Happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north!

Good morning, Janice!

Happy Canada Day to you!

I love Canada! I’ve spent many wonderful days in Canada, but not nearly enough and not recently.

The last time was in 1984-1985 when I had a public relations client in Toronto. I was still living in Chicago. When I visited Toronto in those years, I always liked the cab ride from the airport to the west side of Toronto, where my client, Vulcan Containers Ltd., was located in a high-rise office building.

What struck me were the neighborhoods I passed through on my way from the airport to Vulcan’s headquarters. They looked just like the neighborhoods on the northwest side of Chicago. There were many frame houses, probably built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, just as they had been in Chicago. Downtown Toronto was beautiful, a fine example of what an urban center should look like.

I hit it off with the execs at Vulcan on my first visit. I was familiar with containers because I unloaded box cars and trucks containing new and reconditioned containers at Cities Service Oil Company in Cicero, Illinois during the summers when I was in college. That was hard work, especially when the temperature and the humidity were in the upper 90’s! I wore safety boots with metal toe coverings to protect my toes. A 55-gallon drum filled with oil weighs about 450 pounds. I learned how to “break” the drum and could roll it with no trouble. I also learned how to roll empty drums, taking them off a conveyor built and giving them a spin as they raced across the floor toward my co-workers, who grabbed and stacked them. That was good, hard work that paid very well. I considered myself lucky to work there, because I saved most of my paychecks and used the money to attend college.

When I was a boy, my parents and I spent a couple of vacations in the early 1950’s driving through eastern Canada, entering at Windsor, Ontario, across from Detroit, and heading up the old two-lane Route 2 toward Niagara Falls, Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec.

In the summer of 1953, one of the most popular movies was “House of Wax” starring Vincent Price. It was the first movie in 3-D. Moviegoers wore special 3-D glasses to get the effect. I was 12 years old that summer. “House of Wax” scared the hell out of me! I was not alone. It frightened audiences everywhere!

When we arrived in Quebec, we visited a number of historical sites. We also visited a wax museum. As we walked around it, I thought of “House of Wax.” The wax figures looked so real to me. I wondered if any of them were made the same way they were in “House of Wax,” namely, by killing people, covering their corpses with hot wax, and dressing them to resemble historical figures.

The figures looked so real to me that at one point I passed out. My parents revived me and took me outside for fresh air. I had only fainted once before — at Riverview, the great old-fashioned amusement park in Chicago (it closed in 1962), when I was eight years old and saw a man slide a sword down his throat. Ugh!

I thought Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec were beautiful cities. I’ll never forget our visit to Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, about 50 miles northeast of Quebec. As in Lourdes, France, many crippled visitors to the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré have been miraculously healed as they prayed while making their way up the 33 steps to the Shrine. When you enter the Shrine (a large cathedral), you are overwhelmed by all of the canes, crutches and walking aides left behind as a testament to the infirmed who have been healed at the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.

Some of my memories of Canada are more than 50 years old. They are still fresh in my mind. Most of all, I remember the people of Canada and how nice they were to my parents and me on our vacations there — and to me when I was older. It is a beautiful country with wonderful people — some of whom even make their way to the United States and, like Janice, enliven our days on our journey through life!

Happy Canada Day!

George Spink
Los Angeles

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!! My greatest summers were always in British Columbia! My home away from home!

And rember what Red Green always says: Always keep your stick on the ice!

Janice! No sign of your coin in the mail yet?

H A P P Y C A N A D A D A Y to everyone!

Happy Canada Day Pete! I imagine you are out on the lawn chair, got a cold one in your hands, and just enjoying the day!

Great post there George! It always seems things were just a little bit better when we were kids eh?

Happy Canada Day to everyone who lives up there!

It seems like you see a ton of tv show and movies filmed up there, i guess its natural beauty and scenery of that great land Plus i think it costs a lost less

Hey Don,

Actually worked most of the day, did some projects,while I like the sun enjoy the AC more.

Hope to see some fireworks later,taking along a camera just in case.

Hey Pete! Looking forward to seeing your pics if you get some! Enjoy the celebration!!!

With two official languages up there, did you become fluent in French? And did you have trouble adjusting to temperatures in Fahrenheit, rainfall in inches, and the other English units we use in the USA?

Joyeuse Fete Nationale du Canada/Happy Canada Day!!!!

Hope you’re celebrating Janice
(and yes Janice speaks fluently French! she surprised us the other week during the After the Show Show on Fox n Friends!!!)

Do firemen in Canada organize on that evening - and the one before - dance balls in every town?!
That’s what they do in my native country on Bastille Day.
Le Bal de Pompiers is indeed very praised and obviously in your case, Janice, needless to say you would have the best partner

Have a glass of Champagne to celebrate!

Guillaume

Happy Canada Day!!!

From a Southern Woman!!!

Of course it does count Janice!

Canada Dry was actually for the longest time the only ginger ale available in France!
Growing up, they had a popular ad campaign, more Hollywoodian than Canadian:
in one famous commercial, you had a cop on an Harley Davidson arresting a car in the Arizona desert driven by young people giggling. They are drinking Canada Dry. The cop confiscates the bottle, has a sip of it and realizes much to his dismay it ain’t alcohol!
He’s furious and leaves.

The slogan was:
“It has the color of alcohol, the taste of alcohol but it ain’t alcohol.”
Strange but believe me: for kids, it was the beeeeest commercial!
All my friends were pestering their parents to get some so that we could look like grown-ups!

Janice I heard you speak a bit of French - with impeccable accent - before the imitation of the hockey broadcaster!!! (and I swear I didn’t laugh…unlike when I hear the typical friendly and hilarious Quebecois accent )

Le Bal des Pompiers is a big traditional event in every city on July 13th and 14th.
This and the fireworks of course!

Happy Canada Day again!!

Guillaume

I havent tried Canada Dry, but i usually prefer ginger ale to soda. Its a lot healthier. Especially those sparkling water beverages.

I hope your day was fab!

I used to love Canada Dry Ginger Ale when I was younger..but it taste like soap to me now!!

Schweppes is usually my ginger ale of choice. I usually ask for it whenever i go on airline flights. Why would Canada Dry taste like soap? I havent tried it, so i have no idea. But i dont think the makers would deliberately taint a product with soap. That would be a crime.

Brad..it may just be my taste buds..but it does taste soapy to me..

Canada Dry is still great. Coke owns it now. Used to be another Ginger ale type drink available in Canada but I havn’t seen it for about 5-8 yrs. Wasn’t schweppes either.

I would prefer to drink ginger ale over soda anyday, mostly because soda erodes your bones of the necessary calcium, and that can cause brittleness later in life.

I wonder what ever happened to Diet Shasta? That is yet another 80s memory for you I dont think they make that brand anymore.

Peter - Are you thinking of “Vernor’s” ginger ale ??

Brad - Shasta soda IS still around … I saw it the other day at the “Grocery Outlet” store … I’ve also seen it at Top Food & Drugs (aka Haggen) … in the Seattle area …

TnDeb - There’s two factors as to why things taste differently now than when we were younger … 1 - our taste buds change as we get older (We wear them out) … 2 - Most sodas have gone from pure cane sugar to corn syrup …

TiaMat-

Thanks for the heads up. I guess its only available in certain part of the US. Because i checked my local supermarket, and they didnt have it in store. I guess it will try my local 7-11.