Since I no longer live in the US, I thought I'd change the name of my blog and post some of the happenings from here. Thanks for visiting!
http://barryfriesen.blogspot.com/

FAREWELL to the USA...

It has been quite the journey to explore the great country called The United States of America. I was able to visit all 50 states...most within the last year. There is such beauty and diverisity in each state...I wish I could have spent more time there. Although I still have some questions of what it really means to be Canadian and who Americans really are...I think the fog is much clearly now. Thanks for all your comments. I'm glad the US is Canada's neighbor and I know that someday my fellow "Americans" will understand that Tim Horton's is WAY better than Starbucks. So for now, I bid you farewell and may God bless Canada and the United States of America. Good day eh!

Naming Your Country

To my friends who live south of the border: I don’t want to insult you but I’m afraid I might. I really think that you need to come up with a name for your country. “United States of America” is not really a name. It’s more of a description. And you can’t really call yourselves “Americans” because technically, anyone in the western hemisphere could call themselves that. I’m sorry if I’ve offended you. I think it would just enhance your country if you had a real name. Any ideas???

So...what does "Canada" mean?


Word History: Linguistically, mountains can be made out of molehills, so to speak: words denoting a small thing can, over time, come to denote something much larger. This is the case with Canada, now the name of the second-largest country in the world but having a much humbler origin. Apparently its history starts with the word kanata, which in Huron (an Iroquoian language of eastern Canada) meant "village." Jacques Cartier, the early French explorer, picked up the word and used it to refer to the land around his settlement, now part of Quebec City. By the 18th century it referred to all of New France, which extended from the St. Lawrence River to the Great Lakes and down into what is now the American Midwest. In 1759, the British conquered New France and used the name Quebec for the colony north of the St. Lawrence River, and Canada for the rest of the territory. Eventually, as the territory increased in size and the present arrangement of the provinces developed, Canada applied to all the land north of the United States and east of Alaska. (from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Canada)

Let me tell you a little bit about Tim Hortons.

First of all, if you haven't heard of Tim Horton's then you probably have not had the BEST DONUTS in the WORLD. That's right! Krispy Kreme is pretty good...actually they are VERY good. BUT, you can't beat Tim Horton's donuts. My favorites include: Chocolate Glazed, Double Chocolate and Boston Creme (creamy center and chocolate dipped). Notice the chocolate theme. Although I'm not a coffee fan....people line up in the cars for Tim Horton's drive through coffee...and buy it in mass quantities. A "double-double" is two sugars and two creams. Tim Bits are the donut centers that you can get in family size quantities. Let's see....you can also get delicious soups and sandwiches as well. SO...to all of you who have not experienced Tim Horton's. You need to...so that you can get a taste of what Canada is all about. Once you've experience Tim Horton's you can say that you've experienced Canadian food.

You know your in Canada when... the captain on the airplane announces the hockey score.

This last weekend I flew back to Alberta for a few days. On both planes the captain gave the hockey scores between the Oilers and the Ducks. THEN, when I was in the Edmonton terminal, there were throngs of people huddled around the T.V. monitors in the terminal. I knew I was in Canada...plus I stopped at Tim Hortons.

Happy Birthday!!!!

I'm a bit late, but I wanted to wish Queen Elizabeth II a happy 80th birthday. That's right the Commonwealth's Queen is still at it and looking fine as usual. It was reported that she recieved 20,000 cards and 17,000 emails to wish her well. She was born April 21st, 1926. She has been queen for 54 years. Oh...my grandparents recently celebrated there 60th anniversary and they got several cards from "important" people including the Queen. It pays to have connections! :)

Trouble with Canadian Passport!

How frustrating! I applied to renew my Canadian passport and they rejected my first set of passport photos because I had a smile on my face.

So...I sent them one like this...