2008: Weeks 49-52

Despite my valiant efforts to write each week, the time has come to admit defeat and write a few posts to get back up to date. The last weeks of December were rather busy, filled with travel and preparation for travel.

We started the month in London, sending the last 5 nights of our trip in a nice little hotel between Paddington Station and Hyde Park. Despite constant gray skies and drizzle, and extreme tiredness we managed to fit in the Tower of London, the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Gallery. We also walked through Hyde Park, visited the Diana memorial fountain, and explored the very eclectic Victoria and Albert Museum. On the social side of things, we caught up with friends at a nice pub in Camden, and toasted our last night of holiday drinking cider with John. Then, after almost 3 months, we were on a plane and back to Canada.

Our 11 days in Merrickville were spent packing and organising, applying for jobs, and of course enjoying a bit of Canadian winter. We had an early white Christmas, and enjoyed walking around the snowy village. And we had a memorable trip into to Ottawa, trying to get around during a transit strike the day after a massive snow fall. Too soon, though, we were back at the airport, this time heading for Sydney.

After way too many hours on a plane (delayed because we had to be de-iced in Vancouver of all places), we finally touched down, and after a short wait for the plane to be be dosed with bug spray, we finally had our feet on the ground. All 4 of our large bags arrived safely, and we were soon through the gate and greeting my family. They were happy to see us of course, but there was better news to come for them - after months of secretly applying for visas and talking about where to live we finally told them that we were planning to stay.

The last week of December was filled with celebrating Christmas and my Dad's birthday and settling in to Australian life. Finally, we saw out the year eating great food and drinking great wine with some very good friends.

Best of 2008
- skiing Banff
- NYC with Lynda
- Elysa and Patrick's wedding
- Algonquin Park
- camping at Castle Mountain
- roadtrip to Vancouver Island
- Radiohead in Vancouver
- Quebec City
- Edinburgh
- Amsterdam
- white Christmas in Merrickville
- sunny Christmas in Sydney

2008: Week 37

The last week before we head to Europe, and where did we go? Quebec City, the most European city in all of north america! And what a city - such a contrast to Calgary! We camped on the outskirts of town, just a 10 minute drive to the old city where we spent a day exploring the streets and walking on the city walls. That's right, Quebec is a walled city! You can see one of the gates in the photo above.

Highlights included amazing house-made croissants in the cafe where we ate lunch, two shops devoted to selling medieval costumes and accessories, and seeing a woman walking her dog in a pram. I highly recommend a visit if you're in eastern Canada.

The other highlight of the week came on Sunday morning when Lynda called to say she was in Ottawa for a few hours. We were able to change our plans for the day and rescued her from a few hours of boredom at the airport. The time was mostly spent in the car (Matt's parents live about an hour from the airport), but it was still good to spend time together and catch up on the last few months.

Best of the week
- A completely unplanned afternoon with Lynda after her travel was re-routed through Ottawa.
- Quebec City. Gorgeous architecture, great food, and ils parlent français.
- Catching up with friends in downtown Ottawa on Saturday night.

Worst of the week
- The traffic as we tried to drive through Montreal. Unbelievable!
- The last minute rush to get ready for our trip.

2008: Week 36

Most of this week has been devoted to travel as we drove the 3600km from Calgary back to Ottawa. Monday we headed out and made it as far as Moosomin in eastern Saskatchawan. There's not much to see on the way, just mile after mile of flat prairies. Tuesday we drove right through Manitoba (more prairies) and ended up in Thunder Bay, a fairly large town on the western end of Lake Superior. Flat fields gave way to forests and lakes - a nice change, but those winding roads really slow you down! Wednesday was basically spent driving along the shore of Lake Superior. It's a rather spectacular drive, the lake is the largest of the great lakes and has waves that wouldn't be out of place on the ocean. We stopped at a particularly wild beach where the waves were crashing onto piles of logs washed on to the shore, and the sand was replaced by round stones larger than my hand.

Wednesday night we stayed at possibly the cheapest motel on the planet in Sudbury. It was clean though, and a welcome relief after we tried to stop an hour or so earlier and found every motel in town full (it was a paper mill town, and the motels were full of people doing maintenance). Thusday dawned with just 600km left, and we made it to Matt's parent's place in time for dinner. I cannot exaggerate the relief I felt on Friday morning when we didn't get up and drive again.

The last few days have been fairly relaxed, swimming (the first time I've used my bathing suit in Canada) and sorting through boxes to go into storage for a while. This coming week we're planning a short trip to Quebec City, and then the next week we're off to Europe!

Best of the week
- Arriving at Matt's parent's place and getting out of the car.
- Discovering that it's still summer in Ottawa. Real summer, not the sad Calgary excuse for a summer where 30C is an unusually sweltering day.
- Submitting corrections to a long drawn out paper that has been accepted subject to revisions.
- Realising that I can't think of more than one worst for the week, and adding an extra best instead.

Worst of the week
- Four straight days in the car. Canada is a BIG country, and there's not that much to see between Calgary and Ottawa.

2008: Week 35

It's been a while since the last post! With a lack of internet access (I was forced to pay for an hour in Starbucks - but I didn't drink their coffee), and Blogger not talking to my hosting service for a while, suddenly 3 weeks have passed!

After finishing work on August 15th, Matt and I headed to Vancouver to visit his sister, see Radiohead, and then go camping with friends at Tofino, a beach town on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Then it was back to Calgary to pack up our stuff, because tomorrow we head off to Ottawa for the next step of our adventure.

Best of the (last 3) weeks
- The end of work for a while.
- Radiohead (despite the rain at an outdoor concert).
- Finally driving from Calgary to Vancouver and seeing the much-talked-about BC interior.
- The sunset seen from the ferry between Vancouver Island and the mainland.
- Beer on a sunny patio in White Rock.
- The long-awaited arrival of Ethan - congratulations!

Worst of the (last 3) weeks
- Camping in the rain.
- Packing up a wet tent.
- Packing up a tent in the rain when it's 6C! What happened to summer?
- Leaving friends in Calgary.

2008: Week 33 & 34

You'll have to wait just a little longer for an update - I'm on vacation and will be mostly offline until the end of the week. See you then!

You know you live in Canada when...

...you get the following email from campus security.

Moose tranquilized and safely removed from campus

Alberta Fish and Wildlife Officers successfully tranquilized and removed a young moose from campus this morning.

The moose wandered onto campus at about 8:20 a.m. and broke through a window in the link between Reeve Theatre and Craigie Hall. Fish and Wildlife Officers had been in the area and were able to tranquilize the moose shortly after 8:30 a.m.

Alberta Fish and Wildlife Officers were to monitor and then release the moose.

Summer Coralroot

IMG_3067, originally uploaded by thegreendragonfly.

Seen in Waterton Lakes National Park, July 2008

Pointedtip Mariposa Lily

IMG_3022, originally uploaded by thegreendragonfly.

Seen at Waterton Lakes National Park, July 2008.

Photos from last week

Moose

The lake by our cabin at dusk

Racoon

2008: Week 23

I apologise in advance for any spelling or grammatical errors in this post - I was out of bed at 3.30am Calgary time (5.30am in Ottawa) so that we could make our flight home. I'm tired!

We had a very relaxing week spent with Matt's parents, who live just outside Ottawa. I read a lot, sat in the sun, and played with the dog. We also spent 3 days in Algonquin Park, about 2 hours drive away, where we spotted plenty of interesting plants and animals, and did battle with black flies and mosquitoes. I have a LOT of scars, but I think I killed more than bit me.

There will be lots of photos on Flickr in the next few days, keep an eye out...

Best of the week
- Seeing a beaver (well, we think it was a beaver, swimming far away in a beaver pond)
- Seeing (4) moose.
- Relaxing!!!!

Worst of the week
- Itchy itchy insect bites.
- A cold that just won't go away

Sun in Winter

The Rideau Canal in Merrickville, ON on a winter afternoon (no, I'm not in Ontario, this photo was taken during the Christmas break).

You know you live in Canada when...

... you buy tulips labeled "hothouse grown".

2008: Week 3

This week Calgary plunged into a more typical winter weather pattern - cold and more cold! My thermometer reads -20.5C as I write this, and there is quite a bit of snow outside. For now, the snow brings the challenge of driving on compacted snow and working out how to melt the frozen slush that has accumulated behind the wheels. I can hear the tyres scraping on it every time I turn. The real fun begins in a few days when the weather warms up enough to melt the snow. It takes quite a while to melt completely, so there is a cycle of melting and re-freezing overnight to give a road surface similar to a skating rink.

Other events of note include 2 restaurant dinners - Italian on Friday for a work function, and Ethiopian tonight with work friends. The Ethiopian was very good. It's a small local place, not very fancy, but around half the patrons appeared to be African, and food was excellent and reasonably priced. The Italian was good, but not as good as you'd expect for a $35 main dish. I don't think I'd be spending my own money there.

Best of the week
- New recipes - cannelloni and BBQ pork soup - which both turned out well. Filling the cannelloni was particularly fun.
- Varied teaching style in our French class with a substitute teacher who gave some very helpful critiques of our speaking skills.
- Sending off a second long-overdue paper to my PhD supervisor.
- Views of the snow covered Rocky Mountains on clear mornings.

Worst of the week
- Cold gray days. Calgary is usually sunny even when it's freezing - gray days are much harder to endure.
- Being far away from most of my good friends :(

2008: Week 2

As promised, installment #2 in my new regular blog schedule :)

This week has been busy, although not particularly remarkable. Work is rapidly settling into the usual rhythms, and that pulls the rest of life back into the normal pattern too. There were a few anomalies this week, most notably having four sets of fingerprints taken for immigration. Quite the experience!

On Saturday we ventured to the far south of Calgary to check out an antiques mall and flea market. There were lots of interesting bits and pieces, including some beautiful Royal Doulton cup and saucer sets I would love to have. Sadly $70/set is way more than I'm willing to pay. I have started collecting old mismatched fancy china, but for now I have just two green and pink plates which cost $4 each. Oh, and the four crystal liqueur glasses, a steal at 25c each at an estate sale.

Best of the week
- Warm weather (8C today) and sunny skies.
- Finding the boots I've been wanting to buy reduced 50% and in my size.
- Walking locally and coming home with fresh sourdough and Chinese roasted pork, all within 15min from home.
- Pooling food with my house mates to have a "family" dinner on Saturday night.
- The Sens beating the Red Wings!

Worst of the week
- Returning to work.
- Having a cold (but at least it's not flu).

2008: Week 1

Happy New Year everyone! In an effort to post more regularly in 2008, I'm aiming to write at least every Sunday with the best and worst of the week. Anyone want to put money on how long I'll keep it up?

We spent the Christmas break with Matt's family, just outside Ottawa. It was a really relaxing break - lots of sleep, a few movies, a hockey game, and food, food, food. We also managed to take a few walks in the snow, where I discovered one more reason to brush the snow off your car EVERY time it snows...

Work responsibilities brought us back to Calgary on the 30th, so New Years was a quiet affair at home with some friends. The fireworks were rather pathetic, but the company was good, and we had a lot of fun jamming in the basement and critiquing Bono's air guitar skills (check out Rattle and Hum).

Best of the week
- aMSN, a Messenger clone which provides webcam compatibility for Macs. Anyone want to video chat?
- the first ski day of the year. It was windy, and it snowed all day, but we had fun anyway.
- working from home for 2 days. SO productive. Unfortunately not practical for actual experiments :(

Worst of the week
-knowing I have to go back to normal work tomorrow.

Sisters in the Snow

One of the highlights of the last few weeks was a visit to Lynda, who is working at Teen Ranch in Ontario.

The swimming hole in winter.

The weather was good when I arrived, but a late night snow storm followed by rain and and a cold snap left us with plenty of snow to play in. Oh, and roads like a sheet of glass, and tree branches coated in ice. Very pretty!

Ice covered branches.

Due Diligence

Inspired by the good Dr over at ...marvel a day I'm feeling inspired to be rather more diligent about posting. It's not that I have nothing to write about - the opposite actually - but finding time to focus and write down the ideas I have (hopefully articulately) takes time. As I write this, I'm feeling a bit pathetic really. I mean, it's not as if I have kids, or a degree in progress , or something to keep me really busy.

So now, an update. Summer in Calgary has been filled with camping and hiking adventures in the mountains (see Flickr for LOTS of photos). I also had a weekend in Vancouver with my parents before they came and visited Calgary. We had an excellent time - the highlight was probably taking them for a trip to Banff, Lake Louise, and Jasper, and hearing comments like "I've seen pictures of those lakes, but I never believed they were really that blue". They are THAT blue. For a contrast, we also visited Drumheller, about 2 hours east of Calgary. It's a region where numerous dinosaur remains have been found, and the stark badlands of the area were quite a contrast to the alpine landscapes of the mountains.

The next adventure is a trip to Europe. Matt and I are flying to London this week, then to Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Paris, Liverpool, and Manchester. Quite a whirlwind in 2 1/2 weeks, but it should be lots of fun, and give me plenty of chances to practice my French. I managed to get by in Paris 5 years ago with very basic travelers French, but I'm hoping that 9 months at the Alliance Francaise has left me prepared for actual conversations. Who knows, I may even start blogging in French!

New photos

Lake Minnewanka, originally uploaded by thegreendragonfly.

I've posted some new photos from 2 recent trips to Flickr. Firstly our short visit to Ottawa and Ithaca at the end of May, and a camping trip last weekend to Tunnel Mountain.

Summer Camping

Our campsite, originally uploaded by thegreendragonfly.

Last weekend was the Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada, which is the "official" start of summer. It's also the weekend where most of the campgrounds in Banff National Park open for the season. We found out on Friday morning that our Saturday French class was canceled for the long weekend, so we both left work early, ran around like crazy people for a few hours, and then headed up to the mountains to camp.

We had a wonderful weekend at the Two Jack campground just outside Banff, even though it was cold and wet most of the weekend. Having somehow gained a reputation for being a princess when it comes to camping, I managed to prove myself after surviving freezing temperatures (it actually snowed the last night), intermittant rain, and plenty of mud.

Highlights of the weekend included watching a huge bird scoop a trout out of a lake and eat it, climbing the base of Cascade Mountain to get a view of Lake Minnewanka, lots of wildlife, and the Ottawa Senators beating Buffalo on Saturday to secure their spot in the Stanley Cup Final.

Pictures are posted on Flickr.

Prairie and mountain

Horse and baby, originally uploaded by thegreendragonfly.

Escape the city

Southern Alberta has finally defrosted enough to contemplate leaving the city limits and exploring the surrounding areas. On Sunday we drove roughly 200km SW through Okotoks and the Turner valley, down the Cowboy Trail, and through Crowsnest Pass into the neighbouring province British Columbia (photos are here). A beautiful area - the contrast between the prairie landscape and the Rocky Mountains is amazing! And being Spring, there were lots of baby animals around - horses, cows, and deer. Crowsnest Pass has many relics of unsuccessful coal mining operations in the area, including the Frank Slide, a disturbing mass of boulders that slid off the face of Turtle Mountain in 1903. The "rock avalanche" extends at least a mile from the base of the mountain . It wiped out part of the town of Frank and a large stretch of railway in its 100 second journey.

Heading back into Calgary we decided to drive along Macleod Trail instead of taking the highway. Close to 100 blocks of strip malls, an unpleasant contrast to the prairie wilderness just a few kilometres away.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan

Another 2000km or so behind us, and so are Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Both very interesting, if flat fields of canola and wheat are your thing. Or fields with blue flowers - not sure what that is, flax maybe?

We also saw thousands of cows. Much as I enjoy mooing at cows on road trips, it does get a bit old eventually. The wildlife was quite interesting. We saw LOTS of black dragonflies being blown all over the place as they flew too close to trucks, lots of butterflies around too. A few deer, alive and dead, and plenty of porcupines (all dead). A dog-like animal that might have been a wolf. Many birds too, although I couldn't identify all of them. Ducks (or loons), seagulls, hawks, black bird with orange marks on their shoulders, and many others.

Tomorrow we have less than 300km to drive. Hooray!!! Then to the next big event - my appointment at the consulate.

Ontario is BIG

Day 1 of the Calgary road trip, and after a massive 1200km effort, we are still in the same province! Not too much to report - the highlight was finally seeing a moose at dusk. Stay tuned for a picture. Staying tonight in a town called Marathon - quite appropriate!

Ottawa

Well, it's actually Merrickville, but I made it. The nice Canadians let Lyn and I in to the country, although we did have to get her work offer faxed to the immigration officers. And I have the first stamp in my new passport.

We had a quick look at Niagara Falls on the way through - the number of people there was insane! Then Lyn had her first taste of Tim Hortons on our way to Teen Ranch where she is staying. Then it was just me for five exciting hours of driving. At least most of it was on a major highway. The beer when I arrived was definately welcome.

Translation

From dave, a conversion of my previous post to metric.

Tomorrow I'm starting on a series of road trips that will take me all over the place. First trip is to Washington, DC - 1200.0 kms round trip. Then on Sunday, a short trip to Syracuse, NY - 208.0 kms round trip. On Wednesday, Ithaca to Ottawa, via Toronto - 848.0 kms. Thursday (and beyond), Ottawa to Calgary - 3760.0 kms. Hopefully then I will get a new visa stamp in Calgary, fly back to Ottawa, and drive back to Ithaca - 336 kms.

Road tripping

Tomorrow I'm starting on a series of road trips that will take me all over the place. First trip is to Washington, DC - 750 miles round trip. Then on Sunday, a short trip to Syracuse, NY - 130 miles round trip. On Wednesday, Ithaca to Ottawa, via Toronto - 530 miles. Thursday (and beyond), Ottawa to Calgary - 2350 miles. Hopefully then I will get a new visa stamp in Calgary, fly back to Ottawa, and drive back to Ithaca - 210 miles. Total driving distance - 3970 miles = 6390 km in a little over 2 weeks. Luckily my little car is not involved in the Ottawa to Calgary leg - it's reliable, but not THAT reliable.

More weekend adventures

Last weekend Matt and I traveled to Merrickville again, this time battling bad weather, poor headlights, and a defective iTrip. The weather demon in this case is lake effect snow - we have to drive north past the eastern end of Lake Ontario on a stretch of road notorious for large snowstorms. The trip up was uneventful, although I discovered that my headlights don't work very well when covered with salt from the road. The weekend itself was fun and relaxing. Lots of good food, trivial pursuit (victory!), two hockey games (not so much victory), and I even finished "Reading Lolita in Tehran". I've only been reading it since June.

The trip home was another story. The snow started soon after we set out, but the roads in Canada were clear, and we made it past the border in the usual time. Then the fun began. The snow ranged from light to extremely heavy - at one point we pulled off the highway for petrol, and I've never seen it snow so hard before. I got out to clear the windows, and the back was covered by the time I finished the sides and front. There was so much snow falling that you could hear it hitting the ground. I've never experienced that before. Back on the highway, and the visibility was awful, the road covered in snow, and I was very pleased not to be the one driving. Then we came to a town, snowplows had been through, and the road was clear after that. It's amazing what a difference it makes. The rest of the trip was fairly normal, although the iTrip seems to have issues when it snows. Luckily I still have my old fashioned cassette adaptor and a few music tapes in the car.

Weekend Adventures

Thursday night seems a bit to late be writing about the weekend, but too bad. Saturday and Sunday I was back in Merrickville, this time for Thanksgiving (yes, it’s earlier than the US). It was a really relaxing weekend – sleeping in, delicious breakfasts featuring lots of bacon, eggs, and pancakes, too much coffee from Tim Hortons, and lots of turkey, cranberry sauce, apple crisp, and pumpkin pie. Well, not too much pumpkin pie – it tastes quite good, but I’m still not over my “pumpkin is not a dessert” prejudice. On Saturday morning Matt and I went for a stroll around Merrickville and found Chupa Chups of all things (imported from the UK I think). It was weird to be able to share one of my childhood memories with him in his home town.

On Monday morning we headed to Montreal, about 2.5 hours drive east. It was my first visit, so I was pretty excited. Spent some time wandering in the old town, then went and saw The New Pornographers on Monday night. They’re a Canadian band – check them out, they’re pretty good. Tuesday we climbed Mont Royal for views over the city, ate lunch in a great little café, and visited the McCord museum of Canadian history. Then it was time for the 5.5 hour drive home, but not before stopping off for Montreal style bagels – sweeter and chewier than the New York style, and VERY good.

Where in the world?

It's been so long since I've written anything that I was struggling to remember my passwords. Life has been very busy over the last few weeks, mostly because my friend Peta has been visiting. We had a great time together - a weekend in New York City, the best of Ithacan food (lots of Thai), and a trip to Niagara Falls. The Niagara Falls trip was a particular highlight because last time Peta was here in March 2004 we tried to go to the falls, but were stopped by a massive snow storm on the way. The trip this time was much easier.

And just in case I hadn't put enough miles on my car in the last two weeks, my friend Matt and I drove north on the weekend to hand deliver some Rolling Stones tickets. Can anyone guess where from the photo (extra points for anyone who gets the city as well as the country)?