Yo Yo Ma playing Bach’s Cello Suite No 1 to those awaiting their vaccinations in Pittsfield Massachusetts after he had received his is such an inspiring moment of grace and beauty.
Take a moment and enjoy this recording of his playing the Prelude from the Suite in 1983.
On this inaugural first ever Canadian Women Physicians’ Day, chosen to honor Dr Jennie Trout who was the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada in 1875, I celebrate all the amazing women I have had the privilege of learning from and working with over the nearly 60 years since my first day as a medical student in 1964. I honor and thank them all. Special thanks to Dr. Michiko Maruyama (@medical_doodles) who is an inspiration to all who know her, especially me, who generously offered this wonderful art of hers to everyone “to feel free to share, post or use this artwork in celebration of women in medicine.” Thank you Michiko.
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Happy International Women’s Day to all the amazing women in my life who inspire me each and every day at home and at work, together with all of our healthcare heroes. Here are some of the women who inspire us all both as leaders and protesters and who sadly in the process too often pay the ultimate price. This year the theme for today is “Choose to Challenge,” which is why I am dedicating this post to the memory of Kyal Sin, who “chose to challenge” but was murdered five days ago at the age of 19 by the Myanmar Police. “Everything will be OK” she believed, but “Will it be?” is the question for our times.
Saturday morning reflections.
Art by the late English artist and dear friend Harvey Daniels.
Tulips from Costco.
What could be a more enjoyable way to spend an afternoon than FaceTiming with my beautiful granddaughter today creating a virtual collage, with her request for an erupting volcano, lava and a dinosaur 🦕 which I’m happy to report received the seal of approval. 😉 ❤️
From days of pencilling a return to painting in the studio this afternoon with this Pacific Spirit Park study – acrylic on paper.
First the good news as reported in a new court filing by Julia Ainsley and Jacob Soboroff, author of “Separated” a book that should be read by all: the parents of 105 of the children separated at the border by the previous criminal administration have been found. Unfortunately, the filing goes on to report that the parents of 506 of the remaining children have yet to be reached; 322 of them are being looked for in their countries of origin; 168 are attempted to being located in the United States; for the remaining 16 there no contact numbers available.
In the words of Winston Churchill, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
P.S. My apologies to those of you looking for my promised story behind the leaf drawings, this has taken on a life of its own and has now become a work in progress. Stay tuned.
Families Belong Together
After posting my painting of Canada’s bobsleigh gold medalists from the 2018 Winter Olympics yesterday how could I not re-post these little paintings of Canada’s golden couple Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir to re-celebrate today’s third anniversary of their Gold Medal Ice Dance performance to Moulin Rouge at the 2018 games; four never-to-be-forgotten magical minutes of dance, athleticism and sublime artistry.
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Three years ago today I posted this watercolor to celebrate the Gold Medal win for Team Canada in the Two-Man Bobsleigh at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang by Alexander Kopacz and Justin Kripps. Today I couldn’t be happier to report that the painting has found the perfect home 😊.
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666+186 Day LIV – Journey’s End.
Thank you to all of you who have joined me over the past few months. Knowing you have been “looking over my shoulder” and sharing my concern for the children has been a great support. Over the next day or two I will be writing the story of my journey, which I will post once it is completed.
I thought I would add today my words from that first day, October 22nd as a reminder of the reason why my journey began:
I have begun this drawing of the 546 leaves I collected today from the Pacific Spirit Park to represent the 546 children separated from their parents. As a parent and grandparent who loves his children and grandchildren so much this is my way of representing the heartbreak and the anguish being felt by so many families suffering in this tragic story of state supported kidnapping of children. As the drawings continue I will post their progress and will be thinking of each child as I draw every one of these fragile leaves.
thechangingpalette 