I learned to play piano as a child, though using the word “learned” might be stretching things. I wasn’t willing to practice – probably because I didn’t like the music I was being asked to learn. As an adult I understand the importance of the musical tradition, but back then I might have been a […]
It is located in a former church, which isn’t that surprising. As I have previously noted, when Ypres was rebuilt following the First World War there were a lot of churches that had been destroyed that were rebuilt just as they had been once the conflict started. A century later there is no need for […]
Sometimes it is the smaller, less advertised museums that can be the most fun. In 2009, when I first visited Ypres, Belgium, I went to the In Flanders Fields Museum (and returned there this year). Included with the admission fee for that museum was admission to a couple of other smaller institutions in Ypres. I […]
Christians celebrate Jesus’ birth today, and the rest of the world joins in because everybody loves a party. Not that he was actually born on December 25, but any day is good enough. There are historical reasons why this particular date was chosen, but I’m not going to provide a history lesson today. You probably […]
It was 1983, which meant there was still a news wire in the radio station newsroom. I was working Christmas Eve and was keeping watch for breaking new stories. It was a quiet night, except for the recurring item from the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), which was tracking Santa Claus’ flight across North […]
For some reason a piece of what should rightly be considered Easter music has become an annual Christmas tradition around the world. For many people the season would not seem right without taking in a performance of Handel’s Messiah. I think we have four recordings of G.F. Handel’s most famous oratorio on compact disc. We […]
I am a fan of the books of J.R.R. Tolkien, have been for almost 50 years, which pretty much means that I am not a huge fan of the three movies spawned from his first novel, The Hobbit. I just saw the last installment, The Battle of the Five Armies which opened in movie theatres […]
It was the three-year-olds on stage that impressed me. Not with their cuteness, though that seemed to be what most adults were focusing on. It was their poise. I didn’t pay much attention to the song, “Away in a Manger,” I think. They weren’t singing; that was the older children’s job (further back on the […]
I have always been a black and white sort of guy, with clear ideas of what is right and what is wrong. That belief in absolutes can put me at odds with the society and culture I live in. As I grow older though, I have softened a little, I think. Not in my belief […]
When we visited the Juno Beach Centre I came away with a feeling of not having heard the whole story. Don’t get me wrong – we thoroughly enjoyed the Centre and spent about six hours exploring it and the Beach. But I felt like something was missing. The Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy, […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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