travel Archives – Page 3 of 6

The winds of political change blowing hard

Leave a Comment / Hamilton Spectator, Newspaper columns / November 7, 2015 / 2015, Istanbul, journalism, travel, Turkey, Turkish politics / 4 minutes of reading

(The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, November 7, 2015)

ISTANBUL, Turkey ✦ This starts in Hamilton where I was driving to my local polling station amidst dead leaves blowing everywhere, as hard as the winds of political change.

It was the first time in 14 years I was around in the fall to see the trees lose their lifeblood, a moment in time, even as we all, after our simple X on a paper put in a cardboard box, watched change blow into Ottawa.

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(More) Turkish Delight (with a magic genie lamp this time)

1 Comment / Daily Dad / November 3, 2015 / 2015, contentment, Froese biography, genie lamps, Istanbul, journalism, joy, travel, Turkey, Turkish Delight / 4 minutes of reading

I’m back in Africa. But let’s go back just a few days. Hey, there’s a guy balancing four wine glasses, full, on top of each other, on his head. Everyone laughs. And cheers. That is one enormous and flat head. This, on an old cobblestone road in front of the Hotel Sultana, an otherwise non-descript

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O Canada, Hannah stands on guard for thee

Leave a Comment / Hamilton Spectator, Newspaper columns / June 30, 2015 / 2015, adoption, African adoption, Canada, Canada Day, Canadian citizenship, Canadian history, Froese biography, meaning of name Canada, The Canadian train, travel / 4 minutes of reading

(The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, June 27, 2015)

HAMILTON, CANADA ✦ My youngest daughter, Hannah, is a cool girl who loves water, makes friends easily and puts lots of maple syrup on her pancakes. She laughs more than I do, often from a deep and hearty place.

She likes the fact that her name – which in the original Hebrew means “gracious” or “God’s gift to the world” – is spelled the same forwards and back.

Canada is cool too. It makes fine maple syrup and, as far as countries go, laughs more than many.

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Planes, trains, and not peeing our pants

1 Comment / Daily Dad / April 24, 2015 / 2015, Bavaria, family travel, Froese family history, humour / satire, Munich, Neuschwanstein Castle, Salzburg, soulfulness, travel / 4 minutes of reading

We’re on the 6.46 am train from Salzburg to Munich, somewhere near the German-Austrian border, with Bavarian countryside and snowy Alps and children curled up and asleep, The Children’s Mother nodding off too, a couple of days to go in this family holiday, this, what has turned into an annual European respite while returning to Canada from Africa.

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The Nature of Peace – 3 – You’re the good news

Leave a Comment / Other / January 23, 2015 / 2014 Peace Breakfast of YMCA of Hamilton-Burlington-Brantford, 2015, African culture, community service, crime, getting robbed, service, travel, Uganda / 3 minutes of reading

This leads to the real good news, which is you. You’re the good news. You’re the nature of peace, created in God’s image, just a lower than the angels. You’re doing all sorts of things to promote and cultivate peace. You’re working against this natural tendency for war. Congratulations again, nominees and winners.

And how are you doing this? Are you just gathering together to hold hands and sing Kumbaya? No, you’re imagining a better world. You’re picturing it. Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

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What? Dad was gone? To give Pope Francis some Turkish Delight?

Leave a Comment / Daily Dad / December 8, 2014 / 2014, humour / satire, Istanbul, our Ugandan home, Pope Francis, the children's safety, travel, Turkish Delight / 2 minutes of reading

So, upon my recent arrival back in Uganda after my Canadian visit for this, I was greeted with the good news that the children still had all their limbs attached, which, in such a longer absenteeism, is as realistic a hope as any to have. Of course, I gave them some gifts and this included some Turkish Delight, that enchanted

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A long drive (Excerpt #4 – Forgiving our Fathers and Mothers)

Leave a Comment / Daily Dad / November 13, 2014 / 2014, fathers and forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiving your father and mother; forgiving your parents, Leslie Leyland Fields, travel / 3 minutes of reading

He was a man, youngish, well, certainly not all that old even if he had a beard that put some years on him. For one reason or another, he had come a long way, halfway across the country, thousands of kilometres, in his black pick-up truck. And then, finally, he stood there at the front door

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The dangers of too many cats

Leave a Comment / Hamilton Spectator, Newspaper columns / October 2, 2014 / 2014, African culture, animals, cats, humour, pets, training cats, travel / 4 minutes of reading

(The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday, September 27, 2014)

KAMPALA, UGANDA ✦ Back in Africa, I’m not overly worried about Ebola on the other side of the continent or even al-Shabab terror cells like the one just busted in a slum here in Uganda’s capital – 19 Somalian suspects were arrested.

I’m worried more about my underwear. They could soon all be taken by my daughter and her cats.

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