O Canada!

Always proud to be Canadian, but extra proud today as Canada beat Sweden 3-0 to win Olympic hockey gold! Here's what our house looked like at 8:00am this morning. Love the red maple leaf flying with that beautiful blue sky above :)

My Vintage Vacation Treasures

Well, here's my loot from our PEI trip! A salt shaker, a Thermos celebrating Canada's Centennial Year (1967), one cute little Matryoshka doll, PEI camper salt n' peppers, and one vintage table runner. Can you tell what image might be on that runner? Yes, those are antlers. I found this at Time Worn Treasures in Charlottetown. If you like vintage treasures this is a great shop to visit! I made two little deer pillows from that runner. Here's one...

Every time I look at this pillow It reminds me of my dad. He loved to go deer hunting every November.

Betty Visits Spud Island

Caribou Ferry Terminal

I am going to tell you all about last weeks vacation to Prince Edward Island. It's been a couple of years since we had been to "the island", and we had never taken our camper. So last Tuesday we rolled into the terminal lot in Caribou, Nova Scotia at 7am to catch the 8am ferry. It wasn't long before the Holiday Island boat docked and the vehicles started to roll off. I was a little nervous when I saw that there were two levels. My DH assured me we would not be loading on the upper deck but down below with the transport trucks. See that 18 wheeler? These trucks are in fourth gear by the time they ht the parking lot! Although passenger vehicles can make a reservation, we couldn't because of our trailer. But getting on wasn't an issue and it was actually not a busy crossing. As you can see I had no problem finding a bench on the observation deck.

The crossing takes about 75 minutes   so we were on the island by 9:30 and at the campground  shortly after 10am. We chose a wooded site at Seal Cove Campground which gave us lots of privacy. I love wooded sites but the mosquitoes almost drove me crazy! It was so bad  that I didn't even take out my iPad to get a picture of Betty or our set-up. My husband golfed at a different course each day while I poked around the antique and gift shops in Murray River and Charlottetown. On Friday we caught the 11am boat back to Nova Scotia. Here we are in the bowels of the Confederation ferry parked alongside a truck carrying pulpwood to one of the mills in NS. I couldn't wait to get back in our SUV where I felt a lot safer. But overall we had a great time and we might just do it again in August!

Stompin' Tom Connors

                                            

This tribute was in our provincial newspaper today. A Canadian folk-legend, fiercely patriotic Stompin' Tom Connors, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 77. He got his nickname because when he sang he stomped his left foot (usually on a piece of plywood). His most well-known hits included "Bud the Spud", "The Hockey Song", and "Sudbury Saturday Night".  I guess you might say he was Canada's Johnny Cash!
Here he is singing my fave, his first hit from 1970, "Bud the Spud".

                                     

 "Bud the Spud" and "The Hockey Song" are available as children's books. Both selections are popular in my classroom.

Camper Postage Stamp

Did you know that Canada has a postage stamp with a camper on it? I discovered this quite by accident last fall. How cute is that green VW camper with a red canoe on top, and our Canadian flag draped across the back window?

National Flag of Canada Day

Shar     

     February 15 was declared National Flag of Canada Day in 1996. It marks the day in 1965 when our red and white maple leaf flag was first raised over Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and indeed, hundreds of communities across Canada. Red and white were designated as Canada's official colours in 1921 by His Majesty King George V. 
    I am old enough to remember when this wasn't Canada's flag. One day I was looking at my grade one scrapbook that my mom had saved and passed along to me. On one page there was a Union Jack flag which I had colored and glued in with LePage's mucilage. But today we have glue sticks and a wonderful flag that is recognized around the world.
                              
                                        Our Flag. Our Pride. Celebrate it!

                                      Happy National Flag of Canada Day!

Take A Penny -- Leave A Penny

Canada will no longer be minting pennies. Apparently it costs more to make them than they are worth. From now on if we are making a cash transaction the total will be rounded off. If the amount is $1.23 it will be rounded down to $1.20, and if it's $1.48 it will be rounded up to $1.50.  I don't think I will really miss them. But I will miss saying, "See a penny pick it up, then all day you'll have good luck."