A Canadian Christmas

The Canadian Esky!!!!!
These are our dear friends Willie and Andy where we had coffee (imagine the Canadian accent) after Church on Christmas morning. What a beautiful photo. Kylie was feeling rather jet lagged at this point but we had a beautiful morning together.
At supper time we went to another beautiful family Bert and Hendrica. They provided us with a beautiful traditional supper which we shared with some of there family. Dave and Leanne have 5 children and it was such a pleasure to enjoy all there company and the children were just beautiful. What a lovely time we had. I made "traditional" pavlova which none of them had ever had, and ice cream, which we stored in the garage till it was time to eat. Bert had stored the turkey in the garage until it was time to thaw, how funny is that.

This is Kylie and Josh Christmas morning outside our Church, they had a beautiful ice sculpture done of baby Jesus in His manger and the Star of bethlehem, which is sort of in the background.

We had a lovely day together and were thrilled to share it with such beautiful people. Boxing day was spent in the Mall which was so busy it was hard to move.

Today we are having another Christmas night with Jim and Crystal, Erin and Carly. We are going ice skating on one of the outside dams then having supper together. Jane is working today but Josh is off. He brought himself a snow board and is keen to try it out. We are off to the Rocky mountains tomorrow for a few days before Phil has to go back to work. Oh no not the tour guide bit again!!! Guess I will have to suffer. It is snowing outside just a little as I write, how beautiful.

Enjoy the rest of the Christmas holidays and remember to take time to smell the roses.

Lots of love Tina

Thinking of you as you celebrate the birth of our Savour

Just thought I would throw in some more photos of the freezing Edmonton, while the Land Down Under is hot and wet, so we believe.
We went tobogganing for the first time on Sunday. We firstly had lunch and a game of cards with Jim, Crystal, Erin and Carly, then all of us ventured onto the slopes. Yes even I had several turns, but the hills seem much bigger here/or is it that I am getting older?
Josh and Jane also had some newly acquired friends come along so 11 of us enjoyed out doing each other, or getting as many to go down together as possible, races. Im sure weight has one advantage at this point because I reacon I go faster, or that is my story and Im sticking to it.

This photo is of Phil and Jim admiring the beautiful city of Edmonton. Phil went down the hill a few times head first and ended up with icicles hanging from his mo. Jim was the photographer and took some great shot of our adventures. I just have to learn now how to get them of the CD onto the blog page.
This is the city of Edmonton. For a city of nearly a million people there are not many high rise buildings. There are tunnels underground which you can walk to many places without getting out into the snow and that is fantastic as the weather gets down in the -20s during winter.

The Church we are attending puts on a nativity display for 3 nights this week. They display over 400 different scenes, and have different kinds of Christmas music ( choirs, pipe organ, recitals etc etc) playing. They offer free hot drinks and open the church up to the people of Edmonton. Folk from the Church welcome people in and are on hand to talk with the visitors. Thousands of people come to see the display each year. There is a street connected called "Candy Cane Lane" which has the biggest display of Christmas lights so people can park in the church car park and walk, then come in to see the display. Over the past years it has been a great outreach to families in Edmonton. Last year out of the 400 displayed there was only 1 with baby Jesus on his stomach. Interesting!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a great time with your families over the Holiday break. Take time to reflect on the Birth of Jesus and what He has done for us. Whilst opening presents and enjoying Christmas treats remember the greatest gift to us and remind each other and our children of the real reason for this Celebration.

Love to you all Phil and Tina

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!!!

Hi to "ye who is much warmer than thou". As you can see our -20 somethings have stayed most of the week. It is -22 this morning. Last night we went walking down town to the provincial building, which is a beautiful, old building where the city has put an amazing display of lights and ice sculputers. They also have choirs singing in the building for the next few weeks leading up to Christmas with free hot chocolate, with refills. The ice sculptures are just out the front and just amazing. I will have to learn ,when Phil gets home how to use the camera at night.
In Edmonton they have sleigh rides through out the city you can even take a sleigh ride to look at the street lights in different neighbour hoods. It is quite strange to be walking in the snow at Christmas time.

Josh is just sampling something "on the rocks". Josh and Jane both got work the first shops they walked into. Jane has been working in a costume jewelery/assessories shop since Wednesday. Josh starts work today in a Sports store selling skies, snow boards etc. Both are very happy and have easily ajusted to the jet lag.
We have Erin-May visiting till Tuesday, from Australia. She got stuck in Banff for a few days with a snow storm but has managed finally to get to us. What a great photo! The family who invited us to share the evening with them brought a snow mobile thingy???? yesterday, so that has created a fair bit of excitement in our household. We may get a go in the next few days before Erin-May goes. Phil will be home tonight (saturday) so that will also be fun to enjoy this beautiful weather with him.

I have finally finished all my Christmas sewing and card writing and now have to concentrate on packing, as we move next weekend. That also will be a first, moving in the snow. Once you get rugged up like the abominable snow man its not too bad out.

Have a great week, "and take time to smell the roses", maybe I need to change that to "take time to throw a snowball!"

Lots of love Tina

The kids have arrived just in time for Winter

Hi to all in the warm part of the world. Also I believe some have had some lovely rain, awesome!!!
Josh and Jane arrived from Australia on Sunday morning (2.30am) it was around -20. We were so excited to see them. The Christmas tree and moose was a display at the airport. It does seem strange to be going into Christmas with a couple of inches of snow on the ground. They had a good but long trip but seem to have managed the jet lag well. As for the weather we are all still getting used to it. (is that possible)

This photo was taken after a walk to the mall. They look kind of strange with all the layers on but they look no dofferent to anyone else. After Church on Sunday we went to some friends place for lunch and they gave us a heap of winter coats, which is fantastic. It really isnt bad in the snow if you are dress right. Im going to buy a set of long johns today because you legs get so cold below the coat line. We are expecting Erin-May from Newcastle (a friend of Kylies from Uni )she is stuck in Banff because they got a foot and a half of snow and need to clear the highway from banff to Jasper.

Our little flat is feeling the effect of have lot of people, moreso all the coats, scarves, touques and gloves everywhere. We are moving in 10 days or so to a house someone at Church has rented out to us. So that will be fantastic. It is about 20 mins from the Mall but will but much better with all the family coming. So if anyone is sending a letter or a pressy let me know so I can give you our new address. Letters are taking a little of 2 weeks to reach us now.

Josh and Jane both got jobs yesterday. Both of them got an interview straight away and got the job on the spot. So they will be busy before Christmas. They will be doing at least 40 hours before Christmas but they are flexable after Christmas to give them time for some tourist things. How exciting is that for them. The Mall alone is looking for 500 people to work there. There is such a job shortage.

I am managing the icy, snowy roads quite well. I was really nervous about it but by everyones standards I have done good!!! Phil has had a few slides in the truck and has seen a few accidents on his travels. He may be going over the rockies later on today so that might be a little more challenging. He has seen lots more snow than us and has had to drive in a lot worse than me.

We are all well and just trying to finish Christmas gifts and post them all. I made Jane a Canadian flannel quilt which I will get some photos off. I was pleased with it but it is so difficult to stitch things without all my proper "stuff".

Have a great week, remember in this busy Christmas season to "take time to smell the roses".,and remember the Lords birth and all that means to us.

Tina

Another adventure

These are just some random photos of our travels. Phil has made an inukshuk. These are scattered over all the tourist spots and can be brought in all shapes and sizes. It is to be the symbol of the Olympic games in Vancouver in 2010. It used to be a place where the Inuk people buried fresh meat in the snow to share with other travellers. It also pointed the way in which the travellers had gone. Now it represents friendship and helping each other. I am quite taken with them and we will buy one as a memory of our time in Canada. The photo was taken in october at the Athabasca falls. Which now would be covered in snow and possibly the water would be frozen over. This is a photo of the Columbian Ice fields. They had a small avalache and we just caught the after spray (if thats what you call it). We heard it before we saw it. Quite amazing. We should have a camera which you dont have to turn on and just knows when to be ready to take the right photos. Note also the amazing blue sky.
This was taken in the same week. Mark and Linda are behind the snowman with us. We brought a book about the history of snowmen. (snowpersons I suppose now) which is so interesting. This one was made by the staff at Meligne Lake. When we got there there was no one around, usually it is quite a busy tourist spot with cruises and walks. They shut the roads to Meligne lake when they get too much snow because of the narrow roads and I guess there are to many roads that need maintaining (snow ploughing and sanding) during winter that they only do the main ones. Some of the roads actually became cross country skiing paths, so you see road signs that are only for the skiers which is quite funny.

With the weather dropping to -19 today with a wind chill of -25 I now know why people wernt keen for winter to come. It snowed overnight and is snowing at the moment but not very heavy. It will be interesting for Josh and Jane, who arrive on Sunday morning (1.30am), to be in such cold weather. I think the excitement of the snow will outweigh the cold. (maybe) Starting from Sunday we will have all our kids over the Christmas holidays, yeh. Clayton is coming in February for a month and Gai is coming for a month at the end of February. So we will be busy, which will be fun. It will be so nice to get some snow photos and for Little Elijah to have some fun in the snow. He turned one last week. Time has flown. I miss the kids so much!!!!

Well have a great warm week and will update more snow photos soon.Mind you the camera gets so cold sometimes it refuses to work. Interesting!!

Tina

Winter is almost here!

Well another couple of weeks spend in the Rockies. How exciting. It has started snowing on the mountains and while Edmonton has had a few falls of snow it hasnt layed yet. It did snow a little on my birthday and that was exciting for me. Phil and I spend a few days in Banff with Gary and Merrie. There was a fair bit of snow around making driving a little hairy at times. The most amazing days were when we went up to Sulphur Mountain by Gondular and got the most beautiful clear skies and a 360 degrees view of the rocky mountains. Another amazing day was the hike up Johnson Canyon. I have been there a few times but this time some of the water falls and pools were starting to freeze. I know where they get the saying "Winter Wonderland" from.

This is a photo of a male Elk. They have amazing antlers which drop of each year. You see a lot of these guys and they are quite used to tourists stopping for photos. They can be quite aggressive and we are advised not to go to close to them. Notice the beautiful snow peaks in the back ground.
This is an office for the Johnson Canyon walk. It is a log cabin and just doesnt look out of place nestled in the mountains. In winter they have ice walks in Johnson Canyon where you actually climb up the frozen water falls and walk on the frozen creeks. Hopefully we will get to do that when the kids come over.
What a beautiful picture of this little deer. This photo really sums up the peacefullness of a snow fall in a Canadian forest. This photo was taken near Maligne Lake, near Jasper.
I just love this photo of the snow on the mountains, on a beautiful sunny day with a new sprinkling of snow on the mountains. In a week or so the stream will be frozen and all we will see is white. Canadians say that offen when it has snowed you get the most beautiful sunny days even though it may be below zero, around -20 it is still amazing.

Well a little over 2 weeks till Josh and Jane come to visit. Then kylie arrives on Christmas Eve, Tim, Kate and Elijah in January and Clayton in February. I am so looking forward to seeing them all. Gai ( from Tamworth) is coing for a month at the end of February. Yeha I carnt wait. I will be so busy I wont have time to get homesick. Our little 1 bedroomed apartment will feel the effects of being overloaded. But it will be worth it.
Christmas has come to Edmonton Mall and it looks brilliant. I was starting to wonder if Halloween would ever finish. Lots of stitching needed to be done and card to be made and sent, so hopefully I am going to be busy for a while.
Have a great week, and Dont forget to take time to smell the roses.

Tina

More new Photos Sorry!!!!!!!!

Wow what a day!! The rivers and lakes are starting to freeze as you can see in these photos. Someone said that running rivers and streams never freeze, well here is the evidence. It is so amazing to see how it changes even daily. It snowed overnight and at some points in our adventurous day it was -4 degrees.

The photo below is of a raven. We saw several of them today trying to get the tourists to feed them. I wonder if the cold weather makes them a bit lethargic or something, because they seemed to appear at all the parking areas and came very close to us.
We have had a lovely few days in the mountains and the snow is just a beautiful bonus. Most of the day we travelled in snow and the trip to Lake Louis was all snowy. Lake Louis wasnt as majestic as it is when there is no snow around. We spent a bit of time looking at the shops in the Lake Louis Chatae which is quite beautiful in side. Nothing though compared to the Banff Fairmont Hotel which is more like an old castle.
Thinking of you all as the weather is warming up and the cold is setting in over here.

Tina

Where in the Rockies Again!!!!

We are in the Rockies at Banff once again and woke up this morning and it had snowed. Awesome. This photo is of the Bow River, which has boat trips on it in the summer. Some of the rivers and dams are beginning to freeze over which is something I have never witnessed before. I wonder how long it will take before they are all frozen.
This is up on top of the World, well the banff gondolar anyway. Yes it was -9 degrees up there. It is the most amazing views I have ever seen. It takes 7 minutes to get up to the top which is higher than Mt kosiosco. We have been up there 4 times now and each time I am still overwhelmed by the beauty. God is so good.
Guess what these are? We are going back in the morning early to see if he is back there. I can bearly wait. There were a heap of these foot prints which we feel there were two bears, one baby and a mother.
This is of the lake where the bear prints were. While we were taking this photo we saw two beavers playing around in the lake. How special this was. They didnt mind that we were there and just continued to play. It was getting dark and they were a little way in so the photos didnt turn out too well. Words are very hard to explain every turn in the road in the Rockies. Each minute is new, each day and each season is so different it is hard to comprehend. Okay of to bed now so we can go bear, deer, beaver, elk, squirrel, coyote, and chipmunk hunting.

Have a great week.
Tina

Let it snow! Let it snow!

Hi everyone, How is the warm weather down under. As you can see I have been shopping for fabric. This is a gorgous flanel that I found. I'm planning to make something for Elijah with it but what I havent decided. I would hate to cut up this beautiful fabric. Maybe a pillowcase would be lovely. Elijah will be 1 next month, how time quickly that has gone. He is so gorgous and we miss him so much.
Another Fall photo with a beatiful lake behind it. Most of the leaves in Edmonton are gone now. It is looking quite dry and is cooling off. Today it was 20 degrees but has dropped to 7 this afternoon and they say it is the beginning of the cold. It is ment to be only 5 tomorrow. I am really looking forward to the snow but my friends are not. So I have comprimised and said I could wait for the snow till the kids get here in December. Somehow I dont think it will hold off that long. There is snow in the Rockies of course. With the snow comes me worrying about Phils driving in the conditions we are not used too.
I just loved this photo. These are washrooms/restrooms/bathrooms/toilets. What a place to need to go!!!!! Soon you wont be able to get up to this area as they close the road. These photos were taken at Mount Edith Cavall car park. This was the car ride where our pommy friend, Mark, informed me that it wouldnt snow!!! Not that I would ever bring that up again. Especially after the soccor (I think that was what it was) England verses Australia.

Well in the next few months there will be many more beautiful snow photos for us to share. This week we are being visited by Merrie and Gary Bott in Edmonton and then we will be spending a week in Banff at a resort there. It has been forcast to snow there next week, so that will be nice. I hope they brought there warm clothes, except Merrie asked me to bring my swimmers so that could be interesting swimming in the -4 degrees lakes and rivers. I think there must be an inside pool at the resort.

Hope you all have a great week and "Take time to smell the roses".

Tina

We had another great week on the road to Vancouver. The fall colours were just amazing, as the photo through a very dirty truck window shows. It was amazing to see the difference from town to town in the trees. Vancouver trees are just starting to turn at the moment where in Edmonton and closer to the rockies they have almost finished. Vancouver is much warmer and by the ocean. I love this trip to vancouver then on to Calgery as you travel mostly through the mountains but not the side where the tourists usually go.
I just thought this was a funny photo. They let anyone drive in Canada!!! Note Mt Robson in the background.
Just another amazing sunset and dirty windscreen. Phil and I saw the northern lights this week which was just amazing. Unfortunetly it was overcast and we didnt get the full effect of the lights. They were red and just looked like a wild fire in the sky. We stopped the truck and turned all the lights off to get a better effect.
We also saw a black bear walking through a mountain stream. I was so excited. Not many Canadians have actually seen that. Our friends are amazed at the things we have seen, but we do a lot of Kms to see these amazing things. I am still waiting for a photo of a bear with a Salmon in her mouth and cubs playing on the edge. Unfortunetly I got so excited I didnt think to get the camera out. Ha ha Poor Linda was on bear watch the whole week we were away and didnt see any. Since they have gone home both Phil and I have seen some.

Now of course Phil took this photo. This is a mans view of a sunrise!!!!! I must say the sunrise was beautiful, but it took me a while to see the machinery. The skys here seem much bigger and the colours much more vivid. In the Prairies it is even more amazing, all the open skies.

This week is to be a busy week for me. Tonight I had friendship group which is for folk with disabilites where they come and enjoy singing, a bible story and some supper together. i really love going and helping out. Tomorrow night I am going to a friends for supper and we are going to seeing discovering Jane??? The story of Jane Austin. Wednesday night is cooking for a group of single parents in the community that the Church we attends runs. Thursday night is Bible Study, and also during the day volunteering at an old folks home. Friday is Voluntary work at a Bible for Missions thrift shop. Saturday is a conference on "Disabled folk in the Church" then on Sunday we have Church and are going to Supper with a group of friends. Im going to cook Caramel pie and see how that goes down. It is so good to have things to "keep me off the streets."

Well thanks for viewing the blog, we really do enjoy sharing our experiences with you.

Tina

Just some craft Ive been playing with!

Just a couple of things I have been working on. The top little wall hanging was for a friends 60th Birthday we had the privalige to attend. We had a lovely evening playing "shojbok" (not sure of spelling) It is a dutch game with a long board and round "stones" which you have to get into slots at the end of the board. I havent played since I was very young, just a few years ago really. Its was interesting to see the dutchies childhood memories come back. Many of the folk had a board in there home.
Just a couple of card for birthdays that I have been making. I actually dont know anything about scrapbooking but enjoyed making these cards. Hopefully I will get better and make some Christmas cards. I am trying to find things to occupy my time and found it took me nearly all day, save a trip to the mall, to make them. Hopefully I will get quicker (and better) or else the Christmas cards will be for 2008. Anyone have any good web sites with card making ideas??? I havent got my borowed sewing machine back yet but hopefully next week I will be back finishing some gifts I have started.

WOW, How Awesome!

I'm runny out of words to descibe the Rockies! As you can see we had yet another fabulous week in the Rockies. What a privilage to be able to show our English "4 hour" friends, Mark and Linda this wonderland. As we were going up to Mount Edith Cavall to look at the ice caves I asked if anyone thought it might snow. "No" said Mark in his English accent "Not cold enough". Well it did snow and he will never here the end of it. We couldnt go ice caving as there was too much snow to walk for 2 km in our sandshoes. What a great surprise and how beautiful it looked. The photo is Linda, Phil and myself attempting snow angels??. Linda managed the most amazing snow angel on the Icefield glacier. "Good Job". Im sure it was a first, mind you we couldnt see the glacier properly because it was covered with several inches of snow.
It must have been snowing over night for there to be this much snow. We aslo went to Maligne Lake and the ground was covered in snow as well as the boats and boathouse. So the winter has come even though it is only around the 6th day of Fall. We did see some amazing Fall colours as the photo below shows. The contrast between snow and fall colours was incredible.

The day we arrived in Jasper it was raining and cloudy, but when we woke the mountains had a lovely layer of snow on them. How amazing the rockies are. I really will miss them when we come home.
This was a rather sedate photo of the 4 of us. The mountains in the background are covered in cloud. And it is hard to see the river down below. Along the road from Jasper to Banff are endless lookouts/pullouts/laybyes or whatever your country calls them. It is only a 3 hour drive but takes a day or two if you even look at half of the lookouts. We stayed half way at the icefield at an old log cabin motel. What an experience. We had an amazing dinner but this couldnt match the company. We had a good laugh at the menu where we had a choice of Grain or Starch to accompany out meal. I have never seen this before.
After such a fantastic week it was very hard to come back to an empty flat. But only 7 weeks till Josh and Jane arrive. Then Kylie and Clayton are coming on the 21st December. Fantastic!

Phil rang this morning to say it was snowing 2 hours drive away so I guess it wont be too long before Edmonton gets its first snow falls for the season. It is only 5 degrees today and overcast.

Have a great week and dont forget to take time to smell the roses. Miss you all so much.

Tina

The sky is the limit??!!

Hi from Canada again,
Well this is our new wheels! We insured and got the rego for it today. If I say it took us from 8.30am to 3.30pm to do this, I am not joking. In Canada you have to get insurance and rego before you can actually drive the car. The gentleman we brought the car of was kind enough to let us borrow the car to run around while we did all the business. Because I havent got an Alberta licence that is why it was so complicated for us, even though Phil has one. Anyway I could write a book about it, but if we didnt laugh we would cry Im sure. So Tina goes off to do her first real grocery shop in our new/old car and get to the checkout, and tried to pay, but had overdrawn my limit for the day, so no money. Had to finally, after also refusing my already approved cheque, I had to use visa card. We only have an australian visa so hope the exchange rate is good at 7.30pm today. (We carnt get a Canadian visa till we are residence of Canada) but that is another book in itself. Here is a picture of the little beauty????
It is Fall as off yesterday. The trees are a picture, we have had a lot of wind so they are falling pretty quickly. this one was taken by Phil on his trip to Ontario out of the truck window of course. Hopefully while in the Rockies with out English friends we will be able to get some better ones. Apparently the rockies have a lovely cover of snow again so we are so looking forward to that. The weather was 16 degrees today but was only 6 on Sunday. We get a frost most mornings now.
The sunsets out over here are just amazing. This was taken on our way out of Edmonton. The sky seems much bigger here and definately bluer. Phils Mum even commented on that. Perhaps its is because it is such a slower pace here that we have more time to look. We have many photos of sunsets. One day before we come home I hope to get a sunrise up on the mountains. This photo was also taken out of the truck window. When we are driving in the truck we carnt really stop every time we see something we want to take a photo off or we would never get the load delivered. The squirrels and chipmunks are busy throwing there pinecones down and taking them to wherever they are going to live for the winter. Some say this means that the squirrels know that winter is coming early, so are getting ready. Maybe it is so just like they say in Australia when the ants are out and about it means it is going to rain. ?? Who knows.
This was an incredible sky that I loved and it came out beautifully. Canada has the dancing lights, which I have forgotten what they are called, in the nights. We havent seen them yet which is surprising all the miles Phil has travelled. Aparently they are just spectacular and the folk over here are still amazed by them.
This week as I said we are planning to go to Jasper and the Columbian Ice fields with Mark and Linda our English 4 hour friends. I call them this as we met on a boat in Vietnam for just a few hours. We clicked straight away and when they visited Australia on their world trip they spent several weeks including Christmas with us. They also spent 10 days or so with Tim and Kate at their home by the beach. We have kept in contact and just am so excited to show them some of Canada. Great friends can be made in such a short time. We have made some great friends over here. The folk at West End Christian Reformed Church have been incredible with there time and generousity towards us.

On the 8th October is Thanksgiving. This is a new celebration for us and we look forward to taking part in this time of Thanksgiving to God for what he has done. People do bring produce and tins etc to a special service held on thanksgiving day and it is given to the less fortunate in the community. Also the end of October sees Halloween. If we think the shop in Australia go crazy at Christmas time, well you aint seen nothing yet. Every shop has halloween stuff decorating it. It quite a huge festival here.

Well must go and get supper and start to clean for our visitor, which will take about 20 mins as the unit is quite small. ha ha
I promise more fall photos next week.

Tina

Some Humour

Hi to all,

Well been a bit slack lately in the blogging department. Just thought I would show some of the funny photos we have taken in our travel.
Yes this is Phils head and Yes that is a squirrel or chipmunk, we are not quite sure. There are signs everywhere not to feed the critters but Phil just bent down to this little guy and he crawled all over him. How cute they are, I mean the squirrels!



















This next photo is taken in the washrooms/restrooms/bathroom/toilets at the top of the Coccahala range (sorry not sure of spelling). I thought the sign above the toilets was so funny, I went back to the truck and brought back my camera. Two "park rangers" were sitting outside the restrooms chatting to Phil and one of them laughed when he saw me with the camera, saying a lot of women had seen the humour in the sign. The other ranger didnt have a clue what we were talking about, as he didnt see the humour in it.






























If you look closely to the sign on the back it says "St Kilda Bch, Melbourne"
This tram was a gift to edmonton from St Kilda in Melbourne. Kylie just lives near here which is quite funny. It just is a fun ride for only a few dollars across the river. It is totally done up and run by a group of volunteers. It was funny to here the conductors talking about the history of Victoria.

The Fall leaves are in full display at the moment which are just beautiful. But the temperatures are starting to drop with the first snow falls coming on the mountains and near by towns. Phil has gone to Toronto and will be away for 8 to 10 days. On the 26th Sept, Mark and Linda are coming over for a week from England so that will be fantstic. Carnt wait actually.

Hope you all have a great week and have enjoyed the photos. Dont know if many read our blog anymore as we dont get any feed back, but thats probably because we are slack in our blogs.

Okay See ya
Tina

Off to Toronto

Just a short note to let you know the roads I have traveled in the last week and the week to come.

Last week it was down to Vancouver back to calgary and up to Fort St John, all in Alberta and British Columbia, and I am off to Toronto this week (3300 Klm, 3 days + a bit of solid driving one way), and then home

Hope all is well with you all

Phil

Another fantastic week with Mum in Banff

What a lovely week we had in Banff, which is another tourist town in the Rockies. We stayed 5 nights in the town and did day trips. Phil had a week off to spend time with his Mum. The mirror images are just unbelievable. This one is not the best photo we have, but I did enjoy taking this photo. The lengths we go to to bring you your photos for the blog. Mind you the water was freezing. While being a bit out of order, it was on the way to the famous Icefields, between Banff and Jasper.
This photo is taken on a Glacier at the Icefields where special buses/machines go out on to the glacier. Yes it was cold and damp. The ice below is hundreds of feet deep, so safe (I hope) to walk on. Mind you there were some holes you wouldnt want to step into. Beyond the blue markers wasnt safe to walk and we were not ment to walk there, the photo tells it all actually. There are lots of deep holes in the glacier and people have actually died by falling in and freezing with in minutes. The trip was really interesting, and the drivers must get sick of the same information and jokes 20 or so times a day.
What a fantastic group photo of mountain sheep. Pa, Ma and Baby. This was shot on top of Sulphur Mountain. We went up in skyway thing that took us to the top. The views are incredible and it was very cold. When we first got off the skyway we were greeted with sounds of a beautiful 4 stringed quartet. They were doing a promotion on the quartet festival coming the next week to Banff. The quartet were going to unusual places to show that music can be enjoyed anywhere. It was simply magical looking over the Rocky Mountains with music drifting across the valleys. What a treat for us all.
One top of the world once again. Sulphur Mountain is taller than Mt Kosiosco, as is most of the mountains in the Canadian Rockies. This is actually looking over the town of Banff. We stayed in a apartment looking out onto the smaller mountain in the middle, called Tunnel Mountian. On the right hand side is a huge golf course.
Last photo for today, can I say between Mum, Phil and I we have taken over 1500 photos, so I do promise a couple more. This was taken at the Fairmont Spring Hotel. It is featured in all the travel brochures about The Canadian Rockies. This is just a hallway leading onto the Grand ballroom and the other end leads onto another Ballroom with a night in shining armour and kings, queens chairs in it. Phil and I had a quick dance around the ballroom, I couldnt resist. It did take me back to the time when I was swept of my feet by a Handsome Young Night in Shining Armour, (okay Alan don't get a swollen head I have to say that, it makes for a good story) who danced with me in the Sydney Town Hall Ballroom. (Was that a "Do not Enter" sign, Al). Alan this one was heaps more sophisticated Im sure we would do a rather impressive, eye catching, waltz here. They even had magnificant music playing so we wouldnt have to hum our own. Arnt memories special. As I continue to "experience" Canada many memories come back of fun times and even sad times that are special to me. Memories are made by us and are made each day. We had a buffet luncheon at the Hotel which was just amazing. I dont think I have ever been into such a beautiful restaurant before with its old fashioned chairs and decor.
Only one more week till Mum goes home. I have so enjoyed sharing some of Canada with Her and know she will take back some special memories. Mark and Linda arrive from England at the end of September so I guess I will have to just take them to the rockies. They are only here for a week so it will be a very quick trip.
Have a great week and "Take time to smell the roses"
Tina