OK, I know — we had a revolution so that we don’t have a monarch anymore. Two of my grandparents even left Britain, first for Canada and then for the U.S. But I have other relatives in both places, and I treasure my memories of many different places in Britain. Five places in Britain (and one in Canada) are in easy sight over my PC as I write this.

But there is a dearth of good news in this country right now. CNN is reporting today that ten mass shootings happened over the weekend just past — and their locations “show that nowhere in the U.S. is truly safe.”

I need to know about that, but I need to celebrate beauty, steadfastness, and consistency. I need a dose of “We have always done it this way.” I got that from following the news of the Platinum Jubilee.

Even though I react to air shows like four-year-old Prince Louis, with my hands over my ears and a yell about the discomfort, I enjoyed seeing the British royal family out on the balcony and in other places, watching things together. Seeing Louis and his grandfather, Prince Charles, along with his great-grandmother, the queen, brought back my faint memories of celebrating my third birthday and my grandfather’s 80th back in… well, when I turned three.

I’ve loved maple syrup and maple sugar since that time, visiting Canada for our birthdays (which are a week apart in dates, just not years).

The queen’s little co-star on Saturday, Paddington Bear, leaves me wondering: How many little kids will love marmalade sandwiches now and invest them with memories the way I do with maple sugar?

The simple memories can last the longest, and I want simpler memories just now.