Thursday, July 01, 2010

Canada Day

It's Canada Day here in the great white north.

It wasn't always called Canada Day; it used to be Dominion Day. In 1967, a friend and I visited Ottawa and the parliament buildings when they were debating the name change. At least that's what my memory tells me, but Google searches say otherwise: that the name didn't officially change until 1982. I can't explain the discrepancy between my memory and actual fact, but I'm pretty certain that my memory isn't faulty. Perhaps it was a bill that didn't get passed at the time?

Cuppa and I sort of got together on Canada Day, also in 1967, but since I have already told that story, albeit briefly, I won't rehash it, but I will say that it always crosses my mind on this day.

I am still besotted with this lady, 43 years later


What I will tell you is that in 1998 Cuppa and I spent Canada Day, at least the hours that remained after the rain had ceased, downtown in the nation's capital. Our two girls had just moved here the previous January, so we had cheap accommodation and public transit to downtown. We milled about in the festive atmosphere on and near Parliament Hill for several hours before taking in the free show and fireworks in the evening.

We stood by the Eternal Flame during the concert, and much of the time Cuppa stood upon the rim of the cauldron and danced along to the music. Neither of us can recall the musicians that we heard that night, but it was quite the thrill to celebrate our nation's birthday right on the lawn of the parliament buildings. Every Canadian should be so fortunate as to be there at least once on July 01, but I know it's not possible.

We've been living near Ottawa for five years now, but we have yet to get back to The Hill for this special event. Living so far out of town, we have no access to public transit and prefer not to drive in and try to find parking on such a day.

I'm not exactly an ardent monarchist, so I won't grieve over missing the appearance of Queen Elizabeth this year (first time in a long time), but it would be nice to take in the general event once more.

I'm proud of this country. We aren't perfect by any means, but we do a lot of things right and generally hold good intentions toward the world. For the most part, we have shunned recent wars while volunteering for many peace keeping missions.




All credit is due to Cuppa for thinking to take portraits of the grands decked out in some patriotic regalia.

Nikki Dee has become much more cooperative about pictures lately.


Zach has always been a ham.


What a pair!

9 comments:

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Happy Canada Day (is that the correcto term) to the country and to you and Cuppa. I read the story about your coupling together (no, not in that sense!) and it was very nice. One day we will post the story of our first meeting after connecting through online personal ad. Our first meeting was in 1999. But, I digress, congrats to the country and to you both. As always, the grandkids were very cute and patriotic - cheers to Cuppa.

Tossing Pebbles in the Stream said...

Happy Canada Day to you and your clan. Such a good looking bunch.

I think you should rush down to Ottawa and have your picture taken with Oscar Peterson ( in bronze), with your fiddle.

I look forward to a future posting of this. :)

Anvilcloud said...

Thanks B.

Don't hold your breath Philip.

Donna said...

Happy Canada Day to you both!!
Enjoy the day!
hughugs

Kila said...

Aww, I didn't know July 1st is such a special day for you two, besides being Canada Day.

Love that middle photo of Zach. Looks like a fun photo session.

Ginnie said...

Happy Canada Day to you all ! Our big 4th of July comes on Sat. and usually it's lots of fireworks, etc. but for me it's the remembrance of being in the hospital in 1959 after having given birth to our first child ... a boy ! (We lived in NY City & had an un-air conditioned apartment so had spent all of July 3rd at a movie theater until time for the BIG EVENT.)

Anonymous said...

Happy belated Canada Day. You do have much to be proud of in your country. About your comment on my son's art. Yes everyone in my family is creative and full of bull, just like me. You know how you feel about your little people. I just have a whole lot more kids and grands to talk about.LOL
QMM

Mara said...

Happy (belated) Canada Day. Love the pictures of your grandchildren. They look lovely decked out in their red and white!

Mary said...

Happy Canada Day!

What a cute set of pictures!