Tag Archives: How I Spent My Summer Vacation
Peles Castle I – The Pack Rat
The suits of armour were very impressive. As was the entire armoury at Peles Castle, spears and swords and medieval equipment, a room full of everything a good knight needs for jousting or battle. Except why would the King of Romania need all this stuff? (There is also the question of why Romania needed a […]
The Ad Campaign
When we were choosing travel destinations for our month in Europe this year, deciding where to go was difficult. We had to visit family in Germany. I really wanted to go to Juno Beach, the site of the Second World War Normandy landings. Vivian said she really didn’t care, as long as we went somewhere […]
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 […]
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 […]
Impresssions of the European Parliament
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 […]
Fishing For Eels, Catching Memories
We were walking along the banks of the Thames River in London, England, near Parliament, when we came upon the three fishermen. Or perhaps that should be fisher boys as they were obviously preteens. There was a bench opposite them so we sat down and watched. I never did figure out the family dynamic, though […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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