Canada is one of the celebrated countries of the world. The second largest country in the world has unique blend of French-English culture. With plenty of worth watching cities, the country is not densely populated. The cities of Canada have their own magnificence and grandeur that magnetizes people round the globe.

The Land of Provinces

The vast area of the country along with variation in flora and fauna varies in other attractions too. The different provinces have the aura that leaves no visitor from getting beguiled. They vary in not just flora and fauna but also the culture and other temptations.

The capital city of Canada Toronto has any and everything. Where on one hand the city is the home for the longest street in the world- the Yonge Street, on the other hand it has the 1815 foot tall CN tower that is well known to be the tallest free standing structure in the world. This isnt all. The visitors also take delight in the ravishing and enticing antiques displayed at the Sigmund Samuel Canadian Gallery and the eternal tourist destination-the Royal Canadian Museum.

The Prince Edward Island, the smallest province enthralls the visitors with its scenic splendor. The place is blessed not just with beautiful landscapes, sandstone cliffs on its southern coast but also sparkling green fields in the interior, crystal blue beach water of the sandy beaches around the coastline.

New Brunswick that is rooted in the French tradition s rich in seafood and fishing. The place has nestled the largest and busy town of Saint John that reminds of the history of the province.

Fishing and hunting are adored in the Newfoundland region too. It is the largest of the Atlantic Province that has the eleventh century Viking outpost as its outstanding attraction.

The New Scotland or Nova Scotia smells of Scotland as well as French fragrance. The amalgamation is also of the contemporary and the archaic structures like from the nineteenth century historic buildings there are exclusive latest shopping malls, apartments, hotels etc.

The British Columbia province is distinctively bifurcated into the lush green forests and the dry and arid region.

The Quebec province and the Quebec City have a lot to treat the visitors. The Montreal region of the Quebec province has special seasonal festivals. The winter season is a host to the La Fete des Neiges festival; the summers welcome all the Jazz and opera lovers with its Montreal International Music Competition and the International Opera Festival respectively. The Festival Internationale de Nouvelle Danse and the International film festival add to the beauty of autumn season. The Quebec City that is the capital of the Quebec Province is quite significant from the perspective of trade and commerce and its noteworthy historical buildings.

To hail all the golf, tennis, baseball and soccer lovers, the third largest city of Canada - Vancouver has more than numerous golf courses, tennis courts, baseball and soccer fields. The city has an exotic forty storey Harbor Center climbing up at which one can gaze at the Gastown (a renowned tourist spot) and Chinatown (the blooming Chinese community of Vancouver). For the children as well as the adults there is Stanley Park Zoo that is nestled in a thousand acre Stanley Park.

If Canada happens to be your holiday destination in the first two weeks of July, not to miss is the Calgary Stampede i.e. the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. This show has worldwide popularity that fetches innumerable tourists to Calgary.

Last but not the least are the Canadian Rockies- the Rocky Mountains on the edge between Alberta and British Columbia, the 4200 square mile Jasper National Park and the first national park of Canada i.e. the Banff National Park.

Canada is the place where sports never say die. The country is known for its water sports like canoeing, sailing and so forth. Apart from these there is the national game of Canada- Lacrosse, the Canadians adorable game of Hockey, Basket ball and the like.

The moment Canada ranks first on your dream destinations, just collect little information about the weather of the place that varies with the provinces there. For instance, the Quebec and provinces adjacent to it have hot and humid summers with cold winters. But the Northwest Canadian Territories are different with short cool summers and long cool winters. However, the concoction or fusion of diverse cultures and climate, picturesque attractions, cuisine, language, people etc. make Canada what it is- a place worth loving and visiting.

¶ 11:50 PM 0 comments

Its ended now, hopefully, but until a while ago they were squabbling - like dogs? Children? Enemies? Or what?

What makes a brother fight brother, I wonder! What makes one brother treat another like the biggest of enemies?

If at all there is anyone in the world who can truly understand one, it is a brother or a childhood friendand, yes, a sister in the case of a girl, with exceptions, of course! Yet, brothers fight brothers and have been doing so for centuries. Some have gone to the extent of exiling their brothers or even stopping them short with a well-directed knife in the heart, from behind!

I know, there are theories of all sorts sibling rivalry et al. But, is that all? I mean, even when the brothers are not kids any more and therefore, are not really fighting for their parents love (what with many of them having already departed for their unearthly abodes and so on), they keep at it. And, sometimes, they fight over trifles. Mostly over inheritance rights, even when there is more than they can use in a lifetime or seven. Everyone saw the recent bigfight on TV, newspapers etc. The inheritance in question was a mindnumbing sum running into tens of thousands of crores. If one of them had agreed to even a mere one percent of the sum in question, he would have had enough to last many lifetimes except, of course, that the one with 99% would have all the power and the one with 1% very little - in comparison. So, I guess, its all about power.

Yes, power that is the one thing all men (or shall I say, most) desire most. Power means wealth, influence, the ability to spread ones genes far and wide, just as the crafty Chenghiz Khan did some hundred years ago (I forget the actual dates). Yes, he was powerful, wealthy, conquered and controlled large territories and most importantly, sowed his oats with wild abandon, becoming in the process, the most successful man ever in the spread-my-genes-far-and-wide stakes.

I wonder, how many brothers today who squabble with their kin and stab them in the back and front, have the balls to do what Chenghiz did. If they cant do so, their best bet would be to let their brothers, with a similar gene pool, continue to prosper and do well and spread their collective genes.

Boy! I have come a long way from brotherhood to fatherhood! I think I ought to stop this rambling right here, before my brother reads this and gets a peek into my mind, claiming all my share of paternal property (or at least, 99%of it).

Is it better to take less and live happily or is it better to fight over the smallest crumbs and spend ones life paying lawyers, picnicking in courts and filing false accusations against each other? I wonder!

¶ 11:02 AM 0 comments

"Howdy, dude." Ernie the morning cook at Papa Ray's Family Restaurant in Centralia greeted me as he slid into my booth. "How's everything?" When Ernie sees me come in he throws potatoes on the grill. I always ask for my hashbrowns "burnt black, burnt black, burnt black . . . with an onion cut up in them." Ernie always complies, but likes to make sure that I got them like I want 'em. "Perfect," I said between crunchy, gravey covered bites.

This particular morning in late April Ernie had news for me. We both share a love for music. Ernie scours the thrift shops for rare "platters." I go to concerts. "I just heard that there's going to be a concert in Seattle with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Keb Mo." It sounded like a strange paring, but I like strange things. Ernie knows that in addition to well-done hashbrowns I like Keb Mo and his Delta Blues.

As soon as I could get online I started looking for the concert. I found zip. I continued looking for the next couple of days and then cursed Ernie for his worthless, erroneous information.

A week before the concert in late May I saw a listing in Seattle paper for the concert at the Paramount. Ernie had been right and once again I had been let down by missing concert information on the internet. I tried to book tickets from the Paramount webpage (where there had previously been no information), but got no response. Phone calls to the Paramount only resulted in busy signals. My wife Peggy finally got tickets via scalpers at twice the listed price of $48.50 for the best seats. We had almost the same luck with accomodations. We like to stay in Seattle when we attend concerts rather than drive back to our home in North Tacoma.

Peg called our favorite hotels. They were all full. There were several conventions in town. She finally found a Bed & Breakfast, but they would only rent to us if we stayed for two nights. Later in the day after booking at the B & B we received word that another place could accomodate us for Friday evening, the night of the concert. We were amazed they had a vacancy especially after we checked into The Gaslight Inn.

We were up-graded to a very nice suite on the third floor of an old Capital Hill home. The suite is the third floor. The stairways get narrower and narrower as you climb from floor to floor. It was worth the climb. There is a picture window in the sitting room that looks out over Seattle. The furnishings are a nice mixture of antiques and modern. The kitchen came with tea bags, coffee, and a pint of half and half in the fridge.

The Gaslight is actually two homes that sit side by side. The main building has a nice pool is the backyard. Our building had a parking lot as a backyard. I'm not complaining. We could have used the pool. We did use the parking lot.

Both homes had plenty of art, on the walls, on the furniture and hanging from the ceiling. In our room there was a chandelier. It was wrought iron with a circular base. There were no actual lights on it. There was a round piece of clear glass with three pieces of overlapping hand-blown glass plates sitting on the base. Spotlights from the ceiling shown through the glass art. Other pieces of hand-blown glass (matching) are found throughout.

If you're going to attend a concert in Seattle, you just have to eat in Seattle. We had dinner at the Desert Fire. We were short of time so we only ordered an appetizer plate. We've had it before, so we knew that it would be enough. It was served quickly. We ate and hurried off to the concert.

The concert was a benefit for the Songbird Foundation. The forests of Central and South America are being cut down. Some of our local songbirds winter in Brazil. Without their habitat, we may lose the songbirds. The forests are being cleared so that coffee can be grown. The best coffee is grown in the shade, but of course you can get a better yield by growing coffee in the sun. We can save the songbirds by drinking coffee that has been grown in the shade. Voting with your cup. That's my kind of support.

The concert was one of the best concerts Peg and I have ever attended. The mood was relaxed, fun, and spontaneous. Keb Mo (Kevin Moore) was introduced early before the stage hands had the mics and stands set up. Kevin came out and started speaking into a microphone which was whipped out from under him. He moved to the next one and said, "Usually they just tell me to get out of the way."

Almost everyone performed accompanied only by their own guitar. Instead of sounding hollow with missing background singers and instrumentation, however the music took on a homey feel. It felt like the performers were good friends who stopped by not to entertain, but to share their music. The concert felt comfortable. At one point Bonnie mentioned that she had changed the lyrics of one song. "I'll be right back, " she said as she ran off the stage. She came back a few seconds later and explained that even though she's over fifty she doesn't need glasses. She placed the lyrics on the floor about five feet in front of her and sat down at an electric piano.

Near the end everyone joined together. Bonnie called Kevin out to sing even though he didn't know the song. Then Bonnie made Jackson take a verse that started out, "When I was a young girl." The crowd as well as the performers were enjoying themselves. My favorite song was done by Keb Mo. It was "Victim of Comfort". Aren't we all?

The music was wonderful. The concert was fun. I owe Ernie an apology and my thanks. The next time I order hashbrowns I'll make sure he gets a decent tip, if they're "burnt black, burnt black, burnt black . . . with an onion cut up in them."

¶ 8:39 AM 0 comments