C-eh-N-eh-D-eh

Someone asked recently, "What is Canadian Culture?" and went on at length to elaborate how other countries have identifiable 'cultures.' Of course they do, because they've been at it for centuries, honing traditions, arts, politics and so on. Canada is still a fledgling nation only now learning to walk and flex its muscles. The thing is, Canada is a tapestry, or certainly can be once the threads of every citizen are allowed to intertwine.

My intention here is to simply list anything my senses have experienced that I think adds to the coalescing of this great identity.

So, what will begin as a freefall will be extracted, reinserted, reordered, redacted, reinvented, and so it goes...

C-eh-N-eh-D-eh is...

The Great White North, 'Howz it goin' eh?, Neil Young, Anne Murray, The Tragically Hip, Rush, the call of a loon, the crackle of a campfire in the silence between stories, winter views of the aurora borealis, Terry Fox, peace-keeping, Juno Beach, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Stompin' Tom, Hockey Night In Canada, the styrofoam squeak of snow at -30, hoarfrost glistening in the barren branches and along the power-lines, elbows up, a night at Abbot Hut after climbing up through the mousetrap from the Plain of Six Glaciers, a whiteout on the summit of Mt. Forbes, climbing Mt. Assiniboine in shorts behind a dozen park wardens who are on a day off, the Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive, the Rheostatics, Captain Tractor, Canmore Folk Festival, any summer music festival, the smell of ozone before a thunder storm, warm rain on your face, hailstones big enough to fill your cooler for the weekend,