Book of Days

My birthday is on the First of July and so that makes me, according to some of my Canadian friends, an honorary Canuck, for my birthday falls on Canada Day. I find this all very interesting, because I was supposed to be born on the Fourth of July, a “real live nephew of my Uncle Sam,” as the song goes, but I was early for something for once in my life, arriving three days early and on the national holiday not of my native country but of Canada. What is odder is when I speak in public, which turns out to be pretty often (and even this is odd as I’m a pretty shy guy, generally), people often ask me afterward where in Canada I’m from. Toronto? Alberta?

I chalk this up to a couple of things: First, as a shy guy, I am a quiet guy. My voice doesn’t carry well and I mumble a bit… so when I speak in public, I try to focus on projection and diction. Second, I listen to a lot of Canadian music. For no particular reason; it just so happens that a lot of my favorite artists are from there. You try listening to Jane Siberry for 28 years and see if her speech and diction patterns don’t infiltrate your head, too. (Not to mention all those prior years of fascination with The Smiths, UB40, and, when I was a kid, ABBA––not an American in the bunch.)

Put these things together (28 years of singing along to a quirky Canadian and attempting to focus on diction) and I am pretty sure this is the source of my apparently not-quite-American speech patterns. Or maybe it’s just that I was born on Canada Day. Nonetheless, I am pretty big on the Fourth of July, and the family will be coming to our house for the traditional cookout and for toasted marshmallows as the day closes, and come sunset, we will head to the lagoon to watch the municipal fireworks. And in pondering what or who should be the cover star of the Convivio Book of Days Calendar for July, it was a no-brainer: I went with something patriotic in honor of our nation’s 239th birthday. Click either of those two links above and you’ll have this month’s calendar, ready to print as a PDF document on standard US Letter size paper.

The image is from an old penny postcard from our collection. As the postcard says, 4th of July Greetings to you, and to yours. I wish you a month of wonderfully summery things.