( Go Habs Go! )

She only watched the first period, hence the smiles.

I did something yesterday I haven't done in such a long time, in fact I don't think I have ever done completely of my own volition.

I went to church. It was not due to any change in my religous proclivities, but purely as a political act. You see, last Sunday was Black watch Sunday at the church we went along to, which is the Regimental church of the Black Watch Canada. But wait, what's that you say? I'm neither religous nor particularly militaristic? Hang on, I'm not done yet.

You see, this church has strong ties to the old Scottish community of Montreal, as well as to McGill, Which meant that most of the folks I met on Burns night were in the congregation there. They mentioned at the time that the Black Watch Parade up Sherbrooke to this ceremony was something of an institution, and one that I (and my family) should go along to. Feeling more than a little beholden to my drunken promise to go along (as the lady I met there has called me a couple of times since with helpful details on the Pharma industry in town, and people she knows within it), we did.

The service itself was pretty much as I expected, and indeed very similar to those I went to as a kid (didn't you know I went to Sunday school and the BBs?), and although K expressed surprise at the number of Scots/Brits there, I wasn't too surprised. It was interesting to see that there is such a community still in Montreal, (I'm sure if I worked at McGill, and not UdeM, this would not have been as much of a revelation) that was not Brits in Montreal, or had been devoured in the 1970s by raging francophilia.

So, step two in operation "Infiltrate Scottish Mafia" is complete. Now, if only getting fuller recognition amongst them didn't mean regular church going...

My lil bro went and done his first marathon at the weekend. Dead impressed!

He was a little annoyed that he didn't beat his goal of under the 4 hour mark, but I don't think that belittles the achievement at all.

( Go go Uncle G! )

Latest pics of the little one. These ones are not holiday related, just the most recent.

( Read more... )

( In Wales )

( Torchwood! )

( Over the Border and into Edinburgh )

( Uncle G turns 30 )

( Up to Aberdeen )

Yes, there are more pics, with lots more people, but what do you think this is? Facebook?

All back safe and sound to the great white north, where in the space of 2 weeks it has gone from the depth of winter to blazing summer.

I'll do a fuller report of the travels back to the homeland, including pics later, but suffice it to say it was good to catch up with everyone, and despite the sad reason for the trip, I think I can safely say we had a good and full 2 weeks.

L has proven herself to be a fine traveller, and is no worse affected by the jetlag on return than K and I were (the whole family was up and about at 5am this morn), so we'll be making sure we do more of that kind of thing without fear of her exploding on the plane.

Don't be forgetting about this people.

http://www.earthhour.org/

Well, do't forget if you already knew about it that is. If you didn't know about it, then, well, you do now, so don't forget!

Things are all change here. K is back to work, and L is off to day-care, for the mornings at least. So, For now, I've taken to posting the pics K usually put up.

The two ladies are tucked up in bed, so it's down to me to post some pictures of the two beauties, and what's more, they're not here to veto my selection! :D

( Some pics from March )
They're a little large. Must resize the next lot...

We finally got round to using our free passes for Mt Tremblant, that we "won" back on
Burns night.

We got there Friday night, and, without the stimulus of TV/laptops/other distractions, we all fell asleep as soon as we got into the room at the hotel. This meant we were up bright and early on Saturday. As the rest of the party didn't arrive till that afternoon, and the slopes closed at 4.30, I didn't use the pass that day, but K had a skiing lesson. I have some photos and some video footage, but I somehow think I won't be posting them... ;)

Sunday was when we all hit the slopes (for some that's a figurative term, for others, like me, literal). It seems that I am prone to a particular injury when snowboarding, and it's not a pleasant one. See, what happens is I get up some speed, then fall over. This in itself is nothing surprising, nor in itself lasting in damage. But sometimes I fall on one butt-cheek. Just one. The other then continues to fly down the slopes at whatever speed I had reached, causing what can only be described as a 'tearing' sensation. Not nice. :(

We plan to get away again this weekend to the closer slopes of St Sauveur (K has been bitten by the skiing bug now too. She puts me to shame, she didn't fall once) to catch the last snows of the season. Yay!

( In other news, some pics of our game of pass-the-parcel at the hotel. )

Last weekend we went to Quebec City to visit the Ice Hotel there. The whole thing being built from ice and snow.

( Not much more to say that the pictures don't already... )

On the way back to Montreal, we stopped off at Montmorency Falls. We've both been there before, but neither of us during the winter. The falls weren't completely frozen, but enough to notice, and the hill of frozen spray was starting to build up.
( More pics )

( Picture )
It's been a while since Burns night, but this year (after having talked about joining the St Andrew's Society since we arrived) I finally made it along to one of their events. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a baby-sitter in time so I had to go alone. Well, I say alone, I was there with a fellow Scot's immigrant, Angus, who had joined the society.

It was pretty much as we expected, we were the youngest there by quite a margin. Still, the night was a success, in a couple of ways. Firstly the woman I was sitting beside, as well as looking like anybodies Glaswegian Granny, and being just as nice, had in fact been working in the pharmaceuticals industry in Montreal for the last however many years. The next day I got a call from her saying that she was going for coffee with a friend rather high up in some company or other, and would mention my name. Now I've heard of all these societies scratching each others backs and the like, but really, this was fast! I mean we haven't even joined fully yet.

The other thing about the night was the raffle. Your number was on your ticket, and all the prizes were pre-drawn before the announcements made after the toasts. Angus and I had our eye on a bottle of Bowmore, but it was not to be. Instead we won 2 day passes each to Mont Tremblant ski slopes. We were rather dumbfounded (and by this point in the night rather pissed to boot) as we wandered down to collect our prizes. But as we congratulated our selves on our luck, it seemed that there was something a little suspicious about it. That we, the two young bloods, one who they wanted to join, and one who they wanted to get on some committees, should win the top prize with 2 consecutively numbered tickets...

Well, what can I say. Fantastic! :D

On the down side, I did walk in to work this morning to find out from a French colleague that the Six Nations had started. Bummer.

...and a belated Happy Hogmanay to you all.

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Apparently a pretty rare combination, and yet, it's happening here today.

The locals who read this won't need telling, but we're having a bit of a storm here today. Forecast to be up to 2 foot of snow falling today (60 cm to the metric-heads). Some kind of local record I've been told. Anyway, it's a lot of fun to watch it falling, and the thunder and lightning was a little added extra, even if it was only one bolt. Maybe I'll get some pics up once it eases off (i.e. tomorrow).

Went to the supermarket to stock up yesterday, so we'll be alright if we get snowed in.

Forecasts say this might be the coldest winter in a decade, other reports suggest the coldest in a generation. It seems for all our whining last year we may have to finally face the extremes in temeperatures and weather that Quebec has to offer.

Lots of snow since last night (27 cm in the last 24 hrs I think), and to continue for the next couple of days.

( A rather blurred photo of the tree outside our flat. )

So over in the Old Country, we carve a turnip into a lantern (tumshie lantern), and use it to light the way when we're out 'guising. Well, I've never carved a turnip, as they're right hard buggers to empty out, so my Dad always did it, then we'd draw the face we wanted on it, and he'd cut it out. Over here in the New Countries, they use pumkins. Now pumkins are great in one respect, they're already hollow, or pretty much, which saves a whole lot of time. They do have the downside of giving me the dry boak when scooping out the innards. They stink, and are completely inedible (yes, you may tell me of a hundred and one recipies for the insides of pumkins, but tell me this, if they're so great, why do you only eat them at halloween?). At least you can eat the inside of a turnip.

Ok, so pumkins also come much bigger than turnips, and you can do much more intricate stuff on them, even though you'd break your back if you carried it round the street with you. Here's an example what I blatantly ripped off the internet:



( Some more pictures under here. )