Snow & Nativity plays

The first snow dump of the season finally arrived on Sunday. What started out as a snow flurry in the morning continued all day until we were under a foot of snow, scuppering any plans we had of a family day out! The novelty is already wearing off though as I remember shovelling snow from the steps and garden path, digging the car out of the drive as the snow plough dumps the snow at the side of the road, getting 3 children out of the house each morning in full winter kit and pulling them to school on a sledge as I disappear down a snow covered Gopher hole...! It's all coming back to me now!


The children are loving it though and Ben was out sledging with his friends as soon as school was out! Luckily Olivia & Charlie are a bit more sensible, preferring to make snow angels in the garden and bounce on the snow covered trampoline where they can get indoors quickly!


Charlie has had his Nativity play this week and looked very cute dressed as a Shepherd and carrying a sheep; not a real sheep though, as he pointed out to me! He was very confident and was waving excitedly at Leigh & I. Olivia has her play tomorrow and is almost bursting with excitement as she has a sparkly crown and a speaking part! Ben is bursting with joy too as we go away on the day of his Christmas concert and he therefore has to miss it!

Leigh is on about his 15th Christmas lunch this week and is currently in Medicine Hat on another one. Funnily enough when he left at lunch time he said he was 'pretty confident' that he would be on the transport home at 6pm... it's now 10pm! No doubt by now, Leigh & his colleagues will be telling each other what great blokes they all are... really great blokes, just the best...hic!

-24 And Some Snow!

Well, we've had quite a busy week on the party front (well by Ralston standards anyway!). On Thursday evening we had a Regimental Dinner night in the Mess, which gave me the chance to wear the one dress I brought out here, and the men the chance to squeeze themselves into Mess Dress, which for most of them was tailored at least 20 years ago! Leigh didn't do too badly; only the one button pinged off his trousers but more odd than that was that one of his boots didn't fit anymore - just the one boot, which resulted in Leigh having this kind of Cowboy/Woody from 'Toy Story' strut! And if that wasn't funny enough, the bloke I was sat opposite had to apologise to me, as due to the tightness of his jacket he couldn't lift his arm high enough to pour the wine!!! And that, by the way, was the Commander!! A funny night indeed!

We've also had the Prairie Wives Christmas Party which was an 'Arabian Nights' theme in the Sgt's Mess. That was good fun and some of us girls 'got ready' at Marluz's house, which is something I haven't done for about 20 years! We had a good giggle, and luckily I had the sense not to have a Henna Tattoo which was available on the night, unlike Marluz who had one on her forehead!!!

On Sunday it was the annual SSAFA Christmas Fair which is held here at the gym in Ralston. Following the roaring success I had with my Roasted Tomato Soup at the recent Safari Supper, I agreed to do a Soup Kitchen with Patrick, the BFBS manager here. Laden with bubbling cauldrons of soup, Patrick & I set up stall selling my Roasted Tomato & Paticks Leek & Chickpea soups. We did have a laugh though I think Patrick fared better than I did as I hardly broke even by the time I paid for my stall! And to think I skinned 120 tomatoes! Oh well, it was all for 'Charity mate'! Needless to say, I don't think I am going to be head-hunted by Alan Sugar for my Sales Skills!

That's all for this week! The children are all happy and well. Oh and just to say Happy 41st oops I mean 21st Birthday to Mike Turner!

Where`s the white stuff!

I`m being a bit more pro active this week by actually writting a blog entry on time for a change! We`ve had some very cold starts here in Ralston this week; one morning when I got up at 7.30 am it was a rather chilly -20 outside but luckily by the time we set off on the school run an hour later it had warmed up to a more acceptable -15!.
Though very cold, it was a beautiful clear sunny day and the trees were covered in this stunning thick white frost... hopefully you will be able to see it in this picture which I took (very quickly!) outside my front door.

That extreme cold has thankfully been an exception and the temperature has mostly been fairly pleasant (well for Canada!). No doubt that will change very soon; snow flurries are forecast for tomorrow and the long range forecast is for the first snow dump of the season to arrive on the 1st Dec. Very festive!

The children are all happy and well. Leigh & I have had a couple of nights out this week, one of which was to Ralphs Texas Bar & Steakhouse in Medicine Hat. We had a good fun night dancing to Country & Western and generally laughing at Rednecks! We were introduced to this sheep farming cowboy called Rex who knew someone from Cornwall called Terry Baton and wondered if we knew him! Hang on a minute...surely not....you don't mean... old Tezza Batts from Truro...Lol!


Just had to add this lovely photo of my Mum (aka Granny Plymouth) which was taken on her recent visit out here at Lake Louise - I promised her fame on the blog! And this very cute picture of Charlie looking like something from South Park!

Gosh we've had a busy couple of weeks! I really appreciate the concern from Interpol as to our whereabouts but alas the Tingey family are safe and well and still living in Ralston! We've been busy with everything from Halloween to a visit from my Mum & Roger, from a week in the Rockies to visit from Ed (who popped over last Thursday and stayed for 5 days!). Oh, and Ben's birthday too! And not a snowflake in sight in Ralston!


Halloween was the usual OTT North American event and the whole village was on form with all the kids out trick or treating! Luckily Ben, Olivia & Charlie were still
able to fit into their costumes from last year, and Olivia had carved a pumpkin at school which meant the uncarved pumpkin I put out on the doorstep didn't look too sad!



Mum & Roger stayed with us for a couple of days before we headed up to the Rockies together for another couple of days. Unlike Mum's last visit when it was around -35, it was much warmer in Banff this time and we were able to take the cable car up Sulphur Mountain to see the amazing views. It never fails to impress! Lake Louise was as beautiful as ever and as yet unfrozen.


As Mum & Roger flew out of Calgary, Leigh arrived in Calgary so we had a few more days in Canmore and Banff. Lots of ice-skating-hockey and swimming, lazy mornings and lunches out. We had a really lovely time. Though there wasn't much snow on the hills, Leigh and Ben did get a days skiing at Lake Louise where they had one slope open. Ben seemed to have lost his nerve a bit, (but that's a good thing where Ben is concerned!) Leigh really enjoyed himself and is looking forward to the season even more now!


Ben has had his 8th birthday as well. He chose to take a couple of his friends to see James Bond (no complaints from Leigh or Ed!) and then go for a meal at Montana's where Ben got to wear a silly hat whilst the restaurant sang happy birthday to him! His friends then came back for a sleep over. So Ben had a great day and was a very happy boy!

Leigh is currently back in the UK for a few days... just as we thought the Prairie season was over and we would see more of Leigh...

We've had another week of mixed weather here; everything from warm sunshine to hail and snow flurries, from freezing mornings to hot afternoons. It's just impossible to know what to wear!

Leigh is spending a huge amount of time out on the Prairie at the moment with some ridiculously early starts; this morning his lift was at 2.30am (and he only got home at 8pm the evening before) and that's not unusual! Thank goodness this is the last week of the exercise for this year and we can get back to some sort of normality... before we have to start getting up early again to hit the slopes! Grrr.



So the children and I have been spending alot of our spare time down at the ice arena, where I spend a back breaking hour helping Olivia & Charlie around the rink! Ben does help me as long as none of his friends are there... It's far too uncool to be holding your sisters hand going slowly around the ice - so uncool in fact that he will abandon her when one of them shows up! He's such a toad!



Olivia & Charlie love it though. Charlie can barely stand up yet and chuckles all the way around - he even asks me if I need a break to stretch my back! Olivia is improving each time and thankfully is reassuringly cautious! I did think she was going to throw in the towel though when she tore her favourite pink trousers!

Where does the time go? All is well in sunny Ralston though it has turned rather chilly recently. Some mornings on the school run it has been a brisk -12 but thankfully warming up by lunchtime. Tomorrow we are expecting a tropical high of +18. Weird Canadian weather! I have noticed a lot of geese heading south recently. Very sensible.


Last week I helped out on Bens school trip to the Dinosaur Park which was a fun! No need to re-read that sentence, I did actually volunteer to go! (I must have still been half asleep when I agreed to it!). We had a great day out, though my instincts were confirmed that Ben is indeed the class clown! Luckily he`s a very popular boy and gets away with it! Chaperoning 4 boys around the Badlands who are all keen climbers is a frightening experience though!


Leigh is thankfully on the last Medman of the year and will be very glad when that finishes at the end of this month - it's even colder out on the Prairie (of course!). All we'll be waiting for then is for the snow to arrive and the ski fest to begin!

Footage of Ben at hockey training - Olivia is still 'thinking' about playing; hopefully she will make up her mind before the end of the season! Thank goodness Charlie is too young!

Beware of the coyote!

Its been a pretty quite week here. Charlie and I are back in sync with the Canadian timezone and all is back to normal; school runs, swimming lessons, ice hockey... We have also been enjoying some fantasctic sunny weather with most days reaching +30. That's about to change though with an overnight of a chilly +1 forecast!

Ben is enjoying the ice hockey again and his '2nd year' status! He's improved vastly since starting just a year ago and he was more than happy to show the new ones his 'hockey stop' who were watching in awe! Olivia is still deciding whether to play or not. I think her main reservation is the fact that the hockey kit is not pink and sparkly and even worse, the ice skates are black! I think she maybe better suited to figure skating! Chilled Charlie is as laid back as ever and is happy being carted around from pool to rink - as long as he has a couple of cars in his pockets to play with!

I haven't taken any new photos for the blog this week, but I did managed to get some audio footage of a pack of coyote that must of been fairly close to the house late one night. They sounded alot louder than you can hear on the film (honest!), but it gives you a good idea of what the local wildlife sounds like around here! (Turn your volume up to max!)
Lol! Having listened to this now I have published it, they sound more like a couple of chihuahua's! :)

Briefly back in old Blighty

Yet another excuse for a late blog (this one better than being eaten by dinosaurs!); Charlie & I have briefly been back to the UK this week for a 6 day round trip. Quite alot of travelling for such a short trip, but it was needed to see the family and it was a marvellous excuse to catch up with some friends too!

We started off with a couple of days in Plymouth, seeing my Mum & brother and lots of other family, staying with my sister (thanks Nick!). Managed to squeeze in a trip down memory lane and spent a morning on the Barbican which was where I lived when I met Leigh... the sun was shining and it really looked lovely. Then we went off to Bristol to see Ros for the night at her new abode. Had a great night catching up with her and trying to keep track of what she's been up to! The next day we moved on to Bath and I had a chance to pop into our house, just to check it was still there - it was and pretty much looked like it did when we last saw it a couple of years ago (with the addition of a traffic bollard in the back garden! - those pesky students!) From Bath we went up to see Ed, Abi & Issy for the night in North London and were again well looked after - thank you! By this time Charlie was very happy to be in a house with a playmate and toys and utterly bewildered as to what was going on! After a morning there we moved on to see Mike, Lou, Ben & Olivia in Uxbridge before finally going on to Heathrow the next day. It's always a danger staying with Mike & Lou the night before catching a plane given our mutual appreciation of wine, however, unlike my husband who only narrowly made his flight, we were there in plenty of time and not too worse for wear - thanks guys!
So a real whirlwind week. Leigh turned into a domestic God juggling the children/work load with ease! (Perhaps I should do it more often!). The children looked well fed and nourished; in fact the only complaint was from Olivia who said that Daddy couldn't quite do her hair bobbles right!

Summer has returned

No late blog excuses of being eaten by dinosaurs, having broken laptops or issues with Microsoft - it's just been a pretty ordinary week and I've hardly taken any new photos!

Though the weather has warmed up here again the ice rink has recently reopened reminding us all that winter isn't far away. Leigh and I have decided not to play ice hockey again this year; it was good fun last year, but it soon began to take over our lives and it seemed like there wasn't a day in the week that one of us wasn't at the arena training or playing, which after this years hectic summer of 6 MEDMANs is not too appealing! (I also remember trudging down to the arena for 9pm training sessions when it was -20 and snowing!) Call us spoil sports, but we can well and truly tick the ice hockey box and leave it there! Ben will be playing again though and Olivia is keen to give it a go too. So to quote Sarah Palin, I'll be just a regular 'Hockey Mom' (no comparisons to the pit bull & lipstick bit though please!)

This weekend, the Medicine Hat Tigers (ice hockey team) were playing here at the Ralston arena showing off their skills which was fun to watch. And on Saturday evening there was an outdoor concert, `Larks in the park` played by the band of the REME, which was another good night - almost like Glastonbury, less the rain and ... alcohol! (NO outdoor drinking alowed in Canada!)

By the way, who is teasing me with fame in my hometown local rag? (see preivous blog comment) - Can't be one of my friends; it's too well written!!! Very funny though!

Brrr!

Another overdue blog and another week of being without a laptop for 5 days due to yet another unfortunate accident! Lets hope this is not going to become a weekly event!

Otherwise its been a pretty chilled week. We all enjoyed Leighs time off the Prairie; most of which was hot and sunny. We spent quite alot of time at the outdoor pool in Medicine Hat and at Echodale with bucket & spades (not sure what the children were playing with!) and made the most of the last week of the school summer holidays.


Then towards the end of last week the weather changed.... it went from a pleasant sunny 28 degrees to a cold and wet 5 degrees. The rain has now stopped but it is still chilly and there has even been snow in Canmore - news enough to wipe the smiles off our faces and send us all running indoors searching for our long forgotten winter gear! Indeed having learnt lessons from last winter, I have already ordered a Russian style fur trapper hat, complete with ear flaps! Nice! All I need to do now is to try not think about the rabbit I will be wearing on my head - especially as I pass the very cute family of rabbits that live under our shed all year round! I will get the same for all of us and in a couple of months time we shall look like some bizarre family out of Dr Zhivago!

Ben & Olivia are back at school now and Charlie starts at Little Gophers (pre-school) next week. After such a long summer break the children were surprisingly keen to go back to school yesterday - needless to say, for Ben, the novelty has already worn off!

Ralston Rodeo

It's been another very hot week here in Alberta. The highlight this week has been the annual Ralston Rodeo; Yee-Haa! Trucks, RVs, burger vans, horses, cowboys and, of course, numerous angry bulls rolled into the village to transform the Ralston Rodeo Arena, aka 'Fort Whoop-Up', into a full scale Rodeo event. It must be the Canadian equivalent of a travelling circus that moves from town to town; bizarrely the next day there was hardly any evidence that the Rodeo was ever here!

This year we only spent a few hours at the Rodeo as it was so incredibly hot (35+) and we left earlier than originally planned to cool off in the pool at Medicine Hat. We had a brilliant time and got to see a few (short!) attempts of the cowboys riding the bulls. Alongside that the kids had a great time clambering over the various displays of armoured vehicles laid on by the Prairie Staff (as did Leigh!). The travelling cowboys are absolutely crazy & I am surprised that in our current climate of `Health & Safety` they do not wear crash helmets, let alone the event ever being allowed to go ahead at all! As you would expect, there were lots of ``oohs and ahhs`` from the crowd as each cowboy nearly got impaled on a horn or got carried off on a stretcher - but I guess that`s all the fun of the Rodeo!

It is a relief that the current MEDMAN exercise has just finished and Leigh has a few days off. The plan is to spend more time at the pool and have days out at Echodale & Elkwater. The children only have 1 more week off school; Ben is particularly gutted about that, but, unsurprisingly I am doing cartwheels around the garden!

By the way, don`t worry if you can`t understand the North American drawl - neither could the rest of us!

Wives Prairie visit

Well what fun! On Sunday night a bunch of us wives spent a night out on the Prairie to see just what our husbands get up to and to watch the final nights live fire exercise unfold. We started out at 8pm and were taken to CFB Suffield for a safety brief & helmet issue. From there we were packed in to the back of a smelly, dusty, green truck and were strapped in to what can only be described as some sort of roller coaster seat (all rather OTT I thought at this point!) for our next journey up to EXCON (Exercise Control). To get to EXCON we had to travel on what is called 'The Rattlesnake' - a very bumpy, dusty track on which we were thrown around and completely covered in dust - at this point we valued our helmets and 'OTT' seating and we all had scarves covering our faces as we couldn't see or breathe! Once we dusted ourselves off at EXCON, we were fed and watered and were given a briefing on what the whole Medicine Man (MEDMAN) exercise is about before being given more kit ready to move on to the Prairie. Packed again into our smelly, dusty truck, we had an hours drive across the Prairie where we were thrown yet again around inside this truck (I think we could be heard for miles with all the shrieking & giggling - not from me of course!) before reaching our final destination at Madden's Rock.

We arrived around 1.30am, which was when I realised that I had packed nothing of any use in my rucksack; the rest of the girls were unpacking chairs, blankets, LOTs of food and flasks of coffee - all I had brought was (a now very squashed) marmite sandwich and a hairbrush! Just as I was beginning to feel very sorry for myself, Leigh appeared from out of the darkness and took me off to watch the exercise from his very warm & cosy TSV (Training Support Vehicle). I had never really thought very much of Leigh's TSV before, but at that time in the morning on a freezing Prairie I was becoming a huge fan of it!

So, as 'Jack' as it was to abandon the wives in favour of relative warmth and comfort in Leighs TSV, I showed my true colours and was off like a shot! The exercise itself was very impressive indeed. I have to say I was utterly confused about what was going on - lots of explosions, tracer fire, loud bangs and soldiers and tanks moving around. A lot of the firing was going over our heads (which was slightly alarming!) and I was listening to all the radio nets from Leigh's TSV. Needless to say I couldn't understand a word of it! Amazingly throughout all of the noise Leigh's driver managed to kip outside in the rear of the TSV and only woke when Leigh shook him to drive us to the next point in the exercise.

Sadly, I had to leave to exercise early at 7am to get back & relieve the babysitter before the children woke, which meant I missed the finale of the 'Python' being fired - a very expensive rocket that makes alot of noise & a big mess (and apparently clears a route through a minefield)! But all in all it was a really good night and I have alot more sympathy for Leigh being very tired. It has taken me about 3 days to catch up on my sleep; the men were still working long after we left!

I have attached a little bit of film which I took during the exercise and have since edited. The last scene is the 'Python' being fired which Leigh filmed for me. Sit back, I think you will be impressed!!!

Happy Birthday Nick!

Just a quick extra blog to say Happy 38th Birthday to my older sister Nicola! Happy Birthday chick - fame at last eh! (well except for that time when you were on Swapshop!) xxx Lookin' good bird!xxx

Summer fun

A much overdue blog... Thank you for your concern in Saltash; no we haven't been eaten by dinosaurs, though I will use that as an excuse as I haven't got a better one! We have been without IT for a few days though; our laptop met with a rather unfortunate accident and is completely broken; sadly we have lost some of our photos too. On the plus side though we do now have a shiny new laptop which I am very happy with and am using now!

Leigh is busy out on the Prairie somewhere... and the children & I along with the rest of the Prairie widows have been soaking up the sun & generally relaxing! Last Friday eve we were over at the Commanders house as General & Lady Dannatt were out here visiting. He's a really nice chap. I wish Leigh had briefed me before hand though as the Canadian Chief of General Staff was out here visiting too and over dinner I asked him if he was in the Army! I didn't find out until later who he was! Oh well, it could have been worse; one of the other wives asked him if he lived in Ralston! Clearly I wasn't the only one who had no idea who he was!

I'm out on the wives visit to the Prairie on Sunday night. We go out at 8pm until the following morning to see what the boys get up to and to watch the final night live fire exercise, which is apparently pretty impressive. I'm really looking forward to it - it will be good to see what Leigh does out here after all this time. I bet the boys can hardly wait! Attached is recent footage of the children enjoying the pool in Medicine Hat & Ben skateboarding (for a change!). Olivia is first down the water slide followed by Charlie, I did pan around to try and find Ben but as per usual he was nowhere to be seen, pretending not to be out with his Mummy!

A little bit more exploring... (in the car)

Leigh had most of last week off which, with the exception of a couple of days, we spent mostly chilling out in Ralston. With lots of sunny weather and a fairly decent size pool in the garden we had another great week. We also had a visitor for a few of days - Ed Robinson who was out here 'working'(!) for a week.
We did eventually get off the garden chairs for a couple of days and visited the Provincial Dinosaur Park in the Canadian Badlands at Drumheller. It's about a 2 hour drive from here and is a really amazing place.
Apparently more dinosaur bones have been found there than anywhere else in the world and excavation is still ongoing. Some of the bones & fossils found there date back 70-90 million years. The Provincial Park itself resembles a mini Grand Canyon and has these really unusual rock pillars called Hoodoos, which also took around 70 million years to form. There is a great museum there too full of the dinosaur
skeletons which they have dug up. Whilst the children really enjoyed the museum, they were less interested by the amazing scenery & Hoodoos and much more keen to get to the nearby Go-Carting track! The Provincial Park is also home to the worlds largest (plastic!) dinosaur (left) which you can climb up inside and view the park from its jaws! If you enlarge the picture you may just be able to make out me and the children at the bottom of it!

The Great Little Canadian Roadtrip

Despite vowing that we would never hire an RV and go off camping with the kids, last week we hired an RV and went off camping with the kids! It was all quite short notice as friends of ours who had hired the RV originally bought one instead, so we took the hiring off their hands. After a very successful 'test run' camp at nearby Elkwater for a night we decided to take the plunge and head south to the US border, taking in some really fabulous sights along the way. We ended up having a brilliant week and we are so glad we did it.

We didn't travel for more than a few hours at a time and our first stop was near Lethbridge, camping next to the Oldman River. The campsite there was really good as it had an outdoor pool & great facilities. After a leisurely start the next day (kids sleeping in 'til 9am!) we made our way down to Waterton via Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump(!) & Fort Macleod. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a World Heritage Site and is the place where Indians used to kill herds of buffalo by causing a stampede and sending the buffalo over a cliff...very efficient! Fort Macleod is the first post set up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on the southern frontier and there is a replica Fort there.

Waterton is absolutely stunning; a beautiful turquoise lake set in the Rocky Mountains and it is on the border with Montana. The first night there we camped in the mountains - it was very basic but very beautiful. We made a camp fire and were joined by all sorts of wildlife around the picnic table! The beavers & chipmonks were most interested in our pile of fire wood and a stunning deer emerged from the bushes right next to us and was not bothered in the slightest by the Tingey Tribe!
We were all much relieved it wasn't a Grizzly bear; desperate as we were to see one, that would have been a little too close for comfort! The next day we moved down to Waterton Town Campsite which was much more civilised! We had an amazing 3 hour boat trip on the lake which took us over the US border and we stopped off briefly in Montana. So incredibly beautiful!

After leaving Waterton we headed home via the town of Pincher Creek and
also took in Ludbreck Falls. Just as we were giving up hope of seeing a Grizzly bear we saw 2 from the road as we were driving out of Waterton National Park. Just amazing - we think it was a Mother & Baby Cub. Leigh said 'Kerry quick! Get out and take a photo'! So I did! (Leigh would have taken it himself of course, but he was driving!). Sadly the bears look more like sheep in my photo! We stopped off for one last camp next to the Oldman River, and here we are now, back in sunny Ralston. But what a great week! We both had visions of the kids getting up a 6 every morning, jumping up and down on the beds in the RV; it couldn't have more been different - in fact Leigh & I were awake most mornings before the kids!

Sapper Supper

Apologies for this late blog. The week following Olivia's birthday party was pretty hectic and for the last 7 days we have been on a little Canadian roadtrip in our hired RV(Recreational Vehicle), which I will write a separate blog about shortly!

Olivia's party was a great success (no injured children!)and she was a very happy 5 year old, particulary with the sack full of presents she received! That week, Leigh & I also hosted the annual 'Sapper Supper' in our garden. Every year the Engineers throw a big party(for no other reason than throwing a party I think!) and our garden was
turned into 'Fort Sapper' by about 12 soldiers; complete with hay bails, fire bins, seating for 90, a large Canadian Canoe full of beer and a freezer full of wine...and of course lots of jugs of Pimms. Even the BATUS VIP Chef turned up to do the BBQ! The usual Sapper games of log-sawing & nails were laid on and it was a really great evening (well it couldn't really fail with the amount of alcohol on offer!). All 90 invited guests turned up and we then had about 20 more when gate-crashers appeared after the pub kicked out! There were still a few left in
the garden when the soldiers turned up the next morning to clear up (no surprise that Leigh was one of them!) So all in all I think just about everyone in Ralston was at our party - Leigh & I are now looking forward to all the return invites!

School's out for summer...

... Words that would normally send shivers down my spine! But as summer camp starts on Monday, I'm not too concerned! And summer is definitely here at last. We've had pretty much wall to wall sunshine all week and temps are reaching the high 20's. This weekend we are expecting highs of +36, which after experiencing -36 in January is most welcome! The only downside to all this hot sunny weather is the particularly vicious mosquitoes that we are now plagued with. We are all hoping for some very windy weather to blow them all away!


The children are all well, overjoyed in fact about the school hols! Leigh continues to be busy on the Prairie (the mosquitoes even manage to bite through their uniforms!). He did manage to have last weekend off though, which was just as well given the amount of champagne that flowed
following the fantastic news of his promotion to Lt Col. Well done Leigh, we are very proud!


Olivia has her (early) birthday party tomorrow and I expect the rest of the weekend will be spent at the splash park. I think it is fair to say that Olivia is far more excited about her party than I am at the prospect of entertaining 16+ kids!

Just a quickie!

I have just been looking over my blog archive which you will find towards the bottom of this page and have noticed that the footage of the children sledging, is now working! After hours of tinkering, it seems that for some technological reason (unknown to me!) it is now available for viewing! So take a l@@k! The blog is archived under 2007, and is dated Mon Dec 17. Ben is the first one down the hill,(it's amazing that he didn't take out a few pedestrians en route!) shortly followed by Olivia and much to Charles' frustration, I wouldn't let him go down (I'm such a bore!).

Rain, rain and more rain

As you may have gathered from the blog title, we have had rain alot of rain here. In fact it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it has been on a Biblical scale! Apparently Alberta usually sees a couple of days rain a year, even less on the Prairie, so this amount of rain is very unusual. The Prairie has now turned green, instead of the usual scorched yellow and this part of Canada now resembles the English countryside. Lets hope summer does arrive before the Arctic winter sets in again!

Apart from that all is well. The children are busy and happy, Leigh is very busy and probably not quite so happy - he's been getting a bit wet out there! Despite the weather we did make it to a neighbours BBQ on Sat evening which was fun. The children have had their various 'Track and Field' days (Sports Day to the rest of us!), which they have enjoyed.

Hopefully attached to this blog is a recent episode of BFBS which amongst other things shows Ben & Olivia in their classrooms. BFBS have been out here filming the Med Man exercises and family life here in Ralston and it has been shown on TV here. There's some footage of Leigh briefing the Canadian Armed Forces minister too. But as they didn't do any filming in the gym or the Liquor store, I have managed to avoid the same fame!

Notes for the footage - Ben is stood at the front of the class (his 'show and tell' he claims!), Olivia is sat next to her teacher and is to the left of her shoulder when talking. The house shown (with the red car) is Marluth's house and I haven't been to the 'Prairie Rose' club since we moved in!

Hutterite Visit

Even though my visit to the nearby Hutterite colony was about 10 days ago, it's safe to say that not much would have changed there! Each year a bus load of us 'BATUS tourists' are allowed to visit the colony under strict rules - no photos and no questions about religion or thier personal lives but it was a truly fascinating day. As I said in my last blog, the Hutterites' resemble the Amish in thier dress but are more progressive than the Amish in that they use 4x4's rather than horse and cart and are often seen in Walmart!

The Hutterites' originate from Europe and Sects can be traced back to the 1500's. Persecuted out of Europe they settled in the USA, but moved to Canada after thier German language and refusal to help with the war effort made then look like enemy agents! Since then colonies have sprung up througout North America & Canada. The colony we visited were about 120 strong and when the colony number grows to about 160, the group splits to form a new colony. It is up to the Elders and Church leaders to decide who stays and who goes.

We were shown around the colony by some of the Hutterite children who got a rare day off from school & chores. We saw the school house, kitchens, living accomodation, dining hall, and all the barns and outhouses and slaughterhouse (not my favourite bit!). The children start school at 7.30am and finish at 5.30pm. In the summer months they don't have as much schooling as they are out weeding the fields. All the children leave school at 15 and work for the colony. No-one has thier own money and they are pretty much self sufficient. They all eat together at set times; the food prepared in the huge kitchens. They sit at long lables, the men and boys on one side and the women and children on the other. Thier homes are identical and sparsely furnished - upright chairs, no T.V, radio - not even a kitchen as everything is communal. And when they are not at school or working, then it's Church, Church, Church! They sing Hymns but without an organ or piano as that is not permitted. Nor are cameras as they are not allowed to be photographed, so there are no family photos around the houses. The children don't have toys (they wouldn't have time to play with them anyway!), they don't play sport and they have never seen films. Each year a family might receive $100 for new shoes; they only get new clothes when there is enough material for everyone to have something. No holidays, not even Sundays, and the only socialising they can do is with other colonies. Everywhere is immaculately clean - almost clinical.


Inspite of all that, they are such a happy lot of people. The children were amazing; so well spoken and confident, and all with great sense of humour's. Some colonies are more progressive than others - the photos with this blog I took at the Heritage Park last week. They are very rare indeed... I don't think it is very often that you will get a photo of a Hutterite on a Ferris Wheel!

Busy!

After an unremarkable week last week (with the exception of a speeding fine!), this week has been pretty full on - hence the late blog. The children have started their swimming lessons, and as they are all at different levels, they all have separate lessons, which means that on top of thier usual after school clubs, I am dashing back and forth to the pool! Ben also had a golf lesson this week at the driving range here which he really enjoyed (I think I might go up there myself and smash a few balls to de-stress!).


On Tuesday I went on a visit to the nearby Hutterite colony. It was absolutely fascinating and I'll do a separate blog about it later as it's not possible to describe how these people live in a few sentences and we weren't allowed to take photos. But basically they are strict Christians, descended from Europe (German is thier first language) who live in Colonies in the USA & Canada. They resemble the Amish people in the way they dress and, though not as strict as the Amish, they live completely isolated lives, without the influences of the outside world - no tv/radio (That said, I have seen them shopping in Walmart & the Canadian Superstore!).


Leigh has had some time off The Prairie this week, so on Wednesday we took the children out of school and went to The Heritage Park in Calgary for the day. We had a brilliant time - the weather was great and there was lots to do & see. There was a steam boat ride on the lake (Ben was invited to steer the boat and got a certificate!), an old Canadian steam train, lots of fairground rides and a replica 'Wild West' street. Whilst Ben was steering the steam boat, I was chatting to the Captain - it turned out that he went to Plymouth Polytechnic (now Uni) and lived in Plympton! (For those who don't know, Plympton is a suburb in Plymouth where my Mum lives!) Small world!

Summer!

Dare I say summer is here at last?! It's been hot; around 28 degrees and sunny. We are enjoying the short time left before we get bombarded with flies and mosquitoes (or skeeto's as Olivia calls them!), and have to shut all the doors and windows and cover ourselves in repellent! Not complaining though! The children have had a fantastic time in the garden with the pool out and running through the sprinkler!
Leigh has had some time off the Prairie this weekend too so we have had the BBQ out... lovely! Not much other news really so this is a short blog this week. Just had to take this photo of Ben though who managed to get trapped in the trampoline surround the other day - I could hear him shouting "Mum, Help!"... When I saw him I said "Hang on Ben, just let me get the camera!"

What season it it here?

Well we have had an exceptionally quiet week here, so I'm not sure what I am going to write about this week - apart from the weather of course, which has been pretty grim! For the first time since arriving here, I have actually been envious of the UK weather - a mini heatwave I hear (though according to Sky news you have been under a blanket of smog as a result!). It's been cold, wet, grey and thundery, and there has even been more snow nearby. It's quite funny to see everyone dashing between buildings here in the village, dodging the rain, as it seems absolutely no one out here, including me, has an umbrella! Things are looking up as from tomorrow though, lot's of warm sunshine expected and +23 by the weekend. So it's just been the usual
round of after school clubs for the children and a couple of visits to the swimming pool. Not very exciting! Leigh is working all hours out on The Prairie; no one will be more glad than he when the weather improves. I think he spends a lot of time standing up in his vehicle with the top half of his body sticking out of the roof, so he can watch the exercise.... and therefore he gets rather wet! He has come home a few times this week soaking wet and quite unamused! Of course we have lot's of sympathy for the artic trained commando warrior!... We do!