Kick Off The Season

I can't think of any other way to kick off the holiday season other than by doing something that has become a bit of a tradition for my blog each year at this time.

The family has gotten together to sing a little Christmas Medley for you to enjoy. This year we gave my sister-in-law Erin a rest but found a super replacement in the form of my nephew Noah.

So without any further ado, here's my mom, dad, brother Scott, nephew and myself bringing you some Christmas cheer. Enjoy it while it lasts as it will be gone in the new year.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Note: If you find it slow or choppy, you might need to let it load and play once and then play it again for a better view.

Eleventh Hour, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Month

Copyright 2009 Mark Kennedy

This coming Wednesday is Remembrance Day in Canada and like all of the years past, Canadian soldiers who sacrificed their lives for their country will be remembered on this day.

Some people will remember family members or friends who fought and died in the great wars or other conflicts right up to the latest fighting in Afghanistan. I hope others with no personal connection will at least stop for a couple of minutes even if only to show a quiet respect for those brave men and women who lost their lives in battle.

I’m guilty of not knowing or perhaps remembering enough about my own family’s involvement. The only family member I can recall who took part in any war directly was my Uncle Hollis; who served aboard a sub-chaser in WWII. Beyond that, I can’t recall much else and sadly he passed away a couple of years ago so talking to him isn’t possible.

Another friend of our family is nearly 90 years old and he served in Europe during the Second World War with the Canadian artillery. He never liked to talk about it too much but from time to time he would volunteer a story from that experience and I was quite interested in what he had to say.

My father used to work with a man who stormed the beach on D-Day in Normandy and although he has since passed on, he did share some stories with my dad. His name was Rusty and he spoke of how he never understood why he was spared. During the landing on Juno Beach he had two fellow soldiers shot and killed on either side of him yet he survived. I’m sure stories like this were very common among those involved in that invasion.

These men and all of the men and women who have given their lives in service to their country and freedom deserve our thanks and unwavering gratitude now and forever.

War has changed a lot since the 1940’s. There were no smart bombs, drones or heat-seeking anything. Apache helicopters, F-22 Raptors and patriot missiles could never have been imagined. You knew your enemy and quite often you could see them as you fought them. Today, those battles are rare indeed. Of the over 130 Canadians killed in Afghanistan, the majority were killed not in traditional battles but by improvised explosive devices (IED’s) planted in the ground by the enemy.

The battle fields have changed, but the resulting loss of life, sadness and heartache never changes. Regardless of your opinions of war you have to respect the sacrifices made in the pursuit of freedom for all. Your right to express your opinions is directly related to those who have fought for our rights and freedom. Without those sacrifices, you wouldn’t be enjoying the freedom you have today. So if you can’t get to your local Remembrance Day service in person on Wednesday morning, then at least pause for two minutes at 11:00 a.m. wherever you are and remember them. They would have done the same for you.

Copyright 2009 Mark Kennedy

Photo Recognition

For the second year in a row I have received an Honourable Mention in the photo contest run by the city I live in.

I don't really enter the contest expecting to win or even do well. I usually enter as a way to sort of legitimize my photography hobby.

I take a lot of photos throughout the year and never really do much with them so it's nice to enter the odd contest just to make owning all of the expensive equipment worthwhile. I usually take photos and edit them to please myself but it's nice to see others might enjoy my work as well.

I have to attend a council meeting at City Hall on November 16th to receive my prize. Congratulations to everyone else who had their photos selected.

This is the photo of mine that they seemed to like the most. It's an old church built in the 1870's that has been restored and turned into a meeting hall.

Copyright 2009 Mark Kennedy

Yankees Buy Another Championship

Congratulations to the New York Yankees who won their 27th World Series Championship earlier tonight by beating the Philadelphia Phillies in six games.

It seems only appropriate they won as greed and excess seem to be a popular theme right now in many areas.

What other team in Major League Baseball best personifies this as much as the Bronx Bombers?

With a payroll of over $200 million dollars this season, the Yankees did what many other teams in the league couldn't do...buy a title.

To try and put this into perspective, the top three payed players on the Yankees combined made more than the entire Florida Marlins team this season. The Marlins payroll at the start of the season was just under $37-million. Heck, my Blue Jays were only around $80-million. How could they possibly compete? Sure, money doesn't guarantee a championship but it greatly improves the odds of winning.

It might sound like I'm bashing the Yankees and I admit, I'm not a fan but that isn't my point. They didn't break any league rules and that is what bothers me even more.

The fact that rules don't exist to even the playing field and make the league more competitive is a travesty. Of course a player making $33-million is another disgusting problem with the league.

Teams in smaller markets will never be able to compete because they won't have the financial resources available to lure top veteran players looking for high dollar contracts. And with free agency, the Yankees can out-bid pretty much any other team to get the players they want. It's like poker. One player has a large chip count and he can bully other players out of the pot by betting high and scaring them off.

The 2009 Yankees are sipping champagne as World Champions primarily because the team spent over $420 million to sign baseball’s top three available free agents in Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett last winter.

Then add in the fact they spent nearly $300 million to secure Alex Rodriguez following the 2007 season as well as more big contracts for superstars including Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.

Until Major League Baseball does something to control this kind of spending, the Yanks will always have an advantage.

Birds Of A Feather

Here it is November already. Less than two months to go before another decade is complete. Actually, is that right? Do we count the year 2000 as the first year? Well, that's what I'm going with for now.

Any way, now that November is here and the clocks have returned to Standard Time we're down to about 11 hours of daylight in these parts as the days continue to get shorter. In fact, just the other day I had the snow-blower out and made sure it was running and ready to go for the winter ahead.

Sadly, with the change in weather, my opportunities to get out and photograph will likely start to drop off drastically. Being a warm weather person, I don't tend to venture out as much during the winter. Not to mention the fact that taking photos in minus 15 degree conditions isn't quite as enjoyable. I think it might have something to do with my face freezing to the camera. So I'm trying to take advantage of what nice weather we have left.

Today I struck out with the sun shinning and the mercury around +10 Celsius and had some fun. I found some Mute Swans fishing for food along the shores of the local Provincial Park and trained my camera on them for about 15 minutes before they became annoyed with me. Here's one of the shots I came away with.

Copyright 2009 Mark Kennedy