Happy Birthday Canada!

Canada Day on July 1 this year celebrates Canada's 145th birthday.  Yea!  Celebrations across the country will include face painting

Canada Day birthday cakes

Fireworks

 parades, picnics, barbeques, family get togethers, and all manner of fun.

Here are a few fun facts about Canada, courtesy of Lucy Izan at Readers' Digest

Our beavers have built a dam that is visible from outer space. 
The 2,790 ft. structure is located in Wood Buffalo National Park, Alberta

Jasper, Alberta is the largest dark sky preserve in the world...a great place for seeing stars without conflicting ground lights to hde them.

Twillingate, Newfoundland, is the home of a winery that makes wine from iceburg water.

80% of the world's mustard seed is grown in Saskatchewan and exported worldwide.
Isn't that something you always wondered about?!

Canada's Parliament buildings in Ottawa house a sanctuary for stray cats.  They have little wooden 'houses' to shelter them on Parliament Hill.  People are encouraged not to use the sanctuary as a dropping off place for unwanted cats however.  The resident cats don't take kindly to this.  Somewhere in my collection of photographs we have a picture of me petting one of the Parliament strays back in the 1990s.

Canada's a great place to live.  The climate varies from Arctic cold to desert heat, depending on which part of the country you live in.  We have large cities, small towns, acres and acres of ranchland, majestic mountains, fertile plains, rivers and lakes and forests...the best of all worlds.  Come visit us sometime.  We're very polite you know.  And very few of us say 'eh'.

Have a happy Canada Day celebration.