On Monday, Clare organised for a pretty big group of us to bring together grub to produce a pot luck lunch for another friend's 40th birthday and it was lovely. All the children were at school, we all had a couple of glasses of wine and ate ourselves silly. We then walked, in a bit of a wobbly fahsion, across to school - such responsible parents!
Today we had a brilliant end to the day. Lexi (finally!) grasped riding a bike. She's been hugely reluctant to do it for several years, but today, was clearly just inspired. It was lovely to see.
The same evening, I had my weekly drum lesson (laugh if you must!) then 20mins following my return, some of us met for our monthly book club at mine to review our latest read, The Time Traveller's Wife, but we all agreed it would be nice to watch the film. So eveyone came over here, my sitting room was filled with about a dozen women munching grub, watching a girlie film. I'm quite certain Richard was glad he was away for that one (although those who know him well, would argue that a glass of white wine and a chick flick constitute a pretty nice night in for him!). The next few months we are reading various people's suggestions, and then during the summer, I am going to host one where we all bring a dish from Julia Childs' cook book. That's definitely more my type of reading, that is, the type where there is an edible conclusion!
A couple of days later a friend, Zoe, invited five of us over for a lovely quiet dinner for Jeanette's 40th (this girl is having the most celebrations of the same birthday I have ever known!). It was a really nice evening, super food and good chit chat.
Lizzie and I continue with our Life Drawing classes and we're both improving. We worked with watercolour that week and this week, as I write, we worked with charcoal and chalk pastels. I LOVED this week. Lots of mess, nothing wishy washy, a nice firm (aggressive, I was told - although I prefer to think of it as passionate!) drawing style. Lizzie is doing famously, it's lovely to see her coming on in leaps and bounds. I should take a couple of photos of her sketches and post them on here.....
Lizzie and I continue with our Life Drawing classes and we're both improving. We worked with watercolour that week and this week, as I write, we worked with charcoal and chalk pastels. I LOVED this week. Lots of mess, nothing wishy washy, a nice firm (aggressive, I was told - although I prefer to think of it as passionate!) drawing style. Lizzie is doing famously, it's lovely to see her coming on in leaps and bounds. I should take a couple of photos of her sketches and post them on here.....
On Saturday evening there had been organised a Progressive Supper Party. It a fairly regular event here - we have been to three or four since arriving in Canada. They are good fun - we eat the first course at one house, main at another, pud at another and then everyone involved meets for drinks and frolicks at the last place. During these courses, one never meets the same person more than once. As Richard was away, I didn't fancy traipsing around the patch by myself between the courses so Jeanette, Paul and I did the first course together here at my place. They genned up on their cocktail making and produced some pretty colourful drinks and I dealt with the starter. I did a couple of new hors d'oeuvres (normal style: always a good time to try new things out - a couple of hours before guests arrive) which went well and then for the first course, I had made a Chinese dish and served it in lovely pink and black polka dot American style card take-away boxes. No washing up! It was a good evening, although it was strange going to each course by myself, but everyone was lovely and kind. By the time we reached the last house for drinks, everyone else was there (about sixty, I guess) and the Champers was flowing for the 40th birthday of one of the chaps out here. It's obviously "the" birthday year to mark whilst in Canada! The evening finished with a game of street hockey in the road......
When Richard left for the UK, the weather was starting to becom
e rather agreeable - the snow had gone and we were pretty constantly above +15 which was lovely. A few days later an ovenight blizzard struck and the following morning, we all had to put on our ski gear again to get to school - it was really bizarre! It was the deepest, wettest snow we have seen. Until now, we have always had the dry, powdery stuff। Easy to clear the pathway but hopeless for making snowballs! This stuff was so wet and heavy, I couldn't dig the car out of the drive. Three days later, it was +27* and I was slapping the sun lotion on the children before school! This week has been pretty packed too, but the highlight was the return of Daddy on Wednesday evening. Henry, particularly, was beside himself with glee as Richard walked through the garden gate. With such lovely weather we have been eating supper outdoors, so half way through their grub, it was a lovely surprise for the children to see the transport pull up and Richard step out.
After school yesterday afternoon, we had a slightly frantic couple of hours. We trekked into Med Hat to get Richard some cowboy boots ready for the Ranchman's Ball later in the evening. He decided to go the whole hog, bought the boots, shirt and spurs! Clink, clink, clink, yeehaaaa........
We also managed to fit in getting me a new bicycle as my little (or not so) Lizzie has outgrown hers and nicked mine as soon as the weather turned fine.
The Ranchman's Ball was, well, a ball! Excellent fun, super food (far too much!), lots of laughs and loads of dancing to a really good country band. There was line dancing - always a bit of a giggle, and I ended up doing a two step with a cowboy - one of the ranch owners from near here. I really enjoyed it - it reminded me of dancing with my beloved grandfather at one of their wedding anniversary parties, where because he was so brilliant at dancing, I was just gently manouvred around the floor (correct footwork and all!). It was the same with the cowboy - we were gliding around the floor, I didn't have to think about the feet, just enjoyed the fab music and before I knew it the dance was over.
The prairie season is well on its way to starting now and Richard will be on his own timetable for several months. He will or won't be around at odd times of the day or night, so the children and I now just crack on with life and if Richard can join in, that will be great, but he's prety realistic about the fact that he won't really be around to do stuff. So.....we kicked off today by going five pin bowling - old fashioined skittles - with Clare (in a similar husbandless position to me!) and her two little ones.
The children had a super time, particularly as the balls were small enough for them to handle without help.
The most memorable moment of the day for me, was when Henry was waiting for his turn. He leant against the wall and said "oooooh, that feels lovely!" (it was covered in felt for some reason). He then proceeded to walk up and down that stretch of wall, arms and hands splayed, kissing it as he walked. I could barely take the photo I was laughing so much!
The following morning, on Sunday, I had decided that I would take the children to a rodeo that was going on in our nearest town, Medicine Hat. It was a really brilliant day. We all enjoyed it. Prior to going to the arena though, I stopped at the local Western Wear & Tack shop (Lammle's) and bought all the children a pair of cowboy boots. It took a fair while as there are so may styles and colours from which to choose, but the children all left the shop happy and we made our way across to the rodeo - all dressed appropriately! 
The cowboys demonstrated bull riding (horrifyingly dangerous), riding bucking broncos (equally tricky, to say the least) and calf roping- when calf is let out, at speed, into the arena with two cowboys, one either side. They speed alongside the calf, one uses his lasso to rope the horns, a split second later the other cowboy ropes the hind legs and the calf is caught. Immediately, the animal is immobile, the guys release it.
The cowboys demonstrated bull riding (horrifyingly dangerous), riding bucking broncos (equally tricky, to say the least) and calf roping- when calf is let out, at speed, into the arena with two cowboys, one either side. They speed alongside the calf, one uses his lasso to rope the horns, a split second later the other cowboy ropes the hind legs and the calf is caught. Immediately, the animal is immobile, the guys release it.
Lastly, the cowboys demonstrate another way of catching a calf. He again rides along beside the madly running calf, then leaps off his horse, onto the neck of the moving calf, stops it moving with sheer brute force, lifts it, puts it down on the ground, ropes its ankles and hey presto - it's caught. Clearly, the aim of the first two of these spectacles is to stay on the animal as long as possible (sometimes it's only a matter of a few seconds) and the aim with the calves is to catch them in the quickest time possible. The whole thing is taken very seriously indeed between all the competitors and it's brilliant to watch.
When Richard left for the UK, the weather was starting to becom
e rather agreeable - the snow had gone and we were pretty constantly above +15 which was lovely. A few days later an ovenight blizzard struck and the following morning, we all had to put on our ski gear again to get to school - it was really bizarre! It was the deepest, wettest snow we have seen. Until now, we have always had the dry, powdery stuff। Easy to clear the pathway but hopeless for making snowballs! This stuff was so wet and heavy, I couldn't dig the car out of the drive. Three days later, it was +27* and I was slapping the sun lotion on the children before school! This week has been pretty packed too, but the highlight was the return of Daddy on Wednesday evening. Henry, particularly, was beside himself with glee as Richard walked through the garden gate. With such lovely weather we have been eating supper outdoors, so half way through their grub, it was a lovely surprise for the children to see the transport pull up and Richard step out.
After school yesterday afternoon, we had a slightly frantic couple of hours. We trekked into Med Hat to get Richard some cowboy boots ready for the Ranchman's Ball later in the evening. He decided to go the whole hog, bought the boots, shirt and spurs! Clink, clink, clink, yeehaaaa........
We also managed to fit in getting me a new bicycle as my little (or not so) Lizzie has outgrown hers and nicked mine as soon as the weather turned fine.
The Ranchman's Ball was, well, a ball! Excellent fun, super food (far too much!), lots of laughs and loads of dancing to a really good country band. There was line dancing - always a bit of a giggle, and I ended up doing a two step with a cowboy - one of the ranch owners from near here. I really enjoyed it - it reminded me of dancing with my beloved grandfather at one of their wedding anniversary parties, where because he was so brilliant at dancing, I was just gently manouvred around the floor (correct footwork and all!). It was the same with the cowboy - we were gliding around the floor, I didn't have to think about the feet, just enjoyed the fab music and before I knew it the dance was over.
The prairie season is well on its way to starting now and Richard will be on his own timetable for several months. He will or won't be around at odd times of the day or night, so the children and I now just crack on with life and if Richard can join in, that will be great, but he's prety realistic about the fact that he won't really be around to do stuff. So.....we kicked off today by going five pin bowling - old fashioined skittles - with Clare (in a similar husbandless position to me!) and her two little ones.
The children had a super time, particularly as the balls were small enough for them to handle without help.
The most memorable moment of the day for me, was when Henry was waiting for his turn. He leant against the wall and said "oooooh, that feels lovely!" (it was covered in felt for some reason). He then proceeded to walk up and down that stretch of wall, arms and hands splayed, kissing it as he walked. I could barely take the photo I was laughing so much!
Today we had a brilliant end to the day. Lexi (finally!) grasped riding a bike. She's been hugely reluctant to do it for several years, but today, was clearly just inspired. It was lovely to see.
Wow! You won't want to come home!!! All sounds amazing. Glad you are having so much fun. You all deserve it. Lol x
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