Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Een, Twee, Drie .... Break Over.

Echt leuk:

En weer verder leren ...

Monday, July 13, 2009

Home Sweet Home

Whoot! I resorted to a significant dose of coffee and sugar to make it through the day! It is evening, and I am working! Actually working.

Anyways, one thing is sure, that if I don't make this post, it will never happen. And I have to convince you again that the Holstein Rodeo is well-worth any terrible weather conditions you may have to endure. Last year? Rain. This year? Extreme Heat and Extreme Cold. Basically Saturday was a summation of the weather we have been having so far this summer, it even included rain. I do have a nice sunburn on my shoulders to show for this day.

And some nice shots:
and the Road Hammers:
On a side-note:
Upon a couple of years of data and analysis, it can be determined that the busier I am, the more likely I am to post updates about life. Seeing that the next three weeks are going to be, well, beyond any craziness that I have ever experienced, I have a feeling I will be posting lots as well. I do pre-apologize for the fact that they may simply say "aaah" so as to imply some sort of agony. I will survive.

One final Post Scriptum: what happens to dead tadpoles? I have seen many tadpoles in the pond at home, and I know few of them become frogs, then why don't I see any dead tadpoles?

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Just Like a Wavin' Flag

Happy Belated Birthday Canada! Hope it was a nice one! Okay, well I am pretty sure it was, if you were in Ottawa anyways. I do think that at some point in your Canadian lifetime you have to come celebrate in Ottawa. Not for the fireworks though. They are easily rivalled by a small town like Owen Sound. But the rest of the day was pretty rockin'!
We decided to Marathon it on Canada Day. Which made for a long day. Which, believe it or not was not nearly enough time to see everything. You really have to pick and choose things to do, because there is so much stuff happening! But we saw the changing of the guard, the musical rides, the prime minister, the snowbirds, a one song performance by a number of artists, including Sarah Mclachlan and Shane Yellowbird, and even more performances in the afternoon and evening. And wow - so many people! I don't think I have ever seen this many people together before. This was just on Rideau Street, the least busy of the day!
This musical rides show by the RCMP was pretty fantastic. Despite the music cutting out constantly, and having to stand on my tippy-toes to see anything, it was cool to see. Plus the horses they have there are just beautiful!
The stage on Parliament Hill, the lights, and videos were pretty amazing! For a free, outdoor show it was very good! Although I would have to complain about the Canadian Unity Flag someone was flying right in our view of the stage. Which was just as annoying as the people sitting around us, who insisted on smoking in public. Actually, what was also interesting was that the performances were slated to start at 6.30pm. Then, at 6.30 they start a one hour countdown. To the beginning of the show right, so at 10 seconds everyone is up counting down, but at 0, there were no fireworks, but commercials! Whoot! Chicken Farmers of Canada!

Anyways, the performances were great! Ranging from the Canadian Tenors to last year's winner of So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Sarah Mclauglin to the Respectables. Marie-Mai to
Cirque Fantastic Concept. Lots of English, and lots of French! I think one of my favourite performers was probably K'naan. He had the whole audience sing along to his song Wavin' Flag. Plus they were so good live! His first perfomance even included the trampolines, and a dancers!

Shane Yellowbird! He was singing his song Pick Up Truck to which we loudly sang along. There was not nearly enough country music, but still. Whoot! Country! I think I will get my fill of
country lovin' at the Rodeo next week :D
The snowbirds! my (now tiny) dream of becoming a jet pilot was brought back at the sight of this performance. I remember seeing them in Owen Sound a couple of summers ago, where they did an equally amazing show above Georgian Bay.
and finally, Sarah Mclachlan performed World on Fire, Angel, and Building a Mystery:
Whoot! Canada!