Maricopa Views: Getting to know our Canadian visitors

When you are a snowbird from Canada, or from any of the northern American states spending your winter in Maricopa, you become very popular back home. There is no shortage of family and friends who would love to visit you in balmy Arizona for a week or two — or maybe three.

That was just one of the insights I learned when my wife, Linda, and I lunched recently with three Canadian snowbirds at The Duke restaurant.

I have always had a fondness for Canada and Canadians. I’ve visited the country probably 20 times, almost from coast to coast. Unfortunately, I never made it to the Maritime provinces — New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. I also spent a year sharing an apartment with two Canadian college hockey players. More on that later.

So, when I realized how many Canadians made their winter home in Maricopa, I had to find out more.

Al Johnson of the Province Snowbird Club arranged for us to have lunch with Clarence and Cathy Morris, of Sanford, Manitoba, as well as Don Townsend, a native of Sylvan Lake, Alberta.

All three are retired and are current residents of Province. Their love of Maricopa was evident. And, of course, a lot of that has to do with the winter weather.

I wondered if they found it strange to see locals wearing heavy coats and hats on a sunny, 55-degree day? How would they fair encountering a Canadian winter?

“They’d have no idea,” Clarence exclaimed, but admitted, “It’s a little cold for us in shorts.”

“Seventy five for us back home is a hot day,” added Don.  Both had just come from a game of water volleyball.

Conversely, how about them spending time here in the heat of summer?

“Last year we came here in the summer just after we bought our place and it was a shock,” Cathy said. “It took me about two days to get used to it.”

Then again, 115 is often a shock to locals. “I don’t think I’d want to be here for a whole summer, but for a week it was great,” she added.

There were all kinds of other questions. Do you drive all that way from Canada so you can have a car here? The Morrises bought one in Canada and drove it here to leave.

As for the visitors from back home, Don said, “I’ve actually had to tell some people that we just can’t do it. We’ve got almost continuous visitors.”

It seems trivial, but I wondered how you handle things like mail when you spend six months in one place and six in another.

“Everything just gets forwarded,” Clarence said. However, there is a difference. The forwarding service that is free in the U.S. costs $100 in Canada, and they will not forward parcels. There is also no Saturday mail delivery in Canada. We may soon be equals in that respect.

Taking care of two homes has been no problem. There are many neighbors willing to care for a vacant home for a small fee.

But the key questions I had concerned the differences between Canadians and Americans. The first difference that was mentioned — swimming pools! They asked if our swimming pool was heated. It’s not.

“There’s how we’re really different,” Cathy said. “If you go to our pool in Province, even now, the Canadians are still there. You know it’s the Canadians because the Americans will not go anywhere near the pool.”

Keeping active is also no problem. “We’re going to be volunteering,” both Morrises said. “That’s us.”

“Do you want to volunteer to clean my yard?” Don quickly asked?

The major difference may really involve patriotism. “It’s not that Americans are more patriotic than Canadians, they’re just more vocal about it,” Cathy explained, “Which surprised me.”

About those Canadian roommates. There was Fredericton, New Brunswick, native Richard Scammell. He was movie-star handsome, captain of the hockey team and BMOC. For those of you under 50, that stands for Big Man on Campus, a phrase I haven’t heard for years.

And there was Barry Law, from Peterborough, Ontario. He always reminded me of the old Mad Magazine character Alfred E. Neuman, both physically and in his philosophy of life, “What, Me Worry?” I hope Barry never reads this.