Monday morning in the South East of Calgary dawned it was 5.45am and a strange noise was present. It was no longer in the 30'soC as rain had and was still falling and we were off to yet another Stampede breakfast with the Premier of the Provence of Alberta. Well plans change it is wet & cold the breakfast is outside in the cold concrete canyons of downtown Calgary, very little shelter or seating. Plan B is a well known Australian advertising campaign for thos...

The routes changed, it's hot by Calgary standards it covers 4.5kms but still official figures estimated the world attended the 2017 Calgary Stampede Parade. The world you say, well later in the day at the opening of the Indian Village a show of hands was called for those in the crowd who did not live in Canada it looked like some 80% of hands rose skywards. So why do people come, well having been in Canada 5 out of the past 7 years i think i may just have some o...

The skies were dark, rain had fallen yesterday quite heavily and it was threatening again. The smell of pancakes was the lure to another Stampede pancake breakfast. So it was all in the car and a trip to the Green Gate Nursery (plants not kids) in the South West of Calgary just off Macleod Trail and we arrived to be greeted with no Yes empty tables where we at the wrong address or wrong day,then looking closer there were a few (hundred) people waiting in line alr...

Any of my readers who have visited Calgary will know that it is not only famous as the home of The Calgary Stampede & Exhibition for the past 104 years is also known as the City of four seasons in a day. Faced with rain,sunshine,sleet and winds annually around this time of the year it means that the annual Stampede will proceed regardless of the weather. The Calgary floods of 2013 is again lived up to the Calgary testimony to this spirit when even the infiel...

The big news first at The canadian National Show Jumping at Spruce Meadows over the weekend i was lucky enough to come away with a Red Rossette (first place). see photo. (www.sprucemeadows.com) The day started well before the show jumping with attendance at the largest stampede breakfast at Chinook Shopping Mall. With so many in attendance one must be patient or did they get it right. Yes well over 50 serving points for pancakes none of which were burnt. A sepera...