Snow

It's snowing today in Victoria (Canada) - while we've had 38 degree days in Perth. Hard to imagine that this time last year we were scraping ice off our windscreen in the mornings.

Things I miss

It’s summer in Canada now, and while Perth is enjoying balmy weather at the moment, I am missing the organic blueberries that used to turn up in our Share Organics fruit and veg box every Thursday morning.  We got fantastic service from Share Organics.  There’s nothing like that available here yet.  I loved getting an email telling me what was in my box (and where it was from), AND being able to log on and change the quantities and contents to suit our preferences.  I loved the icepacks in the box, the news about local organic farmers, and the recipes for using unfamiliar ingredients.

I also miss the Natures Path gluten free organic waffles available in virtually every supermarket freezer.  Such a treat for Harrison!  I miss Island Farms icecream.  I miss the fact that virtually all “soft serve” on Vancouver Island was actually just frozen Island Farms cream – with no nasties, and gluten free.

I miss the range of gluten free cereals readily available everywhere, especially Natures Path.  We’re just starting to see the odd Nature’s Path product in IGAs here.  I miss Glutino and Kinnikinnik brands.  And I was totally in love with Whole Foods stores, including Capers Whole Foods, just a block or so from our favourite place to stay in Vancouver (Times Square Apartments).  And speaking of Vancouver, I miss Stanley Park and the Granville Island markets.

GOD I miss places being open late and 7 days a week.  Even our teeny little enclave of Oak Bay had a supermarket open til 10 every night, and our local cafe was open early and late.  Bring on extended trading, Perth!!!!

I would love for the 4 of us to stroll down to the marina, buy a bag of frozen herring to feed the resident seals, and have coffee and scones, with a strawberry milk for Harrison for under $10. Maybe we’d come across a couple of iced tea or lemonade stands on the way back.  Magic!

It would be lovely to be able to look out the window to see Noelle sitting on her front steps waiting for Harrison to make an appearance.

Going home

In order to get home from BC we, very logically travelled across to the other side of Canada, down to Boston, before making a U turn and going to San Francisco. In Vancouver we saw our first snow fall - and Harrison made his first snowballs. In Montreal there was HEAPS of snow, and Harrison made his first snow man. Then in Quebec there was still more snow, and we left magic reindeer food out in the snow outside our condo to help Rudolph and co find their way to our place on Christmas Eve. We went toboganning (seriously fun and seriously fast), Harrison and Simon both had a day of skiing at Mont St Anne, and they also went outdoor iceskating. We found out what cold really is walking around in minus 28 degrees.
Boston got snow while we were there too... including on our day trip to Walden Pond where Simon proposed 12 years ago. A little different with 2 kids this time! Marg and I chose Boston's coldest morning for our walking culinary tour of Little Italy (which was just fantastic).
San Francisco is positively warm (20 degrees), with exciting things like flowering plants instead of snow covered pine trees. It's a good way for us to gradually acclimatise on our way to the heat and humidity that awaits us in a few days. We've all got buns of steel from walking up and down San Francisco's multitude of steep, steep hills. We spent the day riding cable cars yesterday, in between walking up Telegraph Hill and down the Filbert steps. Cable cars must be the most inefficient and noisy form of public transport possible, but they are still pretty cute, and they are a good way to beat a few of those hills. Marg and I splurged on dinner at Greens vegetarian restaurant (very famous). The food was just exquisite. These guys know their way around vegies!

Halloween

We've loved our first real Halloween here in Canada. Started yesterday with a celebration at one of the shopping malls near us - bouncy castle, clowns, facepainting etc. This afternoon there was trick or treating in all the shops along Oak Bay Avenue. The village was awash with costumed kids.


Back home for a short time, and then off again with some friends to a huge (and I mean REALLY huge) bonfire up at the fire station a few blocks away. The kids got to use the fire hoses to help the firemen control the blaze, and there were free hot dogs, pop corn etc.


We did our trick or treating as we walked back home. The jack-o-lantern carving was truly amazing to see (ours was very basic!).


Everyone gets so into the spirit of it. The costumes are fabulous, and the decorations unbelievable. Harrison went as Zoro,

and we had a very cute lady bird outfit for Eva.

Only downside was that at 9:30 or so, thinking most of the trick or treaters had gone home, I blew out the candle in our jack-o-lantern and left the rest of the candy on the front porch - the very next group of trick or treaters took the lot! I guess there are a lot of teenagers who would do the same.

The age of contemplation

Stanley Park Playground, originally uploaded by CarmelandSimon.

Actually, it's a rare still moment for our very active 5 year old! Harrison was hamming it up for the camera at the Stanley Park playground when we spent the Thanksgiving Day weekend in Vancouver.

High tea

Marg and VJ shouted me high tea today at the Fairmont Empress. It was just gorgeous. Spent the morning at the museum, and a couple of hours being waited on over high tea. Both Eva and Harrison slept for 12 hours last night, so we were all in very good moods!

Marg and VJ

Marg and Veronica arrived today - bearing Cherry Ripes (yay!). Victoria put on a spectacular day for them. We walked over to the marina in perfect mid-20s weather, not a cloud in the sky. Two seals obligingly came to the jetty and we fed them some herring. We had wild salmon and a salad of organic local vegies for dinner. Harrison warmed to both of them instantly. Tomorrow we're off to explore the inner harbour, and next week we're booked in to high tea at the Empress Hotel. Looking forward to spending a week with them.

Rockies

Just back from our huge road trip. Started by driving the length of the Island to Port Hardy, and got on the ferry for the Inside Passage trip. It was absolutely beautiful and well worth it. 15 hours of stunning scenery. Harrison made friends with an Austrian (Victoria) who was about 9 and spoke virtually no English. Didn't stop them playing together for hours. Victoria was besotted with Eva as well, and would manage to get cuddles etc without speaking a word. We then drove across the top of British Columbia to the Rockies and Alberta. Eva was not a great car traveller. Simon's style of travel just doesn't agree with a 2 month old, I'm afraid. After Jasper and Banff we decided that Eva and I would stay in a motel in Canmore (a much nicer place to stay than Banff which is way too crowded these days) while Harrison and Simon went out to Drumheller on their dinosaur expedition. 4 nights in one place! Heaven! Eva and I sampled all the cafes in Canmore and got heaps of exercise and sleep. Harrison did a kids dinosaur activity at the museum - even among a group of dinosaur obsessed kids at the museum he was apparently the most obsessed. When the teacher was getting them ready for their mock hike to find fossils she said - "Is everyone ready? We know Harrison was born ready!"

We came back along the bottom of BC and Simon found his absolute perfect place to live - the Kootenays. It is a large fresh water lake surrounded by mountains. We had a gluten incident one day. Bought what was labelled as a home made gluten free slice, but it obviously wasn't and Harrison paid the price a few hours later. We were stuck in a park for several hours waiting for him to stop being sick. We had an offer from a lady in the park of a night in her cabin by the lake, but unfortunately a) it was back the way we'd already come and b) at that stage we couldn't get Harrison to stop vomitting long enough to get him in the car.

Eva is delightful now - it's miraculous how babies just become all bonny and contented all of a sudden. Apart from long car trips, of course! She's very giggly and interactive and thankfully is a great sleeper at night now. Had a check up with the paediatrician on Monday and he's very happy with her development. Such a relief to know she's well.

The (not so) wild west of Canada

Well, we've been here for 2 weeks and are getting pretty settled. Simon is shopping for camping supplies as I type - he and Harrison are planning to check out a provincial park quite close to Victoria as their first camping trip. I'm hoping Eva sleeps heaps, and am planning to check out the local antique stores and cafes while they're away! We bought a new stroller with baby car seat attached, which is making life very easy. The stroller Helga had left was quite big and unwieldy (I hate those ones with fixed front wheels), so we got a Graco on special which folds up super small. Best thing is that the baby attachment also goes in the car and can be used as a rocker in the house. So she gets to stay asleep as we move her in and out of the car and stroller. Weather is stunning again. Eva has baby acne pretty badly, so no photos just now! Her colic is settling down a bit, and she's able to sleep a 7 hour stretch most days. Hopefully we haven't introduced too many bad habits from the hours of walking/rocking/strollering that we've been doing the last few weeks.

More adventures in the west

We can keep calling this blog our adventures in the wild west - it will just be the west of Canada for a while. Our plans for Simon's long service leave and sabbatical are coming together. We have a lease on a house in Oak Bay, Victoria (Vancouver Island) from the end of June, and have tentatively booked our flights. My leave is approved too, so there's nothing stopping us now. Just a lot of packing up and organising to do before we leave Perth in late April. We'll spend 8 weeks in Toowoomba on route to Canada, and while we're there, acquire a new baby - hopefully on time and trouble free so that I'm fit to fly 2 weeks after the due date.