Hi all, Well my week is not nearly as adventurous as Phils was. I did a few trip to the Mall just for exercise really. I have been doing a lot of sewing. I went to a Ladies Bible Study with the church we are attending. After Bible study I helped out for a few hours organising cupboards and cleaning in the kitchen. Then I helped a lady cook for a single parents group which is run by the Church. There were about 60 adults and kids there. They come for dinner 2 times a month and get some living skills help, as well as encouragement and help were needed. It was fun to be back in a large kitchen again. Phil and I spent last Saturday walking
around THE MALL. The top photo is of Phil and I, obviously, outside a section of the Fantasy Motel. The rooms above us are used as conference room. The photo below shows a part of the Deep Sea Adventure in the mall. It has submarines, a seal show, paddle boats. This is not the swimming centre it is somewhere else. There is a pirate ship also that you can walk on and hire out for functions. It would be interesting to go into the belly of the mall to see how all these things operate. They are starting to shoot a movie at the mall which is about a little girl who gets lost in the mall on Christmas Eve. All the Christmas decorations are still up for the movie. It is coming out at the end of the year.

I have made some enquiries about Therapudic Clowning and am waiting for the "clowns" to get back to me about a workshop in April. These clowns visit childrens hospitals and entertain the kids and their families. The workshops are mostly about understand childrens needs, medical considerations and basically how to make people laugh which can help with their healing. i had to explain that cause I'm sure some of you are saying that I don't need to learn to be a clown. I have to think of a suitable clown sudo name?????!!!!

I went to the biggest craft shop I have ever seen. It would be about the size of Big W in Tamworth. It had every craft you can imagine and then some more. I needed some supplies for a pin cushion I am making and every thing I needed was there. I spent 2 hours there and could have spent more time easily. What a resource for the teachers out there!

It is warming a little here. The snow is melting gradually and is still very messy. It did snow again on Tuesday night but apparently it continues to snow throughout the year, every now and again. Okay guys have a great week and keep emailing or leaving messages on the blog site as I look forward to reading them each day. Tina

Week 2 on the Road

Hello to all again,


It has been a spectacular week for me on the road.
(Click on the map or photos if you want to enlarge them)
My loads have taken me from Edmonton to a place called Carmen (45 minutes south west of Winnipeg) in Manitoba, boy is it flat in Manitoba, I mean flat, that is dead flat, for miles and miles, and miles and miles (as far as you can see) It is easy to see why people thought the world was flat and you would fall off the edge if you walked far enough, then to Teulon (45 minutes north of Winnipeg) then to North Battleford back to Edmonton then through the Rockies to Prince George via Jasper then north to Mackenzie and back to Edmonton.
It is aprox 2200Klm from Teulon to Mackenzie.

At the beginning of the week the locals were saying spring is here, the temp rose to 4 or 5 degree's the snow was melting, it is amazing how quickly the snow dissapears when the temp rises above 0 degrees. The weather here is unpredictable and I woke Wednesdy morning to -8 degree's and by 9.00am it was snowing, it lasted for about 50-60 klm and was then clear all the way to Mackenzie and back to Prince George. Friday morning at Prince George it was a warm -2 degrees and snow was falling. I fell almost all the way to Jasper, Made the trip interesting but tiring as it required all my concentration, every thing was white, the road, the side of the road, and at times it was hard to work out where the road lanes actually were so you estimate and keep clear of all the dangers you can see.

I was informed by the locals about the cold, apparently this area has very low humidity and the humidity level has a big impact on how cold it feels, the higher the humidity the colder it feels. One local said at -5 and high humidity you wish it would be -10 and low humidity. the other thing is if the sun is out and there is no wind, it feels about 5 degrees warmer than the recorded official temperature, as the official temperature is taken in a shaded covered box and is the actual air temp not including radiant heat from the sun.


This photo is of the flaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat Manitoba landscape the next one is of part of the trip from Prince George to Jasper when it snow most of the way,










There was spectaculer snow covered Rockies, words cant describe them, but as a clasic song says "A picture paints a thousand words", so I hope you enjoy my 4000 or so words above and below

Will post again next week hopefully.

Phil

Well as you see I havent lost my dress sense or my charm or sophistication. This was our lounge brought from Ikea flat packed and Phil and I had to put them together. Well actually Phil did most of it I just lounged around! This actually is the lounge room.

Lots of people have said to us that moving to Canada at least they speak the same language as we do. Well here are some Australian words, phrases never heard in Canada.

White coffee, biscuit, capsicum, mince (why would you put fruit in spagetti), apricot chicken, boot, shopping trolley, sorbelene, chemist, caravan, candlewicking, lollies, panadole.
Translation: coffee with cream, 2% or 1% or skimmed, cookies, red peppers, ground beef, never heard of, trunk, cart, sorbelene (even the pharmacist has never heard of this one) drug store(which sells groceries and any other house hold goods), RV, never heard of, candies and once again never heard of.

Mind you people have a good laugh at my speach and think my sayings are cute. I dont need to study Clown Doctoring over here if something so simple will make people laugh. A sense of humour is truly a treasured gift to have.

Tomorrow if I can negotiate the buses, I am going to a leaf craft day. They have dried leaves and use them to make all sorts of pictures, like little animals, people etc etc. It will be interesting and something I have never seen before. Hook rugging is very big here.

Okay sorry to rattle on, until next adventure.

Tina

Sorry I've been snowed under!!!!!!!

Hi all, Sorry I've been snowed under. Since we have left Saskatoon I have been trying to set up our apartment. Without a car or knowing actually where anything is it isnt as simple as it sounds. West Edmonton Mall in Humugous but if you dont know where anything is it can be also hazzardist to your health trying to negotiate shopping. They actually dont have a grocery store in there, they have a few basic items but not many. All I actually wanted was a Big W and a Woolies to help me set up a kitchen bathroom and bedroom. But I have survived to tell the tale and I have most necessities now. I had to buy my self a Grandma pull trolley thingy to help get all the shopping home. It is a 10 minute walk through the snow to the Mall. Today a lady at church loaned me her sewing machine, so im feeling much better now. Yesterday I went to a "quilting shop" called Earthly Goods. (look it up on the net) and of course I had to start a whole new stash so I brought fabric for the "Clotted Cream" table runner in Kerry Swains book from Cottage on the hill. Hopefully I can run that up tonight and tomorrow. And yes Ladies I brought country colours, just carnt help myself. It was so lovely to go to the fabric shop. I realised I was having fabric withdrawals when I started drooling over the fabric and murmering, fat quarters over and over again. The cost of fabric is around $14.50 - $16.50 a metre. So you add around 10% to convert to Australian dollar.

I spent a morning this week having coffee in THE mall. It was ice skating day for people over 65.(yes there is an ice skating rink in the mall) It was such an amazing experience to see these folk skating. Some of them were figure skating and it was incrediable. Brought tears to my eyes to see the joy and freedom it brought them to skate. Some of the folk were over 80 and were having a ball. They played some waltzes for them and some old fashioned songs which was also a treat to listen too. Not sure if this or the fabric shop was my high light for the week.

The photo is my gorgous Grandson Elijah who is 4 months now. Tim and Kate send me photos each week of him. You ask how I could leave him, some days I ask that as well. But when we go back I will have some interesting adventure stories to tell him.

March is called Messy Melting month. While the weather is warming (+5) the snow has started to melt. It is quite messy and wet. If you go bellow zero during the night the water freezes again and you get slippery ice and that is very difficult to negotiate.

Well my friends I have another photo for you but forgot to add it last time so you will get two lots of blogs this time.

See ya later Tina

Week 1 On the Road

Hello to all,
Its been an Interesting week on the road!! Monday was a -8 day but all at the depot gave a very warm welcome. I was allocated a tractor (Canadian for Prime mover) a Trailer with a load to deliver to Swift Current, (overall length 22.5 meters, Aus runs 19 meters max for a single). The tractor is a Kenworth with 1.5 million Klms on the clock but seems to move along ok. It is speed limited to 68 miles per hour (109 klm/hour) which is the max speed allowed on the freeways. It was interesting speed limiting is not mandatory like in Aus and I was passed by a couple of rigs when I was max speed.

From Swift Current I was sent to Saskatoon for a load to deliver to Lannigan (130 Klm east of Saskatoon) then back to Saskatoon change trailers and back to Edmonton and unload.
It was now Thursday morning and another trailer and off to Drumheller (a place with its own Micro climate and dinosaur skeletons) I have marked it on the map as the circle south east of Red Deer and on to Red Deer and Rocky Mountain House (a township) and back to Edmonton to load to deliver somewhere towards Winnipeg, in Manitoba (the province east of Saskatchewan). Its a 1200-1300Klm (800-850) mile run (even though Canada is Metric a lot of things are in imperial due to the trade with the United States) and all my pay is calculated on Miles traveled

During the week the temp varied from -13 with a wind chill factor -16/-18 to a very hot +8 one day. It is unbelievable how hot 8 degrees feels after a couple of freezing snowing weeks. Today it got to +5 and it was shirt and jeans as I walked about 5 ks to a shopping centre north of Edmonton Mall

This Photo is of the north Saskatchewan River and it is frozen over. The landscape is spectacular with all the snow covering, and frozen rivers etc. So far no Icy roads to create havoc and I hope that i avoid them over the next couple of weeks. Apparently this is the time for Black Ice the snow melts and sits on the surface of the road and as night falls and the temp drops below freezing the water freezes and can be treacherous. the same can happen with a light fall of rain.

I Hope you all have a great week where ever you are whatever temperature you are in

Phil