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. 

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 what his arrogant self pleases.  

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."

I'm sick of being called...........

..........a "Karen" on facebook.  And it's always the same gang, Black women*.  I am a lot of things, but I am not a "Karen".  Why do some Black women seem to think that all middle-class white women must be "Karen's"?

(*Note:  Before you call me racist, remember there is only one race, the Human race; everything else is culture, upbringing and personal decisions.  Let's just get that out of the way.)

Talk about jumping to conclusions and lumping us all into one group!  Does this label come from envy?  Frankly, I'd call it prejudice and the odious Meghan Markle is a master at being both a Black woman, trashing the White Monarchy, and a wanna-be "Karen" at the same time. 

I do know at least one "Karen".  She and her husband used to invite us up to their beautiful island, Half Crown, on 'Lac des Trente et un Milles" in Quebec every summer for a beautiful week.  This "Karen", I'll call her "J", was so perfect every female guest had to hide her light -- however dim -- under a bushel.  (They only invited us because B had been president of the GF&GC and her husband, then the president, wanted to pick his brain.  Hence, she had to tolerate me.)

When helping out in the kitchen, I was careful not to refer to myself as a sous-chef, or G-d forbid an actual chef!  No, I called myself a scullery maid and  was permitted to do the dishes -- and only the dishes.  Every offer I extended to make something, like fritters for example (which anyone can make from anything), was rebuffed in case they were too good.  We were permitted to make Indian because that was cultural and charming and therefore not threatening.

Me in the kitchen at Half Crown.

That was the only holiday during which I lost weight.  J was always on some fad or other.  One year it was nothing white (Note: don't bother with black rice), another it was no carbs.  You name it, J globed onto it.

Once I had to travel back to Ottawa mid-week and her husband allowed me to pilot one of his boats solo off the island -- something he apparently never let J do.  As I was zooming off, a fellow guest, watching from the window, said in admiration, "Is there nothing that woman can't do?!"

She also fancied herself a brilliant painter and one afternoon sat in the living room painting.  Intrigued, I came over to admire her work.  What did I see?  Gobsmacked, I saw she was doing paint-by-numbers!!!!

For some reason, she stopped inviting us.  Was it the boat ride?  The fritters?  My sense of style?  Who knows, but I will give that place one huge credit:  It was where I first started back swimming seriously.  

Sitting there one afternoon, sipping a cocktail, I saw two other women guests swimming around the island.  Naturally, my competitiveness took over and, having been a serious swimmer in my youth, decided I had to get in that water and do the same.  It was about one km around and I began to do it every day.  When I returned to the city, I joined the local pool and have been pounding the lanes ever since.  I did the math and have since swum about 8,500 kms.  (Imagine how fat I'd be if I hadn't!)

So, thank you, J.  You did me a favour -- even though you didn't mean to.

      

    

  

Well, well, well

All this talk about names and re-naming countries and lakes pales when you realize where the name "America" came from.  Charles Spearin, a Toronto-based etymological historian, has researched the name and low and behold, America is named after someone called Amerigo Vespucci.

And was this guy?  He was a Forentine merchant who kept the books for the Medici family and made a handful of voyages to the New World who deduced, correctly and ahead of Columbus, that they hadn't reached Asia after all.  Thus, Vespucci called this new continent the New World.  

The modern spelling of America came from a German cartographer, Martin Waldseemuller, who was putting together a new map and needed something to call this fourth continent.  Europe, Asia, Africa were all female names, so Waldseemuller latinized and feminized Amerigo's first name and came up with "America".

Who knew!!??

So, America wasn't named after an Indigenous or family name, like Canada which was derived from the Iroquoian word for "village", or "Ontario", a Wendat name for that great lake which pre-dates the united States, Canada and the very idea of either.  No, it was named after an Italian.

Vespucci's mother, Lisa Mini, had a son in 1454 and named him Amerigo, which was a fairly ordinary Florentine name at the time.  Little could she know that half a millennium later, a nation of 340 million would build its entire identity around her son's first name:  America.

Who knew!!??

Well, no one, but with a little research, we do now.  So, who has the last laugh?  Certainly not Trump, who undoubtedly does not know America is Italian.  You have to laugh at the absurdity of the whole mess from the ground up.  

So, next time you hear "American the Beautiful", picture that glowing little Italian bambino, Amerigo Vespucci, and smile.

Little Amerigo Vespucci, awaiting his destiny.

     

Brain health?

I laugh when I see ads for navel gazing seminars on things like 'Women's Mental and Brain Health'.  I think of my Mother, who would never in a million years have  entertained any such notion.  Her recipe for "brain health" was getting breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table every day.

A money-maker if ever there was one.

She didn't use words like "narcissistic", but that's what she would have thought of such gatherings.  The most practical, commonsense woman I have ever known -- except for her two sisters, who were exactly the same -- Lillian did things, she made stuff happen.  She didn't ponder.

She shopped, she cooked, she played in a neighbourhood mixed bridge club, she hosted cocktail parties and ladies' dessert bridge parties, she sewed, she mended, she canned fruit and made preserves, she celebrated every feast day with an elaborate family lunch, she faithfully went to church every Sunday, she took me to the funeral parlour from the age of four to teach me to not be afraid of dead bodies and to pay my respects when an acquaintance died, she played tennis, she did laundry, she ironed everything -- and taught me to iron, starting with my Father's hankies, she was part of a community daycare cooperative, she made sure my Brownie and Girl Guide uniforms were clean and sharp, she enrolled me in ballet lessons and a thousand other things I can't even remember. 

As I said, she did things.  I once asked her what was wrong with Mrs. So-and-so down the street, who it was said, had had a nervous breakdown, and she replied -- without looking up from peeling carrots, "She just took a notion, dear."

And that was that.  No discussion, no analysis.  Nothing.  Kind of the perfect answer.  I asked my scientist father the same question and he said, "It's caused by a lack of sleep."  That was it from him too and when I think about it, both explanations make sense.

To the psychiatrists making millions off nervous breakdowns, I am sure you are not amused, but breakfast, lunch and dinner had to happen, regardless of how you "felt".  Feelings were also a verboten topic in our house.  I never once heard either of my parents express their feelings.  I mean, everyone had them and no one needed to talk, or care, about yours.  

Cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead once said that civilization happens when a society had a reliable source of food.  If you have time for brain health seminars, you are overly-civilized.