Let's hear it for the red....
..and the white this Canada Day. The colours of our flag! And 142 years of this great, great country.
My little sprout and I headed down to the waterfront for Canada Day celebrations at the annual CHIN Picnic. I expected to have fun. You know...rides, entertainment, hot dogs and cotton candy. I didn't expect that a garden would remind me to appreciate this country.
I have walked through the rose garden on the Canadian National Exhibition grounds numerous times. It has been there for as long as I can remember.
But on this Canada Day something was different. The garden was overflowing with blooms. The air was filled with an intoxicating fragrance. And everywhere I looked was the red and the white. 
It was as if the garden was asking me to reflect for just a moment on how lucky I am to be a Canadian.
Much has been written and said about what it means to be Canadian. Discussing the elusive Canadian "identity" has always been a popular topic in high school classes and Canada Day newspaper editions. I'm not sure that anyone can ever pinpoint what it means to be Canadian. Here's just a sampling what it means to me: Peace. Democracy. Diversity. Mosquitoes and Black Flies. The Big Nickel. Peggy's Cove. Niagara Falls. The CN Tower. The Snowbirds. The Great Lakes and mighty St. Lawrence. High School French. Winters that never end and summers that are over far too soon. Maple Syrup. Trilliums. Molson and Labatt. The Maple Leafs (and all the associated heartbreak). Olympic and World Cup Hockey Gold. My hometown (and greatest city in the world) Toronto. Yonge Street. Meeting friends from around the globe. The CBC (shame on you Prime Minister Harper for dissing our national broadcaster. I can say that...this is a democracy!) William Shatner!!!! The Maple Leaf Forever. The red and the white flying proud.
So, Happy Birthday Canada. Here's to many, many more.P.S. Here are a few extra rose photos, just because.
3 comments:
Very nice Canada color flower photos! Gee, do you think Canada is about mosquitoes and black flies too? How can we get rid of those things? I can't stand the bugs and wonder what it is about Canadians that we all don't just avoid bug-infested areas and go somewhere else. That is the big question.
What a pretty rose garden! Your Canada Day fall pretty close to our Fourth of July Independence day.
Irena - Thanks for the reflections on Canada. I'm very blessed to have been born and to live in Canada, and don't appreciate it nearly enough. Thank goodness we don't have black flies or any annoying bugs (except plenty of mosquitoes!) here in Vancouver.
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