8 December 2009

Calgary, we may not have to dream of a white Christmas.

Autumn was strange. The leaves attempted turning to gold and copper yet the frost forbade them. Soggy, wilted, black things hung from the trees like dead hands. Sorry, trees, no glory this time. Try again next year.

We had some excursions over the Autumn season. For the Thanksgiving long weekend we went on a lovely trip with my family to the rugged Rocky Mountains. We visited various hot springs dotted across BC, took many photos, ate a lot of food, covered many miles by both ferry and car, and slept very little. It was a good holiday. Did we eat turkey? No. Safeway roasted chicken did the trick.

England.

October 17 – November 2. It rained as always. We went for Andy’s sister’s wedding, which was truly beautiful. While we were there we also saw some other interesting places. We went to see a row of locks for a canal which ran uphill, a Victorian village, a house in which a king of England hid during battle, and of course, lots of sheep.

15 June 2009

March and April were relatively uneventful apart from the brief collision of our small family and an equally small, and fiery!, Yorkshire terrier. We welcomed this wee four-legged fiend and enjoyed the time we had him. He was bright, clever, and quite aware of his surroundings. For such a tiny chap his piercing bark was amazing! Mikey was a great watchdog yet despite all the wonderful personality features he was not the right dog for us. We had him on ‘trial’ from friends of ours who had found a more suitable home for the bright little guy! Meet Mikey:

April was our first anniversary which we celebrated by going to Canmore for a weekend getaway. Timing worked out brilliantly as my parents had bought themselves a new vehicle and sold us their car just a few days before we went out to the Rockies. We had a great time exploring Grassi Lake and the town of Canmore. Our chalet was bigger than our flat in Frome!

I posted more photos of our trip at: http://picasaweb.google.com/andynshans

16 June 2009

For a friend’s birthday I endeavoured to create tye-dye cupcakes! It was an interesting idea and an even more interesting outcome. Curious? So was I!

~ Baked and ready to be iced:

Now, if you’re still curious and want to know how I proceeded to make such odd cupcakes, read on!

Step 1:
~ Buy a boxed cake mix. You may mix your own batter but when you’re going to mix and over mix the batter by adding colouring you can easily overstir and it seems that cake in a box is quite robust!

Step 2:
~ Divide the batter into however many colours you want. I found that four was plenty!

Step 3:
~ Add even MORE dye. If you don’t have enough you’ll have pastel coloured batter, like above, and the cupcakes come out rather mouldy looking. Trust me. Have a look at the adjusted batter:

Step 4:
~ Bake according to boxed instructions, cool, and apply frosting of choice!

By the way, here’s an example of the cupcakes with enough colouring and not enough colouring:

14 – February – 2009

Christmas has come and Christmas has gone.

We had a wonderful Christmas week with Andy’s family in Neston. After attending a morning service at church we came back to a wonderful Christmas lunch prepared by Andy’s parents. We played some games together and enjoyed watching a couple of episodes of Wallace and Gromit.

Life in Frome has come and life in Frome has gone.

Our church family arranged a farewell lunch for us on our last Sunday there, which was a great blessing for us. We were able to say goodbye to our wonderful friends that we had gotten to know during our stay in Frome. Andy had a farewell lunch with his colleagues and Critchill Court had me come back to play the organ one last time for the residents there. Packing up our flat was chaotic, as this is unavoidable!

Our brief stay in Neston with Andy’s parents has come and has gone.

During our time with Andy’s parents I was quite ill and spent most of my time in bed. I was prescribed some antibiotics for my ears, which were suffering from the beginning stages of an infection, a few days before our flight out, thank God that I was able to see the doctor. My ears did cause me some pain but thanks to the grace of God and Andy’s prayers my ear drums did not burst! (They have burst in the past due to flying with fluids in my ears)

Andy’s parents took us out for a lovely farewell dinner at the Golden Fleece near Melksham. It is a beautiful building whose chef creates delicious delicacies!

Life in Calgary has only just begun …

We left the rainy, yet relatively warm, UK for snowy Calgary on the 24th of January. We knew we landed in the right city when a kindly looking women with a red stetson greeted us brightly, “Welcome to Calgary!” Immigration went smoothly; Andy now has permanent residence.

We were warmly welcomed back with a party at my parents’ place. Many friends came and brought us some grocery items to get us started in our first week.

Our home is a mansion in comparison to our flat in Frome and full of windows. We have a junior high school straight across the street from us, a park several minutes away alongside the river and a mall just down the road from us. Andy has successfully received his equipment for work and is settling into working from home.

We’ve only just arrived in Calgary and have even managed to get out to the mountains already!

December 16, 2008

We recently took advantage of Andy’s few holidays remaining for year 2008 to spend a long weekend at a Bed and Breakfast located in a beautiful coastal town called Clovelly.

After driving for nearly three hours we found ourselves warmly welcomed to Clovelly with a torrential downpour. Luckily that sort of weather did not persist through the entire weekend; we enjoyed a couple of cold, yet sunny, days. After navigating the steep cobblestone streets down to our home for the weekend we put up our feet and enjoyed a nice cuppa tea, as is traditional when the weather is wet and dreary.

Enjoying the warm early evening sunlight, we made our way down to the coast where we hiked along the rocky beach front to discover a discarded refrigerator and a lovely waterfall.

Finding it nearly dinnertime and with an appetite worked up we made our way to Bideford, a nearby town where we discovered an Indian restaurant where we feasted upon tikka, naan, pilau rice, and many other delicious dishes of the far East.

The following day we found our stomachs quite full but not too full to enjoy the full English breakfast provided for us. Scrambled eggs, fried bread, fried tomatoes, and bacon were only a few items found on our plates. Needless to say, we enjoyed our hike along the wet and muddy coastline.

We found ourselves spectators of an annual carol service that is hosted in this lovely little town followed by fireworks shot off from the pier. We enjoyed a hot pasty while sipping on mulled wine.

Our very traditional British holiday was concluded with a very traditional Canadian treat: Tim Hortons! That’s right. We pulled in to a petrol station just outside of Barnstaple where I saw the familiar Timmy’s logo right in front of my eyes! Andy thought that somebody had been run over by my reaction, or should I say over reaction? Of course we had to get a coffee and doughnut before heading home.

20 November 2008

Here we are, nearing the end of November. Christmas is sneaking up on those of us who are procrastinators and approaching steadily for those who have their gifts securely wrapped up with a ribbon. The truth of the matter is that 2008 is coming to a conclusion. Are we ready to say that farewell? Y2K seems like yesterday and now we’re not far from a decade into it. How time does fly!

Those of you who persist with reading this blog, regardless of my great intentions but inconsistence in actuality, have been awfully patient and for that I am grateful. We do have news to share. Plenty of it. I shall share the abridged version…

Doggie Sitting

At the end of October Andy and I were presented with a fantastic opportunity to do some doggie sitting for some friends of ours. We accepted the challenge and had some fun while doing so! The first photo is of Shadow, or as I nicknamed her, ‘Shadrach’. She was much like my dog in Canada, Seven, a goofy, young, playful, and energetic Lab cross.

Here we’ve got Storm. Andy nicknamed her ‘Stormy’ or sometimes ‘Meschach’

Barrington Court

We took a day trip into the West Country with Andy’s parents and found ourselves at Barrington Court, a charming National Trust property. We had lunch there and got some locally brewed Ale. Hmm… that’s a taste to acquire . . . or not to acquire!

And there were abandoned stables…

Where we enjoyed our lunch and some of us enjoyed our ale…

Immigration Canada

They haven’t forgotten us! Andy received a letter from the office in London requesting his passport to be mailed. What does this mean? They’ve completed the processing and his case has been approved. We are to be in the land of the Frozen North sometime in the early new year. This is happy yet sad news for us. Goodbyes are never fun but it will be good to see our family and friends again in the West.

October 8, 2008

We have enjoyed a splendid Summer of great fun. My dear friend, Joey, came out at the end of August for a week and a half to surprise me. While she was here we went out on a few outings:

We went to explore Severn Beach, which separates England from Wales. We took a train from Frome to Bristol then transferred over to the Severn Beach line, as you can see from these first few photos.

Severn Beach is not like a sandy relaxation beach, but it is very beautiful! On our stopover in Bristol we visited a local cathedral.

We also went to a few other places: Joey is standing in front of the weir in Bath and we are standing in front of a some local ruins from a castle in Nunney.

The day we took Joey back to the airport we went down to Brighton for the remainder of the afternoon. While we were there we scraped together enough change between the two of us to get two hamburgers. Then a seagull swooped down and snatched part of Andy’s hamburger while he was eating it! I was very angry! (The gull in this photo is not the same one or I would not be smiling.)

October 6th, 2008

Odours of the nearby barnyard swirl around in the air while queues grow longer and longer behind a tractor crawling along the road. Summer in Somerset is wonderful! If you’ve got the time you can grab a bucket, take a wander to the outside of town and pick some wild blackberries. Only be sure to pick those above waist level or the local farm dog may have graciously adulterated them.

You may even be lucky enough to find yourself in a local market town; you probably won’t leave empty handed. Kilos of meat, vegetables, fruit and even candy can be purchased at the market without injuring the bank. Playful banter between the butcher and his customers is a recipe for a good bargain.

Summer leads to Autumn which leads to pumpkins and sweetcorn on the cob. The air has adopted a biting chill and the clouds have only begun to leak their Winter tears. The sun drops off to sleep long before the people. The warm, inviting atmosphere of the local pub beckons its patrons to come enjoy a slice of pie with their mates.

Autumn will soon lead to Winter when the clouds will release their tears with no mercy. Then I shall hide away in my warm kitchen where the wafts of pumpkin pie and turkey will hover.

August 6, 2008

Here I am, in England, engulfed in a sea of deep, reflective thoughts: Life is like a game of Scrabble and God’s will is like a photo displaying a shallow depth of field.

Life and Scrabble, what have they in common?

• As in Scrabble, each turn and move in life is affected by the decisions of others.

I may think that I can live utterly independent of the decisions and choices that others around me make. However, just a little experience in life tells us this is impossible. Everyday examples include a family member taking the last apple in the fruit basket causing me to chose a pear instead or a fellow motorist cutting me off causing me to recoil in anger or an employer assigning that one last task at the end of the day which causes me to work late. While some of these turns and moves caused by the decisions of others are unavoidable not all of them are. For example, if my employer assigns the one last task at the end of the day, this will cause me to work late, however it will not necessary cause me to become angry. That choice belongs to me. I may have lost a tremendous opportunity for points in Scrabble but may get another better opportunity. Where I have the opportunity to chose how others’ decisions cause me to act or behave I should think long and hard before responding because there may be an open door to ‘more points’!

• As in Scrabble, each turn and move in life is built off of previous decisions.

My turn in Scrabble is directly affected by what is on the board. Immediately after I have completed my turn and laid my tiles down I have opened another door. Life works like that, too. Many years ago if I had not chosen to take violin lessons I probably never would have taken piano lessons which means that today I would probably not be considering a career in piano teaching. That is just a brief example. If you have difficulty understanding my crazy thoughts, please let me know and I can try to explain!

God’s will and photography?

• In a well composed photograph displaying a shallow depth of field you will notice that very little of the subject is actually in focus. I believe this is how we view God’s will. We cannot understand what is beyond the point where we currently can see because it’s blurred. God knows. He can see it. We just have to trust and believe and as he reveals more to us the depth of field becomes deeper.

July 14, 2008

Andy and I enjoyed a wonderful day out with Andy’s parents. We headed South towards Corfe Castle and the sea. I have been told that rain or shine, Brits take their children to the beach in the Summer. Luckily for us we had shine!

On the way to Swanage we stopped by Corfe Castle, castle ruins from 1,000 years ago. It was a truly memorable experience being eyewitnesses of a hot-headed battle between the Danes and the Saxons. The Saxons fought with venom but were defeated and their castle was taken by the golden haired Danes who swept in for the women and plunder!

Continuing our trek up to the ruins we spotted tents and civilized Saxons leisurely going about their daily duties.

Moving onwards and upwards we discovered the glorious sight of these magnificent and ancient ruins.

After a bite to eat at a local pub in Corfe Castle and devouring rather large chunks of cheeses we ventured even further South to Swanage. Swanage is a lovely coastal town buzzing with activity and vacationers. The tantalizing aromas of fish and chips lingered in the salty seaside breeze. Children plunked down on the sandy beach constructing various sand structures while their mums and dads recline in their beach chairs devouring ice-cream cones. Spades, buckets, mussels, and whippies are all part of the local lingo.

While I was there I discovered many photo opportunities, however, only one made itself this blatantly obvious! (Click on the photo for a larger view)

I truly savoured this trip to the sea. Having grown up on the prairies, my experiences at the sea are few and each excursion is relished!