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Monday, November 11, 2013, is Remembrance Day in Canada.
Remembrance Day commemorates the sacrifices of people in all armed conflicts. Many people wear commemorative poppies on their clothes in the weeks before Remembrance Day. Red poppies symbolize the memory of those who died.The use of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance comes from a poem written by John McCrae, a Canadian doctor serving in the military. The poem is called In Flanders Fields and describes the poppies growing in the graveyards where soldiers were buried.

“In Flanders Fields”

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915, during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium.

Photo source: Google images

Toronto, mayor Rob Ford was shown on videotape pacing around an unknown living room ranting gibberish and gesticulating wildly.

In Toronto, Canada lately, the news is all about Rob Ford. Another story or video emerges and goes viral. Our city hall has become a zoo with reporters camped out all the time in front of the mayor’s office. City counsellors and staffers alike engulfed in the daily drama that takes them away from important city business and their jobs. This has affected the whole city. Workopolis polls even show 65% of respondents saying they lost productivity at work because “this is all everyone’s talking about.”

Today it’s about another video. The Toronto Star released footage that shows the mayor inebriated and acting foolish in a private home. They purchased the video for 5K, released it, and it went viral. More fodder for American late night talk shows.

Most of us know by now that Ford shouldn’t be our mayor in his current state. He needs to step down and seek help. There is no need for the media to keep piling on every day. Journalists need to stop harassing him at home. This city needs to get back to work. ^

The video sourced, along with the mayor’s response is added below.

WARNING: Graphic content. 

Mayor Rob Ford Caught In Video Rant

The Toronto Star, Toronto’s highest-circulation newspaper has obtained video of Mayor Rob Ford where he appears to be in a state of extreme agitation. The context in which it was shot is unclear, but his language and mannerisms clearly indicate he’s angry. – Source: You Tube

Moments after the Star published the video online, Ford emerged from his office and apologized.

Mayor Ford’s Public Reaction To The Video Released Earlier

“The Toronto Star just released a video that I was very, very inebriated….”

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s statement following the release of video that show him yelling wildly, swearing profusely and acting erratically. – Source: You Tube

‘Yes I have smoked crack cocaine’ – Rob Ford, Nov 5 2013
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford admits to what many of us suspected for months.

My thought of the day
In light of Mayor Ford’s admission today at city hall and the negative media attention focused on our city, I’d like to assure my friends here in Toronto, across the country and abroad that Toronto is still a great city. A clean, green and liveable city, the place I call home. Mayor Ford does not represent who we are as Torontonians and Canadians. By his actions he’s embarrassed us internationally, he’s become our dirty laundry.

Mayor Ford has been lying to Torontonians for months about this issue and it really saddens me. Most of us have made mistakes in life we regret, and when asked about our lives most of us are honest with our responses. More importantly, we truly learn from our mistakes because we want to be better people and be responsible to those we serve and those we love.

Our mayor needs to take responsibility immediately and take a medical leave of absence or resign, and get help for his problem. It’s the right thing to do.

John Zeus

The Twitterverse was bursting with reaction to Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s admission today. Many people were in shock, with several asking for him to resign. You can follow the buzz using  #TOpoli #RobFord.

Video Source: You Tube

August 2010 | Canoe Trip, Algonquin Provincial Park | Ontario, Canada

Paddling across lilly filled flat water lakes, portaging, hiking, occupying Algonquin with our little yellow canoe. Wildlife sightings! A Great Gray Owl, Moose; mother and calf, Beaver, Blue Heron, Common Loon, a wolf howls…

Thanks for watching the video.
Photos on WordPress: Algonquin Canoe Trip 2010

Photo and Video Source: John Zeus, taken on a Canon Sure Shot
Music Source: Dr. Draw, Rodrigo

Watch the video

Canada’s Tar Sands: Environmental devastation of the land, water and air. The largest industrial energy project in the world is extracting crude oil from bitumen found beneath the pristine boreal forest of Alberta. Effecting a land mass equivalent in size to Florida or England.

Tar sands take 3 barrels of water to process every barrel of oil extracted. Ninety percent of this water becomes so toxic that it must be stored in tailing ponds. Unfortunately these ponds regularly leach pollution into the third largest watershed in the world. Water depletion, exploitation, privatization and contamination has become one of the most important issues facing humanity this century.

Tar sands development can be minimized by blocking development of pipelines, such as Keystone XL, that carry the sludge of this incredibly polluting energy project. Let’s tell Canada to clean up this mess. Ask President Obama to block the Keystone Pipeline.

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline is about All Risk and No Reward for most Americans and Canadians.

We’re going to stop these pipelines one way or another. We’re the ones that’s going to save whatever we have left of this earth. – Chief Martin Louie of the Nadleh Whut’en First Nation in northern B.C.

Adapted content and video source: YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/SustainableGuidance?feature=watch

Watch the video.

3:30 pm EDT – March 16, 2013 | Gores Landing, Rice Lake Ontario, Canada | -7C

Spring is on it’s way. A few more days till the vernal equinox, the calendar says.
This winter won’t let go, Rice Lake is frozen through to the other side.
A cold wind blowing off the wintry lake, we hear the lake moving underneath the ice.
*Splash*,  an otter appears, slipping through a hole in the ice to catch and carry fish to her babies. They nestle underneath the dock. Spring is late this year.

Rice Lake is a lake located in south-eastern Ontario. The lake is 32 km long and 5 km wide. It’s fairly shallow and was named for the wild rice which grew in it and was harvested by the First Nations people of the area.

Photos and Video taken on my Samsung Galaxy S3
Music Source: The Doors – Soul Kitchen

Toronto Ontario, Riverdale Neighbourhood | 10:30am – Thursday January 31, 2012 | Shot using a Samsung Galaxy SIII