May and June 2010 in Canada

This is Boisterous Bonita speaking! Does she have an on-off switch?

Peter is Bonita's travelling companion - a man of few words!

Bonita found a rosebush! Surprise! Surprise!
Rosa Glauca - a spring flowering rose seen often in Canada. 

Notice how she has her sights set on Peter!

A wife’s revenge!

Mothers’ Day 2010 at Prince George, British Columbia, Canada

My friend Diana (on right) made the most wonderful fresh fruit and coconut salad. Blueberry pancakes and eggs benedict were served as well. Diana's first grandchild, Natalie, is in the centre of the picture

 

One of the completed ‘Grandma Doors’ to be displayed in Waa Waa, Ontario this summer. With the unseasonally cool weather, she may be the only bikini clad woman anyone will see.

The little town of Waa Waa  [the local Indian word for 'cry of the wild geese'] is near Lake Superior. This statue was the best of  four Canadian Geese statues in Waa Waa. 

   She survived Auschwitz.

This is an example of my Canadian friend Diana’s typical Canadian Arctic paintings. She has a birch bark biting picture and a dried walrus seal’s penis in her fascinating arctic collection. Birch bark biting is a difficult and dying art.

Canadian dandelions are often as big as the palm of your hand.

Danger! Thin Ice

This photo was taken by a Singaporean-Welsh anaesthetist at Lake Louise, Alberta!

Peter and I celebrated a belated Mothers' Day when we had coffee and Danish pastries inside the warmth of Lake Louise Hotel

This picture was taken on 12th May, 2010

near Lake Louise hotel.  We know now why so many parking signs across Canada warn motorists and pedestrians about the danger of falling ice!

A WWI Enlistment Poster

Canadians were encouraged to fight for Britain too.

Canadian children prayed for their soldier fathers who were away at war.

A funeral wreath for three young sisters "who departed this life on 25 June 1886.

 Death was common in the isolated communities of the Saskatchewan priaries.

 I am so glad I still have my three grown daughters in 2010.

Robbie the Robot vacuum cleaner!

 He knows when he needs recharging and returns to base. You can program him to avoid steps and other hazards.  Very good for people with bad backs!

"God bless the whole world!  No exceptions."

We saw this rare sign in the overly patriotic USA.

What a change from the common sign: "God bless America!"

Hiawatha and Minehaha

This sculpture from 1912 celebrates the story from the epic poem by Henry Longfellow.

This is a genuine cross section of a human body donated to the medical science museum, St Paul, Minnesota, USA.  It is encased in plastic moulding.

Individuals put varied points of view on the controversial subject of Embryonic Stem Cell use in medical science.

A physician's point of view on the use of Stem Cells from embryos.  

There were on display, three large albums of handwritten comments by members of the public. Paper and pen was supplied. I read through the albums for about 20 minutes and by far, the majority of writers were vehemently against the use of embryos.

No. She is not praying!  She is throwing a tantrum because

she did not want to leave the medical science exhibits at the St Paul, Minnesota, USA Science Museum. Perhaps she might become a doctor when she grows up?

I met beautiful 3 year old Gabriel at the Medieval Fair in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, USA has band-aids on both knees and painful tattoos??  And he is still laughing!

One of the ushers at Grace Baptist Church, Madison, WI, USA

 Memorial Day Sunday - 24 May 2010 

The preacher’s tie was more flamboyant with both the 'stars and stripes' and the bald eagle.

We would never see a patriotic display like this in church on Anzac Day.

‘Memorial Day’ visual tribute to the 5463 US dead.

Each headstone represents military personnel who have died since 2001 in Afghanistan or  Iraq. Nearby some young men and women launched pleasure boats whilst grieving relatives and friends visited the cemeteries.

At the Veterans for Peace Rally on Memorial Day

 Red carnations were handed to those present who would then take turns to read out the names of the war dead. It was very sobering to watch Americans in grief.  The carnations were then placed on a Spanish Civil War Monument in the park.

Slip, sliding away and the water is 4 degrees Celsius below in Lake Superior!

 Did the Indian artists who drew the ochre-coloured pictographs here, have a chain?

Well I know a lot of roses but I had never heard of this one!

This picture which was taken in 1944 at the height of WWII, shows a fisherman’s wife who sure needs a good feed out of Lake Michigan.

There is a Thai temple in Olbrich gardens in Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

 Nearby, the peonies, roses, wisteria and other healthy and well placed plants were a wonderful sight.

Well, it is time for this retiree to retire for now!

However, if you would like to add a comment to this my first blog, it would be appreciated.