La Prisonniere

Malika Oufkir, imprisoned in a Sahara Desert jail, dug a tunnel to freedom with a spoon.  Her father, a high ranking official in the Moroccan government, became the right hand man of King Hassan II in the 1960's.  The King liked him so much that he "adopted" his daughter Malika who moved into the palace for a few years to act as the companion of the King's daughter, Princess Amina.  By 1972, however, Mr. Oufkir betrayed the Moroccan monarchy by attempting to assassinate King Mohammed V, but without success.  He and the other would-be assassins paid with their lives. 

Malika, her five younger siblings and their mother would also pay.  They were imprisoned in a secret jail in the middle of the desert where Malika helped keep her siblings' spirits up by telling them stories night after night.  As she told her tales, they would all take turns digging in the sand with a spoon.  Hearing stories helped distract the children from their miserable situation; digging a tunnel gave them a purpose.  Day after day, week after week, they scooped up spoonful after spoonful of sand.  Malika's positive attitude helped her transcend her miserable surroundings, spending much of the time in solitary confinement.  Her approach was similar to that of Victor Frankl, a concentration camp inmate during World War II, who refused to be broken by his captors.  Finally, one day in 1987, they broke through to the desert surface and found their way to freedom only to be returned to jail five days later.  They were placed under house arrest for another four years, and then officially released in 1991. 

In 1996, the Oufkir's were given permission to leave Morocco.  Forty-three year old Malika immigrated to France where she met a man and got married.  She, along with her siblings, converted from Islam to Catholicism.  In 1999, she wrote a book about her experience called La Prisonniere which was later translated into English as Stolen Lives:  Twenty Years in a Desert Jail.  In the meantime she has championed the cause of other political prisoners.  It is inspiring to see that Malika has risen above her tragic circumstances to help not just her own family, but others as well.



Photo courtesy http://en.wikipedia.org/

Wisdom in a Game of Mini-Golf

When we were playing mini-golf one evening, a thought struck me about life:  the mini-golf course is a micro-cosm for life.  I had missed a shot and realized I had two choices:  either I throw up my hands and let the whole game go to pot or I regroup and come back stronger than ever.  When you take a wrong turn, you can either fall apart or re-focus and not let it affect your direction.  This is not just true on the golf course but in the kitchen as well.  Rob was feeling guilty about eating too much one day.  Well, he had two choices:  he could have given up and eaten everything in sight or he could have said to himself that tomorrow is another day and I'll get back to eating healthy again.  Regrouping is also an important tactic on the battlefield.  Some of the most successful battles in history were fought on the heels of crushing defeats.  For instance, the British were defeated at Tobruck, Libya and later beat the Germans at El-Alamein, Egypt in 1942.  Back on the mini-golf course, I was defeated by my son 65 - 61.  Well, there's always next time.

Between D-Day & VE Day

We watched Tom Hanks World War II mini-series "Band of Brothers" in 2008.  The series is about an American troupe called "Easy Company" who fought in Europe in World War II.  They fought on the D-Day beaches.  They also fought in Operation Market Garden.  Remember the paratroopers floating over Holland?  And they participated in the Battle of the Bulge where they almost froze to death in Belgium's Ardennes Forest.  You would think that D-Day would have been the ultimate triumph; but it was only the beginning.  The Allies, although gaining much momentum after landing on Normandy's beaches, had to dig their heals in and fight some of their most vicious battles between D-Day (June 6, 1944) and VE Day (May 8, 1945). 

D-Day photo courtesy d-day-invasion.jpg

Our former minister, Donald Young, once said that the period we live in now, between the first and second comings of Christ, is like the stretch between D-Day and VE Day.  As Christians, we are certain that Christianity will triumph in the end.  However, we have to let the story play itself out first.  Some of our most difficult battles have yet to be fought; but we will win the battle.  We have to be strong like the Allied soldiers in Europe who also had a noble cause.  In the end, the Allies not only liberated civilians, but also concentration camp victims.  Holland was so grateful for Canada's role in their liberation that its residents still send us tulips each Spring. 


V-E Day photo courtesy www.toronto.ca/archives

Being Christians in today's society is not easy; we often seem to be the target of others.  Speaking the truth often makes us unpopular.  "Easy Company" troupe definitely did not have it easy, but they persevered and they won the war.  We Christians will, too!

"And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." (John 8:32)

Strawberry Picking

Every June we go strawberry picking as a family, a tradition that Rob used to do with his Mom and Oma when he was a boy.  However, this year I went strawberry picking by myself when the kids were in school as I had promised to provide fruit for the Grade 8 Graduation dinner.  June turned into July and we still hadn't gone as a family.  Rob suggested that we go cherry picking instead, reminiscing about the days he used to climb up on his parents' picnic table and pick cherries off the cherry tree till his heart was content.  Then he would guzzle water from the garden hose.  However, my daughter is no cherry picker; it had to be strawberries.  So, after making some inquiries, we found out that strawberry season has not yet passed due to the cold, wet Spring we had this year.

We headed to Brantwood Farms, parked and took our empty quart boxes into the field.  Everyone has their own technique.  I pick slowly and carefully.  My son stays in one row and picks the bright red ones that do not yet spray juice when you squeeze them.  My daughter shifts from row to row looking for the biggest strawberries.  My husband, while he picks the best strawberries, takes longer than my son because he eats half of them.  Our boxes filled to the brim and our fingertips stained red, we headed back to the shack where Rob paid Farmer Tom. 

Back at home, we gave one quart to our elderly neighbour and two quarts to my daughter's friends.  The one quart that remains will be eaten by my husband and son.  You see, my daughter and I don't even like strawberries.  We just enjoy the company we keep in the strawberry fields.  Until next year.


Photo courtesy http://www.greenlivinggirls.com/

My Twelve Year Old

This has been a major year for my son.  When I hear him in the next room, I think I'm listening to a man.  He is starting to grow hair on his legs.  He asks me to buy deodorant at the grocery store.  And he puts on acne cream at bed time.  What happened to my little boy?  His shoe size has surpassed mine.  He is hungry all of the time.  He eats faster than I can put the food on his plate.  And he burps like a construction worker.  What happened to my little boy?  He wants an I Pod (he bought one this year with his own money).  He wants his own e-mail account (he just got one last month).  He wants to go on Facebook (not until he turns 13).  What happened to my little boy?

And yet today was different.  We spent the day in Long Point for my niece's birthday party.  We gathered at the beach where my son, my daughter (almost 8) and their cousins, only 7 and 3, played together nicely.  They frolicked in the water with their boogie boards.  They built sandcastles like it was 5 years ago.  And they buried each other in the sand.  Although my little nephew spent some of the time napping on his towel, sunbaked.  My twelve and a half year old enjoyed it just as much as his much younger sister and cousins. 

We returned to the cottage where the four of them watched "The Magic School Bus", with red faces and sandy feet.  Then we dined on thick juicy porkchops and homemade potato salad cooked to perfection.  The birthday girl blew out the candles and we dug into the carrot cake.  My big boy sat on the couch with his little boy cousin as they devoured their cake. 

Yes, for an afternoon, I had my little boy back.  I can rest easy.  At least until he asks for the car keys!


Photo courtesy http://static.guim.co.uk/

Lucy's Schedule

One of my favourite episodes of "I Love Lucy" is called "Lucy's Schedule".  Ricky is complaining about Lucy always taking so long to get ready when they go out anywhere.  Lucy says that she will make sure she is ready on time for the next occasion which happens to be a dinner at Ricky's boss's house.  However, she sets the clocks incorrectly and they arrive so late that the boss and his wife have already eaten.  Lucy is so famished as they converse with the other couple that she gobbles up every last mint in the candy dish.  Ricky gives her a dagger look which is priceless and cracks me up every time I watch the scene.  To make up for their lateness, the Ricardo's invite Ricky's boss, Mr. Littlefield, and his wife over for dinner, hoping to discuss a possible job opportunity running a nightclub.  Ricky puts Lucy on a schedule to impress his boss, thinking that if he can prove he knows how to "manage" his wife, he could manage a nightclub.  However, his plan backfires when Lucy takes the schedule a little too seriously and races the guests through dinner along with her co-conspirators, Ethel and Mrs. Littlefield:  Ricky's boss only gets one sip of his soup before it is removed; he barely touches his main course; the dinner rolls are literally tossed through the air and caught with a baseball glove.  Ricky is furious.  In the end, despite the disastrous dinner, Ricky still lands the job. 

The charm of the "I Love Lucy" show was its simplicity.  The best episodes took place in the New York City apartment and centred on Ricky, Lucy, Fred and Ethel.  In later seasons, the writers brought on various guest actors and had the Ricardo's travel to California and to Europe.  They even had them move to the suburbs at the tail end of the series.  However, they could never duplicate the charm of the apartment and the famous foursome.  Rather than a television show, it was almost like a play.  The emphasis was on the characters rather than on the set. 

I miss the innocence of shows like "I Love Lucy".  Today you can watch 100 channels and yet there's nothing on.  I'd like to go back to 12 channels showing programs with integrity.  It is encouraging to know that even though it's been 60 year since "I Love Lucy" debuted on CBS, people still watch it on DVD.  It hasn't lost its charm.



Photo courtesy http://ecx.images-amazon.com/

Highway Robbery

What a great way to start off the summer by watching Cars 2 at the movie theatre.  I remember when Rob and I went on our first official date.  We watched a Harrison Ford movie at Limeridge Mall in Hamilton and paid only $4.25 a ticket.  A bag of popcorn cost even less than the ticket.  It was an inexpensive evening out.  Now there are four of us and we need to re-mortgage our house just to go to the movies.  First of all, the tickets prices have skyrocketed, especially if you choose to watch a 3D movie.  Secondly, the treat prices are through the roof.  I specifically bought a large purse at Walmart just to smuggle food in.  When the kids were younger, I would bring along drinking boxes and Smart Corn from the Dollar Store.  However, this time for a change I said they could eat movie theatre popcorn, trans fat and all.  I purchased a medium bag for my son and a small bag for my daughter.  The total came to $16.00!  And I hadn't even ordered drinks.  My son asked me for some money to go next door to Dollar Giant and I slipped him two twonies. After several minutes, he returned with two large bottles of Nestea concealed in the large pockets of his shorts and some change.  My husband asked him to hold his popcorn and I protested:  "But he's doing a job for me."  Into the theatre and mission accomplished.  I was so proud of my son.  We enjoyed the feature presentation.  The theatre was packed.  But the next time I go to the movies, I will purchase another large purse.




Picture courtesy http://www.bradfitzpatrick.com/