Author: Bambi

Regular readers of this blog may know that Bambi is into journaling, diaries, and dates.

How could she not highlight today then?

If she may, she wants to do it not with a song-prayer for her mom, but rather with a beautiful, and even joyful, song about living [called “Vivre”] by the talented Grégoire from France, subtitled in English.

She dedicates this song to her late mom (heaven) and to her dad (Beirut) as well as to her sisters and all the beloved family and faithful friends, especially to you dear Michael/Stéphanie on your first wedding anniversary, along with the tiny life on the way :)!

She offers the song to Nayla too on her birthday, yes today. Have fun dearest childhood friend of Bambi !

Yes, the same song also to Rony whose mom reached heaven on the same day as Bambi’s mother. May they both be resting in peace, with an eternal memory .

Last but not least, the song goes to Mary who rushed to the condolences for Robine, with her/our dearest Mounir, following her good-bye to her own mom. May her memory… as well as Mounir’s loving memory, be eternal .

Despite the sorrow, death is a natural part of life. As Mr. Grégoire’s song goes in the beautiful language of Molière, “yes, my friends, we will live and live fully, intensely… Forgetting that we are going to die“. His song’s lyrics also continue as follows: “Always live by telling ourselves that, apart from love, nothing is urgent… The rest is vain, inconsistent because one day we are going to die. But until then, we are going to live“.

Thank you mom as well as dad for Bambi’s life, roots, wings, and values, especially love (along with respect and trust).

As for your dear readers, whether regular or newer ones, thank you for your time spent on this post until its end. May you enjoy the song too, if you wish to listen to it. Have a nice day, evening, or night (depending on your time zone).

Bambi recalls the beautiful atmosphere of the gay prides in both Montreal and Toronto. When she was a student, her parents and herself attended one of these beautiful events in Montreal. They enjoyed the sunny summer day, along with the joy on the streets.

Over two decades later, we see such public events in Ottawa and Montreal, sadly hijacked by the cause du jour. This time, the cause is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (https://shorturl.at/3Ig17). Tomorrow, what would it be?

The irony in some of those virtue signalling about Palestinian (or anti-Israel) is that if they move to Gaza now out of solidarity, they would be mistreated by the intolerant Islamists there (i.e., Hamas et al.), perhaps even before, or at the same time, as they would risk being killed by the Israeli harsh shelling.

We learned yesterday that the Liberal Party of Canada finally opened its eyes and said no to further wokeism, this time related to the Middle East. A wise move, bravo… at least there is a ray of hope in the middle of our collectively insane times (https://shorturl.at/zIMQa).

The question that Bambi will ask once again: why are we bringing the issue of Israel and Palestinian to our summer festivals? Why are we allowing political opinions of some to divide joyful events that are meant for all?

Instead, why don’t we learn a lesson of tolerance from a beautiful Maritime organization like the Moncton Lebanese Association (MLA), which is “a non-political, non religious and non-sectarian organization” (https://shorturl.at/jdKBX). If the Moncton-based Canadians of Lebanese heritage have succeeded in eating and dancing together, with much fun, without politics and without religions (the MLA’s motto), what can pride organizations, or other Canadian organizations, learn from the MLA?

This being said, watching fun festivals hijacked by politics is TOO sad, but hearing of bomb threats to Jewish organizations across Canadian cities (i.e. Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver) is beyond sad. It is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE! (https://shorturl.at/cn4Os; https://shorturl.at/UzMQ3)!

What is happening in Canada? Why are we now into a bomb threat against our hospitals, community centres, and places of worships like synagogues? Imagine one of your family members working at a hospital that has been threatened. Imagine one of your dear relatives sick at that hospital. Imagine your dad, mom, yourself, or a beloved friend who usually prays for peace at a synagogue now terrorized by fear. How is this acceptable?

Bambi strongly believes that threatening anyone of us is a threat to all of us. She says no to violence and intimidation toward Jewish organizations. Plus, how would attacking our OWN society’s values/heritage serve the Palestinian cause? Once again, Palestinians sadly find themselves used, and abused, for ideological purposes (despite the sincere concern of all those who are truly filled with humanity)? And why this continuous, blind, self-hate toward our beautiful Canada? Enough, please!

Maybe Bambi truly lives on a different planet, as her spouse sometimes teases her. Indeed, maybe Ms. Lydia Lion, the US-born singer, is famous and you happen to know her. However, Bambi just randomly discovered her, thanks to YouTube. What a double talent, in the languages of music and of Egyptian-Arabic.

From her biography, we learn the following about Ms. Lyon: upon graduating from Berklee College of Music (Boston, Massachusetts), she started her career first in the United States of America. From there, she performed abroad, namely in Australia and Italy among other places. She is currently based in the Netherlands. Of note, she began learning violin at age three (https://www.lydialyon.com/).

She does not know about you, but Bambi adores Dalida’s “Helwa Ya Baladi” [My Country is beautiful]. This late, yet eternal, singer would have surely been proud of Ms. Lyon. May the latter keep singing, enjoying a long and rewarding career. May she keep spoiling our ears!

Yesterday, part of Bambi’s adolescence, and surely the one of her sisters, died with Mr. Alain Delon (https://shorturl.at/vRrtO). Indeed, Roula was a fan then (no clue if she remained a big fan later).

Many thanks, Mr. Delon, for your uplifting acting as well as singing legacy. What an inspiring career as film producer, screenwriter, singer, and a entrepreneur too (e.g., perfume). What a productive and talented artist. What a handsome man too [even if beauty appreciation is subjective, it is hard not to notice. Yes, Roula had good taste :)].

This being said, heartfelt condolences to your birth country, France, and your other citizenship country, Switzerland. Kind thoughts for your peers, fans around the world (including Lebanon, which you visited), and especially for your family of both human beings and pets (“bon courage à vos enfants”). Of course, last but not least, a loving wink now to the teen version (as well as the current version!) of Roula ❤️.

Of note, this blog featured Mr. Delon’s duo with Dalida [“Paroles, paroles, paroles”] many times, when it came to apparently empty words or trendy slogans, which were expressed by some politicians. Today, Bambi just wants to post this same beautiful song, subtitled in English, along with other ones showing Mr. Delon’s singing or acting. The latter is her little tribute to the now late yet always great, Mr. Alain Delon. May his memory be eternal.

Yesterday night, Bambi had to stop preparing this post to deal with an urgent matter (MANY thanks again, Diana ❤️! A thank you to Louis too ❤️!). Well, this unfortunately scary yet common encounter made Bambi think even more about this post’s topic.

Specifically, she thought about questions like the following: when does giving up on some dreams, or even fears, is the wisest way for us in dealing with acute or chronic stress and in learning new ways of coping? When, and how, do we live with life’s bigger risks? Or when should we aim to get ourselves out of an uncomfortable or potentially dangerous situation? In other terms, when is it wise to completely avoid a risky situation and when is it better for us to keep taking calculated risks (in line with our values, personality, circumstances, impact on loved ones, etc.)?

Bambi has many personal examples, related to the above, from big dreams to smaller ones, from little risks to bigger ones, from irrational to legitimate fears (or both at once), yielding different decisions, depending on her different life’s stages, or on the presence or absence of transitions or crises, etc. She will spare you her personal examples because she is convinced you also have your own stories to think about, if you wish, with regard to the questions she raised.

The above being said, Bambi was writing the following first paragraph (bold text) in the middle of the night when encountered her highly stressful situation. Remember, we have a personal relationship with stress. We are not triggered or afraid or upset by the same stressors. Of course, even the same major stressors (e.g., wars, natural disasters like fires or earthquakes, pandemics, etc.) do not affect us in the same way because we are simply unique, each one of us, in our perceptions, coping strategies, physical and mental vulnerabilities. There is also variability in our support systems or access to the needed resources, etc.

Following the first paragraph, you can read the rest of the post, which was completed today, after a good night of sleep : ). Of course, there is nothing like sleep to help us recover from stress, acute yet strong or more chronic. Who knows? Maybe Bambi’s thoughts remained the same, but the little yet scary story she went through, along with the care of her friend and spouse made Bambi more convinced of the underlying idea shared below.

In a few hours, it will be Sunday August 18, which is a day, declared by someone called “Mr. Give Up” as being the “Never Give Up Day” (https://shorturl.at/x4a0c). Of course, it is great to teach ourselves and encourage others to be motivated in pursuing meaningful goals. Bravo! Bambi’s problem is surely not with this concept as she believes in personal agency, creativity, and hard work in achieving life goals. Her problem is specifically with the word “Never”. This post serves to explain why to the best of her capacity. You may or may not agree.

Yes, she will repeat it again: likely like you too, Bambi believes in personal agency in searching for/finding what is meaningful for us, in embracing our commitments, directions, and/or goals. Of course, she values inner (or intrinsic) motivation and hard work. However, sometimes in life, we face challenges with which we may decide, when the timing is optimal, to give up to allow ourselves the freedom to take other challenges or to make different, perhaps more suitable or meaningful, dreams come true.

Indeed, as per the wise words of Dr. Hans Selye, captured in the “vintage” brief video, shared below, that she loves to share with her students when they learn about stress: He began with his famous quote that “Stress is the salt of life“… and he ended the interview with the idea that “Sometimes in life, we have have to know when to give up“. Of note, his inspiring comments start at 1.54/2.58 minute of the YouTube recording, precisely after the journalist asked him about his own attitude about stress.

To what extent do you agree with Dr. Selye’s self-flexibility in the attitude toward stress? Or do you tend to be someone who might be resistant to allowing yourself to go through what this late yet GREAT, Hungarian-born Canadian, endocrinologist and scientist was talking about? If so, does this make you genuinely happy when you stop to think about it? Or, are you someone who would be more easily open to self-growth (whatever this means to you)? Mind you, sometimes self-change may be part of an adjustment journey during or following crises, illnesses, and other personal challenges, including grief.

Whatever your answer(s) to yourselves, while reading this post (if any), may you have peace of mind. May you be happy, whatever happiness means to you. Remember to be a good friend to yourself, at all times… and especially when coping with “your” stress.

Bambi woke up this morning to a blood-curdling article in L’Orient Le Jour, showing a propaganda video of Hezbollah’s tunnels (https://shorturl.at/qxCfA), which is entitled in English “‘The size of a city’: Hezbollah releases most explicit footage of tunnel network” (https://shorturl.at/5BJGk).

After watching the shocking video, she could not help not to wonder why don’t members of this organization use their brains to build a much needed subway station in their small yet dense country? When she read the readers’ comments in the original French article, she noticed that a couple of them also had a similar thought.

Regardless of this apparently sarcastic yet sad thought, assuming that the Hezbollah tunnel network would be located in South Lebanon, and maybe partly south of the Litani river, didn’t the UNIFL see this coming, that is during its construction that must have taken a long time? Furthermore, even if the answer is not hard to guess, who funded this tunnel network? Bambi is asking the latter since Lebanon is sadly an Iranian colony (via the Hezbollah, that is by proxy).

As a reminder, the UNIFL is the “United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon”, which Bambi has thanked on this blog more than once. From its original web page, one can read the following about its mission: “Monitoring cessation of hostilities and helping ensure humanitarian access to civilian population. Originally, UNIFIL was created by the Security Council in March 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the Lebanese Government in restoring its effective authority in the area. The mandate had to be adjusted twice, due to the developments in 1982 and 2000. Following the July/August 2006 crisis, the Council enhanced the Force and decided that in addition to the original mandate, it would, among other things, monitor the cessation of hostilities; accompany and support the Lebanese armed forces as they deploy throughout the south of Lebanon; and extend its assistance to help ensure humanitarian access to civilian populations and the voluntary and safe return of displaced persons” (https://shorturl.at/tyut4).

All this being said, enough of wars, please. Enough of suffering for the innocent people. Enough of tunnels, drones, missiles, and airplanes. Time to build bridges of diplomacy and prosperity instead… and why not a metro system, for real, at the same time?

Did you know that today has been declared, by God knows whom, Tell a Joke Day as well as National Roller Coaster Day (https://shorturl.at/hIkjB)?

Bearing the above in mind, how about forgetting the world’s troubles for a few seconds with Rudy. Yes, the talented Mr. Rudy Ayoub who is acting, in a short video related to roller coasters (likely a coincidence), along with his highly narcissistic dad and Tyler. As usual, all characters are played by Rudy himself.

This being said, if you happen to have a joke you would like to share with Bambi either on this blog or, more privately if you prefer, she would love to hear it. Please, make no mistake: she enjoys jokes not only today, but everyday!

This post is simply meant to share 16 pictures and 2 videos that Bambi took at the Sackville Waterfowl Park a couple of days ago. We are truly blessed to have such a peaceful yet animated piece of heaven in the middle of our small town.

For those who do not know the Maritime Provinces in general and Sackville (Tantramar now) in particular, “this award-winning 55-acre park, which is minutes from the highway and a short walk from downtown, features: 3.5 kilometres of accessible trails and boardwalks, including a section of the Trans-Canada Trail, 160 bird species (including 26 confirmed breeding species), and 200 species of plants” (https://shorturl.at/nFKMZ).

Of course, as usual, the post will end with songs. With or without music, currently embracing nature or not, may you all have a safe and a nice day or evening (depending on your time zone). This being said, if times are tough on you, remember that you can teach yourself to nurture patience and build your resilience while hoping for a better tomorrow.

To begin with, Bambi is both proud of and grateful to Ms. Zeina Farah for having shared with her a moving Byzantine chant for Saint Mary in Arabic ❤️.

May Mary protect the gifted Zeina as well as her birth country and loved ones. Well, the latter wish seems biased, or rather selfish, because Zeina happens to be first Bambi’s cousin once removed :).

Happy Feast of Assumption of the Virgin Mary to this blog’s readers who love Jesus’ mother.

As far as Bambi is concerned, she is thinking of her late mom now who used to sometimes call Saint Mary “Im el Nour”, which means “Mother of the Light” in Arabic. She is also thinking of her dad who is honouring Mary in his prayers. May she protect him et al.

May the hope and beauty of lights always shine to: (1) enlighten the darkness in our troubled world and (2) the one that may reside within ourselves, all of us.

This being said, now is the time for Bambi to wish Acadians a “Bon quinzou” (yes, tomorrow) or Happy National Day. In doing so, she offers them Mr. Michel Fugain’s song!

Last but not least, Happy Birthday to Bambi’s childhood friend, Fadi. OK, she is allowing herself to make him a few hours older/wiser now :). “Akbel El Mieh“, Fadi ❤️!

Bambi just read that “Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos has said that Nicosia has completed preparations for potential evacuations of foreigners from Lebanon and Israel, amid fears of a potential escalation in the Middle East... The plan involves the organized evacuations of citizens via the Republic of Cyprus, followed by their transfer to destination countries, as part of the humanitarian assistance that we provided in 2006 and 2023” (https://t.ly/wVjbp).

Eighteen years have passed since the July 2006 war and the region is sadly still in the same storm, with innocent people potentially evacuated, via Cyprus, to other destinations.

When will innocent people live without having to be evacuated again and again?

When will all those playing war games, and flirting with fire, JUST stop?

Maybe the international community is working hard, behind the scenes, to prevent a wider escalation? If that is the case, best wishes to reason and hopefully to peace in this part of the world, including Lebanon.

The Lebanese republic is already slowly agonizing. It surely does not need a wider war with endless grief. Instead, it badly needs neutrality. And how about political resurrection and economic stability?

To conclude this brief post, Bambi thanks Cyprus for existing in the middle of the troubled Middle East. For those of you who are not familiar with geography, the beautiful island (republic) of Cyprus is just 25 minutes by air away from Beirut while being about 40 minutes by air from Tel Aviv.