Alberta's Child

"Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence." -- Pope John Paul II

"We live in an age when mankind, in its arrogance, seeks to abrogate to itself the right to limit or to deny life to the afflicted and the unborn. That is the challenge of our generation. The challenge and the shame. It is a challenge that must be met, a shame that must be expiated. It cannot be met by act of Congress alone but by the will of the people, motivated by the informed youth of America who reassert the values that were the cornerstones of the foundation of our country and who want to embrace again the sovereignty and beneficence of God. That is the capability of Life Athletes, to give the youth of America the ultimate means with which to confront and vanquish the Culture of Death which threatens them." -- Wellington Mara (1916-2005)

"I leave this incredible game with no regrets and only amazing memories." -- Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils 1991-2004

Well, up north it's saddle broncs and it's hockey and honky tonks,
Old Wilf Carter 78's.
Dumb stuff like chores when it's twenty below,
They're the things that a country boy hates.

Too much damn wind and not enough whiskey
Drives them ol' northern boys flat wild.
And he may go to hell, or even Vancouver
He'll always be Alberta's child.

"Alberta's Child" by Ian Tyson

CD Cover from Ian Tyson's "All The Good'Uns"

PHOTOS FROM MY OLD BACK YARD

And I have watched that morning star
A thousand times since then
And hoped that it would lead me back
To that Calgary girl again.
But time has gone and slipped away
And every highway I chose
Took me further from the sunrise
Where the Rockies turn rose.
But someday I'll find that Calgary girl
Where the Rockies turn rose.
"Rockies Turn Rose" by Ian Tyson

Bow Lake at Sunset, Banff National Park. As seen from the Icefields Parkway (photo by Roger Schmidt)

Moraine Lake and the Valley of the Ten Peaks, Banff National Park. One of the crown jewels of the Canadian Rockies, the lake is named after the moraines (piles of glacial rock) that can be seen at the far end of the lake. These rock deposits were left behind when the glaciers receded from this valley after the last Ice Age. (file sourced to Wikimedia; uploaded by user GORGO)

Mount Edith Cavell, Jasper National Park. Named after a British nurse who worked in Belgium during the First World War and was executed by the Germans in October 1915 for helping Allied soldiers escape to Holland.

Chateau Lake Louise. The Victoria Glacier looms behind Lake Louise, another of the jewels of the Canadian Rockies. The massive glacier constantly grinds against the rock underneath it, sending a torrent of sediment and melted ice down into the lake below during the warm summer months. This sediment, also known as glacial till, gives the lake its spectacular turquoise color. The Canadian Pacific Railway constructed the hotel in the early 1900s as a source of revenue to help offset the tremendous cost of extending the railroad out to British Columbia through Kicking Horse Pass.

Left: Things Eternal ... Church in the town of Banff, with Mount Rundle in the background.
Right: "Days Gone By" by renowned Canadian artist Glen Scrimshaw

The Ties that Bind. The history of western Canada is told by the growth of the railroads across the prairies to the Rocky Mountains and beyond. The Canadian Pacific Railways main line is the southern route over the continental divide, following the Bow River valley west of Calgary and crossing the continental divide over Kicking Horse Pass in Banff National Park. The Canadian National main line winds its way up the Athabasca River from Edmonton, crossing Yellowhead Pass in Jasper National Park along the old fur trading route of Pierre Bostonais, nicknamed "Tete Jaune" (Yellow Head) by the Athabasca Indians who lived in the foothills of the Rockies.

Winter scenery, along Smith-Dorrien Trail in the Kananaskis region of Alberta. The Kananaskis is the mountainous region south of the resort town of Canmore in southwestern Alberta that makes up the eastern foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Mount Allan at the Nakiska ski area in Kananaskis hosted the alpine ski events in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. (photo by Rafal Komierowski)

Rain squall on Casket Mountain, Willmore Wilderness. The Willmore Wilderness is the northernmost of several protected areas along the eastern edge of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta. The Wilderness, which extends from the northern border of Jasper National Park up to the town of Grand Cache along the Smoky River, is home to some of the most rugged backcountry in North America. (photo by Fred Vermeulen)

All alone at the end of the of the evening,
And the bright lights have faded to blue.
I was thinking about a woman who might have loved me,
And I never knew.
You know I've always been a dreamer,
(spent my life running 'round).
And it's so hard to change,
(Can't seem to settle down).
But the dreams I've seen lately,
Keep on turning out and burning out,
And turning out the same.
So put me on a highway,
And show me a sign,
And take it to the limit one more time.
"Take It to the Limit" by The Eagles

Photo #1: Autumn in the Alberta foothills
Photo #2: Ranch country in southern Alberta
Photo #3: The wild rose, official flower of the Province of Alberta
Photo #4: Cabin Lights

(photos #2 through #4 by Ray Rasmussen)

Alberta's Child Delivers Some Well-Deserved Punishment to an Old Favorite at FreeRepublic

Real Men Wear Dusters

"The fact of the matter is that war changes men's natures. The barbarities of war are seldom committed by abnormal men. The tragedy of war is that these horrors are committed by normal men in abnormal situations; situations in which the ebb and flow of everyday life have departed and have been replaced by a constant round of fear and anger, blood and death. Soldiers at war are not to be judged by civilian rules, even though they commit acts which calmly viewed afterwards could only be seen as un-Christian and brutal . . . [W]e can not hope to judge such matters unless we ourselves have been submitted to the same pressures, the same provocations, as these men, whose actions are on trial."
--- Major J.F. Thomas (Jack Thompson), "Breaker Morant"