To thine own self be true

Chickadee coaster

Dog calendar

Frosted penguin decoration

Hanging artificial flowers

2 paper flower bouquets made by daughter

Himalayan salt lamp

DVDs with animal characters

Wooden wall plaque bought in mountains

Woven farm scene in wall picture frame, done by mother-in-law

Family room plant in bloom

Kleenex box picture, family room

Cozy sofa pillow bought in Lake Louise mall

Sheet on couch during heatwave

Hedgehog pillow on couch

Painting on small milk can on mantle, family room

Bird sculptures from Jasper; daughter photo from Cannon Beach, Oregon, eclipse trip

Seashell coaster bought in Sidney, B.C.

Decorative rabbit mother with offspring

Hawrelak Park winter painting in dinette, gift of son bought at Legislature gift shop

Edmonton valley scene by Scona colleague-artist Kees Wouters

Gloxinias in bloom, dinette

Fridge pictures of dogs

Kitchen toaster cover

Robert Bateman chickadee mug

National Geographic desk calendar, kitchen

Metis painted mug from Alberta Museum gift shop

Poppy curtains, kitchen, made by mother-in-law

Mother-in-law’s still-life, dining room

One of my mother’s many (inherited) teacups, dining room

Moose plate, dining room

My wife’s flowered teacups, bought at the olde defunct coffee-gift shop, Southgate mall

Special edition Hudson Bay cookie tin

Garden display, living room

Large living room painting gifted by my wife’s parents

Rooster and chickens display inherited from my mother

Pussy willows

Bird ornaments on piano, living room

Squirrel pillow gifted by son and wife

Snoopy pillow, living room

Bird ornaments on shelf, living room

Bird books

Chickadee light switch

Rooster half-mirror, front hall, gifted by son and wife

Signed Robert Bateman print of pileated woodpeckers, front hall

Animal dolls and figurines, front hall

Large carved multi-media plaque in front hall by the late Don Pimm, English teacher-friend-artist; illustrating E.E. Cummings’ poem “So much depends”

Dog light switch

Photo of my daughter at Canon Beach, Oregon on bedroom bureau

My photo of Castle Mountain, bedroom bookshelf

Wall plaque photo of Bill Lishman, ultralight, and imprinted geese-followers, bedroom

Plants in bedroom; there are plants in every room of house

Bedroom poster of an Alex Colville

Bedroom light switch

Saskatchewan scene, inherited from wife’s painter-aunt, upstairs hallway

Another poster, bedroom

Pansy wall-plaque, bedroom

Winter painting, bedroom, gifted by daughter

Gift when leaving McNally School, painted by Alberta artist Gregg Johnson, upstairs bathroom

Flowered shower curtain

Painted Northern Lights wall-plaque, back hallway, gifted by daughter

Vintage Lake Louise poster, back hallway

Pont Neuf, Paris painting done by artist on location, gifted by father; hangs in back hallway

B.C. river photo by me, lower bathroom

My photo of van Deusen Garden, Vancouver irises, lower bathroom

Print bought at city’s downtown tourist shop

Wooden wall plaque, hallway; bought in Hope, B.C.

Miniature painting in study, bought in Sidney, B.C.

Miniature standing painting, book shelf, study

Owl figurines, study; owls are my totem

Some of owl collection, study

Photo of son’s dog on study wall

My daughter’s poster in study, bought at a garage sale

Photo at U of A Humanities Centre; on wall of study; used as cover for one of my chapbooks

Mr. Peanut wall calendar, study

Monet poster, study

Old favorite photo of painting, study wall

Edmonton river valley, night scene painting; front hall

Painting by wife’s aunt of Lake Waskesieu; living room above piano

Poster of vintage Canadian painting, “Canoes in Fog”, on bedroom wall

have no empathy, no sympathy, and certainly do not love either kids or dogs.

poutine

snowmobile

5-pin bowling

basketball

e-music synthesizer

goalie mask

telephone

light bulb

insulin

wireless radio

green garbage bags

zipper

peanut butter

roadlines

instant replay

electric wheelchair

IMAX

pacemaker

walkie talkie

Paul Anka

Margaret Atwood

Frederick Banting

Barenaked Ladies

Robert Bateman

Alexander Graham Bell

Pierre Berton

Billy Bishop

the Bluenose

Robert Borden

Lenny Breau

General Brock

the amazing Building of the first transcontinental railway (CPR) and the Trans-Canada Highway

Raymond Burr

Butchart Gardens

John Cabot

Morley Callaghan

James Cameron

Canadian astronauts: Hadfield, Bondar, Garneau and the Canad Arm

Guy Carleton

Emily Carr

Jacques Cartier

Samuel de Champlain

Bruce Cockburn

Leonard Cohen

Alex Colville

Company of New France

Confederation

Constitutional Act

Coureurs de Bois

Dieppe

Celine Dion

Dionne Quintuplets

Adam Dollard at Long Sault

Tommy Douglas

Gord Downie

Lief Ericson and the Norsemen

Expo 67

Sandford Fleming

Terry Fox

Northrop Frye

Fur trade

Alexander Galt

Chief Dan George

Glenn Gould

Group of Seven: especially Tom Thomson, Lawren Harris, J.E.H. MacDonald, A.Y. Jackson

Gordie Howe

Wayne Gretzky

The Guess Who (Bachman & Cummings)

Halifax Explosion

Rick Hansen

Tim Horton’s

Joseph Howe

Hudson’s Bay Company

Ian and Sylvia Tyson

IMAX

Imperial Conference

Norman Jewison

Karen Kain

Paul Kane

Yousuf Karsh

Moe Kauffman

Henry Kelsey

Kenojuak

William Lyon Mackenzie King

Cornelius Kreighoff

Klondike Gold Rush

Margaret Laurence

Sir Wilfrid Laurier

La Verendrye

Stephen Leacock

Gordon Lightfoot

League of Nations

John A. MacDonald

Alexander Mackenzie

Hugh MacLennan

Jeanne Mance

Jack McClelland

Bob & Doug McKenzie

Marshall McLuhan

Military, Canadian history

Joni Mitchell

Montcalm and Wolfe

Lucy Maude Montgomery

Susanna Moodie

Farley Mowat

Mr. Dressup/Ernie Coombs

Alice Munro

Rex Murphy

Anne Murray

French-Canadian Nationalism

New France

NORAD

North West Company

North-west Passage

L.B. Pearson

Oscar Peterson

Gordon Pinsent

Plains of Abraham

Christopher Plummer

Port Royal

Quebec Act

Queenston Heights

Radisson

Red River Colony

Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard

Mordecai Richler

Louis Riel

R.O.M.

Gabrielle Roy

Buffy Sainte-Marie

St. Lawrence Seaway

Laura Secord

Seigneurial system

Robert Service

Seven Years War

Joey Smallwood

Stratford Festival

Donald Sutherland

David Suzuki

Ken Taylor

Tecumseh

David Thompson

Treaty of Paris

Pierre Trudeau

Regina Tornado

Sir Charles Tupper

George Vancouver

William Van Horne

Gilles Villeneuve

Vimy Ridge

Voyageurs

War of 1812

Wayne and Shuster

Mike Weir

Winnipeg Strike & Flood

Neil Young

 

To say nothing of our Canadian parents, families, friends, and others who helped us get to where we are today.

Otherwise, this country would still be bugs and bullshit, or part of the States, and have none of the creature comforts we all take for granted every day and everywhere.

I am extremely happy and incredibly proud to celebrate Canada, famous Canadians, famous Canadian events, unique Canadian culture, and being Canadian today! I shall raise a glass to the best that has been and still is Canadian today. Cheers, everybody!

RD

(Fireworks from Mill Woods Park seen from our front bay window)

Canada remains a better-than-average country to live in. (Certainly way saner and less violent than the States!) Many fine people built this country (including John A. MacDonald–the Father of Confederation responsible for uniting this country with a railroad to keep us from being annexed by the U.S.) and brought us the civilized, prosperous lives most of us have truly benefited from.

For the most part, we are very lucky to live in Canada as opposed to an autocratic country like North Korea or Russia. There is still much to celebrate today even with all the changes and imperfections. The life most of us woke up to this morning should not be taken for granted and ought to be savoured and appreciated. Canada Day is the right day to show and share that appreciation with family, friends, and others.

Bobby Darin.

Given a death sentence for a rheumatic heart as a kid, he heard his doctor say he was not expected to live beyond 16. Later in life, he would find out this his mother was not the woman he had been raised to believe she was. His friend, Robert Kennedy, was assassinated, which ‘paralyzed’ him, and he spent the night beside his coffin before a flag was draped over it. (His song “In Memoriam” was a moving tribute to RFK.)

Darin knew he had to move fast and live life to the fullest, which he did until his sudden tragic death at 37 as a consequence of not taking antibiotics (for his fragile heart condition) before a dental procedure.

Beyond that–he was an incredible performer, singer, songwriter, actor, musician who was much beloved and respected by the older Hollywood generation (Jimmy Durante, George Burns, Sammy Davis Jr., Andy Williams, et al) and younger up-and-coming singers including Tony Orlando, Rod Stewart, et al)

Many legendary songs and performances: “Mack the Knife” (his only #1 hit which Dick Clark had thought would fail as Darin launched a nightclub ‘saloon singer’ phase), “Beyond the Sea”, “Splish Splash”, “Dream Lover”, “A Simple Song of Freedom”, “Things”, “Long Line Rider'”, “Multiplication”, “Artificial Flowers”, “18 Yellow Roses”, and “Long Time Movin'”.

Darin, more than any other singer of the ’50s to ’70s, epitomized “Cool”, snapping his fingers, moving his body while singing “Mack the Knife” and many other songs.

He was a truly likable nice guy who enjoyed lifting audience’s spirits and making people laugh. He had many friends and was much beloved by his movie-star wife Sandra Dee and son Dodd Darin who wrote a memorable book, Dream Lovers, about his parents.

The best works on Darin are the Rhino Records comprehensive 4-CD boxset and the engaging DVD overview of his life and career Bobby Darin: Beyond the Sea. Highly recommended for fans or people wanting to know more about this spirited talent who was once greatly admired in his time.

…………………..

On a personal note, I will confess to changing my middle name to Darin for a mailing from summer school in grade 10, 1965 (something I never repeated).

Something about the name, also later reflected in my brief subsequent interest in James Darren (song “Goodbye Cruel World”, one of his theatre movies, and the hokey 1966-67 tv series The Time Tunnel).

The recent spate of hate crimes against Muslims in Edmonton. The vandalizing of Pope John Paul II’s statue locally (correctly condemned by First Nations Assembly). Even the vandalizing of John A. MacDonald statues can also be viewed as irrational hate crimes.

Vandalizing is against the law and no imagined cause is holier than others. The latter two examples show the danger of ‘holier than other’ causes which are hate crimes unto themselves.

Retributive hate crimes such as burning down Catholic churches in B.C. are unacceptable; they only stir the pot and are the stupid, senseless actions of equally-bigoted lawbreakers which do not move desired causes of fairness, justice, and reparations forward.

(The Classic Summer song by Seals & Crofts)

(sipping my daughter’s sensational margaritas on her Ellerslie deck, last summer)

……………………………..

“Summer breeze
Makes me feel fine
Blowin’ through the jasmine of my mind”

I can remember singing this one in the old Grand Centre Hotel lounge in the summer of 1972 with school guidance counsellor Clive McNichol (who later tragically killed his student-wife). We were a brief duo, which led to my being asked to audition with what became “Four” and “Betty Plus Four”.