flying visit

We were very lucky this week to have a flying visit from our very special Aunty Red.  A short visit was made even shorter by some bad weather delaying her arrival but she was very well received once she got here!

We all adore our Aunty Red!  We tried to show her some of the best bits of where we live which of course included an ice cream, Canadian salmon and fresh produce from our local farmer's market.

We also headed into town to check out some of the main attractions including Mount Royal and the Old City.  It's actually quite weird trying to show someone around where you live when you don't actually know a whole lot about it!  I must study up a bit before more visitors come next month!

xx

Crazy town

Wow there have been some crazy happenings in Montreal and Quebec lately - the theft of millions of dollars of maple syrup, a bride drowning in her own wedding dress and most recently the attempted assassination of the new Premier which ended in an innocent bystander being killed!

We live in a very sedate, sleepy part of the island but it's very strange knowing that not too far away so many crazy things are going on!  With the provincial election now over, it's pretty certain that the crazy notion of Quebec going it alone won't happen and will remain part of Canada for the foreseeable future.

The separatist Parti Quebecois did win the most of the seats but were nine short from being able to form a majority government so they will need the support of the other parties to get anything through parliament.  Also they only received 32% of the popular vote which is no where near the mandate you would need to make such a massive change happen.  Phew, eh?

xx

Equipment

While Action Boy couldn't sign up for his first season of AusKick he is able to sign up for his first season of Ice Hockey.  What could be more Canadian than that, eh?

Before you can get on the ice you need A LOT of equipment!  Our landlord very kindly gave us a couple of pieces but today we went out and picked up the rest of the kit.  There are many layers and it really felt like I was suiting up a samurai for battle!

To be precise Action Boys is wearing:

• full body undersuit (kind of like a baby wondersuit!)
• neckguard
• elbow pads
• chest and shoulder pads
• jock strap shorts
• shin guards
• helmet
• mouth guard
• shorts
• socks
• stick
• jersey
• ice skates (not pictured - didn't think freshly sharpened skates on wooden floors was a good idea!)

Let's hope he likes hockey!  Pre-season starts Saturday...

xx

Beaver Tails

We were told a little while ago about a typically Canadian food called Beaver Tails and today we got to try one.

It's pretty simple - fried pastry in the shape of a beaver's tail with a variety of toppings and of course we chose nutella!  Of course it was yummy but definitely not something you'd want to be eating often.  This delicacy was on offer at the Brome County Fair, an agricultural show about 1.5 hours drive east of Montreal.

It really was a great day.  The drive out there was picturesque and we saw more trees changing colour. It seems the first tree out there to change was turning the most amazing raspberry colour!  Unfortunately it was a little hard to stop along the highway to take a photo.

The Fair was a very casual and low key event but lots of fun.  We were able to get close up to the animals and all the rides were included in the $12 per person entrance fee.  I was really impressed by that!  Unlimited free rides with a very short line up was fantastic!  Action Boy and I even went on his first "big kid" ride - the rocking pirate ship.  I haven't been on that since I was about 12 years old at Adventure World but it was so much fun and Action Boy had a blast even if he did scream like a girl.

What's a day at the fair without fairy floss? (or barbe a papa - grandpa's beard as they call it here!).

xx

It's starting

School went back on Wednesday and since then I've noticed a dramatic change in the weather.  While the days are still warm (in the 20s) there's no longer much heat in the sun and the light is softer.  It's been pretty breezy and dead leaves have started to fall.  I've even heard the geese doing "practice flights" (I think they're practising because they weren't flying south)...

This morning while lying on the floor playing with the baby I saw out the window that the leaves on a couple of trees have started to change colour.  I must admit that I'm surprised at how early it is but I don't really know how long the whole "Fall" process takes.

We're excited to see the trees turn yellow and orange and Action Boy is very excited about the snow returning but we will be sad to close the pool down.  There are so many things to look forward to over the next coming months (visitors, trips, Halloween, birthdays, Christmas, snow etc) but I'm really not looking forward to dressing two small children to go outside.  It has been so great just walking out the door.  Maybe it'll be easier this time around as we'll go into it gradually rather than land in minus 20 degrees!

xx

Tastes like home

I've been quite lucky so far not to feel homesick.  Of course I really miss being with friends and family but overall we're coping pretty well.

However Fanta Pants craves certain foods like vegemite, meat pies and lamb.  Lamb is hard to come by here but we'd had a tip off that Australian lamb was available at CostCo and so I went off and joined up.  (CostCo is a huge, warehouse like supermarket that sells things in bulk at very good prices but you have to be a member to shop there).

Our tip off was spot on and I found cryovac Australian lamb!  Yippee!

We picked up some Quebec multi coloured carrots and green beans from the farmer's market in the village and voilà!  A beautiful mix of Quebecois and Australian produce!  Biting into the lamb was like tasting home.  I haven't had lamb the entire time we've been here and it was delicious!!!

xx

Sovereignty

Over the summer it's been hard to keep up with current affairs but there is a provincial election next week.  I try to check in daily to see what is happening and each day I am amused and baffled.  It seems very likely that the incumbent Liberal government will be booted in favour of the centre left Parti Quebecois.  The Parti Quebecois (PQ) is also a separatist party.  That's right, the PQ doesn't want to be part of Canada any more...

There is so much history behind this that I couldn't possibly hope to understand but I'm seriously baffled that despite the many problems this province has, the majority of this election campaign has revolved around who is a federalist and who's in favour of sovereignty and when the referendum would take place.  Besides the obvious French language benefits no one talks about the advantages to Quebec of going it alone.  There is one question no one needs to ask - "Does the rest of Canada really care?".  Probably not from what I've read.

The PQ also have some seriously questionable policies.  The following is from the national newspaper "The Globe and Mail".  

Although she’s basically a socialist, some of her rhetoric smacks of Europe’s anti-immigrant right wing. “Let us not yield to the intimidation of those who want to impose values that are not ours,” she declared in a campaign ad. She wants immigrants to pass a French test before they run for public office. (Originally this restriction was going to apply to people born in Quebec too, until aboriginal groups exploded in protest.) She wants to ban the display of all religious dress or symbols (except the crucifix) by anyone who works for the government. She wants to take away the right of francophone and allophone students to attend English-language junior colleges.

Wow!  I can't believe these people will probably win...  I'll let you know what happens and which "country" we'll be living in!!

xx