Much love to my favorite country in the whole wide world.
(The music playing is in the background is Bachman-Turner’s version of “American Woman”)
Yeah.
If my wife could take the cold we would have moved there by now. 
Our fair Dominion now extends
From Cape Race to Nootka Sound;
May peace forever be our lot,
And plenty a store abound;
And may those ties of love be ours
Which discord cannot sever–
And flourish green, for freedom’s home,
The Maple Leaf forever!
I’m sure she could tolerate temperate B.C. – come on down!
[/medically intolerant of cold, but moving to Montreal anyway, because I’m crazy like that.]
It’s a beautiful Canada Day here in Vancouver. I went for a stroll this morning and witnessed several displays of conspicuous patriotism, which is unusual.
(Of course, I saw nearly as many (much more exuberant) demonstrations of Portugese nationalist feeling, but that’s natural, under the circumstances.) 
HAPPY CANADA DAY to all fellowCanadian Dopers!!
Happy Canada Day to all you Canadian dopers! Do y’all celebrate by charring meat and drinking beer like we will here next Tuesday? Hope everybody has had a great day.
Of course you all should realize this is really Dominion Day, instead of this new-fangled “Canada Day.” Why, I remember when I was a boy, we knew which Dominion we were talking about, and didn’t have to dumb it down and actually say “Canada.” What are they teaching you kids in school these days?
Just came back from the fireworks display in front of the Saskatchewan Lege - the fireworks and the crowd have been getting bigger every year, and this year they shut down the Albert Street Bridge - I’ve no idea how many people came out, but it looked like there were people all around Wascana Lake a couple of thousand at least.
The fireworks were marvellous, including several series that seemed to come straight out of the Lake itself - must have been fired from low-profile barges.
And now a beer (it’s hot and I’ve been digging out roots this afternoon) and then bed - with two more days to go in the long weekend! woo-hoo!
139 years old, and going strong!
Um, have you ever heard of Vancouver? 
Happy Canada Day, all my fellow Northern babies.
Yes, and Victoria as well (which I prefer). She won’t put up with the Seattle-like weather, though, either. 
There was a time in this fair land/
When the railroad did not run./
When the wild majestic mountains/
Stood alone against the sun…
-Canadian Railroad Trilogy, G. Lightfoot.
Still one of my favourite songs. 
I spent Canada Day up north in the beautiful Bruce Peninsula visiting my dad and my aunt and my photogenic part-Swedish cousins. My friends and I drove up, and, while they went to check in at a B&B run by a cool, artistic couple, I spent Saturday afternoon at the small country hospital with my father.
The nurse (one of my cousins) helped my father into a wheelchair, and I wheeled him out of the hospital and down to the beach. We took in the limestone cliffs of the Niagara Escarpent that outline the bay. We took in the boats and the families playing on the beach and the cool clean winds beneath the trees. It was beautiful.
Then I wheeled him back to the hospital.
Later my friends returned and we left the hospital, driving out of the little town along the long straight roads that cross the wide windswept fields. The great wind turbine was turning swiftly, generating electricity for the Miunicipality of Northern Bruce.
We drove north, out of the fields, through gently-rolling bush country, then across more fields. The B&B was a farm on a treed hill, a comfortable and funky farmnouse filled with the owners’ flowers, sculptures, and artwork. The house was fulll of light, with windows on every side, and crossbreezes stirring the curtains. Upstairs, shining oringinal plankwood floors lent a warm joy to the place.
A little later we left to have dinner at my cousins’ place. My cousins and my aunt live in a winterised former cottage on a beautiful lake, with a stretch of beach and a dock. It was good to be there among all the things I remember from my aunt’s house during my childhood, even if they were in a new home. My cousins and my aunt welcomed us.
We had a hot tub. We had some of the best burgers I’ve ever had. We watched the wind whip the waves across the lake. We watched some one trying to set off fireworks on the other side of the lake.
I stayed there last night, while my friends returned to the B&B.
Today, we had to leave, as my friend has to work this evening. But tomorrow is a holiday, and I’m not home yet–I’m just abut to go to Sibbald Point Provincial Park.
I’m glad to be living in the Beautiful Land.
Nice story, Sunspace. I could picture the whole thing–a nice way to spend the weekend, for sure.
While you’re at Sibbald’s Point, stop by the grave of Stephen Leacock and say hello for me. I’ve spent at least part of this weekend rereading (that is, practicing) Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town for an audiobook project I may be participating in. Some great Canadiana there!
Hi Spoons!
Unfortunately, I didn’t read your post until I got back. I’m now back in Smogville. I’ll have to go back when it’s less crowded… Sibbald Point on the busiest weekend of the year is probably not the best time to go searching historic sites. Fortunately, my friends live only a couple of kilometres from the park gates.
We did get some great pictures. And imagine my surprise when I looked at the manufacturer’s site and discovered that that wind turbine near Ferndale is one of the smallest they make!