Obama Room "Inaugurated" at Anaheim White House Restaurant

Within days of becoming president of the United States, Barack Obama has already had a room "inaugurated" in his name at Bruno Serato's famous award winning Anaheim White House Restaurant in California.

UPDATED, NOVEMBER 7, 2012 after US election results show President Barack Obama re-elected. Bruno eestablished the room after Mr. Obama was first elected in 2008.

My good friend Bruno has named an American hero and has been recognized globally for his work in feeding "motel kids" in his community.

Just visiting the Anaheim White House restaurant is an experience in itself, add your meal and it all becomes one of life's great moments. Trust me folks. I spent several days as Bruno's guest while assisting him on his best selling cookbook "Temptation at the White House." No I did not help Bruno with the recipes, I just assisted with the editing!

Bruno of course knows I am from Canada and invited me to visit for the lighting of the Christmas tree experience. There I was, a kid from northern Ontario,  in southern California for the lighting of a huge Christmas tree

Bruno is actually very bipartisan when it comes to American politics and former presidents George W Bush and Jimmy Carter have eaten at his popular restaurant.

For an insight into the Anaheim White House restaurant at http://www.anaheimwhitehouse.com/ If you are in southern California be sure to visit and tell Bruno I sent you. You will be treated like a president.

Are the ties that bound us to hockey fraying?

In his post on here yesterday, (see below) Lorne Riley, suggests that the ties binding us to hockey in Canada are fraying. Although Lorne is not suggesting that hockey is in danger of imminent demise he does suggest some areas of concern.

In Ontario, Lorne wrote that enrolment in minor hockey is declining, and in northern Ontario a shrinking economy and population base are contributing factors. He also mentions "new age diversions."

The "staggering cost" to parents to have a child in minor hockey and changing demographics in Canada generally are also playing a role, Lorne writes.

Here in British Columbia where I live now I don't know the minor hockey statistics offhand but I do know that in Cranbrook in recent years soccer and lacrosse have sure increased in popularity. When I first came here just over 20 years ago, the town had senior and junior teams, much like one found in Ontario. The senior team was the first to go.

About 10 years ago the community landed a Western Hockey League team, the Kootenay Ice -- quite an accomplishment for a community of about 18000 people. Today, despite winning a Memorial Cup. league titles and making the playoffs every year, attendance at games has been declining from the early years. Cranbrook even built a new recreation complex as a home for the Ice. It looks like the team will stay here as it has entered into a new deal with the city but it may be a struggle as the times, they are a changing.

I hope you will take a moment and give your comments on this very national issue. Post in comments or email me at mj.morris@live.ca Or to my Facebook friends just post to me there and I will move them. Are the ties that bound us to hockey fraying and likely soon to break?

BILL McLEOD on the new old rink, the old old rink and pot bellied stoves

A note from Michael: Bill McLeod, one of my oldest friends from Chapleau shares some amusing insights into happenings at Chapleau rinks down through the years. Bill is a retired professor from Cambrian College, Sudbury, ON, and is the author of numerous books including 'The Chapleau Game Preserve: History, Murder, and Other Tales' and 'Murder in the Schoolhouse, Subury, Ontario's Last Hanging'. Thanks Bill.


Bill McLeod writes: Enjoyed your hockey comments... Was it the Lorne Riley the goalie who lived two doors north of us on Aberdeen Street? My memories of the old rinks are pretty hazy. My dad used to take me to the hockey games on Saturday nights in the old, old rink. It had to have been a terrible fire trap.

In the new old rink, built in our time, I used to play hockey on Saturday mornings and sometimes it was VERY cold. But back to the old, old rink. When my dad had the motel he and his dear friend Tony cachagee used to spend a lot of time in the office. Those two guys must have had fun childhoods. They would tell and re-tell the same old stories and laugh like hell every time.

Sometimes they only needed one word or phrase to bring up some long-forgotten caper. One tale that I remember quite clearly was what they used to do for excitement at the old. old rink. Both men's and women's dressing rooms were heated with pot-bellied stoves. For their idea of fun the boys used to sneak into the girls' change room, pee on the hot stove and run like hell so they wouldn't get caught Of course it was always somebody else.

Not Borden or Tony! I was going to post this on your blog but thought you should decide whether it was OK. Bill