Lilian Nattel's Blog, page 31
September 8, 2011
"it takes brains to be a real lady" said the 19th c queen of crime
The death of Fredericka Mandelbaum—better known as "Old Mother," "Marm" and the "Queen of Fences"—made international headlines in February 1894. But was it Marm's body in the coffin en route to New York City from Canada, or a heap of stones?
via blogs.smithsonianmag.com
Read the full blog post from the Smithsonian Magazine. Delightfully roguish.
Filed under: Miscellany
September 6, 2011
September 4, 2011
galileo was wrong?
So say a small group of Catholics though the Church is reacting by distancing from them and their "flat earth" style notions. Full story here. First evolution, now this–what next?
Filed under: Miscellany Tagged: geocentrism
September 2, 2011
what determines health?
it might surprise you. find out here. video & free book download by good people. http://ow.ly/6jMId
Filed under: Miscellany
August 30, 2011
August 27, 2011
Thoughts on a State Funeral
20 years ago, Jack Layton founded the white ribbon campaign to end violence against women. Now it is a movement across 60 countries. That's what I learned while watching his funeral service today. I was bawling, not over the sadness, but the dignity and nobleness of the occasion.
I'm spurred on by Jack's integrity, by his perseverance and adherence to his values even when everyone thought them foolish and unachievable. His message, conveyed by everyone who spoke today: it is possible, dream big, work toward it, remember that the dream is bigger than any one person, and love well.
I'm proud to be Canadian today. Even though we have the most conservative government we've ever had, the PM, realizing Jack Layton's appeal and significance, ordered a state funeral.
I'm proud that the public outpouring of flowers, tears, personal messages left on the chalk wall weren't for a celebrity, but for an honest man.
The service included an Aboriginal blessing, a reading from the bible, and from the Qur'an, and was led by Rev Dr. Brent Hawkes, senior pastor at Metropolitan Community Church.
After many moving eulogies (my favourite was Stephen Lewis's, a statesman in his own right), Rev Dr. Hawkes began his sermon by referring to an occasion when he was even more nervous–meeting his in-laws. He then spoke about how Jack always greeted him: "Hi Brent, how's John?"–Rev Dr. Hawkes's husband, as he explained in his sermon.
What is important now, and what I pray for, is that this fervor and outpouring of emotion doesn't fizzle away in daily routine or the next attention grabbing moment. Rev. Dr. Hawkes raised his hand to pass on the torch. Please pick it up–we all should pick it up–to shine light, to bring love into every corner.
I've changed the signature on my email to remind myself of Jack's final words:
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." – Jack Layton
This afternoon I cried proudly, sadly, telling my kids to stop fidgeting and watch because this might never happen again in our lifetimes: the Left having a public forum like this, stately speaking our values and truth–inclusion, economic justice, dignity for everyone–and singing our songs on every local and national tv station.
This:
And this:
Filed under: Personal, Uplifting Tagged: Jack Layton's funeral service
gay finches partners for life
via blogs.smithsonianmag.com
Fascinating short article on same-sex pairings among a variety of animals.
Filed under: Miscellany
August 26, 2011
Magic of The Canadian Shield
As soon as I see pink granite rising on each side of the highway, I know that we've crossed over to the Canadian Shield:
The Canadian shield is a physiographic division, consisting of five smaller physiographic provinces, the Laurentian Upland, Kazan Region, Davis, Hudson, and James. The shield extends into the United States as the Adirondack Mountains (connected by the Frontenac Axis) and the Superior Upland. The Canadian Shield is U-shaped, but almost semi-circular, which yields an appearance of a warrior's shield, and is a subsection of the Laurentia craton signifying the area of greatest glacial impact (scraping down to bare rock) creating the thin soils.
That doesn't convey the magic: the lakes, the forests, the wonderful green smell. (click any photo to enlarge)
The Canadian Shield is a vast area from the north of Quebec and Ontario down to New York. We were only a couple of hours north of Toronto in "cottage country," aka the Muskokas, a series of lakes, some of which are connected, others, like High Lake, smaller and more secluded:
The name of the municipality derives from a First Nations chief of the 1850s. Lake Muskoka was then the hunting grounds of a band led by Chief Yellowhead or Mesqua Ukie. He was revered by the government, who built a home for him in Orillia where he lived until his death at the age of 95.
Several days of swimming, canoeing, and rowboating sent me back to Toronto refreshed. M & H had their own paddle-boat adventure, taking it around Cherry Island (once the home of a glass house gone so moldy it was taken down; a new monstrosity is being built there) in High Lake.
the sun favoured us
A was in his element, and, reminded of how important it is to leave the city behind sometimes, suggested that next year we camp at Bon Echo, where there are ancient pictographs reachable only from the lake by canoe.
We had no internet, no tv. Just radio, board games, and cell phone for emergencies which thankfully didn't arise. In the evenings we played Trivial Pursuit (at which I suck–a fact that often surprises people), cards and Monopoly. We reveled in water, trees, wind, sun, companionship, laughter, good food, and a campfire. Rain graced us one night and on the last day, so that it wasn't as difficult to leave as it might otherwise have been.
Filed under: Beautiful, Personal Tagged: Muskokas
August 24, 2011
NEW WEBSITE!
I've been MIA for several weeks while working on my new website! I am so excited about it because I've wanted to have something like this for ages–more interactive and connected and rich. I bought a template and did it all myself with much trial and error. I'm still working on the contact form, but everything else is looking good! (I think…) A found a mistake this morning and I fixed that up, but if you find anything else please let me know. Any feedback is appreciated! Check it out here!
Filed under: Literary, Personal Tagged: Lilian's new website
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