Snow Cricket

Most Australians love cricket.  It's a sport watched by thousands of spectators over long hot summers.  I remember as a young girl watching day-night matches whilst we were on holidays at Coolum Beach.  My Mum, particularly in the last moments of a game, would anxiously watch the match and yell at the television. I imagine that this was with the misguided hope that the players would hear her and pay attention to her cries.  All my family however, would sit on tenterhooks and barrack for our team hoping that the number of runs would outweigh the number of balls left to play.  Often in a day-night match it would come down to the last ball which made a game very exciting to watch.  

So it is with this love of the game that we decided to introduce it to some hearty Canadians on Australia Day.  Although it was not hot, not sunny and the pitch was very icy, we set up the stumps in a mound of snow, shovelled the path for a pitch and tried to teach the rules of the game.  Playing cricket in this environment proved to be challenging for a few reasons.  1.  It was very cold and it didn't take long to lose sensation in our hands. 2.  Running on ice, snow and gravel is near impossible.  In fact hobbling is a more accurate term for getting to the other end of the pitch.  3. The inconsistent pitch surface wreaks havoc on the trajectory of the ball and therefore the batsman's anticipation of said ball is almost non-existent.  4.  Playing with a child's size two cricket bat, whilst great for the kids, makes batting for the adults a back breaking exercise.  

However we did have a great time and a a lot of laughs.  I think our friends thought we were making the rules up as we went along.  For anyone who knows the game of cricket you will know how confusing the rules really are.  

Beautiful Inversion

At the moment in Kelowna we are experiencing what meteorologists call an inversion.

What is an inversion you ask?  Well let me put my meterologist hat on and explain.  Normally, as you rise in altitude, the temperature decreases due to the changes in air pressure. A Weather inversion is when instead of getting cooler at higher temperatures, it is actually warmer up higher.  

So for us that means two things.  1.  In Kelowna we have been experiencing foggy conditions with cooler temperatures and 2. (and this is the best part) whilst Kelowna looks grey and has limited visibility Big White is sunny, warm (ish - it's all relative people!!!) and a joy to behold.  

For the past two weekends we have experienced near perfect conditions on the mountain.  At about the half way point on the road to Big White  we ascend through the clouds and there we are met by unlimited visibility, a sun whose warmth we can actually feel, and snow that glistens as if a giant bucket of silver glitter has been dumped on its surface.

 It truly is BEAUTIFUL.

The effect of the sun shining through moisture which is evaporating and freezing as it continues to rise.
 This then creates a swirling mass of glitter (How beautiful!!!)

Happy 14th Anniversary Weirdo!

We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, 

and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, 

we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness 

and call it love.

 Dr Seuss

From Nicky

To my darling Brendan,

Happy 14th Anniversary.

I love you with all my heart.

Thankyou for loving my weirdness 

and being crazy with me.

Love you long time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

N

From Brendan

To My Dearest Nicky,

You are my rock, my love and my best friend.

Thanks for sharing the journey with me so far.

I look forward to sharing many more years and adventures with you.

With love and lollipops,

Today and always.

Bren XOX



Piglet: How do you spell love?
Pooh: You don't spell it, you feel it.
AA Milne

I Love You too Bren

Caleb made us this snow heart.

Hanging out by Okanagan Lake

A large snow heart out the front of our house.

School

Here I was thinking that it would take the boys a few weeks to get settled and comfortable with their new school.  Boy was I wrong.  They have leapt into school life with gusto.  Both have made new friends, are participating in class with enthusiasm and making the most of the snowy playground environment.  I need not have been concerned at all as to how they would adapt to a new system of education.  It just goes to show how flexible and open to change they really are.  Their willingness to embrace change and go with the flow is how we all should be.

“Out there things can happen, and frequently do,

To people as brainy and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen, don't worry, don't stew.

Just go right along, you'll start happening too!” 

― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go! 

Playground

Seth's snowman

Standing on a snow fort

Snow Cave in the playground

Seth's "Let it Snow" themed drawing

Corridor outside Seth's classroom

School Foyer

Seth outside his classroom door

Winter

“To think creatively, we must be able to look afresh at what we normally take for granted.”

George Kneller 

Participating in an exchange to a country where the winter climate is in direct contrast to ours at home on the Gold Coast is intriguing, exciting and forces us to look at things with new eyes. The seemingly insignificant becomes more interesting.  What is often taken for granted or dismissed becomes a point of interest.  From the humble swing set, to a fence line to a fire hydrant - they all take on a whole new look.

Some locals try to escape the ravages of winter for warm weather and blue skies in places like Hawaii or Mexico.  I guess this akin to birds travelling South for the winter.  Granted the days are certainly shorter and the skies are much greyer, the sun hardly peaks its head out to say hello.  I do miss the sun and blue skies, yet I can't seem to get enough of the 'white stuff'.

Minus temperatures, heavy snowfall and ice create a landscape far different than what we are used to. It is treacherous, yet beautiful and gives us the opportunity to participate in activities and experiences we would be unlikely to come across at home.  Take this morning for example.  On the playground at the boys school we saw snow forts, children tobogganing, a see saw covered in snow and snow angel imprints.  Today Caleb is heading off to Crystal Mountain to try cross country skiing for the first time.
By being here we have seen that the boys are accepting of, excited by, and more than willing to try new things which is really heartening.  Perhaps in time this will translate to their own desire to see the world, to be daring and adventurous or to maybe just enjoy with whole heartedness the simple things life has to offer.

“Enjoy the little things, for one day you make look back and realize they were the big things.” ~Robert Brault

Shoes on the telephone wires

Looking out the kitchen window

Frost on some glass panelling

I call these snowy plum puddings

Swings to get a cold bum by!!!

First Day of School

Today marked the first day of school for both Bren and the boys.  Caleb was excited about starting but Seth was a little nervous.  His main concern?  "What if I don't know where the toilet is?"

Having only one vehicle meant an early start to the day so that I could drop Brendan off at Dr Knox Middle school (a 25 minute drive away) and then drop the boys off at their school, South Kelowna Elementary (only 5 minutes from home) in time for an 8.30am start.  

Downtown Kelowna - with about 10cm of snow on the roads.

Its difficult to see but the snow is falling VERY heavily.

Concentration!!!

Just to make things interesting the weather turned a little nasty and a snow storm crossed Kelowna during the night and early morning and dumped a significant amount of snow.  This made driving a little more hazardous than usual so we took it slow and steady and arrived at each school destination safely.  

South Kelowna Elementary - front entrance!!

The road to the boys school

We arrived at the boys school just in time for the first bell to ring.  In the school office we were met by the boys teachers and they walked them to their classrooms. From a nervous Mum's point of view this was just what we all needed to feel comfortable and at ease right away. Caleb's teacher is Mrs MacKenzie and Seth's teacher is Mrs Bliss.


Caleb's highlight - making new friends and  finding out he will be going on a field trip to go cross country skiing on his second day at South Kelowna Elementary.

Seth's highlight - making new friends, being buried in snow at lunchtime, doing fun activities, getting lots and lots of (chapter) books from the library.

Bren's highlight - teaching Canadian kids once more, enjoying the challenge of a new system.

By all accounts the boys had a great day.  Phew!

Polar Bear Swim

We did it, we did it, we did it.  We felt the fear.... sucked it up.... spat it out..... and did it (the polar bear swim). The ambient temperature was -10, the water in the lake was around 0c.  So yep it was cold - colder than cold.  Freezing in fact.  The event co-ordinators even had to rake the ice that was forming over the hole before the first of the many crazy swimmers jumped in.

We had no plan of attack apart from what we were going to wear.  We were told to wear socks so that our feet would not stick to the ice as we exited the lake.  We were also told to not warm up too much before the jump because the water would feel that much colder.  We took heed of these pieces of advice but the water was still ridiculously, shiveringly, hurtfully cold.  Strangely both Bren and I described it as exhilarating - an almost out of body experience.  We were so pumped afterwards even with the  pain in our feet caused by the extreme cold.  I dashed off to the fire pits to get a little bit warmer.  Bren on the other hand decided that it would be a rush to jump in again.  This time he jumped in with his buddy Todd Pritchard after Todd told Brendan that he "had" to do the swim again.

The walk to the warming huts felt like it took forever but once inside super hot gas powered heaters helped us to thaw out.  The smile on our faces (although we look a little pained in the photos) could not be wiped away.

So here is something for you all to ponder as we begin a new year.  It speaks volumes to Bren and I.

I must not fear.  Fear is the mind-killer.  

Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.  

I will face my fear.  I will permit it to pass over me and through me.  

And when it has gone I will turn the inner eye to see its path.  

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. 

 Only I will remain.

The following photos were taken by the wonderful and talented Laureen Carruthers.  http://www.laureencarruthersphotography.com