"Forever will be a day like this"

Fall Song by Joy Harjo

Maestro David Briskin led the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra and the audience in a rousing rendition of O Canada before the opening of Swan Lake. #ElbowsUp is not one of ballet’s traditional positions of the arms, but everyone in Canada is adapting.

Dear Canada, I felt compelled to make something. To stick up for, and to honour. To show our strength, beauty, genius, empathy, light & heart. It's made with deep gratitude for the people and places of this beautiful land. Vive le Canada 🇨🇦❤️✌️💪

vimeo.com/1056619122/f...

this place is where I stand
where all my mistakes were made
when I grew awkwardly and I knew what I was
and that is Canadian or Canadien
it doesn't matter which to me

My son found an unresponsive ladybug today and said it might not be dead and only injured so he took out a bowl, gently laid the ladybug in, and said he’s going to take care of it until it gets better.

"It has been used by Canadian troops in two world wars, and by Canadian Olympic teams... The single leaf has the virtue of simplicity; it emphasizes the distinctive Canadian symbol; and suggests the idea of loyalty to a single country."

Just learned that the wonderful Nikki Giovanni passed. We've lost a great presence.

The best tribute I can think of is to share a poem by her that changed my life. "Allowables" has made me think twice before lashing out in fear since I read it sometimes in my late 20s.

Perfectly expressed, @clintsmithiii.bsky.social.

There is so much to love and fight for. So much goodness among us. The violence & hate seems insurmountable. But in the words of Elder Arvol Looking Horse: “Each of us is put here in this time & this place to decide the future of humankind. Did you think you were put here for something else?"

My great-great-grandmother received this telegraph 108 years ago. Private Maxwell Barnes was 22 years old.

“We all leave one another. We die, we change – it's mostly change – we outgrow our best friends; but even if I do leave you, I will have passed on to you something of myself; you will be a different person because of knowing me; it's inescapable...”

Edna O’Brien, 1930-2024

Just look at this woman.

Back in Newfoundland, they’re celebrating my Nanny’s 103rd year. 103!

Happy Birthday, Marie Fred Sullivan!

the only hope is to be the daylight

W.S. Merwin

Geneviève Bergeron
Hélène Colgan
Nathalie Croteau
Barbara Daigneault
Anne-Marie Edward
Maud Haviernick
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
Maryse Laganière
Maryse Leclair
Anne-Marie Lemay
Sonia Pelletier
Michèle Richard
Annie St-Arneault
Annie Turcotte

Whatever happened to that old song?

A spark of kindness made a light.
The light made an opening in the darkness.

Stove
Mary Pratt
1969

And if when I wrote I used only a few words
it was because time always seemed to me short
as though it could be stripped away
at any moment.

Louise Glück

voetica.com/poem/11516

The night isn’t dark; the world is dark.
Stay with me a little longer.

Louise Glück, “Departure”

voetica.com/poem/7772