Curb to curb!

A little souvenir from Montreal.  Can't let that head get cold when you're snow blowing the neighborhood.

“Virtue is not hereditary.” -- John Adams

Well, maybe it is... As Claire would say, we had a whackadoo week, all fun. Just Before the Buffalo Sabres decided to drop three games straight in Buffalo, Veronica and I had a chance to see them kick butt in Montreal at the Bell Center. At left, Veronica takes in the Canadian National Anthem. "O Canada" is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée wrote the music as a setting of a French Canadian patriotic poem composed by poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The lyrics were originally in French and translated into English in 1906. For some reason even though we were in the heart of French-speaking Canada, they sang the lyrics in English. In case you don't know they are quite interesting. "O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free! From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. "We were treated to a great show! Veronica had never been to a game before, and when I brought her in to the Bell Center it reminded me of the thrill of being at a professional sports event. 20,000 or so people were packed into the Bell Center and we were the only 2 rooting for the Sabres.
Then, we had visitors. Claire brought the most charming people with her to celebrate President's Day!
Colyn and Lauren flew in on the magic carpet provided by Claire. Lauren goes to school with Claire and they are both in the nursing program at D'Youville. Lauren also had the distinction of playing both Jasmine and Pocahantas at Disney in Florida. Her stories about them are great. She instructed us that Pocahantas and Jasmine have trouble with just two classes of people at Disney: 11 year old boys and drunk middle-aged men. Other than that, everyone is fine. Of course, I think everyone has trouble with just those two classes of people.

We went to the festival of Lights in Montreal. We also walked throughout old Montreal and visited Notre Dame Basillica. If you have not yet been, go! Our family has seen several concerts and celebrated Mass there as well, and I cannot think of any other place quite as beautiful. Kathleen and I have a soft spot in our hearts for the place!

It was all about birthdays as we celebrated President's Birthdays and C&C's birthdays. If youdo see Claire, ask her how the juicer works!

You Want To Hurt Me?

Snow in Malone

This is how to tackle a snowy Saturday.

Bleak House

"The one great principle of the English law is, to make business for itself. There is no other principle distinctly, certainly, and consistently maintained through all its narrow turnings." Charles Dickens, from Bleak House. Kathleen and I watched "Bleak House", a fifteen part serialization of Dicken's classic. In our house, we are Dickens Addicts and thank goodness that we are not alone. I think that Masterpiece Theatre and Hollywood have such reverence for Dickens that it is hard to think of a bad adaptation of any of his works. A lot of that has to do, of course, with the fact that there is no such thing as a bad Dickens' story. But Kathleen and I came upon a 2005 version, done for Masterpiece Theatre, of Bleak House. It was one of the best adaptations of any novel that I have ever seen. Here's a taste of it. Spoiler Alert: If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, this gives some important endings away.
The cast was just great. We watched it on Netflix.