Betty

One of the most fascinating women I have ever met was Betty Noe.  B and I met her when we were guests of a mutual friend on a private island on Lac des Trente et un Milles, located at the Gatineau Fish & Game Club in Point Comfort, Quebec.

Betty was a close relative of the Louisiana State Governor, so needless to say, she was pretty well connected in those southern parts.  For some reason, Betty took an instant liking to me and we got on like a house on fire.  Even her two nieces, who were there with us, could not understand how Betty and I clicked -- to the point that I could insult her about anything anytime.  

"Betty, no one cares what you think," I'd say, when she was rambling on.  Rather than get upset, we'd both roar uproariously.  "How do you get away with that with Aunt Betty," they'd ask incredulously.  "If we did that we'd be banished!"

Betty never appeared at breakfast without every hair in place in her carefully coifed locks, bright red lipstick and resplendent in a perfectly coordinated outfit -- even as I appeared in a terrycloth robe, having just swum around the one-km island.

Betty Noe.

Frankly, I don't know how I got away with how we interacted, but I did.  "Nancy, you must come visit me in New Orleans," she said one day over pre-prandial cocktails.  "We'd love to!" I replied, never thinking for one minute she'd actually follow up.

But she did.  Back home the next February the phone rang.  "Nayancee, when are ya'all coming here?" Betty asked.  So we did.  When we arrived, her chauffeur met us at the airport and took us to her magnificent Antebellum home in the Garden District with its majestic verandah and lush gardens.  

There, she introduced us to her cook, her maid and the gardener -- all Black, I might add; that was the culture.  I was flabbergasted.  I mean, I knew she had money, not just how much.  We had our own suite on the top floor and spent a wonderful week enjoying that lovely town and her lavish hospitality.  

One day, B and I decided to take a bus tour of New Orleans and as we drove by one house I said, "B, that's Betty and Jimmy's house and that's our room on the top floor!"  Yep, her home was on the tour. 

"I didn't like the neighbours behind us," she told me one day.  "So Jimmy bought the house and got rid of them."  Yep, that's what it was like.  

Another, her driver took us to a charity luncheon called 'The Mad Hatter's Lunch'; luckily, I had brought a decent hat.  We were seated at a prominent table and every woman in the place came by to pay homage to the Doyenne of New Orleans and her charming peasant friend from Canada, me.

Betty on the left at the Mad Hatter's Lunch (that's not me on the right.  I'm below.)

As one women left, Betty said, "Nayancee, you know that woman I just introduced you to?"  "Yes," I replied.  "She seemed very nice."  "A kill'a bee-itch from Hell," Betty said.  I nearly fell off my chair, but she said it behind her signature huge smile, so no one was the wiser. 

Another, we were sitting laughing in her drawing room while the maid was sweeping one of her superb Oriental carpets.  She said something in contradiction to Betty at which Betty swung around and said, "If I told you to dig up dirt and throw it on the carpet, you'd do it."  Again, I was dumbfounded!  Again, that was the culture.  

Later, I found out that all Betty's staff lived in the lowland area most devastated by Katrina.  What did she do?  She built all her servants -- including the maid she had just torn a strip off of -- new homes and looked after everything for them and their families.  A devout Catholic, Betty also she paid for the restoration of her church and bought them a new Casavant Frères organ.

As for the family name, Noe, I pointed out that it was probably from the French, "Nault", but no one bought it.  I think I was right, but her son argued it was German.  I begged to differ because my explanation made more sense, but I let it lie.

Betty and her eccentric husband, Jimmy, had five children, one of whom was gay.  When James finally came out to Betty he said, weeping, "Mum, I have to tell you something, I'm gay."  Her reply?  "Honey, you're not gay you're miserable."  What a retort and completely honest.  Loved that about her.  

Betty Noe a walking contradiction, but I loved her.  Sadly, she died a few years ago.  Her charm, grace and wit, however, will not soon be forgotten.        

p.s. That's me in the hat I wore to The Mad Hatter's Lunch.  It's also the hat I wore when I met Queen Elizabeth in London. 

Incomprehensible

Carney is deliberately incomprehensible.  Try as I might -- and I watched it twice -- I could not figure out what he was saying when he addressed the EU in Strasbourg.  

"I hope -- and I believe......" he said at one point.  What does that even mean?  You cannot put those two words into the same sentence.  Either you "hope", or you "believe".  You can't do both.  He's starting to remind me of the turgid, baffling and  and obfuscating Andrew Coyne -- one of the worst writers I have ever read. 

"We believe that a strong economy is not an end in itself, but the means to a just society.  We are committed stewards of our natural heritage. We believe that our prosperity grows when it is shared," he said.  

No, a strong economy is the end, Mark, it is not just the means.  Again, what does that even mean?  And, "...committed stewards of our natural heritage..."  Coming from the guy who has just sold us out to the EU and its crippling regulations is rich.  Huh?!

Read his whole speech.  It is a master class of gobbledygook, but the braying donkeys in Strasbourg -- desperate to keep their jobs -- bought in hook, line and sinker, clapping like trained seals begging for a rancid fish or two.

Ursula planting the kiss of economic death on Canada.  Trump, however, will have the last word.

   

Two gentlemen

The coverage of the anniversary of the death of Les Emmerson prompted a lovely memory.  A number of years ago, B and I were invited to a party hosted by Les' (or is it "Les's?) sister, Darlene, because B was a great friend of her boyfriend.  Sitting at a picnic bench on my own, I was joined by a charming man, who turned out to be Les. 

The two of us just sat for three hours and talked.  No one interrupted.  He was very smart and engaging, something I wonder if people knew?  To most, he was just the lead singer of  'The Five Man Electrical Band', with hits like 'Signs' and 'You can cry your eyes out'.  That afternoon he was just a smart, charming guy and I was captivated.

Never ran across him again, but he left a lasting impression.

The late, great Les Emmerson.

________________

Talking to another old friend last night, we started reminiscing, as we always do, about old times.  JR and I go back almost 60 years!  He was married to my late cousin and I think he never fell out of love with her.  She died 24 years ago and his second wife five months ago.  As I say, I am in the death zone!

Anyway, one guy we talked about was an old beau of mine.  "I could never figure Paddy out?" I said.  "I mean, we dated for a whole summer, when he flew me back and forth from Toronto to Ottawa every weekend and back, where we stayed at his cottage at Lac Ste. Marie, but he was not romantic in the least," I said.

I soon learned what "not romantic" meant.  "I think he was gay," said my friend.  Well, now it all makes perfect sense!  We slept in the same bed, but absolutely nothing happened.  Weird.  I mean, I was 22 years old and relatively hot.  

Paddy was from a very prominent old Ottawa family.  He was handsome and charming in the extreme and died a few years ago.  At last everything about our "romance" made perfect sense.  You never know who's what!  May Paddy Rest in Peace.         

I was 33...........

..........when my first marriage fell apart.  But to his credit, my ex (now deceased, may he RIP) husband gave me two wonderful children, who were four and nine months old when we parted.

However, when life gives you lemons...........  And that's what I did, I made the best lemonade you could ever have wished for.  I rented a lovely house on Rockcliffe Way in Lindenlea, which happened to be right down the street from my parents' house, the one in which I had grown up.

Life at 43 Rockcliffe Way were the happiest two years of my life.  I had my independence, I hired a live-in nanny -- my literal wife -- and I was free!  With no child support, I was on my own and relished it.  Wild oats were sown in those years, when I would go out with girlfriends to dives like 'The Golden Rail' on Montreal Road and other such fun dumps in Hull.  

Me outside 43 Rockcliffe Way, where I lived in bliss.

We used to do things like send over drinks to cute guys at other tables we didn't even know.  I got a kick out of waving and smiling at the shocked recipients, when the waiter turned and pointed out the woman who had bought them.  It was one night at the Rail where I met a charming 23-year-old long-haul trucker and began a short, devil-may-care fling.  He was so much fun and frankly it was damn the torpedoes! 

I wonder where Bruce is these days?  Sadly, this period only lasted a brief time, until I met B and inherited his baggage.  I thought I was marrying one man, but I married his clingy, destructive ex and two more children.  His wicked daughter has nothing to do with him -- on orders from her evil, but rich,  mother -- and his son is lost and forlorn back in Ottawa.  By the way, I am not telling you anything I haven't told B a million times and he agrees.  "Yep, 43 were your best years," he admits.

Ah well, all's well that ends well.  I now have my beautiful grandchildren to dote on, but I do look wistfully back on these years with comforting nostalgia.  

Another dumb and dangerous move

So, Carney, in his economic brilliance, has got us smack dab stuck in the European Union.  That'll be a disaster.  In fact, it's already had consequences, as Trump announces that all Canadian goods and services will be immediately removed from U.S. federal procurement lists.

The ink wasn't even dry on the EU agreement when Trump immediately removed Canadian products from U.S. procurement lists.

Brilliant!

There he was, front and centre in Brussels grinning like a Cheshire cat, as von der Leyen welcomed him -- and Canada -- aboard.  But don't say he didn't warn you.  He has been touting Canada as a "European" country since before he snatched power.  He describes himself as a "Europhile".  Was no one -- except a few of us with a brain in our heads -- listening?  Apparently not. 

He claimed that he pulled out of trade negotiations with the U.S. because of "sovereignty" issues.  What he doesn't mention is that there will be many and much more restrictive regulations Canada to which Canada will have to adhere as part of the EU and they will make Canada less productive and poorer.  But, of course, no one mentions this.  Except me. 

Former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi warned two years ago that Europe faced a "slow agony of decline".  Draghi left back then, amidst the reality of a continually bloating and useless EU bureaucracy.  The continent is an economic also-ran, so why is Carney dragging us into it?  Frankly, I'm still trying to figure it out?   

Before jetting in to Brussels, he stopped over in Jolly Old to catch a soccer match with the incompetent new PM Andy Burnham.  The image of Carney squealing with joy, while Canada descends further into economic doom is so wrong.  Either he has stupid advisors, or he has none and just does whatever his arrogant self pleases.  I believe it's the latter.  

Carney living it up.  Nero fiddles while Rome burns.

Carney and his new down-at-the-heels paramour.

  

Checkmate

Or maybe it was just check?  That's what I thought when I read about Stephen Harper's speaking at Carney's 'Investment Summit' in Toronto.  I wondered how Carney would let that happen, a former Conservative prime minister speaking to international investors?

But then I thought, well, that sort of check's Carney's whitewash and phony conference.  And, let's face it, Carney is really a Conservative at heart.  Harper is now the chair of the Alberta Investment Management Corp., so Carney could hardly have refused to let him speak.  

"This had to be a very difficult decision, but I do believe that our government had no choice," said Harper.  "We must pursue diminished reliance on the United States.  I find this all very sad, but just as equally necessary."

Former prime minister Stephen Harper.

When I say "phony conference", I mean that it isn't bringing in more money.  No, it's bringing in about half of what the Liberals lost in money which fled in terror over the last 10 years over their disastrous policies.  So, frankly, it's not even a wash.

The tables hadn't even been cleared when Carney hightailed it over to Europe to put the finishing details on his "associate member of the European Union" sleight-of-hand.  Make no mistake, Carney is bound to get us all wrapped up in the EU -- which will be a disaster because the EU is falling apart at the economic seams and guess who'll be expected to inject millions to shore it up?  Rhetorical.

Folks, we don't have the money!

Carney walked away from a deal with the U.S. because of sovereignty issues, but joining the EU will seriously diminish Canadian sovereignty and make it much worse.  The EU regulates everything and Canada will have to abide its strangling regulations!  

He has also announced he will be giving airports over to private interests.  Is he insane?!  And he's doing it all by declaration, with absolutely no Parliamentary debate or approval.  He is operating by illegal fiat!  These moves are very, very serious and he has to be stopped!

Carney has been a calamity and a tragedy for Canada.  He is hiding his evil George Soros agenda behind a mask of "Trump's the problem, the sky is falling and it's all his fault!"

Canadians are in a lather, but for the wrong reason.

How can Canadians continue to fall for this?  These people are sleepwalking the country further into financial doom.  

This is why it's not always a good idea to go to university

Re-printed from 'The Catholic League' newsletter, by Bill Donahue.  It is shocking and probably the same -- or worse -- in Canada.  The presidents of the two biggest offenders are female, which, sadly, doesn't say much about our gender these days: 

___________________

September 14, 2026

 

"Every year we learn about the status of free speech on college campuses from the surveys taken by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). The 2027 “College Free Speech Rankings” that was recently published covers 261 colleges and universities encompassing almost 63,000 student responses to questions about free speech on campus.

"At the top of the list is the University of Chicago. Last place went to my alma mater, New York University."  (Note: the president is Lisa Mills.) "Of the 261 schools, 121 received a grade of “F” for their commitment to free speech; only 24 received a grade of “C” or higher.

"Students were asked about 22 controversial topics discussed on campus. The top ten most difficult to discuss are the following:

1. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict

2. Donald Trump

3. Charlie Kirk

4. Abortion

5. Immigration

6. Transgender rights

7. Gun control

8. Racial inequality

9. Religion

10. Gay rights

"It is conservative students, of course, who are feeling the pinch more than any other students.

"Students were asked about three kinds of protest that in normal times would have received little support. But we live in abnormal times.

• 69% say that shouting down a speaker is acceptable
• 50% say it is okay to block the speaker from speaking
• 30% approve of using violence to stop the speaker

"It is a sure bet that if truck drivers were asked about the same items, they would evince a more tolerant attitude. That’s one of the benefits of not going to college—you are less likely to be a fascist.

"Of the 261 colleges, eleven were Catholic. All got lousy scores.

"The grade of “D-” that Georgetown* received is better than the other ten, all of which received an “F.” Those schools are, in descending order, Fordham,* Duquesne, Marquette,* Notre Dame, Creighton,* Dayton, DePaul, Villanova, Loyola University of Chicago,* and Boston College.* The last two were ranked #254 and #255, respectively. [*Jesuit schools.]

"The biggest rip-off Catholic school in the country is Fordham University. Why? The Washington Post recently did an analysis of the most expensive colleges in the nation. Fordham is the eighth most expensive: it costs $102,188 a year. Yet it merited an “F” for respecting the right of students to exercise free speech."

(Note: the President is Tania Tetlow, look her up, a frothing Liberal.)

"Why are some of the more prominent Catholic colleges such hotbeds of intolerance? Note that six of the eleven are run by Jesuits. They need to explain themselves. Perhaps Father James Martin can shine some light on this.

 

"Parents of students looking for colleges to attend next year need to read the FIRE survey. If free speech is a problem on campus, that alone is reason to shop around."