Merry Christmas from Canada!

Dear Lynette,

Merry Christmas to all of our wonderful family and friends!!! James and I wish you all a Happy Holiday and a safe and spectacular 2008.

James and I are eagerly awaiting or own Christmas day (one sleep to go!).

Our tree is below
James and I
James and I by the river

Walking on Water
The Icebergs
Calgary Christmas Displays

And finally the Reids on 17th!!! How did they know we were coming?
We will post again soon with tales of our first, brown Christmas here in Calgary. (No snow in sight!!).

Love Chantelle and James

Christmas is a coming and the river is icing over!

Dear Lynette,

We hit a balmy +3 today in Calgary!!! It turns out we might not get a White Christmas if we get a Chinook through. Chinook is Inuit for "The Snow Eater" and that's literally what the Chinook winds do, sweep through the country side and increase the temperatures from -15 to +10 in less than a few hours and we are scheduled for one tomorrow, then again they advertise the weather forecast on our local station as a guestimate of what could happen in the week and I would have to agree!!! Calgary seems to have its own micro-climate which makes it near impossible to figure out what's going to happen!!!

James and I made the trek to Walmart last week to get out Christmas decorations for the house, an experience which would have been enjoyable but for the 4'5" motion activated Santa that wouldn't shut up....mostly because Mum's thought it would be a cute way to keep their children occupied, much to the chagrin of the rest of the world's population. Don't get me wrong I love children but I whole heartedly agree that a child free happy hour when the shops are packed would be awesome oh and even better if they also had specially designated areas for "family and friend reunions" in the shopping mall instead right in the main thoroughfare FFS is it that hard to stand to the side of the aisle!!

Anyhows 3 hours later we had a lovely wee tree and Christmas lights adding a nice festive feel to the living area in our house (pictures to follow when I remember to charge the camera). Now to decide on Turkey v Chicken for Christmas dinner!

One a different note entirely James and I went and saw the Golden Compass last week with a hoard of people from work and knitting. The outing itself was fantastic!! The movie was, well pretty awful!!! Nicole Kidman gets kudos for nailing the role of Mrs Coulter to a tea, she was awesome and the special effects were wonderful. The American fluffy ending was unbelievably annoying and the fact that they removed all reference to the church and Adam and Eve was true to the American need to protect God and country and it really takes away from the movie.....the whole series is about Atheism people that's why its called His Dark Materials trilogy!!!! I won't say anymore because it frustrates me to no end and I wouldn't want to spoil it for those who are yet to view it. (It did however make the Catholic Schools in Canada pull the books from all of their schools!)

James and I have recently discovered that the Bowness River runs just behind our house and has a plethora of beautiful walking tracks and an off the lease dog park. Today we decided to take a stroll to see what the river was like up close and personal in the midst of a beautiful autumn day (yes you heard me right Winter starts officially 21st December). Below are some of the pictures we managed to get before the camera died (we are getting a new one in the next week or two thank goodness!).
This next photo is of the icebergs that have broken off the ice shelf that you can see in the left of the top picture. If you closely the brown thing you can see in the ice is actually a pretty big rock that is frozen inside the iceberg.




Now I am also going to attempt to attach a small video we took of the river today..fingers crossed.





So all is going pretty well here in Calgary for us right now. James and I have made some great mates and are looking forward to Christmas. Though I can't believe its only 9 days away!! I have been shopping for James' presents and I have to say I am pretty excited about what I have him, all suitably geeky!

We both get homesick from time to time, but it is definitely much easier with our new friends around and each other. Mum and Dad are keeping me updated with news and pics from home regularly and I am so appreciated of the pictures!!! I will leave you with a gorgeous shot of my beautiful puppy taken yesterday.

Love
Chantelle

Chix with Stix.......tim tam slam goes horribly wrong!

Dear Lynette,

Well it has been a very busy last couple of weeks for the Reids here in Calgary. We have spent much of our time being social butterflies with Friday night drinks and Christmas parties and movies!!

Last weekend I went to my Chix with Stix Christmas Potluck. It was fabulous!!! We spent the night eating yummy food (including some Aussie cuisine.......Lamingtons) knitting and chatting about anything and everything!!

Yaz and I introduced the Canadians to the Tim Tam slam, it interesting to note that is possible to inhale hot chocolate laden Tim Tams and no its not pleasant!!


It was also at the potluck that I found out what you do when the room you book fails to come with a fridge....just chuck it outside!!


As you can see above not only were the ladies introduced to Lamingtons and Tim Tams I even managed to find some Aussie Sparkling which was fantastic. I can honestly say I shocked at the price of the bubbly here though, what we consider a cheapy in Oz ($4 bottle) costs a little of $14!! OMG!!

So I suppose I should actually show you what I have been knitting at my group! I have about four UFO's (knitspeak for unfinished objects). At the moment I am concentrating on getting my cardigan knitted, its my first attempt at clothing. What do you think?



I have also managed to make my first ever sock with the help of my mate Sam and the pattern suggested by Bells (Thank You!!). Its a tiny little prototype just big enough to fit my cell phone.
I really enjoy my time with the girls at knitting, they have truly helped both James and I to feel at home here in Calgary, which I can honestly say has made a huge difference! (for those of you planning to move O/S soon I highly recommend getting into a group that interests you as soon as you touchdown cause there is nothing like having friends to count on when you move to a new city/country on the other side of the world!!).

Love Telle

Calgary Zoo....and the the cold!!

Dear Lynette,

Just wanted to say its -21 outside.....-29 with the windchill. Its fair to say that it is really freaking cold outside right now!!!

James and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary last weekend. Its gone by so fast. We decided to spend the day traversing the Calgary Zoo. It was fantastic. They have it seperated into a variety of habitats including one very kitch Prehistoric park complete with fake dinosaurs and rock strata!! We loved it! The prehistoric wasteland below has the typical Calgarian skyline with the Calgary Tower in it, very reminiscent of Sydney and Canberra's towers really!




The zoo itself is phenomenally huge and actually crosses over the Bowness River which runs the length of the city. The river has started to freeze over on the edges, and you can stand on the bridge and watch chunks of ice flowing past. It is truly breath taking!

I think the two places we enjoyed most were without a doubt the Hippos and the Elephant Crossing where we were introduced to the Zoo's newest edition 3 month old baby elephant Malti. She was an absolute delight to watch, and was very cheeky. She grabbed hold of a cardboard box they had given her and thinking she wasn't supposed to have it ran off when the trainers came anywhere near her with a big grin on her face. (It was so unbelievably cute! and for those who know our puppy Riley they could be related with their cheeky behavior!)


We also go to see Hippo's! OMG they were amazing to watch in the water so graceful and agile, the contrast when they hopped out for a wander around their enclosure was amazing. They were so huge and awkward! James was brave enough to pose for a piccy next to one of the hippos, you have to be careful as they like to mark their territory and apparently get visitors as well!
We also got to see Piranha, wolves, reindeer, porcipines, monkeys and the saddest of all a pygmy crocodile. Why is it sad you may ask....well think about it you come into the world look around and go "Hell yeah I'm a crocodile...awesome!" and the come to find that you got jipped in the genetic lottery when you realise you won't get any bigger than about a metre!

They even had an Australian exhibit where I engaged in an argument with an eight year old who kept trying to tell me that the Wallabies (clearly marked on the exhibit not that I needed it to know what they were...I am Australian for crying out loud!) were Kangaroos! He wouldn't believe me that they were Wallabies even after I explained that Wallabies were a heck of a lot smaller and had different facial characteristics and fur.......he then asked how I knew what they could be and when I told him I was Australian and new what a Kangaroo looked like he looked me dead in the eye and said "Well they are Kangaroos!!"....the little snot!!



Now no post would be the same without an update on our beautiful and much missed puppy Riley. He is having a ball with his Grandparents at home in Oz! He loves nothing more than to go for a paddle in his own little swimming pool (entirely necessary given its hitting 40 degrees regularly right now). He then curls up with his favorite toy a long sausage dog (used to be a draught stopper) on the back verandah! These are the latest piccy's form Mum and Dad who love him to bits (even though he's been very naughty of late digging holes in the back yard!). Maybe the Santa outfit will put him back on the "nice list" fro Christmas!! What do you think?
I love our puppy!!! (Thank you heaps Mum and Dad for looking after him for us!!).

Anyhows I am off to have dinner and knit some more of my cardy!

Love Chantelle

P.S Thank you for the Tim tams and Vegemite Mum and Dad, and James and Yas (I have been spoilt rotten with Aussie supplies and I love you all for it!!)