Will has revived his old giant screen computer and found an incredible amount of photos from before 2011 even some videos of our first two dogs Bundnie and Reese. Seeing such photos bring back so many memories of events and where we were then.
This photo of my mom and dad in their home in Montreal in 2007. This was the Summer I was back in Canada for a few weeks before Will and I would depart for Rome for our next posting. My parents invited us to dinner at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on Sherbrooke street, at the Jardins du Ritz, this was before the rather disturbing modernization of this great hotel. It was a hot summer day and Les Jardins du Ritz was the garden restaurant with the famous duck pond. It was all very elegant and European. I did have a jacket with me, dinner with Dad never meant without a tie and jacket. Though that night we did not wear a tie. Mom was already affected by Alzheimer at this point and within a few months would be going to a care centre where she would live another 6 years with greatly diminished faculties. This was really the last time we would be together for dinner on the town.
Here is Nicky and Nora lounging on a pillow bed we got them, one of many as they love to destroy them. In our den in Rome on Via Dei Villini.
Love Nicky looking at the camera and Nora half asleep, they are I guess about 1 years old on this photo. We had an excellent groomer in Rome who specialized in wire hair dog coats. Wish I could say the same for PEI.
This week we mark a sad anniversary, 75 years ago the USA dropped the first Atomic bomb on Hiroshima and a second one on Nagasaki a few days later, killing instantly hundred of thousands of people by incinerating them and leaving the wounded to suffer for years with the effects of radiation. Today about 136,000 are still alive from that event and it is thought that it is difficult to keep alive the memory of this first Atomic explosion as they die off. More countries now have Atomic weapons far more powerful than the original ones, enough to blow up and kill all life on Earth over 300 times.
I visited Japan twice and had the opportunity to travel by the famous bullet train around the country. It is a wonderful place and so much to see and experience. Love the food and the people, the culture and traditions. I cannot say enough good things about Japan.
When I lived in Beijing I would watch the news on the Japanese National Broadcaster NHK and also a soap on television. It was very interesting to see how they present the news with much calm and with a neutral tone of voice. I also followed other programs one was a the television soap I followed about a Doctor and his wife and kids living in a town outside Tokyo. The story of their lives revolved around the wife and how she saw the family dynamic. It was all very nice keeping a normal pace, there was none of the over the top dramatic, grabbing for a laugh or open family conflict etc often seen in Western television. Even at the end of the series when her husband dies of what was possibly a heart attack, it was presented as a matter of fact, something that happens in life and with sorrow, reflection on the past but the assurance that life will go on.
This morning I was listening to the early radio music show on Radio-Canada from Montreal and they had this piece which caught my attention.
The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal produced in 2014 this very nice record of music for Japanese Children, Shoka. This music is universal and travels well. I also think that if offers calm in this pandemic period, something everyone can appreciate.
Oborozuyi, hazy moon. Diana Damrau, soprano sings with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Choir of Les Enfants de Montréal under conductor Kent Nagano.
Here is another selection with soprano Diana Damrau.
On the afternoon of July 12, 2015 around 4pm as we were about to leave the house to go to a dinner BBQ at friends, the phone rang, a strange call, my sister was on the phone calling from NY City where she lives, she was in a panic and blurted out that our father was either dead or dying in Montreal. A few minutes prior to calling me she had received a call from the Hôtel Dieu Hospital telling her that our father was in a critical condition. He had gone out that afternoon to shop for some summer shoes at Holt Renfrew on Sherbrooke street, this was his favourite store. He was scheduled to go to Vermont to be with my sister and my brother-in-law for their Summer vacation. I was confused by the call and in the rush of her telling me what was happening I kept thinking how can you be dead or dying. Our Dad had not been in the best of health for several years, he had heart problems and COPD, his lungs were no longer functioning properly and every week he had to go to the hospital for treatment. But he refused to talk much about his health and did not elaborate much about it when we asked him. He was ok not to worry, had a team of good doctors he liked.
However that July 12 was a very hot and muggy day and when you have lung problems it is not the time to go out in the city. The muggy air of the streets did not help and arriving at the store inside was super cold with A/C. From what we were able to gather later, he felt un-well and collapsed, an ambulance was called and the first responders tried to revive him for over 30 minutes to no avail.
I remember my sister calling me a second time a few minutes after the initial call, I was rushing to get things organized to go to Montreal which is only 2 hours away by car from Ottawa. In the second call she had the hospital doctors on the line and I was told that despite best efforts, Dad had a very weak heartbeat and his lungs were not functioning. He was not going to recover, the doctors wanted to know what we wanted done. Should they continue to try to revive him despite no oxygen going to his brain, the doctor added that 45 minutes had now elapsed with this condition. At that moment I simply remembered what both he and Mom years before I told us repeatedly about no extra measures to revive in such a case. So it was decided to let him go. There was no anguish about making that decision, there was no hope, it was simply the cold reality of what had happened and knowing how Dad was a proud man, neither me or my sister could imagine not respecting his wishes and putting him on a respirator and other modern medical machines, that was not what he would have wished. Our parents also believed that when your time has come you simply accept it, it’s that simple.
I did get in the car shortly thereafter and drove like a maniac on the highway down to Montreal. I was hoping in a strange way that he would still be alive, but I knew that it was not going to be that way.
I arrived in Montreal around 7pm and was greeted by a nurse who told me right away that he had died. Yes I know I said to her. She then asked me if I would sign the forms for his release from the hospital to the care of the Medical Faculty of McGill University. It was just a simple formality, Dad had made all the arrangements with his team of doctors, all from McGill and the Royal Vic Hospital. I knew that, he had told me and I thought how organized he was. I was then shown to his room where he lay. My cousin who had always been close to my parents, was there waiting for me. Neither of us knew what to say. He looked as he always did when I observed him sleeping in his chair in the living room in the afternoon but this time it was different.
My sister was on her way to Montreal driving as quickly as possible she arrived around midnight exhausted. My brother arrived 2 days later coming from Florida and having difficulty arranging flights on extremely short notice.
After the hospital I went to his apartment in Westmount, it is only then that it hit me, seeing all his things arranged methodically, everything in order, that he would not be coming back to his home. I sat on the sofa and looked at his chair, I could feel his presence, all was quiet, peaceful.
Our mother had died two years previously in her sleep and he had predicted that he would be gone in two years. When he told me this, I scoffed, come on Dad don’t say things like that.
Today my sister is in Vermont on vacation at the cottage as she would have been back then had he not died. I spoke to her and she told me that she had been thinking of him all week. I too had been thinking of the approaching date. He would have been 90 years old this year.
At lunch with Dad at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal.
Today is Canada Day, 1 July, 486 years old. The Canadian National Anthem first composed by Calixa Lavallée as a French-Canadian Patriotic Song in 4 couplets and performed on 24 June 1880. It Officially became the National Anthem of Canada by Act of Parliament in 1980, though everyone considered O Canada the National Anthem prior to that date. The english words to the Anthem are recent and have been modified several times to suit the taste of the times. The French version is the original, though only the short version is sung usually.
Some dates in the History of Canada,
1534 arrival of French Navigator Jacques Cartier in the Gaspé area and his first encounter with native people. He was looking for a route to China.
1608 Samuel de Champlain founding of Quebec City which becomes the Capital of the French Empire in North America.
1642 Paul de Chomedey De Maisonneuve founder of Montreal with Jeanne Mance who creates the first hospital, L’Hôtel Dieu de Montreal, still in operation today 378 years later.
1755, Deportation of thousands of Acadian people from the Maritime region of Canada by British forces.
1763, Treaty of Paris at the end of the Seven Years War in Europe, France ceding vast territories in North America to England.
1837-38 Rebellion against British rule and demands for elected responsible government by French Canadians.
1855 Creation of the Canadian Militia later known as the Canadian Army whose commander in Chief is H.M. the Queen.
1864-1867 Three Conferences between the British North American Colonies (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI and Ontario-Quebec) to establish an independent country. 1 July 1867 Proclamation of the Constitution and establishment of Canada as a unified country. Ottawa designated as the National Capital.
1875 Supreme Court of Canada is established by Act of Parliament.
1910 Creation by Royal Decree of the Royal Canadian Navy. Commander in Chief H.M. the Queen.
1914-1918 Canada participates in First World War as an independent nation and sign the Peace Treaty of Versailles in 1919.
1921, The discovery of insulin occurred in 1921 following the ideas of Canadian orthopedic surgeon Dr. Frederick G. Banting, the chemistry skills of his assistant Charles Best, and John MacLeod of the University of Toronto
1924 Creation of the Canadian Royal Air Force, Commander in Chief H.M. the Queen.
1931 Statute of Westminster, British Parliament affirmed Canadian autonomy and recognized the virtual independence.
1956 Canadian diplomat and Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for “saving the world” with a UN peacekeeping force, during the Suez Canal Crisis in the Middle East.
1965, Royal Proclamation of the Canadian Maple Leaf Flag.
1976 Olympics Games are held in Montreal under the mandate of Mayor Jean Drapeau.
1980, O Canada by Act of Parliament becomes the Official Anthem of Canada.
1982 Proclamation by Constitutional Act of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
1984, Marc Garneau is the first Canadian Astronaut to go to space.
1999 The Ottawa Treaty signed by 133 countries banning Land mines, Canadian minister of Foreign Affairs Lloyd Axworthy launched the Ottawa Process, which led to the treaty ratification banning of Land mines in armed conflicts.
2005, The Civil Marriage Act was introduced by Prime Minister Paul Martin in Parliament on February 1, as Bill C-38. It was passed by the House of Commons on June 28, becoming law in Canada in July 2005. Canada is the fourth country in the World to legalize same-sex marriage.
This rendition of the National Anthem is performed by the Band of the Ceremonial Guard of the Canadian Armed Forces.
The first time I heard this singer on Radio-Canada from Montreal which is the HQ of the French radio national network. This fellow is quite young 23 yrs old and has been singing since he was 16. He has become in popular culture somewhat of a sensation. The first time I heard him sing while driving, I thought this guy is from Montreal, he has that accent all French speaking Montrealers have, it is very distinct. The song title is an expression, J’en ai plein mon cass, it’s an expression in French of being fed up, literally meaning my hat is full, that’s it enough. Usually used when you are fed up with a situation. The text goes on to talk about pot holes in the streets, which is Montreal is endemic, called in French Nid de poule or chicken’s nest. He goes on to talk about other situations which no one can control but affects you daily. It is a song about becoming an adult and dealing with adult issues in life. His other songs are equally entertaining.
I like it because he speaks to things everyone experiences. It is just a fun song.
There are so many things to blog about I feel like I should start one of the YouTube channels and talk endlessly about this and that, like so many people do. I have noticed though that they tend to attract the vacuous crowd who have angst about everything and nothing. It is also a way to make a lot of money easily. SO NO I won’t do that to you world wide readers.
In the last week we have had the demi-mondaine saga of Harry and Meghan, their lives remind me of La Traviata by Verdi. They have been milking the baby story for all it’s worth. Can they now receed into the shadows and invent a life that has meaning. How about Harry going back to being a soldier and Meghan doing sit-com or reality shows. The whole affair about the baby was beyond ridiculous and now the name Archie? Really? First thing I thought was Archie Bunker or Archie and Jughead, as for Harrison ok, it’s Star Wars and Harrison Ford, was he not a boyfriend of Meghan at one point? No title for the kid but will he be on the family payroll? I also found showing off the baby in the Great Hall of Windsor castle a trifle dramatic, a bit Downton Abbey like and Meghan saying she had just bumped into Prince Philip as if… I wondered why not meet the Press at their little servants cottage at Frogmore, more genuine if you want to play how simple and down to earth you are. The two of them, phoney baloney.
A book I have been reading is the life of Maud Lewis the folk art painter. Not really a biography as much as a chronicle of a very sad life and an even sadder married life with a parasite of a husband who exploited here and barely noticed her existence. Her own brother Charles cut off all ties after her unwed pregnancy and she in turn living in shame denied the existence of her own daughter. Severely handicapped she led the life of a recluse. In spite of it all was able to produce those incredible paintings. The author of the book is a relative, Lance Woolaver, he paints a picture of Nova Scotia and the Digby area, not pretty, a lot of grinding poverty, ignorance, lack of social services, isolation, racism, bigotry, the place appears pleasant to Summer tourists who have money and travel around, but that is a mirage, all very third world. Nova Scotia today still has deep pockets of poverty and scenic beauty and a rich history. It only makes her work even more wonderful when all these elements are taken in.
In Canada politically speaking the Government of Justin Trudeau is seen by pollsters of all stripes to be sinking and we could be headed in October for a Conservative majority with Andrew Scheer as PM. God help us, this is a man who has made lying his main political plank, has no policies on anything, he is a multi-millionaire, money all made from his political activities. Copies word for word Trump’s ideology, associates himself with hate groups and neo-nazis calling for the Prime Minister to be killed. Is a religious zealot and of course attracts basically the white supremacist vote. The popularity of his party right now stems from the political troubles of PM Trudeau. Conservative Senators in our Canadian Senate have been blocking through procedures crucial votes on bills knowing that the Parliamentary clock is ticking down to the end of the Session in June.
The Green Party in Canada is hoping for big gains, which is quite possible, but will not be able to form a government. Trudeau may still get re-elected simply because of the loathing Scheer inspires but if Scheer and his cronies get elected we will be in big trouble like Ontario is with former dope peddler Doug Ford (FordNation). Populism in Canada is making big strides, there is an evil wind blowing.
And on another topic all together and quite different.
Yesterday Jean Vanier died in Paris at the age of 90, he was a doctor of Philosophy and an Canadian Navy Officer who horrified by the Holocaust and the Atomic Bomb decided to dedicate his life to Peace. He is known as the founder of L’Arche which is a world wide organization which as Vanier described it as establishing the unique value of the intellectually disabled. The principle he established is very simple, he said; ”The most important thing is not to do things for people who are poor and in distress, but to enter into relationship with them, to be with them and help them find confidence in themselves and discover their own gifts.”
Jean Vanier (1928-2019) was the son of eminent Canadians, his father was General Georges Vanier, a Canadian World War One hero, a diplomat and Governor General of Canada. His mother Pauline Archer Vanier of Montreal, a lady of great distinction who came from a celebrated family in the history of Canada. Both his parents were nominated for Beatification in the Roman Catholic Church for their Piety, Faith and humanitarian work.
Jean Vanier had siblings and they too distinguished themselves in their respected fields.
I had the opportunity to meet him in 1996 in Amman, Jordan, he came to visit his cousin who was my Ambassador at the time and a little get together was organized at the Residence. I was immensely impressed with his quiet dignity and is words which gave another look at what the world could be like. What he proposed was not utopia, he proved it by the success of L’Arche around the world and the legacy he leaves. The World today needs more like Jean Vanier, we lost a great humanitarian.
“The fundamental principle of peace is a belief that each person is important. Do you believe you are important? Do you believe that we can do something to make this world a better place?”
We had friends today for Christmas Lunch, it took me about an hour to set the table. I had polished all the silverware a few days ago and all the linens had been ironed.
The menu was classic French Canada fare, tourtières, Ragoût de pattes de cochon avec boulettes, a breast of turkey. For dessert we had mulled wine jellies and Plum Pudding flambé with brandy, a great meal.
Later I watched the Christmas Day message of the Queen, her messages are well crafted and never say more than need to be said on this day. The photos on the desk are related to what the Sovereign is saying, they also convey the message of continuity. This year a photo of her father as a young man in the Royal Navy during the First World War, not yet aware that one day he would become King. Then a photo of a young bride and husband with their first child, the Prince of Wales, who one day will be King. The group photo is of her son HRH Prince Charles on his 70th birthday with the Duchess of Cornwall surrounded by his own children and grand children. Continuity, the Queen is a great-grand mother now. The one absence today HRH Prince Philip who at 96 has retired from the public eye.
Today on Radio-Canada Christmas programming the host tenor Marc Hervieux spoke of his childhood and played this great classic of the Midnight Mass in parishes in French Canada, Ça berger, assemblons-nous. ( Shepherds let’s gather) the singer was one of the very great operatic tenors in Canada in the 1950’s Richard Verreau (1926-2005). He was a neighbour in Montreal for about 10 years. A wonderful voice with a tragic ending. The Choir is Les Disciples de Massenet, a group with a 90 year history.
Such sacred music is muscular and sounds almost like a martial air. It says come let’s go now, nothing is more important, leave your flocks to look after themselves, the Messiah awaits you. There is no greater calling.
Ça bergers assemblons-nous
Allons voir le Messie
Cherchons cet enfant si doux
Dans les bras de Marie
Je l’entends, il nous appelle tous
Ô sort digne d’envie
Laissons là tout le troupeau
Qu’il erre à l’aventure
Que sans nous sur ce coteau
Il cherche sa pâture
Allons voir dans un petit berceau
L’auteur de la nature
Ça bergers assemblons-nous
Allons voir le Messie
Cherchons cet enfant si doux
Dans les bras de Marie
Je l’entends, il nous appelle tous
Ô sort digne d’envie
Que l’hiver par ses frimas
Ait endurci la plaine
S’il croit arrêter nos pas
Cette espérance est vaine
Quand on cherche un Dieu rempli d’appas
On ne craint point la peine
Ça bergers assemblons-nous
Allons voir le Messie
Cherchons cet enfant si doux
Dans les bras de Marie
Je l’entends, il nous appelle tous
Ô sort digne d’envie
This week listening to Radio-Canada in the morning I heard some old Christmas favourites from my childhood. One was Mon Beau Sapin, Roi des Forêts known in English as O Tannenbaum. This was the song the second wife of my maternal grandfather, we called Tante Fernande would sing each Christmas at lunch at my grandfather’s house when all his children and spouses and us grandkids would gather for the traditional meal, gifts and benediction. It was an old, I dare say a very old tradition going back several generations, the family patriarch would bless is family for the New Year. Tante Fernande would have cooked a turkey it was always an excellent birds and very juicy, serving peas and mash potatoes and cranberries which she called Atoka, dessert would be a mix of chocolates, Bûche de Noël and other sweets. I always thought that Atoka was the real name for cranberries but it turn out that Atoka is a Quebec recipe for processing cranberries after they are harvested. It gives a much sweeter fruit and has none of the tartness found in canned cranberries. Tante Fernande was a cook who did everything from scratch including her cranberries. You could not buy canned cranberries back then or if you could it was not done on good homes.
The dishes used to serve the Christmas meal was on two dinner sets, one was white with a dark blue and gold rim, the other set was their wedding dinner set which I have now.
There were other songs and my aunts knew one each, a favourite, one was Petit Papa Noël, my Mom use to sing that one. It is not an old song, the melody is taken from an old Ukrainian song and the words written in 1944 were about a child asking Santa to bring his father home for Xmas from the POW camp in Germany. After the war the words were changed erasing any reference to the war to what we hear today. It is a song that you would learn in school and my mother knew it well. It was part of every Christmas music recital at school in French Canada. Tino Rossi premiered this song in 1946 and it became his Christmas signature song. Radio-Canada played it today as part of their weekend Christmas show it brought back a tidal wave of memories.
On this score the French service Radio-Canada is doing a much better job with their Christmas programming than the CBC who is playing a mix of commercial music. Tomorrow 23 December, the CBC will have an all day Christmas concert as they do every year from the European Union broadcasted live starting at 9am. Radio-Canada will have its programming, vintage shows from the 1940 to 1970. Despite the fact that such programming might be speaking to an older generation, it is still enormously popular.
Maybe it speaks about a time when Christmas was not about shopping and stress. The Media today puts a heavy emphasis on how stressful and unpleasant it is, with those awful relatives. I wonder why it has to be this way, not to mention the trove of bad news. It sounds almost perverse.
Gifts use to be in my mother’s childhood an orange which was a luxury then, books, clothing like a scarf or a sweater. For us it was books, sweets or the dreaded Fentex slippers your gradma knitted for you, some small amount of money like a $5. bill new and crisp or a board game. The adults were not stressed, no one was driving around shopping in malls, it was a nice holiday with a focus in Roman Catholic Quebec on religion and midnight mass recalling the traditions of Old Canada and France.
The other popular song and remains so to this day is J’ai vu maman embrassé le Père Noël sung by Line Renaud who is 90 years old. This 1956 version is one you will hear on the radio. Renaud was and remains one of the great French singer of her time.
Well we avoided the stress of Christmas and it is something I never quite understood why so many people whipped themselves into a frenzy. I think that a lot of the stress is made up on false notions about gifts and having to please other people, it is somewhat artificial. I hope you all have lots of fun and enjoyment out of the Holiday Season.
Two days ago I read in the Montreal Gazette that George Lau the owner of L’Orchidée de Chine was closing his restaurant after 34 years in operation. The restaurant is located at the corner of Peel street and De Maisonneuve in Montreal. This was a favourite of my parents who lived just one block North on Peel street. So many family reunions took place there over the years. George is aging and he and his sister Eva want to move on, his children have their own careers. George Lau came to open his restaurant after the celebrated and luxurious Ruby Foo’s restaurant closed on Decarie Blvd. He wanted to have a Chinese restaurant with class for fine dining with dishes well prepared in a traditional manner. L’Orchidée de Chine was also the place where we had my father’s wake, all his favourite dishes and champagne, the way he and Mom would have wanted it. My Dad had known George and Eva for decades.
Over the years many restaurants in Montreal patronized by my parents came and went. Years ago a standard was Les Jardins du Ritz in the Ritz Hotel on Sherbrooke street and its famous garden with duckling pond, you felt like you were in Paris. This was before the renovations 10 years ago when all changed.
Then there was many years ago The Coffee Mill on Mountain street, which closed around 1994, a Hungarian coffee shop which catered to so many Hungarians who fled the Uprising of 1956 in Hungary. It was very European, in its food, service and atmosphere, my mother loved it.
My parents also loved The Beaver Club dining room at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, it was modelled on the famous Fur merchant’s Club established in 1785 near Beaver Hall Hill it closed in 2014.
Le Paris on Sainte Catherine street West, my parents knew the owner a Frenchman and it was a great little restaurant. Then the owner died suddenly and the restaurant closed a year later.
It seems that when I go back to Montreal now there are less and less places left where my parents and all of us went to, replaced as time moves on my more hip places but not as it once was.
Not in Montreal but in New York my Dad liked The Plaza hotel before it was turned into a condo style hotel and the restaurants and bars all closed. Only the Palm Court is left but it is not quite the same.
My parents spent their lives in the hotel/retaurant business and my Dad loved to find new restaurants and find out who was the Chef and what was his background. Before his death a few years ago, it became difficult to go out with him, he did not like the direction restaurants in general were taking, too much decor and not much on food and service. He was often appalled by the lack of attention to details or cleanliness, he wondered why people would put up with such low standards, noise and expensive prices. He did not find often good value for the money spent. In the last year of his life he was teaching restaurant management at the Hotel School in Montreal, he told me how un-motivated the students were and he finally asked them why they wanted to work in the hospitality industry, the answer was to make money, he was shocked by the answer. He explained to them that you went into that business because you liked people and wanted to offer a service not to make money.
For me there is nothing or little to return too in Montreal nowadays, I do not recognize the City, it has changed a lot and the people we knew save a few old friends are gone. The place of my childhood is gone but then again this is what happens in life, nothing stays the same.
Jerry and I get around. In 2011, we moved from the USA to Spain. We now live near Málaga. Jerry y yo nos movemos. En 2011, nos mudamos de EEUU a España. Ahora vivimos cerca de Málaga.
Tutto iniziò con Memorie di Adriano, sulle strade dell'Impero Romano tra foto, storia e mito - It all began with Memoirs of Hadrian, on the roads of the Roman Empire among photos, history and myth!
Telling the stories of the history of the port of Charlottetown and the marine heritage of Northumberland Strait on Canada's East Coast. Winner of the Heritage Award from the PEI Museum and Heritage Foundation and a Heritage Preservation Award from the City of Charlottetown
