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21 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,N ovem ber 7,2019 theifp.ca Jeffrey L. Eason B.A., L.L.B. Barrister & Solicitor TEL 905 • 877 • 6961 | FAX 905 • 877 • 9725 jeff@easonlaw.ca P.O. Box 159, 116 Guelph St., Halton Hills (Georgetown) Ontario L7G4T1 Georgetown's Family Lawyer protecting canadian's rights for almost 40 years CANADA REMEMBERS 2019CANADA REMEMBERS 2019 NOTNOTNOTNOTNOTNOTNOTNOTWe Shall Forget Visit the McCrae House At 108 Water Street, Guelph, Ontario stands the very same house Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae once lived in from his time of birth in 1872. The McCrae House was built circa 1857 and is constructed from limestone, overlooking a nearby park bordering the Speed River at the south end of Guelph. Today, it remains as a museum and tribute to the poet, doctor and soldier. The famous poem In Flanders Fields is a main attraction, dramatically presented to visitors on � oor-to-ceiling wall panels and heard in all the languages into which it has been translated. The presentation was conceived to recognize the poem's global impact. Renovated in 2015, the house features a bold poppy- themed entranceway that leads into McCrae's � rst home where visitors learn about his childhood and life as a famed writer, doctor and soldier. Artifacts and events are captured in interactive graphics, videos and timelines. This iconic property on the banks of the Speed River was purchased by a group of Guelph locals with the intent to preserve the house as a museum in 1966. In the same year, the Canadian federal government worked with the Historic Sites and Monuments Board to designate John McCrae as a person of national signi� cance, along with his birth home to be recognized as a loca- tion of national signi� cance. The surviving landscape and the beautiful gar- dens, replete with poppies in season, adds to the experience of visiting The McCrae House where a national hero had once lived. First opened to visi- tors in 1968, the attraction consistently welcomes about 7,000 visitors a year from across Canada, as well as Europe. For more information visit guelphmuseums.ca Volunteer Val Harrison with some of the poppies that were planted in front of the Guelph birthplace of John McCrae, author of In Flanders Fields. Torstar File Photos Three kinds of annual poppies are planted at McCrae House in Guelph every spring. This poppy, known as Papaver rhoeas is planted along the white picket fence at McCrae House. From atop the hill rising from the canal bank, past the cows, past the graves, you can see, in the distance, farmhouses and barns, all topped with orange terracotta tile roofs. Foreground is a meadow of daisies, blowing in the morning breeze. Mid- dle ground is the cemetery. � e graves here inspired McCrae - these are the resting places he described in his poem, though a� er the war the Com- monwealth Graves Commission designed a simple uniform headstone to replace those erstwhile wooden crosses. Loved and were loved, and now we lie, in Flanders � elds. I march along these rows and stop periodically, saddened by the stories told in stone, burdened by the sorrow of those graves - so many - that hold no identi� ed body. I stop for a very long time at one grave I � nd here. � e memory of that grave haunts me for days a� er. Here lies Ri� eman Joe Strudwick. Fif- teen years young. Before we leave this place of remem- bering I climb the hill once more. I stand beside that lonely monument, I gaze at the graves below, I peruse an idyllic land- scape, noting great swathes of crimson � owers contrasting with green meadows, blood-red blossoms that seem to dance in the morning breeze. In Flanders � elds the poppies blow