"..above everything else, Emily Carr was a truly great Canadian.  Her devotion to her own land marked everything she did.  She approached no subject in writing or painting with any condescension of purely artistic self-consciousness.  She was driven always by a passion to make her own experience in the place in which life had set her vivid and real for the onlooker or the reader and to do this with dignity and distinction.  She found life in her part of Canada often hard and baffling but always rich and full.  It was her single purpose to share through the medium of her art and in as memorable a fashion as possible the experiences of her life."  ~ Ira Dilworth


~ Emily Carr (1871 - 1945) Canadian artist, author. The Emily Carr COLLECTION.  Four Complete and Unabridged Canadian Classics.Prospero Books.  www.keyporter.com 2002

Emily Carr Exhibition, "From the Forest to The Sea" April 11 - August 9, 2015, AGO Toronto, ON

From THE JOURNALS OF ANNE LANGTON:  A GENTLEWOMAN IN UPPER CANADA

Tuesday, January 15. [1839] Another brilliant morning, but severe frost.  John had one trip for hay before breakfast, and afterwards took another walk with me -- not a very long one.  We bent our steps in the contrary direction to yesterday.  The wolves and foxes had been enjoying themselves as well as ever;  I shall begin to be acquainted with the tracks of the beasts of the forest.  I looked back at our own tracks, and wondered whether mine would be recognised as that of a woman, enveloped as are my feet in two pairs of stockings, a pair of socks, my house moccasins, and another pair over them.

Wednesday, January 23.  This was the very coldest day we have had.  The thermometer was 20 below zero, with a strong wind.  It blew very hard during the night;  the mercury stood only three degrees above zero in our room whilst we were dressing.  At noon it rose to five, and once we contrived to raise it to eight, which is what a good fire has been able to do for it.

Tuesday, April 16.  Springtime makes busy work, notwithstanding the men and women about the house.  John was to-day chopping firewood, I kneading bread, and the other ladies also busily occupied.  This department of mine I intend now to resign, but to-day I had to pay the penalty of mismanaging matters so as to have to bake on a washing day.  There is no unmixed good in this world.  A wash-house, a boiler, and an oven are great comforts, but they consume an immensity of wood.



~ Edited by H.H. Langton.  CLARKE, IRWIN & COMPANY LIMITED. 1950.

Laura Secord

Laura Secord House Queenston



Historians of the War of 1812 have recorded various accounts of Laura Secord's walk from Queenston to Beaver Dams. 

Ruth McKenzie, author of Laura Secord, the legend and the lady*, writes,  "Laura Secord had found her niche in Canadian history as the agent of victory at Beaver Dams.  It was a distinctive niche because it was held by a woman, and in the next two decades women played a large part in bringing the name of Laura Secord into prominence as a great Canadian heroine."

*McClelland and Stewart Limited, 1971.  Maracle Press.

 

Today visitors can sit in the adjacent tea room and enjoy the historic surroundings.  North-west corner of Queen and Partition streets, Queenston, Ontario.

Lundy's Lane Niagara Falls

Photos:  lbw Click on photos for larger image.

Happy Canada Day

July 1, 2010

~ Neat Little Bookshop

Closed for the Holiday

(Photo: Lighthouse Port Burwell, Ontario, Canada.)

~ Happy Birthday Canada

Six Nations 'Ready to Negotiate' for 'Perpetual Care'

In a press release to The Hamilton Spectator, Six Nations Elected Council Chief, William Montour states that "The only land settlement that the Six Nations Elected Council will support is a global settlement that, by modern treaty, secures our perpetual care and maintenance for basic services such as education, health, social and public infrastructure."
"Further, any lands that become available," Montour goes on to say, "must revert to Six Nations title.....In addition the Six Nations Elected Council will not settle any land right for money and then sign a paper that absolves Canada of any future obligation to negotiate further grievances."

Chief Montour makes it clear to the community precisely what the Minister of Indian Affairs and the people of Canada are being asked to deliver ~ "perpetual care."

Source: The Hamilton Spectator, Jan. 28, 2010.
http://www.thespec.com/ Quick Search: Chief William Montour

The Canadian Military Heritage Society

A valuable resource for military buffs is the recently re-designed Canadian Military Heritage Society website, http://www.cmhslivinghistory.com
Featuring videos and photographs of re-enactment events of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry WWI and WWII, also the 49th Regiment of Foot. Descriptions of the society's services and activities.
Congratulations on a beautiful and fascinating tribute to Canada's military heritage.