Friday, 26 November 2010
Friday, 19 November 2010
We have snow!
Woke up this morning to fluffy white stuff all around - not a huge amount but enough for Otter to go fruit loopy in the back garden!
However there ARE copious amounts on the ski hills - so much so that they are all opening early so we are off to Big White next weekend and might even sneak a mid powder moment on opening day....probably with half of Kelowna...but hey, it beats working!
However there ARE copious amounts on the ski hills - so much so that they are all opening early so we are off to Big White next weekend and might even sneak a mid powder moment on opening day....probably with half of Kelowna...but hey, it beats working!
Saturday, 9 October 2010
The P's do Canada!
Well the western bit anyway!
M&D came out in the summer for a spot of dog sitting with Nina, so they stayed in the house of Rik and Janneke, our friends who we rented the bungalow off when we first came to Canada. They stayed there for 2 weeks and then moved to our house when Mr R started the cherry harvest in July.
Now one of the major concerns was not being eaten by bears, bitten by rattlesnakes or black widows but way more serious.....would there be coverage of the 2010 World Cup from South Africa!!!?
If that was not tramua enough, Canada being the land of hockey and football of the American kind - M&D were flying into Calgary on the day of the opening match - England vs USA!!!!
Special channels were purchased cable which showed every match 3 , yes 3 times a day!! Shaun was super pleased about this ! :)
However we needed have worried about things - plane landed from the UK at 12:05pm, match kicked off at 12:30pm- parents in bar with luggage, beer and the match on the big screen by 12:25pm!!!
They stayed in Calgary one night - just to give M her fix of cowboys as the Calgary Stampede was starting in a week or so - and then headed on the Greyhound to Banff and Jasper. Amazing scenery, great hikes, hot springs - would have been slightly better had it not been raining cats and dogs in the 'worst rain for 10 years' accordingly to a local.
But they made it safely to the Okanagan and we had a great 6 weeks (yes, 6 weeks, bros!) - now there were many things I could recap but I will give you a few of the highlights....
Evening speedboat ride down the Lake for dinner at lakeside restaurant! Thanks to our friends Brian and Bonnie, Shaun arranged for us to be picked up off the dock near the house and then they whisked us down the lake for a great meal....with some donut riding in between!
Yours truly, embolded by the fact than Brian's 9 year daughter was managing this, jumped on the donut and proceeded to scream myself hoarse, the fingernail marks in the palms took a couple of days to fade! But things were getting better and the screams were more 'fun', less 'terror'....that was until Shaun took over the driving....what part of 'NO CORNERS!' is difficult to understand?????
They say revenge is a dish best served cold....my thoughts....why wait!? IF your husband who has just scared the bejezzus out of you (how much of hand Dad had in this is still under investigation, Mum is believed to be innocent), does decide to get on the donut immediately afterwards...then the words 'gift horse' and 'mouth' do come to mind....and what do you know, those decks are so slippy, it was just oops and overboard.... I blame the karma monkey... :)
Watching England Vs Germany in Canada with some Germans! World Cup...Dad....2 Friends of German extraction....time for a party! Confident of England's impending victory we decided to have a World Cup party and in the interest of making things, well, more interesting we invited Bianca (parents are German and emigrated to Canada, speaks german, off to germany in a couple of weeks), James, their children and Thomas (German, emigrated to Canada, works with me in TCM) and his lovely wife Gill.
Naturally when they arrived Mr R welcomed them with a medley of rousing party music i.e. Jerusalem, ride of the valkyires, Dambusters, Land of Hope and Glory....etc etc. Bianca up the anti by arriving fully facepainted up, children brainwashed into supporters of Germany, complete with themed chants (hat's off to Mrs S) AND a giant football cake.....
...so lets gloss over the match....oh hum....!
Surprise Flight in a Helicopter
Shaun pulled the rabbit out of the hat on this one! M&D and me were up at Grey Monk Winery having lunch with Karen and her husband George. Karen works at Grey Monk so we were able to get a great deal on the wine (which was gorgeous - Ehrenfeltser 2008, Kerner 2009 if you can get it!) and the restaurant is on a patio overlooking the lake so all fab!
Shaun phones and asks us to get back to the farm as M&D are needed for a photoshoot as they need somebody to pretend to be a cherry buyer....yes, writing it down it does seem somewhat bizarre but guillable is my middle name....although I prefer 'trusting'! We got to the farm and drove up through the orchard to the helipad, got out, Shaun introduced us to Ryland and explained he had got us a flight round the valley! V.excited....would have been slightly less nervous if Ryland hadn't looked about 18 but quick interrogation revealed that a) he had been flying helicopters for 10 years, and b) no, they don't let you start flying at 8 years old in Canada. Yay! So in we got!
M&D came out in the summer for a spot of dog sitting with Nina, so they stayed in the house of Rik and Janneke, our friends who we rented the bungalow off when we first came to Canada. They stayed there for 2 weeks and then moved to our house when Mr R started the cherry harvest in July.
Now one of the major concerns was not being eaten by bears, bitten by rattlesnakes or black widows but way more serious.....would there be coverage of the 2010 World Cup from South Africa!!!?
If that was not tramua enough, Canada being the land of hockey and football of the American kind - M&D were flying into Calgary on the day of the opening match - England vs USA!!!!
Special channels were purchased cable which showed every match 3 , yes 3 times a day!! Shaun was super pleased about this ! :)
However we needed have worried about things - plane landed from the UK at 12:05pm, match kicked off at 12:30pm- parents in bar with luggage, beer and the match on the big screen by 12:25pm!!!
They stayed in Calgary one night - just to give M her fix of cowboys as the Calgary Stampede was starting in a week or so - and then headed on the Greyhound to Banff and Jasper. Amazing scenery, great hikes, hot springs - would have been slightly better had it not been raining cats and dogs in the 'worst rain for 10 years' accordingly to a local.
But they made it safely to the Okanagan and we had a great 6 weeks (yes, 6 weeks, bros!) - now there were many things I could recap but I will give you a few of the highlights....
Evening speedboat ride down the Lake for dinner at lakeside restaurant! Thanks to our friends Brian and Bonnie, Shaun arranged for us to be picked up off the dock near the house and then they whisked us down the lake for a great meal....with some donut riding in between!
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| Terrified..me? |
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| Da Man! |
Yours truly, embolded by the fact than Brian's 9 year daughter was managing this, jumped on the donut and proceeded to scream myself hoarse, the fingernail marks in the palms took a couple of days to fade! But things were getting better and the screams were more 'fun', less 'terror'....that was until Shaun took over the driving....what part of 'NO CORNERS!' is difficult to understand?????They say revenge is a dish best served cold....my thoughts....why wait!? IF your husband who has just scared the bejezzus out of you (how much of hand Dad had in this is still under investigation, Mum is believed to be innocent), does decide to get on the donut immediately afterwards...then the words 'gift horse' and 'mouth' do come to mind....and what do you know, those decks are so slippy, it was just oops and overboard.... I blame the karma monkey... :)
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| Thomas & James get a little too serious |
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| Mum! Help! I being eaten by a giant football cake! |
...so lets gloss over the match....oh hum....!
Surprise Flight in a Helicopter
Shaun pulled the rabbit out of the hat on this one! M&D and me were up at Grey Monk Winery having lunch with Karen and her husband George. Karen works at Grey Monk so we were able to get a great deal on the wine (which was gorgeous - Ehrenfeltser 2008, Kerner 2009 if you can get it!) and the restaurant is on a patio overlooking the lake so all fab!
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| Chocks Away! |
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| Honestly Dad - Shaun does like you as a father-in-law |
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| You do ...don't you....! |
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| Lake Kalmalka |
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| Lake Kalmalka - yep its that blue...well bluey/green |
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| Heading home towards Carrs Landing/Lake Okanagan |
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| Ahh..you do! |
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| Touchdown! |
Fireman Shaun!
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| Canadian Courtship Ritual |
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| You too can look like a giant fly! |
The 'best' one so far has been a car fire up on the hill when a guy's engine suddenly exploded into flames! He managed to get out okay and called 911 so 'da boys' sprung into action, car extinguished, and a very pumped Mr R returned all smoky....in uniform....ladies, I shall leave it there......
Hiking up a mountain...in ski boots...is fun. Apparently!
....whirly time machine effects end....and we are back in March (ski season 2011 is nearly here so it topical again!)
Given that Valentine's Day was spent with Shaun dog legging it back from the UK via Amsterdam, $250 extra flight fees, and our wedding anniversary was the Fish & Game Club Supper with 250 other people (yep the bobcat curry was back), we 'decided' (read what you may into those quote marks!) to take a long weekend in March up at Big White.
So we rented a townhouse with a hot tub, dropped the dog off at the gulag (aka Spotted Spa) and headed up the mountain - into the middle of the biggest snowstorm we have been in yet! There was zero visibility with the driving snow and if you turned the hi beam on the view out the windscreen turned solid white. Luckily we were the only ones heading UP the mountain, but there seemed to be a fair number of people heading down. Any temptation to speed was quickly stamped on by the unfeasibly large number of cars in the ditches!
We were crawling along at 30km and heading up a incline when the car coming towards us on the other side of the road stopped...not sure why...so Shaun inched forwarded and a good job too as the 2 cars behind the stopped one...umm..couldn't!..and came skidding down the hill on our side of the road...narrowly avoiding a collison by virtue of heading into the previously mentioned ditches!
Offers of help were made but apparently there is a tow truck which goes up and down in a big circle for most of the night pulling random cars out as needed. Yet another incentive (if one was needed after that) not to be too eager to get anywhere!
Needless to say VERY large G&Ts on arrival and possibly there was more than one!
Anyway, the Saturday morning dawning with crystal clear blue skies and 30+cm of fresh powder - life was good!!!!
In the morning we were skiing with Shaun's boss, Dave, his dad Gerald and son Alex - all top skiers so it was a morning of intense, super fast, no coffee breaks - by lunchtime we were knackered!
Dave had to leave at 1pm otherwise we would have been in bits! So time for a bit of R&R and back to the hot tub...but oh no - we meet my boss, James, on the mountain, again top skier, so not being one to turn down a challenge we spent the afternoon hurtling round the mountain at top speed - again!!!
Then straight into the apres ski with James and his wife Bianca, Thomas and Gill ...till gone midnight......oh well, Sunday will be recovery time....
...No!...Dave calls at 8am and offers to take Mr R and me back country skiing...too much of an opportunity to turn down as Dave is super experienced and we couldn't get a better guide for our first venture into the back country.
So tried limbs are ordered into position and we head up the hill. Backcountry skiing involves getting to the top of the lifts, or whereever you can get to via truck, snowmobile etc and then getting out/off and walking even further...uphill! Normally this is done in special boots which can switch between hiking and skiing (to a degree) and super light skis - we had neither so it was standard ski boots and regular skis for us!
I never realised quite how heavy those blasted things are until you are halfway up a vertical slope in a howling wind!
We got to the top of the lifts at Big White and then headed higher along this ridge (yes, ridge, correctly implying drops on either side!) and what was a mild breeze at the village had some how developed into something a bit on the stiff side!
But the views were great, honest!
I was about to give up when the slope turned from extreme incline to vertical but Dave was running up it like a mountain goat and amazing came back to get my skis and run them up to the top!
The reward for the Hike of Pain as I lovingly like to think of it was some of the best skiing we have ever done! Short but very sweet - deep powder, utter silence (except for my whooping!), and no one but us...and we managed to get some nice tracks! The ski back to the village was my favourite as we headed into the woods on these narrow trails which dodged trees, over logs, etc - there was a vague direction of 'always take the right hand fork' but soon we were coasting through the woods in perfect silence (too beautiful for the whooping) and it was quite a shock to suddenly emerge on the piste and see the crowds (crowds being a relative term at Big White, uisally implies more than 3 people in sight and an 30 sec wait for a lift!).
A very very very cool long weekend!!!
Given that Valentine's Day was spent with Shaun dog legging it back from the UK via Amsterdam, $250 extra flight fees, and our wedding anniversary was the Fish & Game Club Supper with 250 other people (yep the bobcat curry was back), we 'decided' (read what you may into those quote marks!) to take a long weekend in March up at Big White.
So we rented a townhouse with a hot tub, dropped the dog off at the gulag (aka Spotted Spa) and headed up the mountain - into the middle of the biggest snowstorm we have been in yet! There was zero visibility with the driving snow and if you turned the hi beam on the view out the windscreen turned solid white. Luckily we were the only ones heading UP the mountain, but there seemed to be a fair number of people heading down. Any temptation to speed was quickly stamped on by the unfeasibly large number of cars in the ditches!
We were crawling along at 30km and heading up a incline when the car coming towards us on the other side of the road stopped...not sure why...so Shaun inched forwarded and a good job too as the 2 cars behind the stopped one...umm..couldn't!..and came skidding down the hill on our side of the road...narrowly avoiding a collison by virtue of heading into the previously mentioned ditches!
Offers of help were made but apparently there is a tow truck which goes up and down in a big circle for most of the night pulling random cars out as needed. Yet another incentive (if one was needed after that) not to be too eager to get anywhere!
Needless to say VERY large G&Ts on arrival and possibly there was more than one!
Anyway, the Saturday morning dawning with crystal clear blue skies and 30+cm of fresh powder - life was good!!!!
In the morning we were skiing with Shaun's boss, Dave, his dad Gerald and son Alex - all top skiers so it was a morning of intense, super fast, no coffee breaks - by lunchtime we were knackered!
Dave had to leave at 1pm otherwise we would have been in bits! So time for a bit of R&R and back to the hot tub...but oh no - we meet my boss, James, on the mountain, again top skier, so not being one to turn down a challenge we spent the afternoon hurtling round the mountain at top speed - again!!!
Then straight into the apres ski with James and his wife Bianca, Thomas and Gill ...till gone midnight......oh well, Sunday will be recovery time....
...No!...Dave calls at 8am and offers to take Mr R and me back country skiing...too much of an opportunity to turn down as Dave is super experienced and we couldn't get a better guide for our first venture into the back country.
So tried limbs are ordered into position and we head up the hill. Backcountry skiing involves getting to the top of the lifts, or whereever you can get to via truck, snowmobile etc and then getting out/off and walking even further...uphill! Normally this is done in special boots which can switch between hiking and skiing (to a degree) and super light skis - we had neither so it was standard ski boots and regular skis for us!
I never realised quite how heavy those blasted things are until you are halfway up a vertical slope in a howling wind!
We got to the top of the lifts at Big White and then headed higher along this ridge (yes, ridge, correctly implying drops on either side!) and what was a mild breeze at the village had some how developed into something a bit on the stiff side!
But the views were great, honest!
I was about to give up when the slope turned from extreme incline to vertical but Dave was running up it like a mountain goat and amazing came back to get my skis and run them up to the top!
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| Your'e not my husband...but I love you! |
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| Before the Hike of Pain...see the smile! |
A very very very cool long weekend!!!
Yes we are still alive and haven't been eaten by bears!
Well not yet anyway although this year has been heavy on the bear spotting and not just me mistaking cows for bears but proper ones with teeth, claws and picnic baskets!
Big HI to Lurve Machine, Miss T - you are our ambassadors of quwan ! and yes the blog is back!
Spud - hi little fella, you are obviously having a great time with Lesley and Derek - eep eep!
Okay, so we have no camera at the moment due to me dropping it but will do my best to bring the blog up to date with the pictures we have and lots of words! Its been fun, we have sauna's, canoes, overboards, keels falling of boats when they are not supposed to, 152 wineries....but ahhh I get ahead of myself.....whirly, psychedelic time machine effects.....
Big HI to Lurve Machine, Miss T - you are our ambassadors of quwan ! and yes the blog is back!
Spud - hi little fella, you are obviously having a great time with Lesley and Derek - eep eep!
Okay, so we have no camera at the moment due to me dropping it but will do my best to bring the blog up to date with the pictures we have and lots of words! Its been fun, we have sauna's, canoes, overboards, keels falling of boats when they are not supposed to, 152 wineries....but ahhh I get ahead of myself.....whirly, psychedelic time machine effects.....
Wednesday, 18 August 2010
Friday, 12 February 2010
Olympic Update
So your Canadian correspondent is sitting here with a gin and tonic and a roaring fire watching the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler.
There has been a slight problem with the concept recently, most due to the positively balmy temperatures in Vancouver which has means there is no snow on Cypress Mountain where the ski acrobatics and snowboarding is due to take place - they were shipping the snow in from a nearby mountain, then that ran out and they had to get the world second largest helicopter (a Sikorsky followed by some random numbers and letters apparently) at a cost of $10000 per hour....and its a four hour round trip!!! per bucket...okay its a big bucket but I am thinking mountain...got be a lot of buckets...then it keeps melting....so more buckets....on the upside if you are the owner of the worlds second largest helicopter it must seem like all your Christmases have come at once!!
So on the ceremony and I thought I would give you the high/lowlights so you can flick through on the TiVO/PVR...
Okay, its staged in GM Place which is where they play the hockey games - when you see the amount of seating you realise than hockey is a pretty major thing here! It also has a 'soft roof' and apparently if all the doors open at once the roof deflates! So everyone has to go through airlocks...literally...which is quite funny when you have a guy with a 3 ft high flaming torch trying to get out to light the beacon waiting for the airlock to cycle...
...okay so the good bits....the Team GB...a little taste of home...Team Canada...mitten madness!...Nicki Yanoski belting out the Canadian National anthem...she's 16 and basically knee high to a grasshopper...whales in the middle of GM place...v. cool! (now you are going to watch!)....the fiddlers...lots of diddley-diddley...giant sparkly polar bear...not one but 4 athletes to light the torch...totally Canadian!! And if you wonder who Wayne Gretsky is...he's the Canadain equivalent of Beckham/Lineker/Bobby Charlton/GOD in one...put the whole 1966 World Cup winning squad into one person and then double it!!...police NOT freaking out when loads of over eager kids hopped the barricades and running alone side the car with Wayne+torch...poetry guy (trust me)...kd lang bringing the house down with Alleuia
and the not so good....avoid the Opera singer...and the French singer...the speech by the head of the IOC....the start...the whole team intro thing...except the UK/Canada of course!...the strange flying skiers/snowboarders.. thats just odd...French before English...its only bloody Quebec!!...Sweden...Mittens? OUR idea!
oh and the person who had the worst night possible? The hydraulic lift operator/engineer. Rehearsal after rehearsal..flawless. Every bug ironed out, every piece checked and rechecked. Like clock work through the night...giant totem poles...the Rocky Mountains..Trees...stages...everything perfect...then the Olympic torch needs to be lit....umm....err (I'm sure it was a bit stronger than that under the stage)...1 of the 4 athletes starts to look a bit uncomfortable...4 athletes...3 torchy lighty things...nope, its not going to happen....very good response from the TV guys,change the angle on the camera and bingo it looks okay!
There you go - 4 hours of TV (and no I didn;t watch it all - Shaun's not here so I can watch 4 channels at once without driving him insane!) condensed into 10 minutes.
There has been a slight problem with the concept recently, most due to the positively balmy temperatures in Vancouver which has means there is no snow on Cypress Mountain where the ski acrobatics and snowboarding is due to take place - they were shipping the snow in from a nearby mountain, then that ran out and they had to get the world second largest helicopter (a Sikorsky followed by some random numbers and letters apparently) at a cost of $10000 per hour....and its a four hour round trip!!! per bucket...okay its a big bucket but I am thinking mountain...got be a lot of buckets...then it keeps melting....so more buckets....on the upside if you are the owner of the worlds second largest helicopter it must seem like all your Christmases have come at once!!
So on the ceremony and I thought I would give you the high/lowlights so you can flick through on the TiVO/PVR...
Okay, its staged in GM Place which is where they play the hockey games - when you see the amount of seating you realise than hockey is a pretty major thing here! It also has a 'soft roof' and apparently if all the doors open at once the roof deflates! So everyone has to go through airlocks...literally...which is quite funny when you have a guy with a 3 ft high flaming torch trying to get out to light the beacon waiting for the airlock to cycle...
...okay so the good bits....the Team GB...a little taste of home...Team Canada...mitten madness!...Nicki Yanoski belting out the Canadian National anthem...she's 16 and basically knee high to a grasshopper...whales in the middle of GM place...v. cool! (now you are going to watch!)....the fiddlers...lots of diddley-diddley...giant sparkly polar bear...not one but 4 athletes to light the torch...totally Canadian!! And if you wonder who Wayne Gretsky is...he's the Canadain equivalent of Beckham/Lineker/Bobby Charlton/GOD in one...put the whole 1966 World Cup winning squad into one person and then double it!!...police NOT freaking out when loads of over eager kids hopped the barricades and running alone side the car with Wayne+torch...poetry guy (trust me)...kd lang bringing the house down with Alleuia
and the not so good....avoid the Opera singer...and the French singer...the speech by the head of the IOC....the start...the whole team intro thing...except the UK/Canada of course!...the strange flying skiers/snowboarders.. thats just odd...French before English...its only bloody Quebec!!...Sweden...Mittens? OUR idea!
oh and the person who had the worst night possible? The hydraulic lift operator/engineer. Rehearsal after rehearsal..flawless. Every bug ironed out, every piece checked and rechecked. Like clock work through the night...giant totem poles...the Rocky Mountains..Trees...stages...everything perfect...then the Olympic torch needs to be lit....umm....err (I'm sure it was a bit stronger than that under the stage)...1 of the 4 athletes starts to look a bit uncomfortable...4 athletes...3 torchy lighty things...nope, its not going to happen....very good response from the TV guys,change the angle on the camera and bingo it looks okay!
There you go - 4 hours of TV (and no I didn;t watch it all - Shaun's not here so I can watch 4 channels at once without driving him insane!) condensed into 10 minutes.
Friday, 5 February 2010
Tuesday, 26 January 2010
Olympic Torch
The Olympic Torch is in Kelowna making its rounds through BC before going to Vancouver on the 12th Feb( i think) for the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics...
...its has just gone past our office - how cool is that!? Stood outside with the guys from Tops and got a few pictures on the mobile (now have to work out how to get them off the mobile phone and on the computer).
Still trying to get hold of the Olympic mittens (v.cool) but it seems you have to be an Olympic athlete,a torchbearer, Premier of Canada or under 8 to get a pair...none of the above are very likely so may just have to knit my own pair whilst Mr R is gallivanting round Europe next week....
...its has just gone past our office - how cool is that!? Stood outside with the guys from Tops and got a few pictures on the mobile (now have to work out how to get them off the mobile phone and on the computer).
Still trying to get hold of the Olympic mittens (v.cool) but it seems you have to be an Olympic athlete,a torchbearer, Premier of Canada or under 8 to get a pair...none of the above are very likely so may just have to knit my own pair whilst Mr R is gallivanting round Europe next week....
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
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Monday, 4 January 2010
Christmas Day
So Christmas dawns with the yummy smell of bacon (which is how all days should dawn if they were putting the effort it, really) and the traditional exchange of Christmas pressies takes place between yours truly and Mr R...well actually it was a bit of a one sided exchange as Mr R had left my present at home on the grounds it would be 'too obvious' if I saw it, (for which you will have to wait until I get to the 27th for the truth to be revealed, but suffice it to say, that obvious?, no, not unless you were the one who went in to the shop and bought it...I think it was an excuse to fit more beer in the car....)
My gift was rather selfless, even if I do say so myself :), gift vouchers to the gun store. Yep, they do Christmas Gift Vouchers in the gun shops - so that Christmas, Valentines, Anniversary, Easter, birthday sorted for the next 50 years....repetative yet appreciated!
Post phone calls to the UK team (happy Christmas! everyone post yummy dinners and obviously a few 'orange juices' were consumed) we headed out to the slopes....
....now abit short on the photographic evidence as dropped the camera on its h
ead a few weeks ago and to be honest its been a bit dodgy ever since and finally packed up its camera clogs on Christmas Day...but there WAS a BRIGHT BLUE SKY, snow like icing sugar, just below 0C , no wind and NO people for every day we where there (ok might have had to wait for a minute at one lift queue on the Sunday as things turned 'hectic').
ead a few weeks ago and to be honest its been a bit dodgy ever since and finally packed up its camera clogs on Christmas Day...but there WAS a BRIGHT BLUE SKY, snow like icing sugar, just below 0C , no wind and NO people for every day we where there (ok might have had to wait for a minute at one lift queue on the Sunday as things turned 'hectic'). They call them 'bluebird' days as the sky looks like the wings on this guy....and we had 3 in a row!
Christmas/NewYear Merriment
Well as I was faced with the rather awful task of stopping skiing, drinking and generally having fun to return to the world of work today (much as I love TCM, hi Boss!) I thought I would cheer myself up with a bit of blogging about the fun we have been having over the past week or so....
...Christmas Eve - vague thoughts of heading up to Big White early for some skiing before meeting Kelly & Rowan, Ross and Rachel (hereafter the Kiwis, or as Shaun came to know them as the buggers who can drink like fishes who are very very thirsty, just ate a packet of salt and vinegar crisps, followed by a 50km hike through the Sahara and STILL get up at 8am, cook a full on breakfast for everyone and go skiiing.....for day after day....if that isn;t giving too much away about the next few days from Mr R's point of view!)
...any way, back to Christmas Eve which turned in to a wonderful marathon session of catching up with friends, including Robby and Terry (who run the B&B we stayed in in our first week in Canada), their daughter Erin (who works for NASA aka 'space geeks', and is currently investigating the inner workings of red blood cells (I think!) how cool it that, their son Morgan (who is an electrican of the highest order - voice control panels, led strip lights which come on sticky tape (Dad, you need these!)) and his girlfriend Chrissy (who is training to be a nurse/interior designer - they are renovating their house from the basement up so we were able to trade reno tips/stories). Turned up unannouced and welcomed with coffee and the yummiest mince pies - honestly, Canadian hospitality has to be seen to be believed....3 hours later left reluctantly to drop puppy off at the Gulag...
...the Gulag aka Spotted Spa, was fabulous, they had giant paw prints on the car parking space where your wheels went...wished we taken photos as the dogs have an outside run and there are kennels for them to go into with straw if it gets too cold...and the kennels are shaped like an Wild West town ( IOW guys - think Blackgang Chine without the teepees and the fibreglass horses).
All the big dogs were lined up at the fence to watch Otter walk in with a look on their faces which seemed to imply that the new meat on the block wasn't going to be keeping his new tennis balls and doggy treats much past dinner!
Otter shook like crazy as he went in and smelt the other dogs - I think he was replaying scenes of the vet/groomers - neither of which are his favourite places and the only times he has seen this many dogs in one place!
However the girls who ran the place were fab both for cowardly cocker spaniels and guilt ridden owners and promised to take care of him, give him his Christmas presents, a hug etc etc....Shaun was rather disappointed that Otter got put in with the small/old dogs - personally I think that's why we still had a dog to pick up 3 days later, but I think Shaun wanted 'the boy' to take on a couple of Rotties and a Alastian to become Da Boss.....but honestly...Otter....???
Then we left him for Big White....it has been a green Christmas in the Valley so the roads were fairly clear and we didn't get snowy (friendly :) 4 the Smarties) trees until well on the way to Big White. Nevertheless, people still ended up in ditches and in the space of 200m we saw first a 3 car ditch extravaganza (everyone seemed okay as one girl was taking pictures of her boyfriend posing with the red flare for directing traffic!), another car in the ditch about 50m round the corner and finally the tow truck which was called to pick up from the first accident being towed out of its own ditch! Needless to say, German engineering, 4 wheel drive and snow tires notwithstanding, stuck to 50km for the rest of the way!
Arrived at about 4:30 to a super apartment, loads of space, stocked to the gills with enough beer, wine and food to last out the Apocalpse (unfortunately we drew the bunk beds - but as Ross proposed to Rachel in the hot tub that same evening it was probably a good thing they had the double bed!).
Settled in, congratulated Kelly on securing a great apartment, ski in, ski out, not to far to stagger from the village and with a hot tub, and started on the appies....
Canadian appies are an art, science and religion, we are not talking nibbles here but what can affectively (with the addition of enough alcohol) subsitute for a fair sized meal. Supermarkets are stock to the gills with all varieties, veggie/not veggies, wings, rolls, tarts and bundles of all descriptions....however the combination of being an appie novice coupled with the Kiwis drinking capacity resulted in the appies which were estimated to last 3 DAYs being demolished in 3 HOURS!
That was in between the 45 cans of beer which were drunk between the 3 lads (okay Kelly and Rachel helped a little bit before switching to the Baileys but not enough to dent the acheivement!)
AND everyone (okay I love my duvet a little more than most) was up the following morning at 7:45 ish, full breakfast cooked by Ross at 8am, and on the slopes at 8:45!
....and so we entered Christmas Day....
...Christmas Eve - vague thoughts of heading up to Big White early for some skiing before meeting Kelly & Rowan, Ross and Rachel (hereafter the Kiwis, or as Shaun came to know them as the buggers who can drink like fishes who are very very thirsty, just ate a packet of salt and vinegar crisps, followed by a 50km hike through the Sahara and STILL get up at 8am, cook a full on breakfast for everyone and go skiiing.....for day after day....if that isn;t giving too much away about the next few days from Mr R's point of view!)
...any way, back to Christmas Eve which turned in to a wonderful marathon session of catching up with friends, including Robby and Terry (who run the B&B we stayed in in our first week in Canada), their daughter Erin (who works for NASA aka 'space geeks', and is currently investigating the inner workings of red blood cells (I think!) how cool it that, their son Morgan (who is an electrican of the highest order - voice control panels, led strip lights which come on sticky tape (Dad, you need these!)) and his girlfriend Chrissy (who is training to be a nurse/interior designer - they are renovating their house from the basement up so we were able to trade reno tips/stories). Turned up unannouced and welcomed with coffee and the yummiest mince pies - honestly, Canadian hospitality has to be seen to be believed....3 hours later left reluctantly to drop puppy off at the Gulag...
...the Gulag aka Spotted Spa, was fabulous, they had giant paw prints on the car parking space where your wheels went...wished we taken photos as the dogs have an outside run and there are kennels for them to go into with straw if it gets too cold...and the kennels are shaped like an Wild West town ( IOW guys - think Blackgang Chine without the teepees and the fibreglass horses).
All the big dogs were lined up at the fence to watch Otter walk in with a look on their faces which seemed to imply that the new meat on the block wasn't going to be keeping his new tennis balls and doggy treats much past dinner!
Otter shook like crazy as he went in and smelt the other dogs - I think he was replaying scenes of the vet/groomers - neither of which are his favourite places and the only times he has seen this many dogs in one place!
However the girls who ran the place were fab both for cowardly cocker spaniels and guilt ridden owners and promised to take care of him, give him his Christmas presents, a hug etc etc....Shaun was rather disappointed that Otter got put in with the small/old dogs - personally I think that's why we still had a dog to pick up 3 days later, but I think Shaun wanted 'the boy' to take on a couple of Rotties and a Alastian to become Da Boss.....but honestly...Otter....???
Then we left him for Big White....it has been a green Christmas in the Valley so the roads were fairly clear and we didn't get snowy (friendly :) 4 the Smarties) trees until well on the way to Big White. Nevertheless, people still ended up in ditches and in the space of 200m we saw first a 3 car ditch extravaganza (everyone seemed okay as one girl was taking pictures of her boyfriend posing with the red flare for directing traffic!), another car in the ditch about 50m round the corner and finally the tow truck which was called to pick up from the first accident being towed out of its own ditch! Needless to say, German engineering, 4 wheel drive and snow tires notwithstanding, stuck to 50km for the rest of the way!
Arrived at about 4:30 to a super apartment, loads of space, stocked to the gills with enough beer, wine and food to last out the Apocalpse (unfortunately we drew the bunk beds - but as Ross proposed to Rachel in the hot tub that same evening it was probably a good thing they had the double bed!).
Settled in, congratulated Kelly on securing a great apartment, ski in, ski out, not to far to stagger from the village and with a hot tub, and started on the appies....
Canadian appies are an art, science and religion, we are not talking nibbles here but what can affectively (with the addition of enough alcohol) subsitute for a fair sized meal. Supermarkets are stock to the gills with all varieties, veggie/not veggies, wings, rolls, tarts and bundles of all descriptions....however the combination of being an appie novice coupled with the Kiwis drinking capacity resulted in the appies which were estimated to last 3 DAYs being demolished in 3 HOURS!
That was in between the 45 cans of beer which were drunk between the 3 lads (okay Kelly and Rachel helped a little bit before switching to the Baileys but not enough to dent the acheivement!)
AND everyone (okay I love my duvet a little more than most) was up the following morning at 7:45 ish, full breakfast cooked by Ross at 8am, and on the slopes at 8:45!
....and so we entered Christmas Day....
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