Remembrance Day
….always look forward to my annual ‘Nov 11th routine’, making my way down to:
Mt Hope Cemetery and landing in the section given to victims of WW I and the markers are all identical. No speeches, no flags, no pipers, no Last Post, no wreaths….just Rotzy and them, plus a few others visiting grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. I’ll have an extra poppy with me, ‘visit’ a number of tombstones, and choose one to place the poppy on, calling them by name and ‘thanking’ them for what they did. Amazed at how young they all were. Last year, a short distance from me there was a large family gathering (30 +) ….the Howards….who were welcoming one of their own from Alberta, an Officer from CFB Cold Lake. Then, the WW II Lancaster Bomber arrived from Hamilton! with an accompanying WW II plane and they did a ‘circular fly-over’ above the cemetery….AND US! Then they did THREE MORE!!! Rotzy ‘had a hunch’ that Officer Howard from Cold Lake MIGHT have had something to do with the ‘Brant’s Ford improv air show’, tho he wouldn’t admit to it. Perhaps if the family gathers again this year he’ll bring an F-18?! Regardless, yours truly will continue doing my own little thing in amongst the WW I and II gravestones. It was big change from up in Nakina where Nov 11th ranked only behind Canada Day in the size/participation level of the event. Most of the town turned out, marching from the school to the Legion Cenotaph, the Service, then wrapping up with a great luncheon featuring Denis’s soupe. We’d had a full assembly for the schools and I played keyboard in a band with Jean-Guy on accoustic guitar, Mike McCool on electric quitar and Jan The School M’arm on accordion. Songs in French and English and once we even did O Canada in Ojibway. Two very different Nov 11th gatherings….including the weather as Rotzy recalls MANY tymes standing at attention at the Branch #116 Cenotaph in a foot of snow! I almost forgot about the Legion’s Essay and Poster Contest in the schools which Miz.Jo and Rotzy helped with the judging for many years….that was a lot of funn! Anyway, rest assured that we/Canada will never forget Lt/Colonel Doctor John MacRae’s quickly-written poem, nor the reason it was written!….”Loved and were loved and now we lie in Flanders Fields.
Readers Write
A fine collection from a ‘new/first tyme contributor’ this week….check ’em out! *You can’t change the people around you, but you can change the people around you. *Our town is so small we don’t have a ‘town drunk’ so we all take turns. *Sometimes you meet someone you know from that first moment you want to spend your whole life without them. *If there was a pill to cure ‘procrastination’, I would probably take it tomorrow. *Do you know you have the right to remain silent even if you’re not arrested? *If I make you breakfast in bed, a simple ‘thank you’ is all I need. Not all this ”how the hell did you get into my house”?! business. So….SO…. here’s a big “F/N” thanks to the ‘newbie/first-tymer’….great stuff!!….and let’s hear from YOU.
First Tyme For Everything….(*see below)
One of the things Rotzy noticed when Miz. Jo and I moved to Brant’s Ford (Oct 1/18) was/still is Brantfordians’ total ‘obsession’ with Tim Horton’s coffee….take out….morning/noon/night, sometymes with a donut, sometymes not. Large. Two or more. And if somebody is coming into 555 Harris Place empty-handed (like Rotzy) something is definitely wrong with them! I mean, there’s no excuses!….there are 185 Timmy’s*(tm) stores in Brant, including 136 in Brant’s Ford!! Much different from where we were living up north/in the bush….where ‘Robins Donuts’ was the name of the game, until Timmy came to The Big Turnip (Thunder Bay) which was already famous for ‘Persians’, and Donut Wars began. But….back to coffee. Rotzy is a java fan….since forever…. I ‘do NOT function well in the ayem without it’, 2 or 3 mugs soon after my feet hit the floor for a couple hours. Then I’m good till tomorrow….NONE required/wanted in the aft or evening. ”Whereas” at 555 Harris Place (and beyond) it’s a steady stream of Timmy take-out arriving. And I’m like, don’t these people have coffee makers? Do they not know Joe Dimaggio? Mr. Coffee? Keurig? Hamilton Beach or Proctor Silex? Yours truly likes TimmyCoffee just fine….’Dark Roast’ in a bag from Zehr’s, but ONLY when it’s On Sale….and I MAKE IT MYSELF in my B&D Coffee Maker. Imagine. (I really like Kicking Horse, the ‘Kick-Ass Blend”, but it’s outta MY ‘affordability range’) Which brings me to yesterday at Zehr’s Mkt. and my coffee container needs topping up. Timmy’s is on sale….$8.99. Right beside it, Starbucks….also $8.99. Well, Rotzy’s NEVER tasted Starbucks…never set foot in one or lined up with all the phools at the drive-thru and I said (to myself) “Check this out Toad…both are Dark and the same size bags….(I’ve called them 1 lb bags since they actually held 1 lb)….BUT read the fine print Toad….the Hortons is 300g and Starbucks 340g! See ya Timmy! And also in Starbucks favour with Rotzy, if I recall, they (Starbucks) completely shut down their Russian operations at least three months ago! Nyet!! And guess what else, Toad? It’s pretty damned good coffee….I just poured my third mug”! Well, well….a new trick for this olde dawg.
Lites Out !!
Said the message Miz Jo just rec’d on her i-pod from Geraldton….for those unaware, that’s a Mun. of Greenstone ‘ward’, as is Nakina and a few other far-flung towns, hamlets and three reserves. But Hydro None is onto it! Methinks that all of Greenstone was/is without hydro….again….get this….from Fri 12:20 PM EST until 5:00PM EST Sat (estimated). By the bye, G-stone’s the size of PEI, with a populous of 5000. Jeez….it seems SO long ago when the Rotzes were also dealing with the ongoing problems faced by Ont Hydro up there, plus the constant ‘brown-outs’ and ‘planned outages’. Sorry folks, but Miz. Jo and Rotzy don’t miss ‘that part’ of life in Nakina. And we DO have ‘lites out’ in Brant’s Ford too. Had one a couple or three weeks back and it was off for almost FIVE seconds…long enough that the olde guy had to reset all our digital clocks! S–t. But there’s no firewood bin to re-fill. **update** the 5:00PM estimate became 11:00AM thanks to Hydro None’s line repair efforts, but before Noon a semi had wiped out just down Hwy #11 a piece, taking the hydro with it! and the 5:00PM estimate was back in place.**
*Thought Of The Day….Being a little older, I’m fortunate to have someone call and check on me every day. He is from India and is very concerned about my car warranty.
