canada

Prayers for the People
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Prayers for the People

Hail, oh brilliant ones

From the minds of the common man, the culmination of skills and knowledge to survive in the cold, white winter.  Plant your crops, harvest your gold, smell the sweet scent of success.  The smiles of surpassing years of struggle, the world is won, the population is rising, the connection has been met.  Sow the seeds of prosperity, in the soil, in your minds, in the community and in the cultural exchange.   Tips of survival that heal the body, heal the mind and mend the sorrow.  Live you awesome stalwarts.  Live and let live, to soar in this land of plenty.

By royal decree the brides arrive, about 800 in total.   By royal decree, they marry and they stay.  No more visiting and making the decision to stay, only to return to France because the colony is too rustic.  Now there are families and sighs of relief.  Mutual sharing, caring and helpfulness, homes and companionship, comfort and joy.  The blessings of a child, the good work of the hospital.  The population starts to rise.  In 1663 the population of New France is merely 3200 strong and hearty souls.  In ten years time, the population doubles, to 6700 in 1672.  From the humble beginnings of 26 in 1608, to rise to a population of 6700 , sixty eight years later, in 1672.

http://www.lookbackward.com/perrault/filleroi/  The Kings Daughters,  Filles de Roi

The success of the Kings Daughters was mainly due to the origins of the women.  Peasant girls for the countryside were more well suited to the rigors of life in the colony, than girls from the towns.  Make your own bread, pick your own berries, harvest your own crops, feed the animals, milk the cow.  The country girls had more life skills than their counterparts in the city and could manage the hard work better, with more knowledge and more skills to their credit. Mainly rural people, from the farm.  People who understand animals, crops, weather, soil.  Hardworking people, who know how to plant seeds and preserve food.

The small population of Quebecois in Canada is finally starting to rise.  These women were needed to prevent incest and to finally ensure a that the small group of people, living in that far off land, would actually survive and become a people of their own.

Cast off into the colonies, with wits and courage to save them, they will work hard for their living and persist in developing the land and the character of the people who dwell their. They will have their babies and change the world.  With the developing colony comes a people of ingenuity.  Inventions of their own.  Negotiations of their own.  An existence that becomes a life of unexpected chance.  Maple syrup and horse racing.  Unique and unknown in some circles, becomes a part of life.  A chance for joy.

With prayers for the people, the nation is developing well.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 15, 2016

Just for Us
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Just for Us

Hail, oh Bravehearts

Riches and wealth.  Beauty and majesty.  The great land calls the people and with hope and skills they come.  Oh glorious day, of sunshine and warmth, of bedazzling beauty as the meadows show off their colorful flowers and the trails entice us into the spectacular wonder of the great wild.  This is our life now, to venture and wander, to fill our eyes and souls with the beauty of the Earth.  The powerful planet, the life force of creation.  Awe and wonder, the fabulous views unfold.  Yet another meadow, yet another waterfall, yet another hill to climb, scene to photograph, animal tracks, and animal sightings, more and more of the great wild, more and more of the awesome land.

Our strength in numbers protects us as we pass.  The delight of the wild lands inspires us and keeps us moving. More to see, more to do, so little time and yet so much to gain.  The joy of this great wild place, where the unending view is the beauty of the Earth.  Fabulous planet, with your majestic mountains, the lakes and wildlife, so abundant and thrilling.  Another tumbling, unpolluted river.  Another viewpoint with a sight of endless wonder.  Lovely to behold. Our days journey is a quest for that unspoilt view, the treasure that we long for and the right that we demand for the preservation of this.  No development, no interference, only the trail along the rolling hillside carved by the hand of the great Earth and the creation of this almighty one.

A place to breathe.  Here is the domain of the planet.  A place where those fortunate few travel to explore and to enjoy.  The breath of the Earth is fragrant.  It’s multitudes of flowers wave and nod to us, greeting us with dazzling color and spreading forth blankets of charming, beauty as the variety of color and species lines our path.  This is the world that we care for, the world of the great wild, where the planet’s creations are protected.  This is our  home and we care for it deeply.  Here is where the world is at peace, where we cast aside our worries and wander along the paths of fragrance, color and beauty to a destiny most wonderful.  Again, we are not disappointed.  The breathtaking wonder of this awe inspiring land fills us with joy.  It’s marvelous.

Still that same old view, the view that explorers and adventurers chose to protect.  The view that created a marvelous protected wilderness area.  The view of the brilliant planet as it shows off its dazzling brilliance and welcomes us with awe and wonder.  Here is God’s land, a land for only that creative force.  A land that reminds us of the wonder of nature, the need to protect it.  The bees, busy in their daily routine, the variety of plants seeking their hold in the soil, the outcroppings of rock and the rushing streams.

That same old view, that greeted the wandering spirit so many eons ago, has remained unchanged, just for us.  Just for us, to stretch our legs in the vast eternity of the great planet.  Just for us to share this vision, to keep it for us and to leave it untouched.  Just for us, in our part of heaven, here in the great wild, of our great planet.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

July 23, 2016

Multicultural You
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Multicultural You

Hail Bravehearts

A brave new day, a brilliant country, a national holiday, a celebration of pride, joy and togetherness.  This great nation, molded and blended, nurtured and cherished.  A great Canada, a fabulous notion, a clever and brilliant place.  Multicultural you, with freedoms and rights.  The freedom to live without violence, to live in neighbourly contact with people of different nationalities, the right to live without arms and to protect yourselves, keeping your community safe and secure..

The laws protect our culture but still frees us from oppression.  No tyrants or dictators, to enslave us.  The contract with the people is peace among us, no cultural quarrels or religious disputes.  An age old negotiation that protected these rights, have been handed down and protected, for hundreds of years.  Multicultural Canada, with its birth in French and English culture, both completely different, yet somehow it works.  Hammer out the contract, write the laws, guarantee the freedom.  The evolving wisdom of ages past, becomes the fulfilling society of our present.  Strong and united, the worlds peoples share this land.  From ancient aboriginal ways to the escaping refugee, the weave of a mosaic of multicultural heritage enhances our lives, gives us richness in people and culture and ingrains an intelligence of peace among us.  United in freedom, mutual caring, the sharing of this country is our shining past, our fabulous present and our brilliant future.

We are unique in our history.  A land of harsh and somewhat unconquerable climate, of difficult terrain and a short growing season.  A majestic land of wild forests and tumbling rivers, of curious peoples and language barrier.  Still, the nation was won through negotiation and peace, love and marriage, barter and exchange.  The cultures blend, learn and accept, we are all different, we are all one.  Our wise past is still our present, still our future, still our bright and shining star.  That star that guides us and beckons us to follow, into your unique and inspiring country.  Into your fellowship and merciful negotiation, into the nation of democratic law and democratic peace.

Hail, oh Canada, as the years roll by and the world changes, the battles die and the wars subside, into your dreams of international peace, where all peoples live under the shelter of laws of freedom.  Peaceful freedom, oh multicultural you.  Write your songs, sing your hearts out, brilliant praises to our national cause.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

July 8, 2016

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The Renaissance

Hail Bravehearts

This journeys end is a new beginning.  This preparedness that painstakingly ensures success is finally our triumph.  Glory and praises, thankfulness and relief, the weary are welcomed.  Come, join us.  Into this fair land of sunshine and wild, of a place of unusual gold.  Riches and fortune, made for a king.

Praises, praises, we have a colony.  At the time of the founding of Quebec city, France was the most populated country in Europe,  yet they had difficulty finding willing settlers to inhabit this great land and to build this great country.  The awesome enticement of riches from the great wild, couldn’t even entice the impoverished slaves from the lower classes to leave the slums of France.  But what does it take to be a fortune hunter, a settler, a soldier and a daredevil?  What qualifications did they need? Perhaps a poor peasant wasn’t the best choice for the colonies.  Slaves might be too fearful and prisoners might be too dangerous.  Choose wisely, oh mighty ones, your day of reckoning will come.

No longer the grandeur of 17th century France.  The life of the  impressive French Renaissance.  Brilliant change and brilliant invention.  Who would leave this awesome place?  Look around yourselves, your good fortune lies here.  Here in the homeland of brilliant France, where the arts are thriving and life is good.  Who would leave this wonderful place, this wonderful life, and venture into the hardship and conflict of life in a colony?  Who dares to be first?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Renaissance

The appeal of colonial life and of making a new country, was not at the top of the list of dreams for the French.  Only those brave few, would dare the Atlantic crossing and venture into the unknown.  Stalwarts and bravehearts, skilled and courageous, colonial life was too daunting an adventure for the polished, sophisticated, countrymen of France.

A backbreaking adventure, a risk of life and limb, a intolerable climate and connections to a people of unknown character.  Life in a fort, in crowded conditions, with bare necessities and humble accommodation.  The freemen of France looked upon the life in a colony suspiciously.  Stumble and fall, stumble and fall, but rise and shine and pursue the adventure once more.

For those who finally ventured forth, into the new, into the unknown, the challenges of life abroad would change the face of North America.  As small as the tiny fort was, it still made a mark in the land, a change in the landscape, a place of accommodation, an establishment and a secure dwelling for those who dared.  Now over 400 years old, the city of Quebec is a thriving city of old and new, of charm and charisma.  A beautiful old place of French pride.

Connect to the people, connect to the countryside.  Learn and teach, the life in the colony will be hard, but finally the adventure is won.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

May 15, 2016

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We Are Here

Good Day you brilliant ones

A landing.  A safe harbour.   A good place to live.  A place to survive, to beat the elements, to meet the challenge, to conquer the storm.  A place, a safe harbour, a secure place.  Home?  Could this be home?  Could this remote and daunting place finally be home?

Weary and doubting, but necessity calls.  With prayers and hopes and dreams of survival, could this at last, be home?  A secure place to build a colony, a secure place for a settlement.   Set in the St. Lawrence River on a bluff of land, overlooking the river and tucked behind an island.  The thrilling prospect of yet another settlement attempt.  Success!  Success!  Give us success! Finally, let us be saved!

Oh joyous you, oh sweet Quebec.  Oh happy founding, oh life immortal.  A resting place, a  secure and safe place.  A home and shelter in the storms of the eastern coast.  Oh happy rest for weary souls, the founding of a great country, a great city, a colony, a settlement.  Oh happy success.  A refuge in a storm.  Oh great and brilliant, you sweet Quebec.

Poised and strong, fortified and armed.  For France!  Finally, the nation has accomplished it’s goal.  Finally a settlement!  Relieved and thankful, the city endures.  In 1608, mission accomplished!  Finally, a colony.  Praises and gratitude, thank you, oh thank you.    Finally our salvation, oh sweet Quebec.

A beautiful little place of old country charm.  Peace and prosperity, goodwill and protection.  The small but mighty ones of old world courage, who erected those dwellings, secured their fortress, fought the storms and cleared the land.  Negotiate, barter, trade and exchange.  A thriving place of  prosperity in the challenging land of the new world.

For France!  Oh sweet Quebec.  Our sanctuary, our resting place, our lovely, quaint and dreamy home.  It’s thrilling.  We have a colony.

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/champlain-and-the-founding-of-quebec-feature/

The habitation was secure, but the usual winter hardship wreaked havoc among the men again.  Scurvy, as usual.  Many died, but the dream was secure.  A fort, a fur trading post, a destiny wrought from the forest.  Now there is security.  Now there is a place to live.  Shelter, negotiation, prospects of trade.  The adventure of their lives has culminated in this great place.  A strong  and fortified habitation, small but secure, with cannons, guns and ammunition.

Finally, they will come.  Come to Canada, you mighty adventurous ones.  Come to great Quebec, to our island in the storm.  Come to share in the wealth of the fur trade, in the prosperity of a new life, in the duty to meet this awesome challenge and to be first, in a great line of pioneers.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

April 9, 2016

Pioneers
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Pioneers

Hail Bravehearts

 

Welcome to this glorious new day.  A step for you, in the right direction, can take you anywhere.

Your skills ,your education, your accumulated knowledge, your comrades, your team.  All locked together in this fight for success. Your ship awaits, climb aboard.  Take this first, irreversible step, and venture forth, to the great unknown.

It is not implausible, it’s been done before. Success was marginal, but imperative to try.  You must try, say the great masters, you must will yourselves to obey.  The command is difficult, but some must follow. Off to the colonies, oh brave pioneers.

The wind whispers in their hair.   Warm, gentle breezes, lift their spirits, the waves roll and rock the boat, the ocean smells of salt and sea water and ocean animals rise to the surface for a look at them.  Trespassers in the ocean of the great wild, passers by in this fragile ecosystem of sea.

Stand tall, almighty ones, your names are counted and your lives are engraved in the history of our frontier.  Stand tall on the deck, facing your future, do not look back, the past is gone and you will not return to it. Do not look back.  France, the most populated nation in Europe at the time, could only muster a few hundred brave souls to settle and populate a great land.  Build and settle, populate the land, negotiate and trade, farm and pioneer.  Not an easy task in a land so uncompromising.  Snow and cold, the bitter winter winds howl and scarce food sources decline.  But brave stalwarts are these who settle the land.  The peaceful and helpful natives give the support that they can, and forts and settlements emerge from the dark and forboding forest.

Light.  Light in the darkness of their days as the shadows recede and the sun can shine in. Light and hope.

As the summer fades and the long shadows of winter cling to the ground, hope will come to your rescue.

http://www.genealogy.umontreal.ca/en/LesPionniers

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

February 11, 2016

Own The Game
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Own The Game

Hail, all you brave ones.

The time is near.  Your path is chosen.  Your team is ready.  Skills and knowledge, trust and harmony, experience and expertise.  The team is everything.  Team building is a skill and a goal in itself.  A strong, directed team, with knowledgeable leadership can achieve insurmountable tasks.  Focus and dedication, building those skills, training and development, nurture and care.  The inexperienced can learn, their energy and enthusiasm helps to drive the team forward.  Push yourselves, the goal is in sight.

That small step of a minor achievement, when the course was finished and a new skill achieved.  Now this!  On to that path.  The goal of your dreams, the impossible dream.  That single, small step, to earth moving potential and striving for success.  Concentrate on the goal.  Step by step, follow that path. Don’t give it up.  This is the adventure of your life.

Choose well, oh brave ones, there are many paths.  The straight, the narrow, the high, the low, each with challenges, obstacles and pitfalls.  Clues to success glitter in the corner of your eye.  Whisperings of sweetness echos in your ears. The chalk on the board draws your attention.  Learn your lessons well. The time spent on nurturing a fine aptitude gives you the knowledge you need for your life.  Don’t let this pass.  You must achieve it.  The road becomes narrow, there are dead ends, circles and confusion.  Time passes, it doesn’t stand still and your aptitude must be nourished for it to flourish.

Your fortitude is with your comrades.  Strength to you.  A trusted system of mutual support and life skills, building knowledge, courage and your team. A trusted team of mutual respect, connectivity and sharing.  Educate and learn, trial and error, practice, practice, practice, you will get it right.  Devotion to your cause and focus.

The game has already started, it’s been playing out forever.  Mentors line the walls to help.  Each with skills  and wisdom to impart.  Nothing changes, this is the game.

Climb on board, you winning team, handpicked for your expertise.  It is your time, your armour shines, the spotlight sees you, the crowds cheer.  Achieve it, oh almighty ones!  To victory, to eternity.  This is your day, your hour, your second.  All of your life’s work comes down to this moment.  The moment that you dream for, that you risked it all for, that you dared for.

Now, in that imperceptible moment, when your mind is sharp and the world stands still, quietly waiting for you.  Now we know who you are, your name and your game.  All that you’ve trained for, all that you’ve worked for, all that you have ever been.  Now you, and the merit of your team, will be counted.

written by Dr, Louise Hayes

February 2, 2016

Action!
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Action!

Hail, you awesome human

For beauty is as beauty does and you all do it so well.  Test your skills and competitive edge, test your knowledge and constant training, test your fortitude and your companionship, test your ability to train and command.  Hail, all you beauties.  The judges watch in eager support, the crowd cheers at the dare devil within and the champion of this match is an unrivaled and much heralded success.  Glory and honour to this golden crown, the skills of the beauty are unsurpassed.  A pageant queen that has never been questioned.  No one disputes the necessity of this  test, or the rights of these women to compete.

A test of skills and nerve and fortitude, an inspiration to all who watch and to those who jealously eye the crown.  The secret to success is the fabulously well trained body and the perfection of the match.

He listens closely  to the voice in his ear and responds immediately to the command.  A match of perfect unison as they plunge headlong into the race.  Over and over, the practice was perfect, now only to attain the unbeatable speed  that will send them on to victory.  Hours of training, hours spend in competition, train your body, train your mind and harness the superior beast.

Quietly down in the rolling countryside, where a days work begins at dawn and life is a routine of milking the cows, feeding the chickens and harvesting the crops.  The peaceful country life, ideally set in the picturesque landscape.  A life, so seemingly simple, that anyone could do it.

Canadian Cowboys’ Association Ladies Barrel Racing Highlights- Canadian Western Agribition

at http://www.RodeoCanada.com, from http://www.youtube.ca

But from that land of simple charm, comes an athlete of a different proportion.  Tall in the saddle, high in their ability, the twosome walk into center stage.  The drama unfolds.  Like their forefathers of yesteryear, the cowboy is still the same.  A bull rider, a bronco buster ,a  barrel racer, a calf roper and a highly skilled athlete.

Now it is the ladies turn, a competition of their own.  To train and command the powerful  horse and to demand the speed and agility for this course.

The quiet of the country, so peaceful and so dreamy.  Where all of the rush of the  rodeo comes from.  A country life with it’s own unique culture, it’s own unique identity, privileges and heroes.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

October 27, 2015

The Quiet of the County
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The Quiet of the County

Hail Bravehearts

To bravery and skill and monumental tasks, to competition and necessity and getting the job done.  Those were the days of heady exploration, of building a country of home on the range.  Those were the days of cattle drives and opening up the land.  The days of ranching, homesteading and the cowboy.

Those were our yesterdays.  But still, in the quiet of the land, in the rolling countryside, in the far off place where only the dirt roads go, lies the key to our past and our splendid present, the future still holds this truth.  The land of the cowboy, where steer wresting and bronco busting fills a part of their daily lives.

Rise to the songs of the livestock rustling, of the wind blowing through the fields and the quiet of dawn. The world sleeps at this hour, but the morning sun is rising and the daily chores must be done.  Oh lonesome cowboy, of song and spirit, the day calls to you to earn your daily bread.  Come out to the pasture, a new day is calling, come out to a day’s work of home on the range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nht3bMUebzI  mini bronc at the Edson Stampede

The chickens proudly display their treasure, a new gift of food to their delighted owner.  Chuckling and prancing their days work is done, as a new egg lies gleaming in the early morning sun.  The cattle line up in their stalls eagerly waiting, their milk has come and it must be taken.  Their gift, their treasure, more food for the farmer.  The family farm where no one starves.  The fields grow tall with grains for bread and a days work of harvesting lies just ahead.  The fruit tree ripens and sends it’s gifts to us, the bounty of the harvest lies in the basket.  A forage through the garden reveals the tasty lettuce, the carrots and spinach awaiting the platter, a days work is done when the weeds are pulled and the  ground is bursting with delicious, nutritional plants.  No more the hungry, no more the worry, the life of the farm is wholesome and ready.

At the end of the day, when the sun still shines brightly, brings a time for rest and relaxation.  A time for the energizing sport of the days of yesteryear, a time when the cowboy and ranching and riding filled their lives.   Livestock herding and breeding and taming the wild.  That horse out yonder, who must be rode, that sport for dollars and it makes sense, if you know their custom and their culture, the rodeo is a must.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3M4xhx42tc  Saddle Bronc Ride at the Calgary Stampede 2015

Ride,  you sportsmen, ride.  Break that wild horse, who  must listen.  Tame the beast to be your own and ride, for your life, you cowboy, ride!  It is not just  sport, it is not just a test, it is the taming of the wild as the horse must be ridden and taught to do a job.  From here, the training persists and the quiet of the country fills with the joy of yet another day in the saddle.

 

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

October 10, 2015

A Simple Country Life
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A Simple Country Life

Hail Oh Brilliant Ones

Muscle and brawn, determination and might.  The power of the body and the mind in a challenge for victory for us all. Strength and will, focus and mindset, the power of the objective is a lure of contentment.  Bring on the bull, bring on the market, bring on the challenge that proves the might of this power.

Ride for your lives, oh glorious ones, a challenge unusual, but necessary for a culture of unique bravery and unique courage.  The fight between man and beast in a contest of wills to tame the savagery out of the wild.  Bring on the bull, the market is waiting, for this is an animal of fierce power and fierce mindset.

As in all wild things, the thought of taming it,  is an exciting interest to some of us.  The challenge to ride an unusual animal, who’s interests are for protection and preservation of it’s own kind.  Bought and paid for, the bull is owned, but not really tame.  A bull is a powerhouse of strength and musculature, with a brain focused on survival.  He is the fittest, the rightful, the protector of the herd and his temper and adrenalin flair with anger.  From intruders and strangers, the bull protects it’s land with seething contempt for outsiders.  Nostrils flair, stomping and pounding, steely gaze and snorting breath, the bull challenges.  Run, you cowards, save yourselves!  This animal will not allow a trespasser.

A mild farm animal, to the unwitting and unknowing, this is an animal of unpredictable nature and immense girth.  Stay away, stay out of the paddock, don’t go near the bull.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocX5EXgHmGU  bull riding in Canada

Hop on board, you daring cowboy.  Ride the vicious bull.  Tame the wild beast of farmyard passivity.  The quiet country way, the rolling landscape, the picturesque farm nestled into a hillside, the pastures dotted with grazing animals, all tame and well fed, all quiet and calm in the peaceful countryside.

A challenge is upon us, to beat a vicious and untameable foe, an animal of fierceness and endurance, power and meanness.  The bull will fight for it’s life and kill it’s adversary.  Stomping and flailing, sharpened horns and massive body, who will ride the bull?

An interesting and exciting diversion from quiet country life.  The birds sing in the trees and nature plays out it’s everyday fascination.  Ponds filled with ducks and waterfowl dot the landscape, marshland is preserved for it’s own sake and the wild encroaches with timid apprehension.  Sometimes foxes, sometimes deer, the pastures in the farm attract the more daring of the wild, who linger along it’s fringes.  A simple co-existence, usually without distress.

But the bull is an adversary.  A wild and difficult animal.  He exists for himself. For his powerful genetics win the show ribbons and he’s the champion of them all.

Ride on, oh cowboys.  Laughing and daring, rope in hand.  Farm life is not for simple minded folk.  Your own  strong, agile bodies, tested against the steel of a bull headed animal. Determined and stubborn, willful and massive, ride on, you cowboys, to glory and courage and to conquer the wild of the farm.  The massive bull.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 20, 2015