Monthly Archives: October 2014
Tyne Cot Cemetery
On the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website there is a warning: SCHOOL GROUPS: TEACHERS – PLEASE CLOSELY SUPERVISE YOUR STUDENTS, PARTICULARLY AT THE TYNE COT CEMETERY CROSS OF SACRIFICE. I presume the all caps are to emphasize the importance of the message. I’m not sure what exactly is meant by “supervise closely.” When we visited […]
Bayeux Cathedral: Love and Devotion in Action
It dominates the town of Bayeux still, as it has for almost 1,000 years. It has survived wars and conflicts and remains a testament to the Christian faith of the Norman people who started building it long before France was a nation. The Bayeux Cathedral towers over the town; you can see it from everywhere. […]
Quiet is Beautiful
I absolutely refuse to interrupt my annual two week vacation on the beaches of Maine for anything. That’s my time, a chance to relax and recharge for what always is a busy Fall season ahead. This year though, I must admit I was tempted to break that tradition when I learned Susan Cain was one […]
The Brooding Soldier
One of the highlights of the Belgian leg of our tour of Europe was the Brooding Soldier at St. Julien. After Vimy Ridge this may be the biggest, best known, Canadian war memorial in Europe. It is a poignant site, a soldier with head bowed, grieving for his lost comrades. The memorial is located at […]
Rebuilding Ypres
At the end of the First World War Winston Churchill suggested that the town of Ypres, in Belgium, be left as is, a pile of rubble, a memorial for those who died in Flanders fields. He is reported as saying “a more sacred place to the British race does not exist.” The former citizens of […]
Solving The Middle East Crisis II
Neil Remington Abramson is filling in for me today with some more thoughts on the Middle East: Truthfully, we must choose who we are and will be, but we generally equivocate. Heartless bastards or followers of Christ – perhaps we should choose and become more effective in what we do. Or perhaps it is a […]
I Hate Christmas Music
The season is almost upon us, retailers pumping out the Christmas carols (and less spiritual seasonal songs) in an attempt to stir up a buying frenzy and make their bottom line happy for another year. Storekeepers seem to think customers have a Pavlovian reaction to Christmas music – hear it and they spend. The world […]
Thanksgiving Day
Following a Canadian tradition that goes back to English explorer Martin Frobisher in 1578, Canadians today are celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday. The American holiday of the same name, held in late November, gets all the attention now, especially for the shopping orgy that accompanies it; but consumerism wasn’t on Frobisher’s mind when he and his […]
Reading Hanna’s Diary
In a Germany, where Hitler is the Lord God, we and our children have no place. – Hanna Dahlkotter, 1934. My wife’s maternal grandmother, Hanna Dahklkotter, died in 1967, thirteen years before Vivian and I met. I only know her from stories. When we visited Lippstadt, Germany this summer Vivian’s Aunt Eva mentioned that she […]
Railway Remembrances
I am old enough to remember the big coal-fired train engines. They were just being phased out in favour of diesel when I was a young boy. Every boy my age wanted to grow up to be an engineer (or a policeman or a fireman). I remember standing at the railway crossings down the street […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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