It's a fine time for me to be in Ontario. It's Easter and the whole family was together at the Schepen's for Easter dinner. Here is Kayla and Kristin being sisterly. Kristin just came back from her first tour of Europe so I saw a lot of her interesting photos which made me want to go back for a visit too.

And here's my whole reason for the trip. My new little niece Kate with here parents. She is so tiny - 15 months old and full of beans, running around and poking her little fingers into everything, including trying to get some keyboard marks onto this blog. Now I remember what it was like with a one-year-old around!

Looked out the window this morning after watching Everton beat Arsenal (yeah!!!!) I saw the sun brilliantly reflecting off the snow. A beautiful March Sunday, so I phone my friend Debbie and we decided to take a nice walk. Walking to her house (usually a 15 minute walk), the south wind was blowing in my face as fiercely as a north wind. My face and legs were freezing. The warmth of the sun couldn't penetrate the wind although the brilliance made my eyes water. Sidewalks are not shovelled so I walked in snowmobile tracks. This was like walking on sand dunes, up and down, up and down, my feet sinking in the snow making walking slow. Half way there, I stepped onto the road to continue my journey. As the city seldom ploughs the roads the hard packed snow was slippery and treacherous with ice. But alas, I persevered and arrived to find Debbie waiting at the end of her drive for me. Although I was ready for a hot cup of tea at that point, we had what turned out to be a lovely walk. I did get my cup of tea at her house at the end of our walk. Here is a picture of Debbie at her house standing beside the snow she shovelled off her driveway yesterday.

Great Big Sea

Originally, I wasn't too excited about seeing Great Big Sea, but now I say that if you have a chance to see them, do it! They have so much energy and get everyone stomping and clapping. They were great! A fine ending for all the hours the volunteers have put into making the Games successful. And this is the end of my Games commentary.
Took this picture to give you an idea of how many volunteers attended the final party. The huge ATCO tent was full tonight - I'm sure all 4,000 volunteers were there.

In a sea of orange coats, I found Sue at the Volunteers' Party tonight. She came from Ontario to take part in the Canada Games. Was great to see her. This pic is for Jenn.

End of Games

The photo above shows the flags of all the provinces flying at the Canada Games Centre.
This photo is from Mount Sima, our ski hill about 20 minutes outside Whitehorse where the skiing/snowboarding events took place. The closing ceremonies were yesterday afternoon and throughout the night I could hear the planes taking off from the Whitehorse airport. Tonight is the Volunteers' Party, a thank-you to all 4,000 volunteers that helped make these games a success. Great Big Sea is the feature band and it will be great to see everyone again all assembled under one big tent. The last of my house guests left today and soon life will be back to normal. It was an exciting two weeks!

I'm volunteering for Squash now. The venue is close enough to walk to every day - which is a pleasure now that the weather has warmed. There is only one court at the school, the others are downtown, but this is where the bronze, silver and gold games will be played so by Friday, it will become more exciting. Went to see the BC/Yukon Girls Hockey game tonight. BC won 15-0, but having said that the Yukon goalie had 98 shots on goal, so considering that fact, I think they did OK.

Here's Sue (all decked out in her Volunteer Columbia jacket) and her mum at the airport. She has been here for just over a week and is now on her way home. Was at the airport on Friday and as it was "turn around" day, the airport was packed with athletes leaving and new ones coming in. Unfortunately, due to inclement weather conditions across Canada flights were delayed or cancelled and athletes returning home are now stuck in cities across Canada for days, waiting for flights home. Today (Sunday) our airport had returned to normal. Tomorrow, I start my volunteering at Squash. Keep watching TSN, CBC and APTN to watch some of the action and see glimpses of our fair city.

Now, don't expect me to keep up my blog the way I have in the last week. I am just trying to keep you all up to date with what's happening during the 2007 Canada Winter Games - the biggest event ever to be held in Whitehorse. Today, I drove my house guest down to her venue, and grabbed my camera to take some pictures around town. This snow sculpture is just outside the railway station at the foot of Main Street (the picture doesn't do it justice - it is fabulous - the dogs circle around the mountain of snow).
Atco Place is the huge tent set up for opening and closing ceremonies. It is located on 2nd Avenue across from Northern Elegance and the plaza with the liquor store. In between ceremonies, it is a cultural and entertainment center (in fact, I'm going to see a blues band there tonight). As you can see, there are two new snow sculptures in progress in the front of the tent.
And this in the Canada Games Centre, which houses 2 ice rinks, the pool, and the multi-purpose room for a variety of sports including badminton and judo. I tried taking a picture of the flame, but with the wind chill it was -41 degrees C, and having to park a distance from the centre, I wasn't risking frostbite just for a picture!

Just received some new pictures of Kate. She is now adjusting to life in America - she sleeps through the night and can say momma and dadda. I can't wait to meet her.

The last day of long track speed skating. It remained cold for the skaters, but at least the sun was shining today. Watched some Team Pursuits - the last of the many races and thoroughly enjoyed them. It has been an experience and learning process for me these last few days. I know a bit more about the sport and will enjoy watching it in the future. Although the racers were cold and sometimes frostbitten, they were a great group of athletes - always ready to go. Next week, I will learn about Squash!

This picture I did shoot myself. The races went on today as scheduled despite the bitter wind. The frazzle of day one is over and I think everyone is just getting accustomed to operating in -37 degree weather.

I promised you pictures and now they begin. This is an aerial shot of the long track speed skating oval in Riverdale. You can see FH Collins Secondary School (it has a yellow wall on the bottom of the photo), the oval in the centre of the photo and behind the trees is the Yukon River and the SS Klondike. Of course, I didn't take this photo, but liked it so thought I'd share it with you.

Correction

I feel like a newspaper inserting a correction in the next day's paper. This is how rumours start! Hypothermia was not the problem with the skater yesterday and she did not have to be taken to the hospital. I don't know exactly what was wrong - some type of respiratory problem (one's lungs can freeze quickly in this weather) - could have been a recurring problem, I don't know, but it was corrected by the medical team on site. I apologize for the misinformation.

Here is my volunteer position at the kimik desk. Pictured are my co-workers Jennifer and Tjitske. Well, the first day of the races were C O L D. Due to weather conditions, we had not only a late start but the scheduled races were changed around. It was -37 with the wind chill and the skaters wear only thin Lycra suits. They were all very very cold indeed. Despite this, a record was broken (although not yet official)! (Ontario, Saskatchewan, Ontario, came 1st, 2nd, 3rd). Due to the cold, the electronic timers were not operating, so all was done on a manual basis, which was very time consuming. All races on all days were to start at 9:00 AM, but due to weather conditions, the start time has been delayed on all days to 1:00 PM and the number of days racing lengthened. Today - the 2nd day of racing - saw the 1:00 start and the men and women did race, but by 2:00 one of the racers was taken to the hospital with hypothermia, so further races were cancelled for the day. This weather is playing havoc with the games. The cold looks like it will continue for the remainder of the week. I know we Canadians love to talk about the weather, but we have extreme weather to talk about. If interested, here's a link to keep you up with our weather conditions click here . Will try to take some pictures of the skaters tomorrow - weather permitting!

Speed Skating Update

As I'm sitting in my nice warm house rather than at the results desk at speedskating, thought I'd update those interested. It is currently -36 degrees celcius at almost 9:00 AM (a degree colder than 6:30 AM), so the start time of the races has been delayed in the hopes of warmer temperatures coming later in the day. It is suppose to be a high of -22 degrees celcius, so lets hope with the sun coming up, it brings warmth.

2007 Canada Winter Games

The 2007 Canada Winter Games are now upon us. Plane loads of athletes and visitors are now arriving into Whitehorse (in fact all the planes are full heading north all this week). The opening ceremonies are tomorrow afternoon (I'm attending the rehearsal tonight though) and soon our city will be full to max. As you know, I'm volunteering with long track speed skating (if you check the results in the computer, guess who put them there!!) starting Saturday. The weather - though typical for the north - is not quite cooperating. It's -25 celcius right now (-37 with the wind chill), not great for outdoor events - and the forecast shows Friday @ high -23, Saturday high -28, Sunday high -26 (low -36) and Monday high -26 (low -38). Not too promising. If you know of someone participating or are interested in a particular sport, here is the Canada Games web site: click here . You should be able to watch some of the sports on CBC or TSN. Here is what the TSN site says:

Winter Games to make broadcast history

TSN Release

5/9/2006 1:07:41 PM

The 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse, Yukon is set to become the most televised Canada Games ever in the 40 year history of the competition.

TSN and RDS along with Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and CBC Sports will be the official broadcasters of the Games, scheduled to take place from February 24 to March 10 in 2007.

In total, 130 broadcast hours will be devoted to the competition including 50 hours of coverage supplied by TSN.

So check your listings, if you want to watch the fun on TV.

AND if you want to see what Main Street looks like, here is the Whitehorse webcam: click here .

Welcome to the family Kate

Here's the new family, just over 24 hours after arriving in Canada. As part of my family went to visit our newest family member on Sunday, here is the report from Kate's Aunt Teri:

What a little cutie. She is so beautiful!! She has an adorable face with these beautiful long eyelashes - lucky girl. She is actually much smaller than she looks in pictures. She is very sturdy on her feet and gets around really well. She is thrown off of any routine she's had and likes Lisa to carry her around, not to forget she also is all stuffed up with a cold just like her Mom and Dad. It's a lot for a little one to adjust to new people, country, language, time change .... but she is doing well. So are the parents very happy and tired. In this picture you can see John in the background zonked out. He was there in the middle of traffic sleeping for most of our visit.

Appreciate the update Aunt Teri!

When I think of winter now, I think of Arizona, New Mexico, Costa Rica...I know, I'm getting old and always wonder what I'm doing in the freezing cold. I left speed skating to go and watch the race start of the Yukon Quest. As the oval is next to the Yukon River, I stopped off there to take some pictures. This is looking towards the dam - the reason why the river doesn't freeze completely in the winter anymore. Then I decided watching Manchester United play Charlton Athletic (which I taped this morning), in front of my fireplace while sipping my hot coffee was a better idea than standing in a crowd watching dogs mushing in the cold (sorry cousin Frank), so here I am at home. If you do want to keep up with the Quest, click here. Once again, my cousin is running the race. He's only missed one year's race since conception in 1984, which was last year, but his son Saul entered that race. If you are CBC listeners, last Monday, Sheilagh Rogers interviewed Frank and Saul on Sounds Like Canada. Here is what CBC radio said about the interview:

Every year, mushers in the North embark on a marathon race between Whitehorse and Fairbanks with their dogsled teams. The Yukon Quest is a true test of endurance - a fact no one knows better than Frank Turner. He's run every race since 1984 - except one. Last year, Frank took a break and his son Saul ran their Muktuk Adventure kennel dogs in the race. It turns out, that was a good year to miss. Shelagh Rogers talks with Frank and Saul Turner about one of the most dramatic races in past history - and the road that lies ahead this year.

Good Luck Frank!

Saying hello to my new vehicle, here it is parked in front of the SS Klondike, a paddlewheeler which used to ply the Yukon River, and is now a National Historic Site in Canada. If you're interested in learning more about the SS Klondike, click here.

Although cold, it is quite beautiful watching the sun rise over the oval.
Up early this morning to participate in the long track speed skating time trials test event. Although I am inputing race results in the computer, and didn't really have to be there, I attended as I know so little about the sport. The first hour was in a nice warm classroom with a review of the event. Then it was outside in -22 degrees celcius as volunteers practiced their jobs (with volunteer skaters) on the oval. (Heather, I noticed the sun began to shine in the classroom window at 8:30 AM - getting earlier every day). After watching for about an hour, I was so glad I am volunteering for a nice warm inside position.

Eeeeek...I have finally done it. This is the last whole day I will own my Nissan Pathfinder. I've just cleaned it out and fondly took a picture of it. Signed the papers for my new Nissan X-Trail this morning. I'm now having anxiety attacks --- did I do the right thing? I drove the new car this morning and must admit, I DO like it and I WILL feel better driving down the Alaska Highway come spring. From experience, I know that after 10 years, a truck cannot help but start falling apart, so I must have done the right thing---right?!? But it is like letting go of a baby (it was dependant on me for many a year). Good-bye old truck.

OK, I was going to put a pic of Whitehorse airport in the blog, to show my visitors where they'll be when they arrive this summer, but just received (or I should say stole from another blog) this picture of my new niece, Kate. She is the first on the left, asserting herself, with my little sister, Lisa. They are still in China where all the new parents are getting used to their new little daughters. I'll try to keep you updated on Kate's arrival into Canada.

Picked up my Canada Winter Games clothing, badge and handbook today. Not to kick a gift horse in the mouth, but...the coats and vests come in MEN'S sizes ONLY. I'll bet there are more women volunteers than men and of course, since accreditation began on Friday night, there were no extra-small men's sizes left. And, although receiving a Columbia coat is great, I think they forgot the games are being held in Whitehorse, not Vancouver. The coats are shells with no winter lining, great for Spring and Fall. Thank heavens I am not working outside at the games.
Now that I've got that off my chest, I just read in the paper today that the Squash sport that I am working is having problems. The squash courts of our privately owned local gym will be used as well as one court in the school where the offices will be located. The problem - the City of Whitehorse is planning to spend mega dollars to add sports equipment to the gym facility at the new Canada Games Centre, which will be in direct comeptition to the privaely owned gym. The privately owned gym facility, which is closing down their gym for the week to donate courts to the games, is not happy with that decision and may pull out of the games, leaving only one squash court in operation for the games. Oh the joys of operating a national competition in a town of 23,000 people!

Long Track Speed Skating Oval

This is a picture of the long track speed skating oval that will be used for the Canada Winter Games, beginning the end of February. For those of you who know Whitehorse, it is located in Riverdale at FH Collins High School. This has been a week of volunteering for me. Yes, I'm volunteering for this event in week one and volunteering for the Squash event in week two. Now I'm busy with orientation meetings, computer training, accreditations and meeting the crew I'll be working with. The Games, for those of you who are interested or wish to catch a bit of Whitehorse on the T.V. are from February 24 to March 10.

I had arranged to spend my last day in Toronto with my good friend. I was so looking forward to our day together - and arrived in Toronto soooo s i c k ....the flu hit me hard, but I persevered. I sat in the front seat of the car (like a wet dishrag) while she drove me all around our old haunts - Andy's old house on Westmount Park Road, The Hobbit Hole, Kensington Market, and all around downtown Toronto. Although I was deathly ill I had a great day and look forward to my next visit when I can actually walk and talk. She dropped me back at the hotel (at my request) and I slept for 12 hours straight. At least I got my money's worth out of that room!

A few more family pictures. The first is the one I promised Cousin Joe I would post. We banter back and forth between our blogs and actually did get together at his mum's New Year Day soiree. I keep up on his son (Joey's) football scholarship (career!!) - which university will he pick?? - as well as how his side of the family is doing. To visit his blog click here . Great seeing you Joe!

And I also stopped into Regina on my way home. Just in time for -45 degree weather and blizzards just north of the city. But I was kept warm by my little niece and her wonderful family. Went to a craft class (one-stroke painting) and saw a Regina Pats game (they lost to Seattle), watched little Dawson play hockey and did some clothes shopping as Air Canada lost my luggage for 3 days - on a non-stop flight from Toronto to Regina!

New Year's Day

Every New Year's Day, Aunt Liz and Uncle Joe host a party. This is the first year I was able to attend. They invite all the family, family friends, and the Tim Horton crowd. Since everyone was at the same place at the same time, I tried to get our family together for a group picture. Here it is - although there are still people missing - like SR who is Down-Under. So, this pic is for you SR, to see what you are missing. (Now I want some of your pictures on the internet so I can see what I am missing in Australia!).

5'4" Club

Everyone in this picture except for Dave at the back and Kayla on the left say they are 5'4" tall. They were all so adamant, that we even brought out the tape measure!
Still warm in Ancaster. Rain, rain, and today some snow sprinkles, but none that stayed on the ground. Will go this week to see a play in Toronto, help Lisa baby-proof her house before she travels to China to pick up little Kate, and view The Big White, so Teri et al can see what the Yukon looks like. I'll try to take some scenery pictures if it stops raining.

Ho Ho Ho Merry Merry

The first pic is wee Will pointing to Mr. Fish the Second, that Santa brought to him. It is a Beta fish, a fish that eats all others so has to be kept in a bowl by itself! Will was so happy.

Next little pic is of part of the Xmas dinner crowd. This one is for SR so he can see what he missed. He phoned tonight from Australia. It was so good to hear from him. As soon as Aunt Teri can find the right cord, another pic will be on this site esp for him.

What's Christmas in Hamilton without a Bulldog's game. Here are some of the people I attended the game with, the Schepens' family and Kristin (who came with a slew of her friends). Everyone was shouting GO BULLDOGS GO, except for wee Will who was shouting GO RIVER RATS GO (the Albany River Rats ---what a name!!! --- were dressed in Red and since Red is his favourite colour...) So the Bulldogs won 2-1. Good game.
Tonight is Christmas eve, and apparently Santa is in Paris at this moment. I did see a report that he ate spaghetti while in Italy, so he should be fuelled up and should make it to Ancaster. According to the same report he has already passed through Australia, so SR should have his stocking full as I write.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

It doesn't matter how many years you live in the north, the Northern Lights are always a thing of wonder. They were brilliant last night dancing through the sky - drifting, fading, floating - in colours of green, pink, purple. They make -15 degrees worth it.

The craft fairs keep coming. As we have had so many to-date, lots of items were "on sale". Unfortunately, I already have all my gifts, but fortunately, being the professional shopper that I am, I still purchased too much. This sale was held at SR's old school, Porter Creek Secondary School. It felt good visiting (I almost lived there for the four years he attended, littled jock that he was). We saw Cody and Peter selling their goods there. Cody sold hand-made purses and Peter his artwork & t-shirts. The sweatshirt he is wearing says "the little injun that could". I thought that was so cute.
The weather has been mild - just below 0. A very nice change of pace. Saw the new (old??) James Bond flic last week "Casino Royale". Didn't quite know what to expect and came away thinking it was the best one I've seen. Everyone who was leaving the theatre was commenting on how much they enjoyed it.
With Xmas approaching, I have a very busy week next week, with dinners, gift exchanges etc. Already opened one gift - from Debbie. It was still in the process of production, so am looking forward to the finished work. Received Mr. Milne's 20 questions last week, so if anyone knows of a famous European building that stored gunpowder during WW2 and could let me know, that would be very helpful.
Watched Manchester United win over Manchester City today 3-1 (word of the day...Darby...two teams from the same city playing against one another). It was an excellent game. Man U now sits on the top with a 9 point lead over Chelsea (who, by the way play tomorrow against Arsenal)...that little bit is for all you soccer fans.
That's about it for now.

Finally it's warming up

Our cold snap is breaking. It is a balmy -21 today and SNOWING! I believe the weather is attempting to cooperate with the 2007 Canada Winter Games being held here in February/March. Spent an hour outside this morning shovelling and it's still coming down. MJT requested a picture of snow (I guess they have forgotten what snow looks like in Ontario where they are still golfing!), so here it is. As you can see if you make a request in the comments section, I try to accommodate.

Monday, November 27th

Sorry MJT, no snow pics. I am going outside as little as possible these days as #1 IT'S COLD OUT THERE!!, yesterday we were the coldest spot on the PLANET apparently. Although it has been colder than it now is (-35C)...when I was young, it was -55C for three weeks! (true)..., I still don't want to romp around outside in this weather. The good news is, it is suppose to warm up to -26 in a day or two, so things are looking up, and #2 I have had the worst cold (and I'm not talking weather now - but cannot get away from that word). I have been flat on my back for 2 days and barely moving since. It keeps hanging on and I feel like a semi ran me over. Luckily there were good soccer games on tv this weekend, so lying on the couch was almost a pleasure. I do have a bit of energy today tho, so hopefully the worst is over and I'll get back to blogging soon..

The Little Hungarian cooks

My Hungarian dinner was eaten (enjoyed??) by all. Made cabbage rolls (comments upon serving were, "oooo are they ever big!") and gulyas in case someone hated cabbage. Needless to say, everyone ate both. Michele brought the dessert, freshly baked from the Christmas bake sale and very tastey. She also brought her pictures from their around-the-world vacation which I threw on my DVD player so we visited many many countries last night. Great spending the evening with them, something we should do more often.
Weather?? Cold, cold, cold, and snowing, snowing, snowing. My arms are getthing a work-out with all the shovelling. I'm staying in and cozy today and making Xmas presents (until the snow stops, then I go out to shovel) and this evening I am going to enjoy Birthday cake with a one-year-old ... (birthday cake is my favourite food).

Here's a couple of pictures of my hard work. This is for Jenn, as she was asking.

Edmonton

10th day in Edmonton, and we're all smiles now. Here is SR sitting at his computer in the newly painted dining room. It was a tough slug getting the painting done in 9 days, but I did almost all of it. Would have liked to stay about 5 more days to wash carpets and do a bit of decorating, but a son can only handle a mother for so long... I feel like I accomplished a lot and am satisfied. On my next visit I will be involved in upgrades only. Entered Edmonton October 27th in their first snow storm. Left Edmonton Nov 6 in their freezing rain storm. I have no luck weather-wise there. Sat on the plane for 1-1/2 hours while they de-iced the plane and de-iced one runway (the 2nd runway was way too icy to even attempt to de-ice) and had lots of turbulance when we finally did get up into the air. Many thanks to Sue who waited patiently at the airport to pick me up very very late on a work night. Arrived home to -23 degree temperatures, but alas my house is still standing and not frozen - and warming up nicely now.

For those of you who do not know James Blunt, there is a link to a song:
click here

James Blunt

Received my Xmas gift from SR tonight. Went to see James Blunt in Edmonton. What a concert he puts on! He did mention that we must all be pretty tired of his CD and are likely using it as a frisbee now. He played a lot of new music, so all you James Blunt fans, there is a new CD in the making. His energy was amazing. In one (new) song, he was playing the guitar so hard the strings were a poppin' off. He jumped off stage and hugged a bunch of people (not me tho - even tho our seats were 2nd row) and often he walked along the stage and made eye contact with individuals - this one did include me and I did get one of those cute smiles from him. As we have all played his album and know all the words to all the songs, he gets the audience singing along with him. And in his last song - You're Beautiful - he had the audience singing the words following, "she could see from my face that I was" and we sang ... "__ __" . Now in my days, when we went to concerts, we all held up lighters. Today (since so few people smoke) they all hold up cell phones! My next concert, I'll have to buy a cell phone I guess. These pictures are courtesy of SR. I asked him to take pictures and he did a great job throughout the concert while I clapped and sang and swayed beside him.. If you ever get to see James Blunt - GO ... you'll be happy you did!