The third Monday in May is Victoria Day in Canada. To celebrate the former Queen Victoria’s birthday and part of our country’s heritage. It is a statuary holiday for everyone and the Monday night is filled with fireworks in the sky.
Niagara Falls, ON
Happy Victoria Day everyone from Shanghai 🙂
Stay tuned….
Change in my pocket, the changes in life we all go through, the changes we notice in people as they grow and mature, the changes in a city skyline…
or the change in season…
Multicoloured leaves changing into their Autumn splendor
Or a caterpillar that leaves its chrysalis and departs a beautiful butterfly…
Butterfly Nursery
See more examples of change over at Word Press. Anyone can join, so post away!
What picture or life event represents change for you?
I was home in Canada for two weeks, so all of my recent photos are all about Canada. When I saw the theme Illumination I wasn’t sure I would post until I was looking at my trip home and saw photos of the falls lit up at night. Each night the falls are illuminated in colour. As we drove by I snapped a shot, but it just happened to be white at the time. It was also Festival of Lights and along the Niagara Parkway many light displays and trees are decked out in festive colours and lights. It is always a nice drive day or night with something to see. It seemed extra Christmasy with the lights and snow. Enjoy the short slide show of a few illuminated views.
Check out Word Press for more examples of this week’s theme or to join in the fun.
Stay tuned for more…
This week Ailsa over at Where’s My Backpack has posted the theme Glass. Immediately I thought about my recent trip home where I walked along the Parkway in Niagara Falls. All the trees, fence posts, street signs and lamp posts were in cased in glass, I mean ice thanks to the freezing cold temps. I felt like I was inside of glass menagerie of beautiful figurines. I have seen this phenomenon before and each time it is different, but equally as beautiful. My only wish was I went on a sunny day. How everything would have sparkled and dazzled in the sun light. It was a nice touch that a few days before everything was also covered in snow. It added to the effect.
Bus loads of tourists were in awe of everything encased in so much ice. The additional weight even broke off some branches or bent some trees into usual shapes and designs.
Have something you would like to share? Want to see more examples for this theme? Click on the link to take you to Ailsa’s home page.
Stay tuned…
Rain Rain Go Away… We have been a little soggy in Shanghai this week with 3 full days of rain in a row (ug indoor recess!). Much needed sunshine made a short appearance yesterday, even though it was a little hazy. Today I awoke to find it raining again! A little water-logged and damp I decided to take Ailsa’s challenge and find something on the more positive side of liquid. What do you think?
Niagara Falls and the famous Maid of the Mist. 100% chance of getting WET!
Millions of visitors come each year to get up close to the mighty Niagara and get wet!
Watkins Glen – New York State
Watkins Glen is usually a small trickle, but after a rainy summer and very rainy weekend in 2006 it tried to rival Niagara Falls. We didn’t let the soggy weather spoil our camping trip and hike through the glen.
Frozen Liquid
After a bad ice storm with freezing rain in 2007 everything was covered in a coating of ice. In the sun, the next day, everything sparkled and looked like the world was a glass menagerie of beautiful figurines.
Like what you see and want to see other interpretations? Check out Ailsa’s blog for hundreds of more links and how to post your own pics.
Stay tuned for more next week…. and don’t forget to vote for best Canadian Blog before Dec. 1st 🙂
This week a friend of mine sent me an email that I thought was a forward from the title. As I read it I realised it was her thoughts and words from the heart. With life so busy, depressing and messages of despair we sometimes forget how to be happy and celebrate the little things that bring us joy. For me personally, lately there have been a lot of things going on with family, work and the world that have brought me to tears on more than one occasion. How do we rise above it? How can we be happy when surrounded by negative energies? It is not easy and each day I find it a struggle at times to not let the little things get me down… be happy, find joy and laugh.
For this week’s post I am hosting a guest. You will know her from comments on my posts, but I have known her since college. We always ‘wax the poetic’ when together. Soon as I read this, I emailed her said “you need to post this, or be my guest blogger!” Without hesitation she sent me her approval and here it is from Lavender Lady… enjoy!
With all the sad and scary news in the world it could be easy to see life’s cup as half empty. I choose to see it as half full. There are a few people who have made headlines that inspire me to reach farther …to see how life’s cup can be filled to the brim. These are people who live the quote from Audrey Hepburn “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!” 
Mike Strange, a former Olympic boxer from Niagara Falls, Canada. He was deeply touched by friend’s battles with cancer so he decided to pick up the fight from where Terry Fox (another inspiration) was forced to stop. Mike is almost finished that run across Canada. He started April 12 2012 from Thunder Bay Ontario and will finish in Victoria British Columbia… 82 days of running …40 km per day..approx 3000km in total distance. www.boxrun.ca
Wes Prankard, a 13 yrs old boy from Niagara Falls who said “I CAN”. He has seen the great need that our northern communities have …needs that include children’s right to play. Among other things that Wes is doing to make their life better, he’s raising money for these children to have playgrounds. To do this he formed an organization called “The Northern Starfish” (inspired from a story called “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eiseley) This 13 year old boy has travelled to many places to speak, to raise awareness, to raise money and to raise hope. www.northernstarfish.org
Nik Wallenda, a man who just made history by walking on a tightrope across Niagara Falls. It was daring and exciting. He saw what he wanted to do and said “I can.”
Spencer West, a man who reached the peak of Kilimanjaro with his team. His legs were amputated when he was 5. Later in life when he joined with “Me to We” to build a school in Kenya he had a realization. “Suddenly, I understood that I was different for a reason. I was different because I needed to show others that it doesn’t matter what your abilities are or where you come from in the world. If you work hard, never give up and laugh a lot, you can achieve anything. I’m living proof, this year, I’ll return to Kenya to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money to bring sustainable water programming to East Africa.” http://www.metowe.com/personalities/spencer Spencer recently reached the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He looked at that mountain and said, “I can.”
And while these last two people on my list have not been recent news, they have inspired me all the same.
J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series. I adore the books and how wonderfully they were written. Those stories took me on an amazing journey. Her ability to write such amazing tales is inspiration enough but her life story is all the more inspirational. She spent many years of her life to make her dream a reality.
Walt Disney, who said, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.” He had a vision of providing entertainment for the entire family. Creating a place through movies, t.v. and hard work that a family could come together and enjoy. When they told him he was crazy for building on swamp land. That no one would come. He looked at them and said “I can do this.” “If you can dream it you can make it happen.”
I write this for my children, may they always say, “I can”. I’ll leave you all with these words from another inspirational Canadian, Jack Layton. “My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”
Hats off to you Leslie for sharing these amazing people, thoughts and inspirations with us. May we all continue to hope, dream and make the world a better place. We may not be able to change the world, but we can change our own by trying. 🙂
Stay tuned…
Canadian Travel Bugs - Daily life in China and travels around Asia.
Click the image to go to the Blog Awards Page to vote. Look for Travel/Expat Category.THANKS!
1 Star :)
Reader Appreciation Award
Liebster Award
click button to see if YOUR blog is listed
Third Place in Round 2
Canadian Travel Bugs 