Christmas in Burlington 2010

What a difference a year makes - last year this time we were in Doha, Qatar, experiencing a 50 degree celsius Christmas in a foreign land.  It was at least on a Friday so we got to celebrate the day at least.  The Christmas tree was one foot tall on the dining room table and apart from some very bizarre and weird trees being sold in stores and the few malls allowed to decorate a Christmas tree - it certainly wasn't much of a Christmas.  And no family for the first time in our lives!

This year it is all about family - we will gather together with our girls and Andrew and spend Christmas day together, starting off in the early morning opening presents and then the big turkey dinner at lunch time, and then phone calls home to South Africa.  The decorations are up, there is music everywhere, the streets and homes around us have lit up the neighbourhood with bright, festive lights, and deer, snowmen and Santas on lawns (or really in the snow!).  We are making the traditional rounds to friends for coffee and greetings.  Gifts are bought and only the usual last minute wrapping to take place.  Can't wait!!!

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Promise and Potential

Here we are at the Labour Day long weekend.  First day of school is just days away, and for the first time in more years than I can remember, I will be joining the kids on their new school year journey.

It feels just like it did when I was a kid - the excitement of a brand new beginning and brand new books.  Shopping for new pencils, erasers, and pens and hoping for a new school satchel (backpack these days).  And for those of you who went to school in South Africa - the buying of new school uniforms and shoes.   Best of all, the promise of new horizons in a higher 'standard' (read 'grade' as it is now called).  I always loved the quest to conquer the information for that year, always curious about 'what next? ....except when it came to math which I hated with a passion. 

Math negativity stemmed from my year in Miss Hall's Grade 2 class - she had grey hair rolled into an austere bun, long dark skirts, eyes that squinted and stabbed at you like daggers, a tongue that lashed out when you deviated just the least from her expectations and a voice that could cut a swathe and lay desks out in a swoon.  She marched down the aisles between us, drumming her ruler on the palm of her hand to a rhythmic metronome beat, whilst barking out multiplication tables and pointing to random sacrificial lambs who had to respond within 2 seconds.  She got me every time - I was so nervous I could never answer quickly enough and so had to endure the punishment of putting out my hand and having it smacked by her ruler - oh how I hated math!


2010, however, brings with it much more charm and pleasantaries.  I am armed with a new computer, new assessment forms and a whole new list of children to serve.   I have my pens, and pencils and notebooks at the ready.  I am armed for the next 10 months - let the battle begin!

Sojourn in South Africa 2010

It is with somewhat of a heavy heart that we take this trip to South Africa in July 2010.  Mom J is moving from her own apartment where she has been mostly independent and free to make her own choices about when to eat, what to eat, when to go out, etc.  The only thing she still broms about is not having a vehicle any longer - from her perspective she needs it to gad about.  From our perspective - with her compromised vision, slow reaction times, directional challenges - amongst others - not least of which is being 78 years old - we think that the roads and highways and their various motorists may do better without her chorrie being added to the mix.

She has had a few set backs that have required hospitalization and while she is now medically stable, she has become frail and weak.  She really does need to have the 24 hour assisted care level that comes with her retirement home.  

So we have made the journey to close down the apartment, sell up or store her possessions and mover her down to 24 hour care.   It has been made a little easier as she recognizes that this move is in her best interests and she is not fighting it.  We have set up her TV, her phone and mobile, her clothes.  We have bought her a wheelchair so that she can still "gad about" on four wheels.

It was wonderful to have Tiffany with us this time.  We showed her some of the sights of London on our stopover too.

In Cape Town, we did all the usual sights: up Table Mountain, down to Stellenbosh to the Wine Farms - we even met Halle Berry and her daughter at the Leopard Sanctuary.  We took multiple walks on Blouberg, and had the opportunity to watch Tiffany surf.  We spent some great evenings with family in restaurents eating our favourite prawns, kingklip and South African steaks. 

The best part - reconnecting with family: Lesley and Garvin, and even Leigh and Jo-Anne flew down to be with us, and Mom H stayed with us at the Blouberg apartment that we rented.

All in all, a very good trip - despite the reason for the trip we all had a very good time!

Sliding into Summer.

The school year end has approached very quickly, and I will join the privileged ranks of education staff around North America for my first eight week summer vacation.  It has been a joyous experience working with children.  There have been some stressful moments to be sure, but for the most part a smooth, valuable, and positive work life. 

I have sometimes wished I could parachute into a lost island somewhere in some vast ocean complete with tiki hut, fresh fruit and fish, with an extra tiki hut for a library to while away my days.  But then I would miss out on some of the finer points of life in the fast lane.

Some of the funnier moments of walking the hallways of elementary school: A little munchkin in Senior Kindergarten spies me walking past in the hall: slaps his foot down in front of me and says "Please tie my shoelace".  Then in the playground a group of Grade 3's are playing some kind of ball game and the ball bounces over the fence into the front of school car park where I am busy unloading my equipment: "Miss, miss! Will you fetch our ball? And then the delighted shouts of "She's doing it!" and then the little girl who came up beside me as we walked in the same direction in a corridor: She slipped her hand into mine, looked up to me and said "Please walk me to my classroom".  (This last one because no child is allowed outside of a classroom on their own). 

These steal your heart moments would be lost and what would I do without filling myself up with such pure innocence and sweetness.

And so a year ends on a high note.  More to come as I now have a new contract for the next year of school!

From my tiki hut in suburbia to you.

Lumbricus terrestris.

I will confess to one of my weirder behaviours - I feel so sorry for earthworms that lie floundering and belly-flopping on driveways and parking lots after a rainstorm, that I will resort to picking them up and putting them on soil to save them. Is that not weird?

On the other hand, I also think it weird that in Canada, particularly up in the lake districts (we have 100,000 of them in Ontario alone) where fishing is a major sport, we have a particularly unique vending machine. Come on up, self-service, stick your money in the slot and take away a cupful of delightful live bait! What else?

Then again, this website will not please my Scolicephobic friends - so you will have to quickly move to my next post instead!

Raise your glass to the little critters.

The 3 R's.

Re-use, reduce, recycle.

We are trying our best to follow the rules of best practice when it comes to waste management.  It is one thing that Canada has taken on quite successfully, barring a few glaring omissions.  I believe the blue box system is nationwide which allows us to recycle glass, plastic, paper, and cardboard.  Our black bag garbage system for all other refuse only happens every second week (although we are allowed up to six bags to be placed on the sidewalk - if we place all six, just how much waste are we accumulating - and our household is guilty of doing that occasionally - particularly with visitors, or after we have geared up for a clean up.). The brown bag for garden waste comes in real handy and allows us to forego a trip to the municipal dump to get rid of the offending items ourselves.  Finally, the latest in the line-up is the green box which took some getting used to in the beginning, but is working quite smoothly for us now.  It allows us to place kitchen compost in compostable liners to be picked up by garbage collection each week.  Apart from the chore of sorting and getting to kerbside garabage disposal is a fairly painless operation that hopefully is having a positive effect on our Canadian environment and the world in general. 

What they haven't yet figured out is the small problem of trucking some our waste to the States.  I think that each community should be responsible for disposal of it's own waste within that community - we should not be transferring the problem elsewhere, even if it is easy dollars for both donor and recipient.

The most difficult to control of all, is our society's consumer driven quest, that is coupled with our propensity to own more and more goods.  The worst part of consumerism is the lack of quality and the built-in fail mechanisms that keep us on the hamster wheel of continuous replacement - my grandmother's washing machine lasted all her married life; while mine is lucky to make it to five or ten years, whilst I shell out huge sums of money for warranty insurance services (that inevitably do not amount to anything due to the number of exclusionary factors that always seem to crop up in the fine print).

Hopefully, in time we will become more discerning shoppers, and more vociferous in our demands for quality.
C'est la vie.

The Perfect Retribution.

Usually it's the giant corporations, oligopolies and monopolistic companies of the world that always gain the upper hand.  They set rules and regulations that are Draconian, Lillipudlian or British Farce in intent.  All the while they seduce you with mission statements that always state the importance of customer care.  When push comes to shove, however, it is always their profits and bottom line that interests them most - try getting after-care service or monies owed from them once you have anted up the cost of whatever 'service' they are supposed to provide.

Not this time though! Talk about David slaying Goliath!  Here's a story about a musician who trusted his prize Taylor guitar to United Airways cargo hold.  He and other passengers witnessed baggage handlers mishandling his precious possession by throwing it around and in the process, broke it in half.  I think we have all been on this receiving end - conjure up the view of all those anxious passengers hovering anxiously around the baggage carousel in the endless wait for your luggage, hoping that there will be no missing handles, split seams, ripped fabric when you can finally drag it off the belt.  We have all seen those bags disgorging a trail of dirty laundry, errant shoes, alarming toiletries, and shoddy souvenirs, and can spot the owner by their red faces, while they scurry in between the legs of fellow travellers, arms stuffed with an assortment of possessions.

Despite long months of trying to resolve the issue, United adamantly and steadfastly refused to re-imburse him.  (Been there, done that).  And then he used ingenuity and creativity.  His answer was to write a song which immediately took off on You Tube.   United scrambled to control the damage, by offering him money to pay for the repair, but too late - the video had gone viral.

It really is worth watching - click on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Lessons to be learned although I don't think I will ever be as clever in my own responses to perceived slights and silliness by those big corporations.

He has even earned a spot in Wikipedia...and best of all he and the band Sons of Maxwell are reaping the rewards of fame.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Breaks_Guitars

Woodbine Racetrack

After almost 25 years in Canada, we have finally entered the hallowed domain of horse racing enthusiasts in Toronto.  A cornerstone of Canadian society since its opening in 1956 - The Woodbine Racetrack has hosted the Breeders' Cup and the Arlington Million.  It was also a venue for the 1976 Summer Paralympics.

It is the home of the Queen's Plate which is the first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown.  At one and a quarter miles, it is the longest race in North America.  It is home to the Canadian Hall of Fame for Horse Racing.  Queen Elizabeth II is due to visit here in July 2010 as part of her state visit to Canada and will attend the 151st race of the Queen's Plate.

We had a sumptious meal with a longtime business associate and his wife, while watching, and betting on, a few races. 

Fun! and I even won a few dollars betting on horses with interesting names, and jockeys in pretty colours.

In Appreciation.

I have just finished reading another post on a friend's blog and it leaves me humbled and heartsore.  Friends since high school, we have followed each other's lives over the years - she and her family emigrating to the shores of Australia, and ourselves - departing in the opposite direction to Canada.  


Full of expectations and exuberance for the future, we thought we would always have time - time to actually meet physically in their home in Australia - time to sit down and enjoy catching up over coffee and breakfast, or relaxing on a couch reminiscing about the old daysdlchat,  and time to get to know 'us' all over again.


Now it seems that time is no longer on our side.  Mike is still courageously battling cancer, but I can read between the lines - that awful disease is ruthless and I fear that our time to meet as a foursome is nearly up.


And what do you say to someone who has fought, pummeled, and cajoled with the cold and soulless monster that is cancer?  My friend and her family have faced that onslaught with passion, with humour, with determination, and with dignity.  We salute you!

It just makes me think: Make the most of your time each day.  Appreciate each moment and never pass up an opportunity to say 'I love you', or even 'Let's meet'.

PostNote: Mike passed away in October.  Rest in Peace.  Go with God.

King Tut Toronto

A weekend in Toronto - King Edward Hotel on King Street with the aim of seeing the King Tutankamen Exhibition ... hmmm - "We three Kings of Orient are..."

A lovely getaway weekend - far from the madding crowd - no chores, no meals to prepare, no animals to take care of, no phone calls, no computers - bliss!  The hotel is splendid and luxurious, the room cozy and comfortable.  Dinner out and then relaxing.  Saturday morning - up early, breakfast round the corner and then a pick up van right outside the hotel to convey us to the AGO - Art Gallery of Ontario.  Thank goodness we had prepaid tickets which allowed us to bypass the long snake of people waiting patiently to get in.  We joined the hordes and shuffled our way along the designated route of the exhibition. 

It was certainly interesting and vibrant, but the downside of crowds of people leaning into exhibits that ran 4 and 5 lines deep had a major dampening effect.  You were stuck behind 4 layers of people trying to glimpse snippets of views between peoples armpits and shoulders.  Some intransigent viewers would hold up the shuffling minions for minutes at a time trying to absorb who knows what. 

All in all, we came away from the Exhibition with two feelings: One - determined to make a vacation destination to the real site in Cairo and the Valley of the Kings.  Two - unimpressed with AGO management style whose goal was to squish the maximum amount of people into the minimum amount of space in the quickest time for the biggest buck.  And maybe number three: to leave TO to TO's.  Busy, expensive, mediocre restaurants and 905ers made to feel like strangers in the wilderness.

Nevertheless, a good time was had by all - it got us away from the usual after all!

Snowshoes, Firepits and Friends

 What an exhilarating weekend - time with old friends at a cottage in Northern Ontario overlooking the shores of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron.  We arrived in a swirling snowstorm on Friday night and gathered for supper around a big family dining table and celebrated an annual gathering of three couples.  We reminisced and debated, laughed and cheered our way through the evening eventually making our way to bed.  
Saturday morning dawned to clear blue skies and a gorgeous view of the iced over, white expanse of the shoreline.  A few ice fishermen had already settled on the ice awaiting their catch.  A couple of dog walkers braved the icy temperatures for a stroll on the lakefront.  We settled down to a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon and the inevitable coffee.  Our mission today is a snowshoeing expedition in the forests above the town.  I am excited: I have never donned snowshoes before! 
It was a great experience - crunching over pristine, deep, glittering snow in a single line, playing follow-my-leader.  Through the fir trees and cedar, over banks of snow - occasionally diving into snow up to our knees.  Then back again to sit by a firepit dug out of the snow to warm our hands and noses - eat hotdogs and buns warmed on the fire, together with bottles of beer stored in natural fridges - looking like brown mice all in a row. 
In the evening, we sit down to a gourmet dinner - what else, with two cordon bleu cooks in the party - salmon appetizer, beef wellington, and black forest cake, together with some great wines. 
Altogether a satisfying weekend! Great times with great friends - what more could you want?      

Fresh Beginnings

As for me, I dived back into full-time work from the middle of February. I am the newest member of the school psychologist team at an Ontario School Board. I work in two elementary schools doing assessment and diagnosis of learning disabilities, autism, add, giftedness, etc and for three days a week my main task is mental health counselling in a high needs high school. I am loving it! The work is rewarding, challenging, and fun; my colleagues are great to work with; I love the learning and knowledge I am gaining; and the students give me hope for our future! 

And as an aside benefit - it's grand to have a paycheque deposited every two weeks.  It's a great feeling to just walk up to a cashier and plonk your own debit card down and not feel guilty that you are raiding someone else's bank account.  Retirement had advantages, but steady income was not one of them.  It's a good feeling to be doing my little bit for our little coffers.  And if we remain diligent and conscientious, maybe retirement is not so far in the distance.

Of course, all this hard work means far less time for the things I really like to do: read, write a blog, write to you, post photos, and generally potter - ahh those were the days!!

Inshallah

The Honeydo List

This is about getting organized, tidying up, re-acquainting ourselves with our house and possessions, staying on top of things, or more generally, just trying to keep our heads above water.   Life is still quite disorganized and messy (as it usually is, I suppose), but I would like to at least 'feel' somewhat in charge of things. 


We essentially returned to our home in Burlington after being on the road 'somewhere out there' for the last 5 years. In the meantime, weeds have grown, cracks have widened, paint has faded, rigor mortis has set in on a number of appliances and fixtures .....and cats have used various opportunities and illnesses to stake their claims on our carpets. The biggest job of all - the mountain of paperwork to catch up on - boxes on boxes in boxes of mail, flyers, documents and information both vital and useless - accumulated stealthily over time.


We have made a looong Santa's list of what's good and what's bad, what is an absolute must and what can wait till funds find their way into our coffers.  It's amazing the way a "to do" list can expand to assume the proportions of a Tolstoy novel.


We have shoved, carried, lifted and grunted our way through all the rooms in the house - moved furniture around; piled up the useless debris on the sidewalk for collection; painted walls and ceilings; cleaned and scrubbed carpets, delved into drawers and shelves to discover forgotten treasures and detritus that collects when you're not paying attention. And the book collections - boxes and stacks everywhere - all waiting for their new niche to materialize. I feel we should be fit and buff after all the weightlifting and repetitive exercise, and at the very least have lost that expanding waistline.


I unpacked all 52 containers and furniture that had been stored from Calgary, but before that had to first tidy and chuck the stuff that was already ensconced in cupboards and closets and drawers. I am thinking in particular of my clothes closet, stuffed to the gills with more clothing than I could wear in a year - there is definitely still a squirrel in me - hoarding away for those scant possibilities - like losing 50 pounds! or waiting for that colour, or neckline to rear its ugly head again. I have to say I am proud of myself though - this squirrel definitely has less nuts stored away!


I despair - as I have now come full circle and need to go round the circuit again - the Doha container will be here soon with another load to unpack and stack... goodness knows where right now....but I will think of something. The worst of this job - it will require another go-round in my clothes closet!

I will cease my perseveration on hoarding, collections, and clean up.

Picking up the Pieces.

Life on this side of the ocean continues at its merry pace.

We are trying to pick up the pieces of our previous life.  On the weekend we went out to a downtown pub and spent a wonderful evening reminiscing with friends and listening to songs from a bygone era.  We had an evening of live entertainment - sort of Gordon Lightfoot style - singing along with Pat Hewitt, a chiropractor by day and a guitar playing wonder at night.  Probably in his late fifties, armed with a mean guitar,computer acoustics and great vocals and repertoire - singing all those old fashioned songs from the seventies - "Cecilia" got me going again... just like it did when I was 17. He played a whole lot of Bob Dylan, Eagles, Who, Mamas & Papas, and moved onto the 80's and 90's as well.   Really good evening.


Had a Doha moment here - a really frustrating experience trying to get my Ontario drivers licence - went first time and hit a line up of 60 people ahead of me, all milling around in hopeful agitation.  I couldn't stand the thought of wading through that level of bureaucracy.  Returned a second time (at an earlier time) and found 86 people clutching their little paper number - couldn't handle it - walked right out. Got up at the crack of dawn - got there 30 min before the doors opened and still found I was number 8 in the line up. Waited 45 minutes to be served - of course, only one person at a bank of counters....just after I went up about 6 more tellers arrived to start serving the poor saps who had gathered in hordes behind me. Found out later that they had just been on strike for 4 months and hence the fat lip - probably didn't get the deal they were looking for, so onto a little bit of sabotaging methinks.

On a positive note - I am trying to rid myself of my magpie tendencies - I have hoarded stuff for years, so in our room by room endeavour to clean up, tidy up and otherwise fix up, I am trying hard to get rid of "stuff". Celebrated the dumping of curtains that I had brought from South Africa to Canada 23 years ago - whoopee!! Now if I can just close my eyes and throw the detritus from the following 23 years, I will have achieved something!!

Couch Potato Talk

Let's talk about tv - we watch it every night - what a terrible habit, but it is so easy - shifts you into escape mode and you can veg your way through the evening.  But I am really frustrated and fidgety with tv in Canada.  We thought Doha had scant programs to view, but coming home has been an eye opener - reruns everywhere, 8 minutes of show then 4 or 5 minutes of adverts of the most inane type - self-important bozos strutting their stuff trying to exhort you to buy their often useless product.  And all those reality shows - not sure I want to watch non-actors perform hum-drum daily activities engaging in prattle of the pathetic or boring sort.  And we can't find any decent movie channel either. 

So to stop the whine refrain, we spent some time last night going online to try to change things on a complicated website that was hard to navigate.  We also wanted to install our PRV box from Calgary (paid $500 for the thing and used it for about 6 months before mothballing it)  Of course, this means an in person visit that we now have to wait for.  But this is the funniest of all - they make it sound like they are really customer friendly - start off by saying: "When would it be convenient for us to call you?" and you get ready to specify a time, but with the next click of the button your choices are: 1. between 8am and 12 and then 2. between 12pm and 5.   Wonderful choices those!  If you are a working individual you just get to use a vacation day, I suppose.  But one has to wonder - at whose convenience is this????


And I guess this is what they call service:  bash your way through the jungle of non-human voices telling you to choose which service, spend 5 minutes tapping phone buttons in a desparate attempt to find a real person who can be of real help.  Finally make it to the real rep, only to discover he is sitting in India and doesn't really understand what you're asking.  Then get to the aha moment when you think your request will be approved and then it's: "we can come next week, but only between 8 and 12 or 12 and 5 - what would be convenient?"       Convenient he says?  Really, convenient?? 


The best part of this tale: even though our PRV box from Calgary is absolutely the same PRV box in Burlington - it cannot be installed ..... because it's from Calgary.  If we want to skip the adverts and only sit and watch the shows we really want - yes, you guessed it: we will have to spend another $500 for the privilege.  What happened to us being Canada - from sea to shining sea?  These are somewhat like my Doha moments.


We should just go cold turkey and give up on this tv watching thing.

Buzz, buzz.

We have taken our first stroll around a couple of very Canadian stores and then into Chapters - the biggest bookstore chain in Canada. How different from Doha, where Virgin may have provided two shelves of English books and Jarir not much more. I loved being amongst the books again, wandering the aisles for at least an hour, drinking in my fill after a long, dry drought. Picking up brand new novels, reading the back cover and moving on to the next - could have spent all day there. So many books, so many to choose from.  And only bought a few - I am cutting back on my addiction.

Not much to do here in Burlington that we haven't done before - nothing exotic, nothing daring - not like the expat wife life at all - I can see I am going to be bored out of my tree before long - work will probably be a bit of an escape.  So in the very near future I will have to start applying for jobs, doing the interview thing, waiting, and worrying about whether I am acceptable or not.  Although, have to say that husband is treading very lightly around me and has not mentioned the dreaded 'when will you go for an interview' sentence yet.  It's all enough to make me want to run right back to my little old peaceful life in Doha. 

There is always so much to do: fix this, clean that, go here, go there...and there is a never ending 'honey do' list to be completed. Never mind all the other buzz going on around us.  Even watching the news now matters - because they are making announcements about your own world - interest rates up, taxes up, politicians barking from left and right.  Demands from the world out there are making themselves known.

I am still revelling in the all the silence around me - no-one at home, everyone working like busy, productive bees out there and here is little old me... hibernating at the bottom of the beehive hoping no-one will notice one less worker bee.

I will have to make an effort to hop back on the world - can't have it turning without me!

Still and all.

Here I am again - 3.30am and I am still up and about, but then I'll crash at 5pm, drag my butt up to bed at 10pm and then do the wide-eyed wonder at about 3am, again. This too shall pass.....


It is still freezing cold and I am not sticking my nose out in that stuff.  Even inside the house despite the furnace notched up, I am shivering - so it's on with another layer, and then shroud myself in a throw rug while I sit here tapping away at the keys.


The house is in utter chaos still - but I still don't care. I will be doing this one room at a time - so far I have managed to clear and organize the dressing room, and the second bathroom has got some loving attention - scratch the loving - just gritted my teeth, dug down deep, and scrubbed!  on Sunday I managed to clear and organize the dressing room, and yesterday spent 2 or 3 hours in the laundry - I have now reclaimed both and know what's in there.  We are painting a bedroom on the weekend - can't wait so that we can get some of the furniture stacks out of some of the rooms and then we can maybe stop climbing over boxes and furniture to get to our bed as well.  We look like a second hand furntiture store right now.


The joys of homecoming....

waiting while the world goes by...

The Cat is Out of the Bag.

It is 3am and I am jetlagged -the house is as still and quiet as a mouse and here I am - wide awake and rearing to go.

It still hasn't sunk in that we are actually at home - real home, that is.  Passport control, security and flights all went off without a hitch, except for Air Canada who, once again!, just before being able to board, said that someone had reallocated one of our seats and that we were now in 21 J and 51 J respectively. Patrick soon sorted them out and thank goodness we sat together. Of course, it was everyone else who had done the dirty deed - not them, despite the fact that Qatar Airways in Doha and Lufthansa said that AC would not allow them to enter their computer system to confirm our seats at the beginning of the trip.  It always happens with Air Canada - when will we just learn to avoid them?


I thought security through Doha airport was quite lax - I am relieved to say - they allowed Kitten Isha and its box to go through with me and then didn't check the cat box at all - I had put a box of cat litter and some food cans inside but they didn't seem to notice. Germany was a bit more careful - made me "take the cat out of the bag" and then searched the bag - they only found a used cat litter box so I got it back quite quickly.


We travelled on the 777 from Frankfurt to Toronto and must say they are really comfortable - even in the cattle truck in the back - we had enough space to actually take a brace position. Seats were comfortable and we were able to sleep quite well. Seems to be a very quiet aircraft as well.


The cat made it through Canadian customs with no hassles - the sympathy and cute factor kicked into play - the officers were more interested in cooing over a 6 week old kitten than anything else. And yes, cats under 3 months can come in without rabies clearance or other vaccinations - we breathed with relief as we trundled our baggage out into the very cold air.  I think I have become quite thin blooded as I am freezing - even inside the house so that we have had to bump the furnace up a few notches.

And finally - "the cat truly is out of the bag" - Patrick phoned the company in Doha and gave them his formal resignation.  We are free - or as free as we can define right now.

Batten Down the Hatches.

The last few months have been somewhat harrowing and we both have a lot more grey hair to prove it. I think we have had enough of change to last a long time - we both just want to settle down, get our house in order, our lives back on track, and start breathing easy again. Living in foreign lands is always a wrench and always presents difficulties, but the Middle East, I think, was what ex-pats consider to be a "hardship placement". I am sure we would never return to live there ..... maybe somewhere else, but not anytime soon! I think our attitude now is going to be "batten down the hatches" and wait out any wild waters in a safe and balmy cove called Burlington.

We are home now - safe and sound. We are going to miss some aspects of life as ex-pats - our solid friendships that we formed along the way, most of all - although we fully intend for them to continue with correspondence and visits now and then. We will miss some of the adventures - walking in the souq, watching camel races, walking the corniche, eating labneh, listening to the calls to prayer every day, the laid back weekends, no maintenance on home, cleaning service and help, and give your head a shake moments. I personally will miss my retirement. The adventures we won't miss - you guessed it - driving in Doha, and also Ramadan rules, no holding hands in public, and .... give your head a shake moments.


A small tidbit:  A bit of baggage we picked up along the way - as those of you who have read the Qatar blog already  know: In the middle of all of the packing up and winding down of affairs, we happened on a little black kitten on the side of a 3 lane highway that we rescued on Boxing Day - just three weeks old. I don't know sometimes.... but how could we leave him knowing that he would be dead within minutes, if we just passed him by? After much ado - State of Qatar certification, vet certification, airline approval - we had an extra passenger with us on our flight. He has already been adopted by his real parents and is living the life of bliss in a warm and safe home in Canada. He is a tiny little thing with very little fur - being a desert cat I suppose. Good karma for us, at least.

We hope to speak to and/or see all of you over the next little while. Thank you for staying in touch with us while we were on our little adventure. With all of our family and friends old and new, scattered across the four corners of the world, I am resolved to staying in touch.  This is the start of my Canadian blog - it may not contain quite so many weird, bizarre, exciting or curious notes, but I intend to try to keep it up. For those of you who live in Canada - some of it will seem old hat, but will maybe give us an opportunity to connect, to think, and certainly to laugh about ourselves and the world we live in. For those of you in South Africa, USA, Europe, Australia, Ecuador and now Qatar - you might hear about something new or weird or wonderful. Whatever it may be, we hope to stay in touch with each and every one of you.

Here's to the future - whatever it may hold.

Home James.

The 'daptable duo' have landed back on familiar soil,
back in our home town
and back in our old house.

We are exhausted from moving.
We are stressed from uncertainty.
We are frazelled with airlines, airports and all things connected to air,
but
We are happy to be back
and reconnecting with our old life.

Here's to our girls and to our old friends
and here's hoping the rollercoaster has finally 
reached its destination.