Canada/Costa Rica - Are We Traitors?

Apropos of absolutely nothing, I was recently accused of “detesting Canada so much - the country that gave you the ability to live your current life style”. This was based on the totally erroneous and inaccurate assumption that - “if there was a crisis in Costa Rica, like the corona virus (sic), massive earthquake or some other disaster, you would not want to come back to Canada?” 

First, I don’t detest Canada - this is an out and out lie. Never have I said this. To say that this is how I feel based on nothing at all is totally outrageous and, quite frankly, makes me angry.

I like to poke fun at Canada, especially Ottawa where I was born. I can do this because I am a Canadian citizen. Canada’s weather stinks - but everyone knows that. Canada is an amazing country - and many people want to immigrate there with good reason.

Secondly - our current life style was not handed to us by Canada. We both worked hard for many years. We earned the life style we are living.

Both of us paid our taxes for years and years. We still pay Canadian taxes even though we live in a foreign country. So whatever Canada may have given us, we have given back many times over. We have never been a drain on the system. In fact, not living in Canada makes us less of a burden on the system then people who live there.

It was a lot of work and planning to make our dream come true. It appears that some people feel threatened or are jealous by what we did - left the country we were born in to move, sight unseen, to a country they had probably never heard of. The fact that it was a very successful move, for us, causes them more unease. Could they do the same thing? Or do they use Canada as an excuse to never have to find out if they could or not? They wave the flag and hide their fear behind it. They accuse us of detesting Canada. That is an insult. We must be traitors.

What is so wrong with wanting to try living in another country?  To experience a new culture, new language, new food, different climate, different people ..... what does this have to do with Canada? It’s a wonderful thing to take this journey into the unfamiliar. We have come a long way and are now not the people we were when we left in 2011. You may not recognize us - our viewpoints, our world beliefs. We discarded possessions and old ways of thinking and freed ourselves. We meet people here who are cut from the same cloth. They may move here permanently, or spend a few years exploring and then move on to another country and adventure or, they may choose to return from whence they came. It’s all good.

The culture of living in the same country, the same province, the same city, the same municipality and even the same house for years on end is something I cannot understand. But that’s just me and more power to those who live this life style. It must be comforting for them and I would hope that they are doing exactly what they want to do. 

In Costa Rica there are not yet any recorded cases of coronavirus. In Canada, I read that there have been several. If a case or cases did occur here, why would I choose to jump out of the Costa Rican frying pan into the Canadian fire?

With regard to massive earthquakes, I have already experienced one in Costa Rica. It measured around 7.5 and rattled on for a significant period of time but without any significant damage. Should I fear another and decide to return to Canada for that reason ..... oh, but wait, I cannot return to Vancouver. As you know, the "big one" is long overdue.

The Big Reveal!

I can now reveal my latest painting commission because it has been gifted to the recipient and is no longer a closely held secret. Word is that “they love it”!

Some months ago, my long time friend Judy commissioned me to paint a picture of Taylor riding her pony Sebi in a horse show. Taylor is one of the triplets that Judy is grandmother to. The painting was to be a present for Judy’s daughter, mother of the triplets.

Judy and I have been friends since high school in Ottawa, Canada. There are several of us - all horse crazy - and we remain friends to this day. So many great memories of hacking out, horse shows, pony club days - recently we have been sharing these memories and photographs. Obviously this love of all things horses was transmitted to Judy’s daughter and grandchildren.

Here is the finished commission - “Taylor and Sebi” - acrylic on canvas board:

Here it is after Judy had it framed:

And here it is in its new home in Ontario, Canada:

A couple of progression photos:

This painting was a pleasure to work on because the two subject matters were just too cute! There are rules and regulations on what a child wears while riding in a horse show. The stirrups, for example, are breakaway - designed to prevent the rider from dragging and injury. The little girls wear braids and colourful hair ribbons. So I tried to show everything as correctly as possible.

Photo reference courtesy of Anneli Tapanila;

 https://annelitapanila.wixsite.com/photography.

You can see my art work here (my own art web page) and also here (Kyo Gallery, Alexandria, Virginia, USA).

Totally unrelated to my art, today we experienced very strong winds - called the papagayos. I made a short video of our coco tree blowing around in our back yard.

Horse Day Memories

Recently, myself and long time friends Lizz, Linda and Judy have been sharing memories of our horse and pony club days from our youth. We all lived in the same area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and went to horse shows together, trail rides, sometimes boarding together at the same stables, and so on. We did so many crazy things - some of which were quite dangerous on looking back.

Today Lizz shared this hilarious memory - she’s a great writer. You can visualize the scene just by reading her words. Comments in square brackets are mine.

“The Claassen family that lived across the street from Woodburns [a farm where we boarded our horses] managed that farm of milking cows. They were from Holland and were all, or at least some of them, artists by night. Especially Hans, I think. There seemed to be lots of dudes, not so many gals, although the ladies could have been interested in other things.

At that time they were working on how to add light to rocks in a river [on one of their paintings]. Diana had something she wished to convey to Hans, so since we were already mounted she decided we would simply ride over. Which we did. Becky and Fred [Becky was my horse, Lizz owned Fred] had previously been there a gazillion times. When we arrived I just sort of reached for Becky's reins, but Di casually tied them to the push lawn mower. Now if there was a horse on this planet that you could tie to a push lawn mower, Becky was this horse.

Alas, apparently there is not.

Something set her off as Diana, having completed her mission, emerged from the house in conversation with Hans. Becky’s head flew up. She darted this way. She darted that way. She ran around a tree. Fred's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. I hastily backed him out of what seemed to be Becky’s circle of panic and he went back to sleep. Really.

Becky got herself wound up into a western spin, where the butt remains planted and the rest flys around. She had the mower flying horizontally sideways.

It was actually hilarious. Diana and Hans and I mesmerized by the low flying machinery, Becky apparently pleased with herself that could create such a fuss, and Fred snoozing on the sidelines. What a scene that must have seemed to a casual observer.

Saturday night at the farm...”

A memory photo courtesy of Lizz - me on the left front on my horse Drum - Ottawa Valley Hunt.