Calgary's Chinatown

Calgary's Chinatown lies in the downtown Calgary core between 1st avenue and 4th avenue southeast. Chinatown straddles Centre Street and is located in North East Calgary on the east side of  Center Street and on the west side is located in the North West Calgary.  It is ironic that the James Short Parkade is named after a mayor of Calgary who actively tried to demolish Chinatown because he believed it brought down the property value.  In the 1960's, Calgary's city council tried to relocate a major roadway through Chinatown that would have ultimately removed all of Chinatown. Canadian born Chinese fought city hall's expropriation attempt and today Calgary is the only Chinatown protected by a bylaw in Canada that guarantees its existence as a cultural and historical site.

Fox Hollow Golf Course

Fox Hollow is a nine hole golf course that is inside the Calgary city limits located on 32 Avenue North East. In the background you can see the traffic from 32 Ave. N. E. and on the left the golf course borders on Deer Foot Trail a major roadway running North and South. There is a golf dome driving range that charges only $15 for unlimited number of bucket of balls that you wish to hit. Outside the clubhouse is a practice putting green. There is also a putting green inside the dome. The golf course is a short 9 hole course. The first tee is about a 425 yard par four. The fairways are fairly wide with thick brush along the fairways. You walk under a steel culvert tunnel to get to the first tee . You golf due north for the first five holes and eventually you swing back due south to end up back at the first tee box.  Fox Hollow is a public golf course with reasonable green fees. For someone wanting a quick round of golf , Fox Hollow is a good beginner's golf course.  Believe it or not Stephen Ames a Canadian on the PGA golf tour can be seen practicing his tee shots in the golf dome in the winter. Most people would not recognize him as a well known golf professional.

Zen Garden

Click on the link to view a power point presentation on a brief history of Zen Gardens and  how to make a Zen Garden.   THE ZEN GARDEN

Arbour Lake

Calgary was selected by an international survey to be the 5th best city in the world in which one should choose to live.  Sidney , Australia was voted number two and Vancouver was number three and I believe a city in Switzerland was number four.  A Northwest neighbourhood in Calgary called Arbour Lake was voted by the City of Calgary as the 5th best neighbourhood in all of Calgary. The neighbourhood's were evaluated according to residential neighbourhoods, shopping areas, school facilities, recreational facilities, green spaces, community facilities and lack of crime. I visited my friends at their house in Arbour Lake that they purchased just a year ago and went to check out the plants I gave them for their front flower . I then asked my friend to take me to the local community lake called Arbour Lake. All the residents of Arbour Lake pay a $200 fee for the upkeep of Arbour Lake as an all year round recreational facility. In the summer the lake is used for swimming, fishing and boating. There is a sandy beach for sun tanning and docks for fishing . The lake is stocked with rainbow trout. In the winter, the lake is frozen and becomes a skating rink and in some areas there is ice fishing. On this Monday , Labour Day, the last holiday before the start of the school year . the lake was crowded with families enjoying the last summer holiday.

McDougall Centre

There is an Alberta Government Building called the McDougall  Centre in Calgary located on 7th Street and 5th Avenue South West.  The Members of the Legislative Assembly for the Calgary Conservative Caucus hold Provincial Government meetings.  The main Legislative Assembly is located in Edmonton which is our Provincial Capital. Surrounding the McDougall building is a lovely circular garden in the front and a series of water fountains with flowing water over cement steps that enter a reflecting pool. During the week, the local office workers can be seen taking their lunch break in the courtyard.  Sometimes protesters will demonstrate against provincial government policy on the front steps.  On weekends, the courtyard is usually vacant but wedding couples come to take their wedding pictures against the water fountains as a backdrop.  On the day , I shot this video it was around 5:00 pm on a Saturday.  This courtyard is a bit of peaceful nature hidden away in the downtown city centre.  If one was to walk north for five or six blocks you would encounter the Bow River and its cycling paths along the riverbank.

Business Orientation Tour Of China

In 2010 and 2012 , I organized two eighteen day all inclusive six province tours of Northern and Southern China.  Here is a group picture of our last group in front of the Heavenly Temple in The Forbidden City.

In September of 2014,  I am going to organize a 21 day Business Orientation Tour of China that is a "unique blend of business and cultural experiences".   The tentative itinerary can be found in the following blogsite:  http://alltheteainchinatour.blogspot.ca
If anyone wants to go please contact me for more details.
I just finished reading a documentary novel by Gavin Menzies titled:  1421 when China Discovered America.  It is a fascinating documentary that provides proof that the Chinese under Cheng He and his giant treasure ships sailed the world in several voyages between 1407 and 1421 and traded and established colonies in Africa, India, Australia, South America , the Carribbean, and North America centuries before the Portuguese explorers of Bartholomew Diaz, Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan or the Italian Christopher Columbus or the Spanish Conquistadors. Moreover, the  Europeans were using nautical maps that were created by the Chinese that were copied  by Italian cartographers and purchased by Henry the Navigator of Portugal who gave these nautical maps to the
explorers he sponsored.  Beside the heavenly temple is a giant astrolabe that depicts the world as being round and has positions of the stars and countries clearly mapped out . This astrolab was positioned in the heavenly temple to assist the astronomers in plotting China's position relative to all the known countries in the world and established China as the Middle Kingdom. The world is depicted as being round and not flat. With this documented book , Western historians will have to re-evaluate the history and development of exploration prior to 1492.

Picking Cherries

In my front yard, I have a Macintosh apple tree,  a plum tree and a cherry tree. The apple tree has only a few apples this year because the tree is taking a rest from last year's abundant harvest. There are two small green plums on the plum tree. I have not had much success in getting the plum tree to bear fruit.  In the five years since I planted the plum tree, this is the first time that two plums formed even though the tree has produced flowers for five consecutive years.  The cherry tree that is over 25 years old is still producing cherries and I have invited friends to pick the cherries. The tree is getting old and I have had to saw off a number of dying branches. The Cherry tree has been grafted onto a Nanjing cherry tree so the roots of the tree is really a Nanjing cherry tree. In my back yard behind my greenhouse I have another Macintosh tree and a Nanjing cherry tree.  The cherries from the Nanjing cherry tree produces small sweet pea sized cherries.  The cherry tree produces marble sized cherries and have a bit of a tart taste.  In the backyard , I also have a raspberry bush and a gojii berry bush. In front of my garage are three blueberry bushes. And finally, in the greenhouse, I have a potted peach tree  and six fruit bearing Fig trees that originally came from Italy.