I'm back again, running a little late.........

The newly altered view from my back door:

At the end of my last blog entry, I said it was starting to get rather cold. A couple of days later, we woke up to a very white Ralston. There had been a blizzard overnight and the excitement from the children the next morning was just infectious. Within a few days however, that excitement had quickly turned to frustration mainly due to the time it takes to put on all the snow gear before leaving the house...... and it does take ages. We're not being softies though, it's not just a question of a touch of snow - within those few days, we were walking to and from school in temperatures of around -34*c! Honestly, none of us have ever experienced anything quite like it. Within about 10 seconds of being outdoors, it's completely normal to feel one's nasal hair freezing, resulting in a very spikey feeling nose - I had never been aware of my own nasal hair until now! So off we trog to school every day, Harry in his sledge, the girls in their abominable snowman outfits and me in my massive rabbit fur hat (got to say, much as I like all our super ski kit, and it does mostly keep us from being cold, my fur hat is THE business; my head is positively warm when I wear it. So now I reckon if I had a rabbit fur, or indeed, any fur coat, I would be toasty the whole time. Might look a little out of place and end up with a few raw eggs running down its glossy coat, but I would nonetheless be nice and warm! So.....as those of you who know me well are aware, I can't help myself being magnetically drawn into charity shops and now I have a stonkingly good reason to start frequenting them again! Fur coats here I come.....

This is what Richard sees of the snow. Definitely one of the perks of the job, I reckon.

So, for some time now we have been living in sub zero temperatures and it now feels absolutely normal - no more wide eyed excitement from the sprogs. This jolly freezing temperature thing is all completely relative though; we went to Calgary hospital a couple of weeks ago for Henry's final blood tests and check up (from the Kawasaki episode). When Richard stepped out of the car he told me it was nice and warm and I wouldn't need my coat. Naturally I thought he was mucking around, so I totally ignored him and kitted up for going out in the cold, only to have to strip off almost immediately as it was only -12*c! It does sound absolutely ridiculous, but having left Ralston where it was around -30*, arriving several hours later to be greeted by a balmy -12* felt positively Mediterranean. For those of you to whom I haven't managed to pass on the news - Harry has been given the all clear from his ghastly time in hospital with Kawasaki disease. It's quite miraculous really - there were so many awful side effects he could have been left with, but he has nothing apart from a new leaning towards allergies, which is certainly easy to control (and nothing has shown up yet). What an immense relief and weight off our shoulders. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers from across the water.

A couple of days later, it was Richard's birthday so we organised to go to a hockey match in Medicine Hat (we've been several times now and really enjoy it). We went with another couple as it was both our husbands' birthdays and then went out for grub afterwards, so it was altogether a lovely evening. The local team, The Med Hat Tigers is the highest level a hockey player can reach before joining the NHL (National Hockey League). Placers are often already signed up for a national team whilst still playing for the Tigers. One thing we hadn't anticipated just how young the players are. They are all aged between 15 and 19! The reckless abandon with which they play is astounding, or maybe that's just the mother in me talking, but it really is quite a violent game and it is complete evident that these boys have been on skates since they could walk - it's easy to forget they are playing the game on an ice rink as they are so adept at getting around, leaping over each other and basically just doing anything at all to make sure they get the puck. A lot of spectators like sitting up high in th auditorium to enable a full, clear bird's eye view of the rink. We have tried several spots but have decided we like best sitting in the front row right on top of the action! Distanced from the rink it is more like watching a game on the television, sitting in the front couple of rows it is really exhilarating - the players frequently smack into the Perspex wall in front of us - makes us jump every time!




The next important event which took place in November was Lizzie's enrolment as a Canadian Girl Guide and Lexi as a Brownie. There was much excitement surrounding this, particularly from Lexi, it was a lovely little occasion.

A few nights later we went out around the village for another safari supper - this is the second one with which we have been involved on this base and on this occasion I was providing the pudding course. I think I may have explained before when we took part in one during the summer: one brave person organises all the couples involved into dinner parties of around eight people and as each set of eight disband from any given course they are sent off to a different location for the following course, thus resulting in meeting and sitting with many people throughout the evening. Having been allocated a pudding course, I was delighted as I could prepare them before we left for someone else's starter. Pud (for those of you who might be interested, and I know who you are.....!) was a chocolate and rosemary mousse in a tiny shot glass on a plate placed with a lemon and lime tart and raspberry coulis and a mini meringue. All stuff I made the day before so it wasn't stressy at all which was great. I'm not looking forward to next time when the odds are I get a main course to do - the difficulty is arriving back at one's own home at the same time as 6 other guests (the idea is that no one knows who the guests are going to be until they arrive) and producing a hot meal pronto! It was also slightly different this time as we all were of course walking from house to house all over the Patch in the -30*s! So I wore a slinky number but had my heels in my handbag and traipsed from house to house in a big snow coat, snow boots, massive mittens and hat. Very glamorous!


The last few days of November brought to a head what I have been working on for weeks and weeks. It was the SSAFA Christmas Fayre; the SSAFA committee (to which I belong) organised this event for the village. I took on the creating of the Santa's Grotto. It was an enormous undertaking for one person and there were definitely times when Richard was pulling his hair out (!), but I was desperate for the children to have as magical an experience as possible, so this is what I did........







Richard flew Father Christmas to the grotto (from the North Pole, of course), the children were shrieking with excitement as he came in to land. They were beside themselves, it was lovely.

He made his way to the sleigh (I had asked the Army Workshop guys if they could possibly make me a sleigh - they did a brilliant job, I then made it all Christmassy). The Girl Guides and a Scout then pulled F.C. through the crowd to the stage where he sat in his throne and gave a great deal of time and interest to each child. He was super. This particular Father Christmas also happened to know, very well indeed, the fab doctor who diagnosed Henry with Kawasaki, so our three children were amazed when he mentioned to Harry that he knew how ill he had been this year etc.!


After Father Christmas left, his sleigh was the focus of much interest to the true believers!