Happy 100th Fay

 

Back in the 1980's I worked with Laurie.  We've been friends ever since.  Laurie's mom was a single mother and at 55 she had terminal cancer.  Her best friend Fay was a nurse.  Fay quit her job to look after Laurie's mom.  Her mom asked Laurie to always look after Fay.  She is a lovely single lady with no family in Canada.  Laurie has always looked after Fay.  She started to get dementia a few years ago and now is living in Dr. Al Hogg Pavilion which is part of Peace Arch Hospital.

Laurie came to visit my brother-in-law while I was visiting and I went over to see Fay at her birthday party.  Phil was playing his guitar and singing to the crowd,  He had a great voice and sang songs all the people in the facility would remember.  Fay sang along with some and actually conducted him with a chocolate bar.

It was a lovely afternoon for a lovely lady!  Happy 100th Fay.

She received greetings from the Governor General and King Charles and Queen Camilla.  Laurie had them framed and they are putting them up in her room!

Rachael Maddow at UBC

Every so often, someone recommends something that turns out to be an absolute gem.  That was the case when my cousin Laurie told me to watch Rachael Maddow’s recent interview at the University of British Columbia. I’ve followed Rachael for years through her MSNBC program, and I’ve always admired her intelligence, her clarity, and her deep respect for history. But this UBC conversation reminded me why she stands apart in today’s media landscape.

Rachael Maddow isn’t just a broadcaster.  She’s a historian at heart—someone who understands that the past is never really past.  Her academic background shines through in everything she does, and in this interview, it was on full display.  She weaves historical context into modern political analysis with a fluency that feels effortless, but it’s rooted in years of study, curiosity, and genuine respect for the craft of storytelling.

What struck me most was her ability to make complex issues feel both accessible and urgent.  She doesn’t sensationalize.  She doesn’t shout.  Instead, she invites you into the conversation, guiding you through the threads of history that shape the world we’re living in today.  It’s a rare skill—and one that feels increasingly precious.

Watching her speak at UBC, I was reminded of why I’ve been drawn to her work for so long.  She’s not just reporting the news; she’s helping us understand it.  She brings context, nuance, and humanity to topics that can otherwise feel overwhelming.  And she does it with a calm confidence that makes you feel like you’re in capable hands.

Laurie was absolutely right to nudge me toward this interview.  It’s one of those conversations that stays with you—thought-provoking, grounded, and rich with insight.  If you appreciate journalism that respects its audience and honours the complexity of our world, Rachael Maddow continues to be one of the best voices out there.

This interview was presented by the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.  It  is an one hour and twenty-one minutes and well worth watching!

I was robbed!

I’m ok — just a bit shaken up, but I’ll be fine.

I was robbed yesterday afternoon in broad daylight at the gas station.

After it happened my hands were shaking, I felt dizzy and I was probably in shock. My money was gone, so I called the police. They were fantastic and even called an ambulance because my blood pressure was through the roof.

The officer asked if I knew who did it…

I said:

“Yes… it was pump number 2.” ⛽️

Diana never stopped being a Royal

The palace stripped Diana of her title the day after the divorce was finalized. She had one year left to live.  The divorce between Charles and Diana was finalized on August 28, 1996. The following day, a letter arrived at Diana's office from the Lord Chamberlain's department. It informed her that, effective immediately, she was no longer entitled to use the title Her Royal Highness. She would be known, from that point forward, as Diana, Princess of Wales — not Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales. 

The distinction is not ceremonial.  It is constitutional.  It meant that anyone meeting Diana was no longer required to bow or curtsy.  It meant she had been formally removed from the inner circle of the institution she had represented for fifteen years.

Diana had not been told the decision was coming.  She learned of it the day it happened.  Those close to her described her reaction as one of genuine shock — not because she had expected to remain inside the institution, but because of the speed and the timing.  The ink on the divorce papers was barely dry.

She was 35 years old. She had two sons who retained their HRH titles.  She did not.  When William and Harry were in public with their mother after August 1996, protocol required that they be addressed before her — because they outranked her.  Her own children, formally, took precedence.

Diana died on August 31, 1997 — exactly 368 days after the title was removed.  In that final year, she walked through Angolan minefields, campaigned for a global landmine ban, and sat at the bedsides of dying people in hospices across the world.  She did all of it without the three letters the palace had decided she no longer deserved.

The title was gone.  The work continued.  The world noticed the work.

The tulips in Ottawa

In 1943, a baby was born in a hospital room that had temporarily stopped being part of Canada.  It sounds impossible. It happened anyway. And eighty years later, twenty thousand tulips still arrive in Ottawa every spring because of it.

The story begins in 1940, when Germany invaded the Netherlands. The Dutch royal family fled. Queen Wilhelmina escaped to London, where she ran a government-in-exile. Her daughter, Crown Princess Juliana, heir presumptive to the Dutch throne, was sent further away for safety. She and her two young daughters, Beatrix and Irene, crossed the Atlantic and settled in Ottawa, Canada.

For three years, the royal family lived there quietly. Juliana sent her children to local schools. She shopped in neighborhood stores. She became a familiar, well-liked figure in the capital.  In the autumn of 1942, Juliana announced she was pregnant with her third child.  That's when the lawyers got involved.

The problem was citizenship. Canada grants citizenship to anyone born on Canadian soil. If Juliana's baby was born in Ottawa, the child would automatically become a Canadian citizen and a British subject. Under the Dutch constitution, that could complicate the child's place in the royal succession.

The solution had to be precise. Canada could not declare a hospital room to be Dutch territory. No country has that power over another's land. But Canada could do something else.

On December 26, 1942, King George VI, acting in his role as King of Canada, signed a proclamation under the War Measures Act. It declared that the place where Juliana gave birth would be temporarily extraterritorial. For the duration of the birth, that space would not be Canadian soil.

The baby's Dutch citizenship would come through her mother's bloodline, as Dutch law allows. But the baby would not also become Canadian, because she would not technically be born in Canada.

Four rooms on the third floor of Ottawa Civic Hospital were set aside for Juliana. One for the princess. One for the baby. One for her nurse. One for a security guard.  The rooms overlooked Holland Avenue.

On January 19, 1943, Princess Margriet Francisca was born. She was the first and only royal ever born in North America.  She was named after the marguerite, the flower worn by Dutch citizens as a symbol of resistance to the Nazi occupation.

In the occupied Netherlands, the news of her birth was a rare moment of hope. The royal family still existed. A new princess had arrived. The future had not been extinguished.

The war continued for two more years. In 1945, it was the First Canadian Army that led the liberation of the Netherlands. When they arrived, they found a starving population. The last months of the occupation, known as the Hunger Winter, had devastated the country. Canadian forces distributed food and supplies. Many Dutch civilians saw them not just as liberators but as the people who kept them alive.

After the war, the royal family returned home. And Princess Juliana wanted to say thank you.

In the autumn of 1945, she sent one hundred thousand tulip bulbs to Ottawa.  The following year, she sent another twenty thousand and asked that a flower bed be created at the hospital where Margriet was born. She promised to send ten thousand more every year.

She kept that promise. After she became Queen in 1948, the gifts continued. Today, eighty years later, the Netherlands still sends twenty thousand tulip bulbs to Ottawa every spring. Ten thousand from the royal family. Ten thousand from the Dutch Bulb Growers Association on behalf of the people of the Netherlands.

The bulbs are planted in two beds. One at the Ottawa Hospital's Civic Campus, where Margriet was born. The other in Commissioners Park, in a bed named after Queen Juliana.

Every May, over a million tulips bloom across Ottawa. The Canadian Tulip Festival draws more than six hundred and fifty thousand visitors. The tulip was designated Ottawa's official flower in 2001.

If you have ever received a gift so generous it changed the way you thought about the person who gave it, you understand what a hundred thousand bulbs meant to a city that had kept a family safe.

Princess Margriet is still alive. She has returned to Canada many times. On a visit in 2017, she said simply: "I was born in Canada. So somehow, quite naturally, I feel strongly attached to my place of birth."

A hospital room that temporarily stopped being a country. A princess born in a space between nations. And millions of flowers, returning every spring, reminding two countries that some debts are paid not in currency but in color.

Commissioners Park, Ottawa

Spring Begins

 This is what is happening in many areas of Canada:

This is Vancouver, where I am fortunate enough to live:

Living in Vancouver has always felt like a small stroke of luck. Tucked between the Pacific Ocean and the Coast Mountains, our city enjoys one of the mildest climates in all of Canada.  While friends and family across the country shovel driveways and bundle up against biting winds, we often stroll along the seawall under a soft drizzle, watching cherry blossoms prepare to bloom before winter has even finished its sentence.  

This year, though, was remarkable even by Vancouver standards.  We had no snow where I live at all.  Not a flurry.  Not a dusting.  Not even that brief, slushy half‑hour that usually shows up just to remind us it’s still winter.  The last time Vancouver saw a completely snow‑free winter was 1982, more than four decades ago.  It’s strange to think that an entire generation has grown up without ever experiencing a winter quite like this one.

Walking through the city these past months, I found myself noticing the small things: green lawns in January, cyclists out in full force, and the steady hum of everyday life uninterrupted by icy roads or school closures.  There’s a certain ease to winter here, and this year it felt even more pronounced.

I’m reminded, again, of how fortunate I am to live in this corner of the world.  Canada is a vast and varied country—rugged, beautiful, and sometimes harsh—but Vancouver offers a gentler rhythm.  The weather is just one part of it, but it’s a part that shapes our days in subtle ways: the outdoor walks, the early blooms, the sense of continuity through the seasons.

Not everyone loves our rain, but I’ve come to appreciate it.  It keeps our forests lush, our air clean, and our winters soft. And every so often, like this year,  it gives us a winter that feels almost like an early spring.

As we move into the warmer months, I’m carrying a quiet gratitude for this place I call home.  For its mild winters, its natural beauty, and the simple comfort of knowing that even in the coldest season, Vancouver has a way of making life feel gentle.

They put my game show performance on You Tube!

On January 8th, I got a call from Lee Valley in Ontario.  The lady was awesome and wanted to confirm my shipping address.  When I told her I was in British Columbia, she said "I'll call the Vancouver store and have them send it by UPS".  I said "my husband loves that store, can I pick it up".  She said "wonderful".

On January 9th, Cec's birthday, Dawn from Lee Valley called to say I could pick it up!   My map app told me to take Hwy. 91 and go over the Knight Street bridge and turn left at 63rd Ave.   63rd Avenue was closed for construction.  I know this part of Vancouver because I grew up not that far away.  I turned at the first light I came to and drove down a street towards Fraser Street.  I drove by Walter Moberly School, where my husband went to elementary school when he moved from Kelowna to Vancouver!   They have certainly added to it and it is beside a lovely park!  He had great memories from that school.  It was originally built in 1902.  

Dawn at Lee Valley had a nice fellow put the three tiered plant stand in my car.  It is very heavy!  Cec had a good look at the store and on our way home we went to The River House in Delta for a lovely birthday lunch.  

Cheryl loves to garden.  She starts all her plants in the house and this unit is just what she needs.  She is very happy with it!  I gave away all my prizes but kept the cash!  Lexie took the teapot, Laurie needed a kettle, Cec got the razor and Dave's first cousin's four year old son got the ride on suitcase.  Theo was thrilled!  A cheque from Rogers for CAD$ 3,500.00 arrived last week.  It's sitting in my travel account waiting for a deposit on a cruise that's calling my name.