It's a Rainy Night in Tiny

Somehow that doesn't sound quite as romantic as the original song, but it has been a rainy day - ALL DAY - here and yes, the official name of the municipality I am in Tiny . It's a township (my mailing address different again)

You may the name is because we are small or named after an original settler. Nope, we are named after a dog! :) And really is that a bad thing? I mean there are worse things to be named. Lady Maitland, wife of the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, names the three townships - Tiny, Tay and Flos - after her dogs. Tinyis a small rural township, (160 square kms, pop 8,000), on the shores of Georgian Bay, with 45 miles of the most beautiful freshwater beaches in the world. There are 5 hamlets, Perkinsfield, Wyevale, Wyebridge, Lafontaine and Toanche/Northwest Basin and 46 small community beaches along the shoreline.

Now you would be wondering, a Lieutenant governor? What would that be?


Canada is a parliamentary democracy. Our head of state is the Queen, (not prime minister as some believe, he is just the leader of the party that won most seats in an election and feels they could form a government), Here the representative for the Queen is the Governor General,Right Honorable Michaelle Jean. The position is predominately ceremonial, but she does have many official duties. Ms Jean is truly a wonderful ambassador for Canada. I am very proud of her and was thrilled to see her meet with U.S. President Obama when he visited Ottawa back in February.

Each province and territory (10 provinces and 3 territories) has a Lieutenant governor, again the Queen's representative. Our Premiers, like the PM, are the leaders of the party with the most seats who can form a government. We do not elect our prime ministers directly but we elect a local member of parliament to represent us in Ottawa.

Another Canuck fact - we pronounce lieutenant lef´ten-ent. There is no 'f' in the word, it's just another quirk of the English language. Our present Lieutenant Govenor
is The Honourable David Onley. He was a broadcaster for CITY-TV and an advocate for the disabled/physically challenged here in Ontario. He champions for accessibility for people with disabilities and for the Aboriginal Literacy programs - Summer of Hope .

Sorry about the left turn here, but as a history teacher, who knows her Canadian history and civics, I am dismayed at how we have failed our students. During the recent parliamentary 'crisis', talks of coalition and proroguing, I was surprised at how many adults did not know how our government works. I digress.....Another topic, another day. Why don't they know? We pay these polticians plesnty of money from our very first paycheque as a kid until after we have left this earth and moved on. They will come and chip at the casket before it goes into the ground - we should know what they are doing with OUR money and hold them accountable!

next!



Last night I typed up a nice post on how to tie a blanket or fleecies. I uploaded photos, typed everything, ran the spell check as I watched the ER Finale when BAM! I hit the wrong button and lost it all. grrrrrrrrrr. The problem is I am temporarily on dial up, so it took over an hour.

So here I am on a rainy and very windy Friday night, watching Bridget Jones, eating lite smoked salmon cream cheese on triscuits and drinking a large pop.

I LOVE Fridays, even rainy windy Fridays.