Over the next few days I will be redesigning the website for the Norfolk Militia (Heritage Regiment) Re-Enactment Group (that's them in the photo above) here in Southern, Ontario, Canada. I will pop in on this blog as often as possible, and will be back with more frequent blog posts next week.

When the new website is ready I'll post the link. I look forward to any constructive criticism, and feedback you might have to offer.

The holidays have been really nice this year. Although Christmas Day itself was rather quiet we were able to spend time with all three kids over the holidays. We were also able to spend time with our two nieces, and my Sister.

Our dinner turned out to be perfect, an achievement in, and of itself as I cooked the turkey this year.

We managed to make certain everyone in our extended family received a gift without going into debt. And we received many lovely gifts including a surprise homemade pumpkin bread, and chocolate fudge from our neighbours, which was very yummy Christmas morning.

And the greatest blessing of all is that two people who are both very ill, and were not expected to be with us are still here for this holiday, and hopefully much, much longer thanks to great advances in the treatment of cancer.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday, no matter which one you celebrate and all the best to you dear reader in 2009.

Blog Your Blessings

I love vintage pics like this one taken in 1900. I wonder what became of these people?

I wonder what was so interesting down there?

Please note that this entry is for both the Tuesday, and Wednesday editions of WW. Thank you for stopping by!

Happy Holidays!

For a list of other Wordless Wednesday participants please click here.

Image Credit: BBC Archives

This year is the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor, the genocidal famine in which up to 10 million Ukrainians died in 1932-33. It behooves The New York Times, whose reporter, Walter Duranty, received a Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and thereafter lied deliberately about the Holodomor, to return his prize.

With every day that Durantyʼs Pulitzer remains with The New York Times, the stain of Durantyʼs lies spread ever wider.

To some this might seem like a long time ago, but to people like my Mother whose family suffered so much these horrific things seem like yesterday. Please sign the petition here in order to right a terrible historical wrong. The crimes against humanity were bad enough, imagine how you would feel if your family suffered these things while prominent American reporters lied about it, and were then rewarded for their lies.

Thank you!

Since I missed last week's blessing, and this weekend will be very busy with all three kids home, plus visits from my sister, and nieces I thought I would post up my blessings a wee bit early.

As I type this a snowstorm is raging outside, and I am indoors warm, and dry. Both of our dogs are curled up, and having their mid-morning snooze at my feet.

The Christmas shopping is all done, the cards sent out, and today I will hopefully get the last of the presents wrapped. We stayed within our budget this year, and everyone got something nice, that we hope they will like.

This weekend all the kids will be home, including my nieces, and my sister will be over to exchange gifts.

Life is good....and I am blessed

If you are reading this and you celebrate it Merry Christmas! All the best of the season to everyone who stops by, and a very happy, and prosperous 2009 (I hope) for all of us!

Blog Your Blessings

Researchers in Peru say they have discovered the ruins of an entire city - possibly the missing link between ancient cultures. Here is a snippet from the BBC:

Archaeologists say the find could provide the missing link between the ancient cultures of the Wari people and the earlier Moche civilisation.

The site, near the Pacific coastal city of Chiclayo, probably dates to the Wari culture which ruled the Andes of modern Peru between the 7th and 12th Century.

The once buried city showed evidence of human sacrifice.

The remains of the victims were thrown over the nearby cliff, Cesar Soriano, the chief archaeologist on the project, told the Andina news agency.

Full BBC Article Here

Map of the general location:

The BBC article contain video footage taken at the site. Very cool!

Image Credits: BBC

It really wasn't a more kinder or gentler time, but for some reason it feels that way.

Please note that this entry is for both the Tuesday, and Wednesday editions of WW. Thank you for stopping by!

For a list of other Wordless Wednesday participants please click here.

Image Credit: BBC Archives

I thought with the holidays here I would treat myself to a good historical fiction read.

Here is a bit about The Forest, a novel by Edward Rutherfurd that I am currently reading:

“Engaging . . . A sprawling tome that combines fact with fiction and covers 900 years in the history of New Forest, a 100,000-acre woodland in southern England . . . Rutherfurd sketches the histories of six fictional families, ranging from aristocrats to peasants, who have lived in the forest for generations. . . . But the real success is in how Rutherfurd paints his picture of the wooded enclave with images of treachery and violence, as well as magic and beauty.”

–The New York Post

I will let you know what I think when I finish...so far I am definitely enjoying this book!

To read the first chapter click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Legendary pinup queen Bettie Page died of pneumonia at the age of 85 in a Los Angeles, California, hospital Thursday, a week after suffering a heart attack, according to her agent.

"She captured the imagination of a generation of men and women with her free spirit and unabashed sensuality," said agent Mark Roesler in a written statement. "She is the embodiment of beauty."

Page, said to be one of the most photographed people of the past century, became a recluse in recent decades. Yet, her images continued to be used around the world to market Bettie Page action figures, clothing lines and other merchandise.

Read Full CNN Obituary here

Rest in peace Bettie!

Yesterday (Dec. 10th) was International Human Rights Day, and this year it also marked the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights. On Dec 10th 1948 many nations came together in Paris, France to sign this declaration that recognizes that all human beings have fundamental rights and freedoms. It is still as important today as it was so long ago.

The photo taken of the woman above illustrates that despite this declaration we still have a very far way to go. She is squeezing herself into a transparent suitcase to raise awareness of human trafficking during yesterday's anniversary.

Image Credit: BBC

Hinepare, a woman of the Ngāti Kahungunu tribe. Shows a half-length portrait of a Maori woman wearing a hei-tiki around her neck, pounamu earring and shark tooth earring, and two huia feathers in her hair. She wears a cloak with black fringe border, and has a moko design on her chin. Circa 1890 Artist Lindauer, Gottfried, 1839-1926

I have a strong fascination for Maori culture and folklore.

Please note that this entry is for both the Tuesday, and Wednesday editions of WW. Thank you for stopping by!

For a list of other Wordless Wednesday participants please click here.

Sometimes I get frustrated with the blogsphere, and I wonder why I am blogging at all. It is usually at those moments that I receive some sort of reminder as to what I love about blogging, or as in the case of earlier this week that on occasion our words really do make a difference.

Today as my blessing I will share a comment with you that we received on this blog from a new reader. It was submitted to an article written last year, and added to the old domain on Harriet Tubman Davis who was a very courageous woman, and a conductor of the underground railroad.

"I never lost a passenger."

I was sitting at work while something in me said to a image search on Harriet Tumban. I came across this picture which led to this site and I began to read this blog. Then I began to think about what was going on in my life and how I was feeling so stressed and overwhelmed about things taht were going on around me. It brought tears to my eyes and I just began to thank God for her heroism and will to fight and never give up no matter what the consequences could have been. I believe God led me to this blog today so that I could be reminded that He is my guide, He is my leader to freedom and He will never leave me nor forsake me. And no matter how bad it looks and how hard it gets, there is always a way to freedom. In her time of oppression, she allowed NOTHING to stop her from doing what she needed to do and that inspires me to do the same! God bless you two for sharing this and I pray that it continues to inspire more readers as it has inspired me on this day.

Devona

And in turn both Matthew, and I felt blessed for reading these words, and honoured that our own humble efforts could have such an impact. Thank you Devona!

Blog Your Blessings

"Up Then, Brave Canadians!"

In the first week of December, 1837, the streets of Toronto witnessed the closest thing Canada has ever had to armed revolution. On December 6th, 2008, our friend Richard Fiennes Clinton the founder of Muddy York Walking Tours is joining up with Mackenzie House Museum to revisit what really happened 171 years ago.

This event takes place in two parts. Part One tells the story from the perspective of the government and the loyalists. We'll talk about national and civic leaders like John Strachan and John A. MacDonald, and the roles they played in fighting against Mackenzie. Part Two tells the story from Mackenzie's perspective, and explores his motivations in launching his rebellion.

PART ONE ~ Rebels versus Politicians : Richard Fiennes-Clinton leads a walk to sites connected to William Lyon Mackenzie’s political career: Starting at the Market Gallery and St Lawrence Hall, both sites of early city halls, stroll to Toronto’s First Post Office to hear about the government’s side of the Rebellion. Then on to Hangman’s Square, site of the infamous execution of Mackenzie’s compatriot rebels Matthews and Lount. Arrive at Mackenzie House, the pardoned rebel’s last home, bought for him by admiring friends.

PART TWO ~ A True Patriot: Confessions of Canada's Stalwart Revolutionary Son : Storyteller Jeffrey Canton personifies William Lyon Mackenzie. Join William Lyon Mackenzie—mayor, printer, newspaper editor, revolutionary politician—for an exclusive interview. Learn details of his escape to the United States never before revealed in the Canadian press; discover the true fervor of his politics; see the man as only his most intimate friends and acquaintances did.

Date: December 6th 2008
Time: 13:00 - 16:00
Location: Mackenzie House Museum
Street: 82 Bond Street
Town/City: Toronto, ON

For more info visit the Muddy York Walking Tours website.

For those who may not have known her Odetta was an iconic American folk singer.

Few of my own contemporaries knew who she was, but my mother was a big fan of folksingers from her era, and she was a great influence on musicians such as Bob Dylan, Harry Belafonte and Joan Baez. This is how I came to know of her.

"She made her name performing songs sung by ordinary people - housewives and working men, as well as prison songs and slave plantation "spirituals". And she could definitely make you feel raw emotion through song.

Odetta was also a great fighter for civil rights. In 1963 she took part in the civil rights march on Washington, USA and she sang O Freedom.

She died of heart disease on Tuesday at the Lennox Hill Hospital in New York. She was 77 years old.

Rest In Peace Odetta you won't be forgotten.

Image Credits: BBC

Alan Bean holds a lunar soil sample container at Sharp Crater.

Photo by Charles Conrad, Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969 / NASA / Michael Light.

Full Moon, The Apollo and Gemini photographs is on show at the Atlas Gallery in London.

Please note that this entry is for both the Tuesday, and Wednesday editions of WW. Thank you for stopping by!

For a list of other Wordless Wednesday participants please click here.

Image Credit: BBC