135 years, people from hundreds of cultures, more land and water than you can shake a stick at (and we even have lots of those too), and people past and present such as Pearson, PET, Red Green, and Bob and Doug. What a terrific nation! So let’s hear about what you have been or will be up to this Canada Day weekend!
For myself, I finished up taking a multi-day clinic in Dragon Boat racing courtesy of a very fine fellow who flew in to teach us. We even went out for a spin on Superior, all twenty of us hammering along in perfect synch. What a rush!
I bobbed about for a few hours on a sailboat with a couple of friends, listening to a Jesse Cook CD – who says Canadian can’t play Spanish guitar? A hot afternoon on the water is pretty darn relaxing. (Or at least it should be if we weren’t the three stooges of the inland sea. This year we have managed to ram a dock and to tear a mainsail. We’re friendly, but none too bright.)
I even managed to lick down a large Merla Mae ice cream cone. I had no idea that soft ice cream could be piled up over eight inches above the cone (I have always had small cones before). Things got challenging due to the sun’s heat. But what delicious ice cream – with the emphasis on thick, rich, devilishly bad for you, cream. Yummers.
We had a BBQ party, sauna and swim at a friend’s camp out of town. I think that hot saunas and cold swims are the cornerstone of civilization. Take off your clothes, let your pores open up, stimulate your skin with brushes or birch switches, and sweat until your soul emerges as the heat rushes over you. Conversations in saunas are stripped to the fundamental, the elemental.
Today I’m cycling down a trail underneath some cliffs with a fine view of some islands in Superior. My picnic spot will be a secluded cobble beach. Fortunately, it’s a bit of a broiler outside today, so the lunch time swim will be tolerable (it’s a very cold lake).
This evening I’ll be out with the rest of the town at the waterfront watching fireworks. The show won’t start until 11:00 p.m., due to it being so light in the evenings. I’ll have an excellent viewing position, for I’ll bobbing about in my kayak in the harbour.
So that’s my weekend. How about yours? Let’s hear what fellow Canadians are up to for the big birthday!
Sigh.