Stompin' Tom Connors and Us

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

Chance and me are hanging out at the Heinz store in Leamington. I know where Leamington is. It's out in the county. Essex County is in Ontario and Ontario is in O Canada our home and native land.

We're having fun with our buddy Dennis. Dennis is in charge of the stories about ketchup. That's a pretty important job, you know.  I l-o-v-e ketchup, don't you? I love stories about ketchup. Dennis tells the bestest stories.

People make lots of ketchup in Leamington. They make Heinz ketchup. There are no other kinds once you've tasted Heinz. it's the biggest ketchup factory in the world. It's pretty big.

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 likes ketchup, too. Chance doesn't have any teeth 'cuz he's so newborn. He just drinks condensed owl's milk out of his bottle. He tries to drink ketchup. He's a silly little cubby. He doesn't know any better.

Know what? Chance and me know a song about ketchup. Stompin' Tom wrote it. Miss Jackie taught us to sing The Ketchup Song at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. She has a beautiful voice. I think Miss Jackie might be a princess, you know.

Here's The Ketchup Song. When we sing it we pretend we're Stompin' Tom only we call ourselves Stompin' Charles and Stompin' Chance.

There was a guy from PEI they used to call potato,
He met this young Leamington, Ontario tomato, 
But he had eyes for other girls and she was a little mushy,
 So he said, "Lets get wed, there's no sense being fussy."

Big size french fries how they love tomatoes
So dress them up with Heinz ketchup
Ketchup loves potatoes, Ketchup loves potatoes.
Well he went down to Windsor town to buy a ring on Monday
Saturday they said okay we'll cut the cake on Sunday
But Sunday came and what a shame
they had no one to fetch it
Without a cake they just sat and ate potato chips and ketchup

Big size french fries how they love tomatoes
So dress them up with Heinz ketchup
Ketchup loves potatoes, Ketchup loves potatoes

And so this guy form PEI they used to call potato
He's got two boys and a little girl, two spuds and one tomato
They romp and run around Leamington and boy when they get hungry
The bottle drips all over the chips way down in Ketchup country

Big size french fries how they love tomatoes
So dress them up with Heinz ketchup
Ketchup loves potatoes, Ketchup loves potatoes

 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. Eat French fries with Heinz ketchup on top.  Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can have a party with ketchup and French fries! Okay! Over and out!"

Fun at Big Pita

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, 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. He's my 'dopted baby brother. Is he ever a handful! He climbs way high on things and can't get down. I have to say, "My son! Come down from there this instant!" Chance makes little squawky noises 'cuz he's afraid. I have to climb up and get him. James says, "Charles to the rescue!"

Know what? We're at Big Pita. It's a restaurant on Sandwich Street right by our house. I l-o-v-e to eat there. The food is taste-o-liscious. They got shawarma and French fries, too. I always put ketchup on my French fries. Ketchup comes from Heinz in Leamington. That's out in the county. Ketchup is our friend.

I'm going to order some food for us to eat. Know what? The bestest food at Big Pita is baklava. Did you ever eat baklava?

Look at Chance. He climbed right up on top of the baklava! He's not supposed to be up there. "Chance! Come down from there this instant!" He wants baklava but he doesn't know he's sitting on the lid. He can't have any if he's on top of the lid!  Chance is a real handful. He doesn't have any teeth 'cuz he's a newborn cubby. He just licks the honey off the baklava. Chance licks everything.

Baklava is a dessert. It's yummy, sweet and sticky. That's three of the four food groups in Canada's Food Guide, you know. Baklava is full of honey and nuts.

James says baklava comes from the Middle East. I don't know exactly where that is but it's far away from our house. I can't go there on my blue bike. I don't think it's in Quebec. That's where the Eastern Townships are. I went to Cub Camp there last summer. Good thing baklava can come here!

Baklava is a special dessert for holidays like Christmas and New Year's Day and Ramadan. Know what? I would eat baklava every day if James would let me.

James says I don't need to eat baklava every day. He says I'm sweet enough. Chance must think so. Last night he licked my ear. That tickles, you know.

 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. Oh. He might have to wash our faces and paws. We're pretty sticky 'cuz we got baklava all over ourselves.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Do kind deeds for your neighbours and friends. Then you can eat baklava and drink root beer.

Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can go to Big Pita together and eat lots and lots of baklava! Okay! Over and out!"