Monday, February 28, 2005
Snowboarding 'til the Sun Sets (360 BackFlip Japan Air to Kickflip Indy)
Hello from a warm and fairly non-wintry Calgary! It's been quite balmy for the last few days, with temps up to +12 which means that outdoors skating is off for a while as all the rinks have melted! Winter will still be back to bite us in the bottom, though, and we're expecting more dumps of snow in March.
As you know, we set out to try out a variety of activities while we're in Calgary, and so far we've ticked off skiing, horse-riding and whitewater rafting from the list. As of yesterday, we can also tick off snowboarding from the list, as I have now had my first 'boarding lesson at the Canada Olympic Park and am now officially totally "rad"!
For 40 dollars (under 20 quid) you get a 1-on-1 90 minute lesson, hire of a board, helmet, boots and bindings and a ski-lift pass which lets you stay on the slopes for as long as you want (the C.O.P closes at 10pm). The lesson takes you from the very basics (how to strap on to the board, how to push off), to coming down sideways facing forwards and backwards, how to traverse on the board and finally how to head downslope, pick up speed and turn.
Getting started
The Basic 'Boarding Stance
Is this the way to do it?
When can I do an inverted 720 front flip stalefish to indy?
Made in down in one piece
I had a lot of fun, made a lot of progress in the lesson and then spent another two whole hours on the slopes, working my way up the beginner slopes (the "bunny hills") until I was right at the top and getting a good long ride down. My lesson started at 2:15pm and I only left the slopes at 6pm, so I got good value for the money! It's much more fun than skiing, and you seem to be able to have much more control of speed and turning by using the edge of the board. It's also way cool, as they say here! I'm still finding it hard to get to my feet on the board on any degree of incline, but I just need to work on my tummy muscles a bit so I can haul myself up! At the moment, I can get up facing upslope and then I have to turn downslope so I can see where I'm going!
I can confirm that I'm still in one piece after 3.5 hours of snowboarding, but I'm still pretty sore from all the falls. The worst bits are wrists, shoulders and bottom, and my knees and elbows are still fairly raw. P was there taking photos and a little bit of video, and here are a couple of my more spectacular falls presented in 'time lapse' fashion:
Ouch!
Ow Ow Ow Ow
I think I may have been bitten by the snowboarding bug, as it's a lot of fun and gives you a real sense of freedom on the slopes. I was able to pick it up really quickly, and it's great being able to zip back and forth on a fairly steep slope and then turn downhill to pick up some speed before carving some serious snow at the bottom! I've even been out to price a snowboard (200-400 dollars), so watch this space!
Check out the C.O.P. webcam here
In other news: our friends the Hubers wish to announce the arrival of a bouncing baby boy, Gion Frederick, born at 04:00 on Feb 12. Gion is pronounced the same as 'John", btw. Mum, dad and baby are doing well.
Three Swiss-German-Canadians
My skating class is also going well, with lots of practice time on the public rink at Bowness (when it's cold enough). We've also been doing skating backwards which is hard work but I seem to be slowly getting the hang of it...
Skater Boy
That's all for now, dudes and dudettes. We're off to Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday and then we're coming back via Las Vegas. Maybe we'll hit it rich!...
Love J&P
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As you know, we set out to try out a variety of activities while we're in Calgary, and so far we've ticked off skiing, horse-riding and whitewater rafting from the list. As of yesterday, we can also tick off snowboarding from the list, as I have now had my first 'boarding lesson at the Canada Olympic Park and am now officially totally "rad"!
For 40 dollars (under 20 quid) you get a 1-on-1 90 minute lesson, hire of a board, helmet, boots and bindings and a ski-lift pass which lets you stay on the slopes for as long as you want (the C.O.P closes at 10pm). The lesson takes you from the very basics (how to strap on to the board, how to push off), to coming down sideways facing forwards and backwards, how to traverse on the board and finally how to head downslope, pick up speed and turn.
Getting started
The Basic 'Boarding Stance
Is this the way to do it?
When can I do an inverted 720 front flip stalefish to indy?
Made in down in one piece
I had a lot of fun, made a lot of progress in the lesson and then spent another two whole hours on the slopes, working my way up the beginner slopes (the "bunny hills") until I was right at the top and getting a good long ride down. My lesson started at 2:15pm and I only left the slopes at 6pm, so I got good value for the money! It's much more fun than skiing, and you seem to be able to have much more control of speed and turning by using the edge of the board. It's also way cool, as they say here! I'm still finding it hard to get to my feet on the board on any degree of incline, but I just need to work on my tummy muscles a bit so I can haul myself up! At the moment, I can get up facing upslope and then I have to turn downslope so I can see where I'm going!
I can confirm that I'm still in one piece after 3.5 hours of snowboarding, but I'm still pretty sore from all the falls. The worst bits are wrists, shoulders and bottom, and my knees and elbows are still fairly raw. P was there taking photos and a little bit of video, and here are a couple of my more spectacular falls presented in 'time lapse' fashion:
Ouch!
Ow Ow Ow Ow
I think I may have been bitten by the snowboarding bug, as it's a lot of fun and gives you a real sense of freedom on the slopes. I was able to pick it up really quickly, and it's great being able to zip back and forth on a fairly steep slope and then turn downhill to pick up some speed before carving some serious snow at the bottom! I've even been out to price a snowboard (200-400 dollars), so watch this space!
Check out the C.O.P. webcam here
In other news: our friends the Hubers wish to announce the arrival of a bouncing baby boy, Gion Frederick, born at 04:00 on Feb 12. Gion is pronounced the same as 'John", btw. Mum, dad and baby are doing well.
Three Swiss-German-Canadians
My skating class is also going well, with lots of practice time on the public rink at Bowness (when it's cold enough). We've also been doing skating backwards which is hard work but I seem to be slowly getting the hang of it...
Skater Boy
That's all for now, dudes and dudettes. We're off to Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday and then we're coming back via Las Vegas. Maybe we'll hit it rich!...
Love J&P
Monday, February 21, 2005
101 Things That Are Different in Canada: #1
#1 - Inukshuks
Hello and welcome to part 1 of an new, occasional feature on Carrick to Calgary, called 101 Things That Are Different in Canada. These will be a series of short bloggings on things that we find surprising, amusing or just plain confusing about life in Canada that we didn't have any idea about before we got here.
First up is the most ancient thing we've come across in our time here so far, the Inukshuk. You find these out in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilisation. At first they appear to be little piles of flat stones, much like cairns at home.
Upon closer inspection, the bottom of the pile usually contains two piles of stones, and then the upper stones are wider and flatter, going the whole way across the two piles at the bottom. Then there's a much wider stone above this, and a single pile of narrower stones sits atop this. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes but all stick to a basic general design.
The bigger ones do look a little like the Wicker Man, don't you think?
So what do these person-shaped piles of stones mean? Well, apparently the First Nations tribes used them to mark territory in the wide, barren lands of the North. If you came across an Inukshuk out in the wilds of Alberta, it meant "The People were here", so you knew you weren't the first person to pass this way...
Erected to make the way easier and safer for those who follow, an Inukshuk represents safety and nourishment, trust and reassurance. The Inukshuk guided people across the frozen tundra and gave them hope in barren places to handle hardships they encountered. These primitive, stone images showed the way ahead... pointing you in the direction you wanted to go. Had they been able to speak, I am certain they would have said... "Here is the road. It is safe. You can meet the demands that this path holds. You can reach your goals and attain your vision of where you want to be."
More details here, here, here and here
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Hello and welcome to part 1 of an new, occasional feature on Carrick to Calgary, called 101 Things That Are Different in Canada. These will be a series of short bloggings on things that we find surprising, amusing or just plain confusing about life in Canada that we didn't have any idea about before we got here.
First up is the most ancient thing we've come across in our time here so far, the Inukshuk. You find these out in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilisation. At first they appear to be little piles of flat stones, much like cairns at home.
Upon closer inspection, the bottom of the pile usually contains two piles of stones, and then the upper stones are wider and flatter, going the whole way across the two piles at the bottom. Then there's a much wider stone above this, and a single pile of narrower stones sits atop this. They come in a variety of sizes and shapes but all stick to a basic general design.
The bigger ones do look a little like the Wicker Man, don't you think?
So what do these person-shaped piles of stones mean? Well, apparently the First Nations tribes used them to mark territory in the wide, barren lands of the North. If you came across an Inukshuk out in the wilds of Alberta, it meant "The People were here", so you knew you weren't the first person to pass this way...
Erected to make the way easier and safer for those who follow, an Inukshuk represents safety and nourishment, trust and reassurance. The Inukshuk guided people across the frozen tundra and gave them hope in barren places to handle hardships they encountered. These primitive, stone images showed the way ahead... pointing you in the direction you wanted to go. Had they been able to speak, I am certain they would have said... "Here is the road. It is safe. You can meet the demands that this path holds. You can reach your goals and attain your vision of where you want to be."
More details here, here, here and here
Happy Family Day '05! (Farewell Hunter Thompson)
Hello and welcome to the first public holiday of the year, Family Day, an Alberta-only invention! Here are a few random thoughts and reaction to the news of the day:
Hunter Thompson is dead. One of our favourite authors, he was an unflagging opponent of 'The Man' and Authority, an outspoken critic of Richard Nixon, the pioneer of Gonzo Journalism and a tireless champion of the weird.
On the eve of Nixon's victory in 1968, Thompson wrote:
"Richard Nixon has never been one of my favourite people, anyway. For years I've regarded his very existence as a monument to all the rancid genes and broken chromosomes that corrupt the possibilities of the American Dream; he was a foul caricature of himself, a man with no soul, no inner convictions, with the integrity of a hyena and the style of a poison toad." At the time of Nixon's death in 1994, Thompson similarly wrote: "It is Nixon himself who represents that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character ... At the stroke of midnight in Washington, a drooling red-eyed beast with the legs of a man and head of a giant hyena crawls out of its bedroom in the South Wing of the White House and leaps 50 feet down to the lawn."
I first came across him when I read Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, his account of travelling with candidate George McGovern in his failed Presidential Bid. We went on to read The Great Shark Hunt, Generation of Swine and Kingdom of Fear, among his other work. His loss is a dark day for America and the world in general. We shall not see his like again. The Sports Desk is closed.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"
Hunter S Thompson 1937-2005
This week the NHL cancelled the 2004/2005 ice hockey season, after several months of 'Lock-Out' i.e. a players' strike. At the moment, no-one knows when the season will start up again. In the meantime, you can listen to a message telling you how you can support an impoverished NHL star player here.
Amazing story on the Beeb today. Two headed baby born in Egypt undergoes 'head-reduction' surgery. A sign of the times, or just the normal level of weirdness? You be the judge...
Not a Doll
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Hunter Thompson is dead. One of our favourite authors, he was an unflagging opponent of 'The Man' and Authority, an outspoken critic of Richard Nixon, the pioneer of Gonzo Journalism and a tireless champion of the weird.
On the eve of Nixon's victory in 1968, Thompson wrote:
"Richard Nixon has never been one of my favourite people, anyway. For years I've regarded his very existence as a monument to all the rancid genes and broken chromosomes that corrupt the possibilities of the American Dream; he was a foul caricature of himself, a man with no soul, no inner convictions, with the integrity of a hyena and the style of a poison toad." At the time of Nixon's death in 1994, Thompson similarly wrote: "It is Nixon himself who represents that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character ... At the stroke of midnight in Washington, a drooling red-eyed beast with the legs of a man and head of a giant hyena crawls out of its bedroom in the South Wing of the White House and leaps 50 feet down to the lawn."
I first came across him when I read Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, his account of travelling with candidate George McGovern in his failed Presidential Bid. We went on to read The Great Shark Hunt, Generation of Swine and Kingdom of Fear, among his other work. His loss is a dark day for America and the world in general. We shall not see his like again. The Sports Desk is closed.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro"
Hunter S Thompson 1937-2005
This week the NHL cancelled the 2004/2005 ice hockey season, after several months of 'Lock-Out' i.e. a players' strike. At the moment, no-one knows when the season will start up again. In the meantime, you can listen to a message telling you how you can support an impoverished NHL star player here.
Amazing story on the Beeb today. Two headed baby born in Egypt undergoes 'head-reduction' surgery. A sign of the times, or just the normal level of weirdness? You be the judge...
Not a Doll
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Snow on the Elbow
Just a quick update on our weekend jaunt out into Kananaskis Country. After our Week of Terrible Sickness (see previous posting), we decided we needed a bit of fresh air and we headed off in the direction of Bragg Creek and then up along the Elbow River in Kananaskis. We hadn't been there since Mel and Stevie were here in the Fall (getting the lingo now, fall = autumn), and it turns out that it's completely different at this time of the year. It was a pretty mild day in Calgary, around 5 or 6 degrees, and most of the snow had gone from the ground. As we headed west, though the temperature dropped down to +1, and we could see there was still plenty of snow in the hills. You can take the Elbow River Drive to the end of the line in the summer, out to the Powderface Trail (not recommended for vehicles) but in the winter they close the road at Elbow Falls. It's not because the road itself is dangerous, but instead it's because food is scarce in the winter, and animals tend to come out of the woods to find something to eat. The road is closed to keep us from disturbing the animals and (in the case of the bears) to keep them from eating us!
Road Closed
You can still climb over the barrier and walk on further up into the hills and over there the snow is deep and undisturbed. We didn't go too far as we weren't geared up, but we're planning to go back and explore more with our snowboots on soon. We took pictures of the two of us standing on the yellow line in the middle of the highway:
Looking North
Looking South
The Elbow Falls themselves are even more beautiful in the winter than the summer - everything is dusted in snow, and despite the cold, people have set up picnic sites along the river, burning wood in little half-braziers. Turns out it's illegal to burn any of the wood that's there, even the dead wood from the forest floor, so you have to bring your own from home. The picnickers seemed to have been there most of the day, sitting around their fires and listening to the river's flow and the falls' roar.
We were there about 3pm, just as the sun was starting to head down towards the highest peaks of the Rockies - it was just marvellous!
Heading for the Horizon
Put your gun away
On the way back, we stopped at the Allan Bill Pond which we had discovered in the summer. At that stage it was full of families boating and swimming. At the moment it's frozen solid and its surface has been swept to form an ice hockey rink with a skating track around it. And there it sits, your own little ice rink by the side of the road, in the middle of the Rockies, completely free. I hadn't brought my new ice skates with us and so I couldn't go on the pond, and as a result I've started to carry them around in the back of the Jeep, because you never know when they come in handy.
The Allan Bill Pond
Don't fall through the ice...
So we had a great day on Saturday, and it was a fantastic way to shake off the colly-wobbles. Sunday was much colder again, and the snow came back again, about an inch. It's now Tuesday night, and it's still snowing on and off, although I had some free time today and I managed to get out for a bit of a skate on Bowness lagoon, which is about 5 minutes from home. The lagoon makes a huge ice rink, and I spent about an hour there skating about -4 as the sun started to go down over Calgary. There was almost no-one else there, and my new skates seem to fit a treat and are breaking in nicely. Then it was off out for tea at the local sushi bar, seared tuna a special hit.
We're off the the big meeting at Banff at the weekend, which will include dinner at Le Beaujolais (again) and also dinner at the Rimrock Hotel, as well as skating on Lake Louise. And then we have Sunday off, and Monday too as it's Family Day, the first public holiday of the Albertan year. Isn't life great?
J&P
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Road Closed
You can still climb over the barrier and walk on further up into the hills and over there the snow is deep and undisturbed. We didn't go too far as we weren't geared up, but we're planning to go back and explore more with our snowboots on soon. We took pictures of the two of us standing on the yellow line in the middle of the highway:
Looking North
Looking South
The Elbow Falls themselves are even more beautiful in the winter than the summer - everything is dusted in snow, and despite the cold, people have set up picnic sites along the river, burning wood in little half-braziers. Turns out it's illegal to burn any of the wood that's there, even the dead wood from the forest floor, so you have to bring your own from home. The picnickers seemed to have been there most of the day, sitting around their fires and listening to the river's flow and the falls' roar.
We were there about 3pm, just as the sun was starting to head down towards the highest peaks of the Rockies - it was just marvellous!
Heading for the Horizon
Put your gun away
On the way back, we stopped at the Allan Bill Pond which we had discovered in the summer. At that stage it was full of families boating and swimming. At the moment it's frozen solid and its surface has been swept to form an ice hockey rink with a skating track around it. And there it sits, your own little ice rink by the side of the road, in the middle of the Rockies, completely free. I hadn't brought my new ice skates with us and so I couldn't go on the pond, and as a result I've started to carry them around in the back of the Jeep, because you never know when they come in handy.
The Allan Bill Pond
Don't fall through the ice...
So we had a great day on Saturday, and it was a fantastic way to shake off the colly-wobbles. Sunday was much colder again, and the snow came back again, about an inch. It's now Tuesday night, and it's still snowing on and off, although I had some free time today and I managed to get out for a bit of a skate on Bowness lagoon, which is about 5 minutes from home. The lagoon makes a huge ice rink, and I spent about an hour there skating about -4 as the sun started to go down over Calgary. There was almost no-one else there, and my new skates seem to fit a treat and are breaking in nicely. Then it was off out for tea at the local sushi bar, seared tuna a special hit.
We're off the the big meeting at Banff at the weekend, which will include dinner at Le Beaujolais (again) and also dinner at the Rimrock Hotel, as well as skating on Lake Louise. And then we have Sunday off, and Monday too as it's Family Day, the first public holiday of the Albertan year. Isn't life great?
J&P
Musk Ox Madness
We have a new lodger to announce - Morris the Musk Ox! He's a refugee from the Bedroom Outfitters shop, and was rescued today for the princely sum of 15 Canadian dollars in the Spring Sale. He joins fellow refugees Barbara and Bobby Buffalo in our upstairs Native Canadian Rusty Animal Sanctuary.
Note the wee short legs
Spot the resemblance
Bobby and Barbara Buffalo
As it turns out, Musk Oxes are a bit like buffalos, except a bit bigger and shaggier. Hence the reason why Morris appears to have wee stumpy legs. They apparently start to smell a bit musky when excited (don't ask) and if you chase them down they form a defensive circle, which is why they were easy to hunt in the early 1900s, cos you just waited until they formed a circle and then shot all of them. It's been illegal to hunt them since 1916, and there are now loads living free up in the autonomous First Nations region of Nunavut. And one rusty one in Calgary.
Learn more about the non-rusty variety of the musk ox here, here and here
P.S. While we were shopping for rusty animals we happened across a new bed which we got for the upcoming summer flood of visitors... So Jean and Denise will now have somewhere to sleep!
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Note the wee short legs
Spot the resemblance
Bobby and Barbara Buffalo
As it turns out, Musk Oxes are a bit like buffalos, except a bit bigger and shaggier. Hence the reason why Morris appears to have wee stumpy legs. They apparently start to smell a bit musky when excited (don't ask) and if you chase them down they form a defensive circle, which is why they were easy to hunt in the early 1900s, cos you just waited until they formed a circle and then shot all of them. It's been illegal to hunt them since 1916, and there are now loads living free up in the autonomous First Nations region of Nunavut. And one rusty one in Calgary.
Learn more about the non-rusty variety of the musk ox here, here and here
P.S. While we were shopping for rusty animals we happened across a new bed which we got for the upcoming summer flood of visitors... So Jean and Denise will now have somewhere to sleep!
Carrick in Carbon Disulphide Shock Probe Enquiry
Hey! Carrick is number one on the BBC NI website today! Seems that the houses near to us are built on poisoned ground. Fantastic. Seems the land we tested before they built the houses and was OK, but now they've come across records suggesting that Courtaulds may have been dumping carbon disulphide on parts of the land. The photos on the website suggest that the area affected is in Brackenridge, on the eastern outskirts of Carrick, so hopefully Rhanbuoy is far enough away to be OK. Sigh.
In other news, it seems that home is short of consultants. 111 of them, to be precise. It doesn't mention surgery, but there are several consultant surgical posts vacant right now. The Beeb suggests that there aren't enough docs coming through the system to fill the posts, but it might be closer to the truth to say that there are certain hospitals where no-one wants to work. I can think of 4 smaller hospitals where there have been vacancies for over a year, but no-one local wants to apply...
And another thought on the BBC NI website. Isn't there any good news from home? Usually it's all about beatings, assaults and the perilous state of the Peace Process. Today's stories are:
Homes may be near polluted land
Real IRA leader challenges fund
NI's schools to get an extra £79m
Shorts announces 280 jobs to go
Family's bid for autism tuition
Consultant shortage highlighted
Irish fury over ambulance clamp
Paramilitarism 'worse than raid'
Hotel Rwanda director Terry George brings Africa into focus
NI voters being urged to get onto the electoral register
SDLP's voluntary coalition stance leaves little wriggle room
It's a laugh a minute isn't it? The only story which raises a smile is the one about the dimmos who clamped an ambulance parked in the emergency zone at Dublin airport. Apart from that it's more money on schools, more jobs lost, not enough doctors, poisoned ground and the usual ups and downs (mostly downs) of NI politics. I mean, the Beeb is a bit stick-in-the-mud at the best of times, but it's UK, World and Americas sections have a lot more variety than it's NI page. Anyway, enough whinging for now, back to work, J.
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In other news, it seems that home is short of consultants. 111 of them, to be precise. It doesn't mention surgery, but there are several consultant surgical posts vacant right now. The Beeb suggests that there aren't enough docs coming through the system to fill the posts, but it might be closer to the truth to say that there are certain hospitals where no-one wants to work. I can think of 4 smaller hospitals where there have been vacancies for over a year, but no-one local wants to apply...
And another thought on the BBC NI website. Isn't there any good news from home? Usually it's all about beatings, assaults and the perilous state of the Peace Process. Today's stories are:
Homes may be near polluted land
Real IRA leader challenges fund
NI's schools to get an extra £79m
Shorts announces 280 jobs to go
Family's bid for autism tuition
Consultant shortage highlighted
Irish fury over ambulance clamp
Paramilitarism 'worse than raid'
Hotel Rwanda director Terry George brings Africa into focus
NI voters being urged to get onto the electoral register
SDLP's voluntary coalition stance leaves little wriggle room
It's a laugh a minute isn't it? The only story which raises a smile is the one about the dimmos who clamped an ambulance parked in the emergency zone at Dublin airport. Apart from that it's more money on schools, more jobs lost, not enough doctors, poisoned ground and the usual ups and downs (mostly downs) of NI politics. I mean, the Beeb is a bit stick-in-the-mud at the best of times, but it's UK, World and Americas sections have a lot more variety than it's NI page. Anyway, enough whinging for now, back to work, J.
Monday, February 14, 2005
Fighting the Mexican Gut-Rot
Now that I'm all better again I can tell you about the awful time we've been having for the last few days. About 10 days ago P was woken at 2am by a bout of vomiting and diarrhoea - she was up all night long and couldn't go to work the next day, which was a Friday. She was still pretty sick over the weekend, but we stayed in and took it easy and she was well enough to go back to work on the Monday. I wasn't feeling too well over the weekend, thought I had a cold coming on, but compared to P I was feeling well. Then on the Monday night I started to feel terrible, and on the Tuesday I was so bad that I stayed home from work on an OR day, which shows you just how bad I was (never miss a day's operating). And then the vomiting and diarrhoea hit me. I just lay around and groaned all day, but by Wednesday lunchtime I was starting to recover and I had a little light dinner with P. The diarrhoea came back with a vengeance at about 11 o'clock and that was it for the night, every 5 or 10 minutes all night long. Absolutely awful. I've never been sicker, and I managed to keep P awake most of the night too. Having planned to go back to work on Thursday (another OR day), I spent the day in bed and had to take Friday off too. The whole week was lost - no clarinet lesson, no ice skating, no work, no concert (we had tickets for a Wind Band concert at the University) and no night on call on Friday night, so no income for this fortnight. Sigh. Turns out that one of P's staff had been to Mexico and picked up a nasty stomach bug. He got it 3 days after his wife, P got it 3 days after him and I got it 3 days after her. At least I think I'm the last person in the chain... Now I just need to get back to normal again. And the moral of the story - never go to Mexico!
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Happy Valentine's Day 2005
Just a quick blog to wish everyone who knows us a Happy Valentine's Day or Evening, wherever you are! Long live love!
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Sunday, February 06, 2005
Back to the Snow
Welcome to February on Carrick to Calgary, the world's premier blog on moving from South-East Antrim to North-West Calgary. It's been a busy old week, what with one thing and another. The weather has changed again: the last couple of weeks of January were unusually warm, with temps up to zero and then a nice long Chinook period that took us up to nearly +20, which is well above average (normally -4!). This is all very nice for us, but the mild snap made all the snow and ice melt, which has put the ski resorts in a bit of a spot. Fernie in B.C. is badly hit, with brown slopes, and they've had to bus people across the border to Lake Louise to get them any skiing at all.
But it's been back to Business as Usual since Friday, with fresh snow all weekend and temps down to -17, -25 with the windchill. Not a lot of snow here (maybe 2-3 inches) but it's just coming down steadily, day and night. There's more in the mountains, so the ski people should be OK. We wish the weather would make up it's mind and maybe stick at a single figure temperature. You know - cold enough to keep the snow around, so we can go for our ski-ing lessons, but not so cold that your skin freezes and you have to wrap up like the Michelin man to go for a walk. We'll see what develops...
Anyway, we've been busy, with a trip out to Canmore at the weekend. We just wanted to see that the Rockies were like at this time of the year, and the answer is cold, brown and yellow. The plains between here and the mountains are a beautiful, barren yellow/brown colour and there's no green to be seen. And the sky is amazingly empty and blue...
The Rockies from the Road
The Jeep was running well with it's new battery, and we ended up stopping in Canmore for lunch at the Grizzly Paw micro-brewery and going for a walk around town. Canmore is right beside the Three Sisters mountains and the Rockies are right in your face no matter where you go in town. We took home a couple of six-packs of the local brews, Rutting Stag Red and Grumpy Bear, which we can recommend!
Got my beer!
Mountains in Canmore
We also took a swing by the Canmore Nordic Centre which is the best place to start cross-country skiing, we're told.
The working week has also been busy for me, as my Cancer Biology classes are in full swing and I have lots of preparation and reading to do for them, plus lots of operating, and I also gave a 'Big Talk' this week to the Grand Oncology Rounds at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre. This is a bit of a big deal, as the whole staff turns up to listen, and this week it was my turn, talking about how rectal cancer is treated here in Alberta. Luckily it went very well and my talk was well-received with a lot of good questions and some robust debate. I also talked about N.I. a bit and showed some nice pictures of home, so it was a bit of a laugh too.
My title
Cartoon from the talk
We've also been having some amazing sunrises this week:
and here's one from home (Milebush Park)
We've also been sent a few note-worthy images and links in the last few weeks which deserve a mention:
One of Rod Charlesworth's new paintings, called Look Out Below. Do we know anyone who skis like this?...
Tarantula Nebula from the Hubble Telescope
Name That Baby
The line between Day and Night (from the Columbia Space Shuttle)
New Recliner, Madam?
And finally a couple of surreptitious webcam snaps:
Obtained by pressing Apple-Shift-3 to take a screenshot at the right moment. We do have other ones of the local Northern Ireland supporters club (you know who you are, with your green wigs), and we'll destroy the image files for the right amount of money..!
And finally, for lovers of our Norn Iron language links, take a wee gleek at this...
Love
J&P
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But it's been back to Business as Usual since Friday, with fresh snow all weekend and temps down to -17, -25 with the windchill. Not a lot of snow here (maybe 2-3 inches) but it's just coming down steadily, day and night. There's more in the mountains, so the ski people should be OK. We wish the weather would make up it's mind and maybe stick at a single figure temperature. You know - cold enough to keep the snow around, so we can go for our ski-ing lessons, but not so cold that your skin freezes and you have to wrap up like the Michelin man to go for a walk. We'll see what develops...
Anyway, we've been busy, with a trip out to Canmore at the weekend. We just wanted to see that the Rockies were like at this time of the year, and the answer is cold, brown and yellow. The plains between here and the mountains are a beautiful, barren yellow/brown colour and there's no green to be seen. And the sky is amazingly empty and blue...
The Rockies from the Road
The Jeep was running well with it's new battery, and we ended up stopping in Canmore for lunch at the Grizzly Paw micro-brewery and going for a walk around town. Canmore is right beside the Three Sisters mountains and the Rockies are right in your face no matter where you go in town. We took home a couple of six-packs of the local brews, Rutting Stag Red and Grumpy Bear, which we can recommend!
Got my beer!
Mountains in Canmore
We also took a swing by the Canmore Nordic Centre which is the best place to start cross-country skiing, we're told.
The working week has also been busy for me, as my Cancer Biology classes are in full swing and I have lots of preparation and reading to do for them, plus lots of operating, and I also gave a 'Big Talk' this week to the Grand Oncology Rounds at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre. This is a bit of a big deal, as the whole staff turns up to listen, and this week it was my turn, talking about how rectal cancer is treated here in Alberta. Luckily it went very well and my talk was well-received with a lot of good questions and some robust debate. I also talked about N.I. a bit and showed some nice pictures of home, so it was a bit of a laugh too.
My title
Cartoon from the talk
We've also been having some amazing sunrises this week:
and here's one from home (Milebush Park)
We've also been sent a few note-worthy images and links in the last few weeks which deserve a mention:
One of Rod Charlesworth's new paintings, called Look Out Below. Do we know anyone who skis like this?...
Tarantula Nebula from the Hubble Telescope
Name That Baby
The line between Day and Night (from the Columbia Space Shuttle)
New Recliner, Madam?
And finally a couple of surreptitious webcam snaps:
Obtained by pressing Apple-Shift-3 to take a screenshot at the right moment. We do have other ones of the local Northern Ireland supporters club (you know who you are, with your green wigs), and we'll destroy the image files for the right amount of money..!
And finally, for lovers of our Norn Iron language links, take a wee gleek at this...
Love
J&P
