June 26th

Q.What do Branwell Bronte, Colonel Tom Parker, Georgie Fame, Mark McKinney, Laurie Lee, Mick Jones, Milton Glaser, Babe Zaharias, Peter Lorre, Abner Doubleday, Derek Jeter, Chris Isaak, Pearl Buck and Willy Messerschmidt all have in common? ..................................................................................

A. They all share a birthday with me. 

June 26 is a full moon and a partial eclipse of the moon has already happened today. And 2010 is also my Chinese zodiac year of the Tiger.

Ray Charles was on the charts singing "I Can't Stop Loving You." To Kill a Mockingbird, Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. No. were big movies the year I was born. "Happiness is a Warm Puppy" and "Sex and the Single Girl" were best selling books. Diefenbaker, Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle were in office. The Lava Lite was invented. Oh Dear. I thiink I should check my "Best Before" date.

There is a town in north Ontario...

There is a town in north Ontario,
With dream comfort memory to spare,
And in my mind
I still need a place to go,
All my changes were there.

The sentimentality doesn't suit me but I'm off to Parry Sound this weekend to move a few more boxes and to close my parent's house for good. I moved in there the day after my 3rd birthday and I'll be dropping off the keys 2 days before my 48th. I haven't lived there exclusively since I was 18, but there have been Christmases, Thanksgivings, and summers too that my son has started to enjoy.

My brother has taken a place near the beach and that should ease the adjustment.


Should be an interesting few days as the G8 is happening 45 miles away in Huntsville. There should be the occasional fighter jet and helicopter overhead. And goodness knows what the highway will be like.

The house has been sold to a couple with two boys and a Great Dane. I'm certain they'll love it and I wish them all the luck in the world.

I guess I should say Lyrics - Neil Young

Now WHAT was it Neruda said about the Cherry Tree?

Toronto Street Fashion

Move over Sart, welcome TorontoVerve. Photographer/Banker Nigel Hamid does a great job making Toronto and its inhabitants look good - if not interesting.

TorontoVerve showcases the unique style evident throughout  Toronto's diverse population. Fashion is an attitude and Nigel succeeds in revealing that Toronto has a good one.

Check it out.

Tear Down the Wall

Ahh, poor parochial Toronto. This past Sunday an anti-protest barrier started going up in advance of the G-20 summit that starts in the city on June 26th. The fence will be about 3 metres tall and only those with proper identification will be allowed inside its chain-link and barbed-wire walls. The gate will have security zone checkpoints (maybe named Checkpoint Steve). It surrounds a good chunk of the business and theatre districts of Toronto, north of the Metro Convention Centre where the meetings will be held.

This part of Toronto will become a virtual ghost town in the days leading up to the Summit. Workers are being asked to take the Friday as a holiday. Union Station, apparently Canada's largest transportation hub, will be closed. Blue Jays games have been shifted to Philly. Theatres on King Street will cease production for the week leading up to the meetings. The "Path" linking 28 kilometres of underground shopping will be shut. Queen's Park, our Provincial Legislature, will be closed and boarded up. The University of Toronto will be closed for a week.

The CN Tower, a virtual roman candle just waiting for trouble and attached to the Convention Centre on Front Street will be closed.

Downtown patios will be closed for two weeks leading up to the meetings. It will be no mid-summer night's dream - "O wicked wall, through whom I see no bliss!"

Back whenever our helmet-haired Prime Minister decided it was Canada's turn to host the G8, he offered up Huntsville as a venue; small bucolic tourist destination. It must have slipped his mind that the G20 would follow and the subsequent need for more hotel and meeting space. Therefore downtown Toronto at the start of the tourist season was the (logical?) choice.

What about the United Nations in New York, Geneva, Vienna or Nairobi? Isn't this sort of what it's for? What about G192 instead of G8 or G20?

I was going to include a video clip from  Pink Floyd's The Wall, but I really didn't want to subject my gentle readers to Roger Waters' ranting. 

Top image: The Globe and Mail
2nd image: Mark Blinch/Reuters
3rd image: Peter Power/ Globe and Mail

Ideas to Live By

I've been introduced to two websites offering worlds of information that tickle, exercise and expand one's mind. They make you think, and think some more, and give you the impetus to get off your duff and act.

The first, offering solutions for multi-talented people, is the DaVinci Dilemma. Co-authored by a schoolmate of mine, Liisa Kyle and her colleague Lisa Rothstein provide tools and useful resources to help you discover,enjoy and organize your many talents. While I'm not professing to be one of the multi-talented, I know many of you are (if not just "well-rounded").

The biggest problems facing me daily are procrastination and lack of motivation. At the DaVinci Dilemma, one can find hints, strategies and models on how to deal with these bugbears. The subheading Direct your Talents helps you harness your talents by offering real concrete ideas to organize, prioritize, motivate and obviate blockages. If you're like me and don't know what you want to be when you grow up, click on Discover Your Talents and Liisa and Lisa will help you find your passion and take inventory of your talents.

Liisa has also co-authored a recently-released book entitled Happiness Awaits You. Worth a look.

The second website belongs to the London-based The School of Life. Offering good ideas for everyday living, The School of Life offers a variety of programs that allow you to breathe deep and think intelligently about a variety of themes from philosophy to to literature to the visual arts.

Some weekend classes have included contemplating clouds, urban gardening, or visiting behind the scenes at Heathrow. It kind of reminds me of what would happen had Aldous Huxley met The Learning Annex. The smart people at The School of Life have a bibliotherapy service pointing you in the right direction to the books you should discover.

The facility also offers Conversation Dinners at some of London's nicest restaurants and a Breakfast Club where participants can enjoy coffee and muesli along with full-bodied advice on how to handle the stresses of the working day. Like Pam Beesley's "The Finer Things Club" except you get to eat out in London. I believe if I lived in London I would participate. It sounds like something an Iris Murdoch heroine would do.

To get our imaginations going is Carpe Diem Daily, an adjunct of The School of Learning that features a series of daily to-dos that can be thought-provoking, random, or light-hearted. Today's to-do was to invent and define a new word, whereas yesterday's prompt asked "what one thing would you change in the world?", and the day before - show us your scars.

The School of Life posts big thoughts to my Facebook wall too to make me think or shrink depending on the topic.

Check them out. I think you'll enjoy them.

The School of Life

Carpe Diem
The DaVinci Dilemma