Jacques Brel, the great French songwriter

Jacques Brel, the great French songwriter, died 30 years ago today. One of his songs is an enduring legend, "Ne Me Quitte Pas."

Please, take a listen. It's a very sad song, "If you go away." Feel your heart ache, or remember when it did. For an English version, please listen to that all-American girl, Dusty Springfield, sing this classic number, "If You Go Away."

If these links don't get you to the song, it's very easy to find on Youtube.

A LOVE MESSAGE FROM GINNY SMITH IN TORONTO. "Canada loves Obama," It's a cute little video that will bolster your spirits -- if you love Obama -- and they love Obama in Canada and in France. I'm glad about that. These two countries have been wonderful friends to America over the generations. We can look to the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, paid for by the collected pennies of French school children. We can look to French President Sarkozy, who was elected on a forthright promise of friendship toward America.

We can visit the graves of our fathers and grandfathers in the lovely fields of Normandy, Anjou and Champagne. We are joined to France in this manner.

And Canada, too. We are wedded -- our border with Canada is too long for anything else. Canada won its independence from Great Britain in 1867 -- it was a peaceful dissolution, something the Canadians have always been proud of.

But we had fought a bloody war against the British to achieve our own independence, and maybe -- just maybe -- that made it easier for Canada to become free as well.

THE WEATHER. It's fall. The stock market is closed for the weekend. I'm going to be watch the baseball playoffs -- especially the Dodgers and the Phillies. All that bad news can wait until Monday. Just a thought about France and Canada -- it's good to remember who you're friends are.