Canadian Expatriates, its contributors, and readers have been invited by Foreign Affairs Canada to participate in a series of eDiscussions. The current topic is “Showcasing Canadian Culture and Know-How Abroad”.

We are asked to consider the following questions:

What role does Canadian culture and know-how play in our foreign policy?

How might the government best promote Canadian talent and expertise in the world?

The eDiscussion runs from April 4 to May 6, 2005. At its conclusion, a summary of the discussion will be sent to senior policy planners.

The Expat admin team encourages its readers to join in the eDiscussion at the Canadian International Policy website.

---

Posted by Admin

The administration team is currently searching for Canadian expatriates who would be interested in contributing to the Expat Blog. The subject matter is wide open, but must remain family friendly.

If you are interested in joining our blogging team, please send an email our way!

Thank you!

Yesterday provided us with the first peak of one of the baby birds who are living in our BBQ. For weeks we have heard them chirping for food, now we can see them chirping as well. They are incredibly demanding for being so little.



Please note the feeble duct tape attempt at keeping the birds and their nest out of our new BBQ. Also note the extreme fading that has occurred courtesy the sun, as a direct result of not being able to use the grill cover. We have sacrificed a great deal for these little birds - sun fading (not a happy hubby), a lack of springtime grilling (certainly not a happy hubby), and no use of our back deck (definitely not a happy hubby).

Based on my description of the adult birds, my uncle identified them as European Starlings. They are a common bird today, but they do have an interesting history. Approximately one hundred of the birds were released in New York City between 1890 and 1892 by industrialists who wanted to introduce all of the birds mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare to North America (apparently with little regard to what ramifications that would have on the ecosystem). There are now more than 200 million Starlings in North America - most of which inhabit our BBQ (still not a happy hubby).

Yesterday I also found a baby rabbit living in our tulip patch. It is difficult to get an appreciation of just how tiny he is based on the angle at which this photo was taken, but he certainly is adorable.



I can not believe the number of little creatures that we have living in our yard this year. We have even found that we need to keep an eye out for nests on the ground when we walk the dogs out by the creek.