Monday, October 22, 2012

The Leaf Lady

Grandma Lady picked the best time to come and visit us in Winnipeg. Raking season! Known for her rake handling skills, we put all our neighbors to shame and collected nearly 50 bags of leaves from our front and back yard.

I have to admit, I likely would have not gone quite to the extent that GLady insisted - she left no leaf behind, even extending her trip another day to finish the job right!

Besides the yard work, we of course showed off our new location and checked out a few new venues and sights while we was here.


We went antique hunting, took in a couple of museum visits, shopping trips and other outdoor excursions. But we all agreed our favourite outing was to the gelato store. We loved it so much we went twice!

We were sad to see her leave after such a great week together.  It was great to welcome her as our first visitor and we are so grateful for her trip east to help us out. Safe travels home Grandma Lady, the gelato is so good here, maybe you'll come again???


Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Sleeping on the job

Robin and a group of his students and colleagues fired the train kiln this weekend. Endearingly called the 'fatboy', this kiln was rebuilt in 2010, but this weekend's firing marked only it's second firing since the rebuild.

With my mom in town for a Grandma Lady visit, I was able to sneak over to join the midnight crew for a couple of stokes. And this is how I caught the potter- sleeping on the job!

Hard work, but somebody has to do it.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Thanks!!

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday weekend this year in the Ontario wilds. A first I must say!

We got an invite from our friend Mike to spend the weekend with his family out at a cabin at the ELA - Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario.

About a four hour drive east from Winnipeg, Mike spends a good chunk of time in the milder months doing research on the lakes.

The ELA is a natural outdoor laboratory that was established in the 1960s. It is unique in this world and is the only place that scientists can conduct experiments on whole lakes to understand the emerging threats to our freshwater ecosystems and fish populations.

It is a place of pristine beauty. Hundreds of lakes cropping out of the Canadian shield and a community of dedicated people that have been working for decades to better understand the effects we as humans have on the quality of our water sources.

The devastating part is that our current government is short sightedly shutting the place down next year. Closing the ELA will certainly threaten the health of our fresh water and fisheries when it ceases to provide the world with the vital and invaluable information needed to manage and protect our fresh waters.



The invitation to come out and spend the weekend there was especially appreciated because of the uncertain future of the ELA.  We also were thrilled to spend a few days with our new pals, Mike, Carmen and their adorable kidlets. Speaking of being thankful, this year in particular my gratitude goes out to having found some great people to hang with already in our new city.

Have reconnected with Mike and Carmen (folks from our Calgary past), and realizing their kids and ours were going to be friends from the get go, has made our transition to Winnipeg much smoother. A big 'Thank you' to Jess for hooking us all back up:)


Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday, October 1, 2012

WAG by day, WAG by night

This weekend the Winnipeg Art Gallery (the WAG) celebrated it's 100th year anniversary with ongoing birthday celebrations throughout the day.

The kids and I checked out the festivities, taking in the Winnipeg Now exhibit and family activities on the roof top of the museum.

Then when they were safely tucked into bed, I headed back downtown to meet up with Jennie for a girl's night out, to celebrate Winnipeg's Nuit Blanche.

The concept of Nuit Blanche started in France in the mid 1980s and Winnipeg is celebrating it's third event - coinciding with Culture Days.


Jennie and I toured the downtown core on our bikes from 9 p.m. until 3 a.m. A slightly different vantage (and audience) than during the day, it was a great night out on the town with a new friend. Thanks Jennie!