Resting from Workplace Abuse: Blog in Pictures - Highlights of our national holiday

Today I'm tired.  I feel worn out.  Not really up to doing anything especially writing a blog post.

But then I think that that is to be expected.  Life lately has been full of events:  World Wide Knit in Public Day one Saturday, followed the next weekend by the writer's conference, followed the weekend after by a neighbourhood barbecue which I co-hosted with my neighbours.  Followed by ... yesterday:  Canada Day AND my grandson's birthday which we celebrated by hosting a family barbecue.

So today's written blog has been cancelled.  In it's place are snatches or highlights of our day yesterday.

Enjoy.

Canada Day in Stratford, Ontario

Clown making balloon animals for the children.  He had quite a lineup.

I love all the red and white!

Peace and quiet sitting on a bench on the main corner of Stratford

Watching people walking, traffic passing and a pick up truck sporting a huge Canada flag

Buskers at the main corner of Stratford

City Hall in Stratford, behind which are the festivities

The birthday boy

Whimsical photo of chairs all lined up waiting for their humans

We all labelled our cups with a marker.  This was how my son-in-love labelled mine.

Canada Ice Cream for a Canadian holiday and a Canada Day birthday.  I'd love to see our cousins to the south try this with all their stars and stripes!

Red wins!

It was always a tradition for Grammy (me) to make birthday cards for each family member from photos I'd taken.  Over the last few years, I was unable focus enough to make them.  This year,  I'm able to restart the tradition again.  Yay!

Opening presents.  Believe it or not, he wanted pineapple, coconut and nutella!  The way to a man's heart ....

The day - at least our part of it - ended with a bonfire and marshmallow roast.  Unfortunately, we didn't foresee the need for regular marshmallows so the grands made do with what we had on hand - miniature marshmallows!

Tomorrow, hopefully, I'll be rested enough to continue the series on the major key to healing from workplace abuse:  debunking the lies.

In the meantime, have a good day wherever you are.

See you tomorrow....

Canada Day 2014

We interrupt our series on the lies internalized via workplace abuse with an important post about today:  Canada Day 2014.

Confederation Day.

The day we Canadians celebrate who we are.

And that we're unified - more or less.

We're not Americans - although we derived from the same British roots.  The Americans, however, chose to move on, to separate from Britain way back when.  I think dinosaurs roamed the land at that time.  I'm not sure.  But I do know that men like Paul Revere and George Washington did.  And that they had parties involving tea which made the British rulers angry.

We're not Americans.  We chose to stay with Britain.  I could say that between the two of us we're passive aggressive.  Americans tend to be more aggressive, Canadians tend to be more passive.

But that doesn't make us any less.  It just makes us different from our cousins south of the border.

Those cousins have warm temperatures in the south to which we flock in the cold winter months - and we are very grateful that (a) you have those warm climates and (b) you let us enjoy them.

They have the White House, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, the Rocky Mountains, etc.

We, on the other hand, have the Great Lakes - okay we do share some of them with our cousins to the south.

We also have the Rocky Mountains as well as our own version of the badlands in Caledon, Ontario.

We have the Horseshoe Falls part of Niagara Falls as well.


And the Niagara Escarpment which I didn't even know about until the last few years.  An area abundant in both hiking trails and waterfalls.  We have lots of wilderness, lakes and rivers.

We have our own distinct personality which is best seen when we have unforeseen circumstances, like a prolonged power outage.  We find creative ways to cope with and even enjoy the circumstance.  Shown on this post is a picture taken during a power outage that lasted hours in the aftermath of a severe wind storm last summer.  No power?  No problem.  Simply move everything outside and have a party.  That's the Canadian way.  As we roamed around surveying the damage that day, we saw neighbourhoods gathering together to help each other out, sawing down trees, directing traffic, etc.  Having their own version of spontaneous block parties.

We're also known for our love for hockey - which by the way is NOT the national sport of Canada, lacrosse is, go figure - and for our hockey players who are sought after for major league teams on both sides of the border.

Then there's Terry Fox, whose courage not only gripped Canada but the entire world in the early '80s when he was jogging across Canada on one leg for cancer research.  He never made it across as his cancer returned.  But his legacy has endured.

I could go on and on about Canada, my adopted country.  And I've only seen a small fraction of this great and magnificent land - mostly those portions of Ontario near where I live.

However, I can say that we are a great country.  We are a country steeped in history.

So today, we celebrate in our own way who we are.

We. Are. Canadian! 

Proudly so.

Canada Day 2013 - Revisited

Canada Day 2013 Celebration in Stratford, Ontario

Passing through Uptown Waterloo to the town of Stratford, Ontario we spied the locomotive of our local tourist train all decked out for a special steam train Canada Day excursion to nearby Elmira, Ontario.

July 1st, 2013 dawned sunny and beautiful.  My first Canada Day to be celebrated in Canada in recent memory.  I KNOW I was in Canada on July 1st, 2005 when my grandson was born - and several times thereafter; however, most of my national holiday celebrations have focussed on the U.S. holiday, Independence Day, which was also the birthday of my very independent mother.  Or on the birthday of our grandson.

However, this year signified a change for me.  My mother passed away last year shortly after celebrating her 97th birthday and my grandson went to camp taking his entire family with him.

A shop window in the nearby small town of Stratford decorated to the hilt in honour of Canad

The year of "firsts" after a death is always difficult, and because we had celebrated the U.S. Independence Day rather than the Canadian Canada Day in recent history, it was proving to be the most difficult of the firsts.

So what to do?

What is a healthy way of dealing with this first?  The memories, not always pleasant, from last year came thick and fast.  Bombarding me with their intensity.

So, again, what to do?

And here is where different encouragers came into play.  One invited us over to their backyard for a bonfire and fireworks the evening before.  

I loved it!  I loved being with people who know me and my difficulties and still choose to associate with me.  Neighbours who feel comfortable enough to include us in their activities.  

It was an incredible display of both fireworks and love.

The street was closed off to vehicular traffic, so this young man and his friends made the most of it.  One of my favorite pictures of the day.

However, the actual day itself remained a huge question mark UNTIL someone posted a link on their Facebook wall outlining Stratford's Canada Day festivities.  A four hour long "party" behind City Hall with vendors, food, entertainment, things for the children, even free cupcakes.

As my husband said when we got there:  "follow the noise".  So we did.  And found what looked a bit like a "tent" city behind city hall.  A stage was set up for local performers and other attractions such as giving the Bronze Star to the grandson of a man who helped forge Srtatford into the gorgeous town it is today.

What struck me immediately, besides the noise, was the sea of red.  Almost everyone was wearing their red and white best.  Waving flags.  Proud to be Canadian.  United in our identity as Canadians for the day.

Although the events were in one designated area behind city hall, the entire town took on a holiday atmosphere.  Our first glimpse arriving in Stratford were these Buskers performing on the main corner of town.

Members of a local cadet corps comprised an honour guard for the singing of O Canada.

Volunteers handed out free cupcakes after the singing of O Canada.  By the way, O Canada was sung not once but twice yesterday.  Once to open the celebration and a second time mid-way through.  I'm not sure why exactly, but maybe it was simply to impress on latecomers why we were there.

It was almost like a huge family event.  One of personal favorites was this clown on his ... well ... I have no idea what they're called but they were springy - and fun to watch him bouncing around.  I asked him how he did it.  His answer:  Practice.

Even the little children (or was it their parents?) got involved in the celebration of Confederation.  You see, Canada wasn't formed by war, but by consensus.  We didn't have a war for independence from Great Britain. Instead, we agreed to live with each other - with the Queen's blessing (or at least consent).

British North America Acts[edit]

Main article: British North America Acts

Proclamation of Canadian Confederation

Confederation was accomplished when the Queen gave royal assent to the British North America Act (BNA Act) on March 29, 1867, followed by a royal proclamation stating: "We do ordain, declare, and command that on and after the First day of July, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-seven, the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, shall form and be One Dominion, under the name of Canada."^[59] That act, which united the Province of Canada with the colonies of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, came into effect on July 1 that year. The act replaced the Act of Union (1840) which had previously unified Upper Canada and Lower Canada into the united Province of Canada. Separate provinces were re-established under their current names of Ontario and Quebec. July 1 is now celebrated as Canada Day.

(Sorry, but you really can't have a blog on Canada Day without a wee bit of a history lesson, right?)

I've seen Canada change - or maybe my perception of my adopted country as changed - over the last 30 years.  When I first came here as a new bride, Canada Day was the most confused holiday of the year. Celebrated whenever.  Many people worked on July 1st opting for a three day weekend on whichever was closest.

But things are different now.

Somehow over the last three decades, we've become proud of ourselves as a nation and our role in this country.  Who we are as Canadians.  Our identity.

So we proudly came together yesterday all over Canada.  In towns and cities.  We wore our national colours and waved our flags.

Today, it's back to the "real" world.  Work.  Worried.  Whatever.

Yet, the memory of our celebrations whether big or small; town, village or city remain with us and strengthen us.

I'm proud to be Canadian.

Happy Canada Day - aka I Am Canadian

This week's blogs are going to be a mish-mosh of topics.  The on-going reality of recovery - and blogging about the abuse - have taken a toll of my mind and body.  Both need a rest in order to continue processing and healing.

On top of that, this week contains national holidays in both of my countries:  the United States, my country of birth and heritage; and Canada, the country I immigrated to almost 33 years ago as a new bride and where I've assimilated and raised my children.

It also contains two birthdays:  my grandson born July 1st, 2005 and my mother (who passed away last year) born July 4th 1915.  Both born on their national holidays 90 years apart.

So in today's blog:  I honour Canada.  My adopted country.

On July 8th, 2010, after 30 years living, working and raising two Canadian citizens,  I finally became a bonafide Canadian myself.

Canadians are very different than Americans.  We are much more low-keyed than our more patriotic, flay-waving cousins on the other side.

Like family, even distantly related family, we have our squabbles and disagreements.  But deep down, we care deeply for each other.  At least Canadians care for Americans. 

One notable trait about Canadians is that we poke fun of ourselves.

Although Jeff Foxworthy is American, not Canadian, what he says about us below is very true.

A Little Canadian Humour

Forget Rednecks, here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about Canucks:

• If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May you may live in Canada.
• If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don’t work there, you may live in Canada.
• If you’ve worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Canada
• If you’ve had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialled a wrong number, you may live in Canada
• If “Vacation” means going anywhere south of Muncie for the weekend you may live in Canada.
• If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Canada
• If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may live in Canada
• If you have switched from “heat” to “A/C” in the same day and back again, you may live in Canada
• If you can drive 90 kms/hr through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you may live in Canada
• If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Canada
• If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you may live in Canada
• If you design your kid’s Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you may live in Canada
• If the speed limit on the highway is 80km — you’re going 90 and everybody is passing you, you may live in Canada
• If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you may live in Canada
• If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction, you may live in Canada
• If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you may live in Canada.
• If you find 2 degrees “a little chilly”, you may live in Canada
• If you actually understand these jokes, and forward them to all your Canadian friends & others, you definitely live in Canada[/li]

The real humour and irony of the above is that it's all true!  Although after a snow storm last winter in which a traffic cam recorded people out on the 401 in Toronto with snow shovels, I would add:  if you're out on the highway with snowshovel in hand, you truly are Canadian!

We do have an outstanding disagreement with our American cousins and neighbours, expressed in the rant below.  As we appear to know much more about our neighbour to the South, then they do about their neighbour to the North.  When I met my soon-to-be Canadian husband on the Texas-Mexican border 33 years ago, I knew almost nothing about Canada.  It didn't figure into my world at all.  Now I wonder how I could have been so bigoted about one of the greatest nations on earth.

I Am Canadian

I AM CANADIAN RANT

I am not a fisherman, lumberjack, or an Inuit
I drive on a highway not a freeway
I live in a province not a state
With a premier not a senator
I am ruled by a Prime Minister not a President
I meet friends at Tim Hortons not Starbucks
Its called HAM not Canadian Bacon
I don’t know your third cousin from Saskatoon
. . . but I’m sure he’s a really nice person
I live and own a house not an igloo
a car is my main means of transport not a dog sled or ski doo
I have a pet cat not a pet beaver
I know about other countries and acknowledge their rights
I would gladly have my flag on my backpack while visiting other countries
Celine Dion isn’t the only musical talent from Canada
A boot is what I wear on my feet in the winter time
I end the alphabet with ZED not ZEE
Toronto is not the centre of Canada
It’s a room not a rum, ROOM!
I believe in peace keeping not breaking it up
I drink pop not soda, Molson Canadian not Budweiser
Neighbour is spelled with a U not just a OR
I experience all four season not just winter
I spend my summer at a cabin not a cottage
My first language is English but I speak some french, NOT American
I understand “Pass the serviette I drop my poutine on the chesterfield”
I was not born feet first wearing skates
Hockey is a religion not a sport
I play and worship Lord Stanley not Vince Lombardie
My Name is Kayla and
Je suis Canadien!

And to this, I enthusiastically stand up, applauding, yelling "Yes!"

Before I close this post, I want to interject one anecdote from my own life.  Because of my mother's birthday being on the 4th of July, we were often visiting in the United States at that time.  We were sitting in a church service in which the pastor was extolling the virtues of the U.S.  Afterwards, my usually very timid daughter, went up to the pastor and said:  "I disagree with what you said about the U.S. being the best country in the world.  Canada is at least as good as the U.S. if not better."

Out of the mouths of babes.

Today, I invite all Canadians to stand up and be proud.

In closing, I end with this poem written way back in 1977.  Still as true today as it was then.

I am a Canadian

Duke Redbird

I’m a lobster fisherman in Newfoundland

I’m a clambake in P.E.I.

I’m a picnic, I’m a banquet

I’m mother’s homemade pie

I’m a few drafts in a Legion hall in Fredericton

I’m a kite-flyer in Moncton

I’m a nap on the porch after a hard day’s work is done

I’m a snowball fight in Truro, Nova Scotia

I’m small kids playing jacks and skipping rope

I’m a mother who lost a son in the last Great War

And I’m a bride with a brand new ring

And a chest of hope

I’m an Easterner

I’m a Westerner

I’m from the North

And I’m from the South

I’ve swam in two big oceans

And I’ve loved them both.

I'm a clown in Quebec during carnival

I'm a mass in the cathedral of St. Paul

I'm a hockey game in the forum

I'm Rocket Richard and Jean Beliveau

I'm a coach for little league Expos

I'm a babysitter for sleep defying rascals

I'm a canoe trip down the Ottawa

I'm a holiday on the Trent

I'm a mortgage, I'm a loan

I’m last week’s unpaid rent

I’m Yorkville after dark

I’m a walk in the park

I’m a Winnipeg gold-eye

I’m a hand-made trout fly

I’m a wheat-field and a sunset

Under a prairie-sky

I’m Sir John A. MacDonald

I’m Alexander Graham Bell

I’m a pow-wow dancer

And I’m Louis Riel

I’m the Calgary Stampede

I’m a feathered Sarcee

I’m Edmonton at night

I’m a bar-room fight

I’m a rigger, I’m a cat

I’m a ten-gallon hat

And an unnamed mountain in the interior of B.C.

I’m a maple tree and a totem pole

I’m sunshine showers

And fresh-cut flowers

I’m a ferry boat ride to the Island

I’m the Yukon

I’m the Northwest Territories

I’m the Arctic Ocean and the Beaufort Sea

I’m the Prairies, I’m the Great Lakes

I’m the Rockies, I’m the Laurentians

I am French

I am English

And I'm Métis

But more than this

Above all this

I am Canadian and proud to be free.

"I am a Canadian" is a sixty line poem celebrating the peoples of Canada, presented to Queen Elizabeth at her Silver Jubilee in 1977. Duke Redbird is a Native Canadian poet and writer.

In short:  

I AM CANADIAN.

Today:  Let's celebrate us!