Bears!

Canadians love camping and every time I ask if there are bears where they go camping, they laugh at me!  Apparently raccoons are far more dangerous in a camping ground!  If we lived on the other side of the country people wouldn't be laughing about the grizzly bears but around here no one seems to worry about the little black bears.

I've been wanting to see these guys since they woke up from their long naps in the early spring so today we headed back to the Ecomuseum.  (Fanta Pants took the kids not long after we arrived in Montreal see here).  It was pretty warm and steamy today so many of the animals were looking for a cool spot but this bear put on a lovely show for us.

We all felt very "secure" being this close behind an electrified fence!  I think I was the most excited to see the bears although Little Miss D announced at dinner she'd like to look after the baby bears when she grows up.

We also got to see a very fast little chipmunk and some very lazy looking raccoons.  They really do have the cutest creatures in Quebec!!

xx

Bloom

I love knitting but unfortunately I'm definitely not the fastest knitter in the world.  Despite being a bit slow, I really enjoy the process and the result.  I'm particularly proud of my latest project "Bloom".

Little Miss D seems pretty pleased with it too!  I'm not sure what happened in this photo - who is this girl and what have you done with my child?  Smiling?  Posing?  Amazing!  I think we're beginning to move out of the treacherous threes!  Yippee!

For those of you who knit (I know there's one of you!) the pattern can be found here on ravelry.com (it's like pintrest for knitters!).  As it's kind of stretchy, dress is supposed to grow into a tunic top.  The idea of getting more than one year out of it really appeals to me after all the hours I spent on it!!

xx

De-humidifier

It gets hot, steamy and sticky here!  Before coming here we were so caught up in the fact that it would regularly be as cold as minus 20 degrees that we didn't realise how stinky hot it gets as well.  I must admit I have been shocked at how hot it can be.

Fortunately we have the pool and on a super sticky day it's actually much nicer to sit under a tree than in the unair-conditioned house.  (Who knew we'd need aircon?!).  We're used to a dry, take your breath away kind of heat but here the air gets thick and sticky.  It's very tropical!  The big advantage to this kind of heat is every couple of days a big thunder storm blows in to clear the heat away and water the lush gardens.  It's amazing to see it build up then explode!

The big disadvantage to high humidity is mould.  Anywhere there is moisture sitting around it grows eg in the water filter and laundry basket!  Eew!  The basement is also a haven for it and we realised we needed to turn on the "de-humidifier".  (We knew it was there but didn't really know what it did but thanks to Google we realised it could be quite useful!).

This thing is ugly and a bit noisy but it does an amazing job of sucking moisture (and future mould) out of the air.  The bucket holds around four litres and needs to be emptied daily!  I was astounded that so much excess water was hanging around!  It really "feels" less damp in the basement and I'm sure that's much healthier!  

xx

Woodland creatures

Canada is full of woodland creatures and you don't have to be in the wilderness to see them either!  I've written a lot about our darling squirrels but I can't remember if I've mentioned our raccoon family.  (I've never been know for my memory for details!).

We have a mama raccoon who lives between a vacant plot behind us and the storm water drain across the road from us.  This means she and her babies use our place as a thorough fair.  We might catch a glimpse of her or see evidence of her being around but she's been hard to get a photo of.

Finally on Friday night I got one!  It's not a great photo but it's the best I've managed of her so far.  While watch the Olympics on TV we saw that the local security patrol had parked across our driveway and it seemed the security guy was trying to help our raccoon cross the road safely!

Seeing an opportunity for a photo I grabbed my camera and ran out.  Apparently if raccoons are in danger or appear to be endangering someone/something else by law they can only be moved 100 metres from where they were found.  So I guess that means we're going to have to figure out a better way to secure our garbage bin.  This clever little creature can manage to lift the lid of our green wheelie bin even when it's strapped down with an occy strap!  It appears that her favourite foods include chicken and bread...

xx

Lord Fanta

Being a pretty big North American city, Montreal plays host to a lot of great cultural events.  One exhibition we've been keen to get to is Star Wars Identities at the Montreal Science Centre and it was fantastic!

Two excited kids waiting to go in with their imaginary light sabres...

There are two main parts to the exhibition - one part is an amazing collection of 200 pieces of original costumes, props, models and sketches from all six Star Wars movies.

R2-D2

Yoda and Little Miss D 

Padme Amidala's costumes as worn by Natalie Portman.

The second part of the exhibition was an interactive adventure to create our own Star Wars characters!  This was so cool and really appealed to techno obsessed kids.  Via a wrist band with a memory chip installed we answered a series of questions about who and what we wanted our "characters" to be.  The system of questions and explanations that helped you decided on answers was so well executed with a perfect blend of information and technology.

It was a no brainer that Little Miss D would be an Ewok!!!

By the end of the exhibit we each came away with a character complete with detailed back story and of course we all had to decide if we would choose the dark side... only Action Boy chose to join forces with Darth Vader!

Fanta Pants' creation - Lord Fanta

Little Miss D's partially finished Ewok - typically for a 3 year old she lost interest half way around!!

xx

Brocante

I've been meaning to share this for a while but I hadn't gotten around to taking the photos!  So going back a few weeks now in the Loire Valley we came across this fabulous brocante.  

A brocante is kind of like the cross between an antiques fair and a flea market but it can also be in a permanent location like the one we found outside of Azay le Rideau.  It was amazing - just like it had been styled for a magazine shoot!

I managed to find some little treasures too.  These sabots are just gorgeous although I'm yet to find them somewhere to live in our house!

No problems bringing these wooden babies into Canada - no OTT customs declarations...

I have looked long and hard for vintage robots for the kids and who would have thought I'd find them in rural France?!  I'm not sure who's more pleased with these guys - me or the kids!!

xx

It's on...

The Qubecois Premier has just called an election and that means the long running debate on tuition fees should be decided upon once and for all.  The election is due on 4th September which is apparently unusual as they don't usually campaign during the summer.

Current Premier Jean Charest from the Quebec Liberal Party

The current government will be going for a fourth term which would be a massive task in itself.  It appears that there are some very clear points of differentiation between the major parties and they include tuition fees, a possible sovereignty referendum and the corruption scandals that have surrounded the current government.

I'm only scratching the surface of the political intricacies here but I'm looking forward to finding out more as the election campaigns unfold...

xx