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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
My friend Neil Remington Abramson and I frequently engage in discussion and debate, usually on blog written by a mutual friend, Bruce La Rochelle. Neil and I are generally in agreement on most things, and we have a great respect for each others’ point of view. Some of my recent posts on my summer vacation […]
I’m a political junkie, I’ll admit it. Wherever I am I follow the local political news. In Maine in August I bought a newspaper each day because this is an election year in the US (just not a presidential election year, so there isn’t as much frenzy). I wanted to see what the candidates for […]
If a picture really is worth a thousand words, then I don’t need to say too much today. Maybe it’s my eyes, but taking the shade into account, I don’t think the grass really is greener on the other side of the fence. But obviously this cow in Bayeux, France, thought that it was, sticking […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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