O'Canada

About the Authors

Sophie Bury spent the first 27 years of her life in Ireland and subsequently some dozen years in Canada and holds citizenship of both countries. She feels strong connections to both places. The similarities and differences between them have become somewhat of an obsession, but also a source of interest and amusement for her. What better opportunity than being based in Dublin, Ireland during a sabbatical leave to create a photo blog on this very theme, jointly with friend and colleague William Denton. She’ll be adding the Irish photos, and Bill, from Toronto, the Canadian ones.

William Denton is a Canadian librarian. He likes maple syrup and he likes Rush, but not Tim Hortons and certainly not slush.

Why O’Canada?

We mulled over possible names which might capture the essence of the blog and ultimately decided on O’Canada. For Canadians, this hardly needs explanation, and probably most Irish folks know this is how Canada’s national anthem opens, minus the apostrophe. The O’ is what makes it oh so Oirish! There are countless names in Ireland which begin with O’ — O’Flaherty, O’Brien, and the list goes on.

This will be largely a photo blog. We will look at Ireland and Canada and compare and contrast them using pictures with some captions and commentary. It will largely be based on our own observations and experiences and we’ll use our own photos or those with creative commons licenses. We hope to inform and entertain. Comments, photos, and ideas from those of you out there who share our crazy passion are most welcome. :-)