On Guard

I remember learning the words to O Canada when I was about six years old, and had recently moved to Canada.  I really loved the end where you sing "O Canada we stand on guard for thee".  It seemed to me as a child that everyone just gathered an extra ounce of oomph when the anthem reached that point, and they gave it their all.  Up to that point I had been exposed to the Taiwanese anthem and the British anthem, and after a year of standing on guard for Canada I roamed the world again only to be exposed to the American anthem.  Four national anthems in my first seven years.  Hadn't actually thought about it that way before, but in all that traveling Canada captured my imagination as a child.  And Canada was all I could think about until we returned four years later.

In grade six in an american school abroad, I did a presentation on Canada using my parents' slides of the Rockies, snowdrifts, wheat fields, and geese.  That same year I exhibited my first political act of rebellion by refusing to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States in class.  The teacher sent me to the principal's office and my dad had to come to school and sort it out.  I had good grounds for refusing, I wasn't American and I was guarding my rights.  Seemed logical to me and I wasn't disruptive, I just stood quietly with my arms at my side and didn't participate.  Who knew that would create such a furor?  But, all I knew was that I wanted to go back to Canada some day even though I wasn't canadian yet.

A family of very Canadian Geese have played prominently in triggering this 'on guard' Canada Day theme.  They were standing guard again this week watching intently as their youngsters pecked about in the grass and weeds.  I thought it would be cool to get a picture of a Canada Goose and photoshop a canadian flag into it but alas I don't have photoshop.  Then given how my mind works, that little side trip spilled over into some musical accompaniment in the form of the anthem and that was that.  I had the "stand on guard for thee" thing in my head all week long.

Apart from this little trip down memory lane to the strains of the canadian anthem, Kanti has been on guard this week protecting us from hummingbirds, flies, deer, oh yes and the geese.  She's been a busy canadian German Shepherd.   However I was concerned that she might become quite lonely because her favorite playmates left for the sweltering heat and humidity of eastern Canada.   So I went shopping for a couple of new toys to entertain her.  Petsmart came through with a fuzzy pink elephant which Greg has very imaginatively named "Pink Buddy".  Kanti's a happy dog, but I am a bit befuddled.  No one told me at six years of age that canadian men had a tendency toward the literal - pink buddy.  Come on...couldn't we do better than that moniker?  Does someone out there have a name for the elephant?  I should have bought a red elephant, then we could have tied it to the Canada Day, on guard stuff.  Enjoy Canada Day!