Sunday 30 December 2012

Jacob Post: Tobogganing


Today, we went toboganing at the clubhouse. We met Robert, Sarah, Ryan, their mum, and their dad. I had got 2 new sleds. A mini luge blue one and a normal green one. Me, Robert, and Sarah played Crash. In the game, 3 people find a spot next to each other. 2 people would have the same sled. 1 person has a different sled. The different sled person would set off first, the 2 other people would set off and trys to knock the first one off. Then, we played link. We would toboggan down the hill with linked arms. We get however many people were at the bottom still linked. Then, we went to their house and played lego. Then we played hide and seek.We also had a snack. Sadly, it was soon time to go. We (as in me, Rose, Mummy, and Daddy) went home and tobogganed in the yard. Rose got her head stuck in a snow drift while belly-whopping. Here are pictures:

Rose on the crazycarpet

Me and my friends playing Crash

Thursday 27 December 2012

Proper Snow and Rescue Dogs

Last night we had our first proper snow fall, about 6 inches of it.  The children and I went to check it out this morning, it was great for making snow angels,


And shovelling


But too powdery for snowmen.  Unfortunately due to general fecklessness we have no sledge, this seemed a great pity so I thought back to my youth (many years ago when we made jack-o-lanterns out of turnips and ate gruel on Christmas Day) and recalled that in the absence of a proper sledge we would use empty plastic feed sacks.  I came up with this alternative fashioned from a recycling bag, an old cushion and some duct tape.  It worked pretty well, I enjoyed myself anyway.


I had quite a day of improvisation.  This is the dog I rustled up for Rose to make up for the lack of toy dogs for Christmas.  It's made from a pair of Tom's socks (I asked first) to a Martha Stewart pattern and seems to have mollified Rose for the time being.  I will have to work on a duck for Jacob now or this may be construed as an act of favouritism and used against me in future.

 
 

Wednesday 26 December 2012

Boxing Day Blues

Look at the state of my lounge (and my Son, bed early tonight I think).  And check out the size of that doll's house from Grandpa, I think it will probably be a determining factor in the size of our next real house.  So far it has been inhabited by naked Sylvanian Families and a multitude of balloon poodles and the music room and dining room are being used as a garage for a tour bus run by bears.  Gary said he had visions of a little girl playing nicely with dolls in it, he clearly wasn't thinking of Rose.


Yesterday went well, Jacob had the best Christmas ever and Rose had the worst day of her life due to not getting a toy dog, how glad I am that I didn't rush out and buy the other Rainbow Dash.  I am hoping that Jacob will blog some of his gifts so will not spoil his potential surprise until it becomes obvious that he won't bother.

This is what Christmas does to an already tired 4 year old.

Monday 24 December 2012

Merry Christmas

So the big day is almost upon us, my jobs are all done and my list fully ticked, the only things that I've missed out, are making my own sage and onion stuffing, so Paxo will just have to do and cleaning the house but who cares, if Santa wants to use the bathroom while he's here he'll just have to cope with a little gunge.

I was watching the weather channel yesterday (yes, I do lead an exciting life) when I chanced to hear that the official definition of a white Christmas in Canada is 2cm of snow cover by 7am.  So this doesn't count apparently.

As a comparison I looked at the British definition and if you are placing a bet a white Christmas is a single flake of snow falling from the sky during the 24 hour period of Christmas Day, I guess expectations are a little different.

Anyway, before I go and collapse here is a picture of the children with their present for Grandpa, he didn't put up a tree this year so we made him a substitute.


Won't be blogging tomorrow as although today's jobs are done I will no doubt be up to my eyeballs in turkey and trimmings and hopefully some sort of numbing beverage so here's wishing anyone who reads this a Very Merry Christmas and for now a Jolly Good Night.

Saturday 22 December 2012

Three Days to Go

Day 1 of the Christmas Holidays and we actually have a tiny sprinkle of snow!  Last night a big storm blew through that sounded like hurricane Sandy through the woods, it has left behind a fine dusting of snow in the grass and on the lea side of the roof tops.  It's pretty but I didn't rush out and buy a sledge, on reflection perhaps I should have because if we get snowed in without one I will have very cross sledge-less children.

More 'exciting' Christmas prep today, the making of hard sauce for the Christmas Pudding and a disaster with the cake.  I discovered that the marzipan I bought (very early and quite smugly) a few weeks ago went out of date on 12 FE 24 which I think was last February and not in 11 years time.  That's another thing to add to the huge shopping list tomorrow along with Turkey, hope they've got some of that left or Gary will have no leftover nut roast to take home.

Finally, here are the children posing in front of the disco decorations, Jacob looks like a 1980s rocker because he is modelling a festive headband/hat he made at school.

Thursday 20 December 2012

Dogs and Horses

This afternoon I made a flying visit to The Tender Spot which is one of only 2 stores open on the main beach strip in Grand Bend during the winter.  It is a shop that sells an astounding assortment of things from tourist knickknacks to knitting yarn, in the past I have bought balloons, napkins, baby tights (for Halloween spider leg construction) a porcelain soap dish, gloves, a fleece blanket, a pack of little felt circles to stick under chair feet.  The list could go on indefinitely but you get my drift, anyway, back to the point.  I was weaving my way through the store via the toy aisle when who should I spy in a very faded pink box on the bottom shelf but Rainbow Dash, plastic as you like and with only minimal accessories.

This left me with a bit of a conundrum, should I buy it and give Rose 2 Rainbow dashes for Christmas or just risk it with the fuzzy one?  In the end I left it in the shop, it looked so old that I can probably leave it there for a couple of days while I decide.  The problem with Rose is that she is just so fickle, while we were out together this morning 2 people asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she told both of them quite confidently that she is getting a toy dog?  There were no toy dogs on any lists I saw, I hope a T shirt with a dog on the front will do because that's as close as she's going to get.

Tuesday 18 December 2012

More Baking

I am now well and truly into the Christmas prep stage and have managed to tick cranberry sauce, teacher's chocolates and 2/3 of a pan of millionaire's shortbread off my list.

You may question whether millionaire's shortbread is a particularly Christmassy thing to make but I haven't seen it over here yet, there are a zillion different versions of Nanaimo bars that are a similar concept triple layer bar but nothing quite like the millionaires stuff.  The other reason for making it is to use this crazy implement I found in the kitchen.


I am tempted to fasten bells and ribbons on it and do some morris dancing but I think that it is actually a 'pastry blender' for rubbing or cutting fat into flour.  I gave it a go and it did a pretty good job, not so good as a brilliant pastry making person but better than me and I didn't have gunk stuck under all my nails when I'd finished which was a plus.

In a quiet moment Rose rearranged the kitchen tree and it is really quite spectacularly lopsided now.  Jacob was very cross and didn't see the funny side of it all all, not cross enough to sort it out for me though, if I have to find time to do it myself it will have to stay like that until Twelfth Night.

Sunday 16 December 2012

Enter the Christmas Tree

Last night Tom and I put up the Christmas Tree, it looks very small in this large house but if we got a bigger one there wouldn't be enough decorations.  As the tree was up and ready with the decorations within reach the children got festive at 7.15am, pre-coffee Christmassiness is a little early for me but sacrifices must be made.

For once the grubby rabbit was behaving
Yesterday as part of my experimental, thrifty decorating plan Rose and I (and Jacob for about 5 minutes) spent ages making groovy paper garlands.  I'll try to induce Rose to pose with them tomorrow, they make the living room look like a psychedelic 70s hairdresser's.

This evening I put the mincemeat ingredients in a big bowl to marinate before making that up tomorrow.  Mince pies are not normal over here, the only person I've come across who has both heard of them and likes to eat them is my hair stylist who is originally from Birmingham, she has to import her mincemeat from the USA.  This is good news as when I make a batch of 200 I will have someone apart from Gary to fob them off on and spare some room in my tiny freezer.

Finally, Rose got hold of my glasses this afternoon and here she is.

Think I might borrow the hat

Friday 14 December 2012

Baubles and Stuff

Today has been a day of frantic cleaning before the Christmas decorations go up, I feel like I have mopped a football stadium.  Its going to be tricky making the house look decorated as we have only imported enough stuff for a 3 bed terrace house and are now inhabiting a 3000sq foot semi mansion.  As a result the children and I are getting creative, here are our vases full of cheap baubles, they looked good in the magazine.


Here is the professionally decorated kitchen tree, it may get redecorated with some lights on when I've bought some or borrowed some from Gary.  I watched a demonstration on how to best decorate your tree at a ladies fund raiser for school, it's odd but they didn't mention the give half the decorations to each of your children and end up with a tree that has a large collection of things at the bottom of one side and another about half way up the other side with nothing in between method.  They obviously don't everything after all.


Thursday 13 December 2012

Footprints in the Sand

This morning I walked down to the beach, it was really pretty with the frost on the sand and it even sounded calming as both children were at school.  My photo isn't up to much but that's because my camera is small and worth about $2.50, I couldn't be bothered to wait for better light and I'm not that good at framing a picture but you get the idea.


I followed a  trail of these footprints for a quite a long way, good job i know theres no bears and wolves around here!




Tuesday 11 December 2012

Shopping for Ponies

When we wrote letters to Santa a couple of weeks ago Rose announced that she wants a pony.  To my relief it turned out that she wants a new my little pony, specifically 'Rainbow Dash', the blue one with a Rainbow mane and tail and a rainbow branded on her bottom.  Easy I thought.  Today I looked in vain in Walmart, Toys R Us and the toy section of Canadian Tire.  Everything seems to be 'Princess Celeste' who is white and actually a unicorn so she won't be fobbed off with that.  The only Rainbow Dashes came in packs of many plastic ponies or in sets with picnic equipment, hand bags and crowns or lots of other tiny bits and I prefer to leave the tiny bit buying to grandparents and other people who don't have to dredge out hoover bags when the tiny bits become invisible on the floor.

In the end I found a soft fabric Rainbow Dash, I don't know if this will do or if there will be tears because it isn't plastic.  I could feel the angst of Christmas building up inside me as I stood in front of the shelves willing the little blue freak to magically appear and I almost started to think a real pony might be easier.  Present shopping is much less enjoyable now that I am responsible and the happiness of small people hinges on getting it right.

Sunday 9 December 2012

Poutine

This week Jacob has mostly been filing, you'll have to ask him about that.


I think I have the tiredest children in the world, check out the bags under Jacob's eyes.  Here is Rose modeling the treat bags I have been making to hang on the Christmas tree, she doesn't look a lot better.


Today we tried to go for a walk in the Parkhill conservation area but it was all a bit weird.  We drove a long way down an increasingly pot-holed road with lots of signs saying hikers welcome but no walking trails so we gave up and went for lunch.

I tried a Canadian classic called 'poutine'.  Now I thought poutine was a dodgy Irish whiskey made from fermented potatoes (nice) but apparently that is poteen and the 2 should not be confused.  Poutine is a Canadian delicacy consisting of fries, curd cheese and gravy I'm surprised you can't get it in Yorkshire.  The verdict: actually it was pretty good in a carb heavy, sits in the stomach for 3 weeks kind of a way and would probably seem like a good idea after 5 pints of bitter (something it may have in common with poteen), it doesn't make up for the lack of mushy peas though.

Friday 7 December 2012

Something for the Weekend

Today at play group Rose and I were introduced to Pete the Cat by Eric Litwin.  We listened to a CD accompanying the book called I Love my White Shoes and as Rose loves singing, dancing and shoes it was just about the perfect thing to make her morning.  When we got home I found the song online at the address below and we had a good boogie in the basement.

http://harpercollinschildrens.com/feature/petethecat/audio/pete-the-cat.mp3

I urge you to have a listen as it certainly jollied me up, it's a good job I'd not had a beer or I'd have made a fool of myself strutting around play group pulling faces.  Its a pretty good way to kick off your weekend but you may be humming it all week.

Thursday 6 December 2012

Christmas Preparations and Big Birds

Hurray, finally got my last overseas parcel in the post, Now the race is on to get my Christmas cards written.  I might have to resort to a glass of festive sherry and 'Now that's what I call Christmas' to get me in the mood.

Today on my Thursday morning walk in the woods I saw a pileated woodpecker, I had never seen one before and it was massive.  I looked them up in Chuck and Suzanne's trusty bird book and apparently they are 16.5 inches long with a wingspan of 29 inches, I'm glad they don't come to my bird feeders and really glad one hasn't tried to check into the chalet.  I often think it would be nice to have a good camera for that sort of sighting but I'd probably leave it on the kitchen table with all the rest of my rubbish anyway so I guess it doesn't matter.

This evening I got the dried fruit soaking for my Christmas cake.  I wasn't going to bother with one but on reflection I can't really go through the whole of Christmas without fruitcake and how else am I going to use up all the candied peel.  It will be very Canadian as the fruit is soaking in Canadian Club whiskey (got no brandy) and I forgot to buy sultanas so used cranberries instead, the glacé cherries are green which is a bit weird but hopefully you won't see them when it's cooked.  I just hope that I've got enough time to adequately feed it before Christmas.

Tuesday 4 December 2012

Apologies

Many apologies for the half hearted blogging and lack of photos or anything much else published recently.  My excuse is that I have been very busy with some secret, Christmas related, unbloggable craft activities, they are now done and I can get on with thinking about other things.

On Sunday while Jacob was curling Rose and I went to another garden centre open house for free hot chocolate and cookies.  Rose got to make a Christmas arrangement that is now proudly gracing our mantelpiece.


And here is Jacob with his very important and fat folder of important Bone Collecting data.


Saturday 1 December 2012

Happy Advent

Well here I am with nothing to talk about.  Jacob and Rose received letters from Santa in the post yesterday and Jacob was so excited that he photographed his in order to blog it (brilliant, a night off I thought) but unfortunately he was side tracked by Scooby Doo, tonight he is playing some computer game or other so I'm afraid you will have to make do with me with no prepared pictures.

Nothing exciting has happened since I became stuck in the drivers seat of the Rav on Thursday night so I will celebrate the beginning of Avent by telling you this interesting Christmas related bird fact I have come across.

Robins in Canada are quite different from English Robins.  I am told that they belong to the Thrush family, they are quite large and grey with a sort of orangy colored breast and they are migratory and only hang out in Canada during the summer preferring to fly off and have their egg nog in warmer climes.  I have known all this for a while but it didn't occur to me until just recently the devastating effect this has on Christmas, there are no Robins on anything.  Instead cards and wrapping and decorations feature Cardinals, this is a bit of one-up-man-ship I think as instead of the homely looking little brown robin with a bit of a red patch Cardinals are about twice the size and absolutely stunningly red all over.  Its all very razzmatazz but I may have to send to the UK for a little plastic robin sitting on a holly leaf to put on my Christmas cake so that I don't miss them.


Thursday 29 November 2012

Driving in the Dark

Tom has been away for the past couple of days so I have been ferrying the children around in the dark in the Rav.  Yesterday they both started swimming lessons at the motel down the road and today we had a parent teacher interview with Rose's Teacher in school.

I haven't really had to drive in the dark since we arrived in Canada and it wasn't without its problems.  After swimming last night we sat for ages in the motel car park while I tried to work out why the dash didn't light up when I switched the engine on and attempted to find the right button to press.  I am ashamed to admit that it took me about 10 minutes to work out that it would light up automatically when I switched the headlights on.  Durr.  I have got so used to swanky new cars I had totally forgotten that I needed to switch headlights on at all.

Tonight when we reached school in the dark I couldn't find the door handle to get out and had to ask Jacob to get out and release me from the front seat.  How sad and embarrassing, I think perhaps I should get a small trolley to put on the back of my bike or carry the children around in a back pack and not bother with engines at all, I am clearly not suited to them.

Monday 26 November 2012

Christmas Pudding

Now it's 'Cyber Monday' invented to encourage people to shop online, it's marketing gone crazy, at least electronic shopping is unlikely to result in fisticuffs in Macy's.

Yesterday I diligently made my Christmas pudding.  I mixed it 3 times East to West (so did J and R) covered it in a double layer of pleated grease proof paper then foil then left it in my Crock Pot on low overnight for 13 hours as per online instructions.  I have no idea if it is cooked or not.  What I can see of it looks like Christmas pudding and it smells just like Mum's.  In fact I unwrapped it today (in order to wrap it all over again) inhaled a big sniff of it and it was magically transported back to many Christmas Days, I hadn't previously thought what an individually Christmassy smell a pudding has but for an instant I had definitely defied the arrow of time.  (So there Professor Brian Cox)

Sunday 25 November 2012

First Snow

Today we woke up to a little winter wonderland.  For inexplicable reasons all of their own the children saw fit to roll in it like little Snowy Slugs, they got very wet but I guess they had a good time.



The garden looked really pretty, especially the chalet, Tom pointed out that if it was the UK tiny creatures would probably still be picnicking on the veranda saying things like 'Ooh, it's a little chilly out here today' and 'I'm ever so glad I put on 2 pairs of socks'.


What festive weather for stir up Sunday.  I used up approximately 10% of my candied peel in the Christmas Pudding so I guess I'll be making Christmas Cake and my own mincemeat too, or possibly very high end, labour intensive suet cakes for the birds.

Friday 23 November 2012

Pointsetta Mania

To suitably mark Black Friday and another PA day the children and I went to a local garden centre for a pointsetta festival.  I don't know what I expected but I was quite astonished by the vast acres of them on display and the variety that was available, I wish I'd had a camera.  Actually it was quite an outing with something for everyone, 9 varieties of pointsettas for me to choose from, a small indoor play area for the children and free cookies and hot chocolate for all of us.  I chose 2 plants, a fairly traditional 1 called Merlot and a really pretty bi-colored variety called shimmer shine.  Look and admire now because my current house plant keeping record is not good.

On the way home we popped into 'It's Thyme', by far the best gift shop in Grand Bend, to choose a posh bauble each for the Xmas tree.  Rose found a pink sparkly hand bag shaped one in 3 seconds (no surprise there) and Jacob spent half an hour picking out a highly breakable and expensive glass acorn.


Shopping today was a bit like trick or treating.  At the post office this morning (my parcel was 999.7g on the post office scale! Phew, no repackaging and breaking down) the children were given lollipops, there were cookies at the garden centre and cookies and reindeer poop at 'It's Thyme'.  If all shops are like this on Black Friday perhaps they should call it Fat Friday instead.

Thursday 22 November 2012

Happy Thanksgiving USA

Today is Thanksgiving in America.  I am so uninformed about American culture that I didn't realize that Thanksgiving is on a Thursday every year, I guess I just assumed that it was a Sunday like most holidays that change dates.  I also hadn't heard of 'Black Friday', the busiest shopping day of the US calendar.  I googled it and got very confused with lots of information about a stock market catastrophe on 24 September 1869 before I added 'shopping' to my search criteria and discovered it is the public holiday after Thanksgiving and traditionally the first day of Xmas shopping hence all the flyers everywhere advertising sales.

Which leads me nicely on to the Krypton Factor challenge that has been getting my Xmas shopping posted out to the UK this year.  I was all smug and organized and ready to send everything out at the beginning of the second week of November which I thought would be plenty of time for surface mail.  When it got close I decided to actually look up the last recommended post date and found that it was 23 October.  Doh!

So I sulked for a week and then sat down to work out how to send everything cheapest by air.  The optimum package has dimensions that add up to no more than 90cm with the longest side being less than 60cm and weighs up to 1kg (I sound like Jacob now).  I have spent ages arranging and rearranging stuff to get the right things in the right boxes and have just packed up parcel #2, it weighs 997g, and I had to leave off the ribbon and be very, very careful with parcel tape and gift tags to get it to that.  I really hope that my scales are accurate and I don't get turned away by the nice ladies in the post office tomorrow.  I might break down if I have to do it again, my only hope will be retail therapy so at least I'll have picked the right day.

Tuesday 20 November 2012

Xmas Ingredients

Today I made candied peel.  Kathrin suggested it and despite finding out that you can buy it readily in Sobeys the idea took hold.  It's a bit of a faff and took all day with all the various stages of boiling in water and in sugar syrup, not letting it boil dry or boil too hard, bla bla bla.  I made the mistake of leaving it off the heat for half an hour while I picked up the kids from the bus stop so now it looks a trifle crusty, I hope nobody will notice when it's buried in Christmas pudding as the recipe made loads!  Now I have to leave it for 3-4 days in an airing cupboard (don't have one so will have to use the walk in closet and deny all knowledge when Tom asks what the funny smell is) then see how it is.  Shall update you on Friday.

Actually, I am in the midst of a blogging crisis right now - both of my cameras are on the blink.  Thank Heaven for Tom's I phone or you may never have seen this.


Note that as well as 2 tutus and a wand there are wings (and there were high heels), its a shame you can't tell that the longer of the tutus is accidentally hitched up into stripey pants at the back.

Saturday 17 November 2012

A Walk In the Park

Today was glorious so we went for a walk in the Pinery.  I remembered my camera and it was so picturesque that I will now inundate you with photos.  Here is Jacob (looking normal for a change) and a large piece of driftwood


Here is a sequence of Rose falling off a log, you are probably not supposed to laugh very hard at your children falling over but she does things with such aplomb.





I took loads of photos and will not bore you with them all as they are quite similar but here is a final image of reflections on the Ausauble River.


What a fabulous place to live.

Jacob Post: Rose

Rose dresses up strangely a lot. Today, she was all dressed for dinner (maybe overdressed) in apron, dress and other stuff.
all dressed for dinner

Friday 16 November 2012

No Good at Shopping

What a busy couple of days, Tom and I have been out on our own!  Yesterday we drove down to St Thomas to look at some energy star rated houses, they were lovely but the centre of St Thomas reminded me of Barrow in Furness so that's not going to be our next destination.  Today we drove into London to look at a few neighbourhoods and do some shopping.  There seem to be a few nice places to live around London, my favourite is called Byron, if I live there I shall start writing poetry or take up boxing and possibly wear my hair in an affected and foppish style.

Shopping was not particularly successful, I do it so little these days that I am completely out of practice and rubbish.  If I go into a department store like 'The Bay' (what is left of the mighty Hudson Bay Company and a bit like John Lewis) it can take me over half an hour just to get to the right department as every few steps there is something that needs closer examination like red gloves or patterned legwarmers or shiney hand bags and at the moment there is also masses of twinkly, sparkly Xmas paraphernalia.  This would be ok on my own but with a man in tow it just doesn't feel like acceptable behaviour and I end up concentrating so hard on not getting side tracked that I forget where I'm going.  As a result I went in today for snow boots and a winter coat and came home with Xmas cards and pajamas, oh well, just have to try again I guess.

Wednesday 14 November 2012

Packaging

Stir up Sunday is coming up and I am avidly awaiting the arrival of specially imported vegetarian suet.  As far as I can work out this is another ingredient like marrowfat peas that is alien to Canada. I google researched ordinary suet of the meat variety and that is available but I would never have found it as it is kept in bags in the freezer department not in a box in the home baking section.

I've come across a number of things since we moved that are packaged quite differently, nuts often come in glass jars and cranberry sauce is tinned.  You buy flour in huge quantities, the average bag is 2.5kg/5lb, not many of those fit in a shopping bag or my kitchen cupboards.  But the weirdest one is milk in bags.  In some ways this is really sensible as it reduces the packaging quite considerably and once you've wrestled it into a custom made jug it is fairly easy to handle but a bag does not seem to me to be the most obvious vehicle for pourable liquid.

Monday 12 November 2012

Cool in the Shades

Nothing sensational to report from the past couple of days.  On Sunday the temperature was about 15 degrees so along with pretty much everyone else we made the most of probably the last coat free day of this year and took Gary for a 'peaceful' walk in the Pinery.  It was lovely but I'm afraid my camera never left my pocket so no pictures.

Today the temperature dropped about 10 degrees, it rained persistently all day and didn't seem to get properly light.  In response my shoulders have become lodged in a hunched position and my neck has shrunk back into my torso so my chin is resting on my clavicles.  Feels very much a British winter to me.

To make up for lack of photography in the Pinery here is Jacob with our Operation Christmas Child shoe box that we put together today.


And here are Tom and Rose looking cool last Friday.

Saturday 10 November 2012

Jacob Post: Curling


Today, I went to a bonspiel. I was luckily on the team of the only person I know in curling.  We won the game thanks to our skip. A skip is a person on a curling team who helps the thrower do what's best. A lead is the person who throws the first rocks. A second and vice throw the 3rd to 6th rock. We won the first game. We won the second game too. WE WON!!!!! This is my prize:

Curling Champion

This afternoon I had a beer at 3.30 and now I am very disorientated and quite inarticulate.  I seem to have been very busy the last couple of days doing nothing at all so have had nothing at all to say.  Today we took Jacob out for his first bonspiel and somehow he managed to get on the the winning team so here is a pic of him with his prize (the basketball, not the small child in swimming goggles)



That's it for now, I'll try to think of something more interesting to say in the next few days.

Wednesday 7 November 2012

Bird Houses and Wildlife

What a change has occurred in the woods around our house, here is the view from the front door today.


Now that there are minimal leaves on the trees I have a really fine view not only of the neighbors and the highway but also all the bird houses in the garden.  Jacob went on a hunt for them in the summer and he said he counted 14 hanging up or propped up on posts.  There are many different sizes and shapes including 1 cat and another posing as a man smoking a pipe but my favourite is the bird chalet pictured below.  It is tucked away at the back of the property and was covered in dense leaf growth so I'd not really paid close attention until this week, but look it even has a little picnic table and food basket on the veranda.  Rose and I added the bird and mouse to make it look occupied.


It's all nature today.  I looked out of the window this evening while I was making tea and there was a female white tailed deer standing in the middle of the lawn about 10 feet away from me, oh for a decent camera.  Rose and I watched her for a few minutes before she retreated under the pine trees where there were 2 calves from this year waiting for her.  I knew they must be around because deer are my prime suspects for nibbling my jack-o-lantern and mangling my pansies but I hadn't seen one in the garden until today.

Monday 5 November 2012

Bonfire Night

It is very weird being in a place where nobody has heard of bonfire night, it is even weirder trying to explain it.  What a very barbaric holiday, but how much better it is to have fireworks on 5 November when it's dark by 6pm than 1 July (Canada Day) when you have to keep the children up until 10pm to watch them, Tom and I were in bed before then this year!

We have not done much to celebrate, I planned the 'traditional' tea of sausages in buns and cheesy baked spuds with baked beans and I was considering baking Parkin but I suspect that nobody but me would eat it and as I am still trying to give the healthy lifestyle a go I decided against.  Toffee apples didn't seem like a good idea with so much Halloween candy in the house and I can't buy treacle to make treacle toffee.  Oh well, maybe I'll plan a little ahead instead of worrying about dressing up costumes next year.

I think its against the local by laws to have a bonfire in the back yard and the idea of Rose and sparklers is too scary to contemplate so Its a good job we went to the fireworks display in Arnside last year.

Sunday 4 November 2012

Nothing Much

Daylight saving ended today in Canada, the children were up at 6.10am by yesterday's time so that's 4 days this week that I have been out of bed well before 6am.  It's no wonder I look about 100 years old right now.

Yesterday we bought snow boots for Rose and more trainers for Jacob, for curling this time so I'm not frantically scrubbing the mud off the soles of his shoes 5 minutes before we have to leave for Forest.  At curling today Jacob said he got frostbite but still wanted to be signed up for his first bonspiel next Saturday.

Most of my weekends seem to revolve around laundry these days, it's not that I can't do that sort of thing during the week but everyone is on a sort of economy 7 system over here where electricity is cheapest at night and on the weekends.  This means that because I am a bit of a miser but don't want to stay up until midnight folding clothes I save as much laundry as possible for the weekend then spend Saturday or Sunday getting annoyed because I am doing housework when everybody else is off work/school.

No photos for 3 days now (slacking) so here is Rose's chosen outfit for today, the temperature has not risen above 5 degrees all day so as appropriate as ever.

check out the tattoos
Jacob finished his beam engine earlier this week and here it is, he says it was done exactly to the instructions but there are 5 mysterious pieces left in the box so I don't know.  It works though so he's pleased.

Friday 2 November 2012

Ooh, Wintery Weather

Today in Grand Bend it snowed!  Not much mind, it fell through the air quite impressively in a couple of good flurries through the day and melted as soon as it landed but it was still snow.  Average annual snowfall here is 155cm and I have to admit that I am still 'green' enough to be looking forward to snow, I am told that by next April I will be thoroughly fed up of it.  Jacob saw on the weather network this morning that Edmonton in Alberta had proper snow cover and now he wants to move there.

I have been looking into what I should carry around in my car in the winter in case of emergencies.  I compiled a list from various sources and here's what seems to be recommended:

  • Torch
  • Blanket
  • Snow shovel
  • Brush for removing snow from windows
  • 2 liters of water
  • High calorie snacks
  • First aid kit
  • Tool kit
  • Wind up radio
  • De-icer
  • Water proof clothes (for changing a tire in the rain - yeah right, I've got break down cover and a phone that will hopefully be charged)

Gary said I should also have a candle in a jam jar as that will produce light and heat but I'm not sure if he is winding me up.  It all seems very dramatic.  So far I have 2 snow shovels and a brush for removing snow from windows in 1 car, another brush in the other car and 4 torches and 
lots of high calorie snacks in the kitchen.  Perhaps I'd better pull my finger out and at least put what I've got in the right places, or I could just give up and resolve not to drive more than 10 minutes from the house all winter and only in nice weather, and I'd really better start practicing keeping my phone properly charged.


Wednesday 31 October 2012

Halloween

Halloween has been wet and cold but as far as children were concerned very successful.  Jacob has (in true Jacob fashion) counted his loot and announced that he has 60 candy bars, 2 tattoos, 2 cans of coke, a post-it note pad and various plastic halloween rings.  We only visited 10 houses so a very big thank you to all our very generous neighbours should you ever read this.

I am tired now so shall just post these pics...

Jacob's pillow case wig

Halloween Horrors in action

the stash
I have put away my sewing box and am hoping not to see a pom pom, googly eye or glue gun for a very long time.

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Hurricanes and Halloween Horrors

I have been so frantic with Halloween preparations for the children that I have hardly registered the hurricane dominating the headlines.  We got the tail end of it last night with winds gusting up to 100km/h, which was very loud through all the trees.  No damage to our property but I imagine that plenty of other people around here have been less lucky.  It's calmed down a lot now but gentle old Lake Huron is still looking quite wild.


And so to Halloween.  I was kind of organized for all the dressing up because Jacob is going to be a ghost, same as last year and the costume still fits, and Rose wanted to be a princess, very easy with her current wardrobe and choice of accessories.  However, Rose announced on Saturday afternoon that she is going to be a spider and I completely forgot to buy Jacob a scary wig.  So yesterday Rose and I panic bought craft materials and I sewed like a dervish all day and this is what we came up with.  I was quite pleased, not least because it's sewn onto a fleece lined jacket so she wouldn't be cold.  This afternoon she wore it for the Junior Kindergarten party then suddenly announced at tea time that she is never wearing it again and is going to be a princess.  What a waste of time and effort.



I have just fashioned a wig for Jacob from a pillow case and old bits of wool (photos tomorrow, he's in bed) but I'm afraid that the spiders constructed out of pompoms and googly eyes may be a bit cute for an 8 year old boy.  I hope he doesn't get embarrassed.

Sunday 28 October 2012

Curling

Today I think I have made real steps toward becoming properly Canadian, we took Jacob for his first curling session.  What a strange game it is and whoever would have thought you could incorporate housewifery into an Olympic sport.

Jacob had a great time skidding around on the ice, falling over and pushing rocks about and doing all this while leaning heavily on a brush.  The kids all look really cute scooting about, I didn't realize but in order to get around effectively on the ice they have 1 slippery foot (achieved by special shoes or tape fixed to the sole of an ordinary trainer) and 1 grippy foot (again its a special shoe or a slip-on rubbery thing) and they kind of slide around like they all have imaginary skateboards.  Jacob did really well with all of it and on his last go managed to get his rock (big granite thing that they push) 3/4 of the way down the lane which was pretty good for a first go.

I was very pleased to find that the kids group is called 'Little Rockers', and dismayed at having to tell Rose (repeatedly) that she has to be 6 before she can join in.  I really want Jacob to get good so he can compete, I so, so, so want to go to a 'Bonspiel'.  What a cool name for a tournament.

Here is Jacob posing on the ice.

   
And here is Rose's idea of an appropriate spectating outfit.  How did she manage to look so much like Henry VIII?