made violins in his basement when we were kids. I remember the parts and pieces hanging and drying on the downstairs clothes line!
My genetic love for music - my paternal grandfather was the Pipe Major of the Queen's University Pipe Band for many years and he taught the better part of a generation of student pipers in his home in Kingston, was initalized by these wonderful lessons and by a remarkable and generous man.
A few years later, when I entered Junior High School (at a time that we were privileged and lucky enough to be provided with musical instruments and teaching) prepped to move right into my comfort zone with the violin. The teacher, unimpressed with my Conservatory background, took one look at my hands which were a bit larger than most and immediately assigned me the Double Bass, standing in the corner of the music room.
What was searing disappointment quickly turned into a profound passion and affection for an instrument which few understood or appreciated. I spent the next 7 years playing the string bass in both chamber and symphony orchestral settings as well as in jazz, blues, rock and folk frameworks.
From there it was natural to pick up the bass guitar, the guitar, the tenor banjo, piano, a few years working on drums and then an insatiable appetite took me to wind instruments including the flute, clarinet and trombone (the latter, a cherished antique inherited from my grandfather about 30 years ago).
I just plain loved anything to do with Music.
Not only did I love to play but I loved even more to listen and play. All the way through university, I would sit up through most of the night with home-made headphones (made from two coat hangers and speakers removed from a small stereo) on my head and my guitar in hand. I wanted to play everything I heard and I would listen over and over again until I found the right chord or note.
Eric Clapton was my inspiration - I loved everything he did but it really didn't matter, in the end. It could've been anything from Jethro Tull to Yes to John Sebastian to the Stones. If it could be played - I loved to listen to it and even more to play it.
Camp was a great place for music as well since it was such an important part of life there too. We played and sang folk songs - which I really did love - and then as staff we listened to the tunes of the day which in my time there included Three Dog Night, CSNY, Clapton, The Stones, Joni... and all the artists of Woodstock.
I long for those days. Years have gone by without picking up an instrument - without listening to my favourite tunes - there just doesn't seem to be time anymore to get lost in the music of a great artist.
I will find that time again and find the reason to pick up a guitar and strum a few chords - because without it, I fear that I am neglecting to fill my life completely. And that is something that I no longer want to do.
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