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I must admit that during the health challenges I’ve had this past month, I have had the luxury of roaming around the Internet, and following the Winter Olympics. I have no idea about your country’s coverage, but I certainly had been “well-fed” by our Canadian Official Network (CBC). My main interests have remained about the same … hockey, skiing, skating, luge, bobsleigh. Many of the athletes have trained at Canada Olympic Park that we drive past every time we make a trip to the city. We often see athlete when we frequent the McDonald’s (free Wi-Fi and good coffee) across the highway from the Ski Jumps. Although commendable, there has been so much media coverage of two particular events. First, there was the Canadian coach who was near the Russian cross-country skier, when one of his skis broke. It looked like he was done, but the coach ran out to the track with a spare ski. Did he have to do that? No! His job was to encourage/coach his own skier. Here’s the story! The second instance was in the 1000 meter speed skating event, when one skater gave up his spot to compete to another teammate who missed qualifying for the Olympic team after he fell on the final turn at the Canadian trials, thus making him only an alternate. Why? Because he thought his team mate had a better chance of winning a medal. For the whole story, click here. I’m sure there have been other instances, but these are the ones that I became aware of, thanks to CBC. They are great stories, but for some people, integrity always trumps winning. Perhaps that is what caught the attention of the media … and unexpected event that hit so many people deep inside their heart and mind. What do you think?
Tags: Olympics Sports News
Yesterday was the first day of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. I had set my alarm clock so that I would wake up in time for the CBC coverage of the Opening Ceremony. We have been looking forward to this event for a long time … with a bit of nostalgia mixed in too. Our Canadian city, Calgary, Alberta, hosted the Winter Olympics in 1988 and the whole city adopted the event as our very own greeting to the world. I wonder what the long-term effect will be for Russia. Will it be a positive or negative experience for them, and for the world? Even in 1988, the cost of preparing for the games was “over the top”, but with a well-chosen and brilliant Planning Committee, our city was in the ‘black’ after the games. That certainly wasn’t the case for Montreal, PQ when they hosted the Games. They have been trying to “pay off the debt” for years. Yesterday, we heard that Russia has spent the most amount of money EVER, preparing for these Games, and from small reports, much of it has been placed on the backs of the poor and underprivileged people. In my opinion, this and the ‘worship’ of sports needs to come to an end. Perhaps a positive note would be improved cooperation and tolerance, not just in the sports world, but in relationships between nations. Now that the world has the opportunity to have a peek inside Russia, wouldn’t it be nice to gain some understanding and appreciation of their country and their people? The past is the past … for all countries! Can they forgive our country for deeds of the past, and can we forgive them? I look forward to your comments …
Tags: Olympics Calgary Sports
During the last two week, when I have been dealing with a minor health issue (but staying home out of the cold weather), I’ve had time to myself, without interruptions. I never allow myself to be bored; there is ALWAYS something to do. My voice was hardly above a whisper so chatting on the telephone would have been annoying to my friends. My husband was enjoying the relative silence … he didn’t need to wander out to his shop to escape my continuous chatter (I do take the occasional respite to catch my breath … honest!). What I did do was spend quite a bit of time on The Hill, trying to catch up on long-time friends, meet some people who I only knew by their username, and introduce myself to some new people that I had not yet crossed paths with in my ‘wanderings’. I visited pages of people who were active, but their list of friends was very short; others who had been members for a much longer time and had hundreds of people in their List of Friends. I checked to see who was having a birthday this month, and stopped by to give them my good wishes, and I checked to see if I could welcome someone who had just arrived to our cyber community. What I saw created questions in my mind: Why so few friends? How does a person develop a friendship with hundreds of people, or are they competing with someone to have the longest list? Why do some say that they aren’t accepting new friends, and some people have their pages blocked, visible only to those who are friends. I couldn’t leave a ‘Happy Birthday note, perhaps meet someone who had similar interests to me, or just leave a friendly note to offer some help if they had any questions. I wondered why they were here or what happened that they felt they had to hide behind a “locked” page. In times past, I have talked to people who only wanted to be friends with those they knew from another Social Network Site; I have heard of some who hide so that they don’t have to listen to anyone else’s opinion; and I have helped people who blocked their page because they didn’t know how else to stop harassment from another person. This community is intended to be a friendly community, and has tried to give guidelines to maintain the integrity of the site, but also give latitude to creativity. Why are there people here who want to run the site to THEIR liking, even though they have no ownership. Why is it so hard to comply with the guidelines? Years ago (and I’m amazed to remember how many years), we had Pen Pals in school, arranged by our teacher who found kids our age in a far away country, to whom we could write letters, send photographs, and learn about their home and country. Many, many of those pen pals became very close friends, even though we would not likely ever meet them in person. For me, that is what NOTH has become. I have developed friendships with people in a variety of countries, whom I will never meet. Our friendship would not have had a chance to begin if my page would have been blocked. And, if there is a difference of opinion, talk it out! We’re all different, and this world would be a boring place if we were all the same. I hope to hear from you ... why are you here? I hope it is to meet new friends, and not because you want to show others about how smart you are, and how independant you want to be. Those attitudes get old real fast! Try this ... ask someone you just met to tell you one interesting experience in their life that I wouldn't have read about. It can be the start of an interesting conversation.
Tags: Friends Opinions Groups
My story began in the early ‘80s (or so I thought) when we closed our family business in Western Canada, and considered moving to the U.S. to join friends who had moved there two years earlier. Our daughter had been accepted to a U.S. College in Indiana, which was quite an independent choice of hers. In considering our options, we learned of a little known U.S. law that stated that anyone born before 1947 of U.S. born parents, could receive their U.S. Citizenship without any category attached, by notifying the U.S. government of our existence. I qualified. My father was 6 years old when his family moved to Alberta from North Dakota, and my mother was 2 years old when her family moved to Alberta from South Dakota. At the time, Canada was under British rule, and in order for people who moved to Canada to get farmland, the father needed to apply to be a British Subject. When approved, the status of British Subject would be apply to his entire family. I was born as a British subject, seven years before Canada became an independent nation. All those living in Canada in 1947, automatically became Canadian citizens. Back to the ‘80s! I received my U.S. citizenship, our daughter claimed her green card, AND we decided to stay home in Canada, where we were born and raised. My newly acquired U.S. passport went into a “memento box” never again to see the light of day, our daughter married her best friend and lives in Western U.S., and her green card helped her in her early days of working (until her career change, becoming a full-time mother and homemaker). We have visited many parts of the U.S., have many longtime and new friends from coast to coast, and visit our daughter and family three times a year, all on my Canadian passport. In 2012, I was informed that the U.S. Government was trying to find all U.S. citizens living outside of the U.S. because of unpaid taxes. Well, that didn’t apply to me; I wasn’t born there, I never lived there, I never owned property there, I never used my passport there. Wrong! There was one year of amnesty granted if I told the U.S. government that I exist (dah! They gave me the citizenship!) AND then I would only have to declare my Canadian assets for the past three years. WHAT? It was then that I discovered that the citizenship that I received in the 1980s was dated on my birth date. What a lot of hooey! However, if I didn’t comply (according to the well-known International Accounting firm that we hired), and the U.S. government found me, the penalties would be severe and I would be barred from the U.S. I certainly didn’t want to be barred from our family. I complied, and you would be shocked if I told you how much we had to pay the Accounting firm to date. My plan for future actions: - Fire the Accounting firm
- Recind my U.S. citizenship ... but not my friends!
- Live my remaining days as a Canadian citizen; born in the true North, strong and free!
This is my story and I’m sticking to it … !
Tags: Government History Family
Winter Greetings from Alberta's Foothills ... If you happened to catch the miniseries "Klondike" on Discovery Channel, it was filmed about 10 miles west of us. Our ranching friends have established a western town on their ranch, and several films and TV series have been filmed there. The 'Lonesome Dove' series was one of the first series that they hosted. This is a good view of the town and the area in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. We think we live in 'God's Country', but He has made so many beautiful places in the world, that the whole world is God's Country.
If you would like to see more picture at the site, please click on the link below ...
Movie Site in Alberta's Foothills
A new week is coming ... are you ready to enjoy it no matter where you are?
Mona
Tags: TV Western Movies Alberta
At the risk of being considered a "know-nothing anti-environmentalmist, and country bumpkin", I invite you to add that I was born and raised in Alberta to American born parents (two out of three ain't bad!!!). I received this link from friend who thought is was worthwhile to pass it on for consideration. So here I am ... For those who do not live in Alberta or Canada, Rex Murphy is a Canadian journalist for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company), based in Toronto, Ontario. He was born and raised in Newfoundland, is a Rhodes scholar, and attended Oxford University (along with former U.S. President Bill Clinton). He is noted throughout Newfoundland and Canada for his biting comments on the political scene and his television tussles with prominent politicians. He gave this speech in Calgary on September 21, 2013. Here is the link if you can't see the video on this page ... Rex Murphy in Calgary, Alberta Enjoy your day ...
Tags: Humor Alberta Journalist Politics
December has become the month of gift-giving in many of our communities, even for those who choose not to celebrate Christmas. Parties for children, visits to hospitals and other facilities, and food and gift drives for needy families. I thought I would share one such activity that has become a tradition in our city ... combining hockey and teddy bears. The teddy bears are shared with a number of charities who help distribute them, and the junior hockey players are busy this week, personally visiting children the the hospital and giving out teddies. The "toss" is really something to see! Here's a link that tells more of the story ... 2013 HITMEN TEDDY BEAR TOSS
Tags: Charity Kids Christmas Gifts
This video was posted by the daughter of our friends, who lost her husband much too early. She is doing her best to get this message out ...
This is a powerful message ... and can be shared.
Tags: Health Caring Illness Cancer
We are back home, after travelling and visiting family for three weeks, and even though today was Canadian Thanksgiving, we chose to have a quiet day at home. Both my husband and I had to contend with chest colds when we were travelling, which wasn't in our plans, so a quiet day and light meals was what we craved. We had our own entertainment this afternoon, provided by wildlife in the back yard. In our travels, we purchased an unusual bird feeder from a dealer at an Antique Mall. The birdhouse isn't an antique, but we thought it would be an interesting addition to the view we have from our favorite chairs. The birdhouse is totally metal with several windows that clearly show the seeds inside. The unique features is the bar on the front that has adjusments. The heavier creatures that land on the bar cause covers to rise up to over the holes where the seeds are available. In our case, the squirrels keeps trying to figure out how to get to the seeds that could be seen through the windows, and the magpies have been doing a lot of squalking because the only seeds they could find were on the patio below the feeder ... nothing from the feeder, even though there was lots to look at. Meanwhile, the chickadees arrived and kept working for better positions on the feeder bar. One time I saw 5 of them on the bar at the same time, but they are very wary of the magpies, so the activity continued ... coming and going at great speed. Here's a picture ... with one chickodee. 
This may be a boring activity for some, but we continue to be fascinated by nature in our backyard. Our Thanksgiving continues ... there is always, ALWAYS, something to be thankful for each day, not just on the designated day on the calendar. Today, the birds were included in my list of things for which I am thankful; they kept us entertained this afternoon.
Tags: Nature Entertainment Thankfulness
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