Until now I have avoided writing anything about the war, declared by the United States of America against Iraq on March 18, 2003. Canada, thus far, has declared that Canadian military involvement will not occur unless the UN approves military action against Iraq.

Daily I visit the New York Times, LA Times, BBC News, and the Toronto Star to hear what I should know about the state of affairs. I believe that what I am told is not exactly what is going on. However, this is the way the world presently works, and so I read and listen. This information in the media is all that I will be privy to know.

I write this for my descendants, who will know more about the strategies and agendas of this war than ever will reach my ears or eyes. What they know will be filtered by the powerful, in their time rather than ours, and although they may know more, increased understanding is doubtful.

Nearly 24 hours after this war was declared, spring arrived.

Less than two weeks ago the temperatures were frigid. The snow was deep on the roof tops. It seemed like winter would last forever.

Today no snow remains in our yard. Fog occasionally rolls in from the surrounding countryside where remnants of snow-cover mix with warm spring air.

Attila and I took a jaunt to the ROM [Royal Ontario Museum] yesterday. It rained most of the day, which made walking about outdoors possible, but not pleasant. Nonetheless, we walked to all our destinations. The day was a great success, and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

Visiting the museum is one of the few entertainments on which we spend money. The Exhibits vary, by theme and interpretation. Some exhibits provide the visitor with relatively unadorned "facts" about the exhibition piece, such as the information provided about the sculpture of Ananda, in the Asian Sculpture Gallery.

Other exhibits are more eloquently dominated by legitimized interpretation, such as the garments on display in the "Elite Elegance: Couture Fashion from the 1950's" exhibit. Here women's clothing, including many interesting dresses, some worn by Toronto's best-dressed women from the 1950's fashion seasons, are on display. On reading the information provided with these displays, one came to understand that many of the women who wore these dresses helped to fund the ROM itself. A "fitting" tribute.

The Elite Elegance display included a 1950's fashion film, featuring examples of the clothing available to the women of the day. There were many examples of narrow-kneed skirts, worn with very pointed, very high-heeled shoes. Attila and I stood, gazing at the emblems of beauty and desire that bombarded our mothers' young womanhood.

It came back to me, that childhood dread of becoming a woman. The fear of having my knees glued together, and of having my feet tortuously contorted into pointed, high-heeled shoes, gave me nightmares. It seemed that the only escape was to have been born a man, and one could hope for no such deliverance.

Mother found it amusing, when I asked how the glue was removed. She raised six children, and ran a farm, so that the narrow-kneed skirts were worn only occasionally. Having seen no evidence of skin irritation, I knew she was skilled at removing the glue.

I have avoided the pointed, high-heeled shoes all my life. You cannot effectively run to, or from, anything in pointed, high-heeled shoes. Fine for the elegant Elite, but not life-enhancing for the majority.

After walking for miles, around the city and in the ROM, we travelled home in dense fog.