Why I love Canada, land of the maple leaf.

REAL NAME: Lionel Giroux
4-foot-four-inches, 60 pounds
BORN: In Quebec
DIED: December 4, 1995 at age 60

One of the greatest midget wrestlers of all time, Little Beaver was an amazing athlete and a comic genius. Wrestling for more than four decades, Little Beaver brought joy to children and adults around the world (and more than a little pain to referees who might be in the way).

His drawing power was such that, when in the ring against real-life good friend Sky Low Low (Maurice Gauthier, also from Quebec), the two midget superstars could command upwards of 15% of the gate. Little Beaver's last in-ring appearance was at age 52 at 1987's WrestleMania III at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan where he suffered a legit back injury at the hands of King Kong Bundy. The actual match featured Hillbilly Jim, Little Beaver and Hatii Kid vs. King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo and Lord Littlebrook, with Hillbilly's team winning.

He died on December 4, 1995 of chronic emphesyma in Saint-Jerome, Quebec.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Memories
"With his pomaded mohawk, fringed loincloth and body-length headdress ... he was a sight to behold."
Globe & Mail, Dec. 23, 1995

Alphabetical Railway Towns

Look carefully at the names of towns on the Prairies and you might notice something really interesting. There are strings of towns whose names are in alphabetical order. One alphabetical string starts with Arona (in Manitoba) and goes to Zeneta (in Saskatchewan). Another begins with Atwater and goes to Zelma (both in Saskatchewan). These places were once stations on the railways that crossed the prairies. Many stations have since disappeared, however, leaving gaps in the alphabet.

How many kids' books on Canadian geographical facts and historical events have been published? Who knows? Let's just say there are lots; there will likely be lots more in the near future. Having read and reviewed lots of them, I can say lots of them are too similar to distinguish. Thankfully, however, Only In Canada is unique. This is one book that will be staying in my library. Sorry, I'm not donating it to the school or to the Canadian Studies teachers. And my reason for keeping it is not just because its cartoon narrators are the delightful Canada Goose and Canada Moose, but rather because the creators have researched a remarkable number of little known fascinating facts and anecdotes illuminating our nation's biological, physical, cultural and historical heritage. Without ignoring Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, its focus is centered on the western provinces and Arctic regions, a boon to elementary school history and geography teachers in these regions. The chapter titles attest to the author's sideways glance at our heritage. Geography is exiting stuff, including remarkable photographs of meteor impact creators, in "Amazing facts about How Canada Was Bashed, Pummelled, Scrunched, and Scraped into the Shape it's in Today." "Weather Weirdness" introduces us to the wettest, hottest, snowiest, windiest and hailstone-iest places in Canada. There is no shortage of odd, obnoxious and outlandish animals in "Naturally and Wildly Canadian." Who knew that camels were used as pack animals during British Columbia's nineteenth century gold rush? Students will be agog when they learn about Canadian strongmen, robbers, inventors, including Winnipeg's Harry Wasylyk, who invented the green garbage bag, and our odd national penchant for giant roadside statues of turtles, catfish porcupines, and oil cans, in the chapter "So You think Canadians Are Boring? Ha!" Only in Canada is a really fun book. Teachers will get a lot of mileage (I suppose kilometerage would be the correct Canadian term?) introducing their students to these obscure but fascinating notions of our nation.

a few "canadian" words : cotton batten , road apple

"toonie"
the Canadian two dollar coin (aka "the Queen with a bear behind"). The name stems from loonie, the Canadian one dollar coin, which has a loon on the back. We always thought the old dollar coins with the voyageur looked better. The spelling has apparently stabilized without the "w", although for a while the most common spelling was "twoonie".

Thats a strong chain saw, and its practically brand new.

Chicks with chainsaws? - I'm going to Canada.

dadpad wrote :

Quote:

Chicks with chainsaws? - I'm going to Canada.

come on over , but wear your armoured codpiece !
hbg

An Audience with Margaret Atwood

One of Canada's best-known writers, Margaret Atwood is an internationally famous novelist, poet, and critic.

Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000.

Atwood's dystopic novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009.

Canaduh!

Canadians.....