Photography by Tracy Cook

“Sing with all the voices of the mountain, paint with all of the colours of the wind.”

“You know your path, child, now follow it”

As one of the most patriarchal Prince saves Princess stories, Sleeping Beauty doesn’t have much to offer in terms of female empowerment.  I used to be fully against, and horrified at the messages of stories such as this. This project has taught me a few things. Take what applies to you, discard what doesn’t, and discuss what conflicts with your world view.

And did anyone else think that the three good fairies were really in control of almost everything? Disney missed a fabulous opportunity to play up the fact that Flora, Fauna and Merryweather controlled a HUGE amount of the decisions and actions in the movie, and drove the plot in many ways !  Three strong women, snuck in, and took over in the shadow of the main characters !

So as a feminist, raising a Princess loving 3 year old, we’ll have fun with the clothes and beautiful tiaras, and discuss the messages of such fairy tales.

“Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair to me. Immediately the hair fell down and the king’s son climbed up. At first Rapunzel was terribly frightened when a man, such as her eyes had never yet beheld, came to her; but the king’s son began to talk to her quite like a friend.”

“Live your dreams”

and

“Venture out of  your comfort zone. The rewards are worth it”

In the chaotic world we live in….

“Sometimes we only see how people are different from us. But if you look hard enough, you can see how much we’re all alike”

Princess Jasmine

Namaste

You know when a good friend goes through something rough, or traumatic, you make a special effort to go see them to show your support and give them a great big hug.

That’s exactly what we did with our recent visit to Waterton after the devastating fires. We made the trip from Edmonton to show our support and check in.

There is clearly devistation, it’s a gift from the heavens that no homes, businesses or lives were lost. The trees will sprout again, the vegitation will recover, the animals are returning and people are visiting.

This is our trip to Waterton, two weeks after the Kenow fires.

A mix of burnt brush, glorious spring colours and majestic mountains that still stand proud.

Burnt up to,  but thankfully not the Prince of Wales Hotel

It was such a mix of beauty,

and devastation.

I don’t know if this was the hand of God, firefighters, or both that saved Kootenai Brown’s grave site.  Boy did that come close !

But we have lots of hope and love for Waterton. We know once the roads are opened up to the public to Red Rock Canyon and Cameron Lake, we may feel sadness and overwhelmed at the yet to be seen devastation. But, no lives were lost, animals are returning, Waterton is strong and beautiful, and it will always be a special wonderful place for our family.

Now, grant me some creative leniency here, #9 in this series is a bit of a departure from the princesses already done. Meet Anne Shirley, better known as Anne of Green Gables from the FAMOUS Lucy Maude Montgomery Series.  So technically not a princess, but for my purposes, we are going to go ahead and call her

CANADIAN ROYALTY

and include her in this series. 

” All you need is FAITH, TRUST and a little bit of PIXIE DUST”

 TinkerBelle

“Though she be but little, she is fierce!”

William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

” May you always have a shell in your pocket, and sand in your shoes”

and a good friend by your side.

The Princess was a strong, independant lady

She was carefree and loved to dance.

She sometimes wondered what else there was to life..

One day she came upon a frog, and was told he would turn into a handsome Prince that would rescue her if she kissed him.

She pondered this idea

And decided to kiss him.

Instead of being horrified by kissing a frog, she was intrigued, interested, curious. She didn’t wait around to see if he would turn into a Prince, she promptly headed home and decided she would study Zoology, specifically focusing on Herpetology.

And she lived….happily.