My kids went on vacation and…

Does anyone remember those popular souvenir shop t-shirts? My parents went to Florida, South of the Border, Gettysburg, and all I got was this lousy* t-shirt? My husband said no one would remember them, but I remember them. I think we all got one at one point, but they are long in the bin of history.

As I’ve written last week, I had to have surgery on my achilles tendon, so our vacation was cancelled; however, we sent our kids for half of the vacation since there was a “comic” convention, Fan Expo Canada. The three of them had never gone away alone together, and they all came back in one piece, and hopefully with stronger relationships than when they left. I had concerns about crossing the border, but I grew up going to Canada all my life, and I feel that they are an extension of New York and vice versa.

I thought for this month’s inspiration, I would share a few collages of some of the things my kids brought back for me. Some were requested (the clothes and stationery items) and others were surprises, especially Niagara Falls. (*Nothing in here represents anything lousy!)

Graham Greene (1952-2025)

They all hurt, but this one hurts.

Graham Greene has been a favorite of mine for a very long time. It may hit a bit harder today because of my research into St. Kateri Tekakwitha, a fellow member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, although she was Mohawk (and Algonquin) and he was Oneida.

Credit to Matthew Tsang/Getty Images. (c)2021

Graham Greene Obiturary from The Wrap by Drew Taylor

World Book Lovers Day

I’m having surgery next week. This is the list of books added to my Kindle for Recovery Reading:

The Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England by Brock Clark
100 Places to See After You Die by Ken Jennings
War by Bob Woodward
Lieutenant Nun: The True Story of a Cross-Dressing, Transatlantic Adventurer who Escaped from a Spanish Convent in 1599 and Lived as a Man – Gambling, Duels, and Leading Soldiers into Battle by Catalina De Erauso
Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary by Joe Jackson
How We Learn to Be Brave by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde
The Jesuit Relations: Natives and Missionaries in Seventeenth-Century North America Edited by Allan Greer

As a bonus treat, I discovered this in my emails, and plan to visit the next time I am in Montreal:

Cafe Three Pines – Inspired by the bistro in Penny’s Three Pines novels, their cafe is a haven for book lovers, croissant seekers, and anyone in need of a quiet moment. They can be found at 51 Chemin Lakeside, Knowlton Quebec J0E 1V0 and on Instagram! They are open Tuesday to Sunday, 9am to 5pm.

Feast Day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha (in Canada)

This is the feast day of St. Kateri Tekakwitha. She died on this day in 1680 at twenty-four years of age. Since that time, miracles have known to have occurred through her intercession. In two more days, is the anniversary of my own conversion.

The photo above is at her tomb where her earthly remains rest at the St. Francis Xavier Mission Church in Kahnawake, Quebec. This is at the National Canadian Shrine of St. Kateri Tekakwitha.

I’m looking forward to the celebration of her feast day in the US in July, and my visit to this shrine and her tomb in June, partly for intensive research, but also hopefully to attend mass while we’re there.

St. Kateri, pray for us.

Canada Responds to US Tariffs

This is not good for either country.

Native American Heritage Month Can Be All Year Long If You Know Where to Go

I think when it comes to marginalized groups in this country, it is important to remember that even though we attempt to celebrate them and honor them, we can still do that on the other 364 days of the year, and not just on “their” day.

Native American Heritage Month officially ended on November 30th, and Native American Heritage Day was commemorated on November 29th.

In addition to the post last week with links to the American Indian Museum in Washington, DC, I’d like to share the following links and travel recommendations for you to consider over the next 361 days.

The Akwesasne Cultural Center is located on State Route 37 in Akwesasne, New York, near the Canadian Border. They are a museum, library, and cultural center focusing on the history and culture of the Mohawk people as well as protecting Mohawk culture and artifacts. The museum and gift shop are open T – F, 10-6, and Sat, 10-2. The library is open additionally on Monday, 9-5.

The Kanien’keha’:ka Onkwawen:na Raotitiohkwa Language and Cultural Center was established in 1978. Its mission is to preserve and enrich the language and culture of the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) of Kahnawa:ke. They are located in the Mohawk Territory of Kahanwa:ke, south of Montreal, Canada.

You can also find the Welcome Center, the Kateri Interpretive Center, and the St. Francis-Xavier Mission Church (on this site since 1716) in the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawa:ke. I have toured all three of these sites and it is well worth the visit.

From The National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian: The “First Thanksgiving”: How Can We Tell a Better Story?

Bluesky Handle, Puff the Magic Hater has a thread of ways to support Native people, for everything from abortion care, defending voting rights, keeping Native families together, and more. Visit the thread here.

I’d like to close this post with the words of someone smarter than me. On Nov 29, 2024, historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote on Facebook:

Native American Heritage Month

There is still a long way to go in acknowledging what the governments of the United States and Canada have done to the Native American and First Nations peoples of North America. I’m being naive in thinking that Native American Heritage Month in November when Thanksgiving occurs is completely unrelated. However, it is what it is.

I thought I would share some of the things and signage that I noticed on our recent visits to Canada. The Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto has a large First Nations exhibit. I think it took nearly an hour to get through it and I could have probably stayed longer.

In addition to the following photos, when we visited the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, I noticed a sign at the entrance that said: Ingenium [Canada Aviation & Space Museum] offers free admission to all active Canadian military personnel, Canadian military veterans, Indigenous peoples, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis, and a support leader accompanying a person with disabilities. When available, presentation of an Identification Card is requested.

I noticed this in several museums including the ROM.

There was also a discount for the gift shop as well as Indigenous pins and souvenirs.

In the United States, it is on my bucket list to visit the American Indian Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.. There is also a location in New York City. Check out the website for hours of operation. Admission to both locations are free.

Inspired. November.

While we wait for the election returns (whether that’s tonight, tomorrow, or the next day, I thought I would share some of the things that inspired me in the last few weeks.

Pardon My English

As you may know, and as I may have mentioned at least once, I have recently been obsessed by Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache book series. This could be a good as well as a bad thing. I’ve read the series twice now and have taken a few forays into the depths of some plot points. I am immersed. One of the negative things I find in binge reading and re-reading so closely together is noticing things like continuity errors that pop up on occasion, things that would typically slip by the reader if the books were read as they were released rather than all at once, the change of a pet’s name or a grandchild’s nickname; the age of someone when their parents died. There is also the redundancy that follows a book series in order to catch-up new readers with things that series regulars know, like the physical characteristics of the characters (I’ve had some issues with a couple of the women characters’ descriptions), their phobias (heights & closed spaces) and their foibles, their likes and dislikes (like Beauvoir’s love of steak frites – why mayonnaise with fries, someone please, please explain this to me, and his dislike of Anglos), their idiosyncrasies (the poetry), their hidden agendas and pasts that play into how they act and react to others and to situations. One of the things I do love about binge reading and re-reading is discovering the Easter eggs hidden and the foreshadowing that are only visible in hindsight.

Griffins and Ginger Snaps

-I write, and I have a blog because of course I do-

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