No Child Should Ever Be a Victim of the War

Every day I look at my baby, I look into his eyes, and I wish that every child in this world received same love as I give my baby every day, every hour, every minute, every second. No censorship anymore, media is telling us all. Everywhere we turn and look, everywhere we hear, children die - accidents, sickness, diseases, murders, abuse, hunger, poverty and war.

'A little girl playing outside her home in the dirty sand. Assembling a small structure from small pebbles and dry sticks, and a leaf, and some dirty sand. Her golden hair is getting in the way. With little hand she moves her hair off her eyes, with the other hand she is trying to keep the pebble wall to stand. Her face is getting dirty, her blue eyes are full of tears, she is struggling to put her little farm together. A boy near by runs around with a stick and a string attached to it. It is his homemade fishing rod. Suddenly dark flying machines are flying over the girl's and boy's head. They look up. Oh, not again - they know. Bombing starts. Noise is unbearable. More wind with dirty sand. The boy somehow escapes in the potato fields. Lays there half covered in the sand and scattered around potatoes. He is scared. He follows asleep. As he opens his eyes, he looks around. He is safe. People are talking. The little girl stands in the middle of the field, dirty sand is hitting her small gentle body, but she stands there like a little trooper. She is not moving. She is looking at her little farm falling now apart. She wants to reach out for the falling pebble wall, but she cannot. A man grabs her small body. Pulls her to his chest. He holds her tight. He is protecting her. Its too late. Her eyes never opened again. Next morning she dies. She dies from shock. People are crying.'

The little girl is a victim of the WWII. This little girl in the above story is also my dad's sister, she was only 5 years old. She died of shock. Even though the story is dramatized a bit by me and enhanced, I am sure that in the real time, it was even more dramatic then I could ever describe. At later time, my dad's another, only month old sister also dies. Result of local bombing, falling off the bed, trauma and shock to the little fragile body.

WWII indirectly killed many innocent children, unrecorded, never mentioned. Unmarked small wooden crosses deteriorated over time. Burial grounds became empty fields filled with tall green grass swaying left and right. The little lost souls dance forever in the wind.

This Christmas as we celebrate this glorious day, let us remember those little souls that never got to enjoy the small presents, home baked cookies, warmth of the fire place, Santa Clause, and love.

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. "
~ Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

Letter to Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper

Dear Mr. Harper:

At first I would like to thank you and all the Parliament Ministers for finally running this country in order. In the past I wasn't interested in politics, but since the sponsorship scandal and knowing that my tax money was misused by the Liberal Party of Canada, I have decided to do my due diligence and vote for the party that can be honest, organized, stable and give to the people. And these are four magic words that I can describe the Conservative Party of Canada - honest, stable, organized and supporting people of Canada. Not to mention that you speak to us in simple language so we can understand better.

Unfortunately, when I finally started to vote, I did not support your party, as I do strongly believe in the environment and the Green Party was my choice. However, the vote given to them was a free vote, no due diligence was done. I realized it was a mistake, because as much as the Green Party can do for Canada's environment / worldwide, the Conservative party can do the same. Thus since the last two elections, my votes were yours.

Mr. Harper, I have watched closely your strategic approach with your Parliament Ministers to run our country. I must say you have done an amazing job in such a short period of time. People of Canada must realize that it isn't easy to do this job, and now in the time of the economic crisis, they must realize that you do not have a magic wand to continue to give us 'goodies' as you have done in the past, or so called wanted stimulus package.

Further in my letter to you I would like to mention a few items that were very beneficial to me and my family as from your last budgets. I think you gave us more than enough, therefore, I don't expect to get anything major in your next budget presentation.

• The Goods and Service Tax [GST] cut from 7% to 5%. In our house every penny counts.
  
• The Universal Child Care Benefit [UCCB] of $1200 was an excellent idea. I don't know what other Canadians do, but I took that money, some cash gifts for the baby and invested in my child's future education the Registered Education Savings Plan [RESP]. Because I maximized the investment, I received from the government a maximum match of $500. I think this is a good deal, even banks cannot give me 20% interest rate.
  
• The tax free account is even better than the Registered Retirement Savings Plan [RRSP]. I think every Canadian should save their money, or as ING advertises - Save Your Money. It is always good back up money for crisis in case we loose our jobs.

What happened recently with a goodwill government housekeeping strategy of yours, sparked a lot of fire in the opposition parties. However, I think we as Canadians should be aware of how our tax money is being spent. You were willing to take a cut in the federal funding of the political parties. I think that was a brilliant idea. I know it did not go through and did not go well with the opposition parties, but as a result of that it showed us the following:

• How unstable the opposition parties are.
  
• What is their main goal? A goal to take you down Mr. Harper. I can see that there is a bit of personal matter. They seem to be angry with you. And I really think that no matter how good the budget will be in January 2009, it still will be not good enough for them.
  
• It is all about who is in power. The opposition parties showed their true face. Its all about political power and not about the Canadian people or economic crisis.
  
• The coalition party formation, the most pathetic action ever taken, it shows how very reactive the opposition parties are. You always urged us not to panic, and they did not listen. Truly, they behave like the stock market.

Mr. Harper, we Canadians need a stable and organized government. Canada is a superior country compared to many countries in the world. We are spoiled, we have so much and when the times boom we want more and more. Yes, in fact we became a bit greedy. We need to reflect back and evaluate what we have, and be happy, and everything else extra is a bonus. It is not completely government's fault that jobs are lost. It is the economy crisis, and the governments role in this is to help the businesses. I think at some point we would know that too many cars will be built, and demand will fall. Definitely the automotive industry is in crisis, but what can you do in such a short period of time, let them build more cars?

That is all I have to say to you today Mr. Harper. Please continue to do what you and your Parliament Ministers have done for our country. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to comment on my blog. On the side note, you will be seeing more political letter series on my blog, therefore feel free to drop anytime. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Anna :)

My Animal Stories - Lesson Learned About Cats & Dogs

I don't know if I can describe myself an animal lover. Something happened when I was very young that made me fear all animals in general. I know that I had once an episode with small black dog barking at me. It was a surprise from nowhere, and I was only four or five years old. Until today I still remember those sharp white teeth going after me and those white eyes saying 'I am going to get you'.

In the old days, when I was ten years old, we lived on this semi-farm, where my parents and grandparents had one cow, one pig, few chickens, ducks, horses and may be rabbits. All for food. It was just like living on the organic farm. Most of our food was almost home made. 'Good old days' - I say. But not so good if I had to deal with the farm animals. I still remember those geese or roosters going after me, never mind dogs. I guess animals can sense if you fear them.

At times I was asked to take a cow to the fields. Until today, I remember how I did it. I simply took the cow, I was trembling then, and position this one big black cow so she walked on the other side of the street and me on the other. I for some reason kept looking at her, straight into her eyes, all the way to the field. Boy, the five minutes felt like hours. I pinned the cow, and ran home. Never again. Next day I asked my parents not to do it again. To my surprise, they agreed. So my five year old sister then took the cow to the fields. All I have to say she was a brave child.

Years passed with very little interest in any domestic animals. They were just cute to me, but nothing more or less. Let say that later when I was in my late twenties, I found out two things about cats and dogs.

Few years ago I was visiting my sister in her apartment. By the end of the night her cat and me finally warmed up to each other, thus the cat ended up sitting on my laps. Suddenly, the cat's body started to make funny sound and emitting funny vibration. 'Oh my', I told my sister, 'I think there is something wrong with your cat, do you think we need to take him to the washroom?' She laughed, and replied, 'the cat likes you'. Lesson learned - the cat was purring.

Some moons ago, my husband and me were attending a birthday party. When food got ready, a group of us got up and started to walk towards the buffet area. As we were walking my brother-in-law took his arm and put on my shoulder. Suddenly, a dog that belonged to my then future sister-in-law, jumped on my one leg and made a happy face. Since I had my brother-in-law close by, I accepted, and out loud with big smile on my face I said, 'look, look, this dog likes me ...'. 'Anna I think its more than that ...', my sister-in-law replied. Lesson learned - the dog was humping me. Yeah this dog was a real leg hugger especially when others hugged too, lol.

I still laugh at myself. But hey some of us learn things later in life.

Wrought Iron Gates - What Is Wrong With This Picture?

Driving home on the Sunday afternoon. As we get closer to home, we can see more and more snow. I guess we are living in the area where there always will be more snow. Such remarkable change in weather can be seen in twenty minutes apart.

I sit on the back with Matthew and as he sleeps I observe outside the world I used vividly photograph before Matthew was born. Yes, we got second time in three weeks a two inches of snow. Beautiful view, and as sun emerged in the afternoon all the trees sparkled.
- 'Beautiful ', I said to my husband, 'just beautiful day to go outside and shoot and shoot'.

Suddenly a very nice big house comes to my view.
- 'Look what an amazing gate on your right' - I pointed out. A beautiful structure made of iron wrought rods, and concrete support, and located on the one end of the long curved paved driveway. Oh, and has security key pad.
- 'Okay, I don't get it, what is wrong with this picture? There is no fence'. I know, I know, its a decor thing lol.

My Toe Took A Tripple Beating

For sure I am not the only one that ran into the furniture and suddenly felt excruciating pain in the toe. Couple of nights ago I did it again. About 2 am in the morning after feeding my baby I walked towards the area where I have my water drinking station. Suddenly bang, my foot hits the wooden foot of the ottoman. Oh no, not again, I hate when this happens to me. As I reached out to grab my toe and apply pressure, a technique that always works, my husband heard the noise and he in a furious manner attempted to get up from the bed. That scared me, and I almost fell on top of my water station, that was close almost, lol.

'Why don't you wear slippers?' - a question my husband asked when around 9 pm I ran into the chair with the same foot and exactly same toe.

'Well I was going to get my slippers, but the chair was before the slippers' - I replied.

Somethings just happen in three's. In the late morning I had my dentist appointment. Just routine check up appointment. Everything worked out fine, Matthew behaved himself in the waiting room as he and my husband waited for me for almost 1 hour.

'I guess I will see you in next 6 months' - I told the dental administrator.

'Yes, will see you then, good bye' - she replied.

'Let me get the door' - I told my husband as he was strolling Matthew out the dental office.

'Ouch ouch ouch, for love of Pete' - I made squeaking noise, as this time the stroller ran over the same foot and the same toe.

As we sat in my parents living room this afternoon, we laughed, and I asked, 'So what's next?'
'A tire' - he replied laughing out loud.

In conclusion, I was fortunate that it was only toe self abuse and no real damage was done. However, will this teach me a lesson to wear slippers. I don't know I just like walking in my bare feet.