photo by Sqrly
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
its a small world after all
I was at a very interesting talk/slide show on Burmese child refugees at Owl's Nest Books tonight given by Allie. She worked at a school on the Thai-Myanmar border in 2004 as part of the Eastern Townships Myanmar project with Bishop's University.
Allie is just back from Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic & Slovenia. Now she is off to Castlegar B.C. to work for Katimavik, the federal government youth program.
There was a lady in the audience, who I have met before, she is married to Graham who lived next door to me when I was 12 - 16 years old in Mount Royal Quebec & has lived in Calgary almost as long as I have.
Anyways she was telling me that she was just in London Ontario visiting Graham's sister Barbara. Graham was a couple of years older than me & Barbara was a year younger. They were in the Catholic school system & I was in the Protestant, but we were friendly because we were next door neighbours.
So Barbara suggested to Penny & Graham that they go across the street to Peter B.'s for drinks.
Peter lived across the street from Barbara & me in TMR! Now he lives in London, as do lots of former Montrealers apparently, where he is a successful psychologist on his second marriage. And he has white hair. Haha!
I wondered whatever became of Peter as I wonder what happened to my other classmates since the diaspora. I don't really get to do the high scool reunion thing with them because I went to grades 8,9 & 10 in Quebec & then grades 12 & 13 in Ontario at a private school.
Penny says the ones in the east have forgotten about the ones who went west, but Peter remembered me of course!
Allie is just back from Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic & Slovenia. Now she is off to Castlegar B.C. to work for Katimavik, the federal government youth program.
There was a lady in the audience, who I have met before, she is married to Graham who lived next door to me when I was 12 - 16 years old in Mount Royal Quebec & has lived in Calgary almost as long as I have.
Anyways she was telling me that she was just in London Ontario visiting Graham's sister Barbara. Graham was a couple of years older than me & Barbara was a year younger. They were in the Catholic school system & I was in the Protestant, but we were friendly because we were next door neighbours.
So Barbara suggested to Penny & Graham that they go across the street to Peter B.'s for drinks.
Peter lived across the street from Barbara & me in TMR! Now he lives in London, as do lots of former Montrealers apparently, where he is a successful psychologist on his second marriage. And he has white hair. Haha!
I wondered whatever became of Peter as I wonder what happened to my other classmates since the diaspora. I don't really get to do the high scool reunion thing with them because I went to grades 8,9 & 10 in Quebec & then grades 12 & 13 in Ontario at a private school.
Penny says the ones in the east have forgotten about the ones who went west, but Peter remembered me of course!
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Thanksgiving prayer
Prayer
With thankful hearts we celebrate another Thanksgiving. Across this great country of Canada, we celebrate the blessings of life which you have bestowed upon us. All too often we take for granted the fields of grain and the pasture filled with cows and steers. For the growing cities, the thriving oil fields, the diversity of life and multitude of experiences, we give you thanks. Thanks be to You, O Lord, thanks be to You. Amen.
Dave Sonmor is a retired Swedenborgian minister living in Red Deer, Alberta.
With thankful hearts we celebrate another Thanksgiving. Across this great country of Canada, we celebrate the blessings of life which you have bestowed upon us. All too often we take for granted the fields of grain and the pasture filled with cows and steers. For the growing cities, the thriving oil fields, the diversity of life and multitude of experiences, we give you thanks. Thanks be to You, O Lord, thanks be to You. Amen.
Dave Sonmor is a retired Swedenborgian minister living in Red Deer, Alberta.
time to give thanks
Tomorrow, Monday October 9 is Thanksgiving Day. I certainly have lots to be thankful for & I want to focus on the blessings in my life. It is so easy for me & everyone else to zero in on the negatives & ignore the good things. I believe what I put my attention on is what grows in my consciousness, so an attitude of gratitude for my blessings is necessary.
I am very grateful for the blessings of being a citizen of peaceful, free, prosperous & beautiful Canada.
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1578 by explorer Martin Frobisher (Frobisher Bay) & his crew when they reached the shores of Newfoundland after exploring Canada's high arctic & what is now Nunavut.
Thanksgiving didn't become an official national holiday until an act of Parliament in 1957 when the second Monday of October was designated as a statutory holiday across Canada.
Only 2 countries in the world celebrate a holiday called Thanksgiving, although harvest festivals are found worldwide, Thanksgiving means much more to Canadians than just giving thanks for a bountiful harvest.
Canada's first Thanksgiving: Frobisher set stage for our celebrations in different spirit than U.S.
David Watts, Edmonton JournalPublished: Monday, September 12, 2005
The first Thanksgiving celebration by Euro-peoples in North America was not in New England but in Newfoundland by Martin Frobisher, 42 years before the Pilgrims. Frobisher's Thanksgiving was not for harvest but homecoming. He had safely returned from a search for the Northwest Passage, avoiding the later fate of Henry Hudson and Sir John Franklin. Given the fierceness of Arctic winter and the tragedy of these other expeditions, we can understand why he was grateful to come out alive. But why a special thanksgiving? Frobisher sailed under Elizabeth I, whose reign was marked by gratitude from beginning to end. For her first 20 years she held public thanksgiving simply for having lived to ascend the throne -- having escaped the fate of her mother, Anne Boleyn, at the hand of her sister, "Bloody Mary," in the previous reign. Ten years after Frobisher's return, England gave thanks for delivery from the Spanish Armada. And in her last speech to Parliament the great Queen began "We perceive your coming is to offer thanks ..." and went on to return those thanks to her subjects. It was in this spirit of thanksgiving --for being alive, protected, and appreciated -- that the English language and culture flowered in the works of Shakespeare, Spencer and Ben Johnson. England was very different then -- it was known as "Merrie Englande: its grown men laughed, cried, danced and loved exuberantly -- like their Sovereign." This was the context of Frobisher's 1578 Thanksgiving in Newfoundland. We don't know much of that tradition in Canada. That's because most of Canada that was colonized then was under French rule -- except for Newfoundland, which had been discovered in the name of Elizabeth's grandfather, Henry VII. The Thanksgiving we know began on a different rock under a different sovereign and in a different spirit. The Puritans were refugees from Elizabeth's successor, James. He and son Charles's insistence on the divine right of kings brought England to revolution and civil war a century before the American Revolution and two centuries before the U.S. Civil War. From Puritan rule in Britain came the unemotional Englishman with the "stiff upper lip." Thirty years before they banned Christmas carols, feasting and dancing in Britain, the Puritans established a stern upright rule in New England. Having fled from persecution themselves, they persecuted others who believed differently. With the exception of Rhode Island, the New England colonies were driven by a sense of self-righteousness that grew from the grievances their leaders felt they had suffered in their homeland. This eventually fired the American Revolution. Two-thirds of the Declaration of Independence is a list of grievances. Later this spirit pitted Americans against each other in the Civil War. It was this sense of rightness and others being wrong as much as slavery that led to the split in America as it had in England earlier. Canada has followed a different tradition. Through the paternalism of the French regime and the British rule that followed it, Canadians have been seen as more colonized and less democratic than our southern neighbour. Yet that became an umbrella for pluralism. Peace, Order and Good Government is a framework where native and immigrant, Catholic and Protestant, French and English could live side by side. To have adopted Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness here would have set our peoples at each other's throats. This co-existence was possible in a spirit of gratitude: to God, the Queen and the benefits believed to flow from both. Gratitude is the foundation of society and ultimately of life on Earth. Frobisher's 1578 service of Thanksgiving is a milepost on a planetary journey to wholeness. The difference between Elizabethan gratitude and Puritan grievance can be seen in the symbols of the societies that grew from them. In the north a beaver chews the branch of a fallen tree. To the south, an eagle carries a different load and message in each of its talons: in the one an olive branch, in the other a bundle of arrows. Our lack of this ambivalence in Canada is something we have to be thankful for.
© Edmonton Journal, CanWest News Service 2005
Giving thanks for dinner this weekend
calgary.ctv.ca
jsh
POSTED AT 2:32 PM Sunday, October 8Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends, but not everyone has home to visit this weekend.
For the homeless and less fortunate places like the Calgary Drop-In Centre have prepared all week to serve Thanksgiving dinners to thousands of people.
The kitchen is busy preparing one of two dinners for those less fortunate.
The chefs and volunteers have been working for five days to prepare for ham on Sunday and turkey on Monday.
The Centre will prepare and serve 40 turkeys, 40 hams, 91 kilograms of scallop potatoes and vegetables, 45 kilograms of stuffing, 50 litres of gravy and more than 200 pumpkin and berry pies.
Organizers say it’s a joy filled, but emotional time for everyone.
“Especially around an event like this, and you have a whole bunch of people together, people who, when you talk about people being thankful for things, don't have a lot to be thankful for. So there's a whole bunch more emotion around the event and that’s hard,” said Louise Gallagher from the Calgary Drop-In Centre.
Jerry, who was formerly homeless, said, “for the general homeless population, I would have to say its probably the better times. That’s when the generosity of Calgary comes out. There's a lot of meals, a lot of functions, a lot of clothes, blankets.”
The Centre expects to feed at least two thousand people over the Thanksgiving weekend.
I am very grateful for the blessings of being a citizen of peaceful, free, prosperous & beautiful Canada.
The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1578 by explorer Martin Frobisher (Frobisher Bay) & his crew when they reached the shores of Newfoundland after exploring Canada's high arctic & what is now Nunavut.
Thanksgiving didn't become an official national holiday until an act of Parliament in 1957 when the second Monday of October was designated as a statutory holiday across Canada.
Only 2 countries in the world celebrate a holiday called Thanksgiving, although harvest festivals are found worldwide, Thanksgiving means much more to Canadians than just giving thanks for a bountiful harvest.
Canada's first Thanksgiving: Frobisher set stage for our celebrations in different spirit than U.S.
David Watts, Edmonton JournalPublished: Monday, September 12, 2005
The first Thanksgiving celebration by Euro-peoples in North America was not in New England but in Newfoundland by Martin Frobisher, 42 years before the Pilgrims. Frobisher's Thanksgiving was not for harvest but homecoming. He had safely returned from a search for the Northwest Passage, avoiding the later fate of Henry Hudson and Sir John Franklin. Given the fierceness of Arctic winter and the tragedy of these other expeditions, we can understand why he was grateful to come out alive. But why a special thanksgiving? Frobisher sailed under Elizabeth I, whose reign was marked by gratitude from beginning to end. For her first 20 years she held public thanksgiving simply for having lived to ascend the throne -- having escaped the fate of her mother, Anne Boleyn, at the hand of her sister, "Bloody Mary," in the previous reign. Ten years after Frobisher's return, England gave thanks for delivery from the Spanish Armada. And in her last speech to Parliament the great Queen began "We perceive your coming is to offer thanks ..." and went on to return those thanks to her subjects. It was in this spirit of thanksgiving --for being alive, protected, and appreciated -- that the English language and culture flowered in the works of Shakespeare, Spencer and Ben Johnson. England was very different then -- it was known as "Merrie Englande: its grown men laughed, cried, danced and loved exuberantly -- like their Sovereign." This was the context of Frobisher's 1578 Thanksgiving in Newfoundland. We don't know much of that tradition in Canada. That's because most of Canada that was colonized then was under French rule -- except for Newfoundland, which had been discovered in the name of Elizabeth's grandfather, Henry VII. The Thanksgiving we know began on a different rock under a different sovereign and in a different spirit. The Puritans were refugees from Elizabeth's successor, James. He and son Charles's insistence on the divine right of kings brought England to revolution and civil war a century before the American Revolution and two centuries before the U.S. Civil War. From Puritan rule in Britain came the unemotional Englishman with the "stiff upper lip." Thirty years before they banned Christmas carols, feasting and dancing in Britain, the Puritans established a stern upright rule in New England. Having fled from persecution themselves, they persecuted others who believed differently. With the exception of Rhode Island, the New England colonies were driven by a sense of self-righteousness that grew from the grievances their leaders felt they had suffered in their homeland. This eventually fired the American Revolution. Two-thirds of the Declaration of Independence is a list of grievances. Later this spirit pitted Americans against each other in the Civil War. It was this sense of rightness and others being wrong as much as slavery that led to the split in America as it had in England earlier. Canada has followed a different tradition. Through the paternalism of the French regime and the British rule that followed it, Canadians have been seen as more colonized and less democratic than our southern neighbour. Yet that became an umbrella for pluralism. Peace, Order and Good Government is a framework where native and immigrant, Catholic and Protestant, French and English could live side by side. To have adopted Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness here would have set our peoples at each other's throats. This co-existence was possible in a spirit of gratitude: to God, the Queen and the benefits believed to flow from both. Gratitude is the foundation of society and ultimately of life on Earth. Frobisher's 1578 service of Thanksgiving is a milepost on a planetary journey to wholeness. The difference between Elizabethan gratitude and Puritan grievance can be seen in the symbols of the societies that grew from them. In the north a beaver chews the branch of a fallen tree. To the south, an eagle carries a different load and message in each of its talons: in the one an olive branch, in the other a bundle of arrows. Our lack of this ambivalence in Canada is something we have to be thankful for.
© Edmonton Journal, CanWest News Service 2005
Giving thanks for dinner this weekend
calgary.ctv.ca
jsh
POSTED AT 2:32 PM Sunday, October 8Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends, but not everyone has home to visit this weekend.
For the homeless and less fortunate places like the Calgary Drop-In Centre have prepared all week to serve Thanksgiving dinners to thousands of people.
The kitchen is busy preparing one of two dinners for those less fortunate.
The chefs and volunteers have been working for five days to prepare for ham on Sunday and turkey on Monday.
The Centre will prepare and serve 40 turkeys, 40 hams, 91 kilograms of scallop potatoes and vegetables, 45 kilograms of stuffing, 50 litres of gravy and more than 200 pumpkin and berry pies.
Organizers say it’s a joy filled, but emotional time for everyone.
“Especially around an event like this, and you have a whole bunch of people together, people who, when you talk about people being thankful for things, don't have a lot to be thankful for. So there's a whole bunch more emotion around the event and that’s hard,” said Louise Gallagher from the Calgary Drop-In Centre.
Jerry, who was formerly homeless, said, “for the general homeless population, I would have to say its probably the better times. That’s when the generosity of Calgary comes out. There's a lot of meals, a lot of functions, a lot of clothes, blankets.”
The Centre expects to feed at least two thousand people over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Friday, October 06, 2006
got gas?
Yesterday the gas company started to dismantle the fence & the electrical outlets (for our car block heaters) between our parking lot & 68 avenue. I asked one of the workers why they were taking it down. He said they had to do some more digging. Then I asked if they would be putting it back up, & he said he doubted it.
Today they were back digging their hole to China & removing the fence posts, & you know how you are supposed to call before you dig so you don't hit any utilities? Well I guess the gas company forgot to call themselves & they hit a gas line. Although the air smelled of that smelling agent they add to natural gas, they didn't bother evacuating us or telling us we would have no heat or hot water until who knows when?
The reason I know the gas was off was one of my elderly neighbours (the one who thinks my iPod is a heart monitor) phoned me to tell me the dryer had no heat so she phoned the laundromat company. So I asked her, what if it isn't the dryer, but what if it is the gas? Well she hadn't thought of that & quite frankly she didn't care because they just raised the rates to $1.75 a load so they should make a service call.
I told her she should call the gas company emergency number. I wasn't all that interested in phoning because she has an uncanny ability to phone when I'm eating. Ok so that is most of the the time I guess. She said she would call the emergency number so what is it? I said its in the phone book. She said she didn't have a phone book which is old lady code for I can't find my reading glasses sonny & the print is too small to read!
I just had angry neighbour knock at my door as I was settling into being the LazyBoy with pizza. Yes, eating again. He has been running cold water for an hour because he wants a shower when he comes home & for the price he pays for condos fees why wasn't I over there providing hot water for his shower. I said I'm not the God of Hot Water; I said phone the property management company, phone the gas company emergency line. He told me I should have put up notices warning people there is no heat or hot water. I said yes the gas company should have done that, its their fault, it has nothing to do with me. I said I wanted a shower too as I had been out biking, so I was just as inconvenienced as he was.
Hopefully I ended up guilting him in to running for the condo board next year.
I should quit, but then things would be in a mess. :-))
I had one of the old English widow neighbours phone me the other day. They must all think I have call display because they just start talking when I say hello & they never identify themselves until I ask them who are you? Anyways, she said I must go out & rescue a bird caught in the fence. I said why can't you rescue it? She said oh no its a job for a man (& a giant leap for mankind!).
I went out & looked for the bird. I never did find it. Did the hawk get it, or did it fly away on its own the second the old lady had her back turned?
Some of the gas company trucks have left for the night, but the rest of the crew are still out there drilling to China. When the noise stops, it will feel like I have stopped banging my head against the wall. Our plumbers just finished turning on the boilers for hot water heat & the hot water tanks for hot showers, so long as angry neighbours & old lady neighbours don't all try to take a shower at the same time, there should be hot water within the hour. I should tell them they have to share the shower with a neighbour. They wouldn't laugh.
The forecast is for rain turning to snow tonight so we will need heat. This might be the end to my garden, or not.
Today they were back digging their hole to China & removing the fence posts, & you know how you are supposed to call before you dig so you don't hit any utilities? Well I guess the gas company forgot to call themselves & they hit a gas line. Although the air smelled of that smelling agent they add to natural gas, they didn't bother evacuating us or telling us we would have no heat or hot water until who knows when?
The reason I know the gas was off was one of my elderly neighbours (the one who thinks my iPod is a heart monitor) phoned me to tell me the dryer had no heat so she phoned the laundromat company. So I asked her, what if it isn't the dryer, but what if it is the gas? Well she hadn't thought of that & quite frankly she didn't care because they just raised the rates to $1.75 a load so they should make a service call.
I told her she should call the gas company emergency number. I wasn't all that interested in phoning because she has an uncanny ability to phone when I'm eating. Ok so that is most of the the time I guess. She said she would call the emergency number so what is it? I said its in the phone book. She said she didn't have a phone book which is old lady code for I can't find my reading glasses sonny & the print is too small to read!
I just had angry neighbour knock at my door as I was settling into being the LazyBoy with pizza. Yes, eating again. He has been running cold water for an hour because he wants a shower when he comes home & for the price he pays for condos fees why wasn't I over there providing hot water for his shower. I said I'm not the God of Hot Water; I said phone the property management company, phone the gas company emergency line. He told me I should have put up notices warning people there is no heat or hot water. I said yes the gas company should have done that, its their fault, it has nothing to do with me. I said I wanted a shower too as I had been out biking, so I was just as inconvenienced as he was.
Hopefully I ended up guilting him in to running for the condo board next year.
I should quit, but then things would be in a mess. :-))
I had one of the old English widow neighbours phone me the other day. They must all think I have call display because they just start talking when I say hello & they never identify themselves until I ask them who are you? Anyways, she said I must go out & rescue a bird caught in the fence. I said why can't you rescue it? She said oh no its a job for a man (& a giant leap for mankind!).
I went out & looked for the bird. I never did find it. Did the hawk get it, or did it fly away on its own the second the old lady had her back turned?
Some of the gas company trucks have left for the night, but the rest of the crew are still out there drilling to China. When the noise stops, it will feel like I have stopped banging my head against the wall. Our plumbers just finished turning on the boilers for hot water heat & the hot water tanks for hot showers, so long as angry neighbours & old lady neighbours don't all try to take a shower at the same time, there should be hot water within the hour. I should tell them they have to share the shower with a neighbour. They wouldn't laugh.
The forecast is for rain turning to snow tonight so we will need heat. This might be the end to my garden, or not.
"the world's longest playground zone"
About 4 years ago I wrote an email to the Herald to their traffic columnist about the ridiculous 30 kph playground zone on Elbow Drive in Elbow Park that is a kilometer long & clearly done for political reasons, not for child safety.
So he quoted my line about it being "the world's longest playground zone". As far as I know, most cities don't have reduced speed limits for school & playground zones like we do here.
Then the Herald's city politics columnist Don Braid used that same line a few months ago in one of his columns about THE playground zone, which pleased me to see him use it.
Today, the Herald used the line in their editorial! The City of Calgary has decided to revisit the issue of reduced speed limits in school & playground zones, especially when there isn't really a playground or a school nearby, so the editorial was on about that.
I guess I should have copyrighted my line, but I'm glad they have made use of it!
So he quoted my line about it being "the world's longest playground zone". As far as I know, most cities don't have reduced speed limits for school & playground zones like we do here.
Then the Herald's city politics columnist Don Braid used that same line a few months ago in one of his columns about THE playground zone, which pleased me to see him use it.
Today, the Herald used the line in their editorial! The City of Calgary has decided to revisit the issue of reduced speed limits in school & playground zones, especially when there isn't really a playground or a school nearby, so the editorial was on about that.
I guess I should have copyrighted my line, but I'm glad they have made use of it!
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
never break the chain - Fleetwood Mac song on the radio today
I felt sorry for the cashier at Safeway yesterday because she was so sick. I know it is miserable to be at work & feel that way. She was beyond using Kleenex to cover her cough & sneeezing & nose blowing. She had a roll of paper towels to use! Bounty I think! The quicker picker-upper!
I'm sure cold germs were spraying all over the store. When I got to Mom's with her groceries, Norma found me a bottle of sterilizer gel to at least douse my hands with.
All day today, I kept asking myself, is that a tickle in my throat? Did I "catch" something yesterday?
I have been taking grapefruit seed extract & neem & vitamins B&C & zinc & antioxidants & eye of newt just in case.
It also irks me that someone that sick is allowed to work & infect how many customers & co-workers. I know with the labour shortage everyone has to show up at work whether they have a pulse or not, but still, send the girl home!
Speaking of the labour shortage, it is beginning to feel like we're living in the Soviet Union having to line up to buy things. At least we have better restaurants than they had.
Harvey's had a sign saying they are now only open 11 am to 7 pm "due to the labour shortage".
I went to Taco Time today & their drive-through was closed "due to the labour shortage".
Wendy's has a sign up saying they are now closing at midnight instead of 2 am "due to the labour shortage".
Fast food has become slow food. It would be no problem getting more immigrants to fill jobs here, but since there is no where for them to live, forget it.
I was glad I was at Mom's when the window guys showed up to measure. They refused to say how long it would take to replace 2 windows, but did say they should be done in less than a year!
I got a new & improved chain put on my bike at Bow Cycle this afternoon. I went for a ride around the reservoir to test it out & it seems to work much better than the previous one. Bow Cycle doesn't seem to have a labour shortage & I received great service, & also at Big 4 Motors where I took the Cirrus today.
I took Mom to the doctor this morning & the doctor told her she has a heart condition & referred her to a specialist. I think if your heart is beating at the age of 92, you should count your blessings & not skip a beat.
I'm sure cold germs were spraying all over the store. When I got to Mom's with her groceries, Norma found me a bottle of sterilizer gel to at least douse my hands with.
All day today, I kept asking myself, is that a tickle in my throat? Did I "catch" something yesterday?
I have been taking grapefruit seed extract & neem & vitamins B&C & zinc & antioxidants & eye of newt just in case.
It also irks me that someone that sick is allowed to work & infect how many customers & co-workers. I know with the labour shortage everyone has to show up at work whether they have a pulse or not, but still, send the girl home!
Speaking of the labour shortage, it is beginning to feel like we're living in the Soviet Union having to line up to buy things. At least we have better restaurants than they had.
Harvey's had a sign saying they are now only open 11 am to 7 pm "due to the labour shortage".
I went to Taco Time today & their drive-through was closed "due to the labour shortage".
Wendy's has a sign up saying they are now closing at midnight instead of 2 am "due to the labour shortage".
Fast food has become slow food. It would be no problem getting more immigrants to fill jobs here, but since there is no where for them to live, forget it.
I was glad I was at Mom's when the window guys showed up to measure. They refused to say how long it would take to replace 2 windows, but did say they should be done in less than a year!
I got a new & improved chain put on my bike at Bow Cycle this afternoon. I went for a ride around the reservoir to test it out & it seems to work much better than the previous one. Bow Cycle doesn't seem to have a labour shortage & I received great service, & also at Big 4 Motors where I took the Cirrus today.
I took Mom to the doctor this morning & the doctor told her she has a heart condition & referred her to a specialist. I think if your heart is beating at the age of 92, you should count your blessings & not skip a beat.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Uncle Sam died
My uncle Sam died on Friday & the funeral was this morning in High River. 95 years old is quite an accomplishment & his life should be celebrated. Although not related by blood, his longevity is an inspiration to me as I am half-way there!
There was a really nice service for him in the town community hall with several hundred in attendance. Son James' eulogy was excellent, a beautiful tribute.
Mom wanted to go to the cemetary for the graveside service so we took Belf Quon who was an honorary pallbearer & another hp with us. It was freezing cold standing in the cemetary in the pouring rain. I'm glad I had a raincoat on since I no longer own an umbrella.I have never been to a graveside service before. I guess having one gives the family a sense of closure. Maybe more so than being handed a box of ashes.
It is interesting to see the circle of life. As Uncle Sam departs, his descendants carry on, new ones being born every year. There is a family wedding next Saturday which will be a joyful event, but still with a tinge of sadness at the recent passing of their father & grandfather & great grandfather.
There was a really nice service for him in the town community hall with several hundred in attendance. Son James' eulogy was excellent, a beautiful tribute.
Mom wanted to go to the cemetary for the graveside service so we took Belf Quon who was an honorary pallbearer & another hp with us. It was freezing cold standing in the cemetary in the pouring rain. I'm glad I had a raincoat on since I no longer own an umbrella.I have never been to a graveside service before. I guess having one gives the family a sense of closure. Maybe more so than being handed a box of ashes.
It is interesting to see the circle of life. As Uncle Sam departs, his descendants carry on, new ones being born every year. There is a family wedding next Saturday which will be a joyful event, but still with a tinge of sadness at the recent passing of their father & grandfather & great grandfather.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
