I am the proud owner of a Tim Hortons Refill Mug!

liked the green
like the tree that you can’t see on the other side
REALLY like the idea of not adding to the garbage
every time a pick up a Timmies

ps. on a totally other topic, i’ve added a “poetry” category to my posts and moved all the poems i’ve ever posted into there. i was sad not to be able to find them in one click. much happier now. so far, i have two mary oliver’s. need to pick up a book of hers soon. enjoy loves!

I’ve been giggling ever since I heard this story.

One of our local radio talk shows was commenting and taking phone calls about NBC’s recent enormous error in confusing Michael J. Fox for Terry Fox, one of Canada’s legends remembered yearly with The Terry Fox Run.

The theme to the whole conversation was easy to find: do the Americans really know so little about Canada?

And then a Texan got on the phone and confirmed all our worst fears.

He married a Canadian – like me – and moved to the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario – like me – and thought Canadians lived in igloos before his move – I wasn’t that bad, was I? – but was pleasantly surprised to find that they had an actual house upon arriving, that Canada was advanced enough to boast a Burger King and McDonalds and that the country had actual cities.

See, he knew way back in ‘88 that Canada had one city and it was called Calgary. Now, he joked, the Americans must surely surmise that Canada is growing as it seems to have sprouted yet another city, for a grand total of two, called Vancouver.

Wish I could share this talk via actual video, but the best I can do is share the feed. Rabbi Harold Kushner visited Toronto at the end of last year to give a talk based around his latest book, Conquering Fear, Living Boldly in an Uncertain World. I really enjoyed the depth and breadth of his insight and spirituality. He covers many topics, though he starts with fear, but does not ever seem to be wandering. What he says regarding fundamentalism, fear, not being intimidated, God vs. nature and what God has in store for our lives all struck me deeply. I’ve yet to read his books, but his name keeps popping up lately and the quality of message in this talk makes me think long and hard about doing so soon.

The Rabbi’s talk was aired on a Canadian television show called Big Ideas. From their website,

“BIG IDEAS is a showcase of ideas that shape our public debates. At their best the lectures featured on the program expose us to the differing ways of defining what matters and how that affects our understanding of the world as it is and as it is likely to be… Each age has a set of questions by which it defines itself. If, 50 years from now, someone came across a list of BIG IDEAS shows, they would have a pretty good idea of what people thought about and debated in the early 2000s.”

From this link to the Big Ideas website, you can see the video or listen to the audio. We get the show in podcast form via iTunes each week. Expand your world view and have a listen. It certainly did for me.

Having recently finished President Obama’s The Audacity of Hope and had the flames of love rekindled in hope for the future of my home country, True Patriot Love was a welcome and introspective look at the national identity of my other home. Mr. Michael Ignatieff looks back through four generations of his family at the role each played in shaping the Canadian identity.

“Family traditions are more than arguments with the dead, more than collections of family letters you try to decipher. A tradition is also a channel of memory through which fierce and unrequited longings surge, longings that define and shape a whole life. “

If you are reading this from America, you might be asking yourself “What Canadian identity?” with an incredulous look on your face. My answer to that would be “Exactly!” Ever since stepping foot in this expansive land, I have known deeply that something about it was fundamentally different than the US. But you have to look deeply to find it. Because for all exterior purposes, Canadians look just like Americans and the few minor differences have become cliches and frequent targets of comedians, eh?

With a swift pace that carries you along willingly, his retelling is filled with historical detail and the romantic imaginings of the bigger picture he is trying to paint. The theme of the book is carried very well throughout. The Canada that was always undescribable to me is, after this reading, much more at my fingertips. And political situations that used to make me scratch my head have suddenly come into the light.

“Because we remain a land of hope and opportunity, and new Canadians see in our unfinished destiny an image of their own unfinished destines.”

I particularly admire his humility upon what he calls “The Inheritance” of all these generations upon himself and what he feels is his responsibility to go forward for the good of Canada. The last chapter bears this same name and where every other chapter has drawn each ancestor in a larger than life fashion, Mr. Ignatieff chooses not to detail the accomplishments of his own years. Rather he looks forward to what he believes are the next hurdles for Canada as a nation.

Excellent and inspirational. I really liked it.

“The next morning… Grant awoke, rubbed his eyes and stepped out into bright sunshine. They had broken through the forest cover and he was standing on the edge of the Prairies.

‘I found myself in Paradise,’ Grant scribbled excitedly into his diary.

A vast whispering ocean of green grass, waist high, sprinkled with wildflowers, yellow, lilac and white, stretched to the horizon, perfectly flat, under a vast blue sky. The elemental stillness was broken only by the whispering grass and snatches of birdsong. There was not a building, not a fence, not a column of smoke in sight.”

In my continual efforts to improve relations across the border, I’d like to introduce you all to the favourites (with a u!) of a Canadian trick or treat bag. These treats make our ghouls, goblins and super heroes sooo happy.

Specimen #1: Coffee Crisp from the Nestle company “makes a nice light snack.” How surprised I was to discover that my love of all things coffee does not extent to this chocolate bar. The kids love them however, and my son lined them up along the floor parallel to the Kit Kat. I think it started as two different piles that eventually reached and reached and just barely touched each other. What a nice pictorial metaphor of north meeting south.

#2  is Aero, also from the Nestle company. Bubbles, lots and lots of bubbles!

This third picture includes Oh Henry and Crispy Crunch. The latter is the Canadian version of Butterfinger, but imho doesn’t hold a candle to the peanut-buttery wonder I grew up with. hehe

And finally, the eternal debate: what is a Rocket and what is a Smartie?

The first picture shown above contains what I grew up knowing as the little tablets of pure sugar called Smarties. No way man, here they are called Rockets. Because the name Smarties is reserved and beloved by all Canadians as a slighty different but no less tasty version of an M&M.

That Peter Puck in the picture is the only treat that was new to me. Apparently Hanna Barbara invented this little guy in 1973 at the request of an NBC sports executive. He was featured in little shorts intended to teach kids about the game of hockey and that would play during commercial breaks of NHL games. He’s really quite adorable. Check out this recently reinvigorated Canadian icon turned Halloween candy and his short videos on the CBC website.

Hope I’ve helped defer any international incidents of a Halloween nature.  Happy chocolates everyone!!!

ps. no i was not rifling through the candy bags this morning. it is my children’s halloween ritual to sort and organize their loot then trade like mad with each other. two crispy crunches for that mars bar?