Christmas for All (or Fear Instead of Faith)

Christmas All The Time - Tom Cochrane

Ah, Christmas is upon us once again. And it doesn't much feel like Christmas. The stores are busy but not insane. People seem to be more courteous and stress-free than I have experienced in the past. Thoughts sometimes randomly come to my head and make me smile or chuckle and when I am alone driving in the vehicle and pass another motorist I often noticing them smile back at me. Little do they know it was probably a dirty thought on my part...lol! I got someone else to smile at me and I spread some joy around. The intent (or lack of) is not important. But I digress, back to Christmas... 

Random acts of kindness. In the aftermath of the tragic events that took place in Connecticut where innocent school children (age 6 and 7) were brutally slain along with several adults, the general focus has been on being kind to one another. Social media is championing a kindness pledge for people to do one random act of kindness for everyone of he 26 killed that day. Although, as a sidebar, they do forget to count the gunman and his mother in that tally of death. Regardless of our own feelings towards them, they too were loved and will be missed. The whole idea being kind is wonderful but sad in that it takes a tragedy to remind us that it should be a lifestyle not a special commemorative occasion. 

Perhaps though it is the idea that so many children will be missing out on the magic of Christmas. As a parent my heart ached for the families that on top of everything else will likely have an assortment of gifts that they bought for their children that they must deal with. To lose a child at any time is heartbreaking no doubt, but at the most celebrated family occasion, it would be so much more intense. I can't even imagine. Maybe it is a sad topic of discussion at this joyous time, but it is a reality for many. Even myself having lost my last family member nearly 30 years ago, it still aches to hear every one talk about family get-togethers at this time of year. Had I the financial means, I think I would adopt a family or person and have them over for a Christmas Day celebration of love and kindness. It was done for me by friends and it made the holiday so much more special. 

Back to random kindness, I want to give a personal shout out to a corporation that has exemplified this notion on a national level. Tim Hortons coffee shops have decided to spread a little holiday cheer by gifting a free order to random customers. This is above and beyond their participation in the annual Random Act of Kindness week held in February each year. 

It's a wonderful idea but it really should be a life choice that can begin with a designated week or aftermath of tragedy but become a daily life decision. Kindness toward fellow man because we all deserve respect regardless of age or gender etc. Holding a door, sharing change to help the shopper ahead of us, smiling at one another, using manners and being polite. Just imagine if everyone you encountered in your day practiced good manners....what a different world we would live in. No asshole to ding your car, take two spots in the parking lot, cut in front of you on the busy roads, butt in line in front of you, take their frustrations out on you. Heaven on earth indeed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The spirit of Christmas is about goodwill and peace and love. It is a time we think about all the people in our lives that are important to us and find some small token to show our appreciation. Okay, the size of the token is relevant to the size of our bank account and significance of the person in question. Our children may be more amply rewarded than the newspaper carrier. 

Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth - David Bowie & Bing Crosby

Looking up to the Heavens and wishing my family MERRY CHRISTMAS! Mom loved this song <3

Christmas is a time for personal reflection, a time to renew hope and cherish the blessings that have been bestowed upon us. A time to visit those who we haven't had time for in the frantic bustle of our daily lives and to give. It is one of the most charitable times of the year. Marked in a deep tradition that may have been sparked by religious beliefs it is so much more now. 

The commercialization of Christmas is only one part that leaves people feeling a bit sour. It's big business that many enterprises count on to sustain their meager existence throughout the rest of the year. Consider the floundering postal system. With the popularization of social media, the internet and e-mail the post office is in big financial trouble. Except for all the on-line shoppers that must get their packages delivered some how. This is the busiest time of the year despite the lack of Christmas cards that are dropped in the mailbox.

I applaud the Canadian government and Treasury Board President, Tony Clement for lifting the ban that prohibited Christmas related cards and decorations in Federal offices. Political correctedness be damned, it is Christmas. For too long this country has bowed to the demands of people who are coming to this country with visions of a better life and then deciding that what they really want is what they left but without the fear of personal persecution. And now I and other Canadians citizens are being persecuted for our long-held beliefs. It's wrong. I thank my Government for finally taking a stand and protecting my right too. I hope it sticks long-term and the sentiment spreads. 

How dare they? lol! :)

Of course, there has to be one that seeks his proverbial 15 minutes of fame at great expense to the tax-payer. This year, this shameful cad comes to us from 

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Some person is taking the City of Saskatoon to the Civil Rights Commission because the city transit is displaying the message "Merry Christmas" on its location banner. To their credit the city has not removed the message and given in to this idiotic complaint. What a waste of tax dollars. Don't like the bus. Take a taxi, walk or leave the country. I for one will not be forced to celebrate my religious and cultural freedoms in shame and secrecy to appease you. We may do well by him to have his psychiatrically assessed for his belief is that the Christmas message make him feel like he needs to convert to Christianity to be considered a first-class citizen. You get that from Merry Christmas? Really? It is interesting to note that he speaks with pluralised pronouns to give the impression he is not alone in his thoughts. Do real or imaginary co-horts agree with him? I will not mention his name because I really don't feel he is entitled to any more recognition. I don't know what ethnicity he is a part of or what religion (if any) he practices. Nor do I care. I call myself a Canadian because I am a proud citizen of this country. My background is European - Italian. This country prides itself in it's acceptance of cultures from around the globe. But we have to draw the line somewhere.

Many people choose to emigrate to Canada because we enjoy freedom of religion. The right to practice the religion of your choice. Not the freedom FROM religion. By stopping me from saying Merry Christmas because it offends you, is a disrespect for my rights and freedoms. For as long as Canada has been populated Christmas has been celebrated here. Don't like it...see ya. Go back to where you came from, since I assume no one says Merry Christmas there! You do have the freedom to leave. God bless Canada!

This is where you come back to the idea of the Christmas Spirit and spreading kindness and goodwill. The fact of the matter is that in this country we celebrate Christmas or at least the notion of the Christmas season. You can protest all you want but it is not likely to change. Two cashiers at the counter, one wishes a Merry Christmas, the other Happy Holidays. They both mean the same thing...every ka-ching sings Merry Christmas! If you take advantage of the day off work because Christmas is a statutory holiday, or if you accept time and a half holiday pay and still turn your nose up as I wish you a Merry Christmas you are a hypocrite. And the same goes if you take advantage of any seasonal commercial sale including Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Boxing Day sales. You are supporting Christmas and all it has to offer. As a Canadian citizen or citizen of this country you are entitled to all the benefits of the holiday just like Canada Day and the other Christian public paid holiday Easters' Good Friday. The same cannot be said for me when you want to take off work for your lesser known and not nationally celebrated holidays like Diwali or Rosh Hashana. So as a non-Christian you get more paid working days off than I do. What exactly is your complaint? Christian and non-Christian schools all reap the benefits of the Christian celebration of Christmas. Maybe you want to stay in school and/or work while the rest of the Canadians celebrate?  

When will it stop? First we are forced to abandon the Christmas tree for the holiday tree, then be damned if we utter the words Merry Christmas. God is taken out of the schools along with all prayer in favour of semi-automatic weapons and guards and locked doors. We live in fear instead of faith. 

If we don't stand up to this nonsense now, we will open the doors to the protests from the perpetual bachelors who are offended by Fathers Day. The aegist who fire off protests to the Government for reminding us of that arbitrary number society calls our living age on our drivers license. And then remind us of our mortality when at 65 they send us monthly cheques. And the life insurance company that sends a birthday card every year bringing tears to our eyes. It's offensive I tell ya! 

This madness must stop! And I am speaking of the hatred directed at the Christians who want to shout out...

MERRY CHRISTMAS! GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1090911/-this-one-s-on-us-tim-hortons-spreads-holiday-cheer-with-random-cups-of-kindness

http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

I AM Canadian Eh?

Oh...Canada - Classified

How you know you are Canadian. You end every sentence with Eh.
EH = Pronouced AY (similar, but not the same as huh)

It's all about national pride at this time of year if you are indeed Canadian. To be completely accurate however - none of us are really true Canadians save for the aboriginal people that were here before the invasion of the Europeans. But where did they come from? I've heard it said that we were all at one time descended from a tribe in some corner of Africa. But that is a heavy topic that we will leave for another day. Now, today it is all about Canada. I was born here so while I claim a European (Italian) heritage, I do consider myself fully Canadian. My parents and grandparents where all born in Italy but they thought enough of the honour of being considered Canadian that they gave up their citizenship of birth to pledge to Canada. They became Canadian.  


Canada is known far and wide for peacekeeping, friendliness and acceptance. Back in the 1980's when it was still fashionable to backpack through Europe upon graduation from high school, the one piece of advice I was given was to affix Canadian flags to my gear so I could be quickly identified. There was still a lot of animosity and bad feelings towards Americans and you didn't want to give the idea you were from the USA. In fact, I ran across a number of people from all parts of the US sporting Canadian flags. Apparently they heard the same stories about preferred treatment for Canadians. Accents aside, I think being from this country is not something that is easy to fake. It's just different here. 


I am not claiming to be the most prolific traveller - my experiences lie primarily within the eastern parts of North America. But what I found is that as a whole Canadians were more openly friendly and willing to help. Without question, the people of Nova Scotia take top honours on the "open arms, shirt off your back" award. If you could dissect a few citizens and bottle the genuineness of their spirit, you could make a fortune. It's pretty amazing. And the best part is that a lot of people have become aware of this recently. Just mention Nova Scotia here in Southern Ontario and the first thing you here are comments about the friendliness of the people. I would love to think that other parts of the world view our country in the same way.


The problem I have with multiculturalism is not the mixing and mingling of a variety of cultures in the melting pot of one to create a brand new blend. The problem I have with multiculturalism is not the expanded knowledge of people from varying backgrounds with differing languages. Being Canadian means accepting a dual language policy. Everything I buy at home has both English and French written on it. Where you memorized everything there was to read in English on the cereal box when you were a kid, you tried to understand the French equivalent. I was thrilled as a kid to have the opportunity to try foods from the country of my parents birth, to learn a little bit about what it was like in the "old country". Now many of those food have become staples of the Canadian dinner table. 

Canadian, Please

But immigration and the attitude towards it has changed over the years. My family was thrilled to be chosen to come to this new land full of freedom and opportunities that they would not have had at home. This gratitude was evident in the work ethic that they displayed and the assimilation into the life in Canada. The country owed them nothing, they owed the country that took them in. Today that attitude is for the most part gone. And that acceptance we were so widely known for is disappearing. There is a sour taste in the mouths of a lot of Canadians, there is a fear that the country we love is going to be gone. In an effort to encourage immigration, our identity is being given away. Rather than coming to this country and assimilating, people are coming and trying to change it. Just recently I read a post on facebook that said: 

"Don't come to my country and try to make it 

into the country you left behind. 

If where you came from was that great 

you wouldn't have left it in the first place."

There is a lot of truth in those words. For me, I guess is started many years ago when the iconic symbol of Canada was taken to court and forever changed when someone wanted to wear the uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to suit him. He couldn't wear the stetson hat over his turban. Maybe it is a little thing but it wasn't to me. I can't even wear glasses in my official identification, but others are allowed face and hair coverings? Bottom line for me, is if you are coming to Canada for what it and the people stand for, why do you want to change it? I don't care for the abuse of our inherent good nature. That abusive intent extends to those who manipulate the health care and social security system that I and my ancestors have worked hard to protect and maintain by bringing over ailing relations who have contributed nothing to the system. 


I remain at odds over the whole "running across the border to avoid the draft" business. With the strong sentiments over the morality of the Vietnam War, I have a lot of compassion for those people who fled what they felt was an egregious injustice. I hope that those people where able to find peace and comfort in their new land and didn't just use it for personal gain. On the other hand, I know of someone who in the last week of all 4 of her pregnancies rushed across the border to give birth to ensure that her offspring would be American citizens. When we spoke of the pitfalls of medical insurance and the draft, she claimed it was her intent to ship the children back to Canada for health care and at a time of the enlistment. It's not just a inanimate country you are abusing. It is the people who work and take pride in that country that you are abusing. Am I alone in seeing how wrong this is?


As a peace-loving nation, we are better allies to other countries than the one who storms in and throws the first punch. Just a few war facts, without too many details our defense budget is laughable so is our stock of armament and military equipment. Most of us are okay with that - sure don't hear about a lot of protests that is for sure. In the war of 1812 however we still managed to burn down the White House and most of Washington. Our own "Civil War" was led by a drunk and possibly insane William Lyon McKenzie - it was essentially a bar fight that lasted less than an hour. One person was arrested and hanged after the civil war and he was an American mercenary who slept in and missed the whole "war", showing up just in time to get caught.

Bob and Doug McKenzie - The Great White North

CANADA IS:
- land of the strong
- home of the free
- innovative
- inventive
- medical miracles
- scientific breakthroughs
- peaceful
- kind
- polite
- funny

FROM THE CANADIAN BILL OF RIGHTS:

I am Canadian, 

free to speak without fear,

free to worship in my own way,

free to stand for what I think right,

free to oppose what I believe wrong,

or free to choose those who shall govern my country.

INVENTED IN CANADA:
- Hockey, basketball, lacrosse, instant replays
- Poutine, Nanimo bars, butter tarts, bloody Caesar, peanut butter, Crispy Crunch,
- Blackberry, standard time, walkie-talkies
- Birch bark canoes, snowmobiles, Canadarm
- Electric Wheelchair, foghorn, snow-blower, cardiac pacemaker
- Insulin, electron microscope, plexiglass
- Garbage bag, wonderbra, Jolly Jumper, pablum 
- caulking gun, Robertson head screwdriver and bits, duct tape (yeah baby!)


And don't forget....
Tim Hortons Coffee
The Mickey - no not the mouse! 
The 2-4 case of beer with handles that fit mittens built into the sides :)
and beer that is worth drinking! :)


Our biggest (at least funniest) export is our comedians. John Candy, Jim Carrey, Howie Mandel, Rick Moranis, Mike Myers, Leslie Nielson, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin. What would Saturday Night Live be without Canada's own Lorne Michaels?   


A bit of National Pride 
brought to you by the makers of elixir of Canadians from Sea to Sea - Molson Canadian Beer! circa 1980's


Hey...
I am not a lumberjack, or a fur trader,
and I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled,
and I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada, although I'm certain they're really, really nice.


I have a Prime Minister,
not a President.
I speak English and French,
NOT American!
and I pronounce it "ABOUT"
NOT "A BOOT".


I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack.
I believe in peace keeping, NOT policing.
DIVERSITY, NOT assimilation
And that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.
I know that a toque is a hat,
a chesterfield is a couch,
and it is pronounced "zed" not "zee"
Canada is the second largest Land mass in the world!
The first nation of hockey!
And the best part of North America!
My name is Joe (or Liz :)
and...I AM...C A N A D I A N !

AN AMERICAN VIEW OF CANADA
Editorial from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - August 2003


It's not just the weather that's cooler in Canada. You live next door to a clean-cut, quiet guy. He never plays loud music or throws raucous parties. He doesn't gossip over the fence, just smiles politely and offers you some tomatoes. His lawn is cared-for, his house is neat as a pin and you get the feeling he doesn't always lock his front door. He wears Dockers. You hardly know he's there. And then one day you discover that he has pot in his basement, spends his weekends at peace marches and that guy you've seen mowing the yard is his spouse.


Allow me to introduce Canada. The Canadians are so quiet that you may have forgotten they're up there, but they've been busy doing some surprising things. It's like discovering that the mice you are dimly aware of in your attic have been building an espresso machine. 


Did you realize, for example, that our reliable little tag-along brother never joined the Coalition of the Willing? Canada wasn't willing, as it turns out, to join the fun in Iraq. I can only assume American diner menus weren't angrily changed to include "freedom bacon," because nobody here eats the stuff anyway. 


And then there's the wild drug situation. Canadian doctors are authorized to dispense medical marijuana. Parliament is considering legislation that would not exactly legalize marijuana possession, as you may have heard, but would reduce the penalty for possession of under 15 grams to a fine, like a speeding ticket. That is to allow law enforcement to concentrate resources on traffickers; if your garden is full of wasps, it's smarter to go for the nest rather than trying to swat every individual bug. Or, in the United States, bong.


Now, here's the part that I, as an American can't understand. These poor benighted pinkos are doing everything wrong. They have a drug problem. Marijuana offenses have doubled since 1991. And Canada has strict gun control laws, which means that the criminals must all be heavily armed, the law-abiding civilians helpless and the government on the verge of a massive confiscation campaign. (The laws have been in place since the '70's, but I'm sure the government will get around to the confiscation eventually.) They don't even have a death penalty!


And yet...nationally, overall crime in Canada has been declining since 1991. Violent crimes fell 13 percent in 2002. Of course, there are still crimes committed with guns - brought in from the United States, which has become the major illegal weapons supplier for all of North America - but my theory is that the surge in pot-smoking has rendered most criminals too relaxed to commit violent crimes. They're probably more focused on shoplifting boxes of Ho-Hos from convenience stores.


And then there's the most reckless move of all. Just last month, Canada decided to allow and recognize same-sex marriages. Merciful moose, what can they be thinking? Will there be married Mounties (they always get their man!)? Dudley Do-Right was sweet on Nell, not Mel! We must be the only ones who really care about families. Not enough to make sure they all have health insurance, of course, but more than those libertines up north.


This sort of behavior is a clear and present danger to all our stereotypes about Canada. It's supposed to be a cold, wholesome country of polite, beer-drinking hockey players, not founded by freedom-fighters in a bloody revolution but quietly assembled by loyalists and royalists more interested in order and good government than liberty and independence. But if we are the rugged individualists, why do we spend so much of our time trying to get everyone to march in lockstep? And if Canadians are so reserved and moderate, why are they so progressive about letting people do what they want to?


Canadians are, as a nation, less religious than we are, according to polls. As a result, Canada's government isn't influenced by large, well-organized religious groups and thus has more in common with those of Scandinavia than those of the United States, or, say, Iran. 


Canada signed the Kyoto global warming treaty, lets 19-year-olds drink, has more of its population living in urban areas and accepts more immigrants per capita than the United States. These are all things we've been told will wreck our society. But I guess Canadians are different, because theirs seems oddly sound. 


Like teenagers we fiercely idolize individual freedom but really demand that everyone be the same. But the Canadians seems more adult - more secure. They aren't afraid of foreigners. They aren't afraid of homosexuality. Most of all, they're not afraid of each other. 


I wonder if America will ever be that cool. 


While the author makes some good points, he does need some further education on others. What too many people on the this grand planet of ours tends to forget is that we all have needs and desires and you shouldn't have the right to trample of mine because they happen to be different than yours. This applies to immigrants coming to a country then forcing it to adopt all the policies and views that weren't working in the land from which they came while they forget that they are infringing on the views I hold dear. I may not chose homosexuality as my preference but do I have the right to take away rights of people for that reason. While marriage may not be a term I would use, certainly a union with the same benefits is not unreasonable. I like feeling safe among my neighbours and in my community knowing that the chances of being shot accidentally are minimal. 



A bit of Canadian Trivia:
1. How many time zones are there in Canada?
2. How many NHL teams does Canada have?
3. When did Oh Canada become the national anthem? (year and date)
4. How many cities have hosted the Olympics? Which cities and what season?
5. In what year did Canada official become a country?
6. What is a prairie oyster? Would eat it or steal a gem from it?



For more fun Canadian facts: 
check out this link Canadian-isms 

HAPPY CANADA D-EH!

2-4 Not Just a Number But a Cause for Celebration

The Black Fly Song - Wade Hemsworth

You can call it the Victoria Day Holiday or you can be a true Canadian with red and white blood cells running through your veins and call it "May 2-4"! Most people don't even know who Victoria is and that she was Queen Victoria, the great-great-great-great grandmother of Princes William and Harry. It doesn't really matter to me if we celebrate her birthday just that we have another month in the year with a statutory holiday. The long weekend in May has long been considered the official start of the summer season and the time when people begin to dig into their gardens, open up their pools/cottages and dust off the barbeques. A real party weekend: hence the reference to the quintessential party supply - the 2-4 of beer. A case of 24 cans or bottles of beer for you teetotalers. But despite the party in the backyard and days of sunshine, it can still be a little chilly for a camping trip. This year is different though, we had a unusually mild winter followed with unseasonably warm spring. The weather gurus were predicting weekend temperatures into the mid-20's+ Celsius. That's 80 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale and great camping weather.

The site was reserved in the northern reaches of the vast Algonquin Park in Northern Ontario. The cars were packed with all the essentials - accomodations, clothes, food and beer...lots of beer. So with a tank full of gas, we headed north. My daughter, her boyfriend, me and a couple hundred thousand other cottagers trying to get away from the concrete jungle. We pass the traditional cut-offs for cottage country and we are still heading north. The housing developments and farm country give way to the granite formations of the Canadian Shield. I love the rugged beauty of the Shield - it's a lot like my hometown of Thunder Bay. As I drove, I marveled at the ribbon of pavement that meandered its way like as drunken sailor. I imagined this road which was in the process of being widened and divided as a country road used primarily by horse-driven modes of transportation weaving around obstacles like trees and boulders. The path just grew over time, not really altering its original course. But then you would come across a stunning rock face flanking either side of the road and it was obvious that this little mound was blown apart with dynamite to make the way clear for the horseless carriages. Why didn't they just go over them and make a small rise in the road elevation? I mean it's not like other parts of the highway are level and flat. Before the commencement of the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, I had the opportunity to drive a lot of the Trans-Canada Highway and was thrilled to see all the Inukshuks that were built on the rock shelves above the road side. I was taken aback at how the Canadian pride swelled at the beauty and the  tenacity of the people who constructed them and as I told my daughter about it, we could still see a few remaining beacons that had not succumbed to the ravages of time and weather and fallen over.  

Inukshuk perched on the rock face at the side of the road.

All along the highways in Northern Ontario you can spot the pictorial signs portraying a moose with its head down charging across the road. Personally I would love to see a moose in is natural elements but not poised at the side of the road ready to intervene as I pass by. But the intelligentsia in the government department responsible for road signage has come up with a good one to infuse a little humour into the danger. Two feet square on the diagonal on the reflective yellow background is the familiar black silhouetted charging moose. But the added feature of a light above is explained below - " moose crossing when light flashing". Just like a pedestrian crossing downtown. But wait...who taught the moose to push the button to activate the flashing light? Reminds me of the story of the woman who wrote her local politician asking him to move the deer crossing sign in front of her house because it wasn't safe for the deer to cross there as too many were getting hit and killed. Take a minute and think about it if you need to - it's hilarious!


Soon enough, we get the first glimpse of our home away from home for the next 4 days. The trees, the nature, the lake...untouched beauty. No cell phones, no computers, no lights or electricity. You aren't going anywhere, time is irrelevant. Step one, crack open your first can of beer and toast the first camping trip of the season. Nothing like a Keith's chilled over ice! It really wasn't until we started to set up the tent that nature began to show it's more unpleasant side in the form of nasty little varmints with voracious appetites and persistence that would drive the most patient and tolerant person mad. Laugh if you want, but initially this true Canuck did not even know what these pest were - all I knew was that Deep Woods Off was ineffective in repelling them. The boyfriend assumed they were attracted to our feminine scent and blamed that shower filled with flowery aromas that we had to make time for before leaving or the very colour of our clothing. He didn't seem to be bothered by the gnats - that's just unfair. Rest assured that for the rest of the camping trip, cameras were banned because the fashion became something no one would want to be reminded of. The hoodie covered the head and the upper torso except for the face, track pants protected the legs and were tucked into the socks. Breaking the cardinal rule of summer fashion - on the feet were sandals. Socks and sandals together normally make me cringe...but this was survival! I was being eaten alive! By days end, relief only came in the form of inebriation. The following day the rest of our party arrived and the only thing we learned was that we were indeed dealing with black flies, commercial repellents did not repel them but stopped them from biting (not!), smoke from a camp fire did not bother them,  food seemed to encourage them to visit. On the positive side, black flies may have genetic origins in Mexico where an afternoon siesta is common to escape the heat of the day. Peel the layer and enjoy the sun and heat...bug-free! If I had a chainsaw I might have hewn 75% of the trees on our sight and sit in the shadeless midst of our site just for the relief. And for those few hours we relished in the nature around us. The forests as far as the eye could see, the clear sky with birds not airplanes soaring above, the bright sunshine, the crystal clear expanse of water that lay before us and the ducks. Canadian geese, 3 families all with little fluff balls in tow living at the waters edge and we watched as they soiled the grass with mounds of goose poo and then took the youngsters into the water for some swimming lessons. They are surprisingly quiet when they are left to their own devices. 


But too soon, the sun begins its decent on the horizon and the irritants return with a vengeance. You don't have a lot of options 1) pack up and leave 2) hide in the tent until the moon is out 3) make the best of it. I won't deny that I considered option one as I shed tears because I swatted a bug near my eye with a hand coated in toxic bug repellent and for a while I even hid in the tent. But eventually, I emerged and while sitting at the picnic table swatting at the cloud of varmints it occurred to me that our neighbouring campers that I thought were so friendly were probably not waving but swatting at their own uninvited guests. In an instance of what can only be considered shear genius a new pastime was born - officially known as the Catch and Release Game. Okay maybe not genius but it was fun and gratifying at the same time. With both hands flailing, grab at the air and close fist around the mighty but tiny black fly. Don't open your hand to look for a successful snatch but in a quick fluid motion throw whatever you hold forcefully onto a plate with some viscous sauce left from the last meal consumed. If you are good at it and the bugs are plentiful, your plate will soon be well coated with tiny legs kicking up at the air in a futile attempt to escape while the sauce acts like a glue on their wings. Smile broadly because they will no longer have the option of biting you! Works better than the most expensive can of commercial repellent. Initially, the hope was that the sight of all their relatives in the throes of death would be a deterrent on its' own - that didn't happen but the burial site was quite impressive :)

This was only the beginning! 

I don't know if it is an initiative started only in the remote provincial campgrounds but this second trip to the Algonquin Park had facilities that were remarkable on a few levels. First of all the facilities were located on the second level of the structure and let me tell you that hill can be a challenge with some decent inebriation or in the darkness of the night. But compared to the olfactory offense of the previously common outhouse, this is a breath of fresh air (no pun intended). I really hope that this venture proves to be successful because it is much less offensive, it is a compostable toilet. A list of do's and don't on proper usage proclaims that you can help the facility do it's job while you do yours. Common sense rules the same as your household porcelain seat. Besides being clean and seemingly more sanitary than your average outhouse, there is an added bonus of a rush of cool air when you sit. A little freaky at first, but really it is a solar powered fan that is aiding in the decomposition of the waste. I could have lived without the knowledge of how the high tech collector uses a variety of microbes down there - it was a little too close for comfort if you know what I mean. Given the alternative, I'll take this. 


Before we knew it, the beer was gone and it was time to pack up and head out. We were halfway home, and screeched to a stop at the first Tim Horton's we saw when the last of the black flies were no longer buzzing about our heads in the car. Like a trail of bread crumbs we tossed dead bodies out of the window as we went - not one was permitted to find a new home in my neck of the woods. Once home the layers were peeled off and thrown directly into the washing machine. Maybe it was my imagination but I thought I detected a film of tiny black bodies coating the surface of the water. The blood and guts that were smeared and smushed into the clothing I didn't think would ever be washed out. And I swear the drain in the shower was nearly clogged with the carcasses I washed out of my hair! 

Rock faces carved out to make way for the road.

We know now for next time that if we go camping during black fly season next year that instead of heading north we will try west or east or maybe the backyard where they deliver 2-4's when you run out!

Facebook - Where I Can Talk To a Wall and Not Look Like an Idiot!

Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N' Roses

Facebook is like a jail. You sit around wasting time, have a profile picture, write on walls and get poked by people you barely know.

It's funny, this facebook phenomenon. Facebooking has become a verb in modern vernacular - and I have been doing it since May 1st, 2007. I had been banned from it previously by my kids because I was too old, but my son had his heart set on attending university in the fall on the east coast and we thought it would be a good and cheap way for us to stay in touch and I could keep an eye on him too. He set me up in May so I could have a few months training under my belt, besides it was better than finding him on MySpace. People my age were starting to invade Facebook anyways :)

THE BEGINNING

Yes, the Baby Boomers invaded and soon took over. For me it was a tremendous tool to know how my son was faring a thousand miles from home and I missed him a little less when I saw pictures that were posted and made myself privvy to his "wall" conversation without saying a word. I felt like a spy lol! But it didn't take long for me to figure out that if I looked for them I would find friends I had lost touch with over the years of moving back and forth across the eastern half of Canada. School mates from Thunder Bay, friends from my college years and neighbours I left behind on the East Coast and missed terribly. The miles and the years melted away with each new friend I found. But you have to keep looking because for many years, people who swore they would never be a part of it are now embracing the social experience that is Facebook. But us old fogey's have learned to share with the young and the seniors alike. These days, my favourite part of facebooking is finding people I grew up with and re-connecting with them even if we just laugh at a few old pictures together or exchange a few messages. It's nice to know we all survived those awkward high school days and to mourn together the once who have left us too early. For me there is a great group that shares pictures from days gone by so we can all privately or publicly reminisce.

THE FRIENDS

I have met some great new friends as well and keeping more recent friendships alive. It seems to me though that some people are more interested in upping their friend count then actually being a friend. I would like to have a connection with the people I add although I am guilty of adding people from a sense of social responsibility and guilt rather than actual friendship. I suppose it is probably some celebrity that count their friend among the tens of thousands, but I doubt that your average person would know that many people to call friends. Hard core facebook gamers often have very high numbers of friends because they add people who share their interest in the game. Some like MafiaWars and Farmville, require that you make requests of your neighbours in the game to move you along. Our old school chums and work colleagues are not necessarily the ones who are playing. I've had my crack at the games and find the requests and time too extensive myself, so I shy away from most. But to each his own. I can still limit how much is cluttering my home page. Well it was easier before the creative minds instituted that annoying "ticker tape" of events scrolling past. I still feel that addition is a intrusion of privacy and surprised that there wasn't more of a revolt!

THE CHANGES

And really, nobody likes to have drastic change thrust upon them just when they were starting to feel comfortable with the current layout. And who is this young hot-head Mark Zuckerberg to think that he knows what changes we would like, what changes would make our life easier and better. Lord knows you hear enough grumbling and complaining when the hint of change is in the air. Take the latest and greatest innovation - the timeline. Some people embraced the new look immediately, I sat back and hoped that I might be forgotten in the shuffle...but no...I got the notice the other day that I might a well get used to it, because the format would be permanent later this week. Argh! It really isn't the look that I object to so much although I do find it to be too cluttered and unorganized, but what concerns me more is that with each new change I worry about the less control and security that I have. That silly paradox of mine where I pour my soul and life into a blog and web page but want to control what I share in the world of Facebook. lol! But let's be real, I don't know anyone who would be willing to abandon facebook regardless of the changes that irritate us and make us feel powerless and Mark Zuckerberg knows it. 

THE STATUS

The funny thing about facebook status is that you can write something about one person and 20 others, think it is about them. There are "applications" that will make up funny status' for you when you feel brain-dead or have nothing to say. Researching a facebook related topic on Google, I came across pages and pages of sites devoted to nothing but how to write effective status' for facebook! My status' are typically very meaningful to me but cryptically so -you know me and you understand. The very obscure are often titles of blogs. Or thoughts from the deep recesses of the differently thinking mind :)

I have some "friends" on the site who clutter my view with their incessant postings of their mundane daily activities 

7:30 - good morning

7:35 - first coffee done

7:40 - first job of the day is finished

7:42 - getting dressed to go do errands

8:00 - in the line up at Tim Hortons

and on and on until finally

11:50 pm - good night 

- followed up a half hour later with another update clearly negating the notion that the person has gone to bed after a long day of updating the virtual world of their every move! I want to high five the faces of the people who comment like a mindless cheering section encouraging the insanity.  

or the real stupid status postings like

- oh wow

- I didn't see that coming

- do you believe it

(all from the same person in the space of an hour - leads you to realize that they are watching a television show and instead of talking with the humans around them, they are commenting to people who for the most part have no idea what show she is even watching. Nor do they care...lol) 

I would suggest that there may need to be an intervention there! But it won't be me hosting it. Those people have been regulated to "Only important" updates. Hmm...how does facebook even determine what is an important update? 

BEING CONNECTED 24/7/365

For the most part we are all a lot more virtually connected with the prevalence of wireless connections and Wi-Fi, most of us now compute with laptops, netbooks and tablets. Not to mention our smart phones. It is much easier to give the illusion of sitting at the computer on facebook all day long. Where once logging on in the workplace was strictly forbidden, now we are likely to find our employers have set up their own facebook page. With the demographic population now looking to facebook for not just some social chit chat but for games, news updates, discussion and dating opportunities as well as for consumer shopping, recalls and deals. There isn't too much that you cannot research or find on facebook, and there is a group for just about every interest going. A saavy business will embrace all that facebook has to offer and exploit it not forbid it. 

THE ATTITUDE

But you know the attitude towards facebook and the influence on all of society is cemented when we are told that potential employers look to our profile pages to gauge what type of an employee we might be and the police are using it as another tool in their crime-fighting arsenal. Although to be fair the moron who posted pictures of himself rioting and looting during the Vancouver riots or the burglar who seeing a computer logged on to facebook to update his status to let his friends know which house he was robbing and then forgot to log off. There is no cure for stupid!

I suppose what bothers me the most about facebook is that people take it too seriously. Two many times I have read news stories about people who have been killed or injured because they have been "Un-friended" on facebook. Exploring the site years ago as another option to the dating scene, I became afraid of deleting a person from my phone contact for fear that there could be retaliation. I barely knew this person and there are some pretty unstable fakers out there. My home phone number was visible for years with no abuse - I reasoned that if you had my last name from the site, you could use the same internet connection to look up the number on Bell's virtual phone book. 

THE DEGRADATION OF SOCIETY

There have been countless report of assault, threats and worse when someone feels slighted because they have been "un-friended" on facebook. The underlying issues that these people have saddens me as I snicker at the absurdity of it all. People have publicized feats of criminality like a banner of pride. The very forum can be an incredibly easy way to bully and de-grade people, but there is also a support group for every difference between us. The latest insanity I read about just today is the father who found out that his teenage daughter posted a letter full of profanity and anger directed at her parents who she thought were cruel. In retaliation, and to show her that what is put forward for the public to see may adversely affect the rest of her life, because it never really goes away. To emphasize the seriousness of his lecture, he videotaped himself shooting her laptop with a pistol and posted it to YouTube for the world to see. I think we can forgive the youth for some indiscretions for we have all made mistakes, but dear old dad should have known better. I think there are better ways to discuss issues before pulling out a weapon and video camera.  

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WELCOME TO FACEBOOK...The place where people add you as a friend and walk past you in the street. Where relationships are perfect, affairs are started and you look way too busy to have time to sit on facebook. It's the place where your enemies are your friends, but your friends and family block you because there are some things they don't want to know about you. It is the place where you feel the closest with people you have never met and probably never will. Better than a death in the family to get all the relations you didn't know even existed to come out of cyber space. Even though you write what you are really thinking, someone always takes it the wrong way, and people always think your status is about them. It is the place where liars can tell more lies, weak people portray themselves as gangsters, the biggest bitches and drama queens use their status to hate on bitches and drama queens (someone get a mirror quick) and loners are never alone. And for every one looking for their 5 minutes of fame, dying prematurely for any reason will get a "R.I.P." page set up for you before you are barely cold and stiff with more friends than you had alive. And no one will have the courage to unfriend you or have your account deleted. You'll live in forever in a world that isn't even real.