New baby!

Our beautiful son Edward was born on March 1st! Edward is a delightful baby, very gentle and calm, and much loved by his parents and family. I've started a new blog for him, but for his privacy you need to be invited to view it - if you would like to read about his progress please email me, and let me know which email address you use for google services (you will need to be logged in to google to see the blog). If you're not sure where to email me, use julie AT thegreendragonfly DOT com

2009: The year that was...

2009 is already almost over, can you believe it? It's been a dreadful year for me in terms of posting here, but in reality life has been overwhelmingly good. After almost six years living overseas it's been a relief to be home in Australia, not dealing with visas or the general dramas of being a foreigner. The flip side is that even though we're living in a different part of Sydney to where I grew up, everyday life seems more mundane and less interesting to write about than it has been over the past few years.

I thought I'd end the year summarising a few of the standout moments, and of course the best and worst of the last 12 months. Here's to a great 2010!

Best of the year
- Being home in Sydney.
- Living by the beach.
- Seeing family and friends at a normal pace, not jammed into a two week visit.
- Weekday lunches, often spent catching up with people.
- Matt's chocolate classes (especially the massive amounts of hand-made chocolates he brings home).
- No shoveling snow, no slipping on ice, no parka, no hat, no gloves.

Worst of the year
- No rockies, no camping, no vacation.
- No French classes (mostly due to my own inertia).
- Swapping countries with my sister - it seems we are never on the same continent for more than a few weeks.
- The worst year ever for updating greendragonfly.

The standouts
- Finally having a home of our own, not shared with anyone!
- Being calm and settled for a while. I haven't even been on a plane this year....
- Two lines on a stick - actually this was one of the most memorable moments of my life, and an even more memorable one should follow in March 2010.

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: Weeks 25 & 26

Did I mention that June was going to be busy? After my French exam on the 16th it was time to start preparing for the next adventure, a very brief trip home to Sydney. It was my first visit in 18 months, so I was very excited, but also trying to keep things low key and avoid over-scheduling.

I flew a different route to usual. Air Canada have recently started flying direct from Vancouver to Sydney, so I decided to try them out, and I'm pleased I did. The 777s flying the route are brand new, and the personal TV screens certainly made the trip less boring. Avoiding US customs was great, but Vancouver airport is in rather a mess as they expand for the Olympics.

The time at home flew by as always. I opted to spend a lot of time with my parents and grandparents, and I had a number of bits and pieces to take care of, so there wasn't as much time to catch up with friends as on other visits. I'm planning a longer visit soon, so hopefully I can catch up with more friends then.

This morning I arrived back in Calgary to a heat wave - it was 28C in the house, and about the same outside. Fortunately an afternoon thunderstorm cooled things down a little. Now I just have to finish unpacking, recover from jetlag, and steel myself to go back to work on Wednesday.

Best of the week(s)
- The first glimpse of land out the plane window, then flying over Sydney Harbour.
- Spending (way too little) time with friends and family.
- Passionfruit, haloumi cheese, lamb cutlets, and the red wine I've been storing for years.
- Good coffee. Everywhere!
- Feeling confident after my french exam!

Worst of the week(s)
- Sydney airport and the last glimpse of land out the plane window.
- Too many friends, not enough time.
- Leaving Matt behind in Calgary.

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

2008: Week 9

Another busy week, this time juggling spending time with Lynda and putting in an appearance at work. Lyn and I managed to do quite a few fun things, and I even made some progress at work, so not a bad week overall.

Wednesday I took the day off to take Lyn skiing/boarding at Sunshine. It wasn't the perfect day weather-wise, but it was reasonably warm, and by staying on the lower slopes we avoided the worst of the visibility problems. Lyn has picked up snowboarding really fast, and even took on the challenge of the ski out at the end of the day - not intrinsically difficult, but an ~6km run on tired legs with lots of people can be hard.

On Thursday we had breakfast at Diner Deluxe, after a walk in the freshly fallen snow. Yum! Then on Friday it was a visit to the Farmers Market, some last minute shopping, and an Alberta beef dinner before Lyn's Saturday morning flight to NZ. On Saturday afternoon Matt and I spent several hours indulging his new collecting hobby, and on Sunday I was up early for a pasta making class. Monday might even be relaxing in comparison!

Best of the week
- skiing with my baby sister
- making explosion-proof ravioli
- lots of birthday treats

Worst of the week
- putting Lyn on the plane back to NZ/Aus
- juggling work with the fun stuff

2008: Week 8

Last Tuesday I flew to NYC to meet Lynda. We had a great time - dinner at L'Ecole, a visit to the Met, coffee at Gimme! (the new Manhattan branch is just 2 weeks old!), and front row seats at Rent. On Thursday we met Elysa for lunch and tea before rushing to get our plane to Wilmington, NC. Finding a cab to take us to LaGuardia at 4pm turned out to be quite a challenge, but eventually a cab driver took pity on us and agreed to take 2 girls, 3 bags and a snowboard to the airport.

Andrew met us in Wilmington, where we stayed with him, Fiona and Lucy in their new house. The warm weather was a nice change, although the torrential rain on Friday was almost as bad as driving in snow. We spent the day touring Dawson's Creek locations, then enjoyed a home cooked meal and a game of monopoly. Saturday we had breakfast then headed to Wrightsville beach for a birthday paddle. The water was freezing, but I still had to dip my toes. Then on to a tour of the movies studios, some shopping, and birthday dinner for Fiona and I. On Sunday we went to church, then had roast lamb for lunch before heading to the airport for a rather adventurous trip back to Calgary. It was a good trip, and I really enjoyed spending time with Andrew, Fiona, and Lucy, but it is nice to be home.

Best of the week
- NYC, a visit to Gimme! Manhattan, and lunch with Elysa.
- The beach on my birthday, followed by an awesome dinner with Andrew, Fiona, Lucy, and Lynda
- Waking up in my own bed

Worst of the week
- Insufficient time to sneak in a visit to Ithaca
- 3 flights, 3 times through security, lost luggage, jetlag

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!

Welcome ...

... to Lucinda Rose, born May 4th 2006.
Keep an eye on the baby page for pictures.

JJDT

For those of you who don't know, I'm soon to become an aunt :) See the sidebar link for up to the minute baby news.

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.