Celebration in Honour of the Life of Anne Schlenker McBryde (May 16, 2026) “I’ll love you all the time/ And I’ll love you forever.” On April 30 of last year, when Anne and I celebrated our 46th anniversary of conjugal life by feasting on Ottawa’s finest Chinese food, Anne was herself: healthy, feisty, full of..
Obituary for Anne Schlenker (McBryde) 1958-2026 “I love you all the time and I’ll love you forever.” Anne’s last words to her family before her emergency brain surgery, May 12, 2025. It is with profound sadness that we wish to announce the death of Anne Schlenker (McBryde). Anne passed away in the early morning hours..
Anne’s Aphasia: At a Total Loss for Words Anne, whose tongue once danced in six bright streams, German, Slovak, Czech, English, French, and Spanish, Each language a doorway, each word alive, Now, cancer’s shadow closes her mouth, yet leaves her mind awake. Inside her, thought still sings, quiet as dawn mist, Ideas unfurl, unseen,..
Anne’s Song A Free Verse Poem You have always kept your songs close, Quiet as sunrise tucked behind evening curtains, Shy – embarrassed, you say – Afraid the melody might stumble, That your voice might stray from the path, That the world would hear you sing And think the tune misplaced. But I have listened,..
Christmas for Anne in Slovakia As you know, many Canadians – and people the world over – celebrate Christmas today, on what we call “Christmas Eve.” https://flamingosschool.com/when-do-people-celebrate-christmas-in-various-countries-around-the-world/ For my wife Anne’s family December 25 was a mere afterthought, a day to recover from the previous day’s festivities. December 24 was THE day. Anne’s..
A Child’s Christmas Carol Confusion Wonder and Bewilderment in Yuletide Lyrics* When I was a small child growing up in Georgetown, Ontario, Christmas carols embodied an enchanting mystery – a flurry of twinkling words and sounds that tumbled through the air as delightfully as snowflakes, yet made about as much sense as trying to build..
A Tale of Two Annes Back in high school about 250 years ago, we studied A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I feel like I’m undergoing a novel experience of a much more intense and baffling sort in my personal life: A Tale of Two Annes. My wife Anne has been stricken..
Wrestling with being a caregiver My two sons are paragons of physical fitness, deservedly, if ordinately, proud of their rippling muscles, attained by countless hours of training and body building. I, on the other hand, have always been a flabby wimp. When I was a boy of about six, back in Georgetown in around 1958,..
Animal Dreams: Animal Therapy and Terminal Cancer When I was a small child, I had the gooiest of soft spots for all animal creatures, fictional or otherwise. Every night before bed, my dad would read me a story featuring the little forest and meadow people of Thornton W. Burgess, including Grandfather Frog, Jimmy Skunk,..
Blackbird: A song of flight from illness and sorrow “Blackbird,” written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, is one of the enduring gems of The Beatles’ 1968 “White Album.” The year my wife Anne, who is succumbing to brain cancer, arrived in Canada. McCartney’s “Blackbird” is an acoustic piece, featuring only his..