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Canadian Green Party Leader Elizabeth May Serves Pancakes, Chinook Centre 2008 Calgary Stampede Breakfast. Photo courtesy of Flickr.com user Itzafineday. Thanks!
This year's Calgary Stampede runs from TODAY, July 3, 2009 until next Sunday, July 12.
Started this morning with the Stampede Parade. Actually, last night was Sneak a Peek down at the Stampede Grounds, but today's the official beginning.
All week, there will be live country music playing all over town, indoors and out. Everyone puts on a cowboy hat and jeans and gets into the spirit. There are Stampede Breakfasts every day at the different shopping centres, community halls, churches and other venues.
At the Stampede grounds, there's a rodeo every day, chuckwagon races every night, a big midway, lots of music, food, Superdogs (my favourite), agricultural displays, barns full of prize animals, including some beautiful horses, arts and crafts competition entries, food again, and lots of activity and fun.
I'm off to the grounds tonight to watch the chucks.
Thanks again to ItzaFineDay for the picture of Elizabeth May at the Chinook Stampede Breakfast last year.
Road trips in Canada, and probably in the USA, always have to include pictures of the biggest things.
I don't know Steph & Adam, who took this picture, but it is quite possibly the classic Canadian giant thing picture.
Wawa is a little town in Northern Ontario (well, what Southerners call Northern), on the Trans-Canada Highway. It was notorious in the 1970s for being really hard to hitch-hike away from. If you got let off in Wawa, you might be there for a while. Or so the legend went. Wonder if it was ever true.
The Canada Goose used to be rare, if you can believe it. I remember teachers telling me about its near-extinction, and the big efforts, particularly by Jack Miner, to bring it back. Was that true? Seems hard to believe now that Canada Goose droppings are in every urban park. No matter, I still love their colouring, the way they co-operate in the air, and how cute the little goslings are.
Thanks, Steph & Adam for sharing this picture of the Wawa Goose. And thanks, Wawa, for a Canadian icon.
The Giant Canada Goose at Wawa, Ontario
Four tall, narrow houses at 5255 Newington Green, in NE London, are the oldest row houses in London, apparently. I haven't seen them, but I'll put them on the list for the next visit.
It seems strange for me to call these "houses" when they're attached. "Row houses", sure, but I don't think of each one as a "house". Another difference between English as spoken on different sides of the Atlantic? Or is it just me?
These houses were built in 1658. I love the little extra door right in the middle of the picture. Intriguing.
What would it be like to live here? A long walk up the stairs each night, if you were on the top floor. But imagine the stories in this particular pile of bricks.
London's Oldest Brick Terrace, 5255 Newington Green
Thanks to photographer Fin Fahey on Flickr.com for sharing his picture of London's Oldest Brick Terrace.
For anyone who hasn't seen a real castle yet, Warwick is a pretty nice one to start with. It's about 100 miles from London. Not a short distance, but doable as a day trip. Works well as part of a weekend away too, combined with a look at Kenilworth Castle for example, and maybe even a stop in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Warwick Castle as I remember it has a lot of dungeons! I see from at least one website that it has a giant trebuchet. Can't help it... this reminds me of Monty Python and The Holy Grail. How irreverent, I know
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Opening in early June, 2009 at The Military Museums in Calgary, "For You, the War is Over". This exhibit compares the experiences of German prisoners of war held in Alberta, Canada during the Second World War, and prisoners from Alberta held in Germany at the same time.
Mt. Baldy, Kananaskis, Alberta, Near Former POW Camp
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This picture of the Bow River gives a clue about how much snow we've had this winter in Calgary.
Animal Tracks on the Ice on the Bow River, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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In August I met a young lady recently arrived from India. She was curious and very eager to experience snow. I said to her, on that hot summer day, "Make sure you have boots to keep your feet warm."
Winter Daffodils
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Paddington Bear was lost (and found) in Paddington Station, but for those of us who aren't bears, it's a fairly easy place to get around in. The rail station is separate from the tube station, but they are very close together.
London Bus at Paddington Station, London, by lemoncat1 on Flickr.com
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What a great concept: fake travel!
This photo comes from Arturo de Albornoz, who lives in Mexico and (I think) is in the advertising business there
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What could be more English than a pub called The White Hart? Unless it's The Ship and Anchor, or The Jolly Ploughman, or that old standby, The King's Arms?
Pub Sign in Hockley, Essex, for The White Hart, by Brian Snelson
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Comment by Jill Browne
on Teddington Lock House on the RIver Thames
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