Happy Canada Day back at ya, adoptanuck!

My sweetie and I drove down to the Millarville (Alberta) Racetrack for the Canada Day Horse Races and market. Listened to the Barra MacNeils in the car for some CanCon. At the market I tried on some butter-soft deerskin gloves hand-made in the Indian tradition by an Asian woman. Bought a hotdog from the Anglican Church concession booth. Lost a buck at the Crown and Anchor wheel. Had a Budweiser in the beer garden ("Budweiser on Canada Day?" I ask. "It's brewed in Canada", the fella says.) Picked a horse to place in the first race. Bingo! Up forty cents on my 2 buck bet. My triactor came in on the next race, if you start from the bottom up.

Watched a group of Australian youths cheer on their Aussie-flag-draped compatriot in a foot-race.

Sat next to an older gentleman in the bleachers. He introduced himself to me by writing his name in his race program followed by "Can't talk. No voice." Cancer of the larynx. I thought I recognized his name as a writer of newspaper columns from a while back, and he confirmed my query. I did a little Google search just now and discovered he was also a highly decorated commander in the SAS in WW2, as well as a politician at both the local and provincial levels. Just goes to show. The rangey old guy in the well-worn straw cowboy hat sometimes ain't always been a cowboy.

Took the long way home, south to Black Diamond, back through Turner Valley, Millarville and Bragg Creek, through the foothills south and west of Calgary. Lush and green, lots of different greens, where the grass meets the aspen meets the pines. Beautiful drive. This is a good country.