As tempting as it is to compose a maudlin, sorrowful essay, I am instead celebrating my mother’s life. She passed away on Sunday morning, one month to the day before her 97th birthday. I loved my mother deeply. She was a kind, thoughtful woman who I think deserves to be lauded for putting up with me, her oldest and always rebellious son. She and my father did their best to raise me to be a righteous, Christian man. Unfortunately, until…
Monday is Labor Day in Canada and the US. It’s a federal holiday that celebrates the contributions of workers, whether or not union, to the country’s development. The three-day weekend it falls on is called Labor Day Weekend. Alternative accounts of the event’s origin exist. Descendants of two men with similar last names claim their great-grandfather was the true father of the holiday. One early history of Labor Day suggests it started in 1882 during a Knights of Labor meeting…
Today is Heritage Day here in sunny Alberta, Canada. Although this is not a national holiday, the first Monday in August is a provincial holiday in most of Canada’s ten provinces. The name of the day varies from one province to another, but the day off is a welcome diversion as we pass through the end of the dog days of summer. We had some hot days between 38 and 43 Celsius (100 to 110 Fahrenheit), but it’s cooler now….
I am not a big fan of film musicals. I love music, but when it comes to throwing songs into a film, I’m of the mind that 99% of them should stay far away from each other. In my opinion, they rarely achieve an amiable collaboration; either the music overpowers what the actors are doing, or vice versa. Of all the films I have seen that attempted this marriage, I consider no more than three or four watchable and of…
As I have stated in previous posts, I love the Black Hills of South Dakota, especially the world famous memorial to democracy on Mount Rushmore. Although we haven’t visited in more than a decade, past trips to the area are still some of my favorite memories. The four presidents are not unique in South Dakota, however. Less than an hour away is the site of the world’s largest mountain carving currently in progress, the Crazy Horse Memorial. The facts surrounding…
Today was Victoria Day here in Canada, or as I and my high school friends always called it, May Two-Four. It was named in honor of England’s Queen Victoria and has been observed in this country since 1845, originally on her birthday, which was May 24, hence the nickname, although now it is always on the Monday immediately preceding May 25. The holiday is a federal statutory holiday, as well as a holiday in six of the country’s 10 provinces…
I don’t have much today, other than a blow by blow description of the trouble I have run into preparing my home for the installation of new windows next week. It is doubtful that is of interest to anybody except for me. What I have instead is an early excerpt from my latest WIP, If Not for the Entail. The story revolves around the fate of Elizabeth and her family following the unanticipated passing of Mr. Bennet, and a despicable villain’s…
Rather than lament the paucity of true comedy these days, I decided to treat myself, and everyone reading this, to the comedy gold of Tim Conway and Harvey Korman, two of the funniest actors of the seventies. They were regulars on the Carol Burnett show, a program I watched every week without fail. The entire program was full of laughs, but in my opinion the best sketches were the ones featuring the two of them. When the segment began, I…
Today I want to explore popular music in Jane Austen’s time, specifically Franz Haydn, the composer often referred to as “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet”. He was born in 1732 to a wheelright and a former palace cook. Although neither could read music, his father was an enthusiastic street musician who taught himself to play the harp. In later years Haydn said his family was extremely musical and frequently sang together and with their friends…
As I have said before, I’m not a huge fan of current musical trends. Call me old and crotchety, but I prefer music with some depth to it and, as far as I’m concerned, there is not much of that to be found today, in any genre. So why not explore one of the greatest and most influential recordings of all time? I’m referring, of course, to Pink Floyd’s 1973 release, “The Dark Side of the Moon”. Rather than boring…