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Come Away With Me and more!

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I have been a busy little beaver of late!  A couple of weeks ago I gave my friend Johanne Lalonde my book - Come Away With Me - which was not finished at the time.  She read it in a matter of days and loved it!  But she said she was disappointed I had not finished it.  I decided a couple of days following this to finish and when I did - I published it using Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. The process was so easy and seamless that I decided to publish another book I had self-published using Blurb - to Amazon - Guided By Grace .  I was having so much fun I carried this forward and finished the last half of my book - ReCreating Eden ! I was already an author - having had written 2 books - but the cost of these was prohibitive through Blurb and hence I never promoted them.  Now through Amazon - these 3 books are available to a global marketplace in Kindle, paperback and hardcover formats - reasonably! Something I have decided to do for people in my hometown of Montreal is that I am going
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Neighbours Doing Good (NDG)

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For those who read my column regularly - you know it is about finding Heaven right here on Earth.  My NDG Project is all about this!  It is about transforming our community - and all other communities across the world - into a collective of wonderful communities - where everyone can flourish. A couple of things I have done for NDG Project in the last few days include creating a music video for the Theme Song of NDG Project - Neighbours Doing Good (NDG) - an adaptation of John Jordan of NDG's song.  You can download the song from Apple Music .  I have also started a GoFundMe for The Depot in NDG - for a program they have called Resto Depot - which is much needed by the community. My vision for Resto Depot includes opening up the service to at least 6 and hopefully all 7 days of the week - with meals available between 10am and 3pm most days.  In addition - my goal is to have live music every day - between 12:30 and 2:30pm - performed by local artists who give of their time for thi
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Celebrating Gary's Birthday

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Gary Belanger is an amazing guy from the community who always has a good word for everybody.  He is in his mid forties - yet has the youthful look and exuberance of someone twenty year his junior.  Today at a great community event - Café Rencontre at the Wesley Community Centre on Notre Dame de Grace - we all gathered for fellowship and to celebrate Gary's birthday. Shady Safar - the organizer of these weekly community events - related to us how he has to work within a strict budget and didn't know if he had sufficient funds to buy food for the estimated 30-35 people as well as to buy a cake for Gary.  At the very last minute a local pizza outlet contacted him to tell him they had a good number of pizzas to donate - which freed up Shady's budget in order to buy Gary a big cake!  At the table someone mentioned that God works in mysterious ways.  My answer to that was the further down the path we get with God - the less mysterious are His ways! So we were over 30 people gathe
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A Confession - Of Sorts

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For those who read my blog posts - you know this blog is aimed at helping you find Heaven - here on Earth - in our everyday lives.  I'd like to share with you a story of my day today. River's Edge Community Church is a wonderful institution in NDG.  I had never been there physically - but have followed Lorenzo DellaForesta - the lead pastor's messages online quite often.  I love the way he presents his material - and the way the entire service is delivered - with wonderful, uplifting music by Lorenzo's wife Michelle and her twin sister Monica, along with a great band. I went to River's Edge for the service - but mainly to meet up with several friends afterwards - as they were having their monthly Community Brunch.  I thoroughly enjoyed the service and met several people from the community who I know - two of whom are helping out as volunteers!   When it was time for brunch - the people in charge had done an amazing job of establishing two identical setups - in or
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On Being Love

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  I have been absent for awhile - busy accomplishing in a variety of areas.  Over the course of my last 20+ years I have lived a very peaceful existence - having seldom if ever experienced malice or even negative situations lasting more than a matter of minutes. My last 3 months have been much more tumultuous - causing me to reflect - and to make efforts to change my circumstances back to those of the past 20 years.  Actually - I traced this all back to errors caused by myself - in my outlook and the way I was managing myself. This blog is about finding Heaven on Earth - here on this earth and in this time.  There is nothing more important to this than in endeavouring to be love in every moment.  Love is God's currency - and when we are being love - by giving of our selves - our utmost - ato anyone and everyone and to anything and everything - we are as close to God as we can be. My course over these last many years has been a charmed one.  Ultimately you will all be able to experi
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Bangkok Express: A Delight on Monkland!

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It had been a whirlwind couple of weeks where I have barely had time to keep my head above water!  I surfaced today and had time to plan a luncheon meal at Bangkok Express on Monkland. From the street what you can see is a lovely terrace - which was quite active on this day which was about 25° C and overcast - so not too hot.  Upon entry the restaurant is warm and inviting - and nicely laid out with tables and booths for 2 - 4 and more. We were helped to our table by a very friendly young lady - who brought us a decanter of water and glasses.  On the table was the restaurant's lunch specials menu - a choice of appetizer - choice of main dish (with rice) - and beverage - all for $16.95! From the appetizer menu of five items including Imperial Roll, Spring Roll, and two types of dumplings - I chose the dumplings in peanut butter sauce.  These were very tasty little morsels - served 4/order in a little black ramekin - a great kickoff to our meal! From the main course menu - I ordered
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Leon Maliniak: A Full 360° Turnaround

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  It gives me great joy to write this message.  I have known Leon since the late '70's when he was a squash and tennis member at Cavendish Club and I was the racquetball pro.  Our friendship has gone through many phases - I have called him 'Bones' for years - referring to 'skin and bones' - which he never was - as in the vast majority of times he always carried a rather large abdomen owing to his love of food. By education - Bones was a lawyer - and an excellent one.  But he was so much more - he was a great multi-sport athlete - playing football for McGill - hockey -and a very good game of squash and tennis.  He put himself through school as a professional musician .  And even more interesting is his abilities as a scientific mind.  He has explored a wide variety of subject areas - coming up with alternative therapies for some.  As testament to his guidance from above, he wrote, scored and performed an amazing love song he envisioned Celine Dion singing to Rén
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