Gloria In Excelsis Deo

Everyone at Kwa-McCann wish all our family and friends who celebrate Christmas a merry and blessed Christmas.

And to those of you who just like to celebrate at this time of year, we wish you safe and happy holidays.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo

What is ISO 9001?

I tried a new way of making video slide shows using the free version of Moovly. It took me the better part of a day to make a 5.5-minute video with a lot of trial and error but I'm quite chuffed with the final result.

You can see it on my professional blog at tcmc Quality Management Services: What is ISO? What is ISO 9001?

Update from Peterborough

Luisa sent these pictures of their weekend fun.

Luisa Magalhaes 11/23/14 13:33

Playing outside today, and fun at the market yesterday. oh what fun!!

Terry.
Sent from my BB

Fwd: Christmas, Christmas is here.

This email came in from Mark in Peterborough this morning.

Terry

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark McCann
Date: 19 November 2014 09:47
Subject: Christmas, Christmas is here.

When we looked outside this morning Jonathan announced that Christmas had arrived.

 

It is a snow day here but I had a blast walking Jonathan to school in a toboggan.

 

 

Lest We Forget

My dad

Denis & Patsy McCann (nee Howard)

We have built a lot of romance around Remembrance Days. Perhaps too much. My dad was not considered a war hero, not by my young school friends, nor by me. This even though he lost a lung in the Second World War as a sailor in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He didn't lose his lung by getting 'wounded' like real heroes. He wasn't even a gunner or anything that would impress my seven-year old friends who sometimes boasted about what their dads did "in the war." He had just been one of the stokers in the engine room. It was very hot, he said. You had to drink lime juice all the time.

Sometime in the early days of the war his ship was in Durban harbour where they were stationed. I don't even know what ship he was assigned to, HMSAS Something-or-Another. Most of the crew had some hours of shore leave including all the stokers except my dad. Then a U-boat was sighted off-shore of the Durban beaches. My dad was ordered to start getting up a head of steam while the men on shore were rounded up. The returning stokers found a ship with a full head of steam and my dad unconscious with a collapsed lung. How non-glorious. They didn't even catch the U-boat.

After my dad recovered he declined discharge and did guard duty at the Bluff Battery.

When I was in my early teens we could afford to buy a used car and on two or three occasions my dad took my step-mom and me for a drive out to the Bluff and he would park for five minutes in a spot close to the Battery and just sit quietly looking out, not saying a word.

It has taken some years, but with the passage of time my dad has become my hero.

Remembrance Day

John McCrae's wonderful poem , In Flanders Fields, is generally the poem of choice for Remembrance Day. My only reservation is that it presents just one side of a valuable coin. I think the other side needs to be looked at too, which is why I am posting
"Dulce et Decorum Est" by Wilfrid Owen (1917). 
(Five-Nines refers to German artillery fire.

"Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori" is Latin for, "Sweet and fitting it is to die for one's fatherland.)

Bent double, like of old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind:
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime…
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in sonic smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not talk with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Cousins making music

Luisa sent this really cute picture yesterday. From left to right Lachlan, Gabi, Jonty.

Terry.
Sent from my BB

PSA Blood Test - to test or not to test?

Dr. Neil Bell

The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care says measuring prostate specific antigen, or PSA, in blood is not an effective screening tool because it often produces false-positive results.  Task force member Dr. Neil Bell (family physician and Professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of Alberta)  says almost one in five men aged 55 to 69, for instance, have at least one false-positive PSA test and about 17 per cent end up with unnecessary biopsies.

Dr. S. Larry Goldenberg

Dr. S. Larry Goldenberg, who is chair of the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation, a professor of urologic sciences at the University of British Columbia, and the author of An Intelligent Patient Guide to Prostate Cancer, does not agree.

In an article, "Dropping PSA test for prostate cancer puts men’s health at risk" published in the Toronto Star today, Dr. Goldenberg is scathing of the Canadian Task Force whom he refers to as "non-experts in the field": 

Telling urologists not to use a simple blood test to screen for prostate cancer is like telling cardiologists not to use a stethoscope to check for heart defects. You don’t need to be an expert to know that neither makes sense. 

Yet that’s what the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, comprised entirely of non-experts in the field, did last week. By urging doctors (and patients) to stop using the prostate-specific antigen test, or PSA, to detect cancer in its early stages, the task force’s recommendation will put men’s health at risk.

Dr. Goldenberg goes on to point out, "When I began my practice in the early 1980s, before the PSA era, almost one in four men with prostate cancer had cancer spread to their bones by the time they were diagnosed. Today, it’s one in 25. Prostate cancer deaths have fallen by 40 per cent.

"Why the difference? Our treatments have improved, and so have our lifestyles. Doctors have new tools to manage complications like never before.

"But we also use the PSA test to find cancers at earlier stages. It’s the most powerful cancer marker in medicine."

I encourage you to read Dr. Goldenberg's full article here. He elaborates on the correct use of PSA testing, as done by urologists, pointing out: "Without early detection, even men whose cancer won’t kill them will see their quality of life deteriorate more quickly and more painfully than if they had been diagnosed sooner... The task force didn’t consider this data; they considered death, but not quality of life."

Movember 2nd

Accident Prevention

The picture is a bit fuzzy, but then so is the mo' at this stage.

Quality pushes up cost... Or does it?

From motor cars to muscle injuries, cell phones to seniors' care in nursing homes, quality and costs are always major topics of debate and budgetary decisions. Sixty-four years ago a quality engineer by the name of Deming saw a counter-intuitive relationship between between quality and cost. Read more here.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Climate Change

Climate change is a moral, human rights issue as was apartheid! Climate change deniers are not merely on the same, wrong side of history as flat earth proponents, they are also morally culpable and must be held to account for the damage and suffering they are causing.

This culpability and need for accountability is even greater for those who acknowledge climate change but continue to invest for profit in industry that is exacerbating the problem.

 We desperately need research to find more economical ways to store wind and solar energy. If one-fifth of the money spent on oil exploration had gone into this research imagine where we could be today!

Judith and Mark D. S.E. Asia Trip - 5

This will be Judith's last email (and Mark's last set of photos), dated 13th August.
Any apparent connection between the photos and the content of Judith's email would suggest your brain is not working right. A  Rorschach test would have more in common.

Hey,

We left the Cameron highlands and headed to Jeruntut. After having a lunch of rice chicken veg and

No we did not try the mashed potatoes dispenser

egg (rcve) we went to a cave. This was probably our favourite cave experience. We had to climb through some tight spots to get into the main section of cave. There were some rock formations that looked like King Kong and an elephant (they actually looked like them, not like others where maybe if you squinted enough). Our guide then convinced us to exit through the more adventurous way instead of going back the way we came (except for Mark who was convinced from the start). We had to scramble down a slippery section and then go down a rope section to get to a darker section that had lots of bats and a few scorpion spiders. After the cave we left Jeruntut to Kuala Tahan (the town which was on the opposite side of the river from Taman Negara - the national park). We had a dinner of rcve and checked into our hostel. This was the first time we had critters in our place. First I found a frog, then a 2 inch beetle of some sort, an uncomfortable beginning to our hostel experience. That night we went on a night jungle walk. It was pretty tame, followed a board walk, but our guide was cool and was very interested in sharing his knowledge with us. We saw some stick insects (one was about 10 inches long), a scorpion, a snake, some birds, a spider that in the reflection was gold (it's web too). When we got to the observation hide we also saw a deer.

 Yes that guy is a beauty innovation expert

That night we had quite a fitful sleep, there were animals either living in the roof or on it and they

liked to make loud scrambling noises (at first I freaked out cuz it sounded like they were inside our room), we then had what we assumed were cats having a massive fight right outside. The next morning we went to the canopy walkway. It was fun, but slightly disappointing as from the google pictures I had thought it to be a lot higher. We climbed the rest of the way to bukit teresek which had a nice view. We were also disappointed with this trail as well it wasn't a trail but boardwalks and stairs. Once again though, our guide was cool and pointed out a lot of stuff.

After a lunch of rcve we went to an Orang Asli village, which is an aboriginal village. There are apparently a few tribes that live in the jungle. This particular tribe makes their money through selling sandalwood (very expensive wood that is sold for its essential oil) and by letting tourists visit. We learned how to start a fire in the traditional manner. Our guide was able to make it in 5 seconds and he challenged us to do it in under 8. Mark did it in 9 and I did it in 10 (my back was incredibly tight the next day, crazy what 10 seconds of intense physical activity can do). The orang asli do their hunting using bamboo blowpipes. So we got to try that out, which was sweet :-) After that we went on a short "rapid shooting" boat ride. We got very wet. We then had dinner.. wonder what we had? Rcve! We were getting very tired of the combination. We had the rest of the evening to relax.

The next morning we went on a trail to another observation hide. This trail was better, about 75% of

 your caption here

it was actually a trail. We had a different guide at this point but he was cool too and also very interested in sharing his expertise. He told us that he had been born and lived in the jungle (we think he was maybe born in an orang asli village). As an adult he took a holiday from work and lived in the jungle for a year and a half. We saw a lot of leeches and on the way back 6 long tailed macaques. After a lunch of rcve we took a boat ride up Sungai Tahan. I think this was one of the most beautiful experiences on our trip. The river is very shallow (about 1m) and there are narrow passes between rocks that the boat has to navigate through. The jungle lies thick on either side. We were lucky to have our guide as the only other passenger. He pointed out more monkeys playing on a log next to the river, an eagle perched on a branch, on the way back a colourful kingfisher, and just general info he thought we'd like to know. There were lots of butterflies at the boat landing and some thick vines to swing on. We had to hike 15min to get to the rocky swimming spot (lata berkoh).

After another dinner of rcve we went on our night safari. This was quite different than expected but cool. It actually took place in a palm oil plantation. Malaysia has palm oil plantations like Laos has rice fields. Apparently due to environmental concerns the government has pledged to maintain half of the country's land area as forest cover. We saw a couple birds, a poor rain soaked house kitty huddling under a tree (it was raining), some cows, a wild cat that I didn't get a good look at, and finally at the very end a cute owl! Apparently a few nights before the guide had seen a 13 foot python. I was glad we did not see that!

The next day we left by boat back to Jeruntut. The boat ride was pretty, similar to the river Tahan but wider. We saw some monkeys playing on a beach, and some wild cattle with birdies sitting on them. And then after our final lunch of rcve headed back to Kuala Lumpur. From there we caught another bus that took us to Singapore. We arrived at 2 in the morning on the 12th and went straight to bed.

I'll write my final update on our time in Singapore and the flight home when we get back to Canada. Yay Canada.

Judith and Mark

your caption here

Judith and Mark D. S.E. Asia Trip - 4

This email arrived from Judith this morning. The only thing that the pictures have in common with the email is that they were posted by Mark in his series on English advertisements encountered on their trip. Enjoy (or Enjoh)!

Hey!

Our last day in Saigon was quite busy. First, let me tell you about when I was 13. I really liked this tv show, Tour of Duty. Its an American tv show about a platoon of US soldiers in the Vietnam war. It was what first made me want to go to Vietnam one day, the scenery was beautiful (little did I know it was filmed in Hawaii), made me want to fly (joined air cadets shortly after), made me soberingly impressed with the north Vietnamese use of tunnels during the war, and made me think the M60 machine gun was pretty awesome (not as a tool to kill, just cool on its own). So, we went to the Chu Chi tunnels near Saigon (search on google for more info). We got to crawl through a portion of tunnel, which was cool, but overall I was disappointed because it didn't fully show the full extent or complexity of the tunnels. What was super cool though is they have a shooting range where you can shoot some of the guns that were used in the war like the M16, AK47, and drumroll, the M60. So Mark and I got 5 rounds each to shoot the machine gun. It was pretty awesome. Now as most of you know I'm a "pick flowers not fights" kind of girl and in real life I don't like guns, so please don't judge me when you see the photo of me looking like a gun crazed maniac (in reality I was just super awed and excited).

Later that day we got a Thai massage. They used their hands, elbows, forearms, and feet! They would get up on the table for better angles and would move your joints and muscles. As a manual practitioner there were some things I found cool that you wouldn't be able to get away with in Canada, and some things I would never do to my own patients. We also got a facial care treatment that was really nice (something I'd like like to do once or twice a year from now on).

I apologize that this one is going to be so long, there is just so much to share.

Some things we learned about Saigon: the population is over 8 million, and 3.5 millions scooters! One of the biggest reasons why so many people drive scooters and not cars is because of the tax put on cars. We liked the city, a mix of east meets west. We headed out to Malaysia the next day. Uneventful. Malaysia: barely any scooters! Drive on the left side of the road. Malaysia is a lot more multicultural compared to Vietnam and Laos. It's state religion is Islam. I was woken up by the adhan today.

Kuala Lumpur, Chinatown: dirty and not so nice. We were glad to leave the next day. Our bus to the Cameron Highlands was absolutely beautiful: mountainous, rainforesty, and windy. Even more windy than the Laos mountains. Yesterday we took a trail that climbed Mount Brinchang. Beautiful and good exercise. The rainforest here is in the subclass of montane or cloud forests - it was very cloudy. We just relaxed for the rest of the day and read our books.

Today we went to a tea plantation! So beautiful! We explored the plantation for a bit then checked

out the tea factory and went to the cafe that overlooks the plantations to try out their teas. We had 3 different kinds and it was by far the best tea I've had this trip. Unfortunately in general, the tea in south east Asia has not been great, not great quality and also more often then not the milk they put in is carnation milk. So today I got my fill of good tea! The plantation (Sungai Palas) itself is huge and I think it said they harvest what equals to over 800 000 cups of tea a day.

We are now sitting in Starbucks enjoying an almost but not quite as good cup of tea. Tomorrow we head out to Taman Negara, a national park for a few days then on to Singapore on the 12th. Frustratingly the only way we were able to get a place to stay on our next leg was to join a tour. Malaysia is the only place where we apparently needed to book hostels in advance. But, despite the change in plans we are quite excited for the trip and will send our next update in Singapore.



We hope everyone is doing well. We'll see you in just over a week!

Judith and Mark

Judith and Mark D. S.E. Asia Trip - 3

This email update arrived yesterday from Judith:

Hey everyone,

So since our last email we've been in Hoi An, Nha Trang, and we just arrived in Ho Chi Min City (Saigon).

(c) Wikipedia creative commons

Hoi An was really nice. Because of the timing of the busses, we ended up staying there for 2.5 days. The old quarter is really nice, quaint, and partially blocked off to most traffic so it had a really nice atmosphere. The food was hit and miss but we found a really nice cafe that we spent a good amount of time at. After sundown they light up the main street with lanterns which was pretty. We went to a nearby beach the first morning that was nice and because we went in the morning we missed most of the tourists. Mark got custom made dress shoes and sandals that look really nice. They recommended waiting a couple days for the glue to set properly and he's very impatient to start wearing the sandals. I had a dress made that I'm excited to try out, but I'll wait until I'm home. This is definitely a place to get clothes made, although to do it properly you should probably go for a week or 2 with a bunch of ideas in mind. Mark thinks this has been his favourite city so far.

We then took a night bus to Nha Trang that was far from great. The beach there was a lot busier. All the menus were in Vietnamese, Russian, and English. We had what we both agree as our best meal so far.

Credit: Little Accidents in the Kitchen

It was a local restaurant, we were the only tourists there for a while. They brought a charcoal fire and grill and placed it on our table along with marinated beef and chicken that we then barbequed ourselves. We also had garlic fried rice that was surprisingly very sparsely fried so it still stuck together well, so using the chopsticks wasn't an issue (no knives or forks were provided). On our way back we stopped in a bakery and bought some small cakes including a very hipster (and yummy) 1000 layer matcha cake. We left the next morning which is today :-)

We got into Saigon and it took us a whole 1 minute to walk to our hostel. After settling in we went over to Burger King to eat some nostalgic American fast food. We've only seen 1 Starbucks and 1 KFC and that was in Hanoi so we indulged ourselves tonight.

Now it's off to bed! We have a full day here tomorrow then fly out to Kuala Lumpur the next day (with Vietnam Airlines not Malaysia).

Having fun but missing you all!

Judith and Mark

Sunday at Willow Beach with the Girls

Ingrid and I had a wonderful time today with Claire and Caitlyn at Willow Beach, Georgina. Miriam and Geoff were also there. In fact, they took us there. Thank you, Geoff and Miriam, for a super time.

Luckily, the weather was perfect. Now that she is four Claire has a new independence and took herself off to play by herself at the playground where she made a best friend for the day. The two new-found friends encouraged each other to ever new and greater challenges on the climbing structures.

As a family we all had a lovely time on the beach making and destroying many sandcastles. GrampaMac dug a hole that nearly went all the way to China. We stopped when we arrived at the China Sea which was coming into our hole.

Judith and Mark D. S.E. Asia Trip - 2

Now the updates are coming thick and fast.

From Judith yesterday:

Hue - Forbidden City.
www.all-free-photos.com

We just arrived in Hue. We're skipping a couple places in Vietnam so we're not so rushed. 14.5 hour train ride, so exhausted, lol. Goodnight.

Then this morning from Judith:

Hi Everybody!

Well we arrived in Hanoi on the 24th. It was a huge change from Laos. The first thing we experienced after getting off the bus was essentially being accosted by taxi drivers. There was a swarm of them and they all come up and start asking you things and telling you things and following you and won't let you go. We teamed up with a bunch of other tourists and got a minivan taxi at a decent price ($2 each), unfortunately it dropped us off with about a 10 minute walk from our hostel. Not such a bad walk, one would think, except that it was our first exposure to Hanoi traffic. Crossing a road in Hanoi was terrifying. 

Hanoi scooters

About 70% of the traffic is scooters, and there are no stop signs or traffic lights, and pedestrians are secondary to motorized vehicles. We managed, and by the end of our stay there we actually got the hang of it. The trick is to cross the road one half at a time instead of trying to find a break in traffic on both sides at the same time. There were a couple other differences we noticed. No stray dogs in Hanoi, but lots of rubbish on the street. All the small side streets in Laos were the red rusty coloured dirt roads, in Vietnam its all cement. Unfortunately no good bad English advertisements for Marks photos.

We decided to do 2 day trips and use Hanoi as our base. The first day we went to Tam Coc. Tam Coc is beautiful. You travel down the river in a small boat in between karst mountains and through 3 caves. The rowers rowed with their feet! Both oars at the same time or one at a time (looked similar to riding a bicycle). We also rode bikes for a few kilometres in the area.

Thien Cung Cave

The next day we went to Halong Bay. The scenery was similar (Karst mountains), except instead we were on a big boat. The boat went between the karsts and then stopped at a really big and famous cave (Thein Cung Cave, which means Heavenly Palace) which was beautiful but packed with tourists, unfortunately.

The next day we left for Hue on our first south east Asian train. It was a 14.5 hour ride, filled with rice cakes, not sitting together, and screaming and jumping children.

We really like our hotel here, and we both much prefer the city compared to Hanoi. Its a lot less busy, cleaner, and crossing roads is a lot safer. Restaurant, bars, cafes, and convenience stores are also a lot more to our liking. Side note, there are no grocery stores that we've seen anywhere in out travels, only mini marts and convenience stores.

Today we checked out the imperial city, which was pretty neat. The heat was crazy though, in the direct sun it was 45 degrees easily. No heat exhaustion yet though, yay! We also checked out local eats/drinks, and the night market (I bought a cute $2.5 shoulder purse). We had a huge delicious meal that we would have paid about $70 before tax and tip for in Canada, and only paid $20 tax and tip included here. Our beers came out to 75 cents each.

We are off tomorrow to Hoi An, which we are really excited about. We hear there is a really nice beach and they are also known for custom made suits, dresses, and shoes!

Hope everyone is well.

Judith and Mark

Posted today on FaceBook by Mark:

Didn't get a shot of this one in time because I was on a bus driving by.
Luckily the Internet has my back.

Judith and Mark D. South-East Asia Trip - 1

Judith and Mark D. flew out Sunday 13 July  on their South-East Asia Adventure. I can't believe that was two weeks ago today.  Communiqués from them are best described as sporadic but newsy when they come, mainly email from Judith and pictures on FaceBook by Mark who seems intrigued by local advertising.

They spent their first week in Laos.

Email from Mark, Monday, 14 July:

Our second flight was cancelled. And so we were unable to make our third one.

We have purchased new tickets and should be only 1 day behind.

We are currently waiting for our flight to Kunming (China), and then on to Vientiane, Laos.

We'll shoot you an email when we get there.

Mark & Judith

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Rogers network.

Saturday 19 July we got this email from Judith:

Hey everyone!

We are in Laos!

Getting here was a mission, it was supposed to take 31 hours but ended up taking around 50. We had 3 flights with 2 stopovers. Unfortunately our second flight was cancelled so we then missed the third :-(  we were able to get a flight to another airport (Kunming, in southern China) the next day and then to Vientiane, Laos.

Tuk tuk

The airport itself in Vientiane was a shock, it was so small and old it almost felt like an airport from the 60s for small planes only. And completely surrounded by rice fields! The city is pretty awesome. Cars park anywhere and everywhere, temples on every corner, stray dogs and cats by the dozen, people offering tuk tuks everywhere, and delicious and cheap food. We stayed at the Funky Monkey Hostel, a really sweet place. Checked out the must sees in the city as well as Buddha Park. The road to Buddha Park was crazy, dirt road, insane potholes (busses don't go there anymore), but it was also really interesting to see the living conditions just outside the city.

Vang Vieng. See photo attribution below

We arrived in Vang Vieng yesterday. The trip was beautiful and we've heard that the next stretch we're doing is even better! Mountains, tropical fauna, rice fields, photos don't do it justice. We're staying at Pans Place Guesthouse and checked out a couple caves today that were cool. To go to one of them we rented a semi automatic motorbike and drove there, 7km. The ride there was probably better than the cave. Endless beauty! We're heading out to Luang Prabang tomorrow where we're gonna stay 3 nights. 

The trip is 7 hours long, windy, up and down, but beautiful. I'm really hoping to avoid motion sickness but it may be inevitable. The heat hasn't been too bad. Our hottest day so far was feels like 44. Here in Vang Vieng it's cooler, 25 degrees and raining a lot.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Judith and Mark

Courtesy Mark D, FaceBook

Courtesy Mark D, FaceBook

Courtesy Mark D, FaceBook

Thursday, 24 July; email from Judith

Hey everyone!

We have now left Laos and are en route to Hanoi, we crossed the border into Vietnam at 730 this morning. The bus ride is over 24 hours and is our first sleeper bus! The seats are recliners and from head to toe are about 6 feet in length. The change from Laos to Vietnam is quite drastic. Laos is full of windy roads, potholes, and hills while Vietnam has been pretty flat. The views in Laos nicer though. Also a lot of construction (and infrastructure) in Vietnam so far.

We've had a great time in Luang Prabang! The city is beautiful, it's actually a world heritage site, so there isn't much growth but more restoration and preservation of the city proper. The outskirts are still pretty poor though. Our first day we checked out the city and a nearby waterfall. The night market is huge and you can get all you can eat from food stands for $1.40 (we didn't, lol). There are also a lot of monks in the city (most young, not sure why).

Definitely not Judith and Mark

Our second day we took an elephant tour which was super fun. After riding in the elephant seat we got to bathe the elephant in the river which to our surprise actually consisted of playing with the elephants where they try to throw you off into the water and you try stay on. The drivers had a lot of fun getting the elephants to throw off tourists! We then went bareback on an elephant on a short trail. My adductors are still super tight from all the gripping that day.

Also not Judith and Mark

Our third day I think was actually my favourite. We did a half day "rice experience" where we went to a local rice farm and they taught us all about rice farming. We participated in all the steps of farming rice and it was a lot of fun. They're a working farm and do the tourism thing in the morning. They are a community farm with 7 families participating and the extra income from selling veggies and the tourism program goes to helping some kids go to school who can't afford it otherwise. Look up Living Land Farm "riceexperience" on google! (My description does not adequately describe how great it was).

Hopefully we'll be arriving in the next hour and I will send this when we next get WiFi.

Hope everyone is well!

Judith and Mark

 Stay tuned, watch this space, but don't hold your breath!

Photo of Laos Landscape in Vang Vieng CC BY-SA 3.0

Congratulations, Dr. Judith

Last Friday, 20 June, Ingrid and I were thrilled and proud to be present at Judith's graduation from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. Proud and happy siblings, Miriam and Sean, were also there as well as the ever supportive Mark, her boyfriend of nine years (plus) going back to high school days.

The ceremony was not at the College but at The Carlu, a venue very well suited for the occasion.

After the hooding ceremony (I'm waiting for pictures of that from Mark) we joined the throngs fighting for savouries and sweets in the reception foyer; approx. 165 candidates, each candidate averaging 5 guests. When the queue I was following down one side of one of the tables flowed into a queue coming in the opposite direction, the effect was much like the currents off Cape Point. I'm surprised that there weren't disasters to match; most people bravely tried to be patient though one gentleman shortly informed me that I was "going the wrong way."

Ingrid and I were fortunate to have Miriam as our navigator through the Toronto down-town core and its traffic while I drove. Since she works close by she is quite familiar with the area while Ingrid and I feel very much like plattelanders (country bumpkins) from Holland Landing in the Far North.

Walking from the parking garage to The Carlu I saw this dog in the window and stopped to take a picture. When I was done, Ingrid and Miriam had disappeared. I relived the moments of panic that I had as a young boy in Durban when my mother took me to "town" and would disappear when I stopped to look at something. I hastened to the corner in the direction they were walking and looked up the street; no Ingrid and Miriam. I looked down the street; there they were about 40 metres on. When I caught up with them it was obvious that they had not realized my absence, so deep were they in mother-daughter stuff or, worse, they didn't care.

When we arrived back at Miriam's we cracked open a bottle of 2006 Chilean Carménère that Judith had kept for three years for just this occasion.

Here's to you, Judith, Doctor of Chiropractic. We wish you every success and happiness in your future career.

Letter to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding a young Sudanese mother found guilty of converting to Christianity

We hope and pray that this effort by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops will contribute to an effective accumulation of pressure, not only for this case, but for women's and religious rights in general in Sudan. It helps to have a hook to hang your hat on.

Letter to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding a young Sudanese mother found guilty of converting to Christianity

May 27, 2014

The Honourable John Baird, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2

Dear Mr. Minister,

I am writing you in my capacity as the Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

It is with great shock and concern that I have become aware of the situation of Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, the Christian Sudanese mother recently sentenced to death for "apostasy," and to 100 lashes for "adultery."

I therefore ask the Government of Canada to do whatever is possible to urge the Sudanese government to release Ms. Ibrahim and to respect the right to freedom of creed and worship, which is outlined in section 38 of Sudan's Interim Constitution, as well as in article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (to which Sudan acceded in 1986). The sentences passed against Ms. Ibrahim are neither just nor merciful, and are incompatible with the universal human rights Sudan has previously recognized.

I echo the sentiments expressed by Canada's Ambassador for Religious Freedom, Dr. Andrew Bennett, in his statement of May 15, 2014, in the hope and expectation that justice and compassion will be exercised in the expected appeal of this case.

Sincerely,

+François Lapierre, P.M.E.
Bishop of St-Hyacinthe, Canada
Chairman of the Human Rights Committee

cc: Mr. Osman Adam, Chargé d'Affaires
Dr. Andrew Bennett, Ambassador for Religious Freedom

Dear Pope Francis, I think you are mistaken

Pope Francis is my most favourite pope of all time. I think he may be the most "pastoral" pope that the Catholic Church has had in a long, long time, even more so than the great Pope John XXIII who convened the Second Vatican Council. So it was with disappointment that I read of the Pope's brief statement to Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper defending the Catholic Church's track record on the handling of sex abuse: 

“The Catholic Church is maybe the only institution to have moved with transparency and responsibility. No one else has done more. Yet the church is the only one to be attacked.”

Starting with Pope Benedict's visits to England and Ireland and, most recently, Pope Francis' own address to the Bishops of the Netherlands, the papacy has, indeed, taken steps to tackle the issue of the clergy and sex abuse. Both popes have made the right noises in drawing attention to the suffering of the innocent victims at the hands of clerics and other workers associated with the church and calling for assistance for them. However, the Catholic Church as an institution is far more than the papacy. Nobody knows that better than the Pope himself.

From reports that I have read over the last few years, I have no reason to think that Catholic dioceses throughout the world have done any more than what the local civil laws required of them, even spending millions fighting that in courts of law. As a case in point, I think of the then Archbishop of Quebec who in 2010 fought all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada to have the case against Fr. Lachance dropped, not because he was innocent, but because Quebec's equivalent of a statute of limitations had expired (Shirley Christensen, Appellant and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Québec and Paul-Henri Lachance, Respondents). When the Supreme Court decided that it should go back to a lower court for more evidence, the Archbishop caved in and came to an out of court settlement.

Don't get me wrong. Where there is a libellous, opportunistic accusation it is appropriate, even imperative, to defend a good name in a court of law, but these are the exception.

Maybe the Pope is correct when he says, "No one else has done more," but the optics at diocesan level are still pretty bad. I am reminded of Jesus' statement, "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the Scribes, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." Mat 5:20.

Is the Pope going to have to address each and every single Bishops' Conference before they "get it?" 

Sochi 2014 Medal Standings

The preoccupation with gold, gold or nothing, frankly annoys me. I was cheered to see the many Olympic athletes who were obviously overjoyed to receive their bronze medals. You see the preoccupation with gold in the ubiquitous lists of medal standings based on who has the most golds or, the perverse opposite, who has the most medals regardless of gold, silver or bronze.

Here is a list like we did  it in our inter-house athletics at school: 3 points for a first, 2 points for a second, 1 point for a third. Let's get real.

Family Catch-up - by Ingrid

2013 was a particularly hectic year and we have not done an update since January 2013. 
- Text mainly by Ingrid. Photography mainly by Terry.

Valentine Dance

Team Valentine

 

Heather, Stephen, Miriam, Geoff

Terry, Ingrid, Grande Amante, Luisa

Feeling the baby kicking

Ingrid and Stephen

Terry and I have been very involved with the planning and organising the Marriage Encounter Valentine Dance which was held on February 9th, which also happened to be in the middle of Miriam and Geoff's packing up for their move to their new house the next weekend.

The dance was a great success and for us an opportunity to spend time with family and friends.

We didn't know it at the time but this was the first move of four during this year.

Heather and Stephen's ANNOUNCEMENT

The Announcement

We finally ate the cake

Two days after Stephen's actual birthday on February 22 we all got together for a birthday lunch at Mark and Luisa's house. Rob and MaryAnn, Heather's parents, were with us too and when the birthday cake was presented it said Happy Birthday Daddy - their announcement of a baby on the way. While Claire and Jonty were staring mournfully at this magnificent cake ( when are we going to get some??  ) the adults were running around the table congratulating the new parents to be and each other.

Easter Egg Hunt

There must be more

Another one

Jamming

Alan, Miriam (3 hands), Judith

At the end of March at Easter, Geoff's parents, Alan and Sharon, came to stay  at Geoff and Miriam's new house for the first time. We had a wonderful Easter lunch that day followed by a very exciting Easter Egg hunt in the garden and later with a jamming session in the basement.

Heather and Reinier Visit

Two weeks later my brother Reinier and sister-in-law Heather arrived in Canada from Scotland. Heather was involved in a conference but Reinier spent time with us in Holland Landing. We did manage to get together with most of the family and Heather at Miriam and Geoff' home on the Sunday before Heather left for Ottawa to do some research. Reinier endeared himself to Claire and Jonty, allowing them to explore animal sounds on his cell phone.

Listening to animal sounds

Reinier, Heather outside LMM home

I had taken a few days off the following week and spent a very enjoyable day with Reinier at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). The next day Reinier and I went to Peterborough from where he took the bus to Ottawa to meet up with Heather. The next weekend we did the same arrangement in reverse and on our way back to Holland Landing we stopped at Leaskdale, a little hamlet north of Uxbridge where Lucy M Montgomery (Ann of Green Gables) lived for, I think, 9 years. The house was locked but when we went to the church just down the road we happened to meet a member of the LMM Society who offered to go home to get the keys so that we could have a look. A small group of Leaskdale residents are working hard to restore the house and church where LMM's husband was the minister and from where she did a lot of her writing. Heather has done some research into LMM and the visit was quite special for her.

Caitlyn's Birthday

We celebrated Caitlyn's first birthday in April. It was a fun day and had a surprise visit from Luisa's Mom, Connie, who was on her way to Portugal and had enough time between two flights to spend some time with us.

Welcome Gabi

Gabi getting Claire-love

Our next big event was the birth of little Gabriela Elizabeth on May 3. Like her brother Jonty she decided to come three weeks early. Her second name Elizabeth is after Aunty Bessie who was very pleased with the choice. On June 2 we had a " Meet  Gabi " event and apart from it being another family gathering it was a great opportunity to meet some of Mark and Luisa's friends from Peterborough.

Sean and Judith Move

At some point around this time Judith was finishing her exams and preparing to move to a one bedroom basement apartment in Mark D's sister's house in Toronto. This would make commuting to her first chiropractic placement much easier than from her place in North York. If I remember correctly Sean had moved to his new place in the city by then -what I remember most from that was unloading furniture in the rain .

Toronto had more rain in 2013 than I can remember in the 15 years we have been here - many floods and rivers in our garden. I think around this time  Stephen and Heather also announced that they were looking for a house to buy.

Father's Day Work Party

Mark M, Mark D, Sean, Stephen

On Father's day we had a work party at our house to shingle the garden shed. This had been planned on two previous occasions but rain (what's new?) and a downed tree forced us to change the plans both times. Finally it got done and it looks great! Thank you, all!

Aunty Bessie R.I.P.

On June 30 we sadly said goodbye to Aunty Bessie. She died peacefully at the age of 97 while praying with our friend Pat who had been staying with her when she became critically ill. Aunty Bessie didn't want to go to hospital or Frail Care and she died in her own bed as she had always hoped she would. Although our hearts were sore, we were grateful that her death was so peaceful. She was a most amazing , happy, content and spiritual woman and will always occupy a special place in our heart. Her name lives on in our sweet little Gabriela Elizabeth. Terry left for South Africa the next day and spent two weeks sorting out the estate and arranging the funeral and a memorial service at the retirement village where she lived. He managed to see some of our friends who also very kindly gave him a place to stay while there. For photos and more comment see Elizabeth (Aunty Bessie) Sessler 1916-4-27 - 2013-6-30 R.I.P.

Claire's Birthday

Terry missed Claire's third birthday party because he was in SA as well as my aunt and uncle's 60th wedding anniversary which we celebrated at the annual Holst picnic (my side of the family in Canada).

Visit from South Africa

Anne and Barbara

On July 15 I met my friend Barbara Miller who came to spend a month in Canada staying with another friend. While she was still planning the trip Barbara connected with us and I was able to take some days off work to spend time with her. Barbara is one of my oldest friends from my university days; we shared our first apartment away from home and although we had lost contact for quite some time it was so easy to pick up the thread again, it was quite amazing. The next week Barbara and her sister Anne came to spend a few days in Holland Landing. We took a trip around the Holland Marsh, went to Peterborough for a day and visited St Marie Among the Hurons. Barbara does beautiful beadwork and Newmarket happens to have a well known bead shop, That Bead Lady, which we visited too.

Heather and Stephen Move

Heather and Stephen moved into their new home on August 1. Terry and I went to help them the next day. It is a beautiful century home close to the hospital where Heather works and not even 10 minutes drive from Stephen`s work which means that it is also really close to Mark and Luisa.

Ingrid's Birthday

Discovery Harbour

Musket drill

On my birthday, Terry and I went to visit Discovery Harbour in Penetanguishene. We had planned to take more time off around that time but by then we knew that Terry`s work was coming to an end and we thought it would be better to have a break then.

Retirement - sort of

September 6 was Terry`s last day at GE and he officially retired. This is not going to be the end of work however. Terry has taken some courses for additional certifications and has registered his own company with a view to doing quality management and ISO consulting. It certainly does feel like the end of an era for us - and the start of a new adventure.

Baby Shower

The next day we had the baby shower for Heather and Stephen in Peterborough with a get to know the down-town scavenger hunt arranged by Luisa.

Peterborough Liftlock Boat Cruise

On Sunday we went on the Liftlock Cruise courtesy of Mark and Luisa - watching Jonty was a delight.

Gananoque

The day after, Terry and I went on a three day tour to Gananoque and Thousand Islands.

Osprey Squatters nest

We did a Thousand Island boat tour

Sky Deck Selfie

St Lawrence from Sky Deck

...and viewed the St Lawrence river and islands from the Sky Deck

The Socialist Pig Coffeehouse

...and had some great meals and coffee and walks around the picturesque town of Gananoque. We can recommend The Socialist Pig Coffeehouse.







I had taken the rest of the week off too  and when we came back we spent it doing some planning and talking about our new "state of life."

Lachlan James. Ta-da!

That weekend we were back in Peterborough babysitting Jonty for Mark and Luisa`s annual Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. When Stephen and Heather arrived for dinner on Friday evening Heather announced that she was maybe going into labour. During dinner it became obvious that she was definitely going into labour and we had Heather bouncing off the walls with excitement while Stephen appeared to be in shock ( not surprising as this was three weeks ahead of due date).

Lachlan James, Daddy Stephen, Mommy Heather

Stephen had arranged for somebody to fix their hot water heater which had stopped working and another company to install new shutters the next day; now it seemed that they would be spending their time at the hospital having a baby. We changed our arrangements so as to babysit Jonty at their house and supervise workers and by the time that was all done Lachlan James was born on September 14.

Lachlan meets his cousins

Grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins all descended upon the hospital for the next two days - much noise and activity to the consternation of some nurses but Lachlan took it all in stride and slept through it all.

More birthdays

Next weekend we were again back in Peterborough (maybe we should move there) for Mark`s birthday - family, friends, more children -about 50 people in all.

The day after it was Miriam's birthday celebration which we celebrated with breakfast - all the McCanns slept over at the two houses.

Thanksgiving

Cousins in a wigwam

On October 13, a whole 3 weeks later, we were back at Stephen and Heather`s house for Thanksgiving which they hosted with contributions to the meal from everybody and, especially, Stephen who, contrary to the Canadian tradition of turkey, made the most delicious lamb roast and ham. Nobody complained.

After the huge meal we all went for a walk in a nearby parkland where the kids found the remnants of somebody's wigwam. Scouts?

The rest of the year

Life slowed down as we settled in with babies, Terry's studies and preparations for his consulting business and my ongoing work. 

Reading the rhyme

In the beginning of December we celebrated Sinterklaas, Terry wrote his Six Sigma Green Belt exam and of course... more birthdays. 

Jonty got a fishing rod

Jonty turned 3, preparations for Christmas and trips to Winnipeg ( Luisa and kids) and SA (Mark for Pieter Grootes' wedding) kept us all busy.

Christmas and The Ice Storm

On the night of Dec 21-22 an ice storm hit Toronto and surrounding areas and created havoc, loss of power for more than a million people and roads that were blocked by fallen trees. We were lucky - although we could not get out of our driveway for a day and one of our trees split in half and crashed, we still had power. 

Ice Beauty in our back yard

Miriam and Geoff and the girls came to stay from Monday onwards as they lost their power and by then their house was getting too cold. The plan was to have Christmas here instead of at their house but plans were reversed again when their hydro was restored on Tuesday. Many families still had no power during Christmas, some even beyond New Year. 

Christmas Dinner

Geoff's parents came from Ottawa and I think it is true to say that I have never had such a tender and succulent turkey as the one Geoff prepared that day. 

The next day Terry and I spent the day with Stephen and Heather and her parents, Rob and MaryAnn, at their farm at Lafontaine. The trip from our house to theirs is about an hour and thirty minutes and the scenery was just too beautiful. Being further north, while they did have some ice , they did not have the devastation but rather a lot more snow.  



Stephen took Terry for a ride on Rob's new toy along the local snowmobile trail. As Stephen was driving Terry managed to take some video footage of the beautiful trail.

Winter stroll

Lachlan asleep on his sled

That night Stephen, Heather and Lachlan came to our house and stayed with us. The next day we all went for a walk with Lachlan all bundled up on the sled - he slept the whole time.

On New Year's eve Terry and I went to a dinner and dance with friends at the parish hall.

Happy New Year everybody!!