Eating at Mr. Greek

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James.  He is really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. He must be really old!

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep last year. He's a wee little thing. He doesn't have any teeth. doesn't even have a tail, yet!  

I look after Chance, too. He's always in trouble. He climbs way high on things and then he can't get down. I have to say, "My son! Come down from there this instant!" But he can't 'cuz he's afraid. Chance makes little squawky noises when he's afraid. I have to help him get down. Looking after Chance is a full time job. Chance is a handful! 

Guess what! Chance and me are dining out on the Danforth. We're in Greektown. We l-o-v-e to eat Greek food. When we're in Toronto our favouritest Greek restaurant is Mr Greek. It's a nice place to eat.

We get to share a lime margeurita. They're very tasty. It's a virgin margeurita. That means there's no alcohol in it. Bear cubs don't drink alcohol.

 We're hungry as bears. James says we'll eat like pigs. That's not funny. We're NOT pigs. We're bear cubs. James can be very silly sometimes.The nice server brings us a menu. That's a list of all the good foods we can eat. I want to eat them all.

I know the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide. They're yummy, sweet, sticky and nasty. I don't like nasty foods. I try not to eat them.

There are lots of yummy things in the menu but I have a favouritest food at Mr Greek. I'm going to order moussaka. I l-o-v-e moussaka. It's full of eggplant. It's kind of like shepherd's pie. Know what? There really aren't any shepherds in shepherd's pie. That's good 'cuz we shouldn't eat people. People aren't in Canada's Food Guide, you know. 

Oh, wait! Know what? Before I eat my moussaka, I want something else. I want to eat the flaming cheese. I l-o-v-e flaming cheese. It's almost as exciting as Canada Day fireworks. The nice server shouts 'Opa!' and sets the cheese on fire! The cheese goes "WHOOSH!" Then she stops the fire with a lemon. I'm pretty sure she is a fire fighter, too. 

Then we're going to have baklava for dessert. I l-o-v-e baklava. It's the yummiest dessert. I pour honey on top of it and I say, "Over the lips and past the gums, Look out, tummy, here it comes!" The baklava slides right down to my tummy. It's yummy and sweet and sticky! Good thing we're wearing our serviettes around our necks so we don't get all sticky and have to take a bath!

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be kind to friends and neighbours. Then you can come with us to the Danforth  and eat Greek food in Greektown with us.

 Come over to our house and play with us! We can walk up to the Danforth to Mr. Greek. We can holler "Opa!" and eat moussaka together! Okay! Over and out!"

Remembrance Day

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Chance and me are wearing our poppies. We get them from the nice people at the Royal Canadian Legion. We wear them on Remembrance Day.

Everybody wears poppies on November 11. We remember soldiers at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Know what? this is 2011. That's a lot of elevens!  Lots of folks go to the Cenotaph to remember. Remembrance Day is on the $10 bill with the poem, too.

 I know the poem for today. It's In Flanders Fields. We learned it at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. It goes like this.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

         In Flanders fields.

We remember our soldiers in the Canadian forces and all the hard work they do to keep Canada safe.
 Some of the soldiers are in the Royal Canadian Navy. Some of the soldiers are in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Some of the soldiers are in the Royal Canadian Army.

Our soldiers have important jobs. Some of the soldiers  are peacekeepers. Peacekeepers go to work when neighbours don't play nice. The peacekeepers call 'Time Out' and separate everybody so no one gets hurt. Some of the peacekeepers went to Cyprus and Rwanda and Bosnia. Some of our soldiers belong to DART. The DART Team helps people when disasters strike, like in the United States after Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti and the cyclone in Mayanmar.

Some of our soldiers fight in wars, like World War One and Two and Korea and Afghanistan. Sometimes soldiers die. That's very sad. I sure hope that there aren't any more wars. Wars are not nice.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Remember our soldiers. Be kind to friends and neighbours. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can remember our soldiers together! Okay! Over and out!"