Saturday, November 27, 2010

Rider Pride Marketing

 
It's Canada's Grey Cup football game on Sunday, Nov 28th and the national  champions will be crowned in Edmonton, Alberta.

And for the 3rd year in a row, our very own Saskatchewan Roughriders are the western champions going into the game. Yay!

Everyone's a fan - even this 25 ft Santa in the town of Watson, Sask.

This year is also the 100th anniversary of the Saskatchewan Roughriders team. You couldn't miss knowing it here in Saskatchewan because we were plastered with promotion for the event. Whoever was in charge of marketing should be well paid for the campaign because you couldn't look anywhere without seeing the green and white stuff.


 
Downtown Regina, Sask
The first thing I noticed early this summer was the faces of the twin towers in downtown Regina.


Potato Chips



 
 


 



 



Rider Bath Goddess Goodies

Ice Packs


Steak Sauce

  
  
Windshield Washer

Travel Mugs

Rider chair to watch the game from

License Plate

Fantuz Flakes cereal

Fans were everywhere - even in the grocery store.

                                                                                                    Someone in the local town even made a quilt.
Hard Hat
A hard hat and a whole slew of other clothing, too.












Winter boots



Including these boots... which I found this November when I went to buy my son a pair. And these things are warm! I think they're guaranteed to -30C below. And they don't have those ridiculous insoles that come out when you pull your foot out or slide down when you push your foot in. 



 
2010 Dollar Coin 'Loonie'



And not to be outdone, the Canadian government even got in on the act by releasing this special 2010 Canadian dollar 'Loonie' into circulation.

Tim Horton's Rider Donuts




The boys and I attended the celebration for the official release of this coin. They were giving away free Rider donuts.

That's right... donuts with white icing and green sprinkles. :D

Anyway, that's all the Rider marketing photos I have. Please excuse the quality of some as they were taken with my cell phone.

Well, I know what I'll be doing on Sunday...

Go Riders Go!!!

So who are you  rooting for tomorrow... the Saskatchewan Roughriders from the West... or the Montreal Alouettes from the East?

Friday, November 19, 2010

Sweet Sundog Sunrise

I was getting ready to head outside this morning and taking my time because the boys said it was cold out there. Well, they left for school an hour ago and it's still cold. At the moment, we're down to -23C/-9F but the windchill makes it feel like -34C/-30F. Yes, that's right -30F! And it's only November. Ugh.

As I was getting ready however, I happened to look outside and saw this from my window:



Well, forget the cold - I needed a photo of that sundog! With a minimal amount of outerwear on, I dashed down the tracks left by the school bus to the edge of the shelterbelt and took this shot:




And then, just to show you what else I woke up to this bright morning, I took this:



The snow isn't the soft, fluffy kind, but the crusty stuff that crunches under your feet as you walk. It's cold and hard and hurts when you fall face-first into it. I know. I speak from experience.



This is my first sundog sighting this winter. I'm sure they'll be many more if last year is anything to go by.

Actually, last year I turned 3 of my sundog pics into on-line jigsaw puzzles.  If you want to just see all my sundog and puzzle posts, look for them under the LABELS in the right sidebar of this blog.

Has winter started early where you live?

Monday, November 15, 2010

Get a Grip

I'm blogging over at Inkwell Inspirations today. It's a pictorial post with photos of the weather we've had over the past few days. These photos were taken in the past week, but aren't the ones over at the Inkwell.


8:15 am Friday, Nov 12, 2010


These tracks were made by hubby and his half ton. I asked him if he felt his tires slipping and he said no. So, I dunnno. But they look neat.

3:30 pm, Nov 10, 2010



7:30 am Nov 8, 2010

Because the photos at the Inkwell are all about the weather I saw when I looked out my window, the questions I'm asking are ...

What was the weather when you looked out your window this morning? And which window did you look out?


Thursday, November 11, 2010

We Will Always Remember

On the 11th hour
...of the 11th day
.......of the 11th month
they laid their arms down
and we will always remember their sacrifice.

Donald Pearce wrote these words from a front line dugout:

When will it all end? The idiocy and the tension, the dying of young men, the destruction of homes, of cities, starvation, exhaustion, disease, children parentless and lost, cages full of shivering, starving prisoners, long lines of civilians plodding through mud, the endless pounding of the battle-line.


The Veteran's Affars Canada has this info about the poppies we wear at this time every year:
 
On November 11, especially, but also throughout the year, we have the opportunity to remember the efforts of these special Canadians. In remembering, we pay homage to those who respond to their country's needs. On November 11, we pause for two minutes of silent tribute, and we attend commemorative ceremonies in memory of our war dead.

Following the First World War a French woman, Madame E. Guérin, suggested to British Field-Marshall Earl Haig that women and children in devastated areas of France could produce poppies for sale to support wounded Veterans. The first of these poppies were distributed in Canada in November of 1921, and the tradition has continued ever since, both here and in many parts of the world.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae c 1914
Poppies are worn as the symbol of remembrance, a reminder of the blood-red flower that still grows on the former battlefields of France and Belgium. During the terrible bloodshed of the second Battle of Ypres in the spring of 1915, Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a doctor serving with the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, wrote of these flowers which lived on among the graves of dead soldiers:

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
John McCrae

The flowers and the larks serve as reminders of nature's ability to withstand the destructive elements of war by men, a symbol of hope in a period of human despair. In Canada, traditionally the poppies which we wear were made by disabled Veterans. They are reminders of those who died while fighting for peace: we wear them as reminders of the horrors of conflict and the preciousness of the peace they fought hard to achieve.

Remembrance Day Parade Toronto, Canada 2009

Is there someone you'd like us to remember today?


Sources:
Donald Pearce, Journal of a War: North-West Europe, 1944-1945. Toronto, Macmillan, 1965

John McCrae, In Flanders Fields and Other Poems. Edited by Sir Andrew Macphail, Toronto, Briggs, 1919

Veteran's Affairs Canada http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/

Monday, November 8, 2010

Indian Summer

Most of the snow we received near the end of Oct has melted except for some shady spots. We're now experiencing a gorgeous Indian summer.

Last weekend, the guys cleaned the yard and yesterday they put the Christmas lights up.

They found this little fella in the driveway about 15 ft from the house. It's funny because in the 10 yrs we've lived here on the farm, we've only found one other salamander and he looked just like this one. We found him in almost the same spot about 5-6 yrs ago.

In fact, that memory was so vivid - I suppose because I'd never seen a live salamander before - that I wrote it into a scene in Emma's Outlaw. Emma awakes in early morning and in her foggy state, she thinks she's looking at 2 black dew drops until she realizes dew isn't black. She flinches at the thought of what's staring her in the face and the salamander skitters away. Somehow it seems symbolic that I'll see one again on the eve of submitting Emma's story.

This pic is for perspective. The shoes belong to my 12 yr old. So really, the salamander isn't that big.

Are there salamanders where you live? What colour? (Emma encounters a gray one.)

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

SYTYCW at eHarlequin NOW!

I have some fantastic news! But you need to act quick, because it's only this week.

Harlequin Enterprises, the famous Romance publisher, is looking for writers who can tell a great, emotional story. And they have a week of special events to help you get started.

This includes live chats, podcasts, webinars, and even writing challenges.

To find out more, check the eHarlequin blog and schedule of events.

Follow them on Facebook and Twitter for up-to-date information and links to chat transcripts in case you missed them.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Blogging About Ancient Coins at the Inkwell

I'm blogging about uncleaned ancient coins over at the Inkwell today.


Come over for a visit and let us know what you think. :D

Anita Mae