music soothes the soul... words

Yesterday was Paul Simon's 68th birthday. I love Paul Simon's music.

After my uncle Paul died many, many years ago (the name thing has not escaped me), the family gathered at his apartment to pack up his things, figure out what to do with them. His sisters (my mom and my aunts) told us nieces (yes, we were a family of women with the exception of Uncle Paul) to look if there was anything we wanted to keep.

I went through his books (yes, I'm a book geek) and his record collection.

And there it was. That was it. That was all I wanted.

That record.

The songs, poetry really, on this record always make me feel better.

What I love about this song in particular is that it reminds us that if we don't talk to one another, we'll never achieve anything great. We'll lose our humanity.

The Sound Of Silence

If we remain silent, there will be no Peace. For as much as words can fuel conflict, only words and compassion will ever end it. Silence is a Cancer.

No guns or bombs or chains will bring lasting Peace. The beauty is that they can't do anything without human beings. Put them down. Let them go.

"Dream always of a peaceful, warless, disarmed world."
- Robert Muller

Do we not tell our children to use their words when conflicts arise? And when we add a comforting touch, words become even more powerful.

"Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace."
- Buddha

What is your word? Mine is Love.

So I ask you, again (I know... I know... it's like my vinyl needs cleaning and keeps slipping.. but it's important):

Break the silence. Use your words. Join us during the Blogblast for Peace. Put a Peace Globe on your blog (get one HERE) on November, 5th. If you need help in making one, just ask either via e-mail (on my profile) or in the comment section... a Peace Globe Worker Bee will help. I promise.

"If we do not speak for Earth, who will? If we are not committed to our own survival, who will be?"
- Carl Sagan

If you want to be a little Worker Bee for Peace, join us (like, Travis, and Vinny who made the cute little Bee) in actively promoting the event. Post a little reminder, or insert the logo or a clickity link in every post... We all have a different way of doing it - diversity is a good thing. You don't have to badger quite as much as I do... but I rather like finding a way to tie Peace into everything I write - challenges are fun and it's a good cause.

November 5, 2009

Tuesday tissues... and hope

My dear friend Mimi is going through one of the most difficult times a person can go through. She sits vigil by her father as his physical strength wanes.

Two years ago, I accompanied my mom as she fought but lost her long battle with cancer. It was exhausting, and there were days when I was just numb. I decided to trust that the little things would get done and focussed everything I had on my mom, dad and daughter. I wouldn't trade the days and nights I spent with my mother for anything in the world.

I wish Mom and Dad would have met Baxter when they were nearing the end of their lives...

If an old paralyzed dog can bring a dying patient some peace and comfort without a word, imagine what we can all do if we come together.

Please join the Blogblast For Peace movement, do it in memory of someone you loved and lost.

I'm doing it for Mom and Dad.

“If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.”
-Thich Nhat Hanh

November 5, 2009

ripples... accidental thoughts of thanks

A holiday... and I wasn't feeling it. My daughter, The Chicklet, isn't with me. Dad is gone. Mah Honey is traveling for work. Oh, and I woke up at an unmentionable hour (it's not like I had a turkey to stuff in the oven) unable to get back to sleep. Ugh.

Life hasn't been particularly cheery this year, but I would hate myself if I didn't look for something good.

I got awesome snuggles from Sharkdog (there's magic in kissing a beagle belly), there's French Vanilla coffee in my cup, and I have bacon. I get to spend some time snuggled warmly on the couch with a blanket while I read Pride and Prejudice, again. The little things matter.

I have this picture in my kitchen... a sweet smiling face of a girl that Chicklet and I sponsor. She loves to sing and read. She's far away, in Senegal, but knows that someone cares across the ocean...




That's what matters... to help as much as you can, to care for someone you've never met, to want their well being... to hope they live in Peace.

I feel sorry for people who can't wrap their brains around the thought that they can, through small gestures, start a ripple that in the end, might seem like a righteous surfer's wave.

Through the Blogblast for Peace, we can do that. We can reach out to people all over the world, we can live as one people...

Join the Blogblast for Peace on November 5th... here in the Bloggosphere, on Facebook, Tweet for Peace even. I promise I'll be thankful if you do *smile*.

November 5, 2009

The Peace Globe Gallery

footsteps... and milestones

Happy birthday, John. We dream with you, still.




Some people leave a mark on the world... Won't you join the Blogblast for Peace and leave yours? Go on, shine on.

“Imagine all the people living life in Peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one.”
- John Lennon

November 5, 2009

The Peace Globe Gallery

the good stuff

This past weekend was bliss. I had my girl and Mah Honey with me. We took a lovely drive into apple orchard country, listening to The Zac Brown Band and enjoying excellent company on our way. Bliss.

And now, I've had this song in my head all morning:

You know what else would be Bliss?

Peace

For some time now, I've participated along with my bro Travis and a slew of cool bloggers in Mimi's Blogblast For Peace. It's coming soon, November 5th to be exact... join us? Please? Clickity click on this link, and start your journey for Peace... or just ask and I'll do what I can to help you.

This is why I do it...



The people I love deserve Peace.

November 5, 2009

The Peace Globe Gallery

Because it's too awesome not to share

I like to piggyback review SYTYCD and DWTS over at my bro, Travis' awesome blog. Dance geeks like myself can't help it. I don't review them here because, well... I prefer being the colour commentary rather than the actual reviewer and he rocks at it, so...

But we, in Canada, have reached our Top 10 on SYTYCD. I have a weakness for ballroom and tap, I do. And this season, Vincent Desjardins, an absolutely marvelous and charming ballroom dancer is competing for the title of Canada's favourite dancer. We also have the absolutely adorable Everett Smith, a take no prisoners, multi-talented tapper. SQUEEEE!!!

This week, we were treated to two grin enducing routines...

This Paso Doble (choreographed by two of last season's competitors Francis Lafrenière and Natalli Reznick) was hot, quick paced, passionate, made use of the entire stage and showcased both dancers wonderfully. Melanie and Vincent truly embraced the routine and delivered the goods. When you're coupled with a dancer with Vincent's partnering skills, it's easier to trust and fling yourself. He's there at every crucial moment, ready and waiting. He knows that his best strategy is to give the best of himself and still make his partner look good. Class act.

And then, a jazz fusion number crafted by Sean Cheesman that defies description. Everett and Kim blew me away. They committed to the characters and turned in a most memorable performance! Woooooo for the tapper and the hip-hopper... The partnering work was exquisite. These two dancers show us how professional they are, week after week.

Interestingly enough, both routines were choreographed to music by The White Stripes, and I like it. It's wonderful when choreographers use music so well.

Last week, tap dancing was featured for what is believed to be the first time on a SYTYCD stage in a musical theater. I still squeal every time I watch it. Sean Cheesman rocks my world with his choreographies. Tara Jean is a firecracker and Everett is a gem and a gentleman. My favourite moment of the season:

Ok, so with those three routines, I've shown you my top 5 dancers.

Yup... we know we can dance!

The more things change... accidental thoughts

So... I was watching “Fiddler on the Roof”. It’s one of those “have to watch" movies for me. You know, you flip channels and it doesn’t matter where it’s at in the storyline, you still "have to watch" it.

I love this movie. I love the songs, and the characters. I love the story… Tevye the milkman, the patriarch of a poor Jewish family in pre-Revolutionary Russia, explains traditions and is faced with marrying off his three oldest daughters.

During a commercial break, I went over to the computer to check e-mails and I figured I’d empty the spam folder on my e-mail account. I empty it every day. I check it just to make sure actual “for real” non-spam e-mails don't end up in there. As I quickly scanned the “FROM” field, I saw that one of them was from a dating website and this lead to one of my "thinking" episodes... you know, the accidental kind.

At least three times a week, there's an offer from some online dating service... the “Fiddler on the Roof” Yentes (the Matchmaker) of the 21st century.

There are many different kinds of them, these dating services. There are some that make you answer questionnaires in 26 parts and then run match algorithms to find the most compatible candidate. There are some with pictures and short profiles that talk of loves (walks on the beach, whiskers on kittens, snowflakes on eyelashes, blah blah blah) where you browse and pick from the profiles of men/women whose faces are appealing, and so on...

Bottom line is, on some of these, people get “matched” based on what we think of as dimensions of compatibility. Just like the matchmakers of yore. Actually, matchmakers are still a part of Orthodox traditions, and they’re found in many cultures to this day.

It’s interesting really, which factors are considered to determine the best matches. The stuff that will determine whether the relationship will evolve towards a commitment and have a shot at surviving.
Compatibility… Possible life mates picked based on personality traits. The Matchmakers based themselves on things like education, family history, degree of religious observance, financials…

“What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how
compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.”
-Leo Tolstoy

Then there’s the notion of romantic love. Flies in the face of traditional matchmaking, it does… imagine, picking your spouse by the butterflies in your stomach.

But it’s what Tevye’s daughters do. They marry for love.

This is my favourite song of the movie… Tevye has just told Golde, his wife, that their daughter Hodel is marrying a man she has fallen in love with and chosen for herself, not a man chosen for her following the long-established tradition of matchmaking and arranged marriages as they themselves were thrown together.
Tevye has two daughters who have picked spouses for love... and it prompts him to ask himself something he's never considered.
In this moment, Tevye, after 25 years of marriage, asks Golde if she loves him...

And so I thought. It doesn’t matter how people find their way to their life mates… but that the commitment survives what life throws at us and that love is given a chance to grow, and flourish.

Some time ago, Ann Meara had this to say of her decades old marriage in an interview in The New York Times:

"Was it love at first sight? It wasn't then - but it sure is now."

Lately, I've tried to help some friends struggling with the survival of their marriage, witnessed friends embarking on a journey, rejoiced over another anniversary with people I love like family.

No matter how it starts (a slap behind the head, a glance across a room, a questionnaire, the matchmaker...), I guess it's whether or not we love the one we're with and commit to a life together, to each other and to surviving the obstacles we face along the way that determines the best matches. What do you think?

"I knew couples who’d been married almost forever – forty, fifty, sixty years. Seventy-two, in one case. They’d be tending each other’s illnesses, filling in each other’s faulty memories, dealing with the money troubles or the daughter’s suicide, or the grandson’s drug addiction. And I was beginning to suspect that it made no difference whether they’d married the right person. Finally, you’re just with who you’re with. You’ve signed on with her, put in a half century with her, grown to know her as well as you know yourself or even better, and she’s become the right person. Or the only person, might be more to the point. I wish someone had told me that earlier. I’d have hung on then; I swear I would."
Anne Tyler, "A Patchwork Planet"

Happy birthday my love

"If the sun refused to shine,
I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea,
there will still be you and me"

Four years ago on this day, our instructor finally got around to breaking up our classroom into groups and we were thrown together. It was the last day of the best seminar I ever attended in my life *wink*. I'd spent the last couple of days finding myself looking sideways at you, hoping you wouldn't notice. Wondering what the hell I was doing, and knowing it was crazy but being drawn to you nonetheless. It was as if something in you held all the answers to the all questions I had always asked myself. I had listened quietly a few days earlier as you recounted, during a mid-morning break from class, heading to the southern shores of Alabama to assist in the search and rescue efforts after hurricane Katrina and I admired that.

I remember wishing you a happy birthday after one of your collegues let it slip and resisting the natural French instinct to plant a kiss on your cheek as I did so - Americans don't just smooch strangers, right?

I remember watching you go right to work on our group's assignment and knowing you were damn good at your job.

Later on, I managed to sucker you into presenting our group's ergonomic design project (ours was THE best)- I knew you were a gentleman who couldn't resist a woman's batting eyelashes. I was given a chance at that moment to just sit back and watch you. You rocked, once again.

After it was all said and done, the seminar finally came to an end. We wished each other a safe trip home. I watched you walk out of the room knowing I had met one of those wonderful men that makes a difference in the world.

Some force in the universe threw us together that week four years ago... and we kept finding our way back to each other even though we were thousands of miles apart. I would never have thought then, even if I knew you had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen on a man, that the moment I would end up in your arms I would know what it is to really be home.

We still have a long and difficult journey ahead, but no mountain, no sea, no desert can hold me back... somehow we'll make it. Just hold on.

Thank you for loving me the way no one ever has...

World Peace Day

It seems an ominous task, World Peace.

And no, I'm not participating in a pageant...

I just want the world to be a better place for my child.

So as we strive for World Peace, start in your heart, in your home, in your workplace, in your car (be nice and control the road rage), in your school (that's for my Chicklet), at the market, ...

and maybe it'll catch on.

If there is to be peace in the world,
There must be peace in the nations.

If there is to be peace in the nations,
There must be peace in the cities.

If there is to be peace in the cities,
There must be peace between neighbors.

If there is to be peace between neighbors,
There must be peace in the home.

If there is to be peace in the home,
There must be peace in the heart.

-- Lao Tzu (570-490 B.C.)

I was thinking...

... not on purpose. It just happened.

Early Saturday morning, the sun is out, my pre-teen child is holed up in the basement playing Wii (when I was a kid it was Atari...), and I sat down with a cup of coffee to watch a movie I’ve wanted to watch for a while and never caught from the beginning: “Definitely, Maybe”…

The opening scene then got me to thinking. You see, in this scene, as the main character steps out of his office building to walk to his daughter’s school, he talks about finding just the right song for the moment, the day, the walk…

It’s not the song that got me thinking, or even the sentiment.

It’s the MP3 player he had in his hand, the buds in his ears.

While technology is cool, and it has made it possible for someone in the Szechuan province of China to control your house lights via the internet…

While it brings a wolf from Washington State into my life and turns him into my bro… Technology can also isolate us. Cut us off from shared human experience.

Huh?

Well, in a way, the MP3 player cuts us off from the world.

You see, I’m a child of the 80s. I remember boom boxes. I remember walking down a street and discovering a new song because some cute guy was blaring it for all to hear. It started conversations, caused people to break out and dance, or at least tap their feet and bob their heads.

Without the boom box, Lloyd Dobler wouldn’t have had that magical moment… and Starrlight and I, along with millions of other girls and women wouldn’t have that sigh-worthy moment.

Don't get me wrong. I have an iPod and I love it. Easy access to music, random mixes that go from Van Morrison, to David Gray, to Led Zeppelin, to Peter Gabriel, to The Smiths, to Flogging Moly and so on...

But...

Do you miss walking down a city street and hearing an eclectic mix of music not of your design? Do you miss having someone walk by with a boom box blaring and feeling the bass line vibrate in your chest? Do you miss having a song stick in your head until the next boombox feeds you?

I do. The boom box... it was like getting a mix tape.

a wish for friends...

A marriage...

What is a marriage?

I'm not talking about a wedding, no. I mean everything that comes after the confetti have been scattered, the last dance has been danced, after the last guest leaves with a piece of wedding CAKE to put under their pillow (strange custom this, but hey... it's about sweet dreams, I guess).




A marriage, is about the lives that begin... no, not begin... It's about the new course that is set for two souls, when two lives are joined.
The voyage that is undertaken from that moment where a promise is spoken, a band exchanged, will hopefully be a long one. A voyage filled with many ports of call and adventures, starry nights, soft gentle waves, and hopefully, very few storms with no one falling overboard.



For Vince and Nancy...

May the friendship you share be strong
and may your love for each other stay true.
And may you not only make each other happy,
but may you be each other's comfort
at the end of a long day.

Lighthouse
by Ernie Halter

delight - kickin' it old school

I haven't been feeling the writing bug bite me lately, although skeeters have decided I'm quite the delicacy, but I wanted to put this out there for anyone that just might need a smile.

A Facebook friend had this video in her links and it made me giggle. Since tonight is So You Think You Can Dance performance night, how apropos! *wink*

There's America's Future Favourite Dancer in there somewhere...



If that didn't make you smile, it may be too late for you. Rigor is probably setting in.

a beautiful day...

Happy Birthday, Canada!

I am Canadian. No matter where life may take me, this will remain a big part of who I am.

"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,

or free to choose those who shall govern my country.

This heritage of freedom

I pledge to uphold

for myself and all mankind."

Extract from the Canadian Bill of Rights - July 1, 1960

I am a proud Canadian, because of the heroes that came before me... and the heroes that are yet to be.

People like my father...

and

Our Armed Forces

"Our hopes are high. Our faith in the people is great. Our courage is strong. And our dreams for this beautiful country will never die."
Pierre Elliott Trudeau

let a little light in...

If you've been to Travis' blog lately, you know that So You Think You Can Dance has begun it's 5th season on Fox. You've read his "non-reviews" *gigglesnort* of the audition process so far. You might even have noticed that he's been my close to only blog haunt in a while. I'm still trying to find my bearings and he's been my safe harbour as I navigate in very rocky seas of late (Thanks bro, I'd name my next child after you were I to have one *hug*).

Back to the topic at hand... I relish the time spent watching this show. It's a little bit of heaven for me.
I've loved dance since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I even took tap as a little girl. It was something I did with my mother for a time. I loved it. It's still one of my absolute favourite dances to watch.

My love of dance comes from my parents. My father loved to dance, he knew how to partner. Daddy was from that long gone era where men were gentlemen and knew how to lead a woman across the dance floor. I'm certain this played a big part in Mom falling for him.


I can't tell you how I loved snuggling up to Daddy on rainy weekends to watch old Hollywood classics on public television. I was convinced my dad could have given Fred Astaire a run for his money. During those precious hours, I developed my first crushes: Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Donald O'Connor... *sigh* I wanted to marry them.

I don't know of anyone else who can pull this off (at 2:16):

On May 27th, I got a flashback. I was sitting, feeling sad, feeling blue... and the brothers Kasprzak danced onto my TV screen. And I knew. The same way I knew when I heard Taylor Hicks sing. I had just witnessed something special. Other avid SYTYCD watchers remembered Evan (what a cutie!) from the past season when he didn't quite make the cut in Vegas. Evan channeled Gene Kelly in an outstanding number (choreographed by his big bro) and Ryan was like the second coming of Donald O'Connor.

They've made it through to the very last group. Tonight, we'll know if we'll have the privilege of watching them dance every week for what I can only hope will be a VERY long time.

I've included a little gem... Evan dancing to Ryan's choreography in a throwback little film. I giggled, swooned, oooooohed and aaaaaahed as I watched this. I hope you enjoy it. I'm betting Travis will.

"After Hours" from Jason Eberly on Vimeo.

Do yourselves a favour and click on over to go lose yourself in the awesomeness that is Ryan Kasprzak. He's a hardworking, passionate choreographer/performer who is exactly what a show like this is all about... giving an awesome talent the commercial exposure he so richly deserves in the hopes that a brand new generation of kids will discover the Happy Happy Joy Joy that is dance.

some sugar...

Most people wouldn't associate this song with a friend... but I do.

When I couldn't breathe, I reached out to her...

When I love-giggled for the very first time, I reached out to her.

When I needed a nursemaid, I groped her, um, reached out for her...

When I had to share a snarky remark, I reached out to her...

... and there she was.

I love you, baby.... I do.

Thank you.

Happy birthday, Turnbaby! SMOOCH!





Oh... Brad, you're going to heaven for making my sweet friend so happy. 

Dancing in heaven

I want to thank you all for the kind words of encouragement and support you have given me.

Daddy is finally reunited with his beloved Jacqueline and this makes me smile through the many tears I have shed and have yet to shed. He died peacefully in his sleep early this morning.



I know his hand will guide mine when I plant flowers in his garden this year. The roses I'll buy for him on Father's Day.

I love you, Daddy.

I know you're dancing with Mom to your song now...

Frank Sinatra - Strangers in the night

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy 89th Daddy!



I am truly blessed to still have you in my life.



You've taken care of me, taught me right from wrong and given me the example of what a real man is. 

Hardworking
Serving his community
Kind friend
Loving husband
Devoted father and grandfather



You taught me that I could be anything and that I deserved the best. 
Thank you. I've finally found a man that lives up to the standard you set.



I love you... always.

a bright spot

Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. Dad isn't out of the woods but there has been some improvement. Not in a mindset to blog so I limit myself to the brevity of Facebook and to my American Idol chat with awesome friends, but this was a bright spot in a crappy couple of months...

The video for Taylor Hicks' new single:

'Seven Mile Breakdown'

Watch more AOL Music videos on AOL Video

free falling

It seems like this happens to me a lot... but I need to step away from the blog. I don't know if I'll be able to post for a while.

Struggling.

Dad is not in good health and I am suspending my job search although we are facing dire straights. I need to know what state Dad is in before I move any further. I took time away from work when Mom was dying and I fear I may be faced with another loss.

Take care of each other.

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!

Enjoy... we sure do at our house!

Peanuts: Specials: It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
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