Happy Canada Day, eh! Yes, July 1st is once again upon us… without much fanfare, sadly, down here in Arizona. Not a Canada Day goes by in the Crosby household, however, without singing the national anthem, waving the maple leaf and using out Canadian table runner. Yes, we actually do. We’ll probably even listen to Bob and Doug’s Great White North song as well as the I Am Canadian song. All true heartfelt melodies to our rich Canadian blood.
In memory of our time in the Great White North (take off, eh!) here, for you, on this Canada Day, a photo tribute to the land in which we met, schooled, froze, birthed two children, played hockey, made lasting friends and of course, spent 10 year and had AWESOME gardens!
Rick and I met at Trinity Western University in Langley, BC., barely over the border. I could literally run back to America in an afternoon, if need be. Here is an enhanced photo of our campus. The glittery blue water is more commonly known as “the swamp”. But the greenness in the landscape is true as well as that train track on the lower right that ran FAR too close to our dorms in the middle of the night.
During college, we also lived in Fort Langley, a sleepy little historical town just north of the campus. Again, we somehow gravitated to the train tracks…. unfortunately, much closer that time. We lived in a basement suite at about 11:00 in the following picture, this side of the island.
When we finished school, Rick accepted his first flying job in Fort Vermilion, Alberta, a dinky northern town nestled on the Peace River.
This is what we looked like when we took off our hoods:
Larisa was born while we lived in the North country, but we quickly moved south to the little town of Spruce Grove, Alberta, just outside of Edmonton, Rick’s birthplace. It was an eight hour drive from the Fort… AND there was Taco Bell. We had returned to civilization! Whew.
We were only 15 minutes from West Edmonton Mall, known simply as “West Ed”, the largest mall in Canada. It was sublime. We spent many a day there shopping (obviously), seeing movies at the $2 theater, watching the dolphins, steering clear of Hooters and buying material at Fanny’s Fabrics. There is even a gigantic water park to make it seem like you are really in some warmer climate in a balmier part of the earth.
It was in Edmonton that Austin was born and from the Edmonton area that we made our departure to my homeland, the United States of America, known in Canada simply as “The States“. We have been in AZ for 12.5 years and we still miss Canada… from late May to early October. Happy Canada Day, eh!
My Sister's Jar 