The Pancake Chronicles

The Pancake Chronicles: I <em>am</em> Canadian!

The Pancake Chronicles

Saturday, July 28, 2007

I am Canadian!

I went for a drive this evening just to see the sky, feel the road. Speaking of which, I've never seen a beaver. Don't you think this is wrong? I live in Canada and I
  • say eh
  • eat maple syrup almost daily
  • have been to a Stanley Cup playoff game
  • own more than one toque
  • once tattooed a peel & stick maple leaf to my thigh
but I've never seen a beaver smack his cross-hatched tail in the water. On my way back into town I pulled over to watch the sun setting on a lake when a swimmy duck caught my eye. I was wrong. 'Twas no duck but a beaver! He rolled and glided and water-smacked his tail no less than six times (I jumped for joy)and he crunched loudly on snack lily pads (made me laugh) AND in the middle of it all a black fox trotted out of the brush, paced and stood a car-length from me all wary and beautiful. Amazing! What next? Happy, laughing, jumping for joy me, that's what.
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14 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had never seen a beaver either until a few weeks ago. Gary and I were walking down our street and there on the side of the road was a dead beaver. Just my luck. I finally get to see a beaver up close and it's gone to that great big dam in the sky.

29 July 2007 at 08:31  
Blogger Dickie Chick said...

(Ok, that's funny Sonya.)
The only beaver I've seen is on a nature TV show. Nothing for the real. Colleen, you live in the North for sake of Jake ... what a better place to have a beaver sighting! Yeah for you! Love that it was so unexpected like that. There's something more amazing about that rather than a conscious effort to catch one of those critters when they least expect it.

29 July 2007 at 08:40  
Blogger villagegirl said...

Yay for the beaver!! I only saw one in real life on our holiday. Very unusual to spot them so you are very lucky indeed!
P.S. I love that you tattooed a maple leaf on your leg. So very Canadian. :)

29 July 2007 at 15:38  
Blogger Rachel said...

Now your life is complete.

29 July 2007 at 18:10  
Blogger Kori's House said...

I can't believe you girls are all talking about beavers ;)

Love the drawing Colleen, she's very pretty!

31 July 2007 at 22:39  
Blogger Colleen said...

Son! Oh no! Dead beavers aren't much fun.

Shari - it WAS cool! I was having a huge rush from foxes and beavers and the like. HUGE.

Jillian - you would've loved the beaver. He was putting on a real show so I know you would've been jumping up and down with me. And re: the tattoo? Well, it was a peel and stick so it's gone now although it did last for a couple of weeks. That's about as courageous as I'd get - not a fan of needles!

Rachel - it's true. I could R.I.P. now.

Kori - if you say beaver repeatedly your lips start doing funny things. And thanks! :)

31 July 2007 at 23:53  
Blogger The Lang 6 said...

We also had our first Beaver siting on our recent little jaunt around western Canada...Big fatty on the other side of Bow River. I ain't never seen a fox...

What did Kori mean...talking about beavers...

1 August 2007 at 00:26  
Blogger The Lang 6 said...

oh yeah, I meant to comment on the lovely sketch, I assume you whipped it up as you wrote your always amazing antidote of life

1 August 2007 at 00:28  
Blogger Ace said...

Little joys. Little joys.

I'll have to come to Canada to Beaver me.

1 August 2007 at 21:58  
Blogger Colleen said...

Hello L1! The gallavanter is home! And aren't beavers just the coolest? So interesting are they. I think it was reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe that first got me excited about them. I like thinking about their dam houses. HA! I love that I can say that. :)
Also, thanks. You are a very affirming person and I always feel encouraged when you come by.

Ace! Yup, Little Joys definitely do it for me. They help me through the Horrible Bads.
Come see a beaver. :)

2 August 2007 at 10:17  
Blogger emilyruth said...

alrighty
so i've seen a beaver or two in my life
(living for half my life near a pond on a tree farm in oregon...really)
but what on earth is a toque?
am i missing out on something fabulous?
please let me in on it...
:)

5 August 2007 at 17:20  
Blogger Colleen said...

Hi Emily Ruth! Here is where you will learn all about the toque. You probably know of it already only under a different alias. :) This one comes with ear flaps. I wouldn't say it's necessarily fabulous although it is fairly indispensable in the winter for many Canadians.

6 August 2007 at 21:18  
Blogger emilyruth said...

oh thank you!
now i feel totally in the know:)

7 August 2007 at 00:24  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok, you're probably sick of the very mention of beavers now, so many comments later. But I would have been so excited to see it too. Your enthusiasm is infectious in any case.

One of my life's ambitions is to see a wombat, but only because I like saying it. Wombat wombat. (I also like saying the word 'weasel' but as I was almost viciously attacked by one the other day, I'm not too bothered about another close encounter any time soon!

Thank you so much for the comments you left, I really appreciate them, plus the reference to that book - I will order it on Amazon. Thanks so much and great to meet you too!

xxx

31 August 2007 at 13:44  

any questions?

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