How to Know if You’re Canadian

 

1.Finish sentences with “Eh?” It’s not proper English, but somehow, someway, the word eh squeaks in at the end of our sentences. sentences. Some more often than others, but it is one word that identifies Canadians in whatever country they might be in.

2 Know a good brew It’s no secret that most Canadians Canadians love a cold beer on any given day, at any given time, in any given place. Mexico has tequila, Italy has wine, Poland has vodka. We have beer. Even if you don’t drink it, you’ve probably got some in your fridge for all your friends who do.

3 Canadian treats There are a few tasty treats that are truly Canadian. Poutine, ketchup and all-dressed all-dressed all-dressed potato chips, Timbits, Nanaimo bars, smarties and Beaver Tails, a deep-fired deep-fired deep-fired pastry that has been keeping skiers satisfied for decades.

4 Foot accessories Look in the shoe closet and if you find at least three pairs of the following, you’re one tick closer to being a true Canadian: ice skates, sliders or grippers, running shoes, flippers, snowshoes, skis, inline skates, flip-flops, flip-flops, flip-flops, golf shoes, cycling shoes, cozy slippers, hiking boots, snow boots, cleats.

 

Answer “Yes” to three of the following:

You have more Canadian Tire money in your home than real cash.

You use a tennis ball more for road hockey than tennis.

Your three favourite spices are salt, pepper and ketchup.

You are excited whenever an American television show mentions Canada,

You dismiss all beers under 6 alcohol as “for children and the elderly.”

 

You know that a “Premier” isn’t a baby born a few months early. You know that Wayne Gretzky isn’t and never was the prime minister.

You know all the words to “O Canada” and “If I Had a Million Dollars” Dollars” by the Barenaked Ladies.

7 Canadian flags There is one of these tattooed on your body, stuck to the back of your car, ironed onto a backpack, flying in the front yard, on the front or back of a free T-shirt T-shirt T-shirt or baseball hat.

8 Hockey When your team is playing, nothing else matters. Not even sex.

9 Mistaken identity You will do just about anything anything not to be mistake for an American when travelling.

I0  Love thy neighbour–we are more likely to pull out a hockey stick to defend ourselves than a gun.

 

Dusty Pettes

Poutine served at the Hortons… how much more Canada can you get? ( Linda says’–I just can’t Dusty– I just can’t LOL)

 

 

Come and visit the Lanark County Genealogical Society Facebook page– what’s there? Cool old photos–and lots of things interesting to read. Also check out The Tales of Carleton Place and The Tales of Almonte

1. Information where you can buy all Linda Seccaspina’s books-You can also read Linda in The Townships Sun  Screamin’ Mamas (USA)  and The Sherbrooke Record

   

   Yes We Have had Killer Hurricanes in Canada

   The War Children that Tried to Come to Canada–SS City of Benares

   Patriotic Stink Bugs Celebrating the 4th of July as an Ameri-Canadian Child

   Dominion Day 1897– Happy Canada Day!

   Happy Canada Day Tim Horton’s – The Timbit Nation

Me and Leonard Cohen

 

Leonard Cohen in front of his Montreal home in 1977. From Montreal Gazette files

Written  November 7, 2016

Forty-eight hours of political mayhem and concern for the future was quickly brought down to earth with the passing of Leonard Cohen last night. It was closing time for the voice within the soundtrack of my life as Cohen proved that you didn’t need a gimmick to be a great artist.

I came of age with Leonard Cohen, singing and writing poems to me. Yes, to me. Everyone who read or listened to his genius felt it on a personal level. My protest songs of the 60s turned to this Canadian genius, and I constantly analyzed his poetry. Day after day in the late 60’s I would sit in the CNR station in Montreal and watch people go by humming his tunes and hoping he might walk by.

I would read Cohen’s poetry books over and over and wish I was his beloved “Suzanne”. In a dark smoke filled bar on Mountain Street I would sit and listen to hours of bad poetry, yet performing my own was out of the question. In my mind I could never come close to Cohen, nor the other radical literary masters, so my words remained silent.

Years later I would meet Leonard Cohen on a flight to Los Angeles with his then much younger girlfriend Rebecca DeMornay. I took his hand by the baggage turnstile and told him of my love for his work in the 60’s. He smiled, and said softly,

“My dear the years have been kind to you”.

I stood there and wept, and now I feel like I lost an old friend. What remains are gratitude for the words and music he has given us, and fond memories of the likeable, humble manner in which he lived. When asked if he was a pessimist he said he always thought of people who were pessimists as those who were just waiting for it to rain. Then he said,

“Then here I am just completely soaked to the skin.”

If you loved words, you loved Leonard Cohen. If you loved images, you loved Leonard Cohen. He spun both to entrap and delight and you could live in a line of his poetry. Leonard said one day he would make people weep by writing one word. I believe he wrote the word many times.

Canada’s greatest poet and social critic is gone. A great artist and a great mind is silenced. A sad day- but, my life will always be filled with the memory of hearing his voice and his words that day at the LAX airport.

Hallelujah!

 

 

Author’s Note– A shout out to my friend Andrew Searle in Toronto who was with me that day on the flight to Los Angeles–where we analyzed Cohen’s every move from the economy section:) and is probably thinking the same thoughts. Miss you

Related reading–

Were You Part of the Beat Generation?

Beer Newspapers and Ice Fishing – Canadian League of Legends – Zoomer

 

Beer Newspapers and Ice Fishing – Canadian League of Legends – Zoomer.

Would You Pay to Go Shopping in the USA? – Zoomers

 

Would You Pay to Go Shopping in the USA? – Zoomers.