this beautiful country

Happy Canada Day from one very proud Canadian girl. Ever since I was a little girl Canada Day has always been a special day for my family. In fact, aside from Christmas it is my favourite celebration of the year! Growing up in the Nation's Capital meant that we went all out, dressing up in only red&white, heading downtown into the crowds of people, decorating our cars and motorcycles with flags and stickers and showing our spirit in any way we could.

Last year Winslow and I spent our Canada Day away from Ottawa and it just wasn't the same. So this year we vowed to be here in Ottawa with every intention to PARTAY (well as much as a pregnant lady can).

In honour of this beautiful country that I call home, I have come up with a list of things that I love about Canada.

• The vast geography. From the Rockies, the Prairies, the Great Lakes, The beautiful North, the St. Lawrence sea way, the Maritimes, and Newfoundland. From Coast to Coast to Coast....this country is breathtakingly beautiful in any place you may be. I only hope I can visit all parts of Canada some day.
• Multiculturalism! Our former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau gave us the Charter of Rights and Freedoms but also gave us the Multiculturalism Act. Allowing ALL Canadians to be free to practice their religion, speak their native languages and retain their culture. My family is very multicultural and this is a direct reflection of how we celebrate everyone's culture here.
• The food! As I mentioned above because we are such a multicultural society we have soooo many delicious choices for food. But we also have our own distinctly Canadian specialties such as poutine (fries, gravy and cheese curds), beavertails (fried dough with cinnamon, sugar and lemon), butter tarts, nanaimo bars, maple syrup, maple sugar and more...
• The talent! The Arts define a country. The Arts tell us about our past. The Arts help us to tell our stories. Group of Seven, Norval Morrisseau, Alex Colville, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, The Charlottetown Festival, The Hip, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Oscar Peterson, Mordecai Richler, Leonard Cohen, the CBC....I could go on and on and on.

This list has been shortened. I could really go on and on but I'll leave it at this for now.

Happy Canada Day to all, where ever you may be today!