The Festive Season

The cold weather has broken after almost three weeks of around minus 30 temperatures. It's between minus 7 and 15 now and feels quite balmy but yesterday we had more snow so we are firmly in the grip of winter now. 

The last two weeks have been filled with preparing and celebrating and we all had a fine time.

Our first event on Dec 22, was a family raclette with Naomi, Oren, Steve and Helen which coincided with the 2nd night of Hanukkah.

On Dec 24 we celebrated Reuben's birthday with a pizza lunch.

Christmas Day dawned bright and cold but Nicolas had a special treat for us. He made almond croissants. Who needs a TV when you can watch dough rise? He said they were so much work that he's never doing them again but we they were so good, I'm not sure we'll allow him to keep that promise. 

Santa had come, so time to open some presents. Everyone was very happy, especially Amanda and Nick - thanks to everyone in Ontario.

We spent the afternoon preparing dinner between bouts of sitting in front of the fire watching Planet Earth. 

Boxing Day, another night of Hanukkah and friends visiting.

Truly a wonderful time was had by all, even though we rarely popped our heads outside.

In the bleak mid winter

In the bleak mid-winter 
  Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, 
  Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, 
  Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
  Long ago. 

Christina Georgina Rosetti 1830 -1894

This is one of my favourite carols and the one I always hum when it gets really cold here in St. Albert.  And it is really cold today, although it's warmer than yesterday when it was minus 40.  Hah, warmer is a strange adjective to use when we are talking about the difference between minus 40 and minus 30. 

Some people think a dry cold doesn't feel as bad as a humid cold. And it is dry here, our hair crackles with static electricity and our lips feel as puckered up as a dried apple skin. But for  those of you who haven't experienced temperatures this cold, trust me, when it gets to minus 30 centigrade, dry or wet,  it's COLD - brrrr.  

I took these photos from the kitchen windows. Now the strange thing that you will notice, is that the sun is shining and all looks quite warm apart from the snow. Blue sky and sunshine in the winter is what most diehard Albertans cite as the reason they wouldn't want to live in BC (and it rains too much there supposedly). Now tell me, would you trade this picture for a few drops of rain?

If not, consider this, when we go out today, we must cover all expose skin because it will freeze in about 4 minutes. But we don't bother as we dash from car to shop, because we are hardy and foolish (for living here). 

This is probably not the last time I'll talk about the weather on this blog. 

It's beginning to look like Christmas

We got a Christmas tree from Ikea (rather appropriate as most, okay be honest Susan,  all of our furniture is from Ikea - I make a bit of a joke about it but the truth is I love Ikea furniture).  What's not to like? You get to build it yourself, it's inexpensive (dare I say cheap?), it's modern and Swedish. Reuben and I used to joke that we had quality time together in Ikea. That gives you a sense of how devoid we are here in St. Albert of interesting day out opportunities.

The tree is lovely, very full and even. Amanda did a wonderful job of decorating it and and some trial and error we found the perfect spot in the front window. 

Happy Birthday Amanda

There's a new car in our driveway. A cute orange Toyota Yaris. It turned up a couple of days before Amanda's birthday. Just like most Albertans we now have a car for every adult in the household but it's essential to have wheels here as our bus service is abysmal and Nick's car likely won't last the winter.

Amanda and Nick celebrated her birthday at the Unheardof, one of the best places to eat in Edmonton and then we had birthday cake.

Convocation

Yippee!

Nicolas received his degree yesterday at the University of Alberta's convocation ceremony. It was a proud moment for us all. His grandmother came from Vancouver to attend the ceremony, braving the winter weather (which is still very mild). Preston Manning was awarded an honorary degree and he gave a wonderful speech urging the graduates to be beacons of ethical principles.  

Reuben was able to sit on the stage and be the first to congratulate Nicolas. 

Nick and his dad.

Nick and his grandma.

I've never seen Reuben in his robes. I think he looks great!

We had a wonderful time and in the evening we all went out for a celebratory dinner. 

Naming of St. Albert

Last week our local paper brought up the question: which saint was the City of St. Albert named after?

I said earlier in the blog, that our city was named after Father Lacombe’s patron saint. But then, I didn’t realize that there are 11 St. Albert’s in the brotherhood of saints. So which one was it?

Just off our main street, hidden in a walkway, is a statue of St. Albert the Great. He’s the patron saint of scientists and as we have a statue of him, one would assume he’s the man. However, it seems that he could not possibly have been Father Lacombe’s patron saint as St. Albert the Great didn’t become a saint until 1931, 70 years after the founding of St. Albert.

 

Well, we have a few scientists in our house so it’s a good association for us.

But who is the right saint? According to Father Lacombe’s biography, the naming of St. Albert happened like this:

 

“On Jan. 14, 1861, Lacombe and Bishop Taché stood in the snow on top of what is now Mission Hill. Taché turned to Lacombe and said, in French, "My Father, this site is charming. I choose it for the founding of a mission which you will name Saint Albert, in honour of your patron saint."  

I took this photo from the top of Mission Hill looking down at what is now the centre of St. Albert.

 

So Father Lacombe's biography doesn't name the saint. But it seems most of the evidence points to Albert of Louvain, cardinal-bishop of Liège. Born in France in 1166, he became a bishop when he was just 25. He was caught in a power struggle in the church and murdered in 1192.

Back to the statue….some councilors have suggested that even if our city wasn’t named after St. Albert the Great we can still have him as the city’s patron saint. I think that’s a very sensible solution and a good reason to keep this lovely little statue, maybe we could even move it to a more prominent spot.

 

 

 

Chickakoo Lake

It was my birthday yesterday. Nick and I were wondering whether to go out for lunch or go for a walk at Chickakoo Lake. It was a lovely fresh November day here so we opted for a walk. I'm glad we did. Chickakoo Lake is a natural area about 20 minutes drive west from St. Albert. 

We arrived just after 10am and we were the only people in the parking lot. On Nov 11 we had a dusting of snow but the air was mild and the colours of the landscape were stunning. 

Bright blue sky and yellow grass. There's lots of hills on the walk so we had a good lung stretcher. The trails wind their way through aspen forests, rolling parkland and four small lakes.

That evening Amanda and Nick prepared a delicious meal. Roast bison stuffed with peppers, spinach and cheese, creamy cheese baked onions, salad with olive dressing and a yummy lemon almond cake. It was a wonderful day.