Flavours of Canada
This morning I got this email from Sam’s Club. It says,"Flavours of Canada; Enjoy our variety of products".
I guess everyone is celebrating the Olympics in their own way…
Just for fun
Cotton Candy (video)
Just a quick video clip that I took back on the 18 of this month. It was recess time, and the Cotton Candy Man was ready to go. And being a windy day, it was more fun than usual.
(It was one of our friends, a boy named Olaf, who first got the enterprising idea of using a hula hoop, though that’s not him in the video)
I Won A Waterproof Bible
Things are looking up. I found out today I won a waterproof Bible. Too bad I won’t have it before camping in the mountains next weekend (of course, it’s in English – too bad).
Yeah, it’s really waterproof, check out the video. You can read it underwater. If you had some good reason to do that. How about morning devotions in the shower? 😉
Of course, the contest is over, but Tim has a contest every Friday – so why not enter? Who knows? There’s a beautiful book up for grabs this week, if you’re interested in Lewis and Tolkien.
If you want a Bible to take camping or skiing, check out the whole series of waterproof Bibles
Canada’s Heroes: Laura Secord
One of the things we wanted to do in Canada was introduce our children to … well, Canada! They really know very little about the country, geography, history, culture, and so on. So we tried to teach them various things as we drove around the country.
One thing we did was talk about two specific Canadian heroes – one male, one female. In case you don’t know about them, I thought I’d give you a brief overview, and share the books that we got that talk about them. Today, the first hero…
Laura Secord
 Recommended for kids: Laura Secord: A Story of Courage |
Laura Secord was a heroine from the War of 1812. At that time, the United States had invaded Canada, and Laura’s husband James was wounded in the fighting with the Canadian/British forces. Laura found her husband on the field of battle and brought him home – heroic, but that’s not the main part of the story.
Laura’s home was for a time in occupied territory. American soldiers came to her door, demanding a meal. While they were there, Laura overheard their plans – a surprise attack of British troops under Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon.
With her husband still wounded in bed, Laura took it upon herself to make the hazardous journey through occupied territory (and rattlesnake infested territory too) to Beaver Dams to warn Fitzgibbon. It was about 30km / 19mi.
She arrived at the home of Captain John DeCew (or DeCow), who was my Great Great Great Grandfather, where Fitzgibbon had made his headquarters. There she warned him of the attack.
The British and their Native allies were able to turn the tables on the US forces. Colonel Charles Boerstler of the US Infantry surrendered, with 484 of his men.
(Incidentally, Captain DeCew wasn’t home at this time. He was a prisoner in Philadelphia awaiting execution. But he managed to escape and make it home – good thing, because my Great Great Grandmother Eliza was born 11 years later!)
We visited the home of Laura Secord, where she began her journey. I asked what impact this had on the war. Our guide was of the opinion that it kept the US back from further encroachment on Canadian territory. In the end, borders were unchanged (former President Thomas Jefferson had believed that conquering Canada would be "a mere matter of marching").
Laura was a so-called ordinary woman (is there such a thing?) who showed great courage in extraordinary times. And almost 200 years later, we’re celebrating 200 years of peace and friendship between two countries who were once at war.
Ontario Week: Canada is … different
Welcome to "Ontario Week"! This week I’m going to put up a bunch of posts and videos with some random things I wanted to mention related to Ontario, Canada, and our trip. Just some loose ends – things I didn’t have a chance to mention or post while we were on the road! Here’s part 1…
 A cottager flies the Ontario flag |
Before we went on our trip to Ontario I wondered out loud just how we were doing preparing for all the cultural differences we would encounter in Canada.
Well, we didn’t do too bad with some of the ones we mentioned. I’m not sure Nathanael ever did quite get into the groove of taking his shoes off in the house, though.
When were crossing the border into Canada, we were shuffled into a waiting room with some other people while our van was searched. In the room was something the kids didn’t even notice, because they didn’t know what it was. When I pointed it out to them, and explained how it worked, they went NUTS … they were so excited, we had to explain to the other people waiting that our children just didn’t have any experience with … water fountains.
Or then there was the time when we told Hannah to wait on the porch, and she said,"What’s a porch?"
Yeah, not a lot of porches here in Mexico City. Or garages (in Canada, they can park their cars inside!). And basements needed to be explained several times.
Someone asked us what was hardest to get used to. Shari said one thing was the choices we have in the store. Don’t get me wrong – we have lots of selection here in Mexico. Often I’m standing in an isle bewildered about what to choose. No complaints.
But after 2.5 years away from Canada, there are whole new types of products and we don’t even know what they are. How do people even keep up with all these things?!
I went to the store one day and discovered that now I need to have a specific kind of toothpaste for brushing at night. You mean I need to carry around two different kinds of toothpaste now??
And we took Hannah and Nathanael to Toys"R"Us one day. That was just … too much.
I also found it very interesting hearing about the struggles churches have in Ontario – church leaders, Christians – the challenges of reaching out in Ontario culture. It’s very different than what we deal with here in Mexico City (though of course many things are the same). It’s helpful to know more how to pray for our brothers and sisters in Ontario.
One more thing. One impression many Mexicans seem to have about Canada is that it’s tranquilo – that is, calm or tranquil. I always thought this was a bit of a misconception. I don’t anymore.
Sure, there’s some noise in Canadian streets. But in Canada, the houses are more sealed and sound-proof. There are no garbage collector bells. No people yelling out that there are tamales for sale. No gas men shouting out "GAS!" Usually you won’t hear announcements coming from loudspeakers on trucks and cars all hours of the day or night. Rarely are there fireworks and firecrackers in the street.
Don’t get me wrong – it usually doesn’t bother me here. But it is different. I’ve finally come to agree with my Mexican friends. It’s pretty tranquilo up there in Canada.
How Far did the Cottrills Travel?
I know, you’ve been waiting for the grand total – just how far did our van travel over the summer? In 79 days, it went…
12,010mi
It may interest you to know that the circumference of the earth is about 40,041km or 24 881mi. Yes, that means we travelled the equivalent of almost halfway around the world this summer! 🙂
People keep confusing me because they want to know how long our trip was, and what they mean is how long from Canada, as if we were hanging out in one place and then travelling from there. The fact is we were travelling all summer, and didn’t spend more than a few days in one place at a time. So that 19,329km of travel was spread out all summer, but if you’re wondering it was about 7 days of travel each way to Canada and back.
I’ve added more pictures of our trip to our gallery, and I’ll keep working on it. I still plan to post a few thoughts and videos here at the blog during an "Ontario Week", so stay tuned.