Imagine
We took the girls to the Musee des Beaux-Arts to show them "Imagine: The Peace Ballad of John and Yoko." It was a fantastic exhibit with many interactive materials that kept Calli and Marin very interested. (Click on 'interactive materials' above to explore the different rooms of the exhibit and read about each one.)
We were able to play Imagine on this lovely white grand piano...
The girls enjoyed stamping Imagine Peace on various maps hung up on the walls of one of the rooms. This room also had a long white table with many chairs on each side and numerous chess sets ready for a game. These chess sets were not quite what you would imagine though. The board and pieces are all painted white, so the players usually end up losing their places during game play. The idea is this: "...ideally this leads to a shared understanding of their mutual concerns and a new relationship based on empathy rather than opposition. Peace is then attained on a small scale; perhaps the rules will even be revised so that the game can continue."
We made sure that we stamped Imagine Peace on Montreal and on our new hometown as well.
Calli had a lot of ideas of where Peace belongs. Marin entertained us by pointing out each country and continent and accompanying this by singing the continents song that she learned at school. Montessori is paying off well!!
Each room of the exhibit was enthralling, to me anyways, and really enabled me to understand the notion of peace for everyone. Passing from room to room, we had to push our way through velvet curtains, sometimes two, in different colours. It was almost like wiping the slate clean for the next class.
There was a really striking room with multiple tv's hanging on black poles and big signs stating The War is Over. Each tv was playing a different clip of the news or an interview with John and Yoko. It was very overwhelming to the senses after all of the white rooms and the peaceful music.
The last room we entered was a grand white room with tall, green, leafy trees throughout. We were able to take a white tag with a string attached and write out a wish, meditation or whatever we wanted really, and hang the tag on one of the wish trees. Calli drew two Peace signs, wrote PEACE and signed her name. Marin drew a picture of a bird, because she wishes she could be a bird.
It was a really satisfying day and I'm so glad I was able to drag my family along and expose them to it. I'm sure it will be in their memories for years to come and hopefully they'll remain mindful of the message and help make the world a better place.
On another note, before we got to the museum we joined a crowd of people standing on the sidewalks waiting for a parade to begin. After a bit of asking around, we found that it was the Annual Church parade and were excited to see the Black Watch partaking as well. Calli was kind enough to remind us that we'd seen them at the Glengarry Highland Games last summer, doing the tug-o-war.
Calli loves the bagpipes, as do I, and we were quite content to stand and listen while they started up and marched through the streets of Montreal, back to their Armoury.
We were able to play Imagine on this lovely white grand piano...
The girls enjoyed stamping Imagine Peace on various maps hung up on the walls of one of the rooms. This room also had a long white table with many chairs on each side and numerous chess sets ready for a game. These chess sets were not quite what you would imagine though. The board and pieces are all painted white, so the players usually end up losing their places during game play. The idea is this: "...ideally this leads to a shared understanding of their mutual concerns and a new relationship based on empathy rather than opposition. Peace is then attained on a small scale; perhaps the rules will even be revised so that the game can continue."
We made sure that we stamped Imagine Peace on Montreal and on our new hometown as well.
Calli had a lot of ideas of where Peace belongs. Marin entertained us by pointing out each country and continent and accompanying this by singing the continents song that she learned at school. Montessori is paying off well!!
Each room of the exhibit was enthralling, to me anyways, and really enabled me to understand the notion of peace for everyone. Passing from room to room, we had to push our way through velvet curtains, sometimes two, in different colours. It was almost like wiping the slate clean for the next class.
There was a really striking room with multiple tv's hanging on black poles and big signs stating The War is Over. Each tv was playing a different clip of the news or an interview with John and Yoko. It was very overwhelming to the senses after all of the white rooms and the peaceful music.
The last room we entered was a grand white room with tall, green, leafy trees throughout. We were able to take a white tag with a string attached and write out a wish, meditation or whatever we wanted really, and hang the tag on one of the wish trees. Calli drew two Peace signs, wrote PEACE and signed her name. Marin drew a picture of a bird, because she wishes she could be a bird.
It was a really satisfying day and I'm so glad I was able to drag my family along and expose them to it. I'm sure it will be in their memories for years to come and hopefully they'll remain mindful of the message and help make the world a better place.
On another note, before we got to the museum we joined a crowd of people standing on the sidewalks waiting for a parade to begin. After a bit of asking around, we found that it was the Annual Church parade and were excited to see the Black Watch partaking as well. Calli was kind enough to remind us that we'd seen them at the Glengarry Highland Games last summer, doing the tug-o-war.
Calli loves the bagpipes, as do I, and we were quite content to stand and listen while they started up and marched through the streets of Montreal, back to their Armoury.
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