Day - 6 - 157 -- Taking Time

We began the day with a welcome from an Algonquin elder who spoke to the recent report on murdered and missing indigenous women and girls. It was very moving. Later in the day the awards ceremony for many familiar faces brought feelings of pride that our profession rests in such capable hands. A former student won the national Morgan Medal for student research. That made me smile. This was followed by the opening reception, after which I had a chance to get the feel of that enormous stage and hearing the sound of my voice in that huge ballroom. The lap mic worked well, but I'll need to stop by very early tomorrow to check on the speakers notes once they can get these up on the monitors. Otherwise, I guess I'm ready to go. <smile>

The day ended with a wonderful dinner with two dear friends. After dinner, we walked to the National War Memorial. The square had been busy earlier in the day, since today marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day, when 14,000 Canadian troops landed on Juno beach in Normandy and parachuted from above. The allied forces landed about 150,000 troops along an 80 km shoreline. This involved major combat, but German strongholds were breached, making this the beginning of the end of the war in Europe. That would take another 11 months and would see many Canadian lives lost and many others wounded. Visiting the memorial felt right today -- a small way of recognizing the service and sacrifice from D-Day and the battles that followed.

Two songs came to mind today -- one for each of the main themes of thought. The first marries a lovely melody with lyrics (in French) that speak to dreams and loss. It seemed fitting for the remembrance of courage past. The second brings an upbeat sound to what I felt at the end of the evening -- as prepared as I will be for tomorrow. Why not a sport metaphor here? <grin> This is from the solo career of a singer-songwriter that has been featured here before as part of the original roots rock group and alone. Enjoy!

Beauté Perdue -- Luc de Larochellière

Centerfield -- John Fogerty