I Got Mail!

Yes indeed!  A package arrived for me today, the old school kind of mail - in a big blue bag labeled Royal Mail!  Score!  My copies of Empire Magazine have finally arrived! I ordered all five covers. Of course I am especially pleased to have this one.  It was also the first one to be SOLD OUT!

3D photography by Nels Israelson

(Thanks for sharing the link Meredith!)

I am getting very excited about The Hobbit movie.  Christmas will almost be an afterthought once I have experienced this long awaited triumph!  To sit in a darkened theatre seat and finally see my favourite actor in a major role on the big screen in 3D no less!  I can only hope I don't have a heart attack!!

I haven't posted any trailers for this movie yet, but now I've come across a fan-made compilation of all the trailers so far!  Thank you to Diane at C19 for posting the link to this!

I won't be getting into the city to see this when it first premieres but hopefully by the next week I will have seen it.  How will I stand the wait?!

Storm Watch

Seeing the devastation that Hurricane Sandy has wreaked on the east coast of the United States made me a bit embarrassed of my complaints about my own experience with the first winter storm of the season on the days before Thanksgiving Day weekend.  After all, I live in Canada's north.  I am used to snow storms and power outages (although winter ones are much worse).  But what the people in the wake of Hurricane Sandy have had to endure is like nothing I've ever experienced!  And, although I've never had the pleasure of visiting New York City, it was heart breaking to see the images of floods and damage, not to mention the crowds of homeless people in that great city.

I couldn't help thinking about the only person I knew who lived there.  We haven't been hearing from Bccmee much lately since she took an indefinite hiatus from her blog.  I knew she was a very proud New Yorker and I very worried about her.  So I sent her an email a couple of weeks ago to see how she was doing.  I figured the rest of you would want to hear about her too.  Here is her reply to my query about how she had weathered the storm.

Thanks so much for your note! It's really terrible what happened. Iwas very lucky since I live inland. Our power stayed on and there was no flooding. The biggest damage was to our trees and cars and some buildings sustained relatively minor damage. Here are some photos I took yesterday of the aftermath in my neighborhood:

October 30, 2012

 You can see plenty of damage from downed trees

After the tree was hauled away 

Luckily no one was hurt!

 She said that she had thought about posting this on her blog, but she wanted to keep that space "happy".

Well, since today is her birthday, I would like to wish Bccmee a very Happy Birthday, and send her many good wishes.  I am very glad she is doing well and though I miss her amazing blog posts I hope she is enjoying herself out in the real world.

And to those people who were adversely affected by Hurricane Sandy, I hope things get better for you very soon!

Day for Remembrance

Today, I remember my father.  He was born 100 years ago yesterday.  He is not alive today, having been grateful to pass away in his 90th year, long after life ceased to be of interest to him.  Although he was lucky not to suffer any real physical ailments, he was a proud man and he was tired from the gradual loss of his independence and his sense of dignity.

He was a hard man to know -- incomprehensible to his children.  His frequent bouts of bombastic temper are family legend now.  But despite his failings as a parent, we knew he cared about us.  He was there for us, to support us in every way that a father can.

What I remember most about him was his sense of humour.  He loved wordplay and our family had quite a few invented words (almost our own language) which we all contributed to, and he enjoyed very much. As he was in his late 40s when I was born, I don't remember him as a very active father, our shared pursuits were more sedentary - reading, watching television, and playing board games like checkers, crockinole and chess.

His old friends remembered his sense of humour. When I was in my late teens and we moved to southern Ontario I had the privilege of meeting one of Dad's friends from his RCAF squandron in WWII.  I could tell from his manner that he still held a lot of respect for my father and my Dad was equally thrilled to meet with him again.

Here is a picture of the squandron taken in 1945 at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, UK.

Thanks to my sister for providing the picture!

For more about my Dad, here is my post from last year:

Bombs Away

And last, but not ever least, here is Rick Mercer ranting about the Canadian federal government's latest injustice to our Veterans.