Faces of Multi-Culturalism

Our economy has an agricultural base. The first to farm our valley were Japanese and Mennonite immigrants. Today, there is a healthy mix with Dutch and East Indians adding to the soup pot.

 The Scots do not have a corner on bagpipes, but you could say that they are primarily responsible. They seem appropriate in a parade.

This fellow seemed a bit eccentric but was having fun and was entertaining the crowd as he rode his bicycle with hands only for juggling the hackey sacks.

Medieval games seem to be attractive enough to start a club.

Three miles of sword play and jousting is a thirsty business.

Minus the flag, this is a very typical sight in our town.

I don't think this is the typical 'Wendy' that Dave Thomas had in mind when he first started this hamburger franchise.

What is a parade without First Nations representation? I would give recognition to this particular band but my keyboard does not have the right characters to spell it the correct way. It was nice to see the elder riding on the 'float' and the young men and women doing all the dancing.

Bollywood comes to the Canada Day Parade.

Canada Day Parade 2011 Part 4

Grandpa got to babysit his grand kids today.

This gal was pretty excited that there was Caribbean Carnival float in the parade.

Are we in Rio?  Or New Orleans?

So very colourful!

There were so many cultures represented that it was difficult to keep track as they went by. I was glued to my viewfinder seeking out colour and missed who this was.

But I know that these gals are hockey players.

And this young lady was on a horse so I think she belonged to an equine club.

Oh yes, there is one of her fellow riders. There was a pooper scooper squad behind this group and they got a nice round of applause as they came by with shovels and wheel barrows. However, after trotting the three mile route, doing a routine every few hundred yards, I think these horses were pooped out by the time they came past us.

Cancer Research

Who does not want a cure for Cancer? A decade ago, the Canadian Cancer Society would hold an annual fund raiser and canvassers would go door to door asking for donations. Today there is hardly a week goes by where there is not some cancer run, walk, race, or some other activity geared around raising funds for cancer research. When we donate, we are funding research for a cure, or that is what we think we are funding. 

CBC ran a disturbing report tonight about where those funds are really going and it is not toward research. In fact, researchers are spending more and more of their day trying to get funding from a shrinking budget, even though the Canadian Cancer Society is taking in unprecedented amounts of money. Only 20% of your donation is going to research and the percentage of money available is continuing to decrease. So where is all this money going, you ask? Why, to raise more money. It has become an industry that is feeding on itself. Go to CBC.com and search out this story and you will be discouraged from donating, like I am. I have suspected this for years, but now it is confirmed. There should be a huge public outcry, and a dramatic decrease in donations so this society wakes up to realise what its mandate really is.   

This Is Not The Punjab

One bored Granny.

Two bored Grannies.

Four bored Grannies.

Misery loves company in any culture.

Not My Favourite Book

I know now why this was a book that appealed to my friend Erv. I finally got up the courage to read it and found almost from the start that it was steeped in philosophy and theology. It is supposed to be a masterpiece of modern day literature, but it was not my 'cup of tea'. What I found most annoying, was not the content, that is the ideas and arguments put forth, but the style.

 Let me attempt to give you a small sampling of the style while telling you a bit about the story, in my own words.

Fyodor Karamazov, a self admitted sensualist and clown, who, by the way, was a sponger who was tight with his money and refused to give his sons their inheritance when they came of age, had three sons by two wives, Ivan, Dmitri, and Alyosha, each quite different in appearance, temperament, and philosophy, though by no means stupid, although Ivan, who, like his father, was a sensualist, which lead him into trouble when he and his father fought over the same woman, and who also believed that if a man was an atheist, that is denied the existence of a deity, and therefore also denied an eternal existence, should not have to be under the churches moral law or the states laws regarding anything at present illegal, even including murder, because there were no eternal consequences, and should be only responsible to oneself and ones own self interests, but at the same time respecting those citizens and clergy who thought otherwise, for the sake of some semblance of social order.

Yes, run on sentences and rabbit trips are abundant and it is most difficult to concentrate and hold to an idea that you thought the sentence or chapter was going to be about. It is one of those books where you read and re-read a sentence, or a page, and you still don't 'get it'.  There are small nuggets here and there, but overall the task of finding them was too daunting for this simple minded reader.    

Canada Day Parade 2011 Part 3

I had an incident in the washroom the other day due to a bit of food poisoning. I wonder if I should have called these guys?

With about a thousand more of these, we will be ready for Japanese style earthquake.

This little guy just walked the three mile parade route. It shows.

Ah, yes. A multicultural umbrella. Only in Canada.

Our elected Member of Parliament, Ed Fast.

Finally a familiar face. It's Nathan, our oldest grandson, in the parade with a delegation from Abbotsford Children's Theater.

Then came a few custom cars.

Most of these custom cars were rides for dignitaries. How embarrassing when you are waving in a parade and nobody has a clue who you are but you are still pumped up with importance. Some labels would help, but then we might boo and that would be even more embarrassing. I was watching for the Queen but I heard later she declined the invitation. It is just as well as I wanted to have words with her about losing my invitation to her grandson's wedding a few weeks ago.  

Canada Day Parade 2011 Part 2

Her Majesty's Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Without their mounts, weapons, or cars. The bagpipe seemed to be the weapon of choice on this day)   

A very young recruit.

Where did this dragon lady come from?

A good outfit when you need it.

Specializing in Teddy Bears?

Vintage equipment.

State of the art equipment. This is what you want to see when you call 911.

This lucky firefighter drew parade duty today.

These wheels are 'flagged'.

Canada Day Parade 2011

Welcome to my take on the Canada Day Parade. This year we took up a spot not far from our house, right at the end of the parade route. Every participant was evidently tired by the time they got to this spot, but seeing the end, they gave one more valiant effort to impress the large crowds around us. The downside is that all the freebies that are usually thrown to the crowd were depleted. I took a lot of photos so this pictorial will spread out over the next few days. I took more 'people' pictures this year as you will see once we get past the Police and Fire Department photos. See if you notice what I did.

It was a long wait, but the weather was cool and we had a comfortable spot right on the curb.

A few of our local law enforcement officers.

Look what they confiscated from a local drug dealer. This sends a good message.

There is no running from this Dodge Charger if you are speeding!

No, this is not Afghanistan, but we are ready for any insurgency.

And if you are a bad boy at the local antique car show, they will get you there too.

During the nice months, weather wise, this is a great mode of transportation for law enforcement, such as patrolling parks and traffic jammed streets. These bad boys should not be ogling the gal in the tight white pants.  

Even a recruitment truck.

Pulling this duty would be a pleasure in the summer months.

This is a mobile radar read-a-board that parks beside the road to remind you of your speed. When I see one of these, I like to speed up to see how fast I can make the numbers jump.

This guy is loaded for bear, which means he is prepared for anything and armed to the teeth. Part of the SWAT team and looking like someone you do not want to mess with.

So you see we are well equipped. Do not come to my town expecting to get away with any hanky panky. Also, you now know why we have so many successful donut shops in town.

A Day to Celebrate

Canada is such a young country. 'Born' in 1867, founded by peoples from some of the oldest countries in the world, Canada is just now finding her stride. We are the coveted destination of millions of immigrants from around the world, and are becoming a player on the world stage. Our 'unlimited' resources, that we were taught about in school back in the 50's, are still in abundant supply. Our freedoms, though slowly being eroded, make us one of the best countries in the world in which to pursue our goals and dreams. I, for one, tend to be critical at times about our leadership and our national policies, but it is only because I see potential for even greater things than what we now enjoy. But, on a day like this, our country's birthday, I will see only the good, much like we do when we celebrate a family member's birthday. We count the years, and we count the blessings, and we pray for many more, of both.

GOD BLESS CANADA!