30 Reasons Why I Love Canada

I think this picture, which is actually my header picture, symbolizes a good part of why I love the True North Strong and Free, Canada...On the eve of Canada Day, I thought it might be nice to write about my Country and why I love it......

So I thought perhaps I would start with a list....

1) Tim Horton's Coffee....nuff said....

2) Fishing. The fishing is great around here.

3) Hunting. The hunting is great around here.

4) Hockey. We are pretty good at our national sport. We invented it...and Wayne Gretzky...backyard rinks...lakes that freeze...

5) Not everyone is carrying a handgun.....but if we are...we are pretty good shots....(see #16 below)

6) Not everyone goes fishing or hunting...but we all pretend we do....

7) We laugh at our politicians as much as they laugh at us....they don't always know we are laughing at them...

8) We can tell our $5.00 bills from $20 bills just by the color.

9) Freedom...we have it...others want it...others say they have it...they don't...not really....not the way we do. (See number 10 below)

10) Topless sunbathing laws in Ontario...women aren't breaking the law to take their shirts off in public....gotta love that...tell me that we haven't got freedom!! Some countries won't even let their women take off the scarf on their heads....



11) Cottage Country...we invented 'going to the camp' on Friday nights.

12) Lakes and rivers...we got all kinds of them...

13) Nice Neighbors. We get along very well with our neighbors, both at home, at the cottage and across the border. We get along good with most everyone...except maybe some Taliban guys...they might say different, but they will have to agree with number 5 above.

14) Canadian Television. Rick Mercer, W5, Corner Gas, The Junior Forest Rangers, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Beachcombers, North of Sixty, the weather girl on channel 3....oh never mind....

15) Snow...we get it...we typically don't panic about it...although we did once in Toronto, but the army helped dig us out.

16) The Canadian Armed Forces...the toughest bunch of soldiers, sailors and pilots in the world...and good snow shoveler when need be....

17) The Spring and Summers....so nice following the winters....makes going to the cottage such a delight!

18) Snowmobiles. We invented them...tobogans....sleding down the middle of the street in January when school is closed for a snow storm....

19) Our flag...not sure why...I just like it.

20) The vastness of the prairie provinces...the majesty of the Rocky Mountains, the rugged grandeur of Labrador, the picturesque views of the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia, the woods of New Brunswick, the family campgrounds in PEI, cottage country in Ontario, the fishing in Manitoba, Wreck Beach in British Columbia, gold mining in the Yukon, polar bears in Nunavut, downtown Montreal on a Saturday night, real cowboy singer Ian Tyson in Alberta....the fact that we have a place called "Nunavut"

21) The paintings of landscape artist Tom Thompson and The Group of Seven...the fact that we have a something called "The Group of Seven"

22) The evocative paintings of Alex Coville....especially the one of him and his wife and cat by the refrigerator at night...

23) The writings of Farley Mowatt, such as "The Dog Who Wouldn't Be" and "No Birds Sang"

24) Pierre Elliot Trudeau and his infamous finger and pirouette...and his legacy of a constitution....

25) The Inuit in the North on dogsleds and snowmobiles...

26) Robert Service and The Cremation of Sam McGee. "The night on the marge of lake labarge, I cremated Sam McGee"

27) Ancestors and immigrants from far and wide, making us a truly diverse country!

28) Health Care....we have it...we don't pay for it...

29) Ben Mulroony...um...not sure about this one....

30) We have a National television newscaster who is so old he proves our free heath care works!

There ya go, my top 30 reasons why I love my country Canada!!!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!