Halloween

Amanda as vampire woman

One family really gets into the spirit of Halloween




"Trick or treat". It's 9:30pm and kids are still shouting outside the door, we've turned out all the lights but that doesn't deter the older kids. If they keep coming I expect we'll soon run out of candy very shortly.

Halloween is the most popular day for children in Canada (supposedly even more popular than Christmas). I can see why, they get to dress up and collect as much candy as they can lug home in their big pillowcases. No family tensions or unmet expectations to ruin the day. And this year in St. Albert it's warm - about 6 degrees. I remember so many years in the past, when Nick was younger and he'd go out trick or treating bundled up in layers of winter gear which completely obscured his costume. For some reason we always had our first snowfall on Oct 31st. But not this year, maybe we have global warming to thank for that.

Some families really get into the spirit of the evening. Here's some photos of one decorated house. Of course they were getting lots of attention from kids, most of the children loved the gloulish figures but two little girls dressed as fairies were quite distressed and didn't want to go anywhere near the house. I asked one boy if he liked the scary decorations. "Yes," he said, "and last year they had Freddie Kruger with his chainsaw answering the door. That was really cool." This year was a bit tamer, instead of Freddie, the family had a remote control ghost wandering around the pavement. I can't imagine having the fortitude to set this all up and then to pack it all away again. However the family was using the opportunity to collect money and food for the food bank which does seem to make the whole exercise a little more worth while. After taking the photos, I dropped some food in the boxes and came home to hand out candy. 

Most people still stick to carved pumpkins lit by candles. We didn't get around to carving our pumpkin this year so we just put the uncarved pumpkin on the doorstep!

Road trip from Edmonton to Vancouver

A stretch of the road between Valemont and Kamloops

A road stop by Kicking Horse River in Jasper National Park

This summer we (Reuben, Nick, Amanda and I) drove the Yellowhead Highway from Edmonton to Vancouver. It's 509 miles (820km), and it takes us two days. Two very long days! Compared to driving in England, it is either extremely boring or easy and relaxing depending on your tolerance for  driving long distances without any change in the scenery. The road from Edmonton is completely straight until you hit Edson, 119 miles from Edmonton. It's here that the flat fields give way to bush (forests of short pine trees) and then just before the town the road bends to the left and then continues in a straight line to Jasper. About 50 miles east of Jasper, mountains rise up beside the road and we enter the National Park. Just beyond Jasper we have to make our first directional decision - continue straight to Prince George or turn left again to Kamloops. We turn left and descend down the mountain pass to the Valemont valley where we spend the night in a log lodge. We're the only guests and the rotund manager seems delighted to have our company. After showing us our rooms, he settles back down in front of the TV in the lounge, with a giant mug of pop and a huge bag of crisps. He rouses himself briefly to give us directions for a walk, saying, "Yeh we did have a grizzly siting yesterday but that was about 20 km south of here." With visions of a quick walking grizzly lurking around the lodge Nick, Amanda and I venture out in a bit of a drizzle. Nick immediately spots about 10 different varieties of mushrooms but we don't bother to add any to our dinner which we cook ourself (having earlier scrounged around Valemont's only supermarket for the least objectionable take out food)and eat in the dining room by a picture window overlooking the mountains - with a bottle of red wine, it all tastes very nice. 

The road from Valemont to Kamloops continues beside a river, alongside mountains and forests. It's pretty but it feels endless. The photo of the road is from this section of the highway. Kamloops is a major forestry hub of 70,000 people. A big town with lots of subdivisions but a run down centre. Reuben's daughter, Naomi and her family live here but they are on holiday so we won't see them until the trip back. We stop for coffee and then continue over the Coquihalla Hwy.  There are no services on this 182 km highway and only one exit at the town of Merrit, which despite its name is a supremely missable place. The highway climbs 1244 metres to the toll booth which offers one of the loneliest employment opportunities in the province. We pay our $10 and then begin the long downhill ride. I like this highway in the summer but it can be a scary place in the winter. On one winter trip, when it was snowing and icy, Reuben and I passed over 30 vehicles in the ditches on this downhill section. 

We make it to Hope, get gas (petrol), turn into the Fraser Valley and we can almost smell the sea. Not quite, still another 93 miles to go, through what was once rich agricultural land and is now packed with bedroom communities. The traffic builds up and the tensions and complaints from the back seat, which have also been building, now reach a crescendo. We get stuck in a traffic jam and we are all fed up but some of us manage to keep it to ourselves!!!

And then finally we shoot across the Second Narrows Bridge into North Vancouver and I feel like I'm home again.

Two weeks later we do the trip in reverse, this time spending the night with Naomi and her boys, Malcolm and Cameron (Trent is away cycling for the weekend). We eat great food at a harvest dinner, sitting around a campfire and have a lovely time. 

Malcolm is sitting on the far left and Cameron is the last boy on the right of the swing seat.

Naomi with friends

Reuben, Nick and Amanda waiting for the feast

Ow bist me babber

Many of you will know that Reuben has a fondness for unique t-shirts, waistcoats and sometimes bow ties. His latest t-shirt was a special gift from Simon and Adora (thanks again). Reuben's new mission is to have his photo taken wearing this t-shirt, in front of landmarks and viewpoints from around the world. Here he is in front of the Lion's Gate bridge -a suspension bridge linking the North Shore to Vancouver. A good link, don't you think? Here's why.

 'Ow bist me babber", the saying on the front of the t-shirt, is Bristolian - the Canadian equivalent might me "How's it going, eh?" Bristol is home to the most famous suspension bridge in the world - built by that renowned Victorian engineer, Brunel. And here are two photos of the bridge.

And here's another photo of Reuben in front of Canada's most famous suspension bridge. Interestingly it was built by the Guiness family who owned a huge chunk of land on the North Shore which they named, British Properties. They wanted to develop it as an exclusive estate so of course they had to first build a bridge linking it to Vancouver.  

Interesting facts and comparisions about the two bridges: 

The Clifton Suspension Bridge is 414 metres long and was built in 1831, as a memorial to I.K. Brunel.

The Lion's Gate Bridge is 1823 metres long and was built in 1937. It's named after  The Lions a pair of mountain peaks on the North Shore. 

Just a few steps away from where we took the picture of the bridge is this remarkable carving. It's a Welcome Woman totem from the Squamish Band and it looks our over the entrance to Vancouver harbour as a welcome symbol to the many container ships and cruise liners that pass under the Lion's Gate Bridge and into Vancouver harbour.

A weekend in Calgary

A couple of weeks after we got back from England we went down to Calgary to see Rachel (Reuben's daughter) and her daughter, Julia (Reuben's newest grandchild - and she's adorable) and Steve (who was out of town - so we didn't see him) and Oren (Reuben's son) and his wife Karen.  

I'm sitting next to Karen and Oren.

These pink flamingos don't seem concerned about living in a zoo.

Isn't it amazing what Pepsi will do to get product placement even in my little 'new' blog.

It was a broiling hot weekend. We went to the Calgary zoo but many of the animals were hiding in the shade. I used to like the zoo perhaps because it was a great activity for children but when we arrived I wasn't very interested. Julia was a bit young to fully enjoy the experience and so Rachel left after awhile and then Oren and Karen took off, so Reuben and I walked around the whole zoo which took us nearly 5 hours. Surprisingly we started to enjoy ourselves once we stopped trying to see the animals. It was a very pleasant place to walk around. In one section the designers have created a Badlands exhibit with huge models of dinosaurs....certainly no need to feel guilty about this part of the zoo. I heard on the radio that certain animals such as elephants and gorillas should never be kept in zoos because it is too cruel for them. Unfortunately Calgary zoo has these animals.  

Highway 2 the only way to get from Edmonton to Calgary has now been renamed as Queen Elizabeth Highway but everyone still calls it #2 - no surprise - why do politicians bother? I'm sure the Queen couldn't give a toss about having this stretch of tarmac graced with her name.

 

This is the worst aspect of going to Calgary. It takes us 3 hours. The road is completely straight, there are no turns and no scenery. Don't believe me? Look at the photos. You be the judge. They say that you can't see the end of the world from Edmonton but it's close.

Market day

I'm playing catch up with this blog so the next few posts will feature some of the things we did in August and September. Every Saturday in June, July and August, St. Albert hosts the largest outdoor market in Western Canada. Reuben and I went to take some photos. We actually stopped shopping there a couple of years ago, mostly because it is very crowded. There's a mix of crafts and food and the market planners jumble the stalls together so it's quite difficult to just zoom in and pick up a few veggies. 

 The market is held in downtown St. Albert in front of the City Hall (not seen in the above photo). City planners have been trying to revitalize our little downtown core for several years. The area has some appeal, and nicer than our mall but apart from the market days it doesn't  draw for shoppers. So now the shops have been converted into spaces for dentists, lawyers, insurance agents etc. - unfortunately not businesses that promote strolling around. It's a shame there are very few shopping streets in the Greater Edmonton area, where you can actually walk from shop to shop. 

 

 I found a pig statue and it reminded me of the pigs in Bath. This one sits outside the only place to buy food in the centre of St. Albert. It's a deli but I rarely shop there as it doesn't have anything special. 

 I like our little post office. It's looks like it belongs in a different era, doesn't it. I'm thinking 1950's. 

The crane looms over a big empty hole. There was a fitness centre there which I belonged to for awhile. Now someone is building condos, like the one you see reflected in the window of a hair stylist's shop.   

A walk by the river

The Sturgeon River flows through St. Albert making its way to  Hudson Bay. In the spring the river bursts at the seam with freshly melted snow water. It charges through the town purposefully heading north but by October, the river has stalled. It's now a sluggish stream  creeping through the town. Soon it will stall completely and it's shallow depths will freeze into a solid block of ice. I walked down to the river a week ago and gazed into the muddy water. I want to reassure myself that it is very shallow and come winter there will be no danger to ski or walk on the river. However today winter is still far away. The sun is shining and the river banks are a blaze of yellow against the blue sky. This is one of the prettiest views in St. Albert.
Just by the river is our new Botanical Garden. The flowers are still in bloom. I take lots of photos. I'm not sure why except that the colours, shapes and patterns attract me.