Apparently the Olympics went very well and Zoe won a silver medal and three bronze medals. One medal for each event she entered. Very cool Zoe! I shall call in the next few days to hear her stories.
Showing posts with label Alberta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alberta. Show all posts
Saturday, June 22
Zoe at the Special Olympics
Life is really busy right now with a new job, finishing thesis, and now a flood in my hometown and I am making sure my house is not being washed away. The good news is, my sister competing in Alberta' Special Olympics this weekend in Devon, Alberta. Despite the flooding, the event is going on as it is further north and not in the flood zone. Here is a blog post my mother wrote about the event. More to come later.
Apparently the Olympics went very well and Zoe won a silver medal and three bronze medals. One medal for each event she entered. Very cool Zoe! I shall call in the next few days to hear her stories.
Apparently the Olympics went very well and Zoe won a silver medal and three bronze medals. One medal for each event she entered. Very cool Zoe! I shall call in the next few days to hear her stories.
Thursday, May 30
Life Update
I can't believe where the past few months have gone. Crazy busy plus I just got back from a trip to visit family and friends in Calgary. The purpose of the trip was to begin taking my belongings back to Calgary as I am near graduation, only having had two work related interviews, and no job offers. My winter gear and all other assorted accoutrements were pack to drive back to Calgary and I received a phone call asking me to come to a job offer meeting. Yep. A job offer and I am not finished my degree yet. This has never happened to me before. All those hours of volunteering, spent typing at my computer, meeting and greeting people in a new province paid off and I was being offered a job.
When I went to the interview I was ready to negotiate but the organization that wanted to hire me was not. They had pulled out of their budget what they could and it was a take it or leave it option. The pay is not great, in fact at my yearly review next summer I will be asking for a big raise, but the opportunity to lead this recreation organization in Manitoba will be phenomenal. I am excited and surprised, intimidated and in awe of full-time employment. For the record, this will be the first time in ten years I have to work over the summer. (No sympathy from you nine readers eh?)
Wish me luck and skill and I venture forward and finish my thesis at the same time!
Cheers!
When I went to the interview I was ready to negotiate but the organization that wanted to hire me was not. They had pulled out of their budget what they could and it was a take it or leave it option. The pay is not great, in fact at my yearly review next summer I will be asking for a big raise, but the opportunity to lead this recreation organization in Manitoba will be phenomenal. I am excited and surprised, intimidated and in awe of full-time employment. For the record, this will be the first time in ten years I have to work over the summer. (No sympathy from you nine readers eh?)
Wish me luck and skill and I venture forward and finish my thesis at the same time!
Cheers!
Wednesday, December 19
Saturday, December 8
Old Jasper
This past October I took a chance to drive from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Jasper, Alberta....OK, I was headed to an academic conference and I couldn't afford to fly so 'took a chance' might be over stating a bit. I had to drive. While in the mountains I was reminded how much I love them and how lucky people are who live near them. When they were in my backyard I certainly did not take advantage of them as much as I should have.
During my drive I pulled over repeatedly for about two hours on the way home, taking pictures, feeling the peace and quiet, and watching the daylight play on the scenes before my eyes. Here are a few shots that I played with on my computer that remind me of the old postcards you can buy in tourists shops. Pictures such at these can also be seen on the walls in the old Canadian Pacific hotels as framed tributes to the historical past. These are new though, and mine.
During my drive I pulled over repeatedly for about two hours on the way home, taking pictures, feeling the peace and quiet, and watching the daylight play on the scenes before my eyes. Here are a few shots that I played with on my computer that remind me of the old postcards you can buy in tourists shops. Pictures such at these can also be seen on the walls in the old Canadian Pacific hotels as framed tributes to the historical past. These are new though, and mine.
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| An old picture in a new time |
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| Like pictures of old with one glaring addition :) |
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| Light and fluff on rock |
Monday, November 12
Three Different Views
Recently I drove from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Jasper, Alberta for a recreation conference. The event was really good and I met and re-met a number of fantastic people who appeared happy, in love with their jobs and content in their lives. Yep, those are some of my goals too.
On the way to the conference fall had settled in nicely with its yellows, oranges and even browns, but upon my return 4 days later winter had descended and left a mystical white and green wonderland. There will be several posts that focus on the pictures I took as I believe I added about 1.5 hours to my journey on the way home as I stopped repeatedly at designated view spots and on the shoulder of the road, as safely as possible, clicking the beauties of the mountains, 360 degrees around me.
One of the most interesting moments was stopping as I ascended into the mountains, removing myself from my vehicle, and realizing that my car and the music I was listening to inside were the only sounds to be heard. Nature was silent. There was not a person or vehicle around that could disturb the peace and even near by animals were docile, perhaps sensing the beginning of winter. I leaned on my car and just observed, listened, and thought for a while. A delightful treat in the mountains.
Here are three shots taken at the Jasper Park Lodge of a lake near the hotel. I am having fun playing with my computer photo program. Let me know if you have a preference.
Number two looks like it should be in colour, but on second glance the eye notices the only colour is yellow, thus the sepia version of the picture. Still the gradations of colour are quiet interesting.
In black and white the third shot still gives the eye a sense of the layers of tones, highlights, shadows and hues. Looks like an old postcard with a modern twist of clear lines.
I like them all but for different reasons. The joys of photography and computer programs!
On the way to the conference fall had settled in nicely with its yellows, oranges and even browns, but upon my return 4 days later winter had descended and left a mystical white and green wonderland. There will be several posts that focus on the pictures I took as I believe I added about 1.5 hours to my journey on the way home as I stopped repeatedly at designated view spots and on the shoulder of the road, as safely as possible, clicking the beauties of the mountains, 360 degrees around me.
One of the most interesting moments was stopping as I ascended into the mountains, removing myself from my vehicle, and realizing that my car and the music I was listening to inside were the only sounds to be heard. Nature was silent. There was not a person or vehicle around that could disturb the peace and even near by animals were docile, perhaps sensing the beginning of winter. I leaned on my car and just observed, listened, and thought for a while. A delightful treat in the mountains.
Here are three shots taken at the Jasper Park Lodge of a lake near the hotel. I am having fun playing with my computer photo program. Let me know if you have a preference.
Number one has a boost of colour and I really like the digital looking reflection of the mountains and clouds in the water.
Number two looks like it should be in colour, but on second glance the eye notices the only colour is yellow, thus the sepia version of the picture. Still the gradations of colour are quiet interesting.
In black and white the third shot still gives the eye a sense of the layers of tones, highlights, shadows and hues. Looks like an old postcard with a modern twist of clear lines.
I like them all but for different reasons. The joys of photography and computer programs!
Sunday, November 4
About To Make Brownies
While I was living in Calgary in the early 2000's I purchased a book by a Calgary based recipe author, Julie Van Rosendaal. Having a very sweet tooth, I immediately loved it as it is called, One Smart Cookie: All your favourite cookies, squares, brownies and biscotti...with less fat! A few years later I bought her Grazing recipe book too. Over the years I have made several dishes out of both books, granted the sugar content is not super low in the cookie book, but the results are delicious and you can scrumptiously indulge with a little less guilt.
After having curled today, completed some errands, and accidentally did some laps around a near-by mall who has taken down all its directional signs (I almost didn't make it out), it is time for a treat. There is zucchini in the fridge from my aunt and uncle's garden in British Columbia (it had a long drive out to Winnipeg) and I shall be making Julie's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies (p. 134). Since I fly solo, I will eat to my heart's content, then divide up the pan of brownies into healthy size portions, wrap them up in plastic, and freeze them for when I have a chocolate hankering another day.
Can't promise any photos. Do you really want to see chocolate and zuch in my teeth? I didn't think so. But here is Julie's more recent blog which appears to have developed beyond desserts. Mmmmmmm.....
Monday, June 11
Ochre
While visiting with family in Calgary I began playing a game with my nephew. There is always a Canadian dictionary at hand as one of my sisters enjoys reading them and learning new words. In order to avoid playing yet another video game, which is often torturous for me, I grabbed the dictionary, flipped through it and began calling out words, asking my eight year old nephew what the word meant. Refuse, meditate, spar, pronounce, all words we defined and talked about. Then I spied the word 'ochre'. I asked him what the word 'ochre' meant and he shared his response with me in about 15 seconds:
Just hilarious! Amazing connection and of course, we imitated Darth Vader and his breathing for about five minutes in between bouts of laughter. In the end I did share the actual dictionary definition of the word ochre, but that word, for me, will never be the same.
"Oh, that's the sound that Darth Vader makes when he is breathing in and out.
Ohhh-ker. Ohhh-ker. Ohhh-ker!"
Just hilarious! Amazing connection and of course, we imitated Darth Vader and his breathing for about five minutes in between bouts of laughter. In the end I did share the actual dictionary definition of the word ochre, but that word, for me, will never be the same.
Ohhhhh-Ker!!!
Picture copied from http://www.google.ca/search?q=picture+of+darth+vader&hl=
en&client=safari&pwst=1&rls=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ
&sa=X&ei=8NXWT7XzC8iQ2AWrr_mxDw&ved=0CHIQsAQ&biw=1056&bih=600
Thursday, February 2
Falling Backwards
Falling Backwards by Jann ArdenMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
So far Jann is providing the reader with very detailed accounts of her childhood. I am not sure she is going to make it into the singing career part of her life at this rate as I keep looking at the thickness of the book. I shall keep you updated.
I have been a fan of Jann Arden's music since the release of her first CD in the early 1990's. Her music has always helped me process life experiences, realize that life is complicated, and that we all hope to have relationships with people we can rely on. After receiving this book for Christmas, I devoured it. As stated above, most of the stories in her book range from childhood to the beginning of her music career and do not extend beyond. While Jann is open about many funny, personal, serious, hard, interesting and joyful experiences, it appears she still retains private information about other aspects of her life. It was a great read and would recommend it to fans and strangers alike.
View all my reviews
Jann's Website: http://jannarden.com/
Monday, January 16
Oranges for Dessert
Many years ago when I was naive, lacked understanding and knowledge of the amount of work required to complete certain types of work, I had just finished eating a meal at my Aunt Arta and Uncle Kelvin's house. Arta does not just serve a meal, she coordinates a feast. Be in Indian food, turkey dinner, a concoction of salads (couscous, greens, etc), or other assortments of themed delights, she is a host of the culinary arts. At the end of dinner I asked where dessert was (re-read post's first sentence now). Arta looked at me and said there was none. I laughed then said of course there was dessert, there was always dessert. Arta stood up, walked to her fridge, moved her body about, then returned to the table and plunked an unpeeled orange down in front of every person at the table. I laughed again (re-read first sentence of post again). I asked her a second time where the REAL dessert was. She laughed and told me that the orange was dessert, sat down, began to peel her orange. I remember being confused because at my house growing up we always had dessert and here, in this house, there was none? How odd.
Over the years, as I have matured, I have come to know that my mother is a baker of delightful goodies and others are cookers of delightful savoury things (caveat: my mother can cook sweet and savoury in all its delights, but she shines while desserting). Not everyone eats dessert. Arta is not a dessert person. I am. Many jokes and teasings have been made over the years by both of us about dessert, oranges and the like.
Fast-forward to 2012 as I read for my thesis. I am working within a framework called Serious Leisure Perspective, a series of concepts developed over 40 years by a University of Calgary based sociologist, Robert Stebbins (or as my recent quantitative sociology statistics professor put it this last term, "Old Bobby Stebbins?! He is a well-known leisure researcher?!? Really?!?" Yep, very much so). Reams and reams of researchers have built on his work about serious leisure and in the 2010's more is being completed.
As I am reading one of his many books titled, Serious Leisure: A Perspective For Our Time, I come across this as a book summary:
"Let us think, for a moment, of the serious leisure perspective as resembling a serving of Bananas Foster. Serious Leisure [the banana] is the central ingredient in this confection, which however, is greatly enhanced with the complementary ingredients of rum, salt butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, banana liqueur, and vanilla ice cream...All this prepared to perfection in a flambé pan, where the rum serves as fuel for the fire that cooks the bananas, themselves bathed, as they are, in a sauce prepared from the aforementioned ingredients. In metaphor or in real life, the bananas alone (serious leisure) are insufficient to constitute this dessert. Rather it needs for its completion and perfection the other ingredients...for an optimal leisure lifestyle. Such a lifestyle is Bananas Foster, exquisitely prepared. Serious leisure is enhanced and blended with judicious amounts of appealing [forms of] leisure...Bananas Foster, sans bananas, is just not Bananas Foster. Every New Orleanian knows that."
As I taunt my Aunt Arta once again about oranges for dessert sans toppings, perhaps I have not grown up that much at all. Then again, next time we are in the same city perhaps we shall share in the making of Bananas Foster, a New Orleanian dessert I have never tried.
Bananas Foster care of Joy of Desserts and More! blog:
Bananas Foster
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
8 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced lengthwise
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup banana liqueur
9 ounces dark rum
She melted the butter in a skillet, (you could also use a chafing dish), then added the brown sugar. Stir until it melts. Then in went the bananas to saute for about 3 minutes on each side. She sprinkled cinnamon and poured the alcohol over the bananas. Once the alcohol is warm (you can't light cold alcohol), carefully light it with a match or lighter. Gently tilt the flaming sauce to baste the bananas until the flames die out when all the alcohol has burned off. Serve hot immediately, over ice cream.
Over the years, as I have matured, I have come to know that my mother is a baker of delightful goodies and others are cookers of delightful savoury things (caveat: my mother can cook sweet and savoury in all its delights, but she shines while desserting). Not everyone eats dessert. Arta is not a dessert person. I am. Many jokes and teasings have been made over the years by both of us about dessert, oranges and the like.
Fast-forward to 2012 as I read for my thesis. I am working within a framework called Serious Leisure Perspective, a series of concepts developed over 40 years by a University of Calgary based sociologist, Robert Stebbins (or as my recent quantitative sociology statistics professor put it this last term, "Old Bobby Stebbins?! He is a well-known leisure researcher?!? Really?!?" Yep, very much so). Reams and reams of researchers have built on his work about serious leisure and in the 2010's more is being completed.
As I am reading one of his many books titled, Serious Leisure: A Perspective For Our Time, I come across this as a book summary:
"Let us think, for a moment, of the serious leisure perspective as resembling a serving of Bananas Foster. Serious Leisure [the banana] is the central ingredient in this confection, which however, is greatly enhanced with the complementary ingredients of rum, salt butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, banana liqueur, and vanilla ice cream...All this prepared to perfection in a flambé pan, where the rum serves as fuel for the fire that cooks the bananas, themselves bathed, as they are, in a sauce prepared from the aforementioned ingredients. In metaphor or in real life, the bananas alone (serious leisure) are insufficient to constitute this dessert. Rather it needs for its completion and perfection the other ingredients...for an optimal leisure lifestyle. Such a lifestyle is Bananas Foster, exquisitely prepared. Serious leisure is enhanced and blended with judicious amounts of appealing [forms of] leisure...Bananas Foster, sans bananas, is just not Bananas Foster. Every New Orleanian knows that."
As I taunt my Aunt Arta once again about oranges for dessert sans toppings, perhaps I have not grown up that much at all. Then again, next time we are in the same city perhaps we shall share in the making of Bananas Foster, a New Orleanian dessert I have never tried.
Bananas Foster care of Joy of Desserts and More! blog:
 |
| Picture and recipe from Joy of Desserts and More! blog |
Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
8 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced lengthwise
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup banana liqueur
9 ounces dark rum
She melted the butter in a skillet, (you could also use a chafing dish), then added the brown sugar. Stir until it melts. Then in went the bananas to saute for about 3 minutes on each side. She sprinkled cinnamon and poured the alcohol over the bananas. Once the alcohol is warm (you can't light cold alcohol), carefully light it with a match or lighter. Gently tilt the flaming sauce to baste the bananas until the flames die out when all the alcohol has burned off. Serve hot immediately, over ice cream.
Sunday, January 1
Twenty Twelve
Another year dawns and I am still alive and well. This year there will include several milestones. I leave my 30's in March and enter my 40's, which I hear are the new 20's. Lucky me. I want this year to be filled with a completed thesis of which I am proud, another graduation from University, a bit of travel, a bit of good conversation, a large amount of enjoyment. Other than this, no New Year's resolutions as I want to live in the moment in which I am currently situated rather than looking too far forward or too far back. The last decade has sped quickly by and I want the next one to be remembered moment by moment, embracing the good, difficult, painful, beautiful, thrilling and divine. Here is to another year and completing those 39 new things I was to be doing since last March!
Enjoy a recent trip I took for a conference to Lake Louise, Alberta.
Ever capturing moments through a lens.
Enjoy the beginning of twenty-twelve.
Enjoy a recent trip I took for a conference to Lake Louise, Alberta.
Ever capturing moments through a lens.
Enjoy the beginning of twenty-twelve.
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| Lake Louise, Alberta |
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| The Edge of the Lake |
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| The Sun Sets |
Saturday, November 20
Movember
Turns out Winnipeg may be more progressive than Calgary (shhhh....don't tell anyone I wrote that). November hit and extra hair began appearing above the mouthes and below the noses of many men that walked by. People around me kept saying, 'Happy Movember'. Mmmmm.....mow, to mow means to clean up, shorten growing items, make neater, yet here was the upper lip less clean than before. Turns out November has been renamed and it is now called mow-vember spelled, 'Movember' and for a wonderful cause.
Several men in Australia decided to reinstate the coolness of the moustache (hello Tom Selleck) and wanted to promote men's health. These men were inspired by the women they knew doing breast cancer fund raising, decided to re-create a boring month and voila, Movember! A month of moustache growing to support the raising of funds for prostate cancer research, which clinked to the tune of $7.8 million last year. That is impressive! Each year more Mo Bros and Mo Sistas join in the hairy work of the 30 day growth including many men in Winnipeg (even those who are facially hair challenged). Keep growing boys!
Women are to recruit and support the moustached men so I shaved this morning, but wait until next year. I am going to suggest women stop shaving, waxing, plucking and dyeing too. We can donate money and hairiness to the worthy cause. Let it grow people! Let it grow!
(Photo copied from eyesmilelikedaisies.tumblr.com)
Several men in Australia decided to reinstate the coolness of the moustache (hello Tom Selleck) and wanted to promote men's health. These men were inspired by the women they knew doing breast cancer fund raising, decided to re-create a boring month and voila, Movember! A month of moustache growing to support the raising of funds for prostate cancer research, which clinked to the tune of $7.8 million last year. That is impressive! Each year more Mo Bros and Mo Sistas join in the hairy work of the 30 day growth including many men in Winnipeg (even those who are facially hair challenged). Keep growing boys!
Women are to recruit and support the moustached men so I shaved this morning, but wait until next year. I am going to suggest women stop shaving, waxing, plucking and dyeing too. We can donate money and hairiness to the worthy cause. Let it grow people! Let it grow!
Say no to these Movember 2011!
Woot Woot!
Sunday, November 7
Lurene is Famous...Practically
After years parental sacrifices, a multitude of weekly lessons, kilometres of driving, hours of practice, and multiple whacks of spatulas on furniture by parents 'encouraging' my siblings and I to practice, one of my siblings has made in on stage in a lead role in a musical. Yippee! I am off to Calgary this weekend to see Lurene perform and if you can head to the Pumphouse Theatre to watch, please do. Here is my Aunt's report of the musical on my extended family's blog.
Saturday, September 25
Recreation and Leisure in Canada
Just thought I would add some information about Recreation, Parks and Tourism on my blog. (I need a break from reading, my eyes and brain hurt.)
Some people feel as though the recreation and tourism side of our vast fields is a bit fluffy and does not carry strong academic roots. Interestingly enough, leisure and recreation is such an important part of healthy communities that each province in our country has its own municipal, regional or provincial department(s). As well, Canada has a federal group that coordinates the efforts of Canadian professionals, called Canada Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA).
In Manitoba (from what I can deduce being new to the province), there are several branches of the government that support, protect, provide space for, and who organize opportunities for leisure within the province. One such organization is Parks and Natural Areas Branch. An additional tourism branch promotes travel in the province using the moniker, Unforgettable Manitoba. You may also be interested in a group that connects recreation and leisure services around the province, Recreation Connections Manitoba.
Within Winnipeg, the City of Winnipeg houses its own Recreation and Leisure Department who maintain public access and use of recreation services. This city offers an extensive list of opportunities to plan your free time with its Leisure Guide, if you are looking for ways to improve a skill or improve the enjoyment your free time.
Here is the website for the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA). They are the umbrella group that coordinates the work of public and not-for-profit recreation groups in Alberta. Their annual conference is coming up in October 2010.
Friday, September 17
Tranquil Plain and Eternal Sky
So I was off. After living in the same province for 20 years, this nomad needed a change. After research, conversations, emails, applications, internal meanderings, advice seeking, and drawing up my courage, I set off. After receiving a 'yes' from the University and after saying 'yes' back, I began organizing. My belongings, my house, my contacts, my life...of 20 years. Off the Manitoba I went!
The hardest part was realizing how many objects I had collected over time and cheering that I was astute enough to purchase a house (that I kept) with a large crawl space for storage. One month of planning what to leave behind, pack and roll into storage. Then the rest of the time to pack, sell and give-away the remains. The day of departure arrived and this mode of transportation.
The hardest part was realizing how many objects I had collected over time and cheering that I was astute enough to purchase a house (that I kept) with a large crawl space for storage. One month of planning what to leave behind, pack and roll into storage. Then the rest of the time to pack, sell and give-away the remains. The day of departure arrived and this mode of transportation.
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