After (painfully) witnessing the upset of our men’s junior hockey team in the quarter-finals we Canadians have moved on to a thrilling and unexpected (maybe not to her) surprise in world tennis action. Eighteen-year-old Bianca Andreescu has been on the pro tennis circuit since 2017, but suddenly bounced into focus last weekend when she defeated Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki in New Zealand’s ASB classic.
Despite the fact that she was defeated in the final of that event, Andreescu went on to qualify for the Australian Open a few days later. Young, talented, ambitious, and resilient, Bianca is earning respect on the tennis courts as well as pride and admiration from Canadians.
With a shining future ahead, all of our eyes and hearts are on and with her. We are hoping for more.
I, like many other Canadians, watched the coverage of the election last night. I did switch back and forth between the Ottawa Senators hockey game and the election coverage though, very Canadian of me!
Through the whole election process, I was struck by how divided the country (USA) was on their opinions of the candidates. People were/are very definite in this election. In past elections (ours included) opinions varied, but there appeared to be much less anger. Previously, all candidates had their strengths and weaknesses. Not so with this election.
People are angry at and sick of Hillary’s lies, deceit and suspected corruption. Others are angry and disgusted with Trump’s comments, actions and lack of political experience. Today there are many furious and heartsick people in the USA and around the world because Trump won the election. As naive as it may sound, I hope this anger dissipates soon so the country can move forward together.
I also hope that president-elect Trump is not the crass, irresponsible, selfish, crude, racist, sexist, idiot that all of those angry people say he is…
The 2016 Brier, sponsored by Tim Hortons, is underway at TD Place in Lansdowne Park, here in Ottawa. For those of you not familiar with the sport, the Brier is the men’s Canadian curling championship, where all provinces and territories are represented. Last year’s winning team also qualifies to play as Team Canada. Opening ceremonies were yesterday afternoon, March 5th. My seat in an upper row allowed for a great shot of all the teams lined up on the ice during the singing of our national anthem…
Unfortunately, from this seat, I wasn’t able to get any good closeup shots of the curling matchups within the first draw of the event at 230pm. I did get a decent shot of Ontario’s team skipped by Glen Howard chatting with the crowd after their victory over Kevin Koe’s team from Alberta…
Our tickets for the evening draw (draw 2) at 730 last night were closer to the ice, allowing for some better shots of the three concurrent games.
In these pictures, the two teams on sheet A (top of the picture) are Northern Ontario skipped by Brad Jacobs and Saskatchewan skipped by Steve Laycock. Center ice had BC skipped by Jim Cotter playing PEI skipped by Adam Casey. The third sheet (bottom of pictures) pitted North West Territories skipped by Jamie Koe against New Brunswick skipped by Mike Kennedy…
The former cattle castle, currently known as the Aberdeen Pavillion, houses the “Brier Patch” the entertainment center of the Brier. Fans, players and volunteers congregate and mingle here between and after draws. We dropped by Friday evening, just in time to see and hear all of the teams being introduced to their appreciative fans. After their introductions, the team members wandered through the crowd, stopping for autographs and posing for photos.
Opening day at the 2016 Brier was a great time. The recently renovated TD Place and Landsdowne Park area in Ottawa is a beautiful venue for an event like this. Plenty of parking, free bus service to and from the games, and a wide variety of shops and restaurants all within walking distance make it enjoyable for everyone. We even got to chat with Jim Cotter, skip of the BC team, while out for lunch at Whole Foods Market. The weather was perfect too for strolling around the area.
The caliber of the curling competition is outstanding this year at the Brier, with no team favoured to win easily. We plan to go back later in the week as the competition heats up, with playoffs on the weekend leading into the final game on Sunday, March 13.
