Nose Hill – a Prairie Poster Child

Marie-Claire Belleau, Francois and the twins, Sophie and Alice came to visit. Marie-Claire is Rebecca’s French -Canadian colleague and academic collaborator – but more than that – dearest of friends. On our meeting she said as many do, yes, you and Rebecca are alike.

I know that I am the older model of Rebecca and I know people smile when they see similar mannerisms.  But I can't figure out what they are so that I can stop them.

Francois wanted to have an oil change done on his car before the courageous travellors headed off to the Stampede, so Marie-Claire and the twins and I walked up to Nose Hill, pushing Michael along in the stroller. The twins have passed their Baby Sitting Course. They were happy to get some practical experience – manoeuvring the stroller around street closures, across gravelly intersections and through wet urban grass as we made it to the prairies.

I have a hard time selecting what is the best example of Canadian prairieness if I have only time to show people one thing. There is a terrific view to the west should I walk the visitors to the Children’s Hospital.

And I always think that nothing can match the free view of north, east, south and west Calgary from the 10th floor of the library tower.

Image: canadianphototours.ca

But my top pick is Nose Hill if anyone has an hour and a half to invest. On the hill you can get the feel of the dry grass, smell the dust kicked up by the heels of the person in front of you, smell the fescue and sage, experience the Chinook wind coming over the mountains, see glacial erratics and tee-pee rings,  look out over the glaciated valley, and hear the Richardson ground squirrel. Hawks will be circling high as the clouds move across the sky. I just think Nose Hill appeals to all of the senses and can make a prairie imprint. Calgary sits right on the border between the prairie and the foothills – one to the east, the other to the west and getting the feel of Nose Hill is a good way to begin the climb from the prairies, through the foothills, to the Rockies.

The twins don’t speak English yet. Coming as they have, from Quebec, they have stopped along the way in the U.S., previous to the visit to Calgary, stopping in Glacier National Park. Marie-Claire said that they went on educational tours done by rangers. She would tell the rangers that the girls didn’t speak English and that she would be doing simultaneous translation for them, as the rangers spoke. She tells rangers she will be discreet and as quiet as possible so as not to interrupt them. So the girls have been getting lots of naturalist information. I thought they might be interest in the jaw bones and racks of horns that Richard has sitting in his garden – evening wanting a picture with them. No. A fawn had been following them in Glacier National Park and the idea of celebrating nature by way of having a picture with a pair of horns isn’t the memory of Alberta they wanted.

They did have a good time at the Stampede: the Indian village, the chuck wagon races , the evening show, time in the agricultural tent and in the Big-Four building, hot-dogs and chips at Weadick Ville. A good start for first-time Stampeding.

Arta

PS  I had to put in a google link to chuck wagon races, for when Marie-Claire asked what the word meant, I could not remember off hand what chuck wagon meant.  Now I know a lot more than before the moment she asked me that question.  Imagine -- there is even chuck wagon etiquette!  Only a prairie person would care.