king of the north

i figured i would celebrate my canadian heritage with a card, and so here it is:

it is, quite obviously, a 2010 topps allen & ginter's national animals mini insert of the beaver, the national animal of the great white north.  here's the back:

growing up in southern california, the beaver was a mythical creature. actually, outside of zoos, most non-domesticated animals were, save for rattlesnakes, mountain lions, and sea dwelling fare such as otters, sea lions, and regular old seals. however, given my canadian ties, i've always had a respect for the rodent.

when i moved to minnesota, i was able to see beaver huts in the rivers and bald eagles (the national animal of the us of a, also included in this set but not pictured here) flying overhead. it was weird, and i still get enthralled by seeing baldys in the wild even though it was an almost daily occurrence for me before the shelter-in-place order took effect in the spring of 2020.

i once considered starting a maple leaf mini-collection that would consist of cards like this that feature the canadian flag in the background. i wound up not pursuing that idea, but this card is a member of my "meaningful or just because" mini-collection of cards, and it straddles the line between those two criteria.