A choir is singing something vaguely classical on the radio. Rudy the rescue dog is chilling in front of the Christmas tree.
And the Soapbox family is almost ready for Christmas (although Ms Soapbox will be scrambling around at the eleventh hour as usual). Have a safe and happy holiday, my friends, and we’ll talk again in the new year.
Susan
Susan on the Soapbox 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you Susan and the Soapbox family. Thank you for keeping my spirits up this year. Thank you for being the voice of reason during this reign of Kalamity Kenney and his Unhinged Clown Party. Here’s to a new year full of wonderful things, less Covid and only a year left of this dreadful poor excuse of a government. Enjoy the season!
Thank you Sharon. I’m glad I was able to help keep your spirits up. It’s so important to take some time away from the nonstop stupidity that rolls out of Kenney’s office.
As you said, we’re on the home stretch with this government. Change is in the air. And not a minute too soon.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New year!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you Susan and the Soapbox family. Thank you for keeping my spirits up this year. Thank you for being the voice of reason during this reign of Kalamity Kenney and his Unhinged Clown Party. Here’s to a new year full of wonderful things, less Covid and only a year left of this dreadful poor excuse of a government. Enjoy the season!
Happy Christmas to you all. Thankyou for using your soapbox.
Thank you Irene. I hope you and yours enjoy a wonderful Christmas. See you next year!
Merry Christmas, Susan and all the Soapbox Family, including adorable Rudy! Hang in there in the wild west! Hey, here in Ontario we can now get free Covid tests at the government-owned liquor stores!
Thank you Liane. At times we here in the wild west envy you guys in Ontario (can you believe it!) At least you can get your hands on Covid test kits. The roll out here was bumpy, shipments didn’t arrive at pharmacies, those that made it into the stores disappeared fast. Line ups were long, the weather was miserable. But as far as Alberta Health is concerned the roll out was proceeding as announced. Everything Kenney does on the Covid file is a gong show.
Anyway, enough griping. All the very best to you and your family over this special season.
Can’t wait to see what 2022 will bring!
Have a Merry Christmas, Susan, Roy, and all your family. I’ve appreciated your posts throughout the year and hope that , with your family’s support and your unstoppable energy, you can continue to enlighten us in the New Year! All the very best to you and your family.
Oh Frank, what a sweet thing to say!
Have a wonderful Christmas and may 2022 bring us all great joy.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and your family. May the days ahead be joyful and safe.
Thank you Arlene, “joyful and safe”. Those are the very best things to wish for in 2022. May you and yours have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hopefully the new year will show us a better future. Take care all.
Thank you Rose. I know this year has been tough on you guys out there in BC with the fires and the floods. I hope this holiday brings you and yours a much needed respite.
Take care, be safe.
Susan one more time Rudy is a cutie and I wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and a New Year that we may consider close to what used to be normal.
Unfortunately I think that Omicron is going to spoil another Christmas. Although our premier is having the greatest Christmas I think that our new year will be also another Omicron disaster. I just heard this afternoon that in a wedding in Norway with everyone doubled dosed and some third doses and one person was asymptomatic and the final result because it is Omicron – 74% of the people tested positive the day after. So I am not sure what is that we are going to do now, because even vaccinated people are getting it although it seems that with mild symptoms.
Carlos, I wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas break.
I do agree with you that we’re in a precarious position with Omicron raging in the province. I was listening to a radio program about how Boris Johnson mishandled the pandemic the other day. I swear he and Kenney are cut from the same cloth…shutting down too late, opening up too early, expecting the vaccine to take care of everything all the while feeding into the myth that people are being asked to give up their freedoms when all we want is for everyone to do what’s necessary to get out of this with the lowest death toll possible. The difference between those who care about the public good and those who care only about themselves couldn’t be more evident.
Susan you are right about Boris Johnson. Like Jason Kenney he is declining just like his uncle Trump and all of these lunatics that somehow took over world politics without any merit or any decency and are causing real headaches. Trump empowered racists and white supremacists to an extent that is now affecting most of us.
Boris is also about to fall. I predict he will next week. He is not as lucky as Jason Kenney that can control and manipulate the system to his favour. If he falls Britain goes to elections. In the meantime Britain has not resolved Brexit is overwhelmed with Omicron and has refugees all over the place to deal with. Boris is responsible for much of it but just like Jason Kenney he will just dismiss it. I personally cannot wait to see them all gone and kicked out hard. People have to start taking Democracy more serious and know what they are voting for. They cannot govern competently and they are affecting our degree of trust in our politicians and our government which is a great shock on top of what the pandemic already brought us.
Seeing the Soapbox in my inbox at the end of the weekend has been a much anticipated event this past year. Thank you for sharing your well reasoned and wise thoughts! Wishing you a happy and healthy Christmas holiday!
Danusia, what a lovely thing to say! Thank you.
Here’s hoping you and those you care about will have a lovely Christmas holiday and we’ll all return refreshed and renewed for the challenges that lay ahead.
Enjoy the break with your family… recharge your batteries. Will need your continued perspective come the new year.
On Sun, Dec 19, 2021, 5:07 PM Susan on the Soapbox, wrote:
> susanonthesoapbox posted: ” A choir is singing something vaguely classical > on the radio. Rudy the rescue dog is chilling in front of the Christmas > tree. And the Soapbox family is almost ready for Christmas (although Ms > Soapbox will be scrambling around at the eleventh hour a” >
Thank you Yvette. Hopefully you too can relax and recharge for a little while before we pitch back into battle. It promises to be a challenging year.
Susan: Thanks for your great blogs from over the months, and years. I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’ll share some more fitting music, for you and everyone here. It’s something that can help us in these times. This is a Bob Dylan composition, from his 1970 album, New Morning. It’s called Winterlude. Bob Dylan was still doing country music on this album, as he was on his previous albums, Self Portrait, from 1970, Nashville Skyline, from 1969, and on cuts from John Wesley Harding, from 1967.
Dwayne, thank you for the Dylan piece and especially for the information on Steve Winwood, (I’d kind of forgotten about him). What an amazingly gifted musician. I’ve often wondered what it would be like to have such incredible talent. I read about a little girl who writes operas. She said she wakes up with full blown pieces running in her head. All she has to do is put pen to paper and capture the piece before it fades away. Incredible.
I see that you are a true music aficionado. It seems from the information you know so much about that we must be the same generation. I think that period when so many artists developed so many such unique music all within those years, was a music renaissance when I look back. At that time my favorite of this genre was Leonard Cohen and at that time I did not even know he was Canadian. I liked more jazzy style like Supertramp, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd style. I also liked Joni Mitchel and especially Emerson Lake and Palmer.
Carlos: Here is something from 1977. It’s the supergroup, Emerson Lake & Palmer. I Believe In Father Christmas.
Carlos: See this. Where does it end?
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/top-canadian-museum-to-be-immediately-gutted-in-the-name-of-decolonization
Thanks Dwayne they are a great group – Pictures at an Exhibition I think was the greatest album
I am not sure what is about the Museum but yes we love extremes and keep making the same mistakes over and over
In Africa in the 70s the communist regimes that controlled some countries in Africa actually changed the name of all the streets in many cities to communist heroes like Lenin Avenue and especially Brezhnev Avenues were all over the place – propaganda of the same type Jason Kenney likes.
Hiding history never really worked anywhere but hey makes them feel accomplished so.
Susan: Here is another fitting song for these current times. It is a piece of live music, from December of 1966. It is The Spencer Davis Group doing a Frank Wilson composition, Till The End Of Time. Steve Winwood was just 18 years of age here. Steve Winwood is an amazing English vocalist, multi instrumentalist, producer and songwriter. In this video, you will notice Steve Winwood’s white Fender Stratocaster, perched above his organ. Steve Winwood was a professional musician, since he was 8 years old. He was playing with his older brother Muff, in their dad’s jazz band. Steve Winwood learned piano at around age 3 or 4. He then learned guitar when he was around 8 years old, (it apparently took him only 3 weeks to do it). He got into the Hammond organ at age 15, when he co-founded and formed The Spencer Davis Group, with his older brother Muff on bass, Spencer Davis (RIP) on rhythm guitar, harmonica, and occasional lead vocals, and Pete York on drums. Also, in the Spencer Davis Group, Steve Winwood was the lead vocalist, played lead guitar, organ, piano and harmonica. Other instruments Steve Winwood can play, include bass, drums, percussion, and others. In 1967, Steve Winwood would leave The Spencer Davis Group, and form Traffic, with Dave Mason, Chris Wood and Jim Capaldi. I did see Steve Winwood twice live. He was the opening act for Tom Petty. He is in my music collection, including with The Spencer Davis Group.
Susan: This is a final piece of music that I’ll share. It is from Bob Dylan’s acclaimed country music album, Nashville Skyline, recorded and released in 1969. It’s an instrumental, Nashville Skyline. The late Pete Drake, is on pedal steel guitar, on this album, and the late Charlie Daniels is also on guitar, on this album, (both as session musicians). Bob Dylan is in my music collection, including this. I did see Bob Dylan live in 1990. Sue Medley, a Canadian country rock artist, was his opening act. It’s nice to have good music, during these times.
Thanks Dwayne. For some reason this is my absolute favourite Dylan cover photo. It never fails to make me smile.
Susan: Elliott Landy, the famous American photographer took the cover photo for the Bob Dylan album, Nashville Skyline. He was famous for photographing Woodstock, in August of 1969. Bob Dylan is in many people’s music collection, including mine. I also have Bob Dylan’s Travelin’ Thru, with Johnny Cash. It’s a pretty good box set. Earl Scruggs is also on it. It contains different versions of his work, when he was in Nashville, from 1967 to 1970. If you ever go to your local record store, just look and see what they have for Bob Dylan, or order some of his music. It’s amazing what he’s done for almost 60 years.
Dwayne, I can’t remember the last time I was in a record store. We had LPs for the longest time, but they warped went we moved back from the US. We missed the transition to 8 track (or whatever it was) entirely and now play CDs on an ancient CD player that plays 5 discs at a time. One day we will be able to think of a lyric and the entire song will materialize in our brains. Actually that would be horrible. Forget I said that. 🙂
Rudy is a lucky pup! Merry Christmas to you & the family. May 2022 be happy & prosperous for all!
Thank you Linda, we’ve grown very fond of the little guy. Like me he abhors winter, unlike me he’s only 6 inches off the ground so it’s worse for him. 🙂
Have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year!
Thank you for reminding me that there are many caring and smart people in Alberta who haven’t been completely done in by Kenney and his type.I look forward to new posts in 2022….lots to talk about! Happy Holidays everyone and stay safe.
JCurrie, indeed, there are so many smart, caring people here. It’s a delight to see what they’ll say week after week. Have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year!
Hi Susan, all the best for a Happy Holiday Season. Jim
Thank you Jim. Wishing you and all the gang a wonderful holiday and a great new year.
Take care!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you, the big guy and the rest of the family.
Duncan, thank you. We wish you and your loved ones a peaceful Christmas and a wonderful new year too. I’m just sitting here trying to figure out whether “the big guy” is Mr Soapbox or an affectionate reference to little Rudy. 🙂
Treats to Rudy Soapbox from me and the CuJo crew.
Rudy and his family (us) send treats to the entire CuJo crew. Have a wonderful 2022. 🙂
Happy New Year everyone
2022 the year we get rid of UCP as the screw ups are just too overwhelming – I think that anyone that thinks that giving away our minerals like coal for 66 thousand dollars is a bit too much.
I am hoping for the biggest screw ever seen in Canada to get these morons pout as soon as possible