Monday Morning March 10: With glowing hearts..

We do most of our living between Friday night and Monday morning.  Monday morning is the time to reflect on the weekend and get back into our week day routine . As I get older it becomes more difficult to get myself  moving on Monday morning.   I guess that is part of what retirement planning is about - letting go of the weekday routine and spreading the rest of your life over seven days!

Monday, March 10, 2014

With glowing hearts... a phrase from our national anthem that
describes the pride of a nation.

As a rule, Canadians are not overtly patriotic people.  Ours is a more quiet patriotism.   It is rare to experience a Canadian boastful about our country.


 However when it comes to hockey our patriotic blood boils over.   At the Olympics Canadians are the most vocal and demonstrative hockey fans.  When I was at the World Junior tournament in Buffalo,  the  Canadians attending burst into singing O'Canada , our national anthem while standing in line to get in to the arena!

Last weekend, after the Olympics were over , I was sitting in the mezzanine at our local public market.   An adult choir was setting up to perform   On a busy market day, the entertainment on the mezzanine level is always somewhat background ambiance to the normal activity of the merchants and the shoppers.

But this choir started with  O' Canada.  Very unusual.  It was very moving to watch from my second floor
location, the market slowly become still.  First, the persons on the mezzanine sitting at tables all  stood. The people on the first floor they couldn't see the choir, but as the music travelled down to the first floor, shoppers stopped in the middle of the aisles, parents picked up their toddlers and paused, shopkeepers stopped and bowed their head.   The normal chaos of the market became very quiet except for the choir singing.

I love Olympic and World Junior hockey and no one is a bigger fan of our Canadian hockey teams than me.
However when that bustling public market became quietly and respectfully still, it was more moving than tens of thousands of fans, with painted faces waving flags.