I have so many Canadian blogging friends, particularly Kat at Poetikat's Invisible Keepsakes I decided to 'squish' in one last unplanned post on the D-Day Landings before taking you all on a happier journey to Paris. This monument is outside the Canadian Memorial Museum at Juno Beach where the Canadian landings took place. Canada's sons in the 3rd infantry division paid a heavy price here, so far from home, as, of course, the First Canadian Army did at the liberation of Arnheim.An interesting aside is that this Museum was manned and wo-manned by the most delightful and courteous young Canadians doing a summer 'service'. They showed us the bathrooms (always a welcome stop on a long trip) and offered to answer any questions on the history of the battle site. Way to go, Canadian youth!
To answer a comment: Why do I mention that North Dakota is my adopted state? I was an exchange student in Rugby, North Dakota, a teeny-weeny dorpie (Afrikaans for a village) about 60 miles from the Canadian border in 1969/70. For the year, I was the member of the school debating team; our topic was American participation in Vietnam. Several of my school mates were affected by the call-up to that war. So the snowy, isolated plains of North Dakota and its people remain close to my South African heart.
