Canada Day

It's Canada Day today, and I'm spending it in the office, only because I have a pile of projects to get done within the next few weeks.

But here is a post of Canada Day photos for you all...
This is part 1 of 2, part 2 will come on Thursday (if you read my blog, you know what that means...).

About this photo: Taken around the end of August 1999, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Not much to say about this photo, other than 'Welcome to Canada.' This is our 'new' centre block of Parliament. Originally built in 1876, a fire on 3 February 1916 tore through almost the entire Parliament Hill, only the Library was saved. For more information, and photos from 1916, go here: Canadian Parliament Buildings Fire of 1916
The new centre block was rebuilt after that and completed in 1927. The centre tower, clock tower, is called the Peace Tower in memory of those that lost their lives in the Great War (WWI). (Source of some info from: Wikipedia - Parliament Hill)
About this photo: Taken Wednesday 30 June 2004, Taunton, Somerset, England.

About this photo: Taken Wednesday 30 June 2004, Taunton, Somerset, England.
This was a cake I made for Canada Day when I lived in the UK. I can't remember what flavour the cake was, but it was fun decorating it with the Canada Flag - no guide to help me decorate, other than memory.
For those of you that are not Canadian, Canada Day is not like Independence Day (July 4th) in the United States which declared Independence from the British Empire.
Instead Canada Day celebrates Confederation, the union of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in 1867, creating a dominion of the British Empire, to be governed by its own parliament, yet over seen by the Governor General - representative of the Queen.
1870 Canada was given governance of the Northwest Territories, which stretched from Ontario to British Columbia and Alaska, and from the 49th parallel (USA boarder) to the northern islands. Manitoba was created at this time.
1871 British Columbia joined Confederation, and the CPR (Canadian Pacific Railway) started to build a rail line across Canada.
1873 Prince Edward Island joined Confederation.
1898 after the Klondike Gold Rush, the Yukon Territory was created from the Northwest Territories.
1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan were created out of the Northwest Territories. Creating a Canada almost what it is today.
1949, the last province, Newfoundland & Labrador, joined in the post WWII era.
This was the Canada I grew up knowing, yet Canada is still evolving.
As in 1999 Nunavut was created out of the Northwest Territories.
(Source: Wikipedia - Canada Day & Canada)
And for the record, the Canadian flag, as seen today, was created in 1967.

About this photo: Taken Saturday 19 February 2005, Taunton, Somerset, England.
One of my first photos from my (old) webcam. I took it as a profile photo on some websites. The Canadian flag in the background, which is the same flag I have around my waist in my profile photo, is special. I made that flag in grade 9 Home Economics (I won an award that year for both Home Ec and Industrial Arts) back in about 1993.

About this photo: Taken Thursday 10 March 2005, Taunton, Somerset, England.
Taken with my current digital camera, at arm's length. This photo was also taken as a profile photo, though I don't think I ever used it. The necklace I'm wearing is one I made. It is chainmail, and the lower loop was designed with a clasp so it could have a pendant or other decoration hanging from it if desired. I gave the necklace to my friend Ann when I left the UK, and have yet to attempt to recreate it (thanks to finding this photo, I at least have a visual guide to remind me how I did it).