Calgary or Narnia?

Always winter and never Christmas...or so it seems.

Winter vs/ Spring

The first photo was taken April 10th, the second taken April 17th. Sadly we're back to the snow this weekend...

2008: Week 15

Change is in the air here in Calgary. Spring is asserting itself, and winter retreats, although with great reluctance. This week I saw my first crocus and hyacinth for the season, and noticed tulip shoots reaching for the light. Then on Thursday morning we had a foot of snow fall in just 4 hours, the largest snowfall by far this year. The weekend was glorious, with temperatures as high as 20C; we had our first BBQ on the patio tonight. The coming week will be cooler, with temperatures predicted to resemble the mild winters of my hometown.

My jonquils are flowering, the freesia bulbs I bought are in pots, and the steel bucket I found at an estate sale a few weeks ago now holds the herbs we will enjoy all summer. But for the time being, the heat which feeds these plants comes from a sunny spot in front of the fireplace. It will be several weeks before they can be confidently moved to the light and warmth of the outside world.

Best of the week
- Wading through fresh snow on the way to work, barely resisting the temptation to make snow angels.
- Venturing outside in a T-shirt, skirt, and bare legs.
- Finally taking the plunge and upgrading to Leopard.

Worst of the week
- Working several weekends in a row, and remembering how easy it is to stray into workaholic territory.
- Golf on TV. I'm way too hyperactive to want a day on the couch doing nothing.

2008: Week 14

This week seemed long. The weather has turned a little colder again, and despite the appearance of tulip shoots in many of the gardens I pass each day, it feels that spring will never arrive. Don't be fooled by the photos though, they were taken at the Sunshine ski resort, high in the Rockies. The ski season will continue until the end of May - hopefully Calgary will be green again by then!

I have been enjoying two books this week - A Lineage of Grace and Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. The first was a Birthday gift from a very dear friend - well chosen and well timed once again - and I'm enjoying it very much. The second is Anne Rice's follow up to a novel she wrote after her returning to the Christian faith of her youth. I admire her integrity in writing about what is significant to her, even though it is a quite a change from her earlier work! She spends some time exploring what it meant in a practical sense for Jesus to find places of solitude - very relevant given my never-quiet household.

Best of the week
- A new recipe for Cranberry and Zucchini muffins - I'll take a picture next time and post the recipe on eatdrinkcook.
- A lovely day skiing at Sunshine.
- Ottawa [just] scraped in to the NHL playoffs.

Worst of the week
- Lab work on Saturday and Sunday because my cells decided that Friday was the perfect day to be ready for an experiment.
- More strange interactions at work - do I somehow attract weird behaviour?

Me, skiing at Sunshine

2008: Week 13

We're now a quarter of the way through 2008! A quiet week here, with few interesting events. Monday was a normal work day, although I discovered the hard way that it's not a normal work day for the post office :( Calgary has very few real post offices - they are mostly outlets inside Shoppers Drug Mart, a chain of stores somewhat similar to Priceline in Australia. The stores are often open 24 hours, although the post office counter has more limited hours.

Our weekend adventures involved trawling garage sales and a visit to a different supermarket. The garage sales were pretty poor overall, although I managed to pick up a retro metal bucket I will use to grow herbs on the balcony when it finally warms up. The supermarket exploration was a revelation. Since moving away from Ithaca I have really missed Wegmans, the greatest supermarket ever. The new downtown Coop in Calgary is not as good, but it does stock a better range than our local store, and has a good selection of prepared salads for lazy days.

Oh, and did I mention we had 10cm of snow last night?

Best of the week
- Watching the French film Angel A.
- A longer than usual conversation with my parents.
- Finally finding a French exercise book with answers!

Worst of the week
- Waiting for Spring.
- Feeling restless.

2008: Week 7

Sorry for the late post - it's a long weekend here and my days are a little messed up. We had a good weekend - we spent 2 days doing chores and relaxing, and today we skied at Sunshine. It was the perfect day; warm, calm, and sunny. I'm aching now, and rushing to get ready for tomorrow, but it was worth it.

And what's happening tomorrow you ask? I'm off to New York and North Carolina to hang out with family for the rest of the week. So there won't be (m)any posts this week, but I'll be back next week with all the stories.

Best of the week
- Perfect skiing weather
- Unexpected chocolates :)
- Finishing the French session with good results in written comprehension and writing (my listening skills still need lots of improvement)

Worst of the week
- Work dramas ... again
- Forgetting the camera on a perfect ski day and having to use my camera phone

Evening

Morning

Winter Mornings

In response to a request for some snow pictures, here are a few shots taken this morning on my way to the train station. A light dusting of snow overnight, a cold morning (-14C at 8.30am), and the rising sun combined to make the trees across the street particularly pretty.

As I turned the corner to walk down the hill the trees were white, the moon was setting, and the mountains were clear in the distance. I still haven't worked out how to take good shots of the mountains - they are clearly visible by eye, but in the photo you can barely make them out in the haze on the middle-left side.

A pox on sensible shoes

There are many reasons to wear sensible (read boring and ugly) shoes during a Calgary winter. Snow, mud, freezing cold - none of these are really compatible with cute shoes. But some days, you just have to ditch the sensible shoes and wear the silly ones anyway - today I put on my Fluevogs and tried them out in an inch of fresh powder.

It was a surprisingly successful experiment! The shoes have excellent soles, and the only time I was in any danger of slipping was walking down a steep path with a layer of ice under the snow. In fact it was no worse than sneakers over the same area. A little more snow and I'd have wet feet, but overall these shoes are surprisingly functional, even in winter. Oh happy day!

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.

Christmas Preparation

Even though we will be away from home for Christmas, I decided to do some decorating around the house. Partly to capture the anticipation of Christmas and partly as a way to establish some Christmas traditions of our own.

The wreath for the front door was inspired by my visit to Lynda, who had already made one. My frame is freshly tied birch branches from the farmers market decorated with branches from the three different evergreens in our garden. One of the nice things about cold weather at Christmas is being able to have a fresh wreath, knowing it won't dry out in a day or two.

The Christmas tree is real too, and far cheaper than a live tree in Sydney. The trees available are quite different to the trees from home. Here, there are several species available in many sizes. There is also a lot of choice on where to buy your tree - there are several large roadside stands with trees on sale, as well as the hardware store, and the farmers market.

Our tree came with some unusual care instructions - the stump is freshly cut at purchase, so hurry home, you only have six hours to get it in water before it dries out. When you do add water, it should be hot tap water - this helps the sap flow easily as the tree thaws. And make sure you place the tree away from a heating vent, or it will dry out. Finally, water the tree often - a well cared for tree might even break bud. It's my fifth snowy winter, but apparently there is still more to learn.

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.