Christmas on the Island

This Christmas was our first in our new home. We wanted to make it special, but not to over the top, after all we were still recovering from the move and there are still a couple boxes sitting around, so we kept it simple but stylish. Instead of a huge whole turkey, Mum and I found inspiration in the food network and bought a rolled breast of turkey stuffed with veal. And- we could cook it from frozen so no thawing! I made the famous shmam potatoes, and our balsamic brussel sprouts with steamed carrots. And for dessert plum pudding and (not home made) rum sauce. We had Julie down from up stairs so she joined in with our merriment, and she helped make it a fantastic evening. Happy Christmas to everyone!!

My Beautiful Canoe

It's not everyday you have to plan where to house your canoe, let alone a 16 foot voyageur canoe. Ever since my Dad died, I think my Mum has seen this canoe as a burden, something she's had to deal with. I'd keep reassuring her that I would make arrangements and plan out what to do. Afterall, it would be I who would be using it in the future. This weekend has been several weeks in the planning, trying to coordinate my Uncle Paul's schedule and mine. Finally, we settled on a date; this weekend. Up until now, the beloved canoe has been sitting in our in-door parking space wrapped up in bubble wrap. And now, it's on it's way to my Uncle's house. Last night Uncle Paul and I headed out to buy the appropriate rope, and we gathered our thoughts. Under Uncle Paul's careful tutelage we brought the canoe out to his car, hoisted it up over the car, and strapped her down well. Once we were finished, I was confident with the results. What was an added bonus to this whole task is that Uncle Paul is so similar to my Dad it was very reminiscent of when Dad and I took the canoe out last time, going on 10 years ago. Now I can look forward to the Spring when Uncle Paul and I will take on the task of stripping the canoe, re-covering, then painting it. I feel a bit of research coming on!

Pygmy Hippos

Did you know that the pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis) actually exists? I assumed that they were made up when Global came out with a commercial talking about the 'Pygmy House Hippo' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TijcoS8qHIE. However, I learned today they are real... sort of. The real pygmy hippos are critically endangered and live in Western Africa. Through loss of habitat they are dying out. In the past, pygmy, dwarf, and common hippos existed, but sadly only common hippos and a few number of the pygmy hippos are around today. The main reason I am looking all this is because I have a new project! I am taking on a challenge at the Redpath Museum to clean and prepare a collection of finds, then I can have the opportunity of doing a research project on a specific portion of the collection. This is the first step towards working in my field. I've had my degree for a year and a half and haven't had the chance to use my skills during that time. It's all very exciting, and I shall keep you posted!

Who Can I Yell At?????

It has been a while since I've used this blog as a venting board, however this is the time. You know that feeling when you think to yourself "all I want is to get home and have nothing to do, nothing to worry about, not to complete". Well forget that for tonight!! Baahhhhhh. I went out to get a couple groceries. Luckily it was a short list and for the most of the items, no problem. But the next time I have to go searching through the entire grocery store to get bloody hummus, I'm taking a map. Ask me where the hummus is in Sainsbury's in England and it's fine...next to the sandwich fillers and taramasalata. But in IGA?? I certainly got my exercise for the day walking from the frozen section to the fresh veg, and back again...twice. Short of calling my Mother to ask where the hummus was I finally found it 30 minutes later. After this experience, I head back to the highway....the flashing yellow lights should have been an indicator. I get to the exit I need to turn left at and I wait...and wait...and wait. Finally a figure arrived next to my car uttering in French "you should have gone the other way, now you're blocking all the traffic!" I exclaimed, I'm trying to get over there, indicating the way to my house. No, he says I cannot turn, I'll never get the light. Bugger!!! Fine, I say "can I do a U-turn?" to which he replies "I can't give you permission...." so I do it anyway. I was so mad that basically when I was almost at my door he says I can't go that way. After a 20 minute detour I arrived home. This sucks! I hate construction and stupid traffic people who stop me from going home, without any notice.
I feel marginally better. Though, knowing that I'm not going to proof read this leaves me with a sense of dread thinking of all the typos and grammatical errors.

We Made It!

What a wonderful welcome we had at the airport from our wonderful friends! One of whom we're staying with. Julie has kindly offered her spare room for us while we get over jet-lag, buy all our electricals and wait for the condo signing to happen. Julie's condo is only the floor above Mum's condo, so hopefully our view from our balcony will be as spectacular as this!

Going to Cheltenham

For years, my family has been in the possession of a portrait of my great great great grandfather Charles Dalenger Chenery. The first I remember of it was when it was hanging at my grandparent's farm in their living room. The next was when I was a little kid, when I remember a large crate arriving at house in Montreal. The portrait then hung in our dining room, and we got a new sand box in the garden! "The portrait" would watch over us eating dinner, especially when we would stir our ice cream. Nonetheless, he looked handsome on our wall between the sconces, so naturally he looked right at home in the Vicarage in our dining room there. The sconces came along as well, so they fit in too. When Mum and I moved out of the Vicarage to Bloxham we took the Portrait with us, and he got a new home at the top of the stairwell; where he greeted us every time we went upstairs. The reality was that when we move back over to Canada we couldn't take him with us and it would be better to bring him back to his 'stomping ground' in Cheltenham. Before Daddy died, he wanted to donate the portrait to Cheltenham College where Grandpa Chenery taught as a founding master in 1841. So this is what we did. Mum, Dorothy and I packed him up in the Volvo and with Dorothy's directions we drove out to Cheltenham on a beautiful, sunny day. The archivist at the college had arranged to meet us there and after presenting her with the portrait she gave me a tour of the campus and up to the archives themselves. She explained how they are always happy to receive any information on the early days of Cheltenham as they were missing quite a lot. We were all made to feel welcome and they were all so appreciative of the donation it really was quite touching to know the portrait would be well looked after in his new home.

Charles Dalenger Chenery, M.A.
A Family photo of sorts.
"Farewell!"
The College reception.
Inside the Chapel
The room Grandpa Chenery would have taught in over a hundred years ago.

Emeralds!!

You may remember my 2 year anniversary ring that my handsome man bought me, but that was two years ago and it was time for a new one another 2 years on (pine sap killed the last one). Ed and I trolled through hundreds of pages of rings on eBay, and looked in various shop windows looking for the best. Eventually we both spotted one on eBay, and with Mum in the background drooling over the prospect of new emeralds, we bought it! I waited for several days as the post man would come to our house with no package for me, and yesterday he did have one. I love looking down, seeing my 'bling', and instantly thinking of my fabulous handsome man. I will miss him terribly while I'm in Canada and he's in South Korea, but I'll have a wonderful reminder of him whenever I see my shiny green emeralds!

Hook Norton Brewery

For the past four years I've been telling Ed that we had to go to the Brewery. I didn't specify when, though. With 3 weeks until we flew, Ed and I booked a tour of the brewery and a tasting session of the beer. I had gone on the tour once before with Dad but I still enjoyed seeing the history of the brewery in action. They used gravity throughout most of the brewing process, which isn't widely used in the country so is something special to see. And they are one of the last to use a steam engine to pump the 'brewer's liquor' (spring water) up and into the system. The tour takes you right up the whole 5 floors of the brewery and out side where they keep their horses. They used to have 20 horses at their peak, but now use a combination of 3 horses and lorries to distribute their beer. 'Hooky' beer has a very good reputation, and is well loved by many including myself. I'll just have to find a way of getting some when I'm in Montreal!!

Ed and I outside the Brewery
"Not another picture"!
Me by the steam engine
This is the "mashing" process, unlocking all that loveliness!
One of the carts they still use to get the beer to the many pubs they own.

Haying

Mum and I are currently living right across from a field that seemed to be left fallow, or so we thought. We can see the field from the window on the landing, and one day when I was walking down stairs I saw the tractors working out in the field. The previous week I had noticed that the grass that had grown very tall had been raked into long rows. This week, they had three tractors total: one to run over the rows of grass collecting it underneath to compact it into rectangles, one to run around collecting the blocks once they'd come out from the first tractor, and a third to carry the hay away. Mum and I stood and watched as the entire field was organized in a matter of minutes!

The first tractor
The second tractor, carrying the hay.
All three tractors working together.

Lunch in London with Kayleigh

Since leaving University a year ago, I haven't seen my friend Kayleigh once! We spent many an hour in the cafes on campus mulling over the great and wonderful issues of life, complaining about work, and so on and so forth. It was a moment to put our work on hold and be silly or whatever we needed at the time. Naturally, I felt I needed to get together with her once more before moving back, so we met half way in London. Grabbing a Subway sandwich, and finding a nice space on the grass in St James Park, we chewed our sandwiches and "the cud" for a good few hours. In between, we had a visit from a pelican, people looking for the London Eye, and several tourists with cameras. The weather was perfect, with wispy clouds in the sky shading us occasionally from the sun shine. This weather seemed a perfect back drop for an ice cream, so after grabbing one from an ice cream vendor by the stream, we went and listened to a band of bag pipes who were playing in aid of charity for the homeless being collected by Morris dancers dressed like those from Mary Poppins! I will miss our little chats, but Kayleigh and I will simply have to catch up in a Tim Horton's in Montreal on a snowy day.

The Pelican!
He was very friendly
The bagpipers and morris dancers
The London Eye behind the Foreign and Common Wealth Office building
Buckingham Palace, the flag means she was in!
Me, in front of the Canada Gate!!
And, to continue on with this Canadian theme: Canada Geese!!
And finally, Kayleigh and me with the Palace behind.

Ringing at Windsor Castle

Listen to the bells ringing!! (click here)

When I was asked to ring at Windsor Castle, I was amazed! The chance to ring in a castle? How could I resist? Plus it was on the anniversary of my Dad's death, so what better way to remember him, and honour him by doing something he loved doing - bell ringing. We drove down to Windsor on a rainy evening, so we couldn't see it at it's best, but the building is still impressive nonetheless and I still felt in awe when we pulled up outside. We waited to be let in by the guard after we were issued with ID badges, and I took the opportunity to be a tourist for a tiny bit. We were led through several quads and corridors and finally came to the ringing chamber. Because the ringing chamber was an after though, the bells weren't hung in a traditional square tower. These ones were hung in a round corner tower of the surround of the castle. The bells wouldn't be described as 'wonderful'. I believe I heard them described as 'lumpy', 'odd struck', 'tough to ring', 'anti clockwise', and 'out of tune'. I guess the romance of the fact that they were in the castle didn't make up the tone of the bells. Tonight however, they were rung for the Duke of Gloucestershire's birthday, as they do for every royal birthday, Christmas, Easter, Ascension day, and the Saints Day. After we rang the bells, we were taken all the way up to the bells. To get there we had to clime up at least 5 stair cases, and hoist ourselves up ropes to get right to the top but it was well worth it! We were right up in the roof at this point and the wind was whistling through the shingles. We also saw the clock chime, as it played St. David's song. I was really, really pleased to be able to get the chance to ring at Windsor Castle before moving back. Though the bells weren't quite as nice sounding as I'm used to, I still felt it was a privilege.

The Castle from the outside.
This is the type of tower we were ringing in.
St. George's Chapel
Inside the ringing chamber.
In the ringing chamber again.
These are the weights of the bells. The tennor (#8) is 26 hundred weight which is approximately 2,912 lbs.
One of the bells in the frame.
One of the bells from the top.
This is one of the sets of windows where in the 'olden days', you would simply have had a rope tied around your neck and would have been thrown out of the window!
The clock mechanism, we were told dates back to the 17 hundreds.
This is the 'junk' from the chapel. This is how it was described to me, I thought it was wonderful!
More of this so-called 'junk'
The cannon.
This is a peal board from 1748. I had to read it twice to notice that it took two men to ring the tenor (8th bell). And that was for the whole peal.
Notice anything strange.....?
The group making noise!