This newsletter covers July, August and September which    were busy months, with visitors, a trip to England, birthdays and many outdoor activities.

A visit from Denmark

 

On July 2, our friends Jannie and John from Sengeloese, Denmark arrived for a 3 week visit. John is very active in the Sengeloese radio station which transmits on Saturday mornings and which is his connection to Jesper, who did a Country and Western show once a month until we left Denmark. John and Jesper became very good friends during that time and, although Jannie and John had never before experienced such a long trip, they informed us they intended to visit us here in Calgary. Many people say this, but few actually do it, so it was a real thrill when they told us they had booked the trip.

Jesper’s moment of glory in the Calgary Stampede Parade

 

The timing was great because the Calgary Stampede started on 5 July, and as you may remember from the previous newsletter, Jesper had been chosen to ride in the Parade with the Calgary Western Riders. Jesper had to be there the night before the event, as they get judged early in the morning before the Parade starts. On his way, he brought Chico (his horse) to our house, and had him out in the garden, where several of our neighbours came to see what was going on.  Jannie, John, Steffen and myself left home at 6.30 am to try to get a good spot on the street. Even by then, it was difficult and many people had been there for hours, but we did manage to get in the second row in the middle of an intersection, when they closed it to traffic at 7.30 am. Over here, they do things in comfort, so people take their chairs, food, drinks, cameras and

high spirits.
Although the actual Parade starts at 9.00 am, there is a pre-parade with a variety of artists, clowns, music, police on motorbikes etc., so the time passes quickly and everyone is in a party mood. Then, the Parade comes through the streets and it lasts about 2 hours. If we all shouted Ya Hoo once, we shouted it a thousand times as

almost all the participants shout to the crowd and expect a response. At first I think Jannie and John didn’t know what to expect or how to react, but they soon got into the swing of it, along with the rest of us. Finally the Calgary Western Riders arrived, looking very smart in black jeans, white dress shirts with bowties, black gloves and white cowboy hats. We all stood up and

cheered like crazy when we saw Jesper, who obviously loved every minute of his ‘glory’. Alas, it passed so quickly and suddenly they were gone from our view. However we had also videotaped it and to our surprise and delight, found that the cameras zoomed in and focused mainly on Jesper, much to the envy of his team mates.

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