Posted on by BWThomas

Celebrating Canada’s 158th birthday!

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

O Canada! Our home and native land.

O Canada! The true north strong and free rings out far and wide as we celebrate another Canada Day. We are a young country doing our best to offer all who live within our borders a good life.

Canada is our home, some of us were born here, and some of us came here at various ages and stages in life. Canada Day is a day to celebrate our present, our past, and our future. There is no country without the good, the bad, and the ugly. This year, we have only been a country for 158 years.

I was listening to a podcast where the podcaster asked a Canadian what makes us different from the USA. It seems like a strange question to me, would we ask a U.K. citizen what makes them different, or a French citizen, so why would an American think they have the gall to ask a Canadian what makes us Canadian, and why we don’t want to be an American? Should we be insulted when citizens of what they think is the greatest country on earth wonder why we wouldn’t want to join them? They might think it is a compliment to be invited to join the greatest country in the world, and wonder why we are getting our backs up.

Why isn’t an orange an apple? Why isn’t a zebra the same as a horse? What’s the difference between a crocodile and an alligator? It is true that Canada and America are from the same tree, and part of North America. If Canada and the U.S. united into a North American Union, we would not be American. France is part of the EU, but it is still France. America would be part of the North American Union, and Canada would be part of the North American Union, but we would not be a state of America.

True patriot love in all of us command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, the True North strong and free!

My husband is telling me we are an ungrateful bunch because we don’t realize how good we have it. This might be true, but many of us think we had it better before houses got out of reach for the average Canadian. Are we a victim of success, being priced out of our cities? Visitors talk about Toronto as a special place to visit, but is it good when the residents aren’t as happy as the visitors? I’ve always thought that being attractive to tourists is a trap, because it places tourism above the interests of the common people.

Canada is growing up, we are suffering growing pains, an identity crisis, and the angst of living next to the USA. We need to watch letting America use our inferiority complex against us. We’ve carved a niche for ourselves in the world; we need to continue to build Canada for Canadians, whether they are old or new.

O Canada, we have our difficulties, challenges, and possibilities. Will we deal with the challenges to the best of our abilities? Will our leaders always make the best decision? Will everything always work out as we want, or will there be unintended consequences to our best intentions? Perfection is the enemy of the good, and if we are never willing to make a mistake or fail, we will never do anything.

Canada isn’t perfect, and we’ll never be perfect. We have overcome challenges in the past, and we will overcome challenges now, and some challenges might always be with us as we strive to build a country that offers the best to its citizens and the world.

I’m looking at the lyrics of O Canada, first written in 1880, it was commissioned by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, Theodore Robitaille, for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony. The music was composed by Calixa Lavallee, and the words were written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. O Canada has been our de facto national anthem since 1939, but only became our official national anthem after receiving royal assent, which became effective July 1st, 1980.

Celebrate Canada on Canada Day and every day. We aren’t perfect, we’ll never be perfect, but perfection is the enemy of the good. Being a good country is a worthy ambition; there will be mistakes and missteps, we need to keep moving forward, and continue to be proud of our home and native land.  

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.

Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. Please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Posted on by BWThomas

Father’s impact our lives in big and little ways. How much of who we are is because of our fathers?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

I cannot think of any need in children as strong as the need for a father’s protection. Sigmund Freud

On Father’s Day, we think of our fathers and how they impacted our lives. Even if he was never in our lives, he left an impact that has followed us.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to grow up with a loving father who is present in their life. Choices and circumstances may make it so fathers are unable to be present in their children’s lives.

The loss of a father leaves a hole in our lives that never gets filled. This might impact us in big and small ways. Watching my husband play with our grandchildren shows me how important fathers and grandfathers are. In the morning, the first person my grandson looks for is Grandpa. He wants to be like Grandpa and Daddy, and fortunately, he has both.

How hard is it for little boys who don’t have a father to look up to and emulate to find role models to follow? How hard is it for little girls to know what to expect from men if a loving father isn’t there? I think of my cousins, the youngest one was two when they lost their father. It isn’t that children can’t grow up to be fine men and women without a father. But they do have one half of their support system missing. Sometimes children get wonderful step-fathers who fill in the gap, but sometimes no one fills the gap.

A daughter needs a dad to be the standard against which she will judge all men. Gregory E. Lang

I think of Dad often, and I’m thankful to have had him in my life as long as I did. My son will say to me, “Mom, not everyone grew up in utopia like you did.” Growing up on the farm with Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters, and animals was a wonderful way to grow up. Mom and Dad moved off the farm before my kids came along. I wish they’d had an opportunity to spend time on the farm and to spend more time with Mom and Dad. The choices I made to move far away meant that time with Grandma and Grandpa was limited.

It starts in the home. If the father is not in the home, the boy will find a father in the streets. I saw it in my generation and every generation before me, and every one since. Denzel Washington

Our choices shape our lives; we choose one road and never know what life would have been like if we chose a different path. Making the best of the choices we’ve made is part of life, and showing our children we can stick to our decisions and commitments isn’t always easy, but life isn’t about being easy. It isn’t the easy lives we want to emulate.

Having fathers and grandfathers who lived lives making the best of what was offered shows their children and grandchildren how to be in this world. We won’t always get what we want; every decision doesn’t work out as expected. Having men in our lives who are steadfast and persevere teaches us to become people who know how to be strong and who will persevere when life isn’t quite the way we’d like it to be.

Dad, you gave us so much with your hard work, sacrifice, good humor, musical ability, sense of fairness, and optimism. Maybe we did grow up in utopia, a time of innocence and optimism.

Fathering is not something perfect men do, but something that perfects the man. Frank Pittman

The heart of a father is the masterpiece of nature. Antoine Francois Prevost

I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom. Umberto Eco

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item, I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Celebrate the special moments in life, and maybe we’ll find more to celebrate.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Life should not only be lived, it should be celebrated. Osho

Happy New Year! Here we are at the beginning of 2024, what changes do we want to make, what challenges do we want to face, and what do we want to celebrate? Is 2024 the beginning of a new phase in our lives? For some, this is the year they will get married, become parents and grandparents, start a business, retire, or go on the trip of a lifetime, but the world fell apart for some, and we might be standing on the sidelines wishing we could help.

As we reflect on 2023, did we reach the goals we set? Are we better off in 2024 because of things we did in 2023, and did decisions that need to be made get made, or did we put them off? Did we mend relationships that need mending? Have we reached the point where we can agree to disagree, let bygones be bygones, and take off the heavy burden we’ve been carrying?

If we threw a party for everyone we love, would they all come, or do some of them not talk to each other, and won’t be there if someone else is? As we start planning Mom’s hundredth-year celebration, she says, “There are a lot of ifs.” One of them, will everyone put aside their differences so Mom can have all her children together in one place?

One hundred years of life, we aren’t celebrating Mom’s birthday because not everyone in the family celebrates birthdays. We aren’t celebrating it on her birthday in November. Instead, we’ve chosen the 24th of August because a summer celebration works best when we are spread all over Canada and expect some to attend from the U.S.

Life is too short not to celebrate nice moments. Jurgen Klopp

Life is what we make it, but we have to work with how the world turns, and we always live in uncertain times even when we aren’t aware of the uncertainty. Living as if today is all there is, and there might be a 100th celebration in our future is a challenge, but both of those are true for some of us, we don’t know which it will be for us, and so we must make the best of where we are now, and build a future so we can make the best of that too.

Is it possible to live a life of no regrets, I doubt it, but can we live a life of few regrets? Don’t we all regret not getting into crypto when it was cheap? Maybe it still is cheap, but we’ll only know looking back.

Maybe it is always the best of times with the worst of times around the corner or the worst of times with the best of times up ahead, and we have to get through one to get to the next phase. Change is coming, and we have to ride the ups and downs of life and make the best of what we have where we are.

Maybe, if we knew what the future would bring it would destroy what peace and hope we have because now is what we have, and now is where we can make the changes we need to make. Now is when we can enjoy the wonderful moments we might look back on and think, if only I’d known, I would have enjoyed more, laughed more, celebrated more who we were and what we had.

If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor. Eleanor Roosevelt

We were together. I forget the rest. Walt Whitman

How short and fragile is this life! Keep reminding yourself especially with all that’s going around today. Take nothing and no one for granted. Appreciate everything, do you best under any given situation. Don’t give up and keep going. Most importantly, keep peace in your soul. Mufti Menk

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Posted on by BWThomas

Life is full of ironies and paradoxes, the tighter we try to hold onto something the more we are in danger of losing it.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change. Carl Rogers

Another year is ending, and we look forward to the New Year with hopes in our hearts and sadness for what is past. There are people we may never speak to again that were part of our lives for years or moments. There are places we may never visit again, or maybe we moved houses this year. This might have been a year of big or small changes. Our family grew or got smaller, and families were joined while others disintegrated. Businesses were started, and some ended. Life for some of us will carry on pretty much the same.

We’ve had a tradition of going to The Apple Factory for pie. I’m not sure how many years we’ve been taking a scenic drive to pick up pie, but they closed on December 24th, I drove up one last time, but the shelves were empty and there was no pie to be had. The sign said “Last Day December 24th from 9:00 to 3:00 but it seems they ran out of pies on December 23rd.

We’ll need a new tradition, and maybe I should try making pies. Mom isn’t making pies anymore but she made the best pies. I have her pie crust recipe and when I spoke to my youngest sister she was making a pie for Christmas day. We didn’t have Christmas dinner, we had a lovely big breakfast, opened gifts, and then everyone went off to family for Christmas dinner. We started a Christmas breakfast tradition years ago, and it works, so our daughter and son can go to their in-laws for Christmas dinner and everyone gets Christmas with them on Christmas day.

This year our twenty-month-old grandson enjoyed opening presents and watching him have fun made it fun for us. Children make Christmas special for adults, and adults make Christmas special for kids. Basking in the warm glow of a family Christmas is the dream and if we are lucky that dream becomes a reality. When everyone left, my husband, the dog, and I settled in to watch a couple of movies and enjoy what remained of the day.

The paradox of our time is that we spend more, but have less. We buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more comforts, but less time. We have more information, but less knowledge, more questions, but fewer answers. Unknown

It’s time to set our goals for the New Year. What do we want to change, what do we want more of, and what is still possible in our lives that if we work hard at, we can accomplish? What would we consider the pinnacle of success, and if we reach that goal what is the one beyond that? Is our life crying out for change, have we come to the end of an era, do we have a new direction to go in? Do we have decisions to make that will change our lives, but putting off those decisions just delays the inevitable?

In John Eldredge’s book, “Wild at Heart,” he says: “Deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.” He says, “Women want to be romanced, an irreplaceable role to play, and beauty all our own to unveil.”

I think he nailed it and there is a lot of scope for us if we get what we want out of life, love, and adventure. Are we as women making our men feel needed, appreciated, and respected? Are our men making us feel loved, beautiful, and irreplaceable?

If we can meet our partner’s deepest needs and desires and they can meet ours we can walk hand in hand throughout life. What if knowing what those needs are is what we need to know, so we can do our best to fulfill them? What if giving someone what we want, instead of what they want, is one of our problems? What if we have to quit trying to make everything better, what if desiring a positive experience is itself a negative experience, and accepting a negative experience is a positive experience? What if we have to let go of trying to control everything and let life unfold and accept the paradoxes of life? What if trying to be happy is one of the things that lead to unhappiness, and accepting unhappiness leads to happiness?

The world is full of paradoxes and life is full of opposites. The art is to embrace the opposites, accommodate the paradoxes and live with a smile. Sri Ravi Shankar

It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it. Arnold J. Toynbee

Life has three rules: Paradox, Humor, and Change. – Paradox: Life is a mystery; don’t waste your time trying to figure it out. – Humor: Keep a sense of humor, especially about yourself. It is a strength beyond all measure. – Change: Know that nothing ever stays the same. Dan Millman

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Thank you to everyone who reads my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item, I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

The magic of Christmas is faith, hope, joy, and love in our hearts.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. Hamilton Wright Mabie

Have we thought about what life would be like without Christmas? The lights, the merriment, getting together with family, and the hope and good tidings Christmas brings? Is it a surprise that at the darkest time of the year, we have something to celebrate that brings a smile to our faces, hope in our hearts, and brings out the best in people?

We had our book club Christmas dinner on Tuesday and we were talking about how hard it might be to live a life without faith. If we felt truly alone in the world and didn’t feel there was a force to lean on, uplift us, and give us hope when all seemed hopeless, how would we manage?

If we are fortunate enough to have faith in a higher power, ourselves, our family, the economy, and the future, how can we share that belief with those who don’t have faith? There is a lot of doom and gloom for people to contend with and everyone is not living in peace and plenty.

How do people face this Christmas with joy if their mortgage is being renewed in February? The bill to buy groceries is getting higher and higher for less and less. We know hard times make strong people, but we also know some break under the weight or come close to breaking.

We have never had access to so much information on how to live a good life, how to save and invest for prosperity, how to build strong relationships, and how to live the good life, and yet mental health has never been poorer for many people. Is part of our problem that we see what we want to see and when we look at the same things, some see hope and opportunity, and others see lack and all the things that will hold them back? How do we shift our vision or someone else’s?

Poverty, meaning lack of money is terrible, but poverty of spirit is something money can’t fix, and is the spirit of Christmas the antidote, but it can’t be only at Christmas? We have to keep a spirit of hope alive the whole year through. Hope that life will be better when… Hope that relationships can be healed. Hope that we can get through the winter to spring. That in spring we can plant a harvest we will reap in the fall so next winter is not so hard.

The joy that you give to others is the joy that comes back to you. John Greenleaf Whittier

Hope that we will manage the hard times to get to better times. Hope, that our family will thrive and prosper, not just this generation but through the generations. Hope, that if we practice the principles that lead to a good life, they truly will lead to that good life for us and our family. Hope that enmity between people will be healed. Hope the future will be better than the past. This is a hard one for those of us who have fewer years ahead of us than behind us, and who have lived wonderful lives with privileges and advantages. Privileges and advantages we got largely because of who we were born to and when we were born.

If we live our lives right our children and grandchildren can be privileged and advantaged because they are part of our family. We are leaving a legacy behind and if it is one of hope, joy, gratitude, and faith then we are doing our part. Money can be won and lost in a generation, but putting our faith in money is the worst place to put it. It might be where the hopelessness comes from, because without money we feel like nothing, and with it, we feel empty and alone.

Finding meaning and purpose in life is about more than money. Money has its place and is important as long as we keep it in perspective and don’t expect more from having money than it can bring. Money can build and heat a home but not fill it with a family that loves and respects us. It can fill our bellies but not our hearts. It gives security but not joy, and if we don’t have someone to share our money with, we may look at everyone who looks at us as if they only want us for our money. It is a great servant but a terrible master.

Wishing you all the joy that Christmas brings filled with what matters in life. May hope, peace and joy be yours this Christmas and always as we move from this year into the next. We won’t find the magic of Christmas under the tree but our hearts can be filled with joy, and goodwill to all. Merry Christmas!

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each other’s burdens, easing other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas. William Carey Jones

I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world. Norman Vincent Peale

There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward. Khalil Gibran

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Thank you to those who read my books, and a special thanks to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Are we living the message of Christmas and spreading love, hope, and joy?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

If you want to experience the true meaning of Christmas, give something to someone who can offer nothing in return. Toni Sorenson

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house… Here we are the week before Christmas. Last week my husband and I went looking for a Christmas tree and they were sold out. Snooze you lose, and everywhere we went they were sold out too. Our daughter agreed to set her tree upstairs. My daughter and grandson helped decorate the tree, and he had the most fun. When we plugged in the lights his little face lit up. At twenty months this is a fun Christmas for him and because of him, it is a fun Christmas for us.

Christmas is about spending time with those we love and reflecting on the meaning of Christmas. There is magic in Christmas and it comes from the heart. The message of Christmas is buried in gifts and hustle and bustle. But underneath all the decorations, gifts, and frivolity is the meaning of Christmas.

Every Christmas in many homes is the hope that this Christmas will be better. Where there is discord, we hope there will be healing. That family members not talking to each other will reconcile. That peace and forgiveness will be the order of the day.

We expect a lot out of Christmas. We travel long distances to be with family in the hopes we can bask in the feeling of togetherness we once had, or never quite attained. We often want things from Christmas we can’t quite manage at other times of the year. The problem with expectations is often the people we want to meet our expectations don’t know what they are, and we can’t even put them into words.

The Christmas spirit is a spirit of giving and forgiving. James Cash Penney

Unmet expectations are one of the dangers of Christmas, but if we realize perfection is not possible, and we should only put expectations on ourselves and not push them onto others we might have a chance of meeting them. We can expect ourselves to be grateful, kind, cheerful, loving, understanding, forgiving, and patient, and if we can manage it, others might manage it too.

Christmas is truly a time to expect more from ourselves and less from others, and by doing this we might feel the way we want to feel. If we can forgive ourselves and others for not being perfect, and love ourselves and others warts and all then we give ourselves and others space to find our way to being the best we can be. We can have our expectations so high they can’t possibly be met and by doing so end up bitter. This is not in keeping with the message of Christmas which is goodwill toward all.

One of the problems we face in life is expecting to get without giving, but if we change that to giving without getting then we can put a smile on someone else’s face instead of waiting for someone to put one on ours. We can be generous with compliments, time, and money. We take charge of our lives and by placing fewer expectations on others, we allow them to exceed our expectations, and that is a win for everyone.

Can we love ourselves and others even when we don’t deserve it, especially if we don’t deserve it, isn’t that the message of Christmas? Can we spread love, hope, and joy this Christmas?

Christmas is a season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. Washington Irving

Christmas is a time when you get homesick – even when you’re home. Carol Nelson

The smells of Christmas are the smells of childhood. Richard Paul Evans

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you to everyone who reads my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item, I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Does gratitude unlock the fullness of life, when we are grateful for what we have do we get more?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Thanksgiving is a joyous invitation to shower the world with love and gratitude. Amy Leigh Mercree

Today is Thanksgiving Day, the day set aside to be grateful for the bounty and beauty in our lives, good fortune, family, friends, and freedom.

If we are free of want and oppression, and free to build a family with who we choose, we also have to accept the responsibility for that family and that freedom. I remember on the farm being too young to help Mom and Dad finish the grain threshing before friends came for Thanksgiving dinner. Why do some memories stick with us, and others don’t?

Thanksgiving is a harvest holiday and one of the things people looked forward to on the farm was when the fall work was done. There is a quiet satisfaction in completing our tasks and knowing we are ready for the approaching winter and life on the farm in the fall was getting ready for winter. What could be fixed was repaired; the cold cellar was lined with canned fruit, pickles, jams, and jellies. The freezer was full of vegetables from the garden, and once it got colder the unpleasant job of butchering chickens, a pig, and a cow to fill the freezer with meat happened.

Memories from childhood go with us wherever we go, and they color who we become.  Being a farm girl from Saskatchewan has colored my life. The lessons learned on the farm I could have learned no other way, it was a wonderful way to grow up and I loved it, but I also wanted to leave and knew I was leaving from the age of thirteen. Is it strange to love something so much, and yet not want it for oneself?

Perhaps I thought there was an easier more fun life out there. One of the things I’ve learned is there is no easy, and there is no free. We get what we put into life and it is the easy choices we fall into that often lead to a hard life and the hard choices where we delay gratification that leads to an easy and happy life.

What if today, we were just grateful for everything? Charlie Brown

When we look at people in mid-life and envy them for where they are, what were we doing when they were doing the work that would lead them to this point? If we quit in the middle of something we don’t reap the rewards. If we didn’t take the chance to build something it didn’t get built, and it takes longer to build something than many people think. Overnight success takes about fifteen years, and most of the time someone slogged away for years before becoming successful at…

We won’t reap what we didn’t sow, and even if we think we are doing all the right things the market might not be right for what we are producing, or everyone might be producing the same thing, and some people die before their work becomes recognized. If we can be a hero to our children, an example of a life well lived with perseverance, good cheer, and character, isn’t that what we should work toward?

Death in the end will come to all of us, and we will leave behind memories in the hearts and minds of those who loved us. If our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren look back on the time they spent with us fondly, and some of their treasured memories are time spent with us we will have a well-lived life even if we never accomplish all we set out to accomplish.

The memories we make now will live on in the hearts and minds of those we love. It is worth the effort to create memories sitting around the Thanksgiving table. The loud and boisterous laughter will reverberate throughout our lives, and we never know when it might be the last time someone is sitting at our table. We need to take advantage of the opportunities to celebrate with people we love while we can. 

Can we share a meal, make a call, and spend time with those we love? Happy Thanksgiving!

Be consistent in your dedication to showing your gratitude to others. Gratitude is a fuel, a medicine, and spiritual and emotional nourishment. Steve Maraboli

I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. Henry David Thoreau

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. Melody Beattie

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you to those who read my books, and a special thanks to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase and item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Celebrate Emancipation Month and Simcoe Day. A worthy fight was won.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves. Abraham Lincoln

We might feel ashamed that slaves were ever owned in Canada and that is something to be ashamed of, but slaves were owned everywhere or almost everywhere in the world so why wouldn’t they be owned in Canada?

On August 1, 1834, “The Slavery Abolition Act” came into effect across the British Empire, (and from my research) this freed about fifty enslaved people in Canada. Why were only fifty slaves freed in Canada? Because forty years earlier John Graves Simcoe the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada brought in his “Act against Slavery” in July 1793.

This law did not abolish slavery, but it made it so no new slaves could be brought into Upper Canada (Ontario), or bought and sold. Children at the age of 25 were free.  This meant forty years later when the “Slavery Abolition Act” took effect across the British Empire only around fifty people were still enslaved and had the “Slavery Abolition Act” not occurred, slavery would still have ended in Upper Canada (Ontario).

About 4000 people were owned as slaves in Upper and Lower Canada between 1629 and 1834 (from my research.) Between 1800 and 1865 it is estimated up to 100,000 people came to Canada on the Underground Railroad escaping slavery from the United States.

Even though slavery existed in Canada the amount of slaves that escaped to freedom in Canada is far more than were enslaved in Canada.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Martin Luther King

It may seem too little too late when so many people were suffering under slavery, but slavery wasn’t new, it didn’t start with the Atlantic slave trade bringing people to North America, South America, and the Caribbean. Slavery had been a scourge in society since recorded history and still is a scourge in some parts of the world.

The question I ask is; if slavery existed for so long almost everywhere in the world why was it able to be ended in the 1700s and 1800s? People took up the fight to end it, and even though it went on too long, it was ended. Was everything done ideally and everyone treated equally and are we all feeling good about our past history? No, we are not, but we are not fighting to end slavery because that hard fight has already been won.

Slavery is in the bible, and we can point to street names in some of our cities, named after people who once owned slaves. We need to own our history, the good, the bad, what we are proud of, and what we are not proud of. I for one am proud to be part of a country and a commonwealth on the right side of history. Even though it took longer to end slavery in America, it ended.

People of courage, fortitude, and perseverance ended slavery. It was not easy, it changed everything, and people on both sides of the Atlantic fought to have it continue.

We should all celebrate emancipation month because the hard fight was done, and slavery was ended. Perfection is the enemy of the good, we may look at how things were ended and think it should have been done better, and perhaps it could have been. Here we are with the remnants of our past to deal with. It may seem there should be no remnants left, but not even two hundred years have passed since the Slavery Abolition Act came into effect.

We may think where is the perfect society we were promised? What perfect society? Where in the world has a perfect society existed? Where does everyone have as much as they want, and not be able to look at others with envy because they have more power, prestige, or money?

Are we focusing on past injustices? Are we missing what we could have now by focusing on what we didn’t have in the past? I am grateful the fight to end slavery is over, there is always injustice to overcome, and I am not convinced history could not have taken a different turn, and the slavery question still be with us to fight. Two hundred years is a small drop in the ocean of history. Thank you to those with the fortitude, courage, and perseverance who fought the scourge of slavery and ended it, and made the world better for everyone.

We have issues we still need to fight, we need to work together to make society better. Will we fight the issues, and not each other?

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela

How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and sheroes! Maya Angelou

Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it. James A. Baldwin

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you to everyone that reads my books, and a special thank you to those that leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the purchase price through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Celebrating fathers, celebrating writers, there is so much to celebrate.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn. Anne Frank

Father’s Day was yesterday and celebrations took place in backyards, restaurants, and at whatever events kids think their fathers will enjoy. How blessed we are to celebrate Father’s Day. Even if our father is no longer with us, he is part of our life, however big or small a part he played or is still playing.

Now that we are grandparents my husband isn’t the only father to be celebrated. We had a lovely barbeque in the backyard. Our grandson was putting pebbles in his mouth and wanted us to chase him to take them out. Life seems more fun when there are kids around, everything is new, they laugh and we laugh watching their antics.

On Saturday I attended a Local Authors Showcase in the park put on by a Library in Brampton. It was a lovely event and there were ten children’s authors there unless I missed some, and my goal was to speak to each of them and ask if they would be willing to be part of Story Time with local authors reading their books. Everyone said yes, and now I have to make it happen.

If local authors can read their books to children then children meet authors. The books these local authors have written are wonderful. One author wrote about her dream of skating and lessons learned in hockey that aren’t about winning, Nancy Whiteford, “My Skating Journey,” and “It’s More Than Hockey.” Fiona E. Vander Wilp wrote “I Love Being Me,” and “My Shining Star.”  The first story she wrote and illustrated is about a child she taught as an Educational Assistant, and her books have taken on a life of their own. Paul and Tuula Reddit wrote about their beloved dog, “Schluberhound.” These were the authors on each side of me in the park.  

The mistake I made was not asking my husband to come with me. This was the first time I attended this event and I went by myself which made networking tricky, I had to leave my table to talk to other authors. Husbands and wives supporting their writing spouses were there in abundance so my husband would have had lots of people to talk and joke with. I think he would have enjoyed it if I invited him to attend, but I assumed (and isn’t that usually a mistake) he would not be interested.

Talking to other authors and hearing about their journeys is interesting. One romance author (and I thought I got her card) but I’ll have to do a little research to get her information didn’t start writing until she was fifty and most of the author’s there are writing more as a pastime than as a way to make a living.

To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard. Allen Ginsberg

Some authors hit it big and some don’t but it isn’t only the quality of books and the writing or illustrating, there is a lot of luck involved, but an artist or writer can’t be discovered unless they do the work. If they do the work who knows where it will lead? I believe we get more out of writing than just having something written. We are not the same person when we are finished writing that we were when we started. Writing is a gift we give ourselves and whatever rewards come after that are a bonus.

An author arrived late with his family and set up behind me, being the first visitor to his table he gave me a copy of his book. His daughter said, “Dad, you’re supposed to be selling them.” I have the book in front of me, a book of poems and prose, “Flowers on the Far Side,” by Jaspal Virdee.

There were about one hundred local authors as part of the Showcase and everyone had a book or books, and a story, but I can’t mention them all so I’ve mentioned the ones that were near me.

If you attend an event with local authors, don’t feel intimidated that if you talk to them they think you should buy their book. Feel free to talk to them, look at their book, take a card or bookmark, or buy the book if you want to, but feel free to talk to them. They would love to talk to you.

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. Stephen King

First you set out to write a book then very quickly you realize the book was set out to write you. Brandon A. Trean

If you really want to know yourself, start by writing a book. Shereen El Feki


Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you to those that read my books, and a special thank you if you put a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Celebrating Mothers, no one can take the place of our Mother – even if we never knew her.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

I think in a lot of ways unconditional love is a myth. My mom’s the only reason I know it’s a real thing. Conor Oberst

Yesterday was Mother’s Day and my daughter and son made breakfast. My daughter-in-law was hosting her family in the afternoon so they had to leave before my mother-in-law arrived. My son-in-law barbecued burgers and we had a lovely afternoon.

There is controversy about celebrating Mother’s and Father’s days in schools and I think this should be left up to the teachers to figure out what is best for their class. Maybe it would have been best if this didn’t become a big commercial holiday, but it is and if it is taken away over not everyone having a mother in their life, many of us will feel – one more thing is being taken from us.

I sent a bouquet of flowers to Mom through a local florist where she lives, and for the first time, she told me the flowers were not fresh. I’m not a person that likes confrontation, nor am I a complainer, but I think I should let the owner know instead of just taking my business to the local grocery store which is what Mom suggests.

If I have done anything in life worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother. Booker T. Washington

My husband picked up flowers for his Mom and the lady at the cash told him to pick another bouquet the one he’d chosen was not fresh enough. The one he gave his mother was beautiful and thanks to the lady’s advice will last longer.

On Valentine’s Day, the roses my husband bought were past their best. It is hard to get flowers that meet the demand these days when everyone wants to pick up a bouquet for their mother, but a few experiences with poor flowers and we’ll choose something else or at least somewhere else to provide our flowers.

Business is tough and if our customers don’t give us the feedback we need to improve, and instead take their business somewhere else without giving us an opportunity to make it right, we lose. So I am going to give them a call, I’ve developed a bit of a relationship with the owner over the years as I’ve called to send flowers to Mom. She deserves to know because quality control is only something we can improve if we know it needs improving.

There was a time when I wouldn’t have made the call. I would never use her service again and she would never know why. I like that we have independent florists; I don’t want small entrepreneurs to no longer be in business. So today I will make an uncomfortable phone call and hope she receives it in the spirit intended.

I hope everyone enjoyed Mother’s Day, it is more enjoyable if we still have our Mother to spend time with or talk to, but even if we don’t, even if we never knew our mother, she gave us life and the opportunity to live this life and that is something to be grateful for.

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. Irish Proverb

It takes months to find a customer… seconds to lose one. Vince Lombardi

Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. Bill Gates

Thank you for reading this post I hope you enjoyed it. Please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to everyone that leaves a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.