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Canada and the U.S., part 1 of 2


Robyn Openshaw - Nov 16, 2012 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links


Niagara Falls, it turns out, is WAY cooler on the Canada side. The U.S. has spent more on its view of the falls, and even puts people on a ferry to go closer to it. But on the Canada side, you’re really close to the top of the falls.

Also. They have black squirrels in Toronto. The first one I saw, on my run along Lake Ontario, I thought was a genetic anomaly. Then I saw a few more.

They put extraneous vowels in words, the Canadians.

Inexplicably, they have the monarch of another nation on their currency. (Well, I GET it. Historically, I know where that comes from. But I don’t really get it—in 2012!)

Driving into Toronto at night is just breathtaking. The freeway comes in elevated, so you’re driving in, at high speed, through the middle of skyscrapers. Kristin and I were awestruck.

kristin in the CN TowerThe CN Tower is the tallest building in North America. (Except the new Twin Towers currently under construction are going to be taller, which we saw a few days later in NYC.)

Kristin lay on the glass at the top of the CN Tower and I took a photo. From a safe distance, standing back from the dizzying height.

But, really, everything else looks…..very American. They have the same Taco Bell, KFC, McD’s on every corner. They have the same weight problems, and in the class I taught, the same issues with lupus, chronic pain, arthritis, cancer. And so much more misery, thanks to the second sentence in this paragraph.

I remember in Thailand climbing a thousand steps, past many Buddhist and Hindu shrines and temples, to the top of the famous Marble Mountain. There I found a local woman selling young coconuts to tourists, with a straw poked in the top. Her 2-year-old son was riding around on a tricycle. Drinking Pepsi from a can. I smiled at him and he tilted his head back and gave me the most adorable ear-to-ear grin. Revealing that all of his teeth were black and rotted.

American marketing genius knows no bounds. At times it seems to lack any moral decency, in the name of profit. Our biggest, most successful companies determined long ago to rot the teeth of toddlers in even third-world countries, introducing diabetes and cancer to populations who never knew it before.

And third-world parents let it happen, assuming that good things come from the richest nation in the history of the world.

Canadians, opt out of the worst my country has to offer. I love capitalism. We get to discern, within that sea of choices. Don’t choose our greasy, sugary, early death. It’s the underbelly of our prosperity. We’d be so much more noble and great without it.

As you can see from this photo right outside our hotel, the Westin Harbor Castle on Lake Ontario, Canadians do too far too much of what we Americans started.

Canadian hot dog stand

Posted in: Whole Food

8 thoughts on “Canada and the U.S., part 1 of 2”

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  1. cassandra says:

    Seems that we are meant to eat lots of light, and not the animals which eat the colors of the rainbow like us. Fish raw idk about. Browns like seedgrains should be sprouted, it would seem, until green.. unless it’s the winter and fat is desired. Oh and sungold honeys mm R (ex: pear) O(mango) Y(banana) Greens B(bluberry) I(figs) V(cabbage) the green sticks out see cuz it’s what you mix with each color. And we have to let our skin drink the sunlight. Milk like from goats might be good for kids under 7 since our nervous system rebuilds in phases but I was thinking how disgusting it is to eat eggs of birds compared to our own ovulations. have you discovered anything abt flexible menstrual cups rather than tamp or pad? We require only ROY G BIV: waves of light untouched by light which man can create:hot fire.

  2. Cheryl says:

    Oh my. I had to take a picture of the Black squirrels also when my husband and I were just there in October. I was shocked. I said I like that:) they are different aren’t they. I loved the Canadian side of the falls. Gorgeous. Up close. Maid of the MIst. I hope you got on that also Robyn. It’s wonderful.

  3. Pam says:

    Oh Wow! We have a 2nd generation of Black Squirrels living in our huge Digger Pine here in far northern California, Redding. I thought they were a genetic bump too. Are they? Hmmmm, now I wonder.

  4. Cherilyn says:

    Living in South American the mentality for many is that bottled water costs as much if not a little more then soda or juice so why not buy the soda and juice and get “more” for your money! Typically the tap water isn’t safe to drink . I have found that when my kids have friends over they always ask for juice to drink and when I give them water they think it is so strange. This is true for church as well – the little nursery aged children (under 3) tend to not drink the water and go without if that is their only option. It is a sad commentary for everyone.

  5. Chris says:

    Just a point of correction. The monarch is not a monarch from another country. Queen Elizabeth is our queen, as she is of any country in the commonwealth. That’s why she is on our money.

  6. Tammy says:

    I have been fortunate to grow up in Canada and see all the beauty and experience the difference between the States and Canada. I love my heritage!

  7. claudia says:

    We have black squirrels here in Princeton, NJ. From Wikopedia: Myth: Several years ago, deep in the bowels of one of Princeton’s biology buildings, an inhumane and unnatural science experiment produced a breed of black squirrels. Some of the squirrels either escaped or were liberated by a zealous animal-rights group, and now these new über-squirrels are slowly taking over the campus.

    Fact: Black squirrels may be ubiquitous at Princeton, but they are also perfectly natural. Black and gray squirrels are merely different color morphs of the same species, the eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Populations of black squirrels appear naturally in other places in the Northeast, particularly in isolated populations such as those in city parks, and they have been around for a long time; in 1655 David De Vries included squirrels “black as pitch and gray” in his list of the wild mammals of New Amsterdam.

    Makes sense to me.

    Happy Thanksgiving to those in US

    Claudia

  8. Janet Dorion says:

    I’m surprised that you taught a class in Canada but don’t ship your products to Canada. Thought I’d try out your protein powder deal but it won’t ship. 🙁

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