Sunday, August 22, 2004
P returns!
Hi there
Apologies for the lack of blogs from P over the last week or so. I’ve been trying to get back into the routine of going to work full time, as well as doing house management! After a break of 6 weeks away from work, it hasn’t been easy to figure out how I’m supposed to fit everything into the day again. As anyone who has been following the blog knows, I was managing the housewife thing very nicely, and having to go to work just seems like such an imposition!! Seriously though, I think a break of 6 weeks was just long enough and it is nice to get back into a world where people have more on their minds than what they’re going to make for dinner!
I wasn’t sure what to expect from my new work place, but on first impressions, I think it’ll probably work out okay. It gives you a nice feeling when you walk into your new office (yes, an office of my own!!) and the people who work on the project have left you a wee bunch of flowers and a card just to say ‘welcome to the project’.
In contrast to the usual welcoming accommodation that we offer to new members of staff at UU, I also had a desk, a chair, a flatscreen computer running the newest version of Windows (which doesn't seem quite as prone to crashing as my lovely UU computer!), and best of all, a view to the outside world! The outside view is the key thing - Mr White is very jealous as he has to share an inside office (no windows at all) with four other visiting fellows.
Anyway, here's my computer...
And here's the view... this will be updated in the winter.... but as you can (sort of) see, Calgary is uncharacteristically green at the moment...
Apparently, in the last 7 years or so, Calgary has been burnt brown by the time that mid August rolls around. The prairie farmers have been complaining of drought and plagues of grasshoppers (all sounds rather biblical, doesn't it?), but this year, they've had so much rain that the harvest might be difficult to get in. Also, our grass keeps growing...! One other problem is that the berry harvest isn't too good this year. Apparently the blossoms on the saskatoons and the buffalo berries got hammered by a late frost in May, and the result has been that there is very little fruit around. Of course, the wet weather that we've been experiencing lately hasn't been too good for them either, and those that did survive the frost, have got mildew (or some other nasty fungus). The upshot of this is that bears are going hungry in the woods, and are starting to come into towns, picnic areas, recreation areas etc to try to find some food before they hibernate for the winter. We'll keep you posted if any get as far as Tuscarora Way!
Here are a few pics of an uncharacteristic Calgary summer...
Fog in Tuscarora (excuse the flyscreen)...
And the deck (where we had breakfast in blazing sunshine yesterday morning)...
Note the small lake that's developing in the middle of the table! Mind you, we're kind of lucky we're just experiencing rain (and temperatures of 7 degrees C today). The Environment Canada guy who was on the radio this morning reckons that there might be snow on the high roads between Banff and Jasper today, and Fort McMurray (way up in the north of Alberta) is experiencing about 0 degrees C. Again, this is all very unusual - our seasonal average for this time of year should be a very pleasant 22-24 degrees C, and we certainly shouldn't be having the furnace on.
Anyway, I think I must have had an inkling that this was coming because I took myself off to Market Mall on Thursday evening to buy some clothes. It isn't a great time to buy clothes as the shops are still trying to flog off all the summer gear, and they're only starting to get in their 'fall' (aka Autumn) stuff. The women's sale stuff has been well picked over by this stage, and they seem to have only very small, very large or very weird stuff left. I had enough summer stuff to do me anyway, and I was in the market for something a little warmer. I didn't do too badly, and after trying on about a million pairs of trousers (trying to find something to fit around the middle, but not absolutely massive in the rear end!), came home with two cardigans (one bright red, zip up; one black), two pairs of trousers (both Olsen - one brown linen and one black ), a long sleeved black v-neck teeshirt with a collar, a kind of brown top to go with the brown trousers, two pairs of shoes (one black, one brown) and a frivolous pair of pink sandals (my only sale purchase). Dear knows where or when the pink sandals will see the light of day before next June (if the weather keeps going the way it is), but I thought they were nice, AND they were only 10 pounds (can't find the pound sign on this keyboard).
Our other purchase this morning was a lamb. No - not a pet to keep in the garden, but the meat for the freezer. I went up to Bearspaw (in the pouring rain) to collect it this morning, and I have to say that they do a really good job. It has been butchered, packed and frozen exactly the way I wanted it; each package has a label saying exactly what's in it, and the date it was packed.
Here it is, all laid out on the kitchen counter...
And here is what you get for CAD$200
7 packs of lamb mince
3 lamb shoulder stew packs
4 leg of lamb roasts
2 shoulder roasts
1 rack of lamb
26 loin chops
1 liver
1 heart
2 kidneys
I'm not entirely sure what we'll do with the heart!
Anyway, better go. Mr White is working all day today, and I've decided that I'd better do the ironing (there's a shocking lack of clean laundry in the drawers), hoovering and bathroom cleaning chores.
Just before I go though, I'll leave you with some lovely pictures of the Carrickfergus garden (for which I can take no credit whatsoever!!). You might have seen these before, but I think they're pretty cool...
More soon
P
Apologies for the lack of blogs from P over the last week or so. I’ve been trying to get back into the routine of going to work full time, as well as doing house management! After a break of 6 weeks away from work, it hasn’t been easy to figure out how I’m supposed to fit everything into the day again. As anyone who has been following the blog knows, I was managing the housewife thing very nicely, and having to go to work just seems like such an imposition!! Seriously though, I think a break of 6 weeks was just long enough and it is nice to get back into a world where people have more on their minds than what they’re going to make for dinner!
I wasn’t sure what to expect from my new work place, but on first impressions, I think it’ll probably work out okay. It gives you a nice feeling when you walk into your new office (yes, an office of my own!!) and the people who work on the project have left you a wee bunch of flowers and a card just to say ‘welcome to the project’.
In contrast to the usual welcoming accommodation that we offer to new members of staff at UU, I also had a desk, a chair, a flatscreen computer running the newest version of Windows (which doesn't seem quite as prone to crashing as my lovely UU computer!), and best of all, a view to the outside world! The outside view is the key thing - Mr White is very jealous as he has to share an inside office (no windows at all) with four other visiting fellows.
Anyway, here's my computer...
And here's the view... this will be updated in the winter.... but as you can (sort of) see, Calgary is uncharacteristically green at the moment...
Apparently, in the last 7 years or so, Calgary has been burnt brown by the time that mid August rolls around. The prairie farmers have been complaining of drought and plagues of grasshoppers (all sounds rather biblical, doesn't it?), but this year, they've had so much rain that the harvest might be difficult to get in. Also, our grass keeps growing...! One other problem is that the berry harvest isn't too good this year. Apparently the blossoms on the saskatoons and the buffalo berries got hammered by a late frost in May, and the result has been that there is very little fruit around. Of course, the wet weather that we've been experiencing lately hasn't been too good for them either, and those that did survive the frost, have got mildew (or some other nasty fungus). The upshot of this is that bears are going hungry in the woods, and are starting to come into towns, picnic areas, recreation areas etc to try to find some food before they hibernate for the winter. We'll keep you posted if any get as far as Tuscarora Way!
Here are a few pics of an uncharacteristic Calgary summer...
Fog in Tuscarora (excuse the flyscreen)...
And the deck (where we had breakfast in blazing sunshine yesterday morning)...
Note the small lake that's developing in the middle of the table! Mind you, we're kind of lucky we're just experiencing rain (and temperatures of 7 degrees C today). The Environment Canada guy who was on the radio this morning reckons that there might be snow on the high roads between Banff and Jasper today, and Fort McMurray (way up in the north of Alberta) is experiencing about 0 degrees C. Again, this is all very unusual - our seasonal average for this time of year should be a very pleasant 22-24 degrees C, and we certainly shouldn't be having the furnace on.
Anyway, I think I must have had an inkling that this was coming because I took myself off to Market Mall on Thursday evening to buy some clothes. It isn't a great time to buy clothes as the shops are still trying to flog off all the summer gear, and they're only starting to get in their 'fall' (aka Autumn) stuff. The women's sale stuff has been well picked over by this stage, and they seem to have only very small, very large or very weird stuff left. I had enough summer stuff to do me anyway, and I was in the market for something a little warmer. I didn't do too badly, and after trying on about a million pairs of trousers (trying to find something to fit around the middle, but not absolutely massive in the rear end!), came home with two cardigans (one bright red, zip up; one black), two pairs of trousers (both Olsen - one brown linen and one black ), a long sleeved black v-neck teeshirt with a collar, a kind of brown top to go with the brown trousers, two pairs of shoes (one black, one brown) and a frivolous pair of pink sandals (my only sale purchase). Dear knows where or when the pink sandals will see the light of day before next June (if the weather keeps going the way it is), but I thought they were nice, AND they were only 10 pounds (can't find the pound sign on this keyboard).
Our other purchase this morning was a lamb. No - not a pet to keep in the garden, but the meat for the freezer. I went up to Bearspaw (in the pouring rain) to collect it this morning, and I have to say that they do a really good job. It has been butchered, packed and frozen exactly the way I wanted it; each package has a label saying exactly what's in it, and the date it was packed.
Here it is, all laid out on the kitchen counter...
And here is what you get for CAD$200
7 packs of lamb mince
3 lamb shoulder stew packs
4 leg of lamb roasts
2 shoulder roasts
1 rack of lamb
26 loin chops
1 liver
1 heart
2 kidneys
I'm not entirely sure what we'll do with the heart!
Anyway, better go. Mr White is working all day today, and I've decided that I'd better do the ironing (there's a shocking lack of clean laundry in the drawers), hoovering and bathroom cleaning chores.
Just before I go though, I'll leave you with some lovely pictures of the Carrickfergus garden (for which I can take no credit whatsoever!!). You might have seen these before, but I think they're pretty cool...
More soon
P
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