Winter looks like it is finally here (again). We had an early snow storm in October that left about 5cm but it quickly melted. Last night we had a Nor'Easter track up the east coast of USA and the jet stream hits us at the right angle and POW we have snow, about 10-15cms. So I thought "don't be a wimp and use a shovel" . I used the shovel to clear the drive and the deck and now my back aches. Yeah I know I am not as young as a I used to be.... Next time it's the snowblower whatever the depth of snow. I'll try to look cool when using it

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I have been preparing for winter for several weeks now. The wood is all in, and not a moment too soon. I put the last load in and restacked the Pine logs from the tree I cut down a few entries ago and it started snowing  Below is a photo of the finished wood pile in the garage. Now there is some good exercise, moving 256 cubic feet of wood!

Here are couple of photos of snow for you followed by some recent snaps.

Snow on the deck (AGAIN) we love it really  (I wonder when that will wear off?)

Hmm which tree for christmas .... I must get the chain saw sharpened.

Here are some random shots.

Yours truly posing as 'The Thinker' captured by Gemma. I think I was in a daze or doze rather than deep meaningful thoughts.

An atmospheric shot taken by me while walking around the Beaver pond at Mactaquace

The Essentials bin, snow blower, generator (next to snowblower), Union Flag , ash bucket and Jule's summer alloy wheels are stacked waiting for next spring (look above and to the left the union flag, in the poly bags) .

Gemma with her new Hairdo and Camera Nikon D3000.

Alot has happened since my last post on November 3rd.

1. We have been here four years now (Nov 5th is our Canniversary)
2. Julie has completed her first christmas craft fair show
3. Gemma is nearly through her first semester at University
4. Kathryn has brought furniture, stove (cooker to you Brits) and is neeearrrly moved out
5. I have been very, very busy with my new job (and enjoying the challenge)
6. We held our first nearly all Canadian Bonfire Night
7. Letter back from the immigration / citizenship informing us our application is being processes

Were can I start....

We decided that this year as we have been here for 4 years to try to have a 95% canadian guest list for our annual bonfire party. I think we had about 55 people (slightly smaller than last year). After the party we discussed the differences between British and Canadian's when it comes to Bonfire Parties. Below are a list of differences (not criticisms)

• There was much less alcohol consumed (which is ok because we have a good supply for christmas)
• There was much less food consumed (which is ok because I had my lunches mapped out for the next 3 weeks). People ate before they came?
• People left earlier, we had our discussion at 10pm I think they had all left by 9:30pm. We started at 6:30 with food and drink etc, fireworks 7:30 and bonfire about 8pm.  I think the first left around 8:30.
• Much less talking between different groups. People tended to stay with the people they new.

Next year it will be back to 80% Brits

Work is keeping me  busy (as usual) and I am really enjoying the challenges of a tight deadline programme (what's new) plus working in a completely different environment. The government work environment does have it's unique challenges and here in New Brunswick we have the added challenge of being the only official bilingual province in Canada. This means that we have to have all external documents available in both English and French. The project's operating language is English. The translation requirements creates a delay that you have to factor into the project. Sometimes it is frustrating, but the best way of facing it is to log it as a requirement and treat it as any normal part of the project workload.

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It seems as if more British families are arriving all the time. I have met at least two more, who arrived in the last couple of months plus they know others who are coming. No comment from me on the situation in the UK  

I could have almost kissed the girl from DHL when she picked up our precious envelope.

So this is it, police checks done, medicals done and in oz already, just waiting for the visa now.

I start voluntary work on Thursday, i will be visiting an elderly lady who lives on her own in the next village. I only visit for an hour and ive also agreed to help out at the local day centre for the eldely when they are short staffed. Im now going to body max classes on a Monday, spinning class on Wed and aqua fit on Friday. Feel happier having something to occupy me now .

Im off out shortly to take the dog for a walk as he has not had a walk for a few days due to the state of the field near us, way too boggy but as its freezing outside the ground is solid now.

Now ive just got to be paitent and wait for the medicals to be finalised and the visa to be granted. Ive got Christmas to shop for and the holiday to look forward to.

Thats all for now

Cant believe the application form has finally been finished, just need to photo copy it so that if anything happensand they query any of the questions then we can refer back to anything.

Going to get DHL booked for next week. Will be so glad to get this paperwork on its way to oz.

V has decided no matter how much the kids and i want to get to oz asap he still wants to wait till April. This is really bugging me as i turned down the chance to do my return to nursing course which finished in April as i did not want to delay him. But since it is his employer sponsorship that is taking us to oz i just have to accept it. Even if im freezing and hating the cold weather so much.

It seems strange to not be studying and i must admit i have been rather bored with just doing housework while the kids are at school.

Ive started a new fitness regime and my body aches so much, ive been doing aqua fit for just over a month now and have enjoyed it, so this week i also started going to a body max class on Monday, i enjoyed it but i felt stiff and sore when i finished and yesterday i did a spinning class which was the hardest work out ive had in a long time, im alll aches and pains today, tommorow its back to aqua fit. I shall give it a few more weeks before i decide if i will keep  the spinning class up.

I suppose i had better get on with tidying the living room up  

I thought the regular readers would get a smile out of this. After my previous moan about poor quality electrical goods.

Yes you have guessed it, the back up Iron died today

Serves me right for complaining! LOL

One of the freakiest things is to see the concept of six degrees of seperation in action. We have experienced it a few times here in New Brunswick.

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We have some friends (a Welsh couple) who we discovered connections with by accident. The husband went to Nottingham University and stayed in Beeston as a student. During those years he used to go into my Dad's shop almost weekly. The wife's best friend was a dentist in our last home town of Horsell (there were only two dentists in Horsell)..

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Yesterday we were invited to a party by one of my new work colleagues. While there we met his neighbour an English lady from Suffolk. It turns out that I had met her husband in 2003 while we visited Fredericton and both he and I were born in Redruth Cornwall (tiny place)....

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ALSO just to top of the weird evening. My host's wife had an Uncle in the UK who lived just outside Woking (yes you guessed it Horsell) but even weirder .....We lived at 69 Meadway Drive and He lived at 57.... and our eldest daughter used to stop as she walked home from school and chat to him.

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Now tell me that is perfectly normal and not in the slightest spooky!

One thing that does 'pee me off' here in Canada (probably North America as a whole) is the poor quality of electrical goods.  I hear you saying "what on earth is he talking about?", well let me tell you that since moving to Canada (four years this coming Nov 5th) we have brought 2 kettles, 3 irons, 1 toaster and all have failed.

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I was so fed up with buying expensive kettles in an effort to get quality, that after our last electric kettle failed we purchased a low tech, whistling, on the stove (cooker) top type kettle. Ah to be back in the 1960's. But you know what it works every time!  Replacement cost $20 and unlikely to break in the next 10 years.

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We have had the same experience with Iron's it doesnt matter what brand you buy they all seem to have a built in life span of just over a year may 18 months max (funnily enough the warranty for all things electric is 12 months).

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The toaster was the same! So it is back to whacking the bread under the grill and remembering to turn it over (oh the hardships I endure).

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The net result of this crappy product policy, is that you buy cheap and throw away. Something I hate!

I suppose it keeps industry ticking over. Fixing the products is often pointless because of the plastic moulded covers that you need to break to get into the workings.

WE are slowly getting closer to a life in oz.

Im almost ready for sending the visa application off. Just got to get some copies of the data page of our passports done and have them certified. V needs to finish filling in his forms( i thought he had) then i will be booking the courier and getting them sent off asap.

I know one of the laterals has just recieved her visa today, they had theirs sent off in September so it not been too long for them.

V wants to wait till April before we move over to Darwin, but im hoping to go sooner. I suppose we will just have to wait and see how things go.

This last week has seen a big leap in technology in the Whelbourn household.

1. Gemma has purchased a Nikon D3000 Digital SLR Camera (see her photos below)and I am so happy because it means I get my Fuji S7000 back  
2. We purchased a new house computer because the Compaq Presario brought in 1998 eventually gave up and refused to display anything on the screen. So this entry is being typed on our new HP P6241 Windows 7 driven 6GB RAM and wait for it 1 Terabyte hard disk!!! Cost $799.99 but I had $750 Future Shop gift card from cashing in all my Aeroplan points.   For my family who are reading this, sorry I spent the christmas money and due to the postal strike there will be no pressies and probably no cards

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Kathryn is still kitting out her new home, and our friend Brenda has given her a microwave, one of those George Foreman grilling thingies, and a DVD player. Lucky Gal eh?

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Jules is still busy sewing and preparing for the 1st Christmas Craft show (I counted 20 bags she is working on simultaneously . Oh to have the talents of a multi-tasking woman!

We had our first snowfall on Friday 23rd October,  about 5-10cm. This is the earliest we have known and the locals have said they cannot remember anything snowing before November. So much for global warming, time to wear long johns and eating porridge for breakfast.

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The horse (Lexie) is looking good and filling out.

 The rabbits are still pooping and peeing whenever the girls pick them up.

OK time to post this entry and get on with trying to get to bed early (yes I am still busy at work and putting in some extra hours) 

Well it's mid October already and this is my first post since Sept 27th, and the leaves are falling like.... well leaves off a tree

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October timetable, well on the 2nd we were invited to the Harvest Jazz and Blues volunteer appreciation party. Julie and I had a great evening at Sweetwaters in Fredericton, listening to the Downtown Blues band click on the link for a choice of some of their music.

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We took in Jeff and Elizabeths Budgie call Basil (but we think it is a girl) below is a photo taken by Gemma

 The girls have been looking after Lexie, with triple feeds to build up her weight. She is definitely looking better for it, below is a photo of Kathryn washing Lexie's legs (she loves rolling in the mud).

Today has been a busy saturday at the end of a busy couple of weeks. Julie is working flat out (as usual) creating bags, scarves etc in preparation for the Christmas craft fair in Fredericton (1st weekend in November) and I have been cutting down trees . I know, I know it seems to be my hobby well here is a photo to prove that I am not just trimming the hedge.

Yes that is me way back in the tree line, proudly surveying the chopped down tree with my trusty Echo chainsaw in one hand (I'm so macho).

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Jules has been preparing for our annual Bonfire Bash cutting chicken for the world famous "Julie Whelbourn Chicken Curry"! Tonight we had a Chicken Korma as she gets into practice for the super curry.

A big sigh of relief now that the medicals have been done. Over the weekend the boys had come down with cold and high temps, so i panicked a little over if they would be well enough for the medicals. i kept them off school on Monday as a precaution and kept them topped up with cough and cold medicine , medinol and a daily multi vit. It seems to have paid off, despite the kids still having sniffles and a bit of a cough the panel Dr saif they seemed fit and healthy. My BMI was within acceptable levels.

Just waiting on the police checks coming back and a few documents need certifying then the visa application is good to go.

We have been told to expect to get the visa between 6 weeks to 4 months. Cant wait.

Its been a long day, getting up early for the drive to Hull and waiting at the hospital for what seemed like hours ( well it was hours) but since we had the xrays and medicals all done in one day it was well worth it.

WEll the kids are wanting tea now so best get in kitchen 

I had a full weekend off and as a rule if that happens we go away somewhere.

I decided that we hadn't been to Maligne Lake yet and would love to go and look at it.  It is just before you get to Jasper and has it's own road leading to the Lake that is 44km's long.

We got up or should I say I got up at 4:30am with a husband that wasn't best pleased about being dragged out of bed at this time of the morning.  We set off at about 6am, I think after grabbing a McDonalds and taking the Yellowhead straight to Jasper.

When we got to the turning point and headed down the road to the Lake I must say it has to be on of the prettiest drives I have ever been on!!

As you can see it snowed!

Before you get to the Lake there is a parking area to go and see the Canyon, that was quite impressive.

The Canyon is Limestone

Below you can just about make out the bridge that crosses the Canyon

It was so very pretty

A mini waterfall

This picture make me smile, we were so happy to see the snow covered mountains again.

This is Maligne Lake, it is approximatley 22.5 km long and 97 metres at its deepest point.

It was a very worth while trip and I would highly reccomend it.

We had dinner and I decided that it was going to cost too much to stop over night and I suggested we should drive back.

It was 10:10pm when we finally got throught the door and into our Condo, we were both very tired. and went straight to bed.

Here we are again, it is October already and next month it will be our 4th Canniversary. We arrived Nov 5th 2005 and the years have flown by!

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On October 2nd Kathryn took possession of her Mini Home and she is welcomed to the mature world of mortgage debt . I'm proud that she has organized herself to a) purchase a home and b) pulled off all the arrangements for mortgage, insurance, reconnecting utilities, etc... I told Jules that she had done a great job on getting Kathryn ready for living her own life. (I am working on when she is actually moving out).

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Gemma is working and studying hard, she seems to be enjoying the wide ranging set of classes: Classics, Anthropology, English, Biology and something else that escapes me. (Hmmm caring father failure). She is busy saving her money for a new digital SLR Nikon or Canon (at last I will get my Fuji finepix back).

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The girls discovered that Lexie (their horse) used to race under the name of "Lady In Red". I remember the Chris De Burgh song that inspired her name! 

Oh yes, I also feel smug, because I managed to cover my woodpile with a tarpaulin before we had 75mm of rain on sunday  so we have dry wood (I have yet to cart it all into the garage in preparation for winter warming)

I will try to get some photos of the Autumn leaves before they fall off.

Its been over a week since i sent off my final work for my course. Its up to the markers now, i will find out in December if i have gained a degree or not.

Since ive no more study to do ive thrown my self in to the visa paperwork, the police checks have been sent, the medicals are next week and the visa application paperwork should be finished before we go for the medicals.

Our tennets have moved out and despite not having permission they have decorated the house top to bottom very badly in colours that are simply disgusting, they must have been colour blind. On top of that they have stolen curtains, blinds, nets and even shelving that was fixed to the wall. the list goes on. We have told the agency who were managing our house to sort it out. In the meantime we have instucted a different agency to sell the house for us( once it is decorated of course).

The kids are happy to be back at school although they cant wait for us to be finally living in Australia.

My operation that i had in August is starting to show results, ive lost 2 stones so far and my BMI is now below the threashold for concern for the immigration medicals. I feel great ,have more energy and no pain when walking the kids to school. Ive even started going to Aqua fit on a Friday morning.

Once all the visa paperwork has been taken care off, i shall be starting to clear the garage and thin out all our wardrobes. I suppose you could say we are going to have a good clear out ready for oz.

Autumn is certainly here, already the dark nights and damp cold days are in abundance, will be so glad to no longer have to deal with the cold weather.

My god.............blink and you would miss me, for sure.

I'm sat at my computer eatting chocolate mint ice-cream and giving you guys the respect you deserve and filling you in on whats been going on in the land of Cassie.

The PR people got back in touch with us on 17th September saying what we had sent was not acceptable and they are saying we can't apply the way we did.  One of the reasons being is that daft cow Cassie forgot to send them the LMO to back up the company letter and the work permit!  What an idiot, and also the letter may not have been worded how they would have liked it.

So I sent them a begging e-mail asking them to please not send the application back!  Not sure if my begging has worked though!  probally not, hey.

Anyway, I'm not totally worried about that I just think when I send the right stuff it will be fine, the whole situation makes me nervous.  When I got the e-mail I was so up set.  I phoned Neil up in a right old state to which he replied "For gods sake, get a god damn grip of yourself woman!"  .  O.K. that may have been slightly censored.  I can laugh now but at the time it made me worse.  So I phoned my friend up and even she told me to take a "chill pill", LOL.  Work wasn't helping at the time because "that" guy I was having trouble with, had started up again.

Before I had got that e-mail I was having a bit of a rough time, thinking I wanted to go back to Blighty but once that e-mail came I was like, NO! .............I don't want to go back.  Change my mind like my knickers, god knows how my husband has put up with me through out all those years, bless him.

Life is just great at the moment, I go to work, then on my days off I meet with my friends I very rarely have time to do things, we use the dishwasher so much nowadays.  Big up, to the person who invented them.  Yes it was a man I just googled.

Neil's gone off to some talk, the other week he went paintballing, we seem to be establishing a life here in Canada, just like starting a fresh.  It's great when you feel like your really getting somewhere with it.

I do have some bigger news for you guys, I soooooooo can't wait to tell you all but I am keeping this one under wraps untill I know the final details.  No I'm not pregnant, that will be quite some time, in the future.

There are some very exciting changes for me coming very soon, I'll be back here reporting it don't you worry.  It's quite an entertaining story, nothing in my life seems to be boring and everything seems to be such a strange tale of events that unfold, and really, you couldn't even make it up.

In the meantime, take care.

Cassie

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The last few weeks have been a flurry (not snow thank god) of activity preparing the house for the eventual flurries that will arrive. (A rather cryptic way of saying - we are preparing the house/garden for winter). Regular readers will know that I like the changing seasons and the way they make us prepare for them. It is a basic part of life, that we have lost in our urban lives. The exaggerated weather changes in Canada has triggered that cycle of preparation for the changes.

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Well Jule's spotted some flaking paint on the gable end of the garage. Actually it was quite a bit of flaking paint and a decision was made to rub down and repaint to avoid winter damage.

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So yesterday up the ladder I went (probably about 10-12 feet, but it always feels higher somehow) and rubbed down sections moving along in small steps to avoid over stretching(I am not a great fan of heights). I repeated the process and filled the holes, painted an undercoat.

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I had just finished the final touches and let the paint brush fall to the ground and started to climb down.  I heard Jule's say "The ladder is slipping", of course I already knew this and the ladder slipped to the right, I know I cannot fall back (I would probably crush Jules and there is a huge pile of drying wood), so I opt to stay on the ladder and push it down below me by standing up on the rung. My old army training kicked in ... legs together, bend knees and roll on impact .... result no injury, sore head (well there are concrete slabs on the floor) and aching ankles from the impact.

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Decision - I will paint the gloss today and be really flipping careful.

PS We had a great evening at the Lunar Rogue with the newcomers club (I suppose it is just a social club really)

I'm plugging it but I don't care, it took me ages to type.  Enjoy

An interview with ... Cassie

WOW it is Autumn already! Today (22/09/09) is the Autumn Equinox here in NB

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OK we have been working hard, doing stuff and working in preparation for the change in seasons.

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The chainsaw has been busy (in my hands) cutting logs and I am looking at tackling a big tree that is dead and I worry it will fall on to the shed during a winter storm. We have enough wood for our woodstove to go through a long winter (about 2.5 cord) and I think there will be some extra for storage (in case winter lasts longer than expected).

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I have also being doing my good voluntary work with the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival as an MC on the Queen Street, JDI Acoustic Stage. Thursday evening was bloody freezing and I felt sorry for Jules as she was stood watching and waiting for 3 hours! The line was Teresa Doyle (singer, guitar player), Heckman and Downes (two blues guitar players and singers), final act was Ryan LaBlanc from Saint Andrews (amazing talent, he plays the guitar with one hand while using the other for percussions).

Ryan LaBlanc on the JDI Acoustic Steps

Saturday was 5:30pm to 9:30pm with the following acts; An amazing opening act Ross Neilsen (without his band the Sufferin Bastards); Heckman and Downes, and fantastic final act was Isaac & Blewett, they were so good I brought one of their CDs.

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I am turning into my Father-in-law (Ernie). What I mean by this is where ever we have been in the UK with Julie's dad it was almost inevitable that we would bump into someone who knew Ernie! Well as we walked through Fredericton (not the whole of the UK admittedly) lots of people stopped to say hello and chat, it is mainly because my new job has suddenly put me in front of alot of new people, added to my presenting for PMI has a lot of people who had heard me waffling on. So this means someone says "Hello Dave, how are you" I say " Fine, how are you" ... conversation follows, we part and Jule's asks "who was that" I reply "Dunno".

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Kathryn is preparing to take over her mini home (final closing date 1st October), Gemma is enjoying UNB and both are having a great time with their new horse. Apparently she took Gemma for a gallop today.

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Jules is working unbelievably hard as usual, preparing for her November show, painting doors in preparation for winter, making sure we are all fed, watered and clean (equivalent of running a small hotel) and managing all the money(we owe our credit rating to Jule's).

Im almost at the end of my OU course , im busy finishing my end of course assessment. ive got 4 more parts to do, should have it done by the end of next week.

Ive got all the visa paperwork printed and V will start filling them over the weekend. WE have managed to getthe medicals booked in Hull at a hospital where they organise both the medicals and the xrays.

Got some sad news today, V's aunty whom we visited in Rutherglen died yesterday. She had been poorly for a few weeks but suddenly went down hill this week. She was a fiesty old bird, i thought she was great,  getting the email letting us know this morning shook us up a bit, as we had hoped that we could have taken the boys to visit her when we arrived in oz. As i think D was a baby the last time she was in the UK. Instead when we visit Albury to see his uncle and aunt we shall put some flowers on the grave.

Ive been doing the research on Darwin and despite the fact they only have dry and wet seasons im sure we will cope. Saying that i will look forward to when we can get a posting to either NSW or Vic.

Well id best get on with some more of my assessment

I wasn't sure what to do today, I knew there were still a few things that we haven't done yet around Edmonton.  After a bit of looking around through books we decided to go to Rutherford House.  Its just outside Old Strathcona.

What's the significance of the house you may be wondering.  It was the home of the first Premier of Alberta, Alexander Cameron, from 1911 to 1941.

Some pretty flowers in the garden

Unfortunatley we got there at 11:30am and the museum opens at 12 noon.  I am so impatient (as you may know) and there really isn't much to do near there so we left, leaving this for another day.  The admission charge isn't too bad at $4 each and there is also a nice resturant there that opens at 11am, and not too badly priced.

Moving onto Plan B we decided to go to the Alberta Legistature Building.

The building made out of Lego bricks

We have been outside the place and taken pictures but have never gone in.  When we got there we managed (only just)  to tag onto a tour that was leaving.  We didn't have to pay a dollar, it was free!  Wow.

The central part of the building was amazing, full of marble and columns.

The building was built between 1907 and 1913 in the Beaux arts style.

According to the Wiki the building is 180 feet and the projected cost was $4 million dollars.

The main debating area was a bit of a let down compared to the central bit, perhaps they had run out of money by the time they got to here.

There are over 500 lightbulbs in the ceiling.  Electricity had only just become available and the young Architect that designed the building went a bit silly when he designed it.  The problem is from the floor to the ceiling its about 300 feet so ladders are not long enough to change the bulbs.  In order for them to change the bulbs they have to hire some scaffolding and in total it can take three weeks to change them all.

The fountain you see was built for Queen Elizabeths visit to the buiding.

Brass elevator doors.

The day turned out be be great and cheap as well which is always an added benefit.  After our little tour we stuck around the city and had a look around the Mall.  We had parked to car at the cheap $3 car park by The Delta Edmonton Hotel (I think it's called that)  Happy dayz all around

Strange fruit

We went to the supermarket on our way back home.  When we were looking at the fruit section we saw these strange looking things.  They kind of look like small potatoes.

I kept looking and touching them, wondering what they were.  Making a little fuss wanting to know what they were then a  man opposite me started to tell me that they are really good.  He said "if you like sugar, you will like them"

He explained that you peal them just like an orange.  This then turned into a little chat in the Supermarket, were we Australian? etc etc.  We thanked him and off we went.

When we got home I tried one and they are very much like lychees, the small fruit you see in Chinese places but these are called Longans, they are quite nice.