Out With the Old Before It Gets Cold

It's a hot summer day so naturally we're thinking of heat?! At the end of the 500 feet of new propane line there will be a fireplace insert to keep the place warm. I have had wood-burning stoves since 1974, in every home I've lived in. The beauty was the natural flames and crackling welcome sounds. The beast was either harvesting or buying firewood and then hauling it up stairs or through snow. I'll miss the ritual of making fire, but my shoulders need a rest.

As luck would have it, our neighbour (also from Windsor, insert joke here: _______) wanted the wood-burner down the hill in his place. But nothing's for free; he had to help me move the 200+ pound steel box out and away. Did somebody say "Make sure you wear your steel toes?"

Nope. But his father-in-law was waiting to help out down below and the Elmira had a new home. So now we're waiting for our new firebox. Darryl's waiting for his unsuspecting brother-in-law to arrive next week for the final lift. Don't tell Louie!

Jack Celebrated

Thick crowds all along the procession route as Jack's casket travelled from city hall to Roy Thompson Hall for an unprecedented State Funeral. If you are a Canadian, you probably watched. If you're not it's hard to explain how much this man meant to a country so yearning for a positive, inclusive, dignified change from our stale and caustic political scene at all levels. He has been called part Gandhi, part Martin Luther King Jr., part Trudeau, and part bar band guitar player! His love for family and his hope for his granddaughter's future glowed in the video tribute.

So you either feel it itensely, or not. I joined the tens of thousands watching on screens by the hall. The most emotional moments included the invocation from a B.C. native elder to bless the space "so a good result could happen". Jack's favourite songs ---- including his optimistic theme song Rise Up sung with exuberance by friend Lorraine Segato. The dignity of wife Olivia, reminiscent of Jackie Kennedy in her finest hour. The warm/funny/personal words of Jack's minister (dressed in academic robes so as to respresent all faiths). Roaring cheers, standing ovations, and applause as Canada's most eloquent speaker, Stephen Lewis, invoked Jack Layton's social justice Manifesto as Canada's call to action. Tear-jerking, heart-wrenching, spirit-moving.

"My friends, change is just around the corner because I can already hear her breathing...".

More Chalk Talk

There are 1000's of very heartfelt and creative chalk tributes to Jack at city hall square. Here are a few of them...

Jack's Chalk of Fame

The outpouring of affection and respect for Jack Layton continued last evening and overnight. In warm summer breezes, Toronto's City Hall Square overflowed with "Chalk of Fame" tributes and a sea of orange, his iconic colour. We joined the other tens of thousands in line to pass the honour-guarded casket. Pat was singled out to speak with Jack's son Michael (who is following in Jack's footsteps as a city councillor). Huge processions of bicyclists arrived from all directions. This lead-up to Saturday's extremely rare State Funeral was as much a celebration of the man, as a mass mourning. The CN Tower and Niagara Falls will be orange all night. Toronto was showing its true colours too --- apparently we cheered and cried in orange.

Jack and Olivia's House

By all accounts, the realtionship between Jack Layton and his (similarly-successful) wife Olivia Chow was a true love affair. Despite their high profile, they lived (with Olivia's mom!) in a modest home in Toronto's leafy and lively core. They practiced what they preached by riding a bike everywhere, having solar panels on the roof, a thick urban garden, and a mural of 2 doves on the exterior ---- symbolizing world peace or their own peaceful world??

Their neighbourhood bordered a university campus, old China Town, and the city hall district: a perfect reflection of their influences and constituents and intellect. We stopped at the house, half expecting Jack to step out and offer spring rolls and summer laughs. Instead it is another of many shrines to a man already dearly missed.

Jack Layton 1950-2011

I seldom think of the words "respect' and "politician" at the same time. In a dumb-downed gang of a**-lickers and barking seals that pass for our government, Jack Layton stood out as a principled passionate true leader and champion of social justice in Canada. He stood for integrity instead of corruption, persuasion instead of bullying, and optimism instead of fear-mongering. In fact, in the last sentence of his last message to Canadians Jack said:

"My friends --- Love is better than anger and

Hope is better than fear..."

And combined with his love of music and bicycles, he lived just that . Over 20 years as a Toronto councillor and then leader of the New Democratic Party until his greatest triumph in May ---- Official Leader of the Opposition. Unprecedented, historic, joyful. He gave new hope in a time of cynicism and despair. Even Quebec loved Bon Jack!

So this morning as a fiery dawn lit the way, we came to Toronto to pay respects at his office. Thanks and praise in many languages, flowers in his iconic colour orange, and most poignantly a bicycle seat of affection.