Playground In My Mind - Clint Holmes

I remember this song was popular when we first moved to Canada (lyrics below video). One of those sunshiny, happy songs from the early seventies...



When this old world gets me down
And there's no love to be found
I close my eyes and soon I find
I'm in a playground in my mind
Where the children laugh and the children play
And we sing a song all day

"My name is Michael, I got a nickel
I got a nickel, shiny and new
I'm gonna buy me all kinds of candy
That's what I'm gonna do"

Oh the wonders that I find
In the playground in my mind
In a world that used to be
Close your eyes and follow me
Where the children laugh and the children play
And we sing a song all day

"My girl is Cindy
When we get married, we're gonna have a baby or two
We're gonna let them visit their grandma
That's what we're gonna do"

"My name is Cindy
When we get married, were gonna have a baby or two
We're gonna let them vist their grandma
That's what we're gonna do"

See the little children
Living in a world that I left behind
Happy little children
In the playground in my mind

See the little children
See how they're playing so happy
In the playground in my mind

The View from My Window

Today the snow started coming down in the early afternoon. Here's what I saw from my balcony a few hours ago. It's another one of those days when I love being indoors where it's warm and cozy. We found some lobster tails on sale earlier today, and I'm about to have a delicious dinner, thanks to Mom's excellent culinary skills!

I'm planning to give up carbs, caffeine and alcohol for Lent. Accordingly, I've stocked up on veggies, meat, cheese, strawberries - those kinds of things.

Yes, my motives are mixed because I am hoping to lose a few pounds, and I'm hoping the discipline encouraged by the Lenten season will help me to do it. I'm also hoping to save some money by not eating out during Lent. But believe me, giving up sweets, bread, rice, coffee, and good red wine will indeed be a sacrifice! I truly enjoy all of these things.

I'll have to make a heroic effort to be more charitable since sugar-withdrawal usually tends to make me less charitable towards everyone in a ten-mile radius. My previous experience of low carb diets is that the first few days are usually the hardest - for me and for everyone else around me - until my system adjusts to the lack of sugar.

As a wise priest friend once advised, "If your Lenten sacrifice is turning into a penance for everyone else, you may want to re-think your sacrifice." Hmmm, I'll have to really watch myself...

Happy Valentine's Day!

"Love is free; it is not practised as a way of achieving other ends. But this does not mean that charitable activity must somehow leave God and Christ aside. For it is always concerned with the whole man....... A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak. He knows that God is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8) and that God's presence is felt at the very time when the only thing we do is love."

from Deus Caritas Est, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI.

Luther Vandross - Never Too Much

And while I'm posting oldies, here's another... Luther's voice is golden! :)

Bebe and Cece Winans - Meantime

Wow - I can't believe this song is over 20 years old now!

Free-Speech Groupie!

Today, I was an unashamed, full-fledged groupie! I went to the Ontario Legislative Building to hear Mark Steyn present at the agency review of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. This building is right across the street from my workplace, and I was thrilled that I could attend so easily!

Having gotten there just in time for Mr. Steyn's presentation and having secured a seat right across the aisle from him, I seized the moment and went over and shook his hand, quickly introducing myself as a fan, then immediately seated myself and waited for the proceedings to begin.

I also recognized Kathy Shaidle (Five Feet of Fury) sitting two rows in front of me. I was very excited, to say the least.

First Mr. Steyn spoke briefly (I started to clap when he finished, but quickly realized that wasn't part of the "protocol"). Then he answered the Standing Committee's questions. He was great - I almost laughed out loud a couple of times over his witty responses. Update: Please read the whole transcript here.

When Mr. Steyn was finished and left the room, it seemed like nearly half of those present left the room too, because he was the main reason they'd come. What an inspiration! He was confident, eloquent, and funny - obviously speaking from the strength of his convictions.

Continuing in "groupie" mode, I went over and introduced myself to Kathy Shaidle, and was also very pleased to meet Denyse O'Leary, as well as RightGirl! I then did the ultimate "groupie" thing and asked them if I could please take their photo and they very kindly obliged (Here they are from left to right: RightGirl, Kathy Shaidle, Denyse O'Leary). I also took a photo of Mr. Steyn being video-taped by RightGirl (see above).

That had to be the most exciting lunch hour I've ever had! I was lamenting the fact that I had to return to work after finally meeting some of my free-speech and blogging heroes. I overheard some talk about them possibly going somewhere for a drink, since "it's five o'clock somewhere", but I don't know if anything came of it, since I had to go back to work. If I hadn't to return to my job, I would most certainly and pathetically have tried to tag along.

Mark Steyn in Toronto tomorrow!

Mark Steyn will be appearing before the Ontario Legislature's Standing Committee on Government Agencies tomorrow. Read about it here.

This is taking place across the street from where I work! Mark speaks at 1:30 p.m. I'm going to see if I can take my lunch hour from 1:15 to 2:15 tomorrow...

Mr. Michael Dubruiel, RIP

Here's a link to the last column written by Mr. Michael Dubruiel, husband of Amy Welborn. Mr. Dubruiel died suddenly on Tuesday morning, February 3rd - may his soul rest in peace and may his family find comfort and consolation.

Please read the whole article. Mr. Dubruiel had just finished writing it on Monday night, the night before his unexpected passing. It's a timely message on trusting, even when tragedy strikes.

In case you missed these...

...here are a couple of great articles from "Big Hollywood":

"Why We Fight" by Andrew Klavan (h/t: Ann Coulter)

"Flashpoint! A Woman's Right to Choose" by Gary Graham (h/t: Barbara Nicolosi)

Truth

Since NBC refused to air this ad during today's Superbowl, I hope every pro-life blogger does their part and promotes this video in some way: