The weather has been rather pleasant here for the last week or so and in Fort McMurray, nothing quite says spring like mud and slush. Instead of sliding around corners and stopping over long distances on ice-covered pavements, we have instead the big melt. As the temperature heads towards the balmy heights of plus 2 or 3, the snow starts to rapidly disappear, leaving puddles of water on the road.
Just before Caroline left, she washed her car. I was somewhat bemused by the fact that she was attempting to steer around the puddles as it’s a pointless exercise. Even if you manage to avoid driving through them, every other bugger on the road is more than happy to fly through them next to you and douse your car. That, or when you’ve left sufficient distance for the spray from the vehicle in front to settle before its all over your windscreen, someone cuts in front to defeat your prudence.
And even though it seems like you might be driving through a puddle of water and that it can’t be too bad, each puddle is actually a little dirt and filth impregnated liquid trap designed to turn your car a filthy hue no matter what colour its origins.
Our first winter here, I found myself stepping on the puddles as they froze, wondering just how frozen they were. I soon realized as they became solid ice that this wasn’t the safest practice and stopped. Well in spring you have the opposite problem. You step on something thinking that its ice and snow only to find that it’s a thin crust over a frigid, hole-in-your-shoe-seeking puddle. Its certainly too early for the holy sneakers just yet (unless one steps with caution).
This last weekend, the sun was out and shining and the day nice and warm, so I pulled on a pair of shorts to go to coach indoor soccer.
Yes, you know you’ve acclimatized when you pull on a pair of shorts to enjoy the sun … when it’s 2 degrees outside!
Mar 30, 2009
Far from perfect
Our blackberries over here (the IT kind not the eating kind) have a speech to text function for messages ... its not quite perfect. This is what I got from Caroline the other day:
Hello Masy(?), its Ashopa(?). I was ringing up to ask you if you could possibly buy one packet of rats(?) and perhaps you can ___. I’ll see you later. Bye Bye.
Hello Masy(?), its Ashopa(?). I was ringing up to ask you if you could possibly buy one packet of rats(?) and perhaps you can ___. I’ll see you later. Bye Bye.
Mar 25, 2009
six
Yes, last Saturday, the little pink thing turned six and did so with all the excitement that she could muster.
We had a bowling party for her the weekend before, because we live in Fort McMurray and that means that the bowling alley isn’t always open and you have to take your chance when you can. She was very happy with the way it went, having had some 6 or so of her friends join her for the occasion, not to mention that she came home with a bunch of goodies. This included a pretty little dress that I think was worn for the next 3 days straight!
Caroline had bought a pink wallet for her that came with some makeup (I think it had been spotted whilst shopping with Emily) and the little tike was so excited to be getting it that she must have shown every visitor to the house what she was getting for the three days leading up to her actual birthday.
On the day, she was more than happy to unwrap it and quite surprised when we pulled out other presents as well! Bless her heart.
And what can one say about Emily at 6. She’s bursting with confidence, well most of the time. She sings her way around the house and flutters between wanting the whole world to hear her and shyly denying that anyone should hear her. A classic example was during our trip to Jamaica when she stood and sang in front of a large crowd of strangers as confident as you like and then fled quickly back out of the spotlight the instant she was finished.
She’s quite an accomplished skier for six and starting to want to tackle the jumps and things that she finds down the hill, though it doesn’t take a lot to dent that confidence if she has a little tumble. She’s been doing gymnastics and can often be found dancing her way around the house in some sort of odd self-taught-ballet/gymnastics fusion, singing the entire time.
She is affectionate and loving, very much Daddy’s little girl (who knew I was flexible enough to fit around such a tiny finger!) though she does of course have the ability to infuriate everyone around her when things aren’t quite going her way (which isn’t too often). She is fiercely independent when it suits her, but quite unafraid to manipulate us to her own ends, regularly getting one of her big brothers to do some small thing for her. I think they themselves would be quite surprised to find out just how often it happens, despite the number of times that they say no to her requests.
Oh and you may notice when we come to visit that she has just the slightest hint of a Canadian accent … just ask her to sing the “I like Christmas Morning” song.
I’d have to vote her family member most likely to end up on a reality TV show.
We had a bowling party for her the weekend before, because we live in Fort McMurray and that means that the bowling alley isn’t always open and you have to take your chance when you can. She was very happy with the way it went, having had some 6 or so of her friends join her for the occasion, not to mention that she came home with a bunch of goodies. This included a pretty little dress that I think was worn for the next 3 days straight!
Caroline had bought a pink wallet for her that came with some makeup (I think it had been spotted whilst shopping with Emily) and the little tike was so excited to be getting it that she must have shown every visitor to the house what she was getting for the three days leading up to her actual birthday.
On the day, she was more than happy to unwrap it and quite surprised when we pulled out other presents as well! Bless her heart.
And what can one say about Emily at 6. She’s bursting with confidence, well most of the time. She sings her way around the house and flutters between wanting the whole world to hear her and shyly denying that anyone should hear her. A classic example was during our trip to Jamaica when she stood and sang in front of a large crowd of strangers as confident as you like and then fled quickly back out of the spotlight the instant she was finished.
She’s quite an accomplished skier for six and starting to want to tackle the jumps and things that she finds down the hill, though it doesn’t take a lot to dent that confidence if she has a little tumble. She’s been doing gymnastics and can often be found dancing her way around the house in some sort of odd self-taught-ballet/gymnastics fusion, singing the entire time.
She is affectionate and loving, very much Daddy’s little girl (who knew I was flexible enough to fit around such a tiny finger!) though she does of course have the ability to infuriate everyone around her when things aren’t quite going her way (which isn’t too often). She is fiercely independent when it suits her, but quite unafraid to manipulate us to her own ends, regularly getting one of her big brothers to do some small thing for her. I think they themselves would be quite surprised to find out just how often it happens, despite the number of times that they say no to her requests.
Oh and you may notice when we come to visit that she has just the slightest hint of a Canadian accent … just ask her to sing the “I like Christmas Morning” song.
I’d have to vote her family member most likely to end up on a reality TV show.
Mar 15, 2009
Almost
This morning started off in one of those “only in Canada ways” with a ringette game for Thomas and Emily that started at 7:15am. And because it was the last official game of the year, we had organized for a team breakfast after the game and that meant that we were dragging the entire tribe out of the house rather than just one insane parent trundling along with a well stocked sack of jealousy as the other slept.
When the alarm goes off at 0620 on a Sundays these days, it only wakes us up. The kids just don’t get up that early all the time any more (thank goodness) and when they do get up, they’re self sufficient enough that we don’t have to be up with them. Of course when it comes to leaving the house, there’s no way in hell that they are going to mobilize themselves. That means that one has to undertake the crime of waking up the children before they’ve done so of their own accord.
The punishment for this crime is unreasonable, moody, sulky, whiny kids. (No don’t say it …)
But the point of all this is that we have a young lady in our house hold who is very excited that in a relatively short space of time, will be turning 6. So excited that as she lay in bed last night, she was sing-songing a countdown for the number of days left whilst trying to drift off to the land of sleepy bo-bo’s.
So excited, that when I was waking her up this morning, that despite the fact that I got track suit pants on her without her even stirring, that moments later, as she stretched, eyes still closed, groaning with the effort of uncurling, she said sleepily …”six more days until my birthday!” As she woke beyond that, she had to affirm it as if to make sure that she was indeed correct!
When the alarm goes off at 0620 on a Sundays these days, it only wakes us up. The kids just don’t get up that early all the time any more (thank goodness) and when they do get up, they’re self sufficient enough that we don’t have to be up with them. Of course when it comes to leaving the house, there’s no way in hell that they are going to mobilize themselves. That means that one has to undertake the crime of waking up the children before they’ve done so of their own accord.
The punishment for this crime is unreasonable, moody, sulky, whiny kids. (No don’t say it …)
But the point of all this is that we have a young lady in our house hold who is very excited that in a relatively short space of time, will be turning 6. So excited that as she lay in bed last night, she was sing-songing a countdown for the number of days left whilst trying to drift off to the land of sleepy bo-bo’s.
So excited, that when I was waking her up this morning, that despite the fact that I got track suit pants on her without her even stirring, that moments later, as she stretched, eyes still closed, groaning with the effort of uncurling, she said sleepily …”six more days until my birthday!” As she woke beyond that, she had to affirm it as if to make sure that she was indeed correct!
Mar 14, 2009
Spring?
So we came back from Jamaica looking forward to the fact that we were on the back end of winter and therefore some somewhat warmer weather.
Apparently the joke was on us, because within a day or two of returning the forecast was for -35 with windchill taking us below -40. I for one sure as hell wasn’t quite ready for the temperature going in that direction!
Fortunately it warmed up after a week or so and it’s even managed to get up all the way to the single digit negatives … and snow. Damn it. Snow here, snow there, snow bloody everywhere. I went out and dug out the front steps the other day and of course, what happens? We get a windy snowy night and the next day I couldn’t even see the thing. The only good thing is that Thomas has decided that shoveling snow is quite a good way to raise funds for our upcoming trip to Oz. So I only have to go out and clean up after him … you know, heave the snow from where he’s pushed it up over the mound down the side of the driveway that’s currently about 5 feet high.
I mean, hey, its March, that’s the start of Spring over here isn’t it. So why on earth would you picture the birth of cute woodland mammals, flowers sprouting, the sun shining … after all, this is Fort Mac!
Speaking of our trip to Oz, its only 11 sleeps for Caroline and the kids until the leave and 20 for me! Bring it on.
Apparently the joke was on us, because within a day or two of returning the forecast was for -35 with windchill taking us below -40. I for one sure as hell wasn’t quite ready for the temperature going in that direction!
Fortunately it warmed up after a week or so and it’s even managed to get up all the way to the single digit negatives … and snow. Damn it. Snow here, snow there, snow bloody everywhere. I went out and dug out the front steps the other day and of course, what happens? We get a windy snowy night and the next day I couldn’t even see the thing. The only good thing is that Thomas has decided that shoveling snow is quite a good way to raise funds for our upcoming trip to Oz. So I only have to go out and clean up after him … you know, heave the snow from where he’s pushed it up over the mound down the side of the driveway that’s currently about 5 feet high.
I mean, hey, its March, that’s the start of Spring over here isn’t it. So why on earth would you picture the birth of cute woodland mammals, flowers sprouting, the sun shining … after all, this is Fort Mac!
Speaking of our trip to Oz, its only 11 sleeps for Caroline and the kids until the leave and 20 for me! Bring it on.
Hold Please
I had to ring our client’s IT support group today, always one of those fun things to do when you’re looking to while some time away in the afternoon, because for a start, you know that its serviced out of India, and with the obscure little issue that I had, there was that feeling going into the call that they simply weren’t going to be able to help me.
Sure enough, not long into the call, the guy on the phone had to put me on hold whilst he conferred with someone else (knowing my luck that someone else sits 100m from me here in Canada, but I doubt it).
So on hold … which of course means hold music. What did I get? Killing Me Softly. Now it might just have been my, but I had to give a wry chuckle as I whiled away a small piece of my life that I’ll never get back listening to that!
Sure enough, not long into the call, the guy on the phone had to put me on hold whilst he conferred with someone else (knowing my luck that someone else sits 100m from me here in Canada, but I doubt it).
So on hold … which of course means hold music. What did I get? Killing Me Softly. Now it might just have been my, but I had to give a wry chuckle as I whiled away a small piece of my life that I’ll never get back listening to that!
Mar 2, 2009
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