So, That Was Canada Day!

Now that almost a week has passed, you should have recovered from your Canada Day celebrations. We hope you had  lots of fun, good food, and friendship as you celebrated our nation's 150th birthday.

Canada 150

Here in Alberta, we had spectacular weather for the big milestone birthday bash; it was hot with beautiful sunny blue skies all day.

In preparation for the big day, I saved this photo of a couple of Mounties on horseback from the Sundre rodeo parade.

Doesn't get much more Canadian than that!!

As I am still recuperating from my knee surgery, we haven't been going very far from home, lately.  Sandy, however, decided that we needed to have a Canada 150 project.  I am still off the bike, so I had to dream up something I could do with my bum knee. About all I can handle are my rehab exercises and walking. The dogs joined me on my project, which was to walk them for 150 minutes. It took us 3 sessions through the course of the day, but we got it done.

Our neighbor, Ed, decided his Canada Day project would be to have 150 beer on his driveway so he could offer a brew or two to any neighbor who happened to come by.  That went over well, and I decided a nice cool Molson Canadian, in a retro stubby bottle, was a good reward for my travels all around the neighbourhood. (I managed over 19,000 steps for the day.)

Sandy's project, of course, involved doing something on the bike. Let's see, what could that be? It didn't take long for her to decide that she would ride her bike 150km.  In preparation, she made sure to get lots of long rides done in the weeks leading up to Canada Day, and spent hours on her computer mapping out a variety of routes she could chose from depending on the weather conditions for the day.  Her plan was to be on the bike at 07:00 and I offered to make her breakfast while she completed her pre-ride preparations.  Unfortunately, she woke up at 04:45, which meant I had to haul my bones out of bed before 5 to get her fed and watered, as promised. She was on her bike and heading off our driveway at exactly 06:00, an hour ahead of schedule.  As mentioned, earlier, the weather was beautiful and she had a great day for this long ride. Oh, in case you are wondering, yes, she rode the entire route on her own and had a fabulous time.

At about 2:30 in the afternoon, she rode up to Ed's driveway to get her reward... again, a nice cold Molson Canadian. That Ed, what a thoughtful guy!

Sandy's bike computer confirms her project was successful:

150.64km!!

And a reward for a job well done.

Here's a photo of a painting we saw at West Edmonton Mall, last week. A collection of iconic Canadian images in a simple, but well put together image.

To our American friends and relatives, we trust you also had a great time celebrating your nation's birthday on July 4.