Happy New Year!

To make the New Years celebrations more of a celebration I went to the wine store and bought some of the right stuff. They had a good selection, if pricey, compared to the US.

A Typical Canadian Shop

When I paid the bill I used a piece of plastic without a chip in it, which confused the young baby-faced wine salesperson. "No chip, eh?" he asked, warily. "No," I replied, "We don't have those at the 1st Inconvenience Bank of Texas. We're a bit backward that way." The saleschild looked at me and said, "That's not the only way, over there, eh?"

I grinned and gave him a cheery, "Oh yeah. Except for gun rights, we're ahead of the pack there. Happy New Year, man."

A Bison Head

And with that, I wish you all a happy, blessed and joyous New Year.

Cheers,

LSP

Fly to Calgary

By longstanding tradition, I go to Calgary right after Christmas and stay at the Hyatt for a few nights. I like it there and every year they upgrade me by putting me on a higher floor. I like that too because of the view over Stephen Avenue and sunsets over the Rockies, which you can just see on a clear day.

Room with a View

But I didn't like getting up at 4 am to get a cab to DFW on Boxing Day. Maybe it's worth spending a little extra to get a more civilized flight. Still, it was very cheap and got me there.

Typical Canadian Street Scene

So did a near perfect Negroni at the bar of the St. Germaine hotel right 'round the corner from the Hyatt. I say near perfect only because it could have been a bit larger. I made up for that deficiency by getting two.

Cheers from the Land of the Ice and Snow.

And God bless Canada,

LSP

Happy New Year!

Stephen Avenue

It was all about a Block War last night until it started to snow. A member of the fire-team was moved to say "this is a wondrous miracle moment" and sure enough, Stephen Avenue was transformed into something beautiful. Even our ancient grudge against the contemptible Marriott was carried away by the cleansing snow, Block War forgotten.

The Marriott. Enemy

This morning I went off to find a coffee and fell in with a rodeo person who knew several of my church-people. All for bull riding and bronc. PBR. Small world, aint it.

Have a great New Year,

LSP

Oh Canada!

Don't get me wrong, I love Texas. But sometimes I get the urge to travel into the icy vastness of Canada, which is what I did on the Feast of the Holy Innocents. 

Stephen Ave - Alright By Me

I like Calgary; you can walk about downtown, go to restaurants, shops and relax under the bison head at the Hyatt bar. I always think it's a cross between England and the U.S., except of course that it's an oil and gas boomtown.

Shops

But whatever, you can also visit Pro Line Shooters in Inglewood. It's a small gun shop on 9th Ave in Inglewood, not too far from the center of town and distinguished for its barbershop. This means that you can get your hair cut and then buy a gun. Back in the day the barber was a communist called Doug and we got on well, despite divergent politics. He was a great character but died a year or so ago, may he rest in peace. They sell Sigs there, which the owner told me he didn't much like. We swapped stories of Browning Hi Powers and the force of large caliber battle rifles. He was very against the 5.56 and thought it was introduced to suit the small stature of our one time South Vietnamese friends. That was new to me.

What's that huge new NSDAP structure in the background?

Speaking of Inglewood, St. John's church, which left the bizarrely tiny ACoC (Anglican Church of Canada) to join the Roman Catholic Church, has been allowed to keep its buildings. 

If I was a betting man, which I'm not, I wouldn't have wagered my fighting monkey on the odds of that. Well done ACoC for doing the right thing. Then, all too soon, it was back to Texas and the mission field.

Fighting Monkey

Good city, Calgary. Visit if you can and say a prayer for St. John's, Inglewood. Well done them for keeping their buildings and avoiding a lawsuit.

Cheers,

LSP