About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Monday, February 22, 2010

F is for FANS

We may not be in the lead for number of medals earned at these Olympics, but I have never in my life witnessed Canadian patriotism like I've seen in the past week or so. Everywhere I look, I see red! Of course, I keep my own Canadian flag draped above the TV set and I have one stuck in my car window. But people are dressed in red...red hockey jerseys, red scarfs, red caps, red jackets...everywhere I look, I see red red red! The city is a sea of red!
This is indicative of the pride Canadians have in their country! We Canadians tend to be a somewhat quiet lot, with a reserved spirit of support towards their country and their athletes. However, the party is here now! And people are out in droves to support the Canadian athletes and to spontaneously erupt into our national anthem at any opportunity. Our natural manners, though, do remind us to cheer for the winners no matter which nation they represent. So, party on Canadians, Americans, Brits, Germans, Norwegians, Russians, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Georgians, et al...


















Click on the photos to enlarge.
















Photos taken by Lorne (except the one of him in his security uniform) just before the Canadian hockey team played the American team...The police were worried there might be a riot, but Lorne assured them that these people were all just excited about the game and everything went very smoothly - as far as getting the fans in and out of the stadium. The result of the game....well, that's another story. But the fans get one more chance to cheer on the Canadian team when they play Germany and if they win, will go on to the semi-finals.

Plus, Monday evening, a pair of Canadian athletes made history! Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the gold medal in the Ice Dancing competition, becoming the youngest and first ice dance pair in North America to ever win the gold medal in the history of the games.

So here's to all the FANS of the Olympics, no matter their nationality!

28 comments:

mrsnesbitt said...

Lovely post Leslie! I just hope UK gets everything ready for 2012 because what we read in the newspapers does not bring any hope of comfort...we too may be displaying a great deal of red, let's hope it's not red faces!

Hugs to your daughter.
Dxx

Rune Eide said...

A highly current post :-)

Sylvia K said...

The skaters are beautiful and what a happy post! I'm so happy for them! Great one for the day, Leslie!!

Enjoy!

Sylvia

jabblog said...

Great post! It's good to have an opportunity to wave the FLAG . . . :-)

lv2scpbk said...

Lots of fans. Good post and creative.

On behalf of the ABC Wed. team, thanks for playing this week.

Mara said...

I'm not really into ice-hockey (can I say that to a Canadian?), but I loved the ice-dance competition.

Kim, USA said...

She was so beautiful last night!! They are a great pair. Congratulations!

F is Family

Beverley Baird said...

I waved our flag in my post - similar idea to yours! Hurray Canada - another gold today!
Great post!

Roger Owen Green said...

It's very unusual, in my observation, to see Canadians so outwardly patriotic. Kind of cool, actually.

I'll see a lot of figure skating in the next couple days, I'll betcha.

Great set of posts on the Olympics.

Tumblewords: said...

Hard to believe it's coming to an end - it's been so much fun to follow!

Jama said...

The winter olympic is telecast live on tv here, I do watch once a while.

Anonymous said...

It's lovely to have something to celebrate and be happy about isn't it? Those ice skaters were amazing and, apart from anything else, what a good looking couple. :)

Troy said...

The thing I love about watching the Olympics is even when your own atheletes don't win you can't help but admire the skill of those who do. It becomes less about a worldwide competition, (for me. as a casual spectator) and more about worlwide cooperation, comeraderie and fellowship.

Loved your post, even if the Olympics do make you see red...

LeAnn said...

Fans, yes!!! It has been great~!

photowannabe said...

I second that. Cheers to all the participants. Tessa and Scott absolutely deserved the Gold medal and I enjoyed seeing their excitment and pride as they sang the anthmn.
Great pictures too.

Hildred said...

Exciting post, - the skating is marvelous, but so is the curling! Loved your pictures....

Susan said...

Good choice for your post. I have to post mine up in the morning. But it is on a similar theme. All the red everywhere is astonishing! Canadians are coming out of their shell!

Andy said...

Go Canada, Go!

Tania said...

Great post for F this week! I`m a real fan:-)

jay said...

Oh, they do look happy too, don't they? Good for them! I always think ice dancing is such a demanding sport in so many ways, and whenever I see it I think of those young people getting up early every single morning to slog away at the training at their local (or not so local) rink. Lovely to watch, too!

So nice to see Canadians turning out in support of their athletes and their country. It's such a beautiful country, they should be proud! I'm hoping to come back one day!

Mickle in NZ said...

The nature of Canadians is so very like your cousins over in NZ. Leslie, you have every reason to be proud and Canada is "doing" these Olympics incredibley well. And isn't your Lorne a fine looking man in all his officialdom.

care and huggles to you both, Michelle and Zebbycat downunder

Powell River Books said...

It must be so exciting to be in the middle of all the event action and party atmosphere. It is so good to see that you are really enjoying it so much. - Margy

Mimi said...

Lovely for you to be right in the middle of all that excitement! We'll never have that- the downside of living in a tiny country.
I've seen a few Canadian flags in windows here in Dublin!
Enjoy your Olympics, Leslie!

Smalltown RN said...

I have so enjoyed watching the Olympics. I was able to make it to the mainland to take in the ambiance..and all the crowds....just loved it....I will be making a post in the next couple of days with some of my photos...it has been exciting hasn't it?

This now being the 26th of Feb. We one the pair ice dancing, got bronze in the women's freestyle...and what about our women's hockey....ok...yes their behaviour post game was a tad out of line...but all in all it's been great!

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Not a sports fan but I'd love to see all that red!

Shrinky said...

There is nothing like hosting an event like this to make you feel so patriotic! Canada is excelling itself - you have good reason to be proud!

Belizegial said...

Canadians have every right to be proud and patriotic tonight.

Enjoy the moments and congrats to all the participants and winners.

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