Oh! Canada

Building in Vancouver, wrapped in Canadian flag, overlapped with image of manneqins sporting Olympics gear for the masses, as photographed on my trip west last November.  Also a Canada Post box photographed in Montreal recently.  All magically transformed with some obsessive Photoshopping while I should have been cleaning the house, to say nothing of getting washed and dressed, and maybe even baking, in preparation for the imminent arrival of my in-laws from Quebec.   Good to see that I have my priorities straight, n'est-ce pas?

Although I'm not usually a sports fan in any way shape or form (maybe a slight figure skating addiction--watching, not doing)...I am strangely compelled to tune in nightly to see how the Olympics are going and, more specifically, how Canada is faring.  I guess a little quiet flag waving in the sanctity of one's living room is not going overboard?  Still, it somehow stirs the old patriotic heart (that I scarcely knew was beating) to see all the fans decked out in red, waving their Canada flags or scarves, or sporting red maple leaf shaped hats, ringing their bells and cheering on the Canuck teams.  Go Canada, eh?

Send in the clones.

Olympian Legacies

I took some photos of another Olympic site last November when I visited Montreal.

The Olympic Stadium, La Stade Olympiqe, The Big O.

Now home to many sporting events, including football.

In the foreground, the podium no longer hosts medalists but the flame still burns, and the rings continue to glow.

In the plaza the flags of all the particpating nations still blow proudly in the breeze.

The Olympic rings make an abstract design against the sky at dusk.

All Fired Up

We have a guest blog reporter today in the form of photos emailed to me by my mother out in North Vancouver, on the other side of the continent to where I live.  Seems there's a sporty little event happening out there on the west coast called the Winter Olympics.  She got a great picture of the flame being paddled by proud members of a local tribe when it arrived in her neck of the woods.

Being an observant sort, my mother noted that the war canoe looked familiar.  In fact, we had seen it the previous October when I was there visiting.  I had taken a picture of it sitting outside a neighbourhood garage.  We had wondered what it was doing there.  Now we know--getting tuned up for its big Olympic moment.

And here's another torch-bearer enjoying her big Olympic moment.  My mother said there was an enthusastic crowd on hand, in spite of the drizzle, to cheer the torch bearers on. 

A parade of sorts rolled down the highway, spreading more Olympic enthusiasm and leaving very large carbon footprints...er...tire tracks.

I'm quite taken with this big red truck that's admonishing us to "open up happiness"...in the form of Coca Cola, supporting the Olympic dream since 1928...back when real cocaine was part of the ingredients? 

Some enthusiasm in action.  Note the Canadian flag in the background, the Olympic volunteer in the foreground, and a man with a fibreglass penguin middle ground.  He said that he has taken his penguin to 19 different countries and introduced it to numerous celebrities.  A different sort of Olympic sport.

My mother says of this little creature: " Miga is an official Vancr. 2010 mascot and the tale is "Miga is a young sea bear who lives in the ocean with her family pod, beyond Vancouer Island, near Tofino, BC

Sea bears are part killer whale and part bear. (Miga is part Kermode bear, a rare white bear that only lives in BC.)"

Let the games begin!

Torched

My neighbour in the burrow where we live e-mailed me some photos of the big event that happened there this morning while we're still off gallivanting in Montréal...The Olympic Torch was passed!  If only they'd taken a moment to torch the abandonned house (seen in the background)!