Tina ThrussellBy Tina Thrussell
Canada Day Fun
Yesterday was the 157th birthday of this beautiful country that is our home. Canada is “The True North strong and free” to borrow from our national anthem.
I am proud to say that all the members of our small camping association feel extremely blessed to live in this amazing country, and for 30 years we have been celebrating Canada Day at our private campground.
Yesterday we began, as we always do, singing “O Canada” as we raised our Canadian flag. Then we listened to Roger Whittaker’s moving song, “Canada Is” (see video below). Someone pointed out that a special song was written for Canada’s 100th birthday and he proceeded to sing, “Canada, We love thee, Canada, strong and free… north, south, east, west, there’ll be happy times…” and I couldn’t help but join in.
We had a foot parade through our campground, with nearly everyone dressed in red and white waving our little flags as we walked to the theme from the ’88 Olympics and various other Canadian music.
Then we had a rousing round of Canadian Trivia, where I shouted out questions like, “Who was our first Prime Minister?” And someone shouted the answer, “Sir John A. MacDonald.”
“What is the capital of the province of Quebec?” A: “Quebec City.”
“What is the capital city of New Brunswick?” A: “Fredericton.”
“Name a Canadian Gold Medalist.” A: “Kurt Browning.” Someone adds, “The first person to land a quadruple jump!” Someone else asks, “Does Ben Johnson count? He did win a Gold medal, even though it was taken away.”
Was it the red-wrapped candies I was throwing out to respondents, or the easy-to-answer question that brought forth a ton of responses to the request to name a Canadian musician? Answers included Bryan Adams, Celine Dionne, Burton Cummings, Gordon Lightfoot, Shania Twain, Alanis Morrisette, just to name a few.
“Name a Canadian songwriter,” Without hesitation, someone shouts, “Gordon Lightfoot.”
There was another flood of answers to the question, “What’s a Canadian invention?” Answers included insulin, hockey, peanut butter, the telephone, basketball, egg cartons…
“What is our national sport?” Only the slightest hesitation before we heard several people say, “Lacrosse.”
“What’s our national animal?” Again, several people answered at the same time, “The beaver!”
It was all great fun, an dwe topped off our celebrations with an infamous Costco birthday cake.
We would have normally kicked off Canada Day the night before with fireworks, but Mother Nature wasn’t too keen on having the little sulphur rockets pierce her skies, apparently, as she stopped us with a torrential downpour!
My appreciation of this beautiful country is always heightened by our Canada Day celebrations. I love this country we call home! And I’d love to hear about any Canada Day celebrations you engated in. You can write to us at info@shindao.com Thanks!
https://youtu.be/KoNdn2Kuq88?si=bC1znS3_C5lDlJIh Roger Whittaker
