Rambling Travels of Ang

Being Thankful

2010-10-11T10:59:00.000-06:00

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada. I was washing the dishes thinking of everything I am thankful for. I'm always thankful for dishes because they are a great stress-relief tool for me, but I was doubly thankful today because it means I have food to eat, and a home to prepare that food in and keep me and my family safe from the elements.

Though it is not a complete list, here are a few of the things I am especially thankful for.

1) My husband - the Lord blessed me with a life partner that couldn't be more perfectly suited to me.
2) My son - the newest and brightest light in my life. As far as babies go, I think he's perfect.
3) My family - both the one I didn't choose and the one that I did. They are all a bunch of nuts and I wouldn't have it any other way.
4) My community - I'm surrounded by family and friends (some who are both). We live in this gorgeous corner of the world, nestled in among the trees and fields of gold. It's quiet, yet busy; peaceful yet ever-changing. If you're going to live in the country, it's just about the most perfect place to live.
4) My friends - the far-flung ones who have been friends since birth, and have helped shape me. Plus, who would have I have to stay with or visit when I travel? The near ones who provide a little extra spice in life, keep me from being a homebody, and are excellent parenting examples.
5) My job - I am so thankful I have a job. One that I love and could return to after such a long absence.
6) My church family - See community and friends. I'm not sure there are many places in the world where your immediate neighbours are your family/friends, and fellow believers.
7) The weather - it may seem silly to some, but here, the weather is paramount to everything. The last few years and months have been a challenge for everyone. But we've finally been blessed with a steady stretch of warm, sunny, windy weather so that the field work and harvest can go ahead. There is still lots to do, so we all need to pray for a little more.

Pumpkin Update

2010-09-11T14:37:00.000-06:00

I guess "helping" my pumpkins along really did work. I was cleaning up my garden this afternoon, harvesting, pruning and pulling plants up and found 9 large pumpkins and 11 small pumpkins. Not sure what I'm going to do with so many after I've taken one year pictures, but at least I have a bunch to work with!

A Word on Pumpkins

2010-08-05T08:35:00.000-06:00

I decided to grow pumpkins this year. I had an October baby, so it seemed fitting to try to grow them. And I really want to take baby & pumpkin pictures for his first birthday.

So I picked up a couple of seedlings this spring at the local greenhouse. With the promise that they would grow 8 feet each. For weeks they were the only plants in my garden so I diligently watered them and planned photo shoots in my head. Then they froze during the May Long weekend and the nighttime temperatures hovered around freezing for over a week. I covered the little pumpkins, hoping to save them, but a week later when the weather finally turned around and I uncovered them, they were in a very, very sad state. Just to see if they would bounce back, I left them in the garden, but went out and bought another plant. One that was already half a metre in size.

The new plant thrived and quickly doubled, then tripled its size. And then the frozen pumpkins started to grow again! I was thrilled at the thought of so many more pumpkins. Soon they started to flower and tiny little pumpkins were popping up everywhere. I was telling my mom of all the pumpkins that were growing and she informed me that I would likely have to help them along. Bringing the male flowers to visit the female flowers to make sure the flowers were properly fertilized. "Yeah right. As if I'm going to do that. There are enough bees around to do the job." I was so not going to help them along.

The ones that froze. Each 8 feet in diameter now.

The "newer" one that stretches over 12 feet, with 6 feet taking up grass.

Though the plants were taking more and more of my garden over, my crop of tiny little pumpkins never grew and started to rot. In telling my mother-in-law about the pumpkins, she also said I was going to have to "pimp" them or risk not getting any pumpkins. Every morning for the last 2 weeks I've been going out to "check" on my pumpkins and help them along. The first time I felt awful. Dirty. But it got easier and easier to the point where I didn't even feel bad about chucking the used male flowers over the fence when I was done with them. The best part is my work has paid off. I have several pumpkins that are growing like mad.

About the size of a mini watermelon

The size of a grapefruit

Of course, this has led me to wonder how pumpkins have survived over the many thousands of years if they couldn't get the job done on their own.

Little Sea Turtle

2010-07-25T15:14:00.000-06:00

Hooray! Gauge passed his swimming lessons. Good thing as I would have no idea how to tell him he didn't and would have to take the same level next year ;)

Front Float

Trying to catch a wave like Auntie Shannon S

Auntie Pam came to his last day and we spent the rest of the day on the beach soaking up some vitamin D, drinking lake water and visiting. It was such a great success that I'm tempted to take the same 2 weeks off from work next year so we can do it again. Maybe the whole month of July... I'm loving this free time too much.

Water Baby

2010-07-21T14:21:00.000-06:00

I've heard of very young babies being able to swim. Like being swaddled, they seem to find comfort in water, having spent the previous 9 months in a watery place. That's why we wanted to start Gauge early so he would develop a love and healthy appreciation for water. Lakes in particular, as we are not pool people.

I think Gauge is a water baby now. Today was day 8 of swimming lessons and the second day of lifejacket lessons. He wasn't quite sure what to think yesterday when I strapped him into his lifejacket, but he loved "jumping" into the deep water and that sensation of floating. Today was even better. He was eager to jump off the dock, splashed his arms and even kicked his legs when he was front floating. I couldn't help but have the biggest smile on my face the whole lesson. The greatest moment yet though was when he kept trying to blow bubbles in the water like the other kids. If I didn't hold him high enough above the water, he would put his entire face, mouth open, and come up sputtering but happy.

Swimming Lessons

2010-07-16T09:28:00.000-06:00

I've become one of those parents that does crazy things to (for?) their kids. At only 8 1/2 months old, I enrolled my boy in swimming lessons for 2 weeks. At the lake. Most people who have kids in swimming lessons stay in campers at the lake for the 2 weeks. We don't have one, and you generally have to spend hours on the phone on March 1st to try and get a site... so I'm driving about 80 km round trip every day.
Obviously I've been more excited about going to the lake every day than Gauge, but I think he's catching on.
The first day was a bit of a no-go. I was told that his lesson would be around noon. So I showed up 10 mins. before noon only to find out that he should have been there at 11:30. Oops. I guess there is a list posted at the lake of when the lessons are, but I didn't know to check it beforehand. So we played in the lake a little bit then went home.
Day 2 was cold and cloudy, and we stayed home.
We showed up for day 3 really early and played on the beach and walked on the sand and tried to keep the sand out of someone's mouth. The water was still a little cool from the day before so we didn't make it too far in. Gauge desperately wanted to go and play with the other kids in his class but with each step that took him deeper, he would cringe and squeal a little. We spent a total of 5 mins in the water.

Day 4 was great. We were on time, walked down the beach and up to his chest before he started to make any protest. Being only 8 months, it's hard to get him to do any the things the teacher is teaching, or even play the games. But he loved being in the water and so close to the other kids.
Today is day 5. I think I'm going to try and get him to do some floats and maybe blow bubbles. He's so good at it out of water he should be able to in water right?

Baby Gauge, Pea. Eye.

2010-05-25T14:57:00.000-06:00

It's raining, trying to snow really, and I don't feel like cleaning my house any more after playing hostess to over 100 people this weekend, so I'm going to post cute baby pictures.

See, all done!

My mom doesn't feed me enough, so I have to eat my toes.

"I don't know, what do you think of the plight of farmers?"

Ole Stuff

2010-05-14T07:55:00.000-06:00

Beautiful rusty old lanterns. I'll hang the little one outside and the big one in the kitchen. New flowerbed in the background...

Future flowerpot cream can - can't decide whether to leave it or buff and paint it.

Errol's toy barn

De-worming powder

Gopher poison. On the shelf for at least the last 70 years.

Make it Look Pretty

2010-05-13T09:48:00.000-06:00

On the topic of having Errol's cousin break ground and till some flowerbeds around the house.

Angela: I'm going to get him to work the grass up around the house so I don't have to do it by hand.
Errol: Ok.

Errol: You know I just had him work it up a few years ago so I could seed the grass and make it look nice.
Angela: Yeahbut I want him to work it up again so that I can plant flowers and make it look pretty.

Errol: Yeahbuts live in the bush. Pretty was what I was afraid of.
Angela: Too bad. I'll plant some "nice" shrubs for you.

Stuff

2010-05-11T21:14:00.000-06:00

We're having a reunion here during the May Long Weekend. Over 100 people are expected, including a couple of relatives from Norway. To prepare, we decided to clean the yard. If you're not familiar with prairie farms and the farmer mentality, you NEVER throw anything, I mean anything, away. As soon as you do, you'll need it. So it was a big deal for Errol and his dad to decide a MAJOR cleanup was necessary. I'm super excited about the clean-up because it's getting rid of over 80 years of junk that we won't have to deal with in the future. That's right, 80 years.

5 of us started yesterday morning, working around the big shop, barn, granaries, chicken coop and a storage garage. In 8 hours we filled the dump truck 4 times, and loaded all sorts of scrap metal onto a trailer. And we're not done yet. Most of what we've removed has been junk, but there have been a few treasures. I found a cream can in great condition that Errol's grandmother used to take to town to sell cream, with her name on it. Two beautiful, rusty oil lanterns that will find a home in my kitchen. Old machinery, including a mower that I sat on and got bucked off of. A toy barn that used to be Errol's that we plan to repair and give to Gauge. I think my favourite were never-opened, old cans of gopher poison called "Gopher Cop". They've been on the shelves since Errol's dad was a kid, some 70+ years. Like I said, alot of old junk.

Maybe it's Not Always Adorable...

2010-04-22T08:36:00.000-06:00

Remember how I said learning was adorable? Most of the time it is. It is, however, not very adorable at 2am when it goes on for almost 2 hours. Last night Gauge woke up and decided he needed to practice rolling from side to side, trying to flip onto his tummy. He managed to get stuck width wise in his crib, spun around 360 degrees several times, got tangled in his covers, discovered that the bars on his crib make great noise when he kicked them and so on and so forth. Despite all of his attempts, he never did flip over onto his tummy. At least not that I know of.
But, he has started sleeping on his side, mouth hanging open, which is really cute!

Stop, You're Making Me Bust My Stitches

2010-03-24T09:01:00.000-06:00

Sunday night we were at volleyball when a friend who had recently had jaw reconstruction surgery shuffled in carrying a teddy bear and "Get Well Soon" balloon. He had come to visit. With Gauge.

Gauge eyed up this brightly coloured, floating orb, keeping it in his sight while visiting and volleyball went on around him. Then his dad got the brilliant idea to start kicking and head-butting it into the air. Well... if that wasn't just the best idea ever, Gauge thought. He giggled and laughed so loud that everyone on the court could hear him above the volleyball noises.

Finally our friend says between laughs, "Stop, you're making me bust my stitches."

At the end of the evening, he gave Gauge the balloon to bring home. Such a thoughtful kid!

Learning is ADORABLE

2010-03-20T08:40:00.001-06:00

Sure babies are cute, but when they are learning things for the first time ever, they are down right adorable. You can just see their minds working, processing, figuring out, trying, failing, and trying again until it is just perfect. I think we can all learn from the tenacity of infants to try, try again when "it" doesn't work the first time.
Gauge has learned so much in the last few weeks that it amazes me. I wish I could capture it all on film or video and keep it for eternity on my computer rather than in my memory. But I think he would develop a complex if I constantly had a camera on him, as that is what would be required.

He talks all the time, trying out new sounds and mouth movements. The beginnings of speech. Every once in a while he even scares himself with the sounds that he's making.
He's started to roll front to back. But only when he's in a good mood, and only when he has no clothes on. He seems to think that clothes will only impede his perfection of this new skill. He also sticks his tongue when he's concentrating which I love.

He's also figured out how to move himself. When he practices rolling, he moves. Even on the floor playing, he's learned how to rotate his body 180 degrees to reach a far away toy.
He's learning that things have dimensions. Yesterday he spent 20 minutes trying to pick up, then eat the frog on my shirt. He finally gave up, hopefully figuring out that it is only 2-dimensional and can't be picked up or eaten. I was left with a big wet spot.
Food fascinates him. He's always trying to grab our food, wanting a piece of whatever it is that we put in our mouths. Guess it's soon time to start solids.

On the Road Again

2010-02-01T09:25:00.000-06:00

With our 3 month old (what?!?!? already?) in tow, we traveled to Toon Town this weekend to visit grandparents, uncle, fake aunties, church people and work people. Likely the last time before calving starts in March.
Yesterday, Gauge showed his best side to many offering lots of smiles. What a trooper. His whole routine was off, but he still had smiles to offer before a little scream session. Helped remind me that babies are true creatures of habit. He then spent most of the afternoon and evening sleeping, and slept all night... oh to be like a baby and sleep all the hard work of visiting away

Words of Wisdom

2010-01-06T10:21:00.000-06:00

Have you seen this?

If you are planning on having children, replace whatever soft, squishy flooring plans you have for the nursery with some sort of easy-to-clean flooring. Seriously. You'll thank me, especially if you have a boy. We put in parquet, and every day I am thankful we did. A receiving blanket or paper towel is all you need to clean up anything.
Typical boy... it doesn't seem to matter what I do to keep "it" under control, he takes great pleasure in seeing how far his stream will go. Gauge's "fountain" reached a good 5 feet this morning. Splashing the wooden frame of the ottoman 5 feet from his change table. Ok... maybe it's only 3 feet, but when you're scrambling to cover, it's seems a great distance further.

My new therapist

2009-12-27T09:13:00.000-06:00

I have a new therapist. He's pretty new at the job, but highly effective. Last night, after a wonderful Christmas, we had a big ol' party in the Valley. It was a fun deal. Gauge was pretty well behaved, after we fed and changed him, and let him play on the floor. He loved all the attention (when no one was touching him...). Towards the end of the evening he was fussing again, ready to eat then go to bed as is his routine. The fussing reached critical proportions in a few short minutes and and instead of driving the 3 kilometres to home, I just nursed him at the church, while others cleaned up. But it still wasn't good enough. He was hot, the surroundings loud and bothersome, so I went home with an angry, still hungry baby.

When I got home, it ALL came boiling to the top. Everything that has been frustrating me over the last who knows how long started to spew out. I know nursing a baby when you are an emotional wreck is nearly impossible, but I hoped that he would finish eating so that he would sleep through the night. Thankfully he quickly got down to business. After a couple minutes he stopped, looked at me with the biggest blues eyes he could manage and smiled. My heart melted. How could I stay upset when this perfect little angel was looking at me, solely focused on me, as if to say 'Mommy, it's going to be ok.'

Like I said, he's new at his job, but really, really good at it.

Dreams

2009-11-27T13:16:00.003-06:00

I've never been one to remember my dreams. Falling dreams are the most common for me, and even then, they rarely happen.
In the last months of my pregnancy I dreamt almost every night. Now, for some reason, my dreams involve explosive poo, incessant crying and the fear that Gauge is lying on my chest while I'm in bed, and I can't move him. Oh, and people (usually older women) telling me I'm a poor mother. 2 of those 4 haunt me during the day too.

Sven the Stubborn Swede

2009-11-05T20:04:00.005-06:00

This is the story of Sven the Stubborn Swede, a.k.a. our son Gauge. One of the (Norwegian) ward nurses nicknamed him this shortly after birth, and here is the tale of why.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am on Friday the 30th, and quickly learned we were not going to go home, as they were going to start the birth process. Turns out I was 3cm dilated when they first checked, and labour came quickly, and progressed fairly well through the day. Motorcycle Mama came up to help and by the early evening, the day nurses figured there would be a baby before their shift was over... BUT Sven a.k.a. Gauge, had other plans. By early evening, I was completely dilated and ready to give birth, but no sign of the baby. Later in the evening, he still hadn't moved down the birth canal as one might expect, so the attending obstetrician went in for a feel and discovered his head was in the wrong position. There was still room, so she tried to turn his head into the proper position. Now, if you've never given birth, you might want to skip the next couple of sentences...
Despite the epidural, it was the worst pain imaginable. I laugh at it now, but I have never screamed so loud in my entire life. Errol declared he will think twice about how a cow feels when he does the same thing during calving season... A few good tugs and turns and his head didn't budge. Our options were forceps and a very difficult birth, or C-section. I was so tired I opted for the section.Preparations were made and off to the OR we went. Errol was able to join me and we waited while the obstetrician and her team worked. At 12:33am on Oct 31, our baby boy Gauge was born... in his own special way. When the obstetrician went into the uterus to retreive him by his head, he slipped from her grasp, did a 180, zipped past her and jumped into my abdominal cavity, where she pulled him out by his bum. In all the years she's practiced, she has never seen a baby do that. There were a few extra repairs to be made, and I was out of recovery and in my room by 4am. Errol, Gauge and Motorcycle Mama were all eagerly expecting my arrival, and we chilled until 5am when I could no longer keep my eyes open.

Gauge did great at the beginning. He latched well, was bright and alert, and just a joy to have around. However, not wanting to leave the hospital, he decided to be stubborn, and ended up with jaundice. Instead of going home after 3 days, he spent another 2 days in an infant "tanning" bed treating it. Thankfully he responded well and we were able to come home on Nov. 4th. We were so thankful to find a fridge full of quick to prepare food, and several more care packages arrived during the afternoon.

Now the real fun begins. When we got home, we looked at him and wondered "now what?" We've discovered that he's alot like me and needs to eat on a schedule and becomes completely inconsolable if food is late in arriving. So, every hour we rouse him, fight stubbornly to feed him, and eventually all fall away tired (and me hungry) from the ordeal. He's just showing mommy and daddy (and Motorcycle Mama) whose boss. But. Our little angel is just that and is touching the lives of those around us already.

Lessons to learn

2009-10-23T15:00:00.004-06:00

I'm learning patience this week. Did you know that only 5% of babies are born on their due date? More than 75% are born after. You would think, after ALL these years of women having babies, they would be able to come up with a more accurate method of predicting when birth will occur. Hello! I like to have a bit of a plan in life, especially when it involves an hour and a half trip to the hospital...
Which leads me to my next lesson... children learn very early on, how to run their parents' lives. From the time they are barely a spec on an ultrasound screen, they influence how frequently their mother visits the bathroom, when she eats, what she eats, how much and well she sleeps and subsequently how much and well their father sleeps. But they don't really start to shine in this until the last few weeks of pregnancy. Based on experience and what others have told me, women are usually done with being pregnant several weeks before they actually give birth. The awkwardness, sore everything, poor infrequent sleep and constant potty breaks just become too much. Babies on the other hand, at least 75% of them, seem quite content to hang out in utero where it's warm and cozy, for as long as they can. Doesn't matter how many pep talks I give it, with promises of more room to stretch and cousins and friends to play with, and lots and lots of love, still no signs of coming any time soon.
Patience girl, patience.

I'm Crazy

2009-10-17T14:16:00.004-06:00

Independent - check
Up for a challenge - check
Crazy - check

I'm due to have a baby in 4 days. 4 DAYS!! So really, it could come any time now. Guess how I've spent my Saturday so far... preparing and canning salsa. I had so many ripe tomatoes and a few green peppers, I had to do something with them, especially since I cultivated and nurtured them all summer. So I made salsa. I still have enough tomatoes to make another 2 or 3 batches of the spicy condiment, but they aren't ready yet. Depending on when this baby comes, I might find my crazy self making another batch. So real is that possibility that the last time I was in town, I bought crushed pineapple so I could make a tropical kind next time. Oi.

This year, I was more prepared though, having procured a huge canning pot from Errol's grandma and some essential tools to help make the process easier. So far so good, as it seems all my jars have sealed. And it tastes pretty good too!

2 Weeks - We're Ready.

2009-10-06T18:04:00.007-06:00

I'm not freaking out as much as I was 7 weeks ago. We are surprisingly ready for this baby to come. In more ways than one...
I'm tired of puffy marshmallow feet, tingly carpal tunnel hands, and awkward position changes when I'm trying to sleep between pee breaks. I (think I) am ready to give birth. But, we also have the nursery, except for a few nails in the trim and some curtain rods, ready. It's exactly what I envisioned and am quite pleased with how our project turned out.
By the way.... this is what the room used to look like. An improvement no?

Word of the Day

2009-10-06T15:59:00.004-06:00

Today's iGoogle Word of the Day is slovenly - negligent of neatness; especially in dress and person; habitually dirty and unkempt.

The very first time I encountered this word was in Taipei in 2006, when Ariannland and I visited the Chaing Kai-Shek memorial.

It frustrated me to think that the Taiwanese commonly used an English word so great as slovenly - a word I didn't know - that I took a picture of it and looked it up later.

One more reason to love international travel.

It's as big as my house

2009-09-16T12:55:00.006-06:00

Really - it is. Bigger in fact, if you factor in the ceiling height. It's not done yet (obviously), but we really will have a warm, dry place to store all of our stuff this winter. This is the first time ever, since I've owned a car, that I get to park inside for an extended period of time. I'm a touch excited. In 6 months we'll marvel at how we ever lived in our tiny house without a garage. Especially since we'll have a truck load of baby stuff to store too.

In other house news, the baby room is almost finished and furnished. More to come...

Stats

2009-09-08T16:40:00.004-06:00

I love stat Holidays. When I’m home, they are so productive. Many probably think of them as a day off - a chance to sleep in and lounge around all day. I think of them as a day to do everything I wish I had the time to do if I didn’t work full time. I’ve started and finished many an at-home work project on a stat holiday.
This Labour Day Monday, I set aside most of my regular household cleaning, to wash outside windows, finish painting a dresser for Baby V, do a little bit of laundry, finish stenciling the kitchen and dining room and day dream of all of the other mini projects I want to finish before Baby V comes. The day ended with visiting with family and friends and a piece of "Happy Biithday" cake.
I still found time to put my feet up. Mostly so they wouldn’t swell to the size of watermelons by the end of the day.

P.S. Motorcycle Mama - you should see the list I have for us.

Baby's Got Talent

2009-08-28T13:43:00.001-06:00

I had completely forgotten about this commercial until we saw it earlier this week… I might have to pick up some Maltesers in town today just to see if our baby can do that too. Betcha it can. Yesterday I had it following a pen that I was tapping on my belly; kicking and pushing where the pen had just been tapping. Such a smart baby!

2 months = 9 weeks = excitement & trepidation

2009-08-19T17:52:00.003-06:00

Are we really ready to have a baby? If we talk about it in terms of months, we are. There is still lots of time to finish EVERYTHING that we have left to do to get ready for Baby V. Talk about it in weeks… not so much. Talk about it in weeks, and all of a sudden, there isn’t enough time between haying, renovating, harvest, working and bringing the cows home to get things ready. And that’s assuming this kid is just on time and not early. I can’t even think about it being early. I need those prenatal classes just to learn how to breathe through the nesting anxiety let alone contractions.

Regardless of how much time we have left… I’m thankful for many things.
1) Continuing health. I still feel great. Lumbering and awkward most of the time, but I get around energetically.
2) A wonderful, understanding husband. He will make us lunch when I'm too caught up in work things to get started early, make the bed before I get to it, dispose of drowned mice from my rain barrels, and save me from being dive bombed by moths. He'll even rub my dirty, swollen feet and ankles after a long day of doing whatever and push me out of the couch when I just can't get up. He is a good man, an excellent husband, and will make a great dad. Whether he's ready or not.
3) Our garage. It is finally being built. The foundation is ready for the cement (hopefully coming on Friday), the walls and rafters will be up in no time. I will never again have to scrape snow and ice from my SUV before I leave home. Pure bliss.
4) Free furniture. We don’t have time to go to the city together to shop for a car seat, much less nursery furniture. At the rate we're going, we'll pick up the car seat on the way to the hospital. But I’m so thankful there are those around us looking to purge. Lovin' the hand-me-downs.
5) A cool basement office. Though I didn’t get to take much advantage of how much cooler it is than upstairs this summer. We have been plagued with a very cool, wet summer. Hardly a day above 25C. I will gladly suffer a week of +30 for the benefit of everyone else deprived of a proper summer this year.

So Baby, while we can't wait to meet you and shower you with our love... please, please, please wait until October 21st. Any sooner, and you might be sleeping in the car seat box.

What a Lovely Sound

2009-08-10T09:40:00.003-06:00

I love the sound of back-up beepers in the early morning.
After many months of waiting and being told it wouldn't get done this year, the contractor FINALLY showed up this morning to start work on our garage. We will have a garage before winter returns.

Today, the bobcat is here to do the landscaping, which should take a day or two. Once it's done, the cement will be poured, and our neighbour will start framing the walls on his days off. When he's done, the contractor crew will return to put up the rafters and walls and our neighbour will finish things up.

I'm so happy. Beyond.

Now... if we can only get ahold of the plumber to get our furnace installed before winter...

A Blessing in Disguise

2009-07-22T17:01:00.003-06:00

This year, for the first time ever, I planted a garden. To date, I’ve nursed a few houseplants, but never really considered myself much of a green thumb. Like cooking, gardening is not something my mom really taught me how to do (sorry Motorcycle Mama… but you’ve said so yourself). I was once charged with weeding her garden while she and my dad were on a bike trip, and I proceeded to “weed” her flowers and a few veggies too… I didn’t get that job the next year. That being said, I have turned into a capable cook, so I figured I should be able to become a competent gardener (with the occasional advice from my mother). That is, until I decided to plant my first ever garden, on a newly broken plot, during one of the coldest spring and early summer’s in living memory.

The location of my garden is where Errol’s grandma (who lived in a now demolished house near where our house, from the other grandma, stands). She favoured potatoes. Her garden, I’m told, was huge and produced enough potatoes to feed the WHOLE family through the winter, including lefse at Christmas time. My hope was to refresh the soil’s memory, and capture some of its past growing prowess. I opted to go small, since this is my first garden, and I am going to have a big belly to contend with come harvest time. I planted rows of corn, beets, radish, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots and peas and dreamed of eating fresh veggies well into the fall. I diligently weeded my garden, to help the new plants grow, and watered when I could. And then the weather turned and threatened to freeze my burgeoning garden. On June 6th, when the radio said it was going to be -3C overnight, Errol and I quickly covered the tiny seeds and plants with more dirt, and hoped for the best.

Short of 6 corn plants that poked through a week or so later, and nothing else grew. I felt like I had failed as a gardener, and cringed every time I saw someone else’s, far lusher garden. I even cried once for my garden (though I’m pretty sure that it was just the pregnancy hormones crying) and allowed myself to briefly think that if I couldn’t grow a garden, how will I ever raise a child?

I have since decided that I am not completely incompetent, and though there will be struggles, I will be a good mother. I have managed to coax 18 starter tomato plants and 3 starter cucumber plants into producing fruit. Of the 2 rows of carrots I planted, 6 plants FINALLY poked through. 1 cucumber seed eventually sprouted and is growing nicely, and I might have 1 beet plant growing. Those 6 corn plants survived the frost and a horse running through my garden, and I swear have doubled in size in the last 2 days. Hooray! I re-seeded my peas, and they are beginning to grow, but my re-seeded lettuce still hasn’t poked through. I might just give up on it…

I'm not as discouraged anymore, and am already looking forward doing better on my sophomore garden. Based on the size of my belly now, and what I can expect to be in September, it’s a good thing my garden didn’t turn out as I had originally expected. Now we’ll only have tomatoes, cukes and hopefully a few peppers to do eat and can.

2009-07-15T16:45:00.004-06:00

While I continue to build up the courage to show bloggerland what my bare belly looks like right now, perhaps this will appease the masses for a short while.

And really, I find it much more interesting to look at than the basketball under my shirt. You can see Baby V's nose, lips, chin, an ear, hand and of course it's large head. The ultrasound picture is just about as interesting to stare at as my belly when Baby V starts ferociously kicking and punching me, making my belly pop, ripple and quiver.

Baby V is laying sideways. Head on my left, feet on my right, back or head resting on my pillow-like bladder. Not a fan of this staying still nonsense, so it's always moving, and distracting me from my work.

For a special lady

2009-07-04T12:13:00.005-06:00

One thing I have really enjoyed about getting married is adopting a whole new family. I've been extraordinarily blessed with great in-laws (good thing we get along so well, seeing as we live in the same yard) and love to spend time with the brothers and sisters-in-law and nephews and nieces. Errol and I tease each other that the other's family likes them better.

One special lady I adopted was Errol's Grandma T. I was taking a quick break from baking up a storm before I head out to mow the law and read May-B's post about her grandma, and thought, I should post about Grandma T! It's hard not to think about her often as we live in her old house and many of her belongings are in daily use (furniture, her specially-made countertops that fit me perfectly, etc.) She's the lady who painted the kitchen, dining room and master bedroom pepto pink. Tomorrow we will celebrate her 90th birthday (i.e. the reason why I'm baking in the summer...)She's lived a fascinating life. She spent a good part of her childhood in the Park Valley area, one daughter of Swedish immigrants. She married and she and her husband eventually settled in this area as well. My mother-in-law is their only daughter, but they took in scads of foster kids, several of whom still stay in touch. Eager to entertain with food, she worked as a cook for many years at the Big Dipper Dining Theatre at Christopher Lake, home of the Cottonpickers and eventually retired and moved to Canwood. Her memory is not great anymore, and she can no longer care for herself, so she lives in the home in Big River. But that hasn't slowed her down. She loves the parties and friends she's made there. She's quick to smile and laugh, and will tease you to make you feel at home.

Happy 90th Grandma T!

I thought you were as good as gone!

2009-06-27T11:54:00.002-06:00

I've noticed my belly button has been shrinking the last few days. It was getting so small, that last night, I was certain it was going to soon disappear, or pop out, giving me an outtie.

Nope. This morning, it's as cavernous as ever. Showing no signs of ever disappearing. Truth be told, I'm kind of disappointed. I want to see what the end looks like! Early in my pregnancy, I tried to peer into my belly button, certain I would catch a glimpse of Baby V. (I promise, I'm an intelligent, educated person. Just given to the occasional juvenile fantasy, that's all). I think I may have to soon abandon all hope of ever seeing the end.

Surprise!

2009-05-22T15:16:00.001-06:00

It’s interesting to sit and listen to farmers swap stories of the strange and unusual. A city slicker like me cannot imagine the crazy things that happen with livestock, but most farmers have seen it all. Except perhaps, immaculate conception.

Not long ago, I was looking out the window, and noticed a foal running around, where a foal had not been the day before. Most are very dependent and won’t stray far from their mothers, but from a distance, this one looked like one of the foals from a different pasture. Too large to be a newborn, it must have been one of the foals that was 2 weeks old, or so I thought. I told Errol later that evening, but it was dark when he got home, so he couldn’t see anything.

The next morning, I looked out, and spotted it again, and this time it was nursing on the mare from the big team. She shouldn’t have been pregnant! She never spent any time with any of the studs last spring, always separated at least by a fence. Her belly had been looking mysteriously big the last while, but it was decided that she found lots to eat this winter and was just fat. Errol went out, brought her and her baby to the yard for a little look see. Baby was as big as the foals already 2 weeks old, and solid. No mistake that she is that mare’s baby. As we pieced the mystery together, we decided that the stud that was gelded last spring must have made his last hurrah before being snipped and knocked up ol’ Bonnie through the fence. He’s not very big compared to Bonnie (I maybe come to the bottom of her shoulder if I stand really straight), so it would have been quite the feat. Still no immaculate conception, just incredible acrobatics.

Oysters and Desert Ranching

2009-05-04T17:55:00.007-06:00

The rambling is back and gearing up for some summer travel… We had the opportunity to go to my uncle’s ranch in southwest SK this past weekend to participate in their annual branding. Errol has been excited about this trip since I first suggested it well over a year ago. We packed his saddle, loaded up the SUV, picked up my parents and headed to the far reaches of the province. If you stand on some of my uncle’s hilly pasture land, you can see Montana on a clear and sunny day. We’re used to trees, but I remember living in the SW, and remember how barren the place can look, if you don’t have an appreciation for its rustic beauty. Part of me misses it, and then the wind kicks up and blows dust in my eyes and makes massive knots in my hair, and I remember why I’m glad I don’t live there anymore.

We arrived late Friday afternoon at the ranch and spent the evening getting the food ready for the next day, warming up the horses, practicing (or in Errol’s case, learning) roping and visiting.
We were up and at the house for breakfast by 6 Saturday morning. The first of the crew were coming to round up and sort out the calves at 8, so we had to be ready for them. By 8:30 we were in the truck heading to the pasture lead the herd of 200 in with a hay bale, in a sort of pied piper fashion.

By 10:30 everything had been sorted, the cows vaccinated and turned out to bawl and wait for their calves. Since the rest of the neighbours weren’t showing up until 2:30 to start branding, we chilled, visited and put the finishing touches on the big supper.

Over 50 people came to take in the first branding of the season. Since our branding and vaccinating is much less formal and takes only a couple of hours, this was an event that was totally unique and fun to watch for us. My uncle had jobs for my parents and Errol, but wouldn’t let me wrastle, vaccinate or handle the branding iron, so I was the official videographer.

The branding starts off with the first group of calves being let into the branding pen. A few riders (ropers) ride around the pen looking for a calf to snag with the rope. Once caught, they pull them to the wrastling area, where 2 people (most often guys, but a few girls were in there too getting dirty), flip the calf on its right side and release the rope, sending the rider for another calf. Then a flurry of activity begins with a vaccinator, castrator (if needed), brander and marker coming in at once to do their job. Once the calf is worked over, they are let up, run away and wait in the pen until the entire batch is completed and they are let out to reunite with their mothers, and head off into the hazy distance.

Each job is necessary. The riders can more easily spot and catch the calves that need to be tended to. The wrastlers immobilize the calves so that the rest of the crew isn’t being kicked by the 200lb feisty 4-legged creature. The branding so that when the cows and calves are let out into the community pastures, the pasture manager can quickly tell which cows and calves belong to which rancher. Most important for when they are sorted and returned to the ranch in the fall. Vaccinating is necessary to keep the herd healthy through the summer and immune to things like the common cold and insects, which can do serious harm. Since only a few bulls are needed to keep the herd going, castrating garners a higher price in the fall. And the marking, well… the big yellow strip means you only pick on a calf once, reducing the amount of stress it goes through during the day.
My dad did the branding (and singed all sorts of hair on his neck, beard and around his ears), my mom vaccinated (and even managed to stick herself with the end of the needle during the last few calves) and Errol wrastled and then roped. He heeled (caught by the back legs) 3 calves. Pretty good for a rookie, having only had a short practice session the night before, and never on a horse! With all the neighbours helping, everything was done by 5 and through supper by 7. Many neighbours stayed for the first “nut feast” of the season. A tradition long held in the south… they batter the bull calf testies and fry ‘em up. Some circles even consider them a delicacy. Everyone gathered in a giant semi-circle around my uncle and the BBQ like a bunch of hungry coyotes, waiting with their toothpicks to snag as many as possible as the bowl went by. Given I’ve tried all sorts of crazy foods, I would have tried on in a heart beat IF I wasn’t pregnant. But I figured it wasn’t a good idea to introduce possibly hormone rich foods into my diet, so I avoided them. Errol tried one, even chewed it a little, before swallowing and chasing it with a coke.

If you want to play cowboy or cowgirl, I recommend checking one out. They are worth the drive, and definitely an exciting experience! Make sure to have an oyster for me.

Babies, Babies and More Babies (part 2)

2009-04-25T15:14:00.005-06:00

I have a confession. I wasn't 100% truthful (ok... I lied) in Babies, Babies and More Babies (part 1) back in March. We really are expecting our very own baby! A 2-legged, human kind. Now that all the friends, far and wide, have been told, I can post about it. Aside from being extrodinarily excited, we are also very thankful for how the pregancy has gone so far. 13 weeks and counting, due around Oct. 28.

I'm sure the summer will be filled a bunch of firsts. First attempt at growing flowers, growing a garden, growing our house (i.e. adding a garage), and a growing waist line. I haven't been able to fit in any of my pre-maternity pants and most of my shirts for well of a month. They are all carefully packed away, while I rotate between 2 pairs of pants, 1 skirt and 5 shirts.

So... please accept these adorable mama and baby pictures as an apology for lying. Really - who can be upset after such cuteness?

This is the first colt of the year. Born 2 days ago. I took the picture the afternoon he was born. Isn't he spindly legged and precious?

The Orphan

2009-03-23T08:47:00.003-06:00

We've had over 110 calves so far. Almost half way done... And that much closer to a full night's sleep.
On Saturday, we went to check cows, and noticed one that looked like she was calving. Upon closer inspection, she had leaned up against a hay pile, rolled too far, got stuck and died. Thinking that her calf hadn't delivered or she had rolled on top of it, we didn't hold out much hope finding it alive. Then a few cows moved and I noticed a little wet and shivering heifer trying to feed on anything and everything. We had found her calf! So we brought it to the barn, fed her and found a surrogate mother. I'm pleased to report she is doing well with her new mama and should be just fine!

Babies, Babies and more Babies

2009-03-05T09:25:00.005-06:00

Early mornings, late nights, 3-am wakes-ups. And it's only been a week.

15 calves, including 2 sets of twins, born as of 3:30 this morning. Only about 214 (plus or minus the occasional set of twins) to go.

This little heifer was the first. Slimy yet cute.

Thankfully the weather has mostly cooperated. We've only had 2 nights where it dipped below 20. If only the snow will stay away, and temps keep going up, life will be chaotic, but less worrisome.

In other news, our renos are moving along. We've almost finished painting the basement and will be moving down there this weekend, so that the upstairs, can be mudded and prepped for painting. So exciting.

Winter Travels

2009-02-10T20:01:00.008-06:00

I've been remiss (again) in posting about my travels. And this is the second time this week that I will attempt to post... Blogger and our satellite internet didn't want to play nice earlier in the week. Let's see... I was in Saskatoon for a few days, then flew to Toronto for a few more days, and then... the best part of the 10 days away, 3 days in Panorama!In lieu of birthday and Christmas presents, my parents decided we would take a family vacation (the first in over 10 years), and figured a whole weekend of skiing and other winter outdoor activities was perfect. My grandparents (dad side) even decided to come out for a couple days, which was so great.
Saturday was our skiing day. We started on a few easier hills, but it didn't take long to get our ski legs back (stiff as they were the next day). Half way through the day, we met up with friends/cousins and skiied with them the rest of the day. The one had just had surgery 4 months before. totally impressed and glad to see her on the hill.
Sunday was an 8km (round trip) snowshoe trek up a mountain. It was such a beautiful day. By the time we reached the little cabin atop the mountain (our goal), we were peeling off all sorts of layers. And quickly putting them back on when we took a break. Ok... I was the only one peeling and relayering. Everyone else wore a sensible number of clothes on the trek.
Monday was a 14hour trip home, fraught with Calgary traffic, fog and even a little freezing drizzle. gong show. But such a good trip!

How are you going to spend your weekend?

2009-01-16T17:16:00.004-06:00

Well... since the temperature outside is going to be almost too warm for winter (really, +7 for Monday, unreal), I'm going to spend as much time as possible outside. My list of prospective activities:
- Cross Country Skiing
- Sleigh Rides
- Snowman Building
- Snowball Fight
- Snow Angels
- Sledding
- Skating

I'm glad it's warmer, especially since shannon comes home this weekend. (exciting!!!) The cold won't be nearly so shocking. But does it really have to get that warm. The melting and mess and then freezing later in the week (when it will be back to -19C) makes it almost not worth it. I'm actually on the verge of resenting the warmer weather. Is it too much to ask for just -8C?

It's so pink, it burns.

2009-01-03T13:52:00.008-06:00

I decided to spend New Year's Day starting a job I've been longing to start since before I moved here. Tearing down ugly wood paneling. For those of you who didn't have the privilege of visiting before...

Just so you understand. The entire upstairs, with the exception of one wall in the living room, the kitchen and the bathroom was covered in wood paneling. But! No more. I started with the hallway. which was time consuming, as there were lots of little sections and trim to remove. But what a difference. The walls are white, and opened up the tiny little hallway so much. Once that was done, I started to tackle the kitchen/dining room. We could tell from a couple of places where the paneling was pulling away from the wall that it was pink under there. But neither of us were prepared with how pink. It's Pepto Pink, and burns my retinas when the morning sun shines in.

But again, it has opened the space up so much, it blows my mind. I'm super excited to fix up the walls, and start painting.

This Year's Travels in Review

2008-12-31T16:21:00.003-06:00

Since this blog is geared to be a travel blog, I guess I should review the places I have been in 2008. As with last year, I'll likely miss a few places. One place I used to visit, has now become home, while home has become a chicken-with-no-head chase around the city to do a mountain of errands after a full day at work and still try and get home before too late.
So, here we go!

Toronto
Los Angeles/Anaheim
Singapore
Park Valley - a million times, except that I live here now. Did you know that it even has a GPS location? right where the store used to be, so many years ago.
Saskatoon - the wild goose chase. Kind of surreal that I occasionally long for the lonely country roads while sitting in rush hour traffic.
Moose Jaw
Regina
Brandon
Winnipeg (to transfer from a plane to a bus to Brandon. I was on the ground long enough to make it count)
Manitou Beach
Nesslin Lake
Morin Lake
Honolulu, Hawaii

This year's travels also added a couple new airports to my list of layovers. Ok... I guess just one, I was in LAX last year.

Saskatoon
Calgary
Edmonton
Vancouver
LAX
Singapore
Hong Kong
Toronto
Winnipeg
Minneapolis
Honolulu

2009 already promises a trip to Toronto and Panorama, and we're even hoping the BC Coast. Can't wait to see what the year holds.
Happy New Year everyone!!

You might still be a city girl if...

2008-12-01T19:34:00.003-06:00

1) You think your house should have curb appeal instead of road appeal.
2) Your first inclination is to walk to the neighbours. Not because you need the exercise, or want to save fuel, but so you don't have to find a parking spot.
3) You pace the produce aisle, longing for good fresh fruit and veggies, hoping you never forget what it really means.
4) You close your living room blinds at 6:30 in the morning, so that passing traffic doesn't see you doing your pilates. The cows might laugh at me!
5) You forget that you don't have cell service in most places in your house, and lose what precious bars you do have every time you touch your phone. For real. We only get minimal service at the far east side of our house. We literally have to lay with our heads on the head board under the window to get just 2 bars for any amount of time. For better luck, put it on speaker mode and DON'T touch it. 96% coverage in the province my behind.

Tales from the Farm

2008-11-06T16:18:00.003-06:00

Strange Noises from Within

Yesterday, I decided to treat myself to a delicious chocolate chip banana muffin for my morning snack. As I’m closing the container, I hear “Auld Lang Sign” start to play. It’s soft, but sounds near, and quits before I can discover the source. I start to think it was like the time I thought someone was knocking at the door, but no one was there and I thought I was when it turned out to be a wood pecker, I think that Errol has left his phone in the house, or a neighbour has planted a signing toy, to try and drive me insane.

After trying the cell phone, and not hearing it ring at home, I search the kitchen, the suspected location of the music, and come up empty handed. Dejected, and thinking I really am going insane, I give up my search, and return to work. Puzzled and bewildered.

That night, just before supper, Errol was thumbing through our mail, and tossed some onto the table. Again, the mysterious "Auld Lang Sign" music starts up again. I had told him about it at dinner time, so when it happens again (and he hears it) we frantically looked around for the source. Again, it quits before we can find it.

Very mysterious. At least I don’t have to worry that I’m losing my grip on reality. Or at least, if I am , that there’s 2 of us, and we’ll lose it together. We’ll become that crazy, eccentric wilderness couple.

Hours later, we're sitting in the living room watching TV, and it happens again. Errol races for the kitchen, ears peeled for the source of the sound. This time he acutally finds it. Turns out, it was our clock/thermometer/calculator pen holder that is in the kitchen. The battery was dying, and as a means of signifying the end was near, it was singing that classic New Years song to us. Rather clever way to remind one to replace the battery, if you ask me.

Candy Happy, Happy Candy

2008-10-31T14:35:00.003-06:00

'Tis the season for sugar highs.

What do you hunt?

2008-10-21T11:49:00.004-06:00

I hunt flies. I stalk them in my house and swat them whenever I get a chance. There were times during the summer when 50+ flies would be buzzing between the screen and closed window in my office. Gross. A couple of times I got high after I tried to “Raid” them… so I tried to limit the number of times I used the Raid can.
I also hunt dust bunnies, and quickly deal with them before company comes over.

Errol; he hunts for real. Around the beginning of September, he started watching the hunting channel every chance he got. Between him and my brother, I have learned more about hunting in the last year than I ever thought possible.
Last night, Errol popped in “Where Legends Roam”, a video diary produced by “Big Buck Magazine”. I thought it was going to be just another hunting video so I kept myself busy with some housework. Then this delightfully soothing music came on, so I sidled into the living room. I quickly realized it was video that the magazine’s editor had captured over a number of years while on the hunt for the perfect pictures for his magazine. I had to sit down and watch it, it was so interesting. All sorts of shots of bulls, cows and fawns (mostly deer, though some moose and elk), captured during all seasons, over a number of years. I learned more about ungulates in those 79 minutes than I have all year.

Did you know that deer, elk and moose shed their antlers every year? I had no idea. Have you seen the size of the elk antlers hanging in my living room? They are almost as tall as me! Errol said they often find shed deer antlers in the field, and have even found them wrapped up in hay bales.
And did you know that the antlers are made entirely of bone and can grow up to 1 inch a day?
Deer antlers aren't too heavy, but a big elk or moose racks can weigh 30+lbs. Imagine walking around with 30 extra lbs on the top of your melon, and still stand up straight.
And that the antlers grow in pretty much the same pattern each year, getting bigger and bigger with each year? Who knew?
As you can tell, I’m totally floored by these new facts.

Just another day in paradise

2008-10-04T14:03:00.005-06:00

My northern prairie paradise. It's another gorgeous fall day at home. Oh yeah... I'm home, been since Tuesday. Thanks to some unseasonably warm October weather, I haven't had a tough time adjusting since returning from Hawaii.

I had a wonderful visit with my friend and her husband. We did lots of driving, shopping, a little touristy stuff and some beach time. Not as much as I had wanted, on account of sunburning the bottom half of my legs. I was so diligent in applying and reapplying sunscreen to every part of my body, except that part of my legs, and therefore burned them. Thankfully not badly, so they quickly turned to a tan. But really. I should know better.

Highlights:
1 - 5 days of visiting. That was the best part of the trip.
2 - the scenery. I can definitely see why so many people go there for holidays and honeymoons. The water is incredible, the weather is perfect, and the beaches are great.
3 - Swap meet shopping. If you're going to Honolulu. Skip the expensive souvenirs at Waikiki, and head to the swap meet every Wed, Sat and Sun from 8-3 (unless there is a football game). Gifty stuff is like 50-75% cheaper there, and the people bargain, and are way more friendly.
4 - submarine tour. it was really neat. We went up to 110ft below the water, and saw all sorts of fish, turtles, barracudas and wreckage. Definitely worth it, though way more fun to go with someone else.
5 - The North Shore - home of Oahu surfers, pineapple fields (though not so much any more...) and Matsumoto Shave Ice. yum yum.
For the first time in a really, really long time. I got homesick. I'm glad to be home again.

Ocean View

2008-09-21T18:44:00.003-06:00

Something I didn't think I had. I have a "garden view" room in Hawaii. Ok. I can live with that. Then, while killing a lot of my down time today, I realized that I do have an ocean view from here... If you look really hard through the windows, you'll see it. I think there is even a boat. I had to precariously balance on a rollie office chair to get this shot, so cherish it.

And now, a list of things I forgot.

- my iPod. How on earth will I ignore people on the flights home? Thankfully, the flights here, I was seated next to delightful people, who know the value of interesting, yet little conversation on a plane. Only had a half glass of white wine spilled on me by my neighbour. That was more funny than not. The little Swiss-Canadian lady got so excited to see her friend that her arms, and wine glass, went flying up, and all over me. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was wet.

- sunscreen. It didn't cross my mind until my friends picked me up, and commented on how they had gone to the beach that day, and got burned that day. Errol even asked if I was going to come back with a tan. At this rate, I'll be glowing red by next week.

- enough books. I'm 1/3rd through my last book, and 7+ days away from leaving.

- my sarong. It's even a Hawaiian one.

Really. Where was my head?

Aloha

2008-09-19T16:48:00.003-06:00

This is it. I leave for Honolulu tomorrow, for 10 days. Mostly for work, but I will get to visit a girlfriend and her husband who live there. I've been promising for years to go, and have finally committed. I'm not excited to leave home, but am excited to hang out with them in the warm Hawaiian sun.
Sadly, Errol cannot come with me. Mother nature didn't cooperate, and harvest isn't done. Hardly even started to be truthful. And then ambiguous Passport Canada sent his application back. Really people, you should be consistent. Ask for either all original proofs of existence and identity, or all copies. None of this confusing half and half deal. Really. At least they returned it quickly, and we didn't have to wait 2 months to get it back.
Bright side. Now I have more excuses to go back. I plan to spend the whole trip figuring out things that we can do next time. And we'll go in the winter, not when Saskatchewan's having a beautiful fall. Can you believe it was nearly 30C in Saskatoon yesterday?

I think I Did it...

2008-09-13T18:05:00.003-06:00

As you could see from the previous post, my inexperience in canning may have lead to the complete waste of something like 11 lbs of apples.

First, my apple butter was a little runny. I'm a great recipe ad-libber, and seem to have miscalculated how many apples I had, and how much sugar I should have added. Plus, the recipe I used was for peach butter, so I improvised. After the recommended hour cook time, I removed it from the heat (which you are apparently not supposed to do in canning) and it thickened up a little. Phew.

Then, because I have never canned before, and was bent on trying all by myself first, I didn't have any of the right tools to finish the job. Thankfully, my mother-in-law came over to help with another project, and made many suggestions and told me how she does things which was way simpler than my cookbook said. And then she brought over Errol's grandma's canning stuff, which I get to keep for the next time. Silly stubborn Ang.... should've just asked in the first place.

All said and done, I think I did alright. 5 of the 6 jars sealed. It is still a little runny (more apple sauce than apple butter consistency), but it tastes great, and my house smells all warm and fall-y.

Feeling a bit domestic

2008-09-13T13:47:00.003-06:00

It's fall. My next trip isn't for a week, so I'm hanging out on a Saturday in my kitchen. Being domestic.

Even before Errol and I were engaged, I thought it might be fun to learn how to can. Everyone here does it, so I figured I'd have lots of people to learn from. Since moving here, we (really it's me) have been the recipients of all sorts of berries and apples. And then I have to do something with them. Way too many to eat before they go bad so your options are freeze, can, or throw away. I'm too sensible to let them go to waste and I've been too busy (read scared) to start canning yet. So I've frozen what I could and left the rest as long as possible. Today is the only day I have left to dedicate hours to the 2 remaining bags of apples (thank you Motorcycle Mama!) before I leave for 10 days. Today is canning day. I mustered all the courage I could and tackled apple butter. 3 hours of peeling and coring, 20 mins of pre-cooking, 10 mins of blending, and 1 hour of real cooking, and things seem to be going well. It's boiling and spurting hot apply puree on me, but it smells heavenly. This was a good idea.
Wait. It is supposed to thicken after that hour of cooking. I have 15 mins to go, and my butter doesn't look thickened. What do I do? What do I do?

There are wedding crashers, and then there are honeymoon crashers. Which are you?

2008-08-20T12:27:00.003-06:00

As promised, the tale of the honeymoon crashers. I will preface this post with, though a surprise, it could have been worse. Our friends could have found us, and tormented us mercilessly for days. But no, these crashers were the more welcomeable kind and now it's a big joke between us all.

So we left PV around when we expected and headed for Manitou Beach, the "Carlsbad of Canada". It was a 3+ hour drive, so we were pretty tired when we got there. First things first, find the hotel. Well... that was easy. But figuring out how to get to our room, a little trickier. There was no night desk person, no note, nothing. So we went to the Hotel and Spa, and phoned. The manager tells us to look under the mat for our room key. How small town can one get? Thankfully it was there.

Sunday afternoon, we're walking around the quaint town, when we hear our names being called from a far. It was a couple from my church assembly, who happen to live 5 mins away. They had decided to come to the beach for the afternoon, being the weather was so great. So we visited with them a little, and went our separate ways.

Fast forward 2 days. We're sitting, have lunch by the beach. Errol spots this black Jetta with a red license plate, exclaims "oh, no" and ducks his head in just enough time to see my parents and the lady from Sunday, drive by. Well... Manitou is not a big place, so we ended up seeing them all again. Mom and dad had come there to go berry picking. They knew ahead of time that we were going there, but had made plans to come pick anyways.

Awkward. Really, whose parents crash their kids honeymoon? In all it wasn't that bad. But totally gives us license to tease them for a very, VERY long time.

Wedded Bliss

2008-08-09T09:58:00.003-06:00

It's official. Errol and I married on July 19, in front of 200+ friends and family.
Despite the glitches, hangups, problems and rain, we were able to have it just the way we wanted it. It couldn't have been a more perfect day. It rained Friday afternoon, all night Friday, Saturday morning, to green things up, and managed to clear off in enough time to set everything up for the outdoor ceremony.
The sun even poked it's head out to heat everyone up!

My highlights of the day:
1) The valet parkers. Complete with white gloves, ties and rubber boots. Did I mention it rained so much before? The parking lot was veritable mud hole.
2) Seeing most of our family come out, even the ones that live far, far away.
3) Getting the Teen Girl Squad together once again. Like family, seems the only time we're all together is for weddings. I was too sad when one of our members had to leave before we could say hello.
4) Mudding after pictures. Bent my tiara a little when Errol went through a deeper than expected mud hole, and I went flying through the cab. Remember kids... always where your seatbelt when mudding.
5) The food and desserts and cakes. Everyone did a wonderful job. Kudos to the caterer for having never catered a BBQ before. They made a fine meal.
6) "You might be a redneck if your uncle marries your cousin". Tears streamed down my face, I was laughing so hard. For those of you who just stumble upon this blog... we were not related before, but do have some common, through marriage relations.
7) "Earl has to die". Again tears. This time down Errol's face when my dad retold the story of how he came to remember how to say Errol's name. For the longest time all he could think of was Earl from the Dixie Chicks song.
8) Getting to say hello to everyone when we cut the cake. We unexpectedly ended up cutting and serving it to everyone. I was thankful we did though, and had that chance to say hello to so many more people.
9) The wedding party. Everyone cleaned up so well, and a wonderful job helping get everything ready. And the kids were too cute, all day.
10) Lame as it may sound. The whole day was a highlight. I'm not a picky person, and had trouble making some of the decisions. But everything fell into place, and I can't thank those that helped out enough, for all the work they did. It was a community project, and everyone pitched in and "got 'er done"

Now... for some pictures. Our photographer, Guy, has posted a bunch of his formal pictures online. They are awesome. He's so good. Check them out!

And... apparently, it is going to take waaaay too long to get the picture attachment feature to pop up. so you will have to wait a little bit longer. This high speed satellite internet is great, until you ask it to attach pictures.

Next post... the tale of honeymoon crashers

Just Think...

2008-05-27T20:09:00.004-06:00

I'm feeling a little nostalgic today. A year ago, Kelly and I were in Cambodia, biking around the Angkor Wat complex, in 35+C heat. It was one of the best days of our trip, and one I'll remember for the rest of my life. Just one picture to help you all remember too.

On the Road Again

2008-04-26T12:33:00.002-06:00

I feel like the Littlest Hobo today... "Down the road, is where I'll always be."
I'm in Vancouver right now, stop number 2, and the longest one yet. Killing time, waiting for that last flight home. I can't wait to get over with it, and have a nice hot shower.
The rest of Singapore was good. I'm already missing the heat and humidity, not looking forward to the snow and mucky mess that awaits me at home. But I will be glad to be home.
Last night we went for dinner (supper) at the Jade Palace. The food was wonderful, and the company excellent. Of the new and exciting things that I tried. Scallops, still attached to the shell (at least a new experience), and Peking Duck. Delicious! Watch for the pictures coming soon.
I also managed to squeeze a little Orchard Road shopping in before supper, even finding some cute shoes for the wedding.

Not if I can help it

2008-04-23T07:57:00.004-06:00

I hate looking like a tourist. Even though I am one, and my blonde head sticks out like a sore thumb in so many places. I would much rather appear confident when strutting around tourist traps, to avoid getting hoodwinked. I broke that internal rule twice tonight.
First, I went to Chinatown, bought souvenirs (not a big deal), except that I couldn't fit them in my bag. You see, one trick to not getting harassed by every stallholder, is to hide your purchases. oh well. Reasonably priced, Asian (Chinese) looking goods are better than the overpriced ones on Orchard Road that I can't afford.
Second, I bought fast food. Normally, I like to eat at hawker stalls, and on the street, because the food is 10 million times better. Tonight, in my haste to get to Chinatown before it got too late, I skipped supper. I wandered around a few stalls, but was so hungry, I couldn't decide. but I knew where to find easy-decision food. so here it is, 10pm, and I just finished BK. Not only did I have to walk 3 blocks with it, and all my Chinatown purchases. I then had to walk through my hotel carrying it, leaving that lingering smell.
2 more days of the show, 2 more evenings of fun, and then I'm back to Canada.

If you guessed Singapore, you were right!

2008-04-20T11:05:00.005-06:00

I'll have to post pictures of my first trip to Singapore in 2005, when I ate durian for the first time. Never again.

After 25+ hours of traveling, I have arrived in Singapore. Of course, it's shortly after 1am, Monday morning, and I am far from tired. I was doing so well to stay awake, adjusting as quick as I can to the time difference. but I caved, and had a 3 hours nap on the last leg. And now I'm paying for it.

For those in SK, you'll be happy to know it's a balmy 27C right now. I read on CBC and from Motorcycle Mama's comments that you have received more icky winter weather. Sorry to hear that. I would have gladly traded the weather for this trip. It was a struggle to get motivated to come this time. Oh well, it's only 6 days. 5 really, if you don't count Saturday when I fly out at 6am. Shortest Asian trip yet, but no less busy!

Let's see, what's on my agenda. Other than the tradeshow and meetings, lots of shopping. I'm hoping to do a little wedding dress/accessories shopping while here. Inject a little, subtle Asian flare to the wedding decorations. Asians love cowboys, so I might even find something that fits both worlds.

Where in the world is ang?

2008-04-19T06:24:00.005-06:00

Well... right now, I'm in my living room. But only for a few more hours. Can you guess where I'm headed to next? Sadly, no, the answer is not Park Valley.

That's right! It's an oversized piece of smelly fruit. Not a good enough clue? Let's try again.
I've run out of pictures that won't give it away too quickly. But, if you need a little help, click here.
Stay tuned for more!

I Think His Tractor's Sexy

2008-04-09T23:02:00.005-06:00

This is a copy of an email I sent to nearly everyone in my address book. I'm about to embark on the next great journey, marriage.

A wise man I know once said that one may have to travel half-way around the world to find their life's companion. Well... I've been half-way around the world a few times, and always came home having only found rich histories, friendly nationals and great food.

Turns out, what I was looking for was just a little north of Saskatoon. After months of phone calls, and a few attempts to spend time alone together, Errol V and I started dating. Now we're getting married!

This July, we'll make a commitment before God, our never-ending families and friends and begin our journey through life together. We're excited and looking forward to a summer filled with fun, sun and big changes, least of which is me adapting to life on the farm.

Ok, so that tractor is not the prettiest green one on the block, but it does the trick ;) Stayed tuned for tales from the North.

SoCal and the Tale of the Hidden Postage Stamps

2008-03-16T21:02:00.008-06:00

One of my greatest frustrations with traveling, is finding postage stamps. As a tourist or a business traveler, I can find nearly anything my heart desires, on any street corner, except easily accessible postage stamps. I have most important mail to mail, help me out here! An archaic, coin-op dispenser that the store clerk didn't know exists, does not help. Is it not reasonable to assume that if a store sells postcards, they should also sell stamps? Wouldn't C-stores, grocery stores and hotels be expected to carry them? Especially in high-tourist traffic areas? Like just outside Disneyland? I started looking on Wednesday, and it is now Sunday evening, and I leave tomorrow. I am hoping to find some at the airport. It's just not the same to mail a postcard from home. The foreign stamp is half the fun. Any suggestions on more logical places to find stamps.

So, I've been in Anaheim/LA for the last 5 days, and leave tomorrow. It's been a fun filled trip! Started off with a trip to Santa Monica and the beach. It was a little chilly, but nice to see the ocean again. Then the evening was a Ducks-Canucks game. We were hoping for a play-off game calibre, and were sorely disappointed with Canucks' performance.

Thursday, my boss and I went to Universal Studios after we set up the booth (10 mins to set up, 2 hours to get our badges. Gong show.) Universal was a great way to relax before the show. We went on all the rides, did the back-lot tour, and ate steak until I couldn't walk anymore. We saw them filming "Heroes" on the back lot and I think I saw Hayden Panettiere, but couldn't be sure because I don't watch the show. The tour was my favourite part.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were the show. Nothing fun ever happens at them, though we did get a few crazies at the booth today. I am never quite sure where people get the ideas they get. One guy told us he was going to create a flat bread product, and tell the world to eat it, and everyone would, and would be healed of all of their illnesses. Right. To the crazies, I offer the following picture as a warning to leave the sane people of this world alone.

But, as with all of these trips, it becomes about the best after show meals that we search for. Friday night was the Crab Cooker in Newport Beach. We watched some surfers before eating some of the best seafood I've ever eaten. On paper plates, with plastic cutlery to boot. I think it made everything taste better.

Saturday night, we braved the brisk and cold wind, and at outside at Ralph Breannen's Jazz Kitchen in Downtown Disney. It was almost like being back in New Orleans, the atmosphere was so great. Live music, outside dining and great food. Tonight, we chosen pre-dinner drinks at the ESPN bar then Rainforest Cafe. Again, great decision. There were a couple of "thunderstorms" in the Rainforest, and the food and service was beyond excellent. If you can stand to wait an hour or more, totally recommend it. I need to start my exercise routine again.

In the end, I can't wait to get home. I have a mountain of work to attend to on Tuesday and Wednesday, then take off for the Easter weekend. A little farm action (it's calving time and I can't wait to see all the babies!) and a spiritually uplifting weekend are in store.

2008, what travels do you hold?

2008-01-29T16:18:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I've gone anywhere, that required an update. Wait. I lied. I've been lots of places, but haven't taken the time to write about them. Ok, I lied again. I've been spending quite a bit of time in one place really. You see, this rambling traveler has found herself a boyfriend. A good-looking, cattle-farming cowboy one at that. Now, most of you that read this blog, know that already. For those of you that don't, if you look at my travel list, you'll find Park Valley (PV) listed on it; my cowboy lives there. This farming community northwest of Prince Albert SK, is a place I've visited since I was just a baby. I've always loved going to PV; it's surrounded by trees, a few rolling hills, quiet, hearty home cooking, family and always tremendous fun. Well... now I more reasons to love going there. So, if my stories in 2008 revolve around this magical place, you'll know why.

Take last weekend. I was one of 3 people in charge of planning our youth group activities for January. I managed to convince (or at the very least suggest to) the other planning partner(s) that we needed to go up to PV for winter fun because they have way more snow and open spaces than we have in the city. Though the Saskatoon group was small, a good group of youth from Big River and North Battleford joined us for a sleigh ride, dizzy bat* and good, ol' country hospitality. For your viewing pleasure, I have attached pictures and videos. It was a great day, and I think everyone had a good time.

Run!

Now, now boys, throw nicely.

Superman!

What does the rest of this year hold? Well. I'm in Toronto right now, for a couple of days. California in March, Singapore in April, hoping for the BC coast in June, PV as often as possible, and who knows what else. The year is young, and the miles to cover are many. Happy travels in 2008!

*Dizzy bat. Object was to spin around a certain number of times, then try and run towards something. For our purposes, number of spins was 25. Target was candy-filled pinatas. Tears streamed down my face.

Places Addendum (i.e. Places my mom reminded of this morning)

2007-12-08T10:32:00.000-06:00

Apparently I forgot a bunch places in my last list... thanks motorcycle mama for helping me remember.

North Battleford, SK

Stratford, ON

Niagara Falls, ON and NY

Buffalo, NY

Swift Current, SK

Wainwright, AB (at least a lake near there)

Cranbrook, BC

Panorama, BC

Moose Jaw, SK

Russell, MB

There may be more to come...

A Year in Review

2007-12-07T18:29:00.000-06:00

The year is winding down. Everyone is thinking about Christmas, New Year's resolutions, and 2008.

Thinking about my trips this years, I decided to list all the places I've been this year. Mostly just for trivia, and to help me remember.

Nuremberg, Germany

Abbotsford, BC

Dallas, TX

Monterrey, MX

Banagkok, Thailand

Cambodia (Seim Reap and Phnom Penh)

Vietnam (Chau Doc, Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Dalat)

Chicago, IL

Toronto, ON

St. Louis, MO

Orlando, FL

Ireland (too many places to fit on one line)

New York, NY

Calgary, AB

Edmonton, AB

Regina, SK

Park Valley, SK

Spokane, WA

The other list, all the airports I've spent time in this year.

Saskatoon

Calgary

Edmonton

Vancouver

Abbotsford

Toronto

Frankfurt

Nuremberg

Winnipeg

Dallas-Fort Worth

Monterrey

Bangkok

Ho Chi Minh City

Chicago

Minneapolis

Denver

St. Louis

Orlando

New York-JFK

Shannon

Los Angeles

Hong Kong

Cruzin' the Green Mile

2007-11-26T07:47:00.000-06:00

Something I have never done in my 9 years in Saskatoon, cruised down 8th St. Its the thing to do when you're in high school, not when you're my age.

But last night, after The Roughriders won the Grey Cup; our first in 18 years, that is exactly what we did. What a night in Saskatchewan. Words are some how not sufficient to express the excitement in our province and for Saskatchewanians nation wide have for our team. But videos... they can tell the story. I've attached a few for your viewing pleasure. I apologize in advance if your ears hurt afterwards. There is lots of screaming.

Do you bleed green?

2007-11-20T20:25:00.001-06:00

While not in the cards to travel to TO to cheer them on it person, I want to wish the Green and White the best this Sunday at the Grey Cup! Go Riders Go!

The End

2007-11-01T07:29:00.000-06:00

Monday morning, bright and early, my great-aunt and I were dropped off at the train station, and headed into the city. My aunt has gone into the city at least twice a trip since they started going down in 2001 (I think). So she is as familiar with Manhattan, if not more than, her kids.

At Penn Station, I dropped off my other piece of luggage. Not that great to be walking around for 6 hours with 20lbs of baggage attached to you. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't fit down the busy streets with the pack.

First stop, Macy's, the world's largest department store. Did you know that some of the upper floors still have the original wooden escalators? They are scary, but really cool at the same time.

Outside Macy's we caught a cab to head up-town. There was a cabbie strike going on, but we didn't have any trouble catching a cab right away.

Second stop, Carnagie Hall. Sadly it wasn't open yet , so we couldn't go in and look around. I'm sure we could have waited the 20 minutes until it opened... but we had a busy schedule... had to keep moving.

Third stop, Fifth Avenue. I wish I wasn't so cheap. All I bought was Lindt Chocolates, and only cause they were a good deal. But we walked by all the luxury brandname stores, and even walked through Saks Fifth Avenue.

Fourth Stop, St. Patrick's Cathedral.

It was beautiful, much like the cathedrals I had seen in Ireland, though a bit more modern. Something I'm not used to in American or Canadian cities, police officers everywhere. They were lined up every 10 feet around the cathedral. I've seen that in Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam, something you would expect there, but not here. Kind of weird.

Fifth Stop, Time Square. Talk about sensory overload. I've never felt so bombarded with advertising than I did there. Usually I am not affected by what I see on live or in print media. But something about that place made me crave Coke, chocolate and Corona. Molding young minds much?

Sixth stop, Radio City Music Hall, on the way to Rockefeller Center. I had miscalculated where we were, so we ended up having to backtrack a bit. The Christmas tree wasn't up yet, but the skating rink was! Maybe it runs all year... I don't know, but it was fun to see anyways.

"I believe thrift is essential to well ordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs" ~ John D. Rockefeller

Last stop, Empire State Building.

We would've gone to the top, but there was a 90 minutes wait, and we only had 90 minutes before I had to catch the train back to the airport.

Total time to tour Manhattan, 6 hours. I had trouble keeping up with my aunt! She moves fast! A lot of ground was covered. In general, I think I like NYC, but only to visit. Too many people though. I obviously don't know much about the city, but it's history and origins seem very fascinating, so I'll have to learn. I'm sure I'll end up there again. Any one up for a girl's week away?

New York, New York

2007-10-31T07:24:00.000-06:00

Sunday, in the Big Apple. What a dumb nickname... I'll never use it again.

We started Sunday off early, with church in Brooklyn. That was super fun. Most of the local assembly are from the Caribbean, so the people were really, really friendly (never had so many hugs from strangers as I did that morning), and the worship was lively. I loved it! Motorcycle mama, you would have loved all the over-beat clapping.

After church, 5 of us headed into Manhattan to do a bit of touring. We started with South Street Seaport, a touristy shopping centre. There are old, restored tall ships on the dock, and boats everywhere. It was neat, but not some place I wanted to spend a lot of time. Too many tourists. But, it had a great view of the Brooklyn bridge.

Did you know that the Staten Island Ferry is free? Neither did we, but it is! Instead of paying U$30 to take a ferry to Liberty and Ellis Islands, we just took the Staten Island Ferry, and got a great view of the Statue of Liberty for free.

Oh wait, that's not the real statue, sorry.
While we didn't have time to get there, it was neat to see Ellis Island, especially since I had been at Cobh the week before. Pretty cool to be in both places that are so important to immigration in American (and Canadian!) history.

Rest of our Sunday afternoon tour was done driving. While trying to get to 42nd St, and home, all traffic was re-directed through the Lincoln Tunnel. Being a prairie girl, I didn't think the detour was that big a deal. But, we were in New York, and a wrong turn through a tunnel (that leads to New Jersey), added 10km and 2 hours to our trip.

Once we got back to Manhattan, the traffic was horrible. It amazed me how drivers would not move out of the way of siren-blasting ambulances and police cars. Give them room! They are saving lives!

Ooo, one more stop we made on the way home, an exotic car dealership. Lambourghinis, Ferraris, Maseratis, Bentleys, Rolls Royces... I nearly cried at the sight of all the beautiful cars. I'll never be able to afford one, but at least I have pictures.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

2007-10-30T07:52:00.001-06:00

Saturday on Long Island. Despite the jet-lag, I managed to be up by 8. The day started off a little cool, watching 8-year olds play play flag football. They were pretty good for such little guys!

After a little retail-therapy, we headed for the Smith Point beach. This is the beach where the TWA 800 flight crashed in 1996. There is a memorial that overlooks the ocean, with wild grasses and shrubs growing all around it. Flags of all the nationalities of people who died on the flight line a boardwalk, with several memorials detailing the names of the victims. Very serene.

It was a little breezy, so the waves; were awesome.

We really did try to fly a kite, but the wind just whipped it every which way, and it crashed more often than it flew.

I had the privilege of getting to fly over parts of Long Island. My cousin's husband recently got his pilot's license, and took me and his in-laws up. It was tons of fun. We even flew over the beach we had stood on earlier in the day. You could really see the brilliant red maple trees from 1500 feet in the air.

We finished things off with a visit to a local pizzaeria, where I got to try the Salad pizza. Its a pizza crust with salad on top. Anthony, who owns the place, makes his own salad dressing, and its pretty much the best I've ever had.

Mind your peas and queues

2007-10-29T07:20:00.000-06:00

Something funny happened on the way through customs when I started this trip. It should be a lesson to all us smart-mouths out there.
I was standing in the world's slowest line (because I always pick the slowest... thanks Murphy), just observing people. In the faster line next to me, some guy makes a inaudible, but obviously joking remark to the CBP officer walking by him. Next thing this poor guy knows, he's been hauled off to the side, and 2 officers are asking him a million questions, trying to ascertain why he chose to make a joke. They then take his passport, and tell him to sit tight while they take it off to some back room. This guy then spent the next 20 minutes looking quite sheepish, wondering if they were going to send him back to Canada. I am all for making jokes and being funny, but trying to make a funny while crossing the border into another country, bad idea.

Back to Ireland. I was treated to several early morning queues in my attempt to make my flight to NYC. First, the line up to get my pre-clearance customs sticker. Then the check-into-the-flight line. Then the security line. Then the pre-US customs clearance line. Of the 4 hours I gave myself to get to the airport, and checked in, I had a measly 10 minutes to spare before my flight boarded.

Once at JFK, I checked my extra bag, and headed for the train to Long Island. It was raining, so I didn't get to see much of the passing scenery. Once I reached my target station, I hopped off, and looked around for a place to sit and wait for my ride, due in about 45 minutes. BUT, she was early, and arrived 2 minutes before I did. How fortuitous!

Friday night we attended a honours band performance at one of the local private universities. My cousin's second daughter was playing the saxophone in the 3 state and university band. Very prestigious honour. For the parts I was awake for, it sounded really good.

Rock of Cashel and King John's Castle

2007-10-28T14:18:00.001-06:00

I think this was one of my favourite stops. The Rock of Cashel is a castle-turned abbey located near the town of Cashel in Co. Tipperary. It is really cool. Local fable says that while the devil was chasing St. Patrick around the island, he spotted him near the town of Cashel (4th Century or so, keep in mind). He took a huge bit out of a distant mountain range, flew over, and spat the rock at St. Patrick. Of course, being one of God's divine messangers, the rock missed. St. Patty was quick to bless it and baptize the local king. Good story. A castle was built on the site, and it was eventually given to the church, and the archbishop lived there. The buildings are incredible. Most don't have roofs, and some of the walls are falling over, but you can see secret passage ways, that would have helped the archbishop escape during a siege and get an idea of how magnificent it would have been back in the day. One of the coolest buildings was a small cathedral near the back of the complex, built by a king or priest... I don't remember. The roof is still intact, and on the ceiling (not the one with all the mould Shannon), beautiful paintings depicting Bible stories were recently discovered, and are being uncovered and restored. The other neat feature was an empty tomb near the door, with Viking carvings covering it.

Ok, one other neat feature. In the front court yard is a replica of St. Patrick's cross. Fable has it, that if you can reach your arms around the cross, and hug it, you will have good health in the coming year. If you hop around it on one foot, counter-clockwise, you will have bad luck in the coming year. If you hop around it on one foot clockwise, you will be married within the year. Steph decided she couldn't pass up the opportunity to look silly (kidding ;) and started to hop around the cross. She was about 3/4 the way around when a passerby remarked that she was hopping the wrong way if she wanted to get married. oops...

Upon our return to Limerick, we dropped off the car, and headed back into town. I wanted to tour King John's Castle, and Steph had errands to do. For those who don't know, King John is the King of England who, according to Disney, stole his brother's crown while Richard was off crusading. There has only been one King John, and they say he was so mean, no one ever wants to be associated with him again. The castle was kitchy, but the archeological excavations below the castle are really cool, and my favourite part. I learned the origin of undermine. During conflicts and invasions. The aggressor would dig (or undermine) a tunnel under the castle wall. They would then light fires in it, weakening the wall, and allow the above ground crew to break through.

And now for the saddest part. I don't have pictures. Nope, I erased all my pictures from that day. I downloaded them Thursday evening, and burned a disc for Steph (because her camera stopped working on our first day of touring). I checked to make sure they were all there before burning the disc... but I guess something went wrong during the download, and they weren't. When I got to NYC, I blew all the pictures off my one memory card to make room for NY pictures, thinking I had them on the computer already. I made the discovery Monday night when I got home. Steph has already promised to visit there again... so you'll have to wait until December.

Newgrange and Dublin

2007-10-27T08:03:00.000-06:00

On the suggestion of one of her classmates, we headed to Newgrange first thing Wednesday morning. Now this place was really cool. Built over 5000 years ago by New Stone Age people, it is an intricate passage tomb that has been excavated, and the outside restored to how it might have looked 5000 years ago. There are 2 other sites, Knowth and Dowth (but... wait for it... we didn't have time), but Newgrange seems to be the more important site. Inside there are 3 small chamber that would have been used for various ceremonies. The one at the back is the largest, but there are carvings around it, and they postulate that it was utiliarian in function. The side chambers, especially the right-side one, are covered in carvings, much like this one. It probably took 2-3 generations to build the tomb, as the stones are quite large, and some seem to have come from as far away as 18km. Obviously cars and trucks didn't exist. Horses weren't yet domesticated for work, so it would have been logs and men that moved these stones and placed them on the tomb. The stones overlap forming a small cone at the very top where the capstone is. Even after 5000 years, the inside is dry, and shows very little signs of mould, or decay. Now here's the coolest part. There is a one door, with a light box above it, which lets in very little light (believe me, our guide turned the lights off at one point). For 5 days around the winter solistice, the sun is low enough that it shines into the tomb, illuminating everything inside. Only 100 people a year are allowed to see the event, winning spots through a lottery. Of course, Steph has entered (some 13 times) in an effort to get a couple of tickets. Good luck!!!

The funniest thing about the site; the graffity. Not spray paint graffity, no, its craved graffity from the 1800's. Like "William so and so 1825). The tomb entrance was discovered in 1699, and teenagers through the ages, have left their mark on the inside. Though I don't like it, I will be a little more tolerant of graffity, knowing my great-great-great-great grandparents likely did the same thing to ancient Viking sites.

Back in busy Dublin, we caught a double-decker tour bus to take in some of the sites. I was most pleased to find another fountain, in front of Trinity College, filled with more soap and bubbly foam. Unlike the suds in Galway, these suds hit unsuspecting pedistrians in the head as they crossed the busy street. Classic!

The first bus that picked us up, was driven by Steph's favourite driver/tour guide from the summer. Dude was hilarious, and his story telling excellent. He even sang a little tune about Molly Malone for us. We stayed with him the entire tour, learning about the Guinness family's generosity, especially in church restorations, the legendary writers that have come from Dublin, why the doors of the Georgian homes are all different, and tales rebellion and the Gael (jail). When Dave's tour was over, we hopped onto Bill's bus, who was equally funny and knowledgeable, and teased Dave, who was catching a ride home, mercilessly. Here are a few pictoral highlights from Dublin.

Trinity College
Best door in the world.

The church where Bram Stoker was married. He didn't start writing horror stories until after he got married. Christ Church Cathedral. It is inside old Dublin, and was the church people were allowed to attend. Just outside the city walls was St. Patrick's Cathedral, which people were not allowed to attend, but seemed to anyway. Religious persecution is a favourite topic in Irish history.

And finally, the Guinness brewery, right next to a church. The official Guinness site wasn't working, so you get the wikipedia version.

** Note, to tour Dublin is to tour churchs and breweries. In this picture, they are brought together**

When the Guinness brewery was first established in the 1700s, Arthur Guinness signed a 9000 year lease for a nominal fee, with the city of Dublin. To the delight of most Irish (who don't really like Guinness, but feel a civic obligation to drink it because the family has donated so much to the city and people of Dublin. St. Patrick's Cathedral, restored mostly with funds from the Guinness'. ~ Tour Guide Dave), it will be around for a very long time.

After our bus tour, we had supper at O'Neills pub. Best roast beef and yorkshire pudding I've had in a long time. And the cheapest sit-down meal we ate the entire week.

Then we embarked on a journey to find something to occupy ourselves for the evening. We tried movies, nothing good was playing in the city centre. We tried the theatre, but it took forever to find it, and they were sold out by the time we got there. We walked around looking for something spontaneous to do. But nothing! (outside of sitting in a pub, which after dark, isn't one of my favourite things to do) So, we went to bed early. Oh well.

Tomorrow, the whirlwind adventures end with the Rock of Cashel, and the saddest story of my life. Stay tuned!

This post is long enough, so I will leave you with my 3 favourite Dublin scenery pictures.

Kilkenny and Dublin (or at least the traffic)

2007-10-26T07:24:00.000-06:00

I am very thankful that we didn't get a lot of rain on the trip. A number of mornings it would start out raining, but by the time we arrived at our first destination, the rain stopped. It made touring much more enjoyable.

Tuesday was Kilkenny and the beginnings of Dublin. After getting lost again, because Irish traffic signs are just not clear enough, we eventually found St. Canice's Cathedral. Ky and Steph visited this cathedral in the summer, and tell funny stories of trying to reach the top. Being an adrenaline junkie, I was quite excited to get to climb to the top. We get there, and the tower is closed for the winter season! Much disappointment ensued, and I spent a great deal of time gazing longingly at the tower, trying to figure out how to get past the locked door. These towers are really cool. The door is about 10 feet off the ground and were likely used to protect the church's valuable if there was a raid... which Irish history is full of.

Found a place to park, did a little shopping, and then visited Kilkenny Castle and the Butler House. There was a really neat art exhibit at the Butler house, which features works of art by Irish artists. My favourite was Sasha Sykes, and I really admired her use of forest floor gatherings and acrylic.

Because of the 2 hour lunch break common in Ireland, we had to wait a really long time to tour Kilkenny Castle. Another one that was first built in the 1100s, it has hosted the likes of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and too many dukes, earls and other noblity. It was gifted to the town of Kilkenny by the last owner in the 1930s for a handsome sum of 50 pounds.

The tour was only about 1/2 of what it was in the summer. While doing some minor renos in the bedrooms in the late summer, they uncovered a bunch of work that needed to be done, and shut that part of the tour down. But, the castle was really neat; all done up in 19th century furnishings and art.

Ky, we found this sign for you.

After Kilkenny castle, we, once again, got lost. This time I made a wrong turn in an effort to get a picture of a cute guy, and ended up hopelessly lost for 30 mins.

Then it was off to Dublin. We got to the edge of the city around 5, and then spent the next 1.5 hours in stop and go traffic trying to get to our hostel in Temple Bar. Sigh, big cities and their stupid wrong-way, left-sided traffic. By the time we checked in, and wandered around a bit, we were too tired to do anything be go to bed.

In an effort to save a couple euro, we opted for a 10-bed mixed dorm room. It was mostly men, and not even cute ones. I slept great. I've been having trouble with my ears getting plugged, and its especially bad at night, so I rarely hear anything. Poor Steph though is a light sleeper, and was treated to a symphony of snoring. At one point, they were not only snoring in unison, but one would start, and the other would finish the snore on the other side of the room. Wish we had recorded it. Plus her bed was super tilted. In the morning, we drew the broken bed to their attention and they moved us to an all-girls room down the hall. No extra charge.

Cork and Cobh

2007-10-25T07:23:00.000-06:00

Before I launch into stories about the ill-fated Titanic, I have to tell you about the scary side of Limerick. It seems to be a big joke in Ireland, that the local Limerickans, wear stab vests like the Garda (police). Apparently there is a lot of gang violence, and stabbing is the choice means of inflicting pain and suffering.

Well, on our way home from Galway, we missed our turnoff at one of the round-abouts and ended up lost, and eventually near King John's Castle. It is sort of close to the town centre, but because of construction, it is difficult to get to the centre for there. So Ang being Ang, I took a turn of faith, which turned out to be one of my least wise turns ever. We ended up in a rough part of town. I was concentrating on the enormous speed bumps in the road and missed the huge floral memorial for a stabbing victim (which according to Stephanie, happened at that spot) and the copious numbers of scary looking people. Even the children looked scary. At this point we hadn't figured out how to lock the doors on the car, so there were a number of worried people in the car. Don't worry though, we received a great deal of divine protection and didn't see or suffer anything.

Ok, back to the touring. Cork and Cobh, like all Irish towns and cities are steeped in history. Cobh was the launching place for hundreds of thousands of immigrants to North America. It was neat seeing Cobh, and then seeing Ellis Island in NYC (though I didn't get to stop and visit there this time). Many of my friends' families left Cobh for Canada, and their names can be found on passenger manifests at the local museum. Though neither Steph or I had family come over from Ireland, we didn't take the time to tour the museum... 8Euro was a little much for 30 mins of touring. There was also a fairly large Titanic exhibit in the museum, as Cobh was the last port of call before the ship left for New York in 1912.

But we did walk around the town, and it is really cute. Lots of colourful buildings.

There was also St. Colman's Cathedral at the top of the hill over looking the town. And of course it was beautiful. First built in the 660s, it has survived, and been recently reno-ed to reflect its former glory.

After our very short walking tour of the town, we headed back to Cork. Cork is the second largest city in Ireland (after Dublin, and not counting Belfast), boasting a population of maybe 190,000. Sounds like Saskatchewan... It is a major seaport, with some of the big boats able to come right into the centre of town. For some reason I love boats, and am fascinated with the big container ships. Every time I go to Vancouver, I love to visit the harbour to see what kind of ships are going through. Crazy for a prairie-girl, I know. Oh, and Cork has lots of hills. I like hills, but Steph insisted that to save time, we should drive to our points of interest instead of walk...

At St. Finn Barre's Cathedral, I had to parallel park my wrong-sided, stick-shift car on should-be-one-way-but-isn't street with a slight incline. Not to brag, but it was one of the best park jobs I did the whole trip.

I think the outside of the building was my favourite. They did a really good job explaining the statuary outside the church. Those sculptors were really clever!

Another interesting fact. In the 1800's, the cathedral yard was used extensively as a cemetary. The literature at the church indicated some 17,000 people were buried through over a period of 30 (or was it 40) years. I couldn't capture it in pictures... but the yard is really small.

Our final stop in Cork was the Cork Butter Museum. This was a really cool stop. The whole museum is dedicated to butter. The history, method of manufacture, and future of Irish butter resides in this small, hard-to-get-to building. If Cork Butter authorities read this blog... offer free samples of your product! We finished watching the 15 mins video, and craved butter. But there was none to be had.

We had to rush back to Limerick for a lecture at the University, so our time was limited in Cork. If anything, this trip has given me an appreciation for Ireland that I didn't have before, and a desire to return and absorb more of the history and culture it has to offer.

Pictures

2007-10-23T16:29:00.000-06:00

To start, let's see if the pictures are going to work better for me today...

From Dingle, Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher and the Burren.

Can you spot the fence to keep the cows from going over the edge?

Steph and Ang the rule breakers... we aren't supposed to get this close to the Cliffs of Moher. As if some sign would stop me.
Dad, you and I are going to Lisdoonvarna next September for the Matchmaker festival. This is only one way to get a husband (more on that later)
The Burren before they cleared the rocks to make farmland.

Motorcycle Mama, this is your inukshuk, built by me and Steph.

And this is where the uploading trouble began. You'll just have to wait another day for stories and pictures from Cork and Cobh.

Uffda

2007-10-23T00:23:00.000-06:00

Sorry blog-reading friends. I really did intend to post while in the Shannon airport... little did I know I would spend most of my pre-flight time in lines and queues. Really, European and North American airlines and airports need to learn efficiency from their Asian counterparts. And then I didn't touch a computer for more than 5 mins while in New York.

Now I have to add all of my Long Island and New York trip to the list of things to write about... tomorrow, or the next day. So much to say.

But I will post a few pictures from the places I have already written about, only because I slept on the plane on the way home and am now not tired, even though it's like 2:30am in my head.

Yum, by the way, they sell Timmy's in Ireland. Or at least coffee in Timmy's cups. I nearly attacked a man when I first arrived at the University when I saw him holding a cup of Timmy's. It's not nearly as good as Canada, but a welcome little piece of home.

And, Blogger has decided to hate me and is giving me all sorts of trouble uploading pictures. You will all just have to wait for it is late, and I work tomorrow.

Nearly the End

2007-10-18T14:44:00.000-06:00

Again, this has been a whirlwind trip... so I haven't had much time to blog about our adventures. Lots of time in the car, and breezing through sites and historical things. However, I have to be at the airport early tomorrow, and rumour has it they have free wi-fi, so I'll blog about many things then. If not, you'll have to wait until NYC.

To give you an idea of what to expect:
1) A mini-recap of the Galway trip... including a trip to a not-so-great part of Limerick
2) Cork and Cobh
3) Kilkenny and Dublin traffic
4) Newgrange and Dublin (more traffic)
5) Rock of Cashel and Limerick
6) Early morning goodbyes

There might be a limerick or 2 if I can figure out how to write one. But it might be too early in the morning for that we'll see.

Where 2 are good, 5 are better

2007-10-15T14:57:00.000-06:00

Decided to start the day a little earlier, as we had a few more places to stop, and wanted to get back back to Limerick before 11.
While eating breakfast, we were talking to one of Steph's roommates, and the mom of another, who was visiting from Spain. The mom hadn't had an opportunity to go anywhere yet, so Steph decided that we should all go to Galway (and points in between). So she woke the other roommate, and all 5 of us were on our way soon after.
First stop, Cliffs of Moher. These are crazy steep cliffs that plunge into the Atlantic. There are 2 short walks that you can take to look at the cliffs, or, you can break the rules like everyone else, and go beyond the signs that say, "do not go beyond this sign" and get a "better" feel for the cliffs. It was awesome.

After the cliffs, we found the Burren. I mis-represented history yesterday. Cromwell did not send the native Irish people to the Dingle Penisula. He actually sent them to the Burren. It really is all rock. There are places where they have picked the rocks to reveal somewhat furtile soil, but only go about half way up the hills. For anyone who has ever picked rocks in a field in Saskatchewan, that is a walk in the park compared to the Burren.

Steph and I built an inukshuk for wayward travellers, and all the rocks are flat, and easy to build with.

After the Burren, we found our way to Galway and visited the city centre and Spanish Arches. Nothing too exciting. Though... someone had poured a who container of soap into the fountain, and there were soap suds everywhere.

Another good day. I enjoyed spending the day with our 3 Spanish travel buddies, and I think they appreciated being out of the apartment too!

Dingle

2007-10-14T03:17:00.000-06:00

This town slayed me. For some juvenile reason, the name makes me laugh every time I see or say it. Thankfully I'm not the only one who has found it so funny. The town is a typical pretty Irish town. Though there is this underlying resentment towards the powers that be. Apparently a certain civic politician decided several years ago to do away with all of the English in Dingle, opting for the native Irish (i.e. Gaelic) on all signs. So you see traffic signs with huge spaces missing, where the English used to be. It is the "town that was denied democracy."

Oooo, we rented a car to do our touring. So I get to drive a stick-shift on the wrong side of the car and road, on curvy, narrow coastal mountain roads. Exhilarating. We only got lost once, and managed to only hit a few branches while meeting other cars.

The scenery on the Dingle Peninsula is beautiful. Apologising in advance if my history is incorrect... It is the area of Ireland that Cromwell sent all of the native Irishpeople when he "took over" Ireland in the name of England. The land is rocky and mostly uninhabitable, but the people who live there seem to have done really well. There are rock walls everywhere and sheep dot the mountain sides. My favourite are the walls that border cliffs... I figure they are there to keep the cows and sheep from going over the edge, rather than keeping intruders out.

Another stop we made was at Inch Beach. Despite the cooler temps, I obviously had to dip my feet on this side of the Atlantic. This little dog (who I named Jack) greeted us on the beach, and ran with me to the water's edge. When he realized I was going into the water, Jack stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me like I was crazy. And I was , the water was really cold. He quickly lost interest in my antics, and returned to his owners.

After Inch Beach, we made our way to Killarney. It was dark by this time, so we could only wander around downtown. We ate supper at Hannigan's Pub and Restaurant, and enjoyed listening to the locals cheer on the Irish soccer team in a match against Germany.

It was a good first day! Today's adventures will take us to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher. Hope I don't get blown over!

JFK Gong Show

2007-10-12T12:40:00.001-06:00

Hello from Ireland. I arrived in Shannon about 2 hours later than expected. It started with being 2 hours delayed in Orlando because of a severe thunderstorm in NYC. Which meant the Shannon flight (and every other flight in the world it seems) was 2 hours delayed. If that wasn't enough, we were in the queue to take-off, and the storm had the audacity to return and start blowing the wind in the opposite direction of how the planes were taking off. So all 50 planes in the queue had to turn around. Unreal.
But, I did get to see some really cool lightening from the sky once we managed to get off the ground.

Steph came and picked me up at the Shannon airport, and I quickly learned that time in Ireland does not exist. We waited about 20 mins after the scheduled arrival time for the bus to take us to Limerick. Limerick is a cute little city. Lots of medieval arcitecture (King John's castle is here, right on the banks of the River Shannon). Steph is giving me lots of history lessons as we go.

Now comes the tough part... deciding what to do for the rest of the week. Thankfully Steph has no classes next week, so we are free to go whichever way the wind blows.

O-Town

2007-10-09T19:18:00.000-06:00

Tonight, we visited downtown Orlando. It is waaaaay different (and better!) than touristy International Drive and points beyond. I liked it way better. Ian, I saw the Orange Blossom Special comin' down the line! There is a portion of Church St., which the city is revitalizing. There is an old train station, authentic Orange Blossom Special locomotive and boxcars, and new restuarants scheduled to open soon. However, there is a little shady money business going on right now. Some local scammed about $100million from Florida residents, and ran his operation from the Church St. district. But, once its done, I think it will look pretty cool!

Not much else to say. This guy named "Shorty" toured us around the downtown, recommending restaurants. We finally chose a tex-mex place with outdoor seating. The food was pretty good, and there was live music. I thought the restaurant across the street "Slingapour" had a pretty clever name which deserves recognition.

I can't walk I ate so much.

2007-10-08T18:50:00.000-06:00

It is 30C here every day, and I'm in a tradeshow hall during peak heat hours. Sigh. At least the evenings are pleasant.

I am most disappointed, we tried to go to Universal Studios and check out the rides, the but park closes at 7pm, as we are now in the off season. Pay $70 and you only get to ride the rides for an hour. Not worth it. but we walked around, and enjoyed that sun and heat.

Remember when I said yesterday that I am going to gain 15 pounds here... well tonight I ate the best meal I've had since my Keg steak in Toronto. Texas de Brazil is my new favourite restaurant. Veggies and starters are all served buffet style, but it was by far the most exotic and unique salad bar I've had. Tons of fine cheeses, sushi, lentils. Only 2 small bowls with lettuce. And lobster bisque.. yum... Once finished the first course, each person has a little disc; red (STOP) on one side, and green (GO) on the other. Flip it to green, and the cooks who have prepared beef, lamb and chicken on sword skewers, start lining up at your table to serve the meat portion of the meal. And wow, it was some of the best meat I've ever had. If it hadn't been too weird (as some friends have told me). I would have taken pictures of all that food.

If you ever have the opportunity to eat there, do!

I think I might gain 15 pounds

2007-10-07T15:33:00.000-06:00

I'm at a baking show in Orlando right now. Imagine, hundreds of booths sampling the latest in delectable (and sugary etc.) pastries, cookies, cakes, icings, muffins, bagels, bread... all stuff I shouldn't eat, but I will. It's really hard to spend $12 on a tiny grilled chicken sandwich, when I can roam the aisles for free and stuff my face. Sigh. Must not gorge.
The only redeeming factor is the amount of time I have spent on my feet today, standing and walking. So maybe it will only be 5 pounds I gain.

Home again, home again, jiggety, jig

2007-09-30T00:55:00.000-06:00

Whirlwind trip 2 complete, I'm safely home again.

My meeting went well yesterday. Short and to the point. I managed to spend an hour in a peaceful park, under a tree, in the sun, in +25C weather... doing work ;) Took some time during the late morning to visited the Gateway Arch, downtown. Quite an impressive structure, really. Unfortunately I did not have time to learn about it, just admire.

If you are ever in St. Louis, try the Rooster. It was a really great restaurant. Atmosphere was trendy, very downtown in feel, and the food and service are fantastic. Though famous for their crepes, I opted for a delicious sandwich.

After work hours, I met up with a friend who recently moved to St. Louis. He offered to take me around to all the cool places. First stop, Forest Park. This park (where I spent some of my afternoon working in the sun), was created in the late 1800s as a place for families to gather. Located in the park are the Zoo, the Art museum (check out Javier Mendoza, who gave a free concert there last night), History museum, a golf course and acres and acres of green space. And everything is free (except some of the parking). I'm a big fan of urban parks as a means of escaping city life, and Forest Park is perfect for that.

We then went on a tour of the trendy districts, including Delmar Loop, which is filled with great restaurants.

I have apartment envy, as my friend lives in a really cool downtown apartment with asymetric walls, a roof-top pool and games room and great views, as you can see in the above picture.

It was good evening!

I have become one of those travelers who no longer remembers when flights are, or where they go. I thought my flight home was at 11am, and planned my Saturday morning accordingly. Nope... it was at 3:15pm. We had missed going to the zoo last night, so I hopped in my rental, and headed to the zoo. What a great way to spend a Saturday. Once again, the weather was beautiful, and it was good to just be outside. According to numerous personal sources, the St. Louis Zoo is the second best zoo in the country, and it didn't disappoint.

Though a little fuzzy, this is my favourite picture. This little boy just wanted to hang with the ape man.

Verdict on St. Louis. Nice midwestern city. Big, yet its like Saskatoon, in that the pace of life is easier to manage, and people aren't jaded big-citiers.

Another Day Another City

2007-09-27T23:00:00.000-06:00

For those keeping track of me... I'm in St. Louis right now. I'll be here a good time, but not a long time. What a gong show to get here though. Really, who thought that I would have to go to Calgary, then Denver before St. Louis. Sometimes getting out of my prairie town is ridiculous.

On tomorrow's agenda. A meeting or two and then some high speed siteseeing.

Keepin' it real with the M-Team

2007-09-25T07:52:00.000-06:00

The best part about traveling is the people you meet, and the friends you visit.

In the interest of protecting the innocent... I'm only going to use initials. K, T, CB and D.
After my days of work in TO, I headed to the "country" to stay with friends in Stratford. The town is most famous for the Stratford Festival of Canada. Maybe some year I'll make it out in time to actually enjoy one of the plays or musicals.

The fun and adventures started Thursday evening with a great visit with K & T on the way to Stratford. What an awesome couple they are.

Friday, I walked to Timmy's for a iced capp. It was a beautiful 22C, and the sun was shining. Everyone seems to have had the same idea, as there were lots of tourists walking around the river. Stratford is pretty town (well, its really a city by SK standards, with over 30,000 residents. But hey, we consider anything over 5000 people to be a city). Lots of old, character homes and buildings.

Friday afternoon CB and I headed to Buffalo for a NHL exhibition game between the Sabres and Blue Jackets. Having never been to Niagara Falls, we stopped on the way to check them out. The Canadian side, aka Horseshoe Falls (where you catch the full picture of how magnificent the falls are) was a gong show. Too many people, and not enough parking. So in classic me style, I took pictures while driving by. I think these are the American Falls.

We decided we would have better luck enjoying the scenery on the less crowded American side. It was true. You get a much better sense of how much water rushes over the falls at any given second. The rocks below the American Falls are enormous, and I certainly would not want to go up against them in a fight. Pretty impressive.

CB and I standing in front of the Horseshoe Falls.

One more at high speed "been there, done that" thing to cross off my list.

The game was mediocre, and likely a typical exhibition game. Teams had not cohered much yet, the fan favourite Sabres fighter was given a game misconduct in the first 10 mins, and the home team lost 4-1.

The rest of the weekend was filled with sun, fun, laughter and Junior B hockey. There is never a dull moment with the M-Team! Thanks guys!

I made it!

2007-09-18T14:30:00.000-06:00

I successfully navigated all 16 lanes of the 401 today, and made it out alive! I only missed one turn. Thanks to Davey G's trusty GPS, it quickly calculated a new route, and got to my lunch meeting in enough time to do a little retail therapy.
Best part of the 401 experience. As I was merging onto it, I found a country music station that was just starting to play Brooks & Dunn's "Hillbilly Deluxe". Happens to be my favourite B&D song right now. Classic!

The Naming Game

2007-09-17T16:51:00.001-06:00

hello from TO. I'm still here... for another busy week. Just finished the tradeshow I was at, and am now preparing for 3 days of meetings. I'm already longing for Friday when I get a break.

At the pet trade show I was exhibiting, I picked up a new pet!! I need some help naming him/them (which is correct?). Any suggestions? Has to be a strong name, as this particular creature strikes fear and loathing into other things (mostly insects ;)

My new pet is about the most exciting thing that's happened in the last 2 days. Tomorrow I drive the 401 for the first time in my life. Will be curious to see how this prairie girl fares on Canada's busiest highway.

The End of Something Great

2007-09-14T21:45:00.000-06:00

It's official. I no longer have good luggage "karma". After 3 years of trouble free air travel (flight & weather delays and terminal dashing notwithstanding), I have suffered my 3rd luggage delay since March. One could reason that I brought this on myself by bragging about my good record.

West Jet. I love you guys, and tell the world that you're the best and my preferred Canadian airline. But today was the second time you delayed my bags, and I've only had occasion to fly with you 3 times this year. I understand that tight connection times can make it difficult to transfer luggage (as it did in the first incident in March), and that I'm ok with. But today's delayed bag was clearly marked YYZ, and yet was left on the plane ended up in Halifax. How does this happen? I envision some system of arranging bags in the plane's belly to prevent such occurances, but something broke down today.

I will give your staff at YYZ baggage claim the customer service line kudos for being helpful. They did their best to provide my bag's coordinates and ETA when known. I really do love all Westjetters.

Truth be told I wasn't too choked about the delay, as I had planned to drop my belongings in my hotel room, and head straight for downtown TO anyways. And, it wasn't like Air Canada that left 2 people's month-worth-of-stuff bags at LAX, forcing myself and travel buddy to wear the same clothes for 52 hours in Bangkok in the summer. They didn't even offer a complimentary toiletry bag! (I don't know how to link yet, but you can refer to the mid-May postings for more details.) Or the time they took 5 days of a 7 day trip to get my boss his luggage in Europe. Today's biggest disappointment was not getting to wear my newly acquired Blue Jays hat to the game tonight. I'm certain the Jays lost as a result... not enough fan spirit from me.

FYI - I'm in Toronto right now. I'll be here for the next 9ish days, 6 for work, and 3 for fun. Don't worry, fun days are on the weekend.

After many queues and unexpected delays, I got to hang out with an old friend, whom I have not seen since like 2001, maybe 2002... I can't remember. But she lives and schools here, working on her doctorate at the U of T. We had a great time, and she walking toured me around the downtown. It was great! Walked through part of the U of T campus, saw all sorts of beautiful buildings, took in Yonge Street, Lake Ontario, the CN tower, some rain, and of course street hot dogs. "It's all part of the experience!" she said. Love it!

When deciding what to do with my extra time today, I figured that a Blue Jays game was in order, for I had never been to a pro ball game. So I bought a ticket online, and made my way to the Skydome. They played the Orioles, and lost 6-2. But... it was a shut out until Hill and Luna both cracked leftfield homeruns (really close to where I was sitting!) at the bottom of the 9th, and denied the Orioles that pleasure.

I ache with fatigue, and am going to bed. 4am was so long ago, and 6 is coming to soon. Oh wait, that will still be 4am in my brain.

Ireland is the new Paris

2007-08-03T12:21:00.000-06:00

Apparently everyone and their dog is going to Ireland these days. Why not join the masses?Taking advantage of my proximity to the Atlantic (courtesy of my job), the cheapest travel time of the year, and a my former roomie attending university there; this rambling traveler is heading to the snakeless land of the leprechaun in October.

Its official, I have a serious addiction, and should seek professional help... when I get back.

Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Nah Batman, Batman

2007-07-28T22:36:00.000-06:00

After 4 weeks at home, my rambling travels have now taken me to Chicago. So far Chicago looks likes a pretty good place. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

It is 11pm right now and downtown is teeming with life, as it would in any major American city. Seems they are filming a movie just around the corner from my hotel. Found out it was the new "Batman" due out in 2008. Apparently Quincey St, more specifcally the Bank of America, looks alot like Gotham City. Who knew?!?

I haven't seen anyone famous yet, but will keep a sharp eye out over the next few days.

Ang and Kelly's Top 10 Never-Again-At-Least-Not-Intentionally List (tough though, given we both plan to travel in developing countries again)

2007-06-26T12:05:00.000-06:00

1. Um, deep-fried crickets definitely tops this list. Apparently the locals eat them like popcorn at the movies… yum?

2. Public mini-bus. Way too many hot and sticky people crammed into one place

3. Trudging through muddy, shin-high rain water in flip-flops. What was that that just brushed against my ankle?

4. Squatty potties. Given this is a typical type of commode everywhere but home; avoiding these could be difficult.

5. Sleeping with ants. Worse yet, waking up to ants crawling on your arms, face and legs. Ants in your pack. Ants on the floor, on the walls. At least they aren’t bed bugs.

6. Bad 80’s karaoke. I think our ears bled a little

7. 52 hours in the same clothes. What? No clean undies? But, we didn't smell, thanks to showering!

8. Renting broken bikes and riding them all day, through crazy traffic and stifling heat. Renting good bikes is totally worth it though!

9. Propositions from creepy old men with bad teeth. “No thanks” Ang says, “I won’t be joining you for a nap in your cabana.”

10. Sweat. Everywhere. Eye lids , upper lip, boob, belly button, lower back, thighs, legs… all the better for the dirt and fumes from the street stick to you, my dear.

Ang and Kelly's Top 10 Must-Do-Again List

2007-06-26T12:00:00.000-06:00

1. Canyoning and Abseiling – worth every penny we paid and every mouthful of dirty river water that we swallowed.

2. Beng Mealea – crumbling Angkor style temple that you actually get to climb around. Bombed by the Khmer Rouge, and overgrown with jungle fauna. You feel like an explorer, discovering it for the first time.

3. Extreme Biking in Phnom Penh – who wouldn’t want to take their life into their own hands, braving the motos, cyclos, cars, trucks, fumes, livestock and glaring sun?

4. The FOOD – waffles with frozen yogurt, toasted rice paper quesadilla things, street vendors, and all for less than a dollar!

5. 4 island tour in Nha Trang, hosted by OK Adventure. Karaoke, Funky Monkey, the turquoise ocean, sandy beaches and meeting great people.

6. Getting lost... really. You always end up in neat places that you couldn't have found on a map.

7. Cold showers and the occasional A/C. Never thought I would say this, but on occasion, I missed A/C.

8. The Lakeside and sunsets in Phnom Penh.

9. Meeting new people, and then running into them again, and again and again. It did not matter what city or country we were in, they kept popping up!

10. The markets. Total mayhem. People everywhere, smells like dried squid, meat hanging from the roof, vendors calling to you in words you don’t understand, and everything is cheaper than borscht!

More pictures

2007-06-20T12:41:00.001-06:00

The South China Sea as seen from our GH in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

World's greatest snack. Made from rice paper, an egg, green onions and chilis. So delicious

Canyoning in Da Lat... well... just practicing

Kelly sliding down Mother nature's waterslide

Ang abseiling down a 25m waterfall along the Datanla River. Shortly after that we jumped off a 10m cliff into a pool of water...

Pictures - Round 1

2007-06-19T18:01:00.000-06:00

I"ll try posting captions later...

Crossing the border into Cambodia

Angkor Thom at Angkor Wat

Sam Mountain in Chau Doc Vietnam

Running back to Saskatoon

2007-06-19T17:36:00.000-06:00

We're back!! Kelly and I arrived in Calgary yesterday, on time, and with no hiccups. All of our luggage (we added a few pieces in Bangkok, just to make sure everything got home) came off the line in good order. Very thankful. I flew home to Saskatoon today, and have just been chillin' at my parents for the afternoon. Well, really, I'm here for laundry, internet, food, visiting and showing pictures. Speaking of pictures, I'll definitely start posting some of the best for your viewing pleasure.

I would like to introduce you to Moose. We picked him up at the beginning of our trip. He did everything we did. He is Canada's most well travelled Moose, and a great way to start conversations, or at the very least draw strange stares from the locals.

Moose picked up a few names along the way. Additional suggestions are always welcome.
Clouse - means "brush" in Khmer. An employee at our G.H in Siem Reap gave it to him because his antlers kind of look like brushes.
Monkey - because he kind of looks like one
Sargie - given to him by the 2 cute British boys (aged 7 and 9) while on our way to Vietnam
Moose - because we couldn't think of anything original...

Shopping, shopping and more shopping

2007-06-16T20:24:00.000-06:00

Hello from Bangkok!

We arrived here late on the 14th. Had our first taste of Khao San road... and it reminds me alot of Bourbon Street in New Orleans or the Strip in Las Vegas. Lots of neon lights, bars, street vendors, and children. Why people bring their small children, still pushing them in strollers to such places, I will never understand. But it was pretty crazy. We managed to find a small but clean place about a block off Khao San, for cheap, which we have been very thankful for.

Friday and Saturday were both spent walking and shopping. It is great. We have each had to buy an extra bag (or maybe 2 after we get through today) just to make sure everything makes it home. That's what you get when you give 2 girls 3 free days at the end of a trip...

We leave for home tomorrow morning. Pictures are still to come, and we're preparing a couple of top 10 lists. Even though this incredible trip is coming to an end, there is still lots to come, so keep checking back.

People in Calgary, we'll see you in a few. Saskatoon, I'm home on the 19th, but we'll definitely be in need of some down time.

A&K

It's a Small World

2007-06-13T22:37:00.000-06:00

And now you all have that song in your heads... But really, it is a small world. You would think that in a city of over 5 million, you wouldn't expect to see people that you know. But it has happened far too often. yesterday we were at the grocery store, stocking up on a few sundries, and whom do we spot through the window... but the Canadian couple we met so many weeks ago. You can imagine all of our surprise. it was nice to see familar faces though, and we quickly caught up with each other.

Today is our last day in HCMC as we head back to Bangkok tonight. HCMC has been nicer the second time around, but we still both prefer the small towns like Chau Doc and Da Lat that we have visited. Fewer tourists has generally meant nicer locals and an atmosphere that one could spend a considerable length of time enjoying. But that kind of talk is for another time.

As the end of our trip quickly approaches, we are starting to crave the things we have lived without for the last month. Proper shampoo... our own beds... personal space (my how the Vietnamese love to touch and hit us)... friends and family, you know, the little things. I guess when the end is near, you allow you can allow yourself to think about those kinds of things.

Oops, a little earlier than expected

2007-06-11T05:00:00.000-06:00

We are back in HCMC, and arrived at the most ungodly hour of 4am... Our trip up to Nha Trang took nearly 10 hours, so we figured 7-8 from Da Lat back to HCMC, seeing as it was about 100km closer. Wrong!!! So what do 2 girls with backpacks that are overflowing do at 4am? They sit in a well lit park, reading by the street lamps, waiting for the city to come alive. Then they set off in search of Vietnamese iced coffee and a place to sleep. Something I have to mention about how early things get started here. By 4:30, there were maybe a dozen people walking and running in the park we had set up camp in. By 5, there were several dozen, and by 5:30, the streets and park were full of people and traffic. Very different than life in Canada.

We were fortunate to find a cheap GH just down the street, and they offer free internet. Hooray!! We're hoping over the next couple of days to try and download a few pictures to share with you. Don't get your hopes up though, neither of us are very computer illiterate.

Today, besides being super tired, we set off in search of the Southern Vietnam Woman's museum. It was quite an interesting place to visit. It is filled with stories, pictures and artifacts of women who served their country during the French and "American" aka Vietnam Wars. Many women lost so much, while others gave their lives to fight for what they believed. I was struck by how integral a part of Vietnamese culture the role of women are. During the late stages of the war, many women embarked on peace missions on behalf of the Vietnamese government, holding positions of high regard and power. Overall, very interesting, and extra bonus completely free!

Only 6 days left before we come back to Canada.

The Extreme Adventures of Ang and Kelly

2007-06-09T21:09:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, we decided to add a little risk to our travel itinerary... and went abseiling and canyoning along the Datanla River just outside of DaLat. Abseiling, according to dictionary.com is to "descend at the end of a rope". Canyoning on the other hand is to to "jump into fast mountain streams for traversing gullies, rapids, and falls on one's back". That is exactly what we did. Our guides Diep and Tao were great. Diep, was a bit of a daredevil and took any chance he could to show off for us. At one point, he jumped off a 25m waterfall that we had just descended by rope and safely landed in the pool below. It was really cool.

Kelly says that it was pretty much as exciting as jumping in and out of helicopters. We were buzzed on adrenaline most of the day.

Today is our last day in Da Lat. We're taking it easy this morning, and will probably rent mountain bikes this afternoon. Tonight we'll try the night bus to Saigon. We're sort of hiding out in the internet cafe, trying to avoid Easyrider guides and small children who keep trying to steal our strawberries and smack our bums. It was cute for the first 5 mins... then got bad enough we had to find a new spot to eat breakfast.

We're so cold!!!

2007-06-08T03:03:00.000-06:00

It's been a few days since we last posted. Nha Trang was pretty great, though things are not well set up for the independent traveler. We had tons of trouble finding some of the sites that were recommended to visit. We;re just too cheap to pay for a city tour when we generally do alright on our own.

Yesterday we caught a bus to Da Lat, a mountain town in the interior. The trip was fairly short, comparatively speaking, but the road was not one of the best we've been on. For all my biker friends and family, I highly recommend coming to Vietnam, renting a bike, and enjoying the twisty-turny mountain roads here. They were nuts. At times it hardly seemed that the bus was going to finish the present turn before they had to make the next one. The lady and her son in the seats next to us didn't enjoy the roads so much, and ralphed their lunch into every available "container" for most of 2 hours. Hats, bags, cups, nothing was spared. Everything was saved, and placed neatly in the seat back pocket. That was the less pleasant part of the trip. Thank goodness for my iPod, we just turned the tunes up loud and concentrated on our books or sleeping.

Da Lat itself self is quite a pretty town. There are lots of hills and mountains surrounding the town, and we expect to try some mountain activities tomorrow. Not big fans of the temperature drop though. Its a good 10-15 degrees cooler here, and when your body has aclimated to the heat, to cooler temps leave a person downright cold! Thankfully this morning was a little warmer, and we're surviving.

The market here is great. Last night we walked around and tried not to step on vendors and their wares that filled every available piece of the sidewalk and street. They were shouting things in Vietnamese to attract customers and Kelly and I enjoyed ad libbing in English. I think the market was a bit illegal, as most of the vendors were constantly looking around, watching for the police that were patrolling nearby.

What's next? We're not sure. We're having a tough time deciding when to head back to HCMC in a couple days or heading back to the coast for another beach day, just to warm up.

Lots of love
A&K

Beach Days

2007-06-05T23:00:00.002-06:00

Whew, its hot here. We've been in Nha Trang for 2 fulls days, and are working on our third. We've spent some time on the beach, lots in the ocean, and, like every other place we've visited, haved walked around a tremendous amount. Yesterday we took a tour of 4 of the surrounding islands, and had an absolute blast. The tour's guide, Funky Monkey, was an excellent host, and made sure everyone was included. The food was great. Lots of seafood, which I'm convinced they caught while we were all swimming and snorkeling. At least it was fresh. We met tons of new people, mostly from the UK, but a few from downunder, and 1 American. In all, it was a great day!

Hope you are all doing well. Tomorrow we're planning to move inland to Da Lat. I expect we'll do a little trekking, and visit some of the more famous local sites. Maybe even take in a cooking school if we find one.

2007-06-05T23:00:00.001-06:00