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talktodiana

~ Igniting the power and passion in others…

talktodiana

Tag Archives: Hockey

Banksy – Setting the Record Straight

30 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by dianasschwenk in Humour, Hump Day Chronicles

≈ 50 Comments

Tags

Aboot vs About, all in fun, Banksy, beer, Canada, changing seasons, Diana Schwenk, Eh, Hockey, humour, Hump Day Chronicles, laughter, poutine, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Stereotypes, toque

Nobody enjoys Canadian stereotypes more than Canadians.

Enjoying a Tim Horton's coffee and and muffin while rocking a togue!

Enjoying a Tim Horton’s coffee and muffin while rocking a togue!

We can laugh at ourselves.

We don’t have to take ourselves so seriously all the time!

Life is way too short to be offended by every little thing that every little someone says.

Today I would like to go over some of the more common stereotypes I’ve heard about Canadians.

We all wear toques

Um yeah! Nobody rocks a toque like a Canadian! When it’s cold outside they say 90% of our body heat escapes through our heads. Wearing a toque makes sense. If you’re ever somewhere cold, you should try it – it may even save your life!

We say “eh”

To be honest, I have spent a great many years trying not to say Eh. I’ve told people it’s not even said except when we want to entertain tourists. Truth is I say it. We all say it. So what? Americans say Huh and Right. British people say Yeah at the beginning of every sentence. Australians say Aye. So what’s the problem, eh?

We say aboot instead of about

Fiddlesticks! We say ABOUT – the rest of you say it funny!

We drink beer like it’s water

This is simply not true. Well unless we’re vacationing in the States because the beer there…well it tastes like water. Seriously, we also drink wine and spirits and the odd mason jar filled with potato moonshine!

We only care about hockey

Yeah ok. Pretty much. But don’t knock it until you’ve sat in a cold arena with your toque on, eating poutine and drinking beer while watching an exciting sit-at-the-edge-of-your-seat-cussing-like-a-trucker  game of hockey!

We all live in igloos, use dog sleds

Puh-lease! Seriously?

All of our police are Mounties

Admit it! You’re just jealous of our totally cool uniforms and musical rides!

The entire country is covered in snow and ice

True – we have a longer winter than some. But we do have 4 seasons and we find ways to enjoy all of them. For example in the winter I enjoy complaining about the cold, but I do it while rocking my toque!

But I draw the line at boring!

The other day I came across this story. An editorial by British street artist Banksy criticizes New York skyscraper One World Trade Center, and disses Canada in the process. In an op-ed meant for the New York Times but rejected by the paper, the anonymous artist slams the “shy skyscraper,” saying it looks Canadian. “That building is a disaster. Well no, disasters are interesting. One World Trade Center is a non-event. It’s vanilla. It looks like something they would build in Canada,” he wrote.  – source: Huffington Post. To see the complete article click here.

Canadian Buildings

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Oh Banksy.

Canada is a diverse nation whose citizens come from a variety of cultures. This is reflected in its many buildings; everything from skyscrapers, cathedrals, mosques, historical buildings to cultural structures and the aforementioned Igloos. Maybe, before you run around dissing Canada and calling us boring, you might want to come check us out in person.

Let me know if you can make it Banksy. I swear – you won’t be bored!

We’ll show you a good time and we promise not to yank a togue down over your face and tie you to the back of a sled being pulled by running dogs. 😉

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

Oh! I almost forgot! We say sorry a lot

I’m sorry if that bothers you. I’m sorry if this post offends you. I’m sorry about my sweeping generalization regarding truckers and their potty mouths. I’m sorry if I hurt your itty bitty feelings Banksy. Honestly, I didn’t mean it, eh.

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Ghost of Christmas Present Part Two

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by dianasschwenk in Hump Day Chronicles, My Stories, Out and About

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

Calgary, Christmas, daughters, Diana Schwenk, Events, Fairview Shopping Centre, family, friends, Gangnam Style, generosity, Good byes, Hockey, joy, La Vieux Chateau, laughter, living in the moment, love, memories, Montreal, parents, Relationships, Storm

I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich ~ Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford

Following are some Christmas snippets for your reading pleasure. Unfortunately, I was negligent in taking the quality of photos I intended to take and I hope my family will send me the ones they took!

Family

Here’s the thing about family. It’s difficult at times – all those personalities. All those quirks and preferences. And for the most part they never tell you what you want to hear. They’re too busy telling you what they really think! Isn’t that the value of family though? There’s an old saying that goes, “…you can pick your friends but you can’t pick your family…” I’ve heard it said with negative connotations … like you’re stuck with them or something. But I think that’s a good thing – through thick and thin they’re in it with you – they’re not going anywhere.

Hockey

I was a proud Aunty at my nephew’s hockey game. His skating and skill have greatly improved in just one year. They didn’t win but the Ref missed an important call and that affected the morale of a team of 8-10 years old. They played with heart though and even have two girls on their team!

Fairview Shopping Centre

If you’re a last-minute shopper like me and Michaela you already know that malls a few days before Christmas are a zoo! But we asked my sister-in-law to drop us off at Fairview so we could do some last-minute shopping. Well we got it done and thank God they fill them malls with chairs so you can sit down with all your packages and rub your temples while you tell yourself it will be different next year! FYI, it’s never different…

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We spent Christmas Eve at my parent’s place and enjoyed a meal of Rouladen, rote kohl and potatoes. My mom asked me to make a toast before the meal to remember those in our family who aren’t with us anymore. We raised our glasses and thought about those no longer living and those too far away to join us. I looked around the table at my brother, Michael, his wife, Heather, their son Spencer, Heather’s parents, Alice and Horace, my daughter, Michaela and my parents and said, “… you know some people think Christmas is about presents, but I think the best gifts are right around this table, family is better than any gift and I am so glad we’re all together…” Clink, clink…

Christmas Day was hosted by Michael and Heather and we enjoyed turkey with all the trimmings.  It’s amazing how hot a house gets when there are 9 people in there and the oven has been on all day! I tell ya, the whole holiday vacation, there was no shortage of food! Michael said a heart-felt toast (almost as good as mine on the previous day wink wink)

Breakfast at La Vieux Chateau

La Vieux Chateau is the favourite, hands-down restaurant in Hawkesbury, Ontario. It’s owned and operated by a local family (awesome people) and Dad likes to treat us to breakfast there. Almost every morning we went into town to have breakfast as a family and I really enjoyed meeting the locals.

The Storm

We weren’t sure if we would make it back to Calgary on the morning of our scheduled flight. Montreal saw a record 48 cm of snow and morning flights had been canceled. But my brother braved the 55 km to my parent’s house to pick us up and bring us to the airport. Our flight was scheduled for 6:45pm but we didn’t board until 8:30 and then it was too slippery for the fuel truck to come fill the plane! Ahh eventually we took off and landed 3 hours later than our original landing time. What the heck if we’d left on time I would not have met the coolest 87 year-old lady from Barbados and I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of sitting in the bar with my daughter!

Driving Michaela Home

On the 29th, I drove Michaela back home to Camrose ( a 3 1/2 hour drive) and along the way, as we had become accustomed to eating breakfast out, we stopped at Smitty’s for a breakfast brunch in Red Deer. It’s always hard to take her home and it was wierd the next day how quiet it was at my place. Still I’m grateful for the time we spent together and as I type these words, a smile is tugging at the corners of my mouth as I remember Oma dancing to Gangnam Style in the dining room inspiring Michaela and I to invent very odd and new dance moves to this song.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too and remember it doesn’t matter how little you have, if you have family you are rich.

Deer just walk through the backyard
A dozen long-stemmed roses for my Mom’s Birthday on the 22nd
Nice suspenders Dad!

Good Morning!
Say cheese!
Watch for Spencer in the NHL ~ that is if they ever start playing again!


Horace, Alice and Heather (Mom in background with gravy)

Getting ready for Christmas

~ THE HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

I’d love to hear some of your Christmas snippets, please share them below and Mom the link below is for you!

Talk to Diana


"I RELATE WITH, PROMOTE AND SPEAK COMMUNITY WHEREVER I AM..."

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