Home Sweet Home

Princess Sarah is now home for a few weeks (yay - warmth and happiness in abundance!) before she and gorgeous Cowboy Craig jet off to New York. Same SA number for while I'm here. Love you all!

Carnival Magic

Canadia Day

getting into the spirit of things!

...and again...!

Lindsay

it was good... and then Adie pushed my hand into my face!

Fun at Rotary Park

Our spot

Whee! The slide is seriously pretty fun

Coming down in a huddle

Lisa and Sam

Finally - Rocky Pics! Some on F/bk as well.

Rockies

Hey guys, the Canadian Rockies are totally awesome - we had a great weekend. I'll try to put up some pictures later today. xx

Lots of small town news!

1. Craig and I have received our yellow belts in TaeKwondo! Lots of fun, and we start again in September.

2. We bought (actually Craig did) a new car - a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Will put photos up asap.

3. My amazing husband is taking me to the rockies for the weekend! He booked it ages ago as a surprise and for a special treat has booked into the most amazing, famous, expensive hotels in both Banff and Jasper. Will take lots of photos!!

4. If anyone doesn't know, we are coming to visit in August. I'll fly out a little bit before Craig to max out my time in the Mother City. Then we'll be in Durbs for a week for the big wedding, and then it's back to CT for a week... before a week to NY!!! see you in two months.

another little corner

This is my desk and where I blog, email and skype you from (occasionally!).

Hold fingers for me - am going to visit the school today to meet the staff and give them my cv. In other news, have received much paperwork from the alberta edu dep and have so much admin to do for them!!

love and kisses,

Lobster Fest - Whitecourt's Party of the Year 2009!

The Lobster Festival was a lot of fun, and a huge party. On the downside, my lobster was off and I got really sick later that night (well, early the next morning actually!) but it was well worth it. I'll put some more photos up when I get the rest from Adrian and Lindsay - they took some hilarious ones. xx



Adrian having a good laugh




They make such a cute couple, don'cha think?




Linds and I with Danie, a SA doctor who owns one of the clinics (and spa!)

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting

Well, Tae Kwando (spelling?) actually. We have been having loads of fun, but now it gets serious, as we are being graded tomorrow night! If all goes well we will receive our yellow belts. Yay!

Things I don't like about Canada

1. Culture? What culture? Less than Australia (I kid, I kid).

2. Racism. In a country this rich and with this much potential, there really is no excuse.

3. The supermarkets - totally not as nice as SA - they need Woolworths!

4. The ratio of fast food restaurants (10) to individual, cosy, independent restaurants (1).

5. Although the country is diverse, it is not a sparkling, organic rainbow nation like SA.

6. Living in a rural area can sometimes be a bit like living the middle of one big trailer park.

7. I miss people.

8. The TV and radio advertising is so primitive - South Africa would laugh!

Things I like about Canada

1. Nice clothes and homeware shops (in the cities only).

2. Everybody who has a job is respected and classy people don't only do classy jobs - much classless than SA.

3. Weather is nice for a change.

5. The Special K is much nicer than in SA.

6. Hardly anybody is really poor.

7. Cars and houses are much cheaper, and the interest rate is 0-2 %.

8. The South Africans here are really nice.

9. The cable TV (about 120 channels and lots of music) is so cheap ($16.00/month).

What Snow?

Apologies for the ugly view of my mobile neighbours. Will get out and take pretty ones soonish, promise.

Dining room table is going to be delivered today!! Big 8 seater for lots of parties. Still need to find chairs though.

More Snowfall!

I'm sorry - I know I keep on putting up pictures of boring snow... but it snowed again! And it's meant to be Spring! And it's the heaviest snow we've seen since we've been here! We had a blizzard on Monday and Tues, and it's still settled on the ground - there's more on the balcony than when we arrived 5 weeks ago.

Bowling in Whitecourt

Whitecourt is blessed with a dodgy bowling alley... which actually wasn't that bad - except that they made me wear the shoes!! Ended up having far too much of a party - says the girl that opened a bottle of red wine with a knife and splattered it over a friend's lovely white top. Needless to say, that experiment won't be repeated in a hurry!

These are our lovely friends and next-door neighbours (their condo is an extension of our house, really, and the other way round). Both Lindsay and I love decorating our homes, idols, shopping and clothes.

update

Sorry there's been no news or pics for some time. Nothing much is happening except the minatue of daily life... and the biggest thickest snowstorm i have ever seen. The snow is about 15 cm thick on our balcony! Have started Tae Kwondo (sorry spelling!) so will put up pics of us in our uniforms soon! Love love love

Shopping.... in "the CITY!"

Had a good day shopping in edmonton, more lookie lookie than any buying... but the sushi was amazing!!

Walking on (iced) water

Lunch time! Lindsay and myself chow.

Ice tanning


Lindsay (note the people fishing in the background!)

Yesterday we bought a take-away lunch from Tim Hortons (we heart Tim Hortons - the best coffee and healthy fast-food) and took it too McLeod lake - which was still iced over!

Home-made Boerewors - the best I've ever had...

What a fun and tiring day!

Photo Wall

This is a wall in my kitchen that I'm slowly covering - with Welcome cards, goodbye messages, postcards and photos. Please send me a photo by email or a postcard to: 406 4502-52 Ave, Whitecourt, T7S0C4, Alberta, Canada and I'll put it up!

Yesterday Craig and I found the most beautiful antique shop in Edson - about an hour away (actually I pointed it out - he would have never gone in unless I had wanted to! but he loved what we got) and we bought some gorgeous china cups and saucers - different rose prints, a vase and some platters. He also bought me a vintage evening clutch and an old fashioned compact mirror! Isn't he lovely...

Snowy Scenery

Here are the promised photos of a snowy Whitecourt and surrounds. The view from our window of the trailer park is incrementally more beautiful when covered in snow... leaving us perpetually disappointed when it thaws!