There's a story told about a young man who wanted to travel across Canada. Being a devout Catholic he made a point of visiting the church in whatever town or city he came to. And so he went into the cathedral in Halifax on his first stop, and noticed a gold phone just inside the cathedral, with a notice indicating calls were $100 each. Curious, he approached the priest to ask him why calls were so expensive. The priest answered that the phone was a direct line to God. His journey took him to Fredericton next, and again, when visiting the cathedral he saw the gold phone with the notice that calls were $100. Again the local priest told him that calls were that expensive because it was a direct line to God.
And so he continued westward, and at each cathedral he saw the gold phone, and the $100 cost, and was given the same response. Eventually he arrived in Calgary and soon made his way to St. Peter's. Once again he saw the gold phone, but was surprised to see a notice saying calls were 35 cents! He went to see the priest to ask him why calls on that phone were only 35 cents when they cost $100 in other parts of the country. "Son", the priest said, "you're in God's country now - it's a local call."
If you've never been out west, you need to put it on your 'list of things to do before I die'. Today's photo reminds me of the 15 years we lived near Calgary - a great experience that left many fond memories.
5 comments:
Rick, there's no box to click on that says I LOVE IT! Amazing post, great photo and wonderful story! Thank you for sharing this, and now when I hear the Calgary stampede is in our rival city I shall think of this blog post and smile! :-)
@darlin - thank you. That's my belt buckle (still wear it every day) and bolo tie from the Stampede. I really need to make a trip back there!
Wow Rick, this was shortly after I first started to follow your blog. Just over a year later this post made me smile all over again.
This post was before people caught on and realized that you are such a fantastic photographer and gifted with words, now you're famous on Bloggerville :-) and I really appreciate you taking the time to still respond to comments and make it to my blog. That means a lot to me Rick, thank you. I love your humor and appreciate the wisdom you share, you are extremely inspirational. Your writing astounds me... the book is waiting to be written! :-)
It would be fantastic to put it out there and find a place for bloggers to come together to meet, I'd love to meet so many people I've met here, you being one of them. We'd have to ensure that Joesph could make it as well, he's hilarious! To be so young again... mind you maybe not, I'd have to learn those tough life lessons all over again. No thank you... I just changed my mind.
Well back to the other post, I was sidetracked here through a link somehow... it just happens! ;-)
Now I wonder if I still have that Calgary Stampede belt buckle or if I gave it to Papa Ross... I'm going to have to take a look and see if it's kicking around here someplace. And that's awesome that you still wear the buckle, let me know if you're ever up this way and headed for the stampede. Calgary isn't far from here and we could spend an afternoon taking photos, that would be awesome! Nite Rick, I have to get to bed!
I'm catching up on comments, Darlene ...
Thanks so much for these 2 comments - wow, a lot of water has passed under the proverbial bridge since that post ! Yes, so many wonderful people in bloggerland - you among them - would be great to meet some - including Joseph, of course, so I nominate Heidelberg as a meeting place !
Real Calgarians avoid Stampede time I discovered while living there, but I'd go again in a heartbeat !
Thanks for coming by here again, Darlene.
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