The Global Goan - March 2022

To read My Poem "Palm Sunday" in this issue, please go to Page 87 after clicking on the link below:

https://online.fliphtml5.com/kdhdu/gfvp/?fbclid=IwAR3go2zmU2KQo9Ychtc0RQ72JEud8PTwq8dz_M1ZQfCa00stfqQK83sONik#p=87

 

Misissauga Sunset - Just Now.

 

"Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tonferns Rhapsody (33) - Let's Go Country

 

Let’s go country for a change and listen to a specially curated playlist by Tonferns Rhapsody and remember the Country Classics we played on the way to a picnic in the years gone by! Here’s a list that will take you back in time. Please click on the link below, listen and share. Have a nice weekend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kAU3B9Pi_U&list=PL-rv8k97NJAmG8JlfmIirfjowCmJrNWHv

The Laat - Irrigation Device - Goa

 

22.02.2022

 22.02.2022

St. Francis of Assisi & the Greek Cross

As I was going through a box of old photos, I came across a postcard with the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi that my friend had sent to my son from Assisi in Italy dated 18th April 1989. The prayer has a large ‘T’, which you may know, is the Greek alphabet ‘Tau’. It also represents the Greek Cross and a symbol adopted by St. Francis of Assisi and the order of the Franciscans Minor. Incidentally, this symbol adorns the outer wall of the visitors parlour attached to Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi at my Alma Mater - St. Anthony’s High School, Monte de Guirim.

The Chapel of St. Francis of Assisi is located on the crest of the hill, known as Monte de Guirim, Guirim, Bardez Goa.

Photo by Tony Fernandes

The Prayer of St. Francis

A dedication to Pope Francis.

The touching hymn,’ Make me a channel of your peace’ and otherwise known as ‘Prayer for St. Francis’ was written by Sebastian Temple (1928-1997) who grew up in South Africa and later moved to London, where he worked on news broadcast relating to South Africa. After converting to Catholicism and adopting the Franciscan lifestyle, Sebastian became a Secular Franciscan and spent much of his time composing music for worship. 

He is best remembered for “The Prayer of St. Francis”. 

This is one of my favourite hymns.

Lyrics

Make me a channel of your peace

Where there is hatred let me bring your love

Where there is injury, your pardon Lord

And where there is doubt true faith in You

Make me a channel of your peace

Where there is despair in life let me bring hope

Where there is darkness only light

And where there's sadness ever joy

Oh, Master grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul

Make me a channel of your peace

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned

It is in giving to all men that we receive

And in dying that we are born to eternal life

Oh, Master grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console

To be understood as to understand

To be loved as to love with all my soul

Make me a channel of your peace

Where there's despair in life let me bring hope

Where there is darkness only light

And where there's sadness ever joy

Morning Moon

...andthen after a night of little snow...the moon shows up over the western skies in Mississauga, Ontario.

 

Sunset in Mississauga, Ontario

 

… after a snowy day … an evening with a grand celestial farewell.

Photo by Tony Fernandes

Tonferns Rhapsody (32) - Back to the 70's

 

Now it’s time to get into the groove of the 1970’s which captured the spirit and exuberance of the time with classic hits of our youth. As they said then, please ‘pump up the volume’ and listen to these numbers of yesteryear for a change.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_izvAbhExY&list=PL-rv8k97NJAl89QKJKOlKaKRus-ykjbKV

Table Mat with Azulejo Tile Design

Tonferns Table Mat with Azulejo Tile Design

Size: 17.5 in x 11.5 in Laminated 

Goa in the Rains

 

"Hope it rains some more"

So we wished, as little boats from paper we made,

Saw them glide through winding streams,

Just enough rain for the wells it seemed,

To make them fill to their brims,

And yearning and hoping to have fun

On the day of the Feast of St. John.

The first showers soothed the earth

So parched from the summer drought,

Roaring thunder, brilliant lightning;

The skies darkened and the gentle wind

Blew across the land a whiff,

An earthy smell that till today

I cannot unravel, describe or tell.

Then, for many days it did not rain at all,

God's way to "scare" us all,

That's what my granny thought.

So the folks in the village were much concerned too

Grandma had them summoned without much ado

"We have to pray" she said,

"There is nothing else we can do".

On a beaten path

Making a bee-line

Through the fields she led the folks

Carrying a little statue of St. Anthony

Treading their way to the Holy Cross

To sing to her favourite saint a Litany.

That same night

Incessantly the rains fell

Had all the wells so swell

Grandma said it was a miracle

Her prayers were answered

God had at last cast His spell!

Excerpt from my book GOA  -  Memories of My Homeland

(Poems & Short Stories)

Tonferns Rhapsody (31) - Guitar Instrumental

Sometimes, listening to instrumental music can be a great way to sit back and relax when you are alone. You can also have light background music while you are having a conversation with guests over dinner. You can admire instrumental music for its simplicity especially if they are acoustic guitar tracks. At times it’s nice to have light instrumentals playing in the background during certain activities like browsing through books, studying, doing homework or cooking. Here’s a fabulous lineup of music especially curated just for you by Tonferns Rhapsody. Enjoy and have a nice weekend.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-rv8k97NJAlLsQXXdk5kVmE7Sy1ZNW_h

Groundhog Day

Ontario’s Wiarton Willie 

DOES NOT not see shadow,

predicts EARLY Spring.

Folklore has it that if a groundhog sees its shadow on Feb. 2, it will retreat into its burrow, heralding six more weeks of wintry weather. No shadow is said to foretell the early arrival of spring-like temperatures. Canada’s three foremost weather-minded marmots are at loggerheads this Groundhog Day.

Nova Scotia’s celebrity groundhog, Shubenacadie Sam, and Quebec’s Fred la Marmotte both predicted a long, cold winter ahead, while Ontario’s Wiarton Willie claimed an early spring is on the way because it did not see it’s shadow.

• Sam, who because of her time zone has the honour of making Canada’s first groundhog-based prediction each year, emerged briefly from her enclosure at a wildlife park north of Halifax on Wednesday morning and according to her handler, saw her shadow. As the door to her pint-sized barn opened, Sam poked her nose outside, sniffed a nearby carrot and promptly returned inside to avoid the brisk -12 C weather.

It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den, and winter will go on for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early.