Happy
Canada Day! (yesterday) Fête du Canada is the
national day of Canada celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867
enactment of the British North America Act. Originally called Dominion
Day, it united three colonies into a single country called Canada within the
British Empire. We celebrated with our relatives from Canada, grilling šašliki on the barbecue and later on s’mores on a fire down by
the beach. Original plans included actually Canadian things like nanaimo bars, the dessert consisting
of a crumb-based layer topped by a layer of vanilla butter icing and covered
with melted chocolate which is named after the west coast city of Nanaimo,
British Columbia. However, the dream was disrupted by....
Building a Canada day bonfire |
... a derecho. Derived from the Spanish word for straight,
this storm is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is
associated with a fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms. They
can cause hurricane force winds, tornadoes, heavy rains, and flash floods and
are mostly a summertime phenomenon. The lightning didn’t stop for about an hour
keeping the house bright as daylight from 2 until 3 in the morning, and winds
downed trees and power lines from Illinois to Michigan. Luckily our power
remained on; neighbors weren’t as lucky and downtown Three Rivers was in gridlock
from intersections without traffic lights. Although my dessert plans weren’t
realized, Lauris still made it to his second day of...
Trees were hanging off of power lines into late afternoon |
... bizbizbērni.
Last year’s hesitancy at leaving mom in the mornings has completely
disappeared, and in the afternoons we are regaled with tales of hikes, new friends and swim
lessons. It might be that Lauris wouldn’t want to leave it
weren’t for the...
First day of "school"! |
... fishing. With a little help from his Kalamazoo
grandmother and cousin, our little fisherman has caught a surplus of fish,
including two thirteen inch bass. More than his mother has ever caught from
that same pier, but he’s got his eye set on “the big one.” Which is also what comes to mind
when thinking about yesterday’s…
… game
against Belgium. Did you know US goalkeeper Tim Howard made 16 saves, the most
on record in a World Cup match? Sad that the US has reached the end of their
World Cup journey, although now we can turn our attention to…
A daily show - the sun setting over the lake |
… the
Tour de France. Starting on July 5th, this will be the first year
women will compete in the traditionally all-male cycling race that
criss-crosses France over the course of three weeks. 120 women in 20 teams will
ride on the last leg la Course, which
will take them 13 laps around the Champs-Élysées for a purse of over $30,000.
This month officially marks our two-year return date from France, which occurred
soon after catching le Tour outside
of Rocamadour. How time flies…
Great post!!! I know from personal experience how crazy derechos are - we had one here in the DC area two years ago. Some homes were without power for a week! (Of course, that's particularly unpleasant in a DC summer when it's 90 degrees and humid.) I heard Lauris was in Bizbiz this week. ;-) I look forward to hearing from my little relative how the week went - sounds like they have a good group of kids.
ReplyDeleteHi There, Just stopping by to say "Happy 4th of July".... Hope you have an incredible weekend whether you are traveling, with family or friends --or like us, just enjoying being home! We hope to grill a couple of steaks tomorrow. Our weather here is awesome right now...God Bless American --and God Bless YOU.
ReplyDeleteYes---I wished Canada a Happy Birthday also.....
Hope the women do well in the Tour de France.... Yeah for the women!!!!
Hugs,
Betsy