Sunday, February 14, 2010

OH CANADA!!! HOORAY, YIPPEEEE, WELL DONE, CONGRATULATIONS!



So Canada has finally broken it's streak of bad luck by not getting a medal for any of the Olympic s that they hosted. As of today, that is over! They have one and more on the way hopefully. This is happy for me since my Mother was a Canadian and my daughter lived in both Eastern Canada and Western Canada with her Candian husband and gave us our Canadian Granddaughter who was born in Calgary. I am so happy that the Olympics are in beautiful Whistler and that they won their medal! Without looking at the map above, if you are an American, I bet you don't know how many provences Canada has and I bet you can't name all of them. if you can, you are a rareity. And your may be interested to know that most Canadians know all 50 states and their capitals.
So tonight I watched as Alex the young man who won talked about the influence of his older brother with cerebral palsy. He said when he didn't feel like practicing in the rain he remembered his brother had to try hard each day to do what little he could do. His brother is his best fan. It was very touching and I am so glad such a nice young man won!

8 comments:

Carol said...

Yes! Yay for the Canadians on their first gold medal! I've always wanted to visit Canada. Partly because my paternal grandmother was always very proud to share the fact that she was born in Nova Scotia. . . And yet her father was a carriage builder in Philadelphia and I know that she was an American citizen. . . hmmm. . . No one left to ask, so I need to find out more!

Patty ♣ said...

I am also very happy for Canada!

I am not too happy with the delayed broadcast timing here on the west coast! All the children need to be in bed at a decent hour on school nights, me too! They are being cheated out of this wonderful event! Also! I WANT to watch Hockey!!!!!!!!!
I wish the TV people were more considerate of the viewing public!
...Venting...

Michele said...

Thanks from Canada! I'm a new reader of your blog and it was so nice to come here and read about your Canadian connections.

Love your quilts!

Sandi said...

Hi Mary Lou,

Thanks for the lovely congratulations on your blog. Aren't you glad to have Canadian roots!

It was so much fun watching Alexandre Belodeau win his gold metal on the moguls. His brother was front and centre cheering him on.

I don't know if any of your followers can get access on the computer to www.ctv.ca they are the Olympic channel up here in Canada. Maybe they can watch the events in real time on the computer.

Proudly Canadian
Sandi in New Westminster B.C.

Sandi said...

Hi again Mary Lou,

I mentioned on your newsgroup that Alexandre Belodeau found inspiration from his older brother.

He has Cerebral Palsy and when Alexandre thought twice about not training he remembered what his brother lives with every day and that would get him out training.

They had his family on this morning for an interview. Unfortunately I can't say what their conversation was as it was all in French and I'm not fluent.

His brother was pounding on the railing urging Alexandre on during the race despite a broken finger!

Try and see a replay and you see his brother with glasses jumping up and down with joy.

Sandi in New Westminstr B.C

Colleen said...

Thanks Mary Lou for the shout out to Canada! I see that no one has answered your questions about the number of provinces. I won't give it away. Yes, I had to memorize the 50 states and be able to place them correctly on a map in Grade 10 Social Studies.

Colleen in Calgary

WoolenSails said...

I actually turned it on right before they gave away the medals, so got to watch it. I am bad, I like to see everyone win, lol.

Debbie

Pippa said...

Yep, we have 10 provinces, but we also have territories. So if you're wondering about the land in the north, those are our territories.... Population is sparse in the territories. In fact, the majority of Canada's population is within 100 miles of the Canada-US border.

I was at the '76 olympics in Montreal and '88 in Calgary - and no gold medal celebrations. Perhaps it is lucky that I didn't get to the olympics this year?

We're proud of our athletes, whether they're medalists or not. We haven't the infrastructure nor the focus (and funding) on athletes that many other countries have. So to have gold (silver & bronze) medalists is astonishing & great. BRAVO to them!

and a note for CAROL:
Historically, many people from the maritime provinces migrated to the US instead of the rest of Canada. Sometimes it worked the other way around. In the early 1920s, my grandparents went to Pennsylvania for a couple of years because there was a need of my grandfather's trade. Three children were born there and at age 21 they had to choose whether to carry American or Canadian citizenship. US did not allow their citizens to hold multiple citizenships at that time.

My grandparents returned to Canada and remained here. One uncle chose to live in the US. He was in the US army and married an American girl (wasn't medically eligible for the Cdn army during WWII, but was accepted into the US army).

Cheers!