CHRISTMAS IS COMING.....

This can be such a wonderful season.  People have made it a time of rushing about, scrambling to find gifts and just making it such a busy time.  For most people, life is busy, at best.  Why put pressure on the Christmas season?  It is time to enjoy the holiday season!


"Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas."
                                  -----Peg Bracken-----

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x38w02_christmas-is-coming_music

FALL TURNING INTO WINTER

I have just been thinking about the season and how the year is almost over.  It does not seem so long ago since it was January, and now it is November.  It really does show us how things are in retrospect.  Time passes, and we just have to move along with it.  We need to take  the  good with the bad.  When the year is over, it always seems to work out for the best.

Trying to put a good face on all the seasons, the change in weather, the changes in our lives.


NOVERMBER                              -----Elizabeth Coatsworth-----

November comes
November goes,
With the last red berries
And the first white snows.

With night coming early
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
and frost by the gate.

The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next spring.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wfYIMyS_dI

REMEMBRANCE DAY Lest we Forget

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

      By John McCrae


In Flanders Field the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place and in the sky
The Larks, still bravely singing fly
Scare heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead Short days ago
We lived, felt dawns, saw sunsets glow,
Loved and were loved and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you from failing hands we throw
The Torch, be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P1o1X-s9Tc


"I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country.  This Heritage of Freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all Mankind."

                                                  -----John Diefenbaker-----

CONNECTIONS...Not just a dream

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.  Live the life you have imagined."

                                                   -----Henry David Thoreau-----

There are people that come into your life with whom you make an instant connection.

These are special people:  More than just friends.

No matter what happens, or which way fate turns.  These people are forever engraved in your heart.


"It's the simple joys,
The simple pleasures
The heart remembers
And Always treasures."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSOMSVlkWbc&NR=1

BACK TO THE SIXTIES

THE POPPY FAMILY - Where Evil Grows

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNg-GAnUxFQ&playnext=1&list=PL12D5B54E64CCC66C


THE TREMELOES - Silence is Golden


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyj2qL-bQ4E

It may just be my mood this evening, or the fact that our CBC radio station was playing some old sixties music today.  I cannot quite make out which is true....But, reflecting I am....

What actually comes to mind, is a teenage music programe, called MUSIC HOP, (1963--1967) it was on five days a week.  From Vancouver, it was called Let's Go, Winnipeg, Hootenanny,  Montreal, Jeunesse Oblige, Toronto, Music Hop (the original) and Halifax, Frank's Bandstand.  Believe it or not, Alex Trebek was the first host of the Toronto version.
Some other interesting tidbits,  Let's Go was the starting point for the group, The Poppy Family.  Before, Susan, was Susan Jacks, she was Susan Pesklevits.  Great group, too bad Susan and Terry split up!
The Guess Who, were the band, for two years, for the Winnipeg version. 
Halifax, was a great music venue for  all ages,  Don Messers Jubilee, Sing Along Jubilee, as well as Frank's Bandstand, originated there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ry30gRy3O4

So much for a muic history lesson of the CBC!

ALL OF THE GOOD THINGS

I have been trying to list all the good things about November....The Autumn air, the colored falling
leaves, the definite change of season, and the prelude to Christmas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kP8jPa1wCg



"And the days dwindle down to a precious few, September, Novemeber - And these few precious days I'd spend with you, These Golden Days I'd spend with you."
                                             -----Maxwell Anderson-----
                                                    American Playwright
                                                            (1888--1959)






Our next big occasion in our town is Remembrance Day.  It is well celebrated, here.  I think it is important as most of the Veterans of WW1 and WW11 have passed away.  What is truly marvelous about our parade and ceremony at the Cenitaph is that our flag barer will be 101  years old this year.  I think that says it all about our Veterans.  Tough spirited men and women that fought in the World  Wars. 

Our very bright spot,  at the end of the month,  is the Festival of Lights.  I believe that it truly gets people into the spirit of the season.  It is a day and evening where members of the community come out to celebrate.  It gives the merchants a chance to show off their wares and people a relaxing opportunity to enjoy them.

Once people get into the Christmas mode;  things become too busy and the meaning of the celebration gets lost.


"Oh, It's a long long while from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
When the Autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
One hasn't got time for the waiting game"

-----From the Broadway Show, "Knickerbocker Holiday"-----
                  Maxwell Anderson, Kurt Weill


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-ldVj34Sfo

NOVEMBER

It is unbelievable how this year has flown by us.  I believe I may have missed some of it.  Now we are in to November, Christmas will fall right behind!



"November comes
And November goes,
With the last red berries
and the first white snows.

With night coming early,
And dawn coming late,
And ice in the bucket
and frost by the gate.

The fires burn
And the kettles sing,
And earth sinks to rest
Until next Spring."


-----Elizabeth Coatsworth-----