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
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