"It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour, and its assault only failed of success because dead men can advance no further." Major-General Sir Beauvoir de Lisle, Commander of the British 29th Division , on the 1st Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont-Hamel July 1st is Canada Day where the country celebrates its birthday. In Newfoundland, while we are part of Canada since 1949, another day is remembered - Memorial Day. On July 1, 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme in World War I, 801 soldiers of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment rose from the British trenches and went into battle at Beaumont-Hamel , nine kilometers north of Albert in France. After only 30 minutes the regiment was devastated. Only 68 men stood to answer the regimental roll call the next morning. 255 were dead, 386 were wounded, and 91 were listed as missing in action and presumed dead. Every officer who had gone over the top was either wounded or dead. While researching relatives in an old cemetery I found a gravesite which brought home more the meaning of Memorial Day. The graves of two young men, relatives through my mother's paternal side of the family, James Atwill, who died on July 1, 1916 as part of the Newfoundland Regiment and his brother Duncan, who died two years later in action in France. James was 25 and Duncan 21. Such a waste of life and such a terrible war, as all wars are.  read more »

Today is Blog Action Day 2008 and this years topic is poverty. Blog Action Day tries to raise awareness about a specific issue by having thousands of bloggers blog about a single chosen topic on the same day. This is my rant. The average person who reads this blog doesn't really know about or has been touched by poverty personally. Have you ever had to make the choice between food or heat? Have you ever had to go without medicine because you couldn't afford it?  read more »

For those who enjoy this sort of thing, here is our current backyard list. I've boldfaced the birds we saw just yesterday. American Crow American Goldfinch American Robin Baltimore Oriole Black-and-White Warbler Black-capped Chickadee Blue Jay Brown Creeper Brown-headed Cowbird Brown Thrasher Canada Goose Cedar Waxwing Chipping Sparrow Common Grackle Cooper's Hawk Dark-eyed Junco Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) Downy Woodpecker Eastern Screech Owl European Starling Fox Sparrow Golden-crowned Kinglet Gray Catbird Great Horned Owl Hairy Woodpecker House Sparrow House Wren House Finch Indigo Bunting Mourning Dove Northern Cardinal Northern Flicker Purple Finch Red-bellied Woodpecker Red-breasted Nuthatch Rose-breasted Grosbeak Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Veery White-crowned Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-breasted Nuthatch Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker Birding resources we love: Field Guide to the Birds of North America (National Geographic) The Sibley Guide to Birds (David Allen Sibley (National Audubon Society)) Common Birds and Their Songs (Lang Elliott) Birds of Illinois (Sheryl Devore, et al) Birds of Chicago (Chris C.  read more »