Dear Kiky,
I would prefer we talk Canada and all those things here because others will also be interested. :-) You may be surprised to learn that I read and answer on this forum before I ever look at my emails. Here we often talk as confidentially as we could on emails. We are all friend here. Try it, you'll like it.
Now, about Canada. My dear country has many climates, like your China does.
Canada is also a huge country. It has oceans on three sides and the United States of America lies all along, below its southern boundary. We have a gigantic, sparsely populated north. We are always aware in the backs of our minds about our harsh, rich and dramatic northland, but most of us have never been there. I have been north of Lake Superior where the ancient mountains have been worn down to huge and menacing cliffs, but I haven't been any further north in Canada. In the USA I have stayed on the northernmost tip of the North American continent in Alaska, USA.
That is on the Beaufort Sea at Point Barrow, and a few hundred miles from the North Pole. Alaska is on the upper left side of our country on a map. Once it belonged to Russia, but the USA bought it from them. It looks like it should be a part of Canada, but isn't.
On our extreme west coast, Vancouver Island has its "Sunshine Coast", the warmest place in Canada. It has a medditeranean climate and, as you can tell from the name, it get's more sunshine than the rest of that huge island, and the weather is mild from the ocean. They don't have palm trees, like Dalian, where Dove lives. They can get some snow in winter, but not much, and not long. Their spring comes very early and their winter very late.
The city of Vancouver, on the mainland is also mild, but it get's more rain. It is a handsome city in a wonder setting on the ocean with rugged mountains near.
We have many mountains in this province if British Columbia, which is the nearest to you, as it is the farthest west, on the Pacific Ocean. These Islands mentioned above, and that city belong to BC. I live in the interior of BC between mountains. There are deep, narrow lakes here. The weather is dry and hot in summer. Dry and colder in winter. We have quite a bit of winter snow, excellent skiing, orchards and vineyards, and wineries. In the south we grow peaches. Our area is part of the great Sonora Desert, that runs up from the United States. Here we even have small cacti in the foothills. There is another range of valleys to the east of us.
Then comes the next province, Alberta. It has Rocky Mountains, foothills, and flatlands. It is a rich province with much oil and farming. It gets cold in the winter, very, very cold. The winters are long and beautiful. It is a beautiful province with it's lakes and mountains, too.
Further east yet is another huge province called Saskatchewan. It is part of our wheat belt. It is very flat, and beautiful, and was originally grassland. I love its wonderful patches of fields that look like marvellous quilts spread out. There is some of this in Alberta, too. As these two provinces and the next one over, Manitoba are so far inland, it becomes very, very, very, very cold in the winter. You can freeze bits of yourself in a few minutes. Winds blow. Winter snow often blows horizontally in "white-outs" when you can't see anything more than a foot or so in front of your nose, and "blizzards". You can get lost in a snowstorm just going between your own house and your own barn, and freeze to death. Therefore they have ropes and poles to guide them back and forth safely. In each of these provinces there have been peoples from different parts of the world come to become Canadians. Here there are many hardy Slavic peoples and people from Scandinavian countries. Manitoba is also cold and a fine and beautiful province.
Next over is Ontario. It is the big engine of the country. It has much industry and many cities. The biggest of its cities is Toronto. It sinks down into the United States. In fact it would be more true to say that it is where Canada has always been and that the provinces I told you about up to now had the bottom parts of them cut off and given to the United States by George III of England, back when England had that much power here. There are the five Great Lakes in Ontario and Manitoba. They are each inland seas. They are huge and magnificent.
I think I will continue this in another post. Please watch for it.
Warmly, Mary
