Our hopes are high. Our faith in the people is great. Our courage is strong. And our dreams for this beautiful country will never die.
– Pierre Trudeau
We didn’t let the fact that we forgot to bring our Canadian car flag this weekend ruin it for us, since we got to spend time with beloved friends and family and the weather was gorgeous. And it was Canada Day, so why not have fun, eh? We enjoyed the decadence of having fireworks two nights in a row. Roman candles, air bombs, cherry bombs, blue, rainbow and cracker mines and owl screechers lit up the night sky, scaring the wits out of local flora and fauna. Indeed, the big green frogs that live near our shores gave us dirty looks the next day. At least we thought they did. (Truth be told we’ve never gotten up close and personal with our frogs, lest we feel the urge to kiss them and then what would we do with a shoreline full of handsome princes?) But I digress. By the next afternoon they’d forgiven us and went on with making that brrrrppppp-ing noise that only frogs can. The first night we stood in the dark by the dock while the mosquitos ate us alive and a firecracker mishap almost made me a widow. On the second night, Auntie A and I stayed in the screened porch while T and Kman shot the mini-explosives off of the dock. They came back with fingers and toes attached, thankfully, so our rousing game of Milles Bournes continued.
This weekend the local animals were out and celebrating too: blue herons, American gold finches, red squirrels, one very brave chipmunk, blue jays, grackles, nuthatches, ruby-throated hummingbirds, two noisy bullfrogs, a garter snake, a lovely orange and black-winged moth, a rose-breasted grosbeak, mourning doves, a fledgling robin on the ground whose mother watched over, an orange-crowned warbler who sang such beautiful songs. Daddy-long-legs spiders hovered in almost every corner of the Hall, very still with their thin legs and aspirin-sized bodies delicate enough to be allowed to remain rent-free in our happy abode.
We ate some great food as always. Homemade pizzas sprinkled with local shredded Maple Dale mozzarella and pizza sauce mixed with basil. The jalapenos were spicier than expected which is always a nice surprise. Next night we had a barbeque with veggie burgers and bean salad, freshly shredded cabbage and carrot cole slaw. We nabbed some of the last of the locally grown asparagus which was roasted with garlic, onion and butter, wrapped in foil and tossed on the barbie. Alas, we forgot to eat it leaving it on the kitchen counter but we heated it up the next night and it was a perfect compliment to the penne/cheddar/broccoli casserole. Took no food photos so we regret not taking pics of the Canada Day red and white nacho chips that were made ‘specially for the day by some great Canadians.
So what does Canada Day really mean to us? A lot.
I remember how my parents would say that Canada is the best country on earth. I assumed that everyone else in the world agreed, that it was a universal truth, unchallenged and taken for granted. We moved back and forth like ping-pong balls between Nova Scotia and Ontario when we were growing up, then we were flung out west to live in British Columbia for a few years until we transferred back to Ontario. We settled in the greatest city on earth, Toronto, where we enjoy the food and traditions of other cultures in a city where something like 178 different languages and dialects are spoken. How could it not be great? It wasn’t until my early adulthood that I realized that my parents’ beliefs about our country were subjective, and that people from all over the world also believe their countries are the best in the world. They’re wrong.
Sarah, the daughter of my friend Rosanna, she of Italian descent, wrote the following tribute which I’m posting here verbatim. Her missive captures the spirit of Canadian-ism perfectly. She’s kindly let me reproduce it here:
“To the best country in the world, who has the best winters, to the toque, who gave us hat hair- canadian style, to the beautiful white polar bear, huge brown grizzly bear, cute beavers, and massive moose, to our tasty canadian bacon, to maple syrup- because without you lets be honest, our pancakes would be just a stack of flour, to Canada Dry ginger ale- the only ale I will ever drink, to poutine-enough said, for the Coffee Crisp and Ketchup chips, only available in Canada, for Tim Hortons- Thank You for waking me up in the mornings, to Terry Fox, who is still giving us a run for cancer 25 years and counting, to Niagara Falls (canadian side only lol) which is beyond spectacular, to the CN Tower, to the Rockies, because every country needs a backbone, to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Blue Jays for putting the world in the World Series, for our coloured money, which looks pretty in our wallets, for the loonie and toonie, for our amazing healthcare system, for our beautiful land and canadian geese that sore above us, and for democracy, freedom, free trade, and peacekeepers! Happy Canada day, to the greatest country in the world eh!!! Wear that Canadian Maple Leaf LOUD and proud!!!”
Vive le Canada! Long live Canada!
Have a listen.
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