Red & White (With a Bit of Blue)

July 3, 2011

I'm not a terribly patriot person in the "rah, rah, I'm Canadian" sense.

I had no choice where I was born and I consider my citizenship to be a huge blessing in my life, certainly nothing I deserve or can even be proud of necessarily.

I didn't accomplish anything by being born in Canada. I was given something. And so I most often view my citizenship with a burden of responsibility.

To whom much is given, much is expected kind of mentality.

That burden of responsibility and blessing is a recurring theme in my journaling and prayer dialogue with God these days. And pops up in many family conversations. We're moved, back on our native soil. We have our freedom, some measure of intelligence, and creative gifts. Now what God?

But I'm not going down that path today. I will share bits of that questioning, hopefully with some answers (trust me, I'm expecting an answer, and shaking in my boots a bit too with what it might be) with you all someday, but not today.

River in the morning as I drove to pick berries

Today's post is about family and freedom. Strawberries and boats. A Papa's dream and grandchildren's delight.

During the course of Canada Day I took a lot of photos (no surprise) and wasn't sure what or how I would blog about them. When I downloaded the photos I noticed a dominant color theme to the day - red, white and also blue. This little nod to the American part of our family story and even citizenship (two children born in the States) begged to be shared.

So I present to you our Canada Day. Red and White (with a bit of blue).

July 1st was a busy one at the Tougas/Toews three generation family dwelling. I was up early to go pick berries and then joined my family for breakfast at the neighbors (Scottish born/Naturalized Canadian citizens) for pancake breakfast.

The rest of the day was dedicated to working on projects. The most notable being working on the wharf which my Dad is building with his neighbors. This is essentially a large dock that goes into the river far and deep enough to allow for the tide. Not an easy undertaking.

With Damien facing an end-the-month writing deadline we sent our family "man" emissary - Laurent. Laurent worked with the men all day handing nails, climbing supports, fetching supplies and who knows what else. As the mother, I don't want to know too many of the scary details.

He came up the driveway safe at the end of the day. And one of the men. Gulp.

Even my parent's house is wearing red and white

We enjoyed a quick supper that featured a spinach strawberry salad (many berries did make it into the freezer during the day) and then quickly packed up to get on Papa's boat, The Prairie Skipper, for a night on the river, Canada Day style.

That beautiful boat ride is a another story in photos and words and it will be coming tomorrow

You don't want to miss it.

That was a boatride to remember and the photos almost do justice to a spectacular summer sunset on the river. It might even be worth coming back on July 4th to see.

If not tomorrow, I'll see you American friends after you've finished celebrating your freedom with with, no doubt, lots of red, white... and blue.

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