Visiting in Jasper

In November we had planned to make a trip to Jasper to visit Davis' Grandma Nickel but the weather was not suitable to travelling. We got something like 15 cm of snow that weekend and there was also freezing rain. A combination that does not make for good roads.

With Davis' work being closed over Christmas-New Year we planned to head off again. And this time we had good weather, even if it was rather cold. We forgot our camera so Davis' phone had to suffice in trying to capture the beauty of that area.

The price of gas was good for a road trip also!

Us with Grandma Nickel, she is 92.

Taken from standing on Lac Beauvert.
They were frozen enough for walking or skating on
but we decided the wind was too cold for skating.

Athabasca Falls - partially frozen

On the last section going into Jasper I was commenting on how it almost felt like I was back in NZ, narrow road with corners, mountains, water and there was even a section with sand. But the snow falling then a herd of elk on the side of the road quickly changed that perception. The road was to busy to stop for a photo but on the way out we saw a group of bull elk which we were able to stop to admire.

Two of the four bull elk.

A Coyote that ran beside us nicely for the photo.

While in Jasper we had our third Christmas dinner with Grandma and Davis' Uncle Roy's family. It was an enjoayble time and it was so lovely to meet Grandma Nickel and some others from Davis' family. 

We were very thankful for good roads as one never knows what you will get at this time of a year. I will end with two sets of pictures taken two days after we got back.

Photos are taken 24 hours apart.

By the end of the day
over 30cm of snow had fallen.

Sewing with Denim

When the gardening season came to an end I thought I would have to find something else that I would be able to do when I was home. We didn't have a picnic blanket to use on the picnics we had, so after seeing some denim ones I thought I would give it a try. 

I got a bag full of old jeans (from someone sized bigger than me) for free so began to cut them into squares.

This was my first one. After completing it I realised that it was on the smaller side even just for the two of us so I began a second.

I got a little more creative on this one, using different shades of denim to make a pattern.

After completing that one I thought I would try to be just a little more creative and try my hand at embroidery. It certainly took longer to make this one form beginning to finish, with the embroidery and the bigger size but I enjoyed it. 



The Embroidered squares on the outside are bigger versions in colour of the pictures on the inside.

Still having some fabric left and sometime before I could begin a new sewing project with cotton I thought I would use some of it to make some gifts. 

These are hot mats.

Skirts for my Canadian nieces.

I am enjoying the time that I am spending sewing, some projects for our use now, some for the future and others to give away. I am learning things along the way, such as sewing with stretch denim makes it really hard to get a flat result!

Grandad's Visit

For the past two weeks we had the lovely privilege of having my Grandad Harris come and stay with us. It was very special to have a visitor from New Zealand and special that it was him.

When he arrived the weather was milder and there were still autumn coloured leaves on the trees. During that week we did some sight seeing around the area and went for walks. 

When it was cool in the mornings and evenings we worked on puzzles. Five were completed during his stay.

We went for drives to see some of the touristy things and the landscape. One was this curved wooden bridge built in 1943. We also went to a couple of museums to learn about the building of the Alaska Highway and history of Fort St John.

In our travels we didn't see a whole lot of wildlife but this moose was spotted on our way to church.

  
On two evenings we went out hunting bear with Davis' Dad. The first night we just saw some deer. On the second night we saw two bears. One of them we got close enough to that we certainly didn't need the binoculars. It was probably about 5 meters away then the height up the tree he climbed. It was too small to shoot so didn't get to see that part of the hunting action.

On Monday it was Canadian Thanksgiving so we had a thanksgiving meal with the Goertzen family. There was the traditional turkey then some bear roast so that Grandad could have a taste. 

On the second Wednesday we awoke to some snow. It was quite wet and the road out the the Thiessen's farm was on the icy slippery side (giving Grandad an idea of transitional winter roads).

It was hard to say goodbye at the airport on the Friday after having such a lovely time together. The time went by too fast. We look forward to seeing others from NZ either here or when we get back there.

The end of summer.

On Saturday it was a lovely sunny day with a high of 26....
On Sunday it was snowing and a high of 6. The temperature here can certainly change quickly!

Knowing what the forecast was I decided that my plants would most likely not survive several days of below ten degrees so got to picking all the tomatoes and cucumbers. The tomatoes will ripen inside over the next while, at least I am hoping that most of them will :-)

The carrots and beetroot are still in the garden, waiting to be picked in about a week.

As we drove to church on Sunday there were some flurries but not much snow to be seen.

This is what it looked like when we came out of church. There is snow falling at our place but it is melting when it gets to the ground. We had a high of 2 today.

I am thankful that when snow comes it doesn't always stay for the rest of winter, as it is technically still Autumn, but melts away. We have some warmer sunny days on the forecast for the end of the week.

Summer thus far

I was told when I was here last time that the summer was hotter than usual and not to expect that as normal. Well this summer has been breaking records and it hotter even than 2012.

The heat has helped my garden grow well. I continue to enjoy looking after that, particularly as we are now eating produce from the garden.

Last weekend the community we live in hosted a annual competition called Sand Sensations. The sculptors came from Canada, USA, Russia and the Netherlands. Davis' work was a sponsor so we went to a dinner and got to take part in the judging. The roping cowboy got first place in both the sponsor and peoples choice.

Due to the hot weather, harvest has begun already and I went out to help for a day. I look forward to going out more and spending more time driving a combine.






A new experience for me in the weekend was to learn how to chop up chickens. They had already been butchered, so we were just cutting them so we can use different parts, such as a meal of drumsticks. These chickens were huge. One weighed 10.4 pounds (4.7kg).

Davis and I found a patch of wild saskatoons which we plan to pick one evening when it is a little cooler. It involves walking up the Taylor hill, which is like going straight up the last part of Te Mata peak, not using the road. Saskatoons are similar to blueberries and I will freeze them for making various things.

Cleardale Gospel Music Festival

In years gone past, Davis and his family have played as a group at various things. This year after many years of not doing anything the family was invited to play at the Cleardale Gospel Music Festival. We all agreed that it would be a great thing to do so each Friday evening we had music practice.

On a Friday morning I look after my niece and nephew and each week they would let me know it was Friday and that meant they would be going to music practice. They seemed to really enjoy the time singing, playing with their cousins and spending time with Grandpa and Grandma.

This past weekend was the weekend of the festival. We only went out for the Sunday, the day we were playing. It was a two hour drive away and with a one hour time difference. Meaning an early start to get out to see groups in the morning. 

Our set went well with feedback letting us know that people were encouraged by the truths that were sung and also by seeing the family playing and singing together.

  

The older four children sung "Who can do anything"

All the adults (bar me, I was child minding)
sung "When we all get to heaven"

I played clarinet for an instrumental of "Be still, my soul"

The men sung several songs together.
They switched instruments and who was singing which part.

The sky was more blue than this most of the time and it was quite warm.

I look forward to spending more time with the Goertzen family in this way.

My Garden

The past months I have been enjoying the warmer weather and being able to work out in the garden. When we first moved in the ground was covered in snow and the garden box was full of dead grass. As soon as the ground was no longer frozen I got to work with pulling out the grass and roots. This was no small job but I got there.

A pile with some of the grass and roots pulled form the garden box

 With the warmer weather came a surprise. In the middle of the garden box sprung a rhubarb plant. This was not a small one and I decided that I would transplant it to leave more room for vegetables. My sister-in-law and her twins helped with this and we got it into its new home. It is growing well and I have already made a rhubarb pie from its produce.

The rhubarb plant as it started to appear from the ground.

Timothy and Lauren helping weed and transplant the rhubarb

The rhubarb doing  well in its new home beside the compost,
which is currently also an anthill.

Once the weeds were pulled, some new good soil mixed in it was time to plant some veggies. After 3 weeks, lots of watering and warm sunshine I have things growing. I am excited to watch them all grow and greatly look forward to when I can pick things to eat. 

The garden with three weeks growth.
Free accommodation when you visit FSJ if you can work out what is planted :-)

The garden out the front of the house. Has beans, along one side,
a flower bush (came out once warmed up) and two tomatoes.

I enjoy spending time weeding so that peas, carrots, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers and beetroot have room to grow and we have lots of fresh yummy things to eat for a time. The cucumber plants did not like the cold snap we had but some may yet survive. I did plant some flower seeds but they are either not coming or taking their time.