Canadiana Category

Outdoor Winter Fun

This year, I love winter. Might as well. I’m here anyway. I’ve been skating and snowshoeing and walking outside. One evening at 6:45, we took an LED headlamp with us. With a low cloud cover and no moon glow to light the way, early evening looked more like midnight. The intense light from the tiny […]

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Old Corrals & Sagebrush: Goodbye, Ian Tyson

Old cowboys never die, they just ride off into the sunset. Ian Tyson rode off this morning, Thursday, December 29th. I read that he had the good fortune to spend his last moments on his ranch near Longview, Alberta, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We all come to our end somewhere and I […]

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Canada Waits For Christmas – December 24th

And it’s getting mighty close now. “Oh boy!” I thought yesterday, wild with anticipation to post the song “Same Auld Lang Syne” by Dan Fogelberg whom I could’ve sworn until last night was Canadian. Such a poet, a master of lyrics and voice, and a stellar musician. He just had to be Canadian. He was […]

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Canada Waits For Christmas – December 23rd

Hello and welcome to “Tibb’s Eve.” That’s what they call the day before Christmas Eve in Newfoundland. I just discovered this today when I asked Newfoundland painter Reilly Fitzgerald if I could showcase some of his bold and bright paintings of winter on Canada’s East Coast. CBC ran a great article today about Tibb’s Eve […]

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Canada Waits For Christmas – December 22nd

It’s nearly Christmas here at what feels like the North Pole! Welcome to December 22nd of the virtual Advent calendar of Canadian art and culture. In these write-ups, I have woefully under-represented Canadian books and authors. So today we’ll look at a work by Thomas King. Thomas King immigrated to Canada in 1980 from the […]

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Canada Waits For Christmas – December 21st

Hello! I’m glad you’re here. Let’s get right to it, shall we? Here’s Rita MacNeil (1944-2013), from Big Pond on Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island, with her song “Christmas at Home” from the album by the same name. The Advent calendar of Canadian art and culture’s featured artist for today is Saskatchewan artist Molly Clark. […]

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Canada Waits For Christmas – December 20th

Let’s see what’s behind this door of the virtual Advent calendar of Canadian art and culture. First is a random photo of the Christmas planter that I created out of shock more than anything. “Shock at what?” you ask. I wanted to buy something cute and festive for the front step this season, so I […]

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Canada Waits For Christmas – December 19th

Hello again! December 19th already. Today, I found hidden behind the cardboard door of the Canadian art and culture Advent calendar some very nice art pieces by Karin Richter who works with pastels, oils, acrylics, and watercolours to create colourful Canadian scenes. Early on, this artist-to-be completed her professional training in foreign languages and worked […]

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Canada Waits For Christmas – December 18th

Hi there! It’s been a couple of days. I got caught up in some activities, mainly cooking and eating, which kept me away from the Advent calendar of Canadian art and culture. Nice to be here again. Besides cooking and eating, I made a useful discovery. Last year, when I attempted to skate, I discovered […]

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Canada Waits For Christmas – December 15th

Welcome to the 15th day of this virtual Advent calendar of Canadian art and culture. I hope you’re doing well. Today I have something to tell you that I found out about not too long ago. So, I really like this band, originally formed in Edmonton, called The Pursuit of Happiness. To my delight, I […]

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