Beausejour, Manitoba, is a typical small town on the Canadian prairies. It has 3,100 residents, a disproportionate number of which are incredibly tall, impossibly good-looking people of Ukrainian and other eastern European backgrounds.
It has an overabundance of churches and tends to vote for Conservatives but it's one of those rare and special places where people have a more libertarian outlook on life and don't go out of their way to let you know what they think of who you are and how you choose to live. It's one of those places where you really do get what you give.
It's a place where people live well and surprisingly creatively. People who can't do something artistic - be it painting, playing a musical instrument, whatever - are few and far between.
All in all, my time there was fantastically enjoyable. It was like living in another world - but I loved it precisely because it was so different.
Glassblowing demo at a local Old Age Home:
A woman and her, I kid you not, guard donkeys:
High school graduation:
A summer festival:
The Shades of the Past car show:
An alphabet garden at the local Primary/Elementary school:
A new piece of equipment for the playground:
The local theatre company's production:
Harvest time:
Inside one of the many churches:
The town Christmas tree:
The community pool:
The mother of a depressed young man who had taken his own life, celebrating the successful organization of the first fundraiser walk in his memory:
The local golf course.
The public Daylily Gardens:
Cheerleaders:
Figure skaters:
Traditional, Ukrainian dancing:
Moto-Cross racing (also used for snowmobile racing and a rodeo):
The rodeo:
(Yes, it's really called the BJ Motel):
Snowmobile races:
Ice storm:
Rainbow.
Rainstorm moving in:
The local Brokenhead River:
The best sunset I've yet seen in my life...