Well, there's no tradition of pancakes that I know of, but the Lion's Club does a free pancake breakfast in the Grand Parade (public square in front of city hall) and another next to the Dartmouth ferry terminal. I didn't bother going this year - e have left-over cherry clafouti which is plenty yummy, despite having maliciously not risen at all. Still better than pancakes from a mix.

I don't think we have any posters living in Cape Breton - all of us Nova Scotians are in the Halifax area.

Oh, as to that, the actual pancakes aren't related to Canada Day, as far as I know. It's just that they're the only thing my roommate knows how to cook. I just didn't expect pancakes to be cooking at that particular time.

And Caroma, Halifax isn't all that far from CB, if you were looking to wave at posters. Hell, I hitched there and back the week before last.

Oh well. Maybe I'll stop off there. I've been in both places you mentioned--the Parade has that neat church at one end, right? Not very big but a nice space for pancakes.

Didn't this holiday used to be called Dominion Day? Why'd they change it, so the Westerners wouldn't feel left out? Or is that a different day?

Happy Canada Day!!!

Happy Canada Day!

Ouise, don't give up those VCDs quite yet. Instead, put them in a standard computer CD drive.

Load up your preferred file handling software (Windows Explorer) and open the CD. You'll see a folder called 'MPEG2' ('MPEGAV' on Trash) and find the big file in there. Copy that to your hard drive and rename it to a .mpeg file. There you go, view with the media player of your choice.

Then pass the VCDs along.

Didn't this holiday used to be called Dominion Day?

Yes, it was called Dominion Day but it was changed in 1982 (the year we patriated our constitution and made O Canada our official anthem) to Canada Day since Dominion suggests continued ties with Britain.

Ouise, I don't want the Firefly DVD so someone else can get in line for it. I'm going to wait until they all come out on DVD so I can watch them in their proper order.

Well, the snarky colonial in me says that having Liz on the money also suggests continued ties with Britain, but I've been there often enough to know it's definitely gone its own way. Do they have referenda, like in Australia, to ever get rid of the foreign Head of State and the Governor General and all? I've never heard of one but I'm sure it's debated. Or maybe it's like Puerto Rico, where cutting the last ties with the old superpower is more trouble than it's worth.

And I also will unsubscribe from Firefly Spoilers soon and wait for the nice boxed commentated set, although I am re-watching in proper order with the UK folks until the last three.

Happy Canada Day, Haligonistas!

It's been so long since I posted on the Phoenix board. t blinking in the bright light

The first thing we did this morning after the Blue-Eyed Boy woke up was take him out for pancakes. Coincidence? I think not!

Of course, taking a (nearly) three-year-old out to any restaurant other than McDonalds requires the hide of a rhino and the inventiveness of McGyver. At one point I was building houses out of the little sugar packets just to keep him in his seat for Five. More. Seconds.

Our big plans for the rest of the day involve checking out the neighbourhood street party (hopefully they'll have one of those air-inflated bouncy rooms to keep the Boy busy), firing up the barbeque, and drinking shandies. Continuing in the tradition of sweltering Canada Days, it's Too Damn Hot here - 37 degrees with the humidex.

Well, being in the Commonwealth is a sure sign all the ties with Mother England haven't been severed, but it is all a matter of degree.