It's a holiday weekend in most of Canada --- and only mid-summer despite all the Back To School sales! Up on the hill the blackbirds have been flocking and flying low in huge numbers, maybe 100 or 200 at a time, like the ones in the horror movies. The gardens are providing fruit and veggies daily. Trees and brush on the steep driveway are being pruned for the first time in at least 33 years, like a recluse getting a haircut. And more birds have been ricocheting off the window than usual --- attacking their own reflection? This young oriole is one of many revived by being wrapped in a warm towel.
But before the weekend crowds we took a roadtrip to the beauty spots of Ontario's lakes district. The scenery truly sums up Canada --- waterfalls, ancient Precambrian shield of rock, and the rusty railroad bridges that tied the nation together. Cottage country is now year-round living. There's even bocce ball courts in the sand!
My life has been anchored in three cities --- Windsor, Toronto, and Owen Sound. Coincidentally, each of those has a huge part in celebrating Emancipation Day this weekend. (History lesson: Emancipation Day marks the August in 1833 when the British Empire declared that all people in the British Colonies are free men and women.)Toronto is hosting North America's biggest Caribbean Carnival with a million people jumping up and steel-drumming. But Windsor and Owen Sound were the terminals of the Underground Railway that brought freedom --- "emancipation"--- to escaped slaves from the U.S. Today, descendants and American visitors pay homage to those dark days, when ultimately black lives mattered.
These days streams of refugees, or whole countries, yearn for emancipation. Will history repeat itself, or is it all water under the bridge??
But before the weekend crowds we took a roadtrip to the beauty spots of Ontario's lakes district. The scenery truly sums up Canada --- waterfalls, ancient Precambrian shield of rock, and the rusty railroad bridges that tied the nation together. Cottage country is now year-round living. There's even bocce ball courts in the sand!
My life has been anchored in three cities --- Windsor, Toronto, and Owen Sound. Coincidentally, each of those has a huge part in celebrating Emancipation Day this weekend. (History lesson: Emancipation Day marks the August in 1833 when the British Empire declared that all people in the British Colonies are free men and women.)Toronto is hosting North America's biggest Caribbean Carnival with a million people jumping up and steel-drumming. But Windsor and Owen Sound were the terminals of the Underground Railway that brought freedom --- "emancipation"--- to escaped slaves from the U.S. Today, descendants and American visitors pay homage to those dark days, when ultimately black lives mattered.
These days streams of refugees, or whole countries, yearn for emancipation. Will history repeat itself, or is it all water under the bridge??
No comments:
Post a Comment