If you look at the back of the Canadian dime you'll see an image of a sailboat. This modest picture is actually of a piece of Canadian history. It is the Bluenose, a ship that was the pride of the Maritimes.

In the 20's and 30's sailboat racing was a much bigger sport than it is now. Oh sure there is still the Americas Cup race but then there were dozens of races on the east coast and around the world. These would pit local groups against each other for pride or trophies or whatnot and were a very big thing. One of these races was for working fishing boats from the Maritimes against New England. The Bluenose was the Canadian ship that beat the Americans for 17 years running up until the beginning of WWII suspended the race. When she was not racing she was a hardworking fishing boat that won several competitions for largest catches. She was a truly amazing boat and a quite beautiful one as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bluenose

The Bluenose was immortalized by Stan Rogers, in his song of the same name
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWUD_r6E4U8

Stan Rogers himself was another great Canadian story. Though originally from Ontario, he fell in love with the Maritimes and is best known for his songs set on the sea. I've mentioned Stan Rogers a few months ago. A few years ago, his song  Northwest Passage was overwhelmingly chosen by CBC viewers as an alternate Canadian National Anthem. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVY8LoM47xI

But as I said Stan Rogers is best known for his songs of the sea. Barrett's Privateers is likely his most famous. As he said in an interview he loved the great sea shanteys they sang in Newfoundland but didn't know them well enough to sing lead. So he wrote his own so they HAD to let him sing lead and now it's better known than most of the classic ones. It's also just a heck of a lot of fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-PQbdmQRwc
This is a short interview with Stan Rogers and the second half of Barrett's Privateers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIwzRkjn86w&NR=1
This is the full song, (but I don't think they were having as much fun).

Rogers also did The Mary Ellen Carter, an inspirational sea song if you can imagine such a thing. The clip starts with an old salt from the Maritimes talking about what the song means to him and then the song. This is the closing bit of the film One Warm Line, a biography of Stan Rogers that I've been trying to find, hence the credits, but the music is good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT-aEcPgkuA
From what I've heard, The Mary Ellen Carter has been used across Canada for public services after disasters.

But Rogers did more than sing of the sea. As with his elder, Gordon Lightfoot, he did a Great Lakes song as well. White Squall is set on Lake Huron around Georges Bay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_73Cc2typk
The difference is where The Edmund Fitzgerald is a sweeping song of immense scale, White Squall is a very personal piece as were most of Rogers works.

As he got older Rogers was doing more non nautical songs. Northwest Passage that I mentioned before is one such work. Watching the Apple's Grow is a fun dance tune about a man who loves the sea but his roots are on the Prairies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POlMKesby1g&feature=related

Finally, The Field Behind the Plow is an achingly beautiful tribute to the hardship of a farming life. I always think of Marsha's dad, and the people I met at the Porter Auction when I hear this. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUM8mXJre1c

So check out Stan Rogers if you get a chance. His records are still available on CD and on iTunes , 27 years after his death in a flash fire aboard an Air Canada flight in Cincinnati. He was only 33 and you have to wonder where he and his career would have gone if he'd survived.

(I found this interesting: The aircraft Rogers was killed on had a series of incidents prior to the fire, including an explosive decompression that required extensive repairs to the tail section. After the fire the aircraft was again repaired but Air Canada sold it to Ozark Airlines. In December 1983 the aircraft hit a snow plow in Sioux Falls SD, killing the operator. The aircraft was repaired again and sold eventually ending up, of all places, with Northwest Airlines. As far as I can tell it's still flying for Northwest/Delta. No word on whether it's luck has changed.)

Doug & Marsha

Pix:
One morning we noticed a hairy creature on the outside of the bathroom window. Both of us got pictures before it ran away. Then we realized it was a pampas grass bloom.


This morning we got snow. Early in the morning the light was really erie. This is exactly how it looked. I didn't tint it or photoshop the image at all.


Later in the day it looked much more normal.


We were curious how much snow we got. It looks like just shy of 18 inches



Or maybe it's our ruler.


Hope everyone has a great American Thanksgiving, drive safely and eat a lot.