It is the first day of the 2013 A to Z Challenge of writing a blog post a day for the the month of April. This my 3rd year of participating in the A to Z and I am writing about places I have lived or love. A is for Alberta, Canada, where I lived until I was 17 years old.
I realized that I didn’t know how Alberta got its name, and discovered it was named for Princess Louise Caroline Alberta(1848-1939), 6th child of Queen Victoria, and Lake Louise was named for her as was the town of Caroline, AB. At one point, there was talk of combining the territories of Alberta and Saskatchewan into one big province named Buffalo, which would have shifted this to the letter B. Princess Louise Caroline Alberta was an artist, and she married(a “subject of the crown”), and did not have any children.
I learned a song about Alberta in the late 1970’s, and we sang along with a loud cassette tape recording, but I can’t remember it’s name. I did find Hey, That’s Alberta, written by Carol Bonham of Delburne, AB, which declares in the liner notes that this was a Provincial Song, an Alberta Anthem, which could spread the fame of Alberta to every corner of the world. Alberta has it’s moments of fame, and enfolded within the name is this Princess I never knew about, who I have more in common with than I would have expected. Alberta, that’s where it’s really at.
Great idea for the challenge! I might just steal it for one of the letters 🙂 Good luck! Also, I’m going to poke around your site, your work looks lovely.
Thanks for checking out my site.
Hi Margaret, Thought I would start the A-Z this year by visiting all the other artists. How fun to find another mosaic artist on my very first visit. I’m liking the new categories already. Like your places theme for the A-Z this year. I have two blogs in this year’s A-Z. It is my second year for A Devotional Mosaic and my first year for Spark My Creativity. Anyway happy blogging, going to go visit your etsy shop and see more of your beautiful work.
Happy Blogging and visiting,
Margot
Hi Margot, I am starting to scan the list for other artists–it is indeed fun! I will check out your site. Thank you for your kind words about my work.
Oh very neat. You know I don’t think I’ve ever really looked up the history of anywhere I’ve lived. I’m going to have to do that soon!
Happy A to Zing!
~Anna
herding cats & burning soup
Anna, I think that when you live somewhere sometimes you just assume it’s always been there.
Glad you’re in the challenge again. Sounds like an interesting place to grow up!
Play off the Page
Hi Mary! I met you because of A to Z! Thanks for coming by for the 2013 A to Z.
Following from the A to Z Challenge. Sometime during the 90’s (I think…ha!) I did a bus tour of Banff and Jasper, as well as the Glacier National Park in Montana. We flew into Calgary to start the tour. The majority of the travelers were quite a bit older than myself, but I had a blast!
Hi LuAnn, I recognize your name from my Facebook page! Glacier National Park is awesome.
Your mosaics look amazing. Thank you for drawing my attention to Alberta – it has one of the most interesting names to say, I love how it starts, holds, and then goes for the big finish.
Thank you for the kind words about my mosaics Elaine. Yes, Alberta is very satisfying to say. My father’s name is Bert, and he is Bert from Alberta. . .
It was interesting to learn more about Alberta and its namesake princess. Happy AtoZ!
Hi MPax. I still don’t know why I didn’t know about the Princess!
I want to visit! Great start to the A to Z challenge.
Welcome Elizabeth. Alberta is a cool place to visit!
Love your tag line 😀 I live in London Ontario – the other London lol
Thanks Sue! I remember London Drugs in Edmonton.
I love that your post was about Alberta! I lived in Canmore, close to Banff for a few years and it was one of my favourite places I’ve lived!
Have fun with the rest of the challenge.
One of my good friends growing up had an aunt in Canmore.
I’ve visited Alberta a couple of times, mostly Edmonton but also Calgary 🙂 My brother lives in B.C. not far from the AB border.
I love that you’ve taken on this challenge. It’s fun to go through the alphabet in your travels with you!
Thanks Snowcatcher! I am enjoying writing the challenge on places – opens up a lot of possibilities.