Pancake Breakfast # 13

Central Park in Spruce Grove in conjunction with the annual Grove Cruise event. Pretty good value at $ 2.00 a plate for two pancakes and two sausages with coffee and juice. Pancakes were large and the coffee good. Juice the usual yukky MacDonalds orange - no wonder they give it away free to such events !! Rita, Cai and Gordon in attendance and enjoyed chatting to some other people at the same table.

Sayings of the Week

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow-creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." Robert Louis Stevenson


"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." John F. Kennedy


Gordon watched "Crocodile Dundee" for the 100th time this week. Just love the part where they're in the bush and she's asking him if he has an opinion about anything and uses Aboriginal land claims as an example. He says "See those rocks over there ? Been there 60 million years. Will be there long after we're all gone. So arguing about who owns them is like two fleas arguing over who owns the dog !"

Is Africa a continent or a body of water ?

I love this rant from a good friend, Craig, originally from Zimbabwe and now living in Vancouver :

Why are people so ignorant of African political geography? Why can people in the "educated" First World differentiate between England and France, but they can't differentiate between Egypt and South Africa? Why do people go on holiday "to Africa" (rather than, say, Kenya), but they go on holiday "to Italy" (rather than Europe)? If you told someone you were going on a trip "to Asia", do you think they might ask you to be a bit more specific? I think what's "dark" about Africa is not the continent itself, but the minds of people who don't pick up an atlas occasionally.

I'm moved to write this today because, on Sunday at a Starbucks in Vancouver I noticed that they had some beadwork for sale. So I picked it up and, according to the label, it was "Made in Africa". This is Starbucks' patronising attempt at "fair trade" (or whatever they call it), but they're too damn lazy to actually note the country of origin. Has anyone ever seen a label that says, "Made in North America"? Of course not! Most people -- anywhere in the world -- would scoff at that as being useless and lacking in specifics, and I'll bet the label doesn't meet labelling laws either.

And then today I read the following in an obituary:

"When confronted by World War II, Peter joined the RCAF and ferried airplanes [sic] around the world wherever they were needed for the war effort, ultimately earning the commission of Flying Officer. He survived two crash landings - in Africa and in Victoria Harbour."

I think that has to be the most extreme parallel I've ever seen drawn -- between the second-largest continent and a minor body of water -- but at least we know where Africa is, as opposed to the non-specific Victoria Harbour, of which there are several in the world on different continents.

Saying for the week

"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary." by Sir Cecil Beaton, British photographer and award-winning set designer

Pancake Breakfast #12

The final Capital Ex week breakfast at Safeway in North West Edmonton. Reasonable value for $ 3.00 per plate - pancakes, sausage and bacon. Juice and coffee quality were below average again. The event was not very "green" with a lot of extra throw away bits. Edmonton Capital Ex organizers need to do a better job of that. Rita and Gordon in attendance.

Pancake Breakfast # 11

Alberta Premier's Annual Capital Ex pancake breakfast in the Legislature grounds. It was a great day for it. Well organized to deal with crowds that poured through the lines. This one is in joint first place with the Calgary Stampede breakfast for overall most impressive. Pancakes, sausage, scrambled egg, juice box, milk box and coffee - all for free. Although not really free 'cos no doubt it was all paid for with our tax dollars ! Okay so that fact is off-set by the splendid location so still tie with Calgary for first place.

Although I was on my own - the team let me down ! - I fellowshipped with a very interesting Dave McNaugton who I sat down next to so that made the event special too. Gordon

Pancake Breakfast #10

Old Grain Elevator, Spruce Grove. Billed as "Flapjacks at the Tracks" this was a fund raiser for the museum now located in the elevator. $ 6.00 for an and $ 4.00 for a child seemed a bit steep but then it was for a good cause. Food - standard two pancakes and two sausages - was good but coffee and juice not great. Gordon, Ritie and Cai were the participants.