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.
Friday, December 30, 2005
There is nothing like a classic Claret
We celebrated my dad's 75th birthday (albeit belatedly) on the Sunday before Christmas. He actually turned 75 on November 2, but we did not have a chance to get together for a "Birthday Meal" until the 18th.After a delicious dinner, we turned to a nice selection of cheeses and a wonderful bottle of wine. I managed to secure 6 bottles of 1986 Chateau Leoville Las Cases late last year and this was an opportunity to finally taste this classic Claret. It was originally scored 98/100 by Parker (shortly after release) but within a couple of years he had revised his score to 100/100 and if what we tasted that evening was any indicator, not a moment too soon.
This was really one of the greatest red wines that I have tasted in many years.
The great thing about classic Bordeaux, such as this Leoville Las Cases, is the pinpoint clarity, amazing structure, intense but elegant fruit, amazing integration of tannins and other acids and the overall feeling of pure, unadulterated luxury that they leave in one's mouth and brain.
Is it worth the $800.00 or $1,000.00 that it would likely take to secure in today's market? That is certainly a question I cannot answer for anyone else. My dad is worth it and 75th birthdays don't come along every day so, in a nutshell, for this occasion, it was definitely worth it. To be able to share such a magnificent work of art with my Mom and Dad, with my wife and kids and to have created a memory of immense proportions made this pretty good value. In today's world, a fine evening out for 6 people (without a wine of this fantastic quality) would surely have cost as much.
A few days later, my 20 year old daughter shared with me that fact that she "really liked that red wine we had at Grampa's birthday dinner" Yeah..... sure...... maybe once she is finished school and earning her own salary, she will be able to enjoy a few more just like it. I hope she remembers to invite her old man to share in them, though!
Monday, December 12, 2005
More Popcorn and Beer - I can hardly wait!
Wow!
Do I live in a country full of morons, or what?
As a noted Liberal Cabinet Minister (and one-time NHL goaltender) alluded to some months ago, the Liberals should be raising our children as they are far more equipped to do it! As I recall, he admitted that parents could continue to provide a baby sitting service, where necessary but as far as rasing the little buggers, he and his cronies were the only choice. And, apparently, the lion's share of parents out there, seem to agree with him.
(Or, maybe it is not the parents that agree but the unnerving number of non-parents who seem hell bent on making what was once recognized as counter-culture into the mainstream of our society. Wow - when I sit back and visualize what things might look like in 20 years -hmmm - I think I might retire to some other place...... soon.......HELP!)
Nice - so I guess if nothing else, your sweet little Johnnie or Mary will, at least, get a solid grounding in theft, fraud and embezzlement. May I suggest that if your ankle-biter actually qualifies (remember the ever present Liberal income test) and somehow skips the queue (otherwise he/she might be 10 before finally being rewarded with one of those rare openings) that you lock up the purse - hide the cheque book and guard the PIN numbers with your life.
Do I live in a country full of morons, or what?
As a noted Liberal Cabinet Minister (and one-time NHL goaltender) alluded to some months ago, the Liberals should be raising our children as they are far more equipped to do it! As I recall, he admitted that parents could continue to provide a baby sitting service, where necessary but as far as rasing the little buggers, he and his cronies were the only choice. And, apparently, the lion's share of parents out there, seem to agree with him.
(Or, maybe it is not the parents that agree but the unnerving number of non-parents who seem hell bent on making what was once recognized as counter-culture into the mainstream of our society. Wow - when I sit back and visualize what things might look like in 20 years -hmmm - I think I might retire to some other place...... soon.......HELP!)
Nice - so I guess if nothing else, your sweet little Johnnie or Mary will, at least, get a solid grounding in theft, fraud and embezzlement. May I suggest that if your ankle-biter actually qualifies (remember the ever present Liberal income test) and somehow skips the queue (otherwise he/she might be 10 before finally being rewarded with one of those rare openings) that you lock up the purse - hide the cheque book and guard the PIN numbers with your life.
Otherwise, with a good Liberal upbringing and a year or two of training in one of their little Liberal-maker centres, you can be assured that they will come out a master/mistress of misappropriation.
How much better would it be to have all of the Tory promised $1200.00 to spend on popcorn and beer? Seeing that 90% of the cost of beer is tax, this could be seen as a superbly clever form of redistribution. I mean, c'mon - all of those good Liberals in Ontario would never be tempted to waste away their lives and resources quite the same way as the intellectually challenged, low-class, beer swilling tugs out on the Prairies or in the Maritimes.
This way, perhaps the offspring of the chosen people in Ontario and English-speaking Quebec (you know them, they are the Trudeauistes of old, the ruling class, the Liberal emperors) will have an unchallenged march straight to the riches of Parliament Hill and to the comfort of Ottawa (the Liberal new Jerusalem) the city of Gold!!
Of course, the rest of us will wallow in our misery, stumbling from bottle to bowl, from beer to kernel, from uninformed opine to purely careless deliberation.
How lucky we are that the informed and thinking citizens of this once great and noble country will once again save us scallywags from such a horrid fate!
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Just a closer Blog with thee
I hope that this will become a place for some to come and find opinions, ideas, thoughts, complaints, accolades, advice - anything that, in one way or another, makes sense or provides support to their opinions and or views.
For those that know me, they will not be surprised that wine may find it's way into many of my posts as well. I like to get away from it at times, to express myself and my opinions on other important issues, debates and matters of the day but.....when all is said and done, it always seems to come back to the fruit of the vine anyways. So, be prepared for loads of stuff about wine and food and related topics.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
