Take off, eh....Ya Hoser

I just finished reading an awesome book: Beauty Tips From Moose Jaw: Travels in Search of Canada. It is written by Will Ferguson. He attempts to capture the true essence of Canada and Canadians and somehow succeeds. This book gives the reader a history lesson in Canada that everyone should have gotten in school. He eloquently describes the Canadian experience and gives us a visual of the Canadian landscape. The book is riddled with "Canadianism's" that will have you laughing and nodding with his bang-on observations of our contry and people. He describes the country of Canada as being a collection of outposts that collectively make a Country, almost.

This should be required reading for all Canadians. Will has an excellent website with plenty of stuff to get you hooked. Do me a favour, check it out, you won't be disappointed. I especially enjoyed his article published in Flare magazine, titled: An open letter to women.

A few excerpts from Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw:

(On Newfoundland) "This wasn't Ireland. It was Ireland lost. And Ireland found. It was Ireland cast adrift and washed up on a cold island. It was Ireland reconstructed, like a portrait assembled by someone working from memory, getting the mood right if not the details"

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"In one particular seedy St. John's pub, I was adopted by a work crew from Portugal Cove who took an immediate, almost antagonistic liking to me. "You're from Alberta, you say? I have a cousin in Fort McMurray, maybe you know him" (Everybody in Newfoundland has a cousin in Fort McMurray.) The crew from Portugal Cove tormented me with screech and second-hand smoke as they regaled me with tales of how their families were so poor "back when" that all they could afford to eat were lobsters. This was not the first time I had heard this. Apparently half the population of Newfoundland has subsisted on lobster at some point or other".

I'm BC and I'll BC'ing you