Monday NO Moanings - June 29, 2015

Canada Day WEEK, 2015

The rain has stopped. The sun is shining, The strawberries are ripe for the picking!

AND 

Wednesday is Canada Day!

There's been some moaning about this mid-week holiday; not about the day off, nor the occasion, but rather about the timing - smack dab in the middle of the work week with no weekend within a day's reach. Well I realize it seems inconvenient and even strange to not have a Canada Day long weekend, but how about going for a Canada Day Week? I know it's not the same. Many have to go to work, but still you can get the flag out in the workplace as well as at home, EH?

Let's shake off the scales of cynicism and complaint and enjoy the privilege of living in this great land.

There are four wonderful seasons, each one offering its share of glorious days along with a few clunkers;

there are awesome landscapes of mountains, lakes, forests and prairies;

there's architecture in cityscapes that incorporate the old and the new along with green space too;

and so many diverse cultures to enrich and inspire each one of us to be who we were born to be.

I'm thrilled and proud to be a part of the colourful mosaic that is my home and native land. We're not perfect, not by a long shot; we're not without problems; we've got critical issues and controversies that need tending, but not right now. Let the problems and politics, failures and controversies take a back seat this week.

On July 1, 1960 John Diefenbaker, Canada's 13th Prime Minister, introduced the Canadian Bill of Rights in Parliament with these words:

"I am a 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,
Free to choose those who shall govern my country.
This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and mankind."


Be safe. Be happy. Be proud.

fotolia.com

Happy Canada Day, all week!

©2015 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - February 24, 2014

Hanging up my jersey

courtesy of the Canadian Olympic Team

After 17 days of thrills and spills, passion and power, the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia have come to an end. There were a few glitches - all typical of an undertaking of this magnitude - and not one of the much touted, frightening scenarios materialised. I suppose there may be some out there in the big bad world who are disappointed by the lack of extremist explosions, but I along with most of the world I believe, am most grateful for the peacefulness. Vladimir Putin and company put on a good show, and for that too we are all grateful. The athletes put too much effort and sacrifice into preparing for the Olympics to have them sabotaged by shoddy venues and organisation.

The Sochi Games were a success! Perfect? No, of course not, but well done.
Thank you Sochi.
Thank you Russia.
Thank you to all who participated.
Thank you to the entire Canadian Olympic Team for giving your best;
for living out not just your dreams but my Olympic dreams too,
and for making us all so proud to be Canadian.

courtesy of the Canadian Olympic Team

Now all that remains is for me to hang up my Team Canada jersey ... or not ... I think I'll wear it a few more times this week, this month, this year. It just feels that good!

(But is it okay now to hang up "We Are Winter" and put on something warmer, like We Are Spring? Just wondering...)

©2014 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - June 27, 2013

The Last Day of School

© leo tomić - fotolia.com 

Woo Hoo! Remember the thrill? I sure do. Oh the joy of it all: ripping the paper off text books, coverings that had been so carefully cut, folded, applied and decorated ten months earlier; triumphantly handing the naked books back to the teacher; clearing out my desk only to discover that crumpled up test stuffed way in the back corner, the one with the big red "D" on it, then tossing the offensive paper in garbage can - no way that was ever coming home; gathering up the standard issue pink workbooks (Pink? What were they thinking??), some of my art work (only some because art was never my forte), a few remaining coloured pencils (a full set of twelve never survived ten months of gruelling work), and last by no means least, my prized possession, a wooden pencil box with a lid that slid open to reveal four bright yellow HB pencils and one slender white pen with blue lettering, "Etobicoke Board of Education". All got stuffed into a bag for homecoming, with one addition - a white envelope containing The Report Card.

I recall that one year, the teacher called each one of us to her desk to receive the envelope. She whispered a comment and the room number for next year's class, "Well done April. Room eleven." It was a mixed message. I was already in Room 11, in fact I spent grades 4, 5 and 6 in Room 11 - the annual shuffling of rooms and teachers didn't get me anywhere it seemed. No matter, the last thing on my mind as I dashed out the school doors that day was next year's class. A vast expanse of uninterrupted playtime stretched out before me and September was nowhere to be seen on my radar.

I'll tell you what else was not on my radar way back when, Canada Day, or as it was then known, Dominion Day. Seems more attention was paid to Victoria Day, the long weekend in May. "The twenty-fourth of May is firecracker day," was the schoolyard chant. But all that began to change with 1967 and the celebration of our 100th birthday as a nation. From the lighting of the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill to Expo 67 to Bobby Gimby's "Ca-na-da", we all sang and celebrated.


Fast forward a few years, like over 40 of them, to today, and it's once again the last day of school. There is no desk for me to clear out, no text books to return, no wooden pencil case and thankfully no report card! But the strawberries are ripe for the picking and the Canada Day long weekend sits on the doorstep ready to kick off summer with a celebration of all things Canadian. It's not just a single day anymore but three days (and more in some locations) of festivities and fireworks across the country. It's a time for me to shake off the scales of cynicism and complaint and enjoy the privilege of living in this great land.


We're not perfect; we're not without problems; we've got critical issues and controversies that need tending, but not on this long weekend. This last day of school, this long weekend, I'm thrilled to be a part of the colourful mosaic that is Canada.

Be safe. Be happy. Be grateful.

(all photos unless otherwise noted: © April Hoeller)