Fresh Street Market Salmon & Berry Festival

 

The Snowbirds

 

The Snowbirds’ Wings Over White Rock performance on August 12, 2026 is scheduled to start around 5:00 p.m. and run for approximately 45 minutes.

Although the official national schedule lists White Rock as a flypast, local organizers confirmed it will in fact be a full show over Semiahmoo Bay this year.

The team typically stages from Boundary Bay Airport, then enters the bay from the southwest, performing over the water with arcs toward the pier and Marine Drive.

🌅 Best Viewing Spots

These are based on past years, crowd flow, and sightlines along the bay:

1. White Rock Pier (the classic spot)

• Unobstructed views of the full performance box

• You’ll feel the aircraft pass almost overhead

• Fills up early — by 3:30 p.m. it’s usually shoulder‑to‑shoulder

2. East Beach (near the Grand Chief Bernard Robert Charles Memorial Plaza)

• Excellent angles for formation entries

• Less crowded than the pier

• Good if you prefer space and a quieter vibe

3. West Beach / Marine Drive (near the Boathouse)

• Great for photography — aircraft often bank in this direction

• Restaurants and benches nearby

• Slightly more crowded than East Beach but calmer than the pier

4. Centennial Park Upper Walkway

• Elevated view over the bay

• Perfect if you want to avoid the Marine Drive crush

• Bring binoculars for the best experience

🚗 Traffic, Parking & Road Closures

White Rock usually implements the following patterns for major waterfront events:

Parking

• West Beach lots: typically full by 2:30–3:00 p.m.

• East Beach lots: fill more slowly; better chance until ~4:00 p.m.

• Centennial Arena: reliable overflow parking with a 10–12 minute downhill walk.

Road Closures

Expect intermittent closures or restrictions along:

• Marine Drive (especially near the pier)

• Oxford Street hill (traffic control for pedestrian flow)

RCMP usually sets up soft closures rather than full barricades, but delays are guaranteed.

Transit

• Route 361 and 362 run along Marine Drive.

• Buses often switch to “drop‑off only” near the pier once crowds build.

• If you’re coming from Surrey Centre or Guildford, the R1 → 351 connection is the smoothest.

Timing Tips for a Stress‑Free Experience

• Arrive by 3:30 p.m. if you want a prime spot.

• Bring a hat and water — August sun on the promenade can be intense.

• If you prefer less crowd density, East Beach around 4:15 p.m. is ideal.

• The Snowbirds often do a warm‑up pass 10–15 minutes before showtime.

Cashless society?

I hope everyone will read Dave Ramsey’s comments from the UK about going cashless. It’s a two minute read. No one has explained it better. He brings up several situations I'd never considered. 

NO CASH means ABSOLUTELY NO CASH. Here is an idea. The next store you go in and order a drink or want to buy their product and they tell you “card only” …. Walk away, I have done this out of principle.

Dave Ramsey:

HERE'S WHAT NO CASH ACTUALLY MEANS:

A cashless society means no cash. Zero.  It doesn’t mean mostly cashless and you can still use a ‘wee bit of cash here & there’.  Cashless means fully digital, fully traceable, fully controlled. I think those who support a cashless society aren’t fully aware of what they are asking for.  A cashless society means:

* If you are struggling with your mortgage on a particular month, you can’t do an odd job to get you through.

* Your child can’t go & help the local farmer to earn a bit of summer cash.

* No more cash slipped into the hands of a child as a good luck charm or from their grandparent when going on holidays.

* No more money in birthday cards.

* No more piggy banks for your child to collect pocket money & to learn about the value of earning.

* No more cash for a rainy day fund or for that something special you have been putting £20 a week away for.

* No more little jobs on the side because your wages barely cover the bills or put food on the table.

* No more charity collections.

* No more selling bits & pieces from your home that you no longer want/need for a bit of cash in return.

* No more cash gifts from relatives or loved ones.

What a cashless society does guarantee:

* Banks have full control of every single penny you own.

* Every transaction you make is recorded.

* All your movements & actions are traceable.

* Access to your money can be blocked at the click of a button when/if banks need ‘clarification’ from you which will take about 3 weeks, a thousand questions answered & five thousand passwords.

* You will have no choice but to declare & be taxed on every pound in your possession.

* The government WILL decide what you can & cannot purchase.

* If your transactions are deemed in any way questionable, by those who create the questions, your money will be frozen, ‘for your own good’.

Forget about cash being dirty.  Stop being so easily led.  Cash has been around for a very, very, very long time & it gives you control over how you trade with the world. It gives you independence. 

If you are a customer, pay with cash.  If you are a shop owner, remove those ridiculous signs that ask people to pay by card.  Cash is a legal tender, it is our right to pay with cash.  Banks are making it increasingly difficult to deposit cash. 

Please open your eyes.  Please stop believing everything you are being told. Almost every single topic in today’s world is tainted with corruption & hidden agendas. 

Pay with cash & please say no to a cashless society while you still have the choice.   

My take:  Criminals will continue to use Bitcoin so it can't be traced.  I love going to the grocery store with a $100 bill and watching Gen Z cashiers look at it as if it's quaint!  Watching them make change is hysterical.  

From Callister Park to the World Cup: Why Soccer Still Has My Heart

 Memories of Callister Con Jones Park/Callister Park: 1921-1970 Vancouver Soccer’s Spiritual Home 

Growing up, soccer wasn’t just a sport—it was part of our family rhythm. My dad coached, my sister and I tagged along, and Callister Park became our weekend home. The Vancouver Fire Fighters Soccer team was our team, and we watched them play with the kind of loyalty only kids can muster. Callister Park was located on Oxford Street close to the Pacific National Exibition in east Vancouver.

Then came the game against Columbus.

The Fire Fighters were winning, the crowd was buzzing, and everything felt perfect—until the riot started. Those old wooden boards at the front of the stands didn’t stand a chance. People kicked them loose and stormed the field with splintered pieces in their hands.

My dad didn’t hesitate. He scooped us up and got us out of there before things got worse. I never went back to Callister Park after that day, but the memory has stayed sharp as ever.

Despite that wild ending, soccer still feels like home to me. I love watching the little ones play, all determination and oversized jerseys. And every time I see parents standing in the teaming rain, cheering on their kids, I smile. I love cheering for the Whitecaps. And I especially love the World Cup—one glorious stretch of time when the whole world seems to hold its breath together.

They’re the quiet heroes of the sport.

I was enjoying the World Cup until I saw this!

Here is the definition of sportsmanship.  I think Merriam-Webster should amend their dictionary.

Sportsmanship is the ethical behavior and attitude displayed during a game or contest. It involves playing fair, following the rules, and treating teammates, opponents, and officials with respect. It emphasizes playing for the love of the game and accepting both victory and defeat with dignity.

Trump cheats at golf, cheats on his three wives and now he's interfering with the World Cup.

Life in Ukraine

 

The resilience of the Ukranian people is unbelievable.  This war has gone on far too long.  Here is an incredible story:

"Through the night, fear, and exhaustion." Ukrainian mother and daughter spend the night in a field after ballistic missile alert on their way to the sea Anna Voronina has touched thousands online with a Threads post describing how a Russian attack interrupted her family's journey.

She and her young daughter were traveling on an overnight train to the seaside when the train made an emergency stop due to the threat of ballistic missile strikes, and passengers were evacuated from the carriages.

To comfort her daughter, Anna rocked her to sleep in her arms before the two lay down on a blanket spread out on the ground.

“I quietly sing a lullaby. My daughter falls asleep — she spends an hour in my arms, then we lie down on a blanket, right on the ground. For a moment, the world feels smaller, warmer, safer. That's how, through the night, fear, and exhaustion, I'm taking my child to the sea so she can go swimming,” she wrote.

Social media users praised the resilience of the Ukrainian mother, who continues fighting to give her daughter a normal summer childhood despite the war.

How home heating has changed!

When I was a child, we had a sawdust burner furnace.  Every morning my dad would go downstairs and shovel sawdust.  Our house was warm.

We moved into a townhouse when we got married and had a natural gas furnace.  It worked just fine.  When we had our house built the plans showed electric baseboards.  We lived in our house for 38 years and they worked great.  It never stopped and we never repaired anything.

We moved to Surrey and again had a natural gas furnace.  In our second summer in Surrey we added an air conditioner.  After seven years our furnace was broken and there were no more parts so we had to get another furnace.  It's now 10 years old.  It broke down when it was still under warranty.  This year when we got our yearly service it wasn't heating properly in the very cold weather.  The service guy said "could be two things, one is $100 and the other is $600 but I don't know which one it is".  He put in the $100 repair piece.  Then he went to our air conditioner that is now 15 years old and said it had a leak.  It would be $10,000 for a replacement.  I asked about rebates and he said "no longer available".

I kept hearing about rebates so I went onto my computer and sure enough, they were available.  We contacted Jetson and found they are a Canadian company and it's new electric technology. The heat pump was invented by a Canadian!  They helped me get a $12,500 rebate for a new furnace and air conditioner.  

It was installed yesterday.  We control our heat pump from the app on our phones.  It doesn't matter where in the world we are, we can control the heat.   Jetson monitor our heat pump 24/7 from their control center.  They say if there is a problem, they will know before we will.  It's got a 10 year full guarantee!  

We've come a long way from the sawdust burner.

https://jetsonhome.com/ca/

Jetson heat pumps, known as the Jetson Air, were invented by a team of technology entrepreneurs led by CEO Stephen Lake, along with co-founders Matthew Bailey and Aaron Grant. 

Lake, Bailey, and Grant—all mechatronics engineering graduates from the University of Waterloo—previously founded the smart-glasses startup North (formerly Thalmic Labs), which was acquired by Google in 2020. Following the acquisition, they launched Vancouver-based Jetson Home Inc. in 2024 with the goal of modernizing residential HVAC by treating home heating systems like consumer electronics that integrate software optimization and direct-to-consumer installation.

Thank you Bryan Adams

Bryan Guy Adams is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and photographer. He is estimated to have sold between 75 million and more than 100 million records and singles worldwide, placing him among the best-selling music artists.  

Bryan Adams celebrates Canada Day with a brand-new patriotic anthem. The rock legend has released his latest single, '51st State', marking the occasion with a powerful tribute to his homeland.

He is taking a chance with his career by releasing this but he's already a super star!