Tropical horrors!!
Being here in Hawaii has brought back memories of Rwanda I had completely blocked out.
The ants get every where. Only the fridge is safe, so my beer is relieved. this means everything we want kept ant free is in the fridge, even the chips (SORRY!) crisps .
You'll have to all be kind to us when we get back while we make the lingual shift back to proper English (or as close as we get in Leeds.) I promise I still say Herbs, but mt OrEGGano annoys even me.
Saturday, 19 July 2008
Aloha!
The sun is setting on me in our third floor guest house, dipping below the pacific and bringing some welcome coolth to the end of another warm day here on the North Shore of Oahu, most populous of the Hawaiian islands. Today we dove (yep, that's what they say over here) with Hawaiian Green Turtles at a a point called 'Turtle Car Wash' where these graceful ocean dwellers come in to get cleaned up. They hang around in the shallow water while little hungry reef fish nibble the algae off their shells that accumulates at sea. One large lady (you can tell by the small tail) looked me right in the eyes from a foot away. You could see the age in them; being a reasonable size she was probably thirty or forty years old. Turtles never stop growing their whole lives, so the bigger they are, the longer it took them to get that way. Whether that look held any kind of wisdom I couldn't say, but it was certainly a deeper look than you normally get from the local critters when you're under water.
We saw more turtles yesterday before we went surfing. Two of them were just basking on the beach, getting warm and letting the sun's heat help them digest their diet of seaweed. Surfing was hard. It felt like I'd mastered the basics in Cannon Beach, Oregon. We were comfortably standing up and riding waves 'inside' the break on our first day so getting on the bigger blue waves outside should only be a simple step, right? Not so much, it seems. So far surfing has been both exhilarating and frustrating, but we'll keep trying.
Tomorrow we've got to be up at 5 to get a ride down to Waikiki on the South Shore to go wreck diving, something I've always wanted to try. While we're down there we hope to tour Pearl Harbour and get another surf lesson. Then in three days we're travelling back to the mainland on our anniversary. 4 years is apparently silk or linen. That reminds me, I must get a card...
Since last I blogged the highlights have included tasting some lovely 'Champagne' in Napa, Alcatraz (you HAVE to see it if you can) and driving over the Golden Gate Bridge. The experience that wowed me the most was definitely walking though the massive Coast Redwood sof Humboldt-Redwood Park in the North of California. Walking though these mighty giants, many of whom are one or two thousand years old, is a humbling and eerie thing to do; just imagine the world events that have passed them by while they grew, relentless and unknowing. You can see their tall straight trunks scarred by fire, some hollowed out into 'Goose Pens', so called because early settlers really did keep keep their geese in them. These colossal Sequoias, the world's tallest tree, shoot straight up out of the ground, their massive cylindrical trunks uninterrupted by branches often for over 150 feet. It leaves you walking through a forest that doesn't resemble any other, unless perhaps you work in a telephone pole storage facility. We missed church that weekend, but somehow just sitting under those impressive trees reading my bible was like being in a much older church, one whose architect was as alive and present in the towering life around me as he was in the book I read.
The world's biggest tree is another Sequoia, the Giant Redwood we hope to see further inland at Yosemite.
Well, bedtime now. Being close to the equator the sun goes down a lot sooner here. It'll be dark by half past seven and we've got a lot of sleeping to do before tomorrow's dive.
We saw more turtles yesterday before we went surfing. Two of them were just basking on the beach, getting warm and letting the sun's heat help them digest their diet of seaweed. Surfing was hard. It felt like I'd mastered the basics in Cannon Beach, Oregon. We were comfortably standing up and riding waves 'inside' the break on our first day so getting on the bigger blue waves outside should only be a simple step, right? Not so much, it seems. So far surfing has been both exhilarating and frustrating, but we'll keep trying.
Tomorrow we've got to be up at 5 to get a ride down to Waikiki on the South Shore to go wreck diving, something I've always wanted to try. While we're down there we hope to tour Pearl Harbour and get another surf lesson. Then in three days we're travelling back to the mainland on our anniversary. 4 years is apparently silk or linen. That reminds me, I must get a card...
Since last I blogged the highlights have included tasting some lovely 'Champagne' in Napa, Alcatraz (you HAVE to see it if you can) and driving over the Golden Gate Bridge. The experience that wowed me the most was definitely walking though the massive Coast Redwood sof Humboldt-Redwood Park in the North of California. Walking though these mighty giants, many of whom are one or two thousand years old, is a humbling and eerie thing to do; just imagine the world events that have passed them by while they grew, relentless and unknowing. You can see their tall straight trunks scarred by fire, some hollowed out into 'Goose Pens', so called because early settlers really did keep keep their geese in them. These colossal Sequoias, the world's tallest tree, shoot straight up out of the ground, their massive cylindrical trunks uninterrupted by branches often for over 150 feet. It leaves you walking through a forest that doesn't resemble any other, unless perhaps you work in a telephone pole storage facility. We missed church that weekend, but somehow just sitting under those impressive trees reading my bible was like being in a much older church, one whose architect was as alive and present in the towering life around me as he was in the book I read.
The world's biggest tree is another Sequoia, the Giant Redwood we hope to see further inland at Yosemite.
Well, bedtime now. Being close to the equator the sun goes down a lot sooner here. It'll be dark by half past seven and we've got a lot of sleeping to do before tomorrow's dive.
Saturday, 12 July 2008
...
...also, in Seattle, I tried on a kilt.
Check out http://www.utilikilts.com/
I thought I looked amazingly cool! Vicky thought all my friends would take the piss relentlessly and refused to stand by and watch my dignity go down the pan.
I thought that you would, eventually, relent.
Whaddaya think?
Check out http://www.utilikilts.com/
I thought I looked amazingly cool! Vicky thought all my friends would take the piss relentlessly and refused to stand by and watch my dignity go down the pan.
I thought that you would, eventually, relent.
Whaddaya think?
Friday, 11 July 2008
A hurried "catch you up"
"Paper or plastic?"
Checkout boy at our first Stateside supermarket, Seattle, WA
Wowzer! We're already two weeks into our grand adventure and I haven't once set finger to keyboard to keep you all (or should that be 'both') up to speed. Sorry about that, but we have been just terrifically busy. I'll start with a run down of some of the adventures we've had and try for some added colour later.
As you see at the top of the page, the good old US of A announced itself to us in a small but distinctive way. I had wondered how different it would be here South of the 49th parallel; was all of North America the same bland TV world we had come to know? No. In both countries it is not the done thing to pack your own shopping at the supermarket; either the checkout person does it for you and hold up the entire line while she packs and scans at the same time (a level of multi-tasking at which I have noticed women checkout assistants are vastly superior to their male counterparts) or there is an assigned packer per till. Still, in Canada I was never offered a choice, just a barely adequate plastic bag. Down here in the land of the free, choice is king. Paper or plastic? We chose paper as it would double up as kindling for our many expected campfires.
Portland wowed us. There are more brew-pubs per-capita than anywhere else in North America, hundreds of drinking fountains, free and fast public transport within the city centre, the world's largest independent new/used book store, a retired submarine which we toured and it's pretty to boot; lots of parks, trees and bridges. It had a very liberal bohemian feel, much like I had always imagined San Francisco would feel (we'll see...) but was smallish too. We also discovered there the supermarket chain whole foods; fabulous in every way! If there was one place in America we would move to it would absolutely be Portland. (Top event; free pizza from a place called Pizza-Schmizza that also sold local micro-brew beer! I'd live there)
We've decided in recent days that we're ready for a dog when we get home as the first new addition to family Denton. I was dead set on a retired racing greyhound but having swotted up from my find in Portland "Retired Racing Greyhounds For Dummies" (this series knows no bounds, and hurrah for that!) we've decided that might be too much work for a first dog and not ideal when little ones turn up, hopefully soon. So we'll get feelers out for an older mutt looking to slot into a loving home.
We've been up the space needle in Seattle and I had another Manhattan, a new tradition for the top of any major tower. We were also on the beach in Seattle for the 4th of July fireworks. I think the show was marginally better than the Canada day display we saw in Kelowna on the 1st July a few days before, what with Seattle being huge and Kelowna tiny, but few events will ever touch the memory we made watching the Kelowna show on a speed boat in the middle of Lake Okanagon with such good friends as Donna, Bernie and Jake, Blossom and David. We plated the phantom of the opera music through the boat's speakers as the skies erupted above us in what felt like a private show. Magic!
In Kelowna we also spent time Tubing (lying on a rubber ring behind a speed boat while the driver tries to throw you off. Enormous fun!), wake-boarding (Hard) and sea-dooing (brilliant, but I did scare the wife a bit).
We met a princess of Norway at last night's campground and spent 3 evening hanging out around the campfire with hr very ordinary family. Apart from the throne and tiara you would never have known! That's a story we'll tell you in person!
Surfing for two days in Cannon Beach was great, we were both getting up and riding well on day one when we were 'inside' the break surfing white water, but on day two we couldn't quite get in any unbroken waves 'outside.' Progress still to make when we get to Hawaii.
There has been kite-flying, beer drinking, book reading, beach walking, fruit eating, wood chopping, Volcano viewing (mt St Helens), island hopping, sea kayaking, church going, pool and cribbage and crazy-golf playing (Vic's kicking my bum), Oyster sampling, fire lighting, bike-riding and mucho mucho driving.
Please comment and let us know what you're ll (...both...) up to!
R n V
Checkout boy at our first Stateside supermarket, Seattle, WA
Wowzer! We're already two weeks into our grand adventure and I haven't once set finger to keyboard to keep you all (or should that be 'both') up to speed. Sorry about that, but we have been just terrifically busy. I'll start with a run down of some of the adventures we've had and try for some added colour later.
As you see at the top of the page, the good old US of A announced itself to us in a small but distinctive way. I had wondered how different it would be here South of the 49th parallel; was all of North America the same bland TV world we had come to know? No. In both countries it is not the done thing to pack your own shopping at the supermarket; either the checkout person does it for you and hold up the entire line while she packs and scans at the same time (a level of multi-tasking at which I have noticed women checkout assistants are vastly superior to their male counterparts) or there is an assigned packer per till. Still, in Canada I was never offered a choice, just a barely adequate plastic bag. Down here in the land of the free, choice is king. Paper or plastic? We chose paper as it would double up as kindling for our many expected campfires.
Portland wowed us. There are more brew-pubs per-capita than anywhere else in North America, hundreds of drinking fountains, free and fast public transport within the city centre, the world's largest independent new/used book store, a retired submarine which we toured and it's pretty to boot; lots of parks, trees and bridges. It had a very liberal bohemian feel, much like I had always imagined San Francisco would feel (we'll see...) but was smallish too. We also discovered there the supermarket chain whole foods; fabulous in every way! If there was one place in America we would move to it would absolutely be Portland. (Top event; free pizza from a place called Pizza-Schmizza that also sold local micro-brew beer! I'd live there)
We've decided in recent days that we're ready for a dog when we get home as the first new addition to family Denton. I was dead set on a retired racing greyhound but having swotted up from my find in Portland "Retired Racing Greyhounds For Dummies" (this series knows no bounds, and hurrah for that!) we've decided that might be too much work for a first dog and not ideal when little ones turn up, hopefully soon. So we'll get feelers out for an older mutt looking to slot into a loving home.
We've been up the space needle in Seattle and I had another Manhattan, a new tradition for the top of any major tower. We were also on the beach in Seattle for the 4th of July fireworks. I think the show was marginally better than the Canada day display we saw in Kelowna on the 1st July a few days before, what with Seattle being huge and Kelowna tiny, but few events will ever touch the memory we made watching the Kelowna show on a speed boat in the middle of Lake Okanagon with such good friends as Donna, Bernie and Jake, Blossom and David. We plated the phantom of the opera music through the boat's speakers as the skies erupted above us in what felt like a private show. Magic!
In Kelowna we also spent time Tubing (lying on a rubber ring behind a speed boat while the driver tries to throw you off. Enormous fun!), wake-boarding (Hard) and sea-dooing (brilliant, but I did scare the wife a bit).
We met a princess of Norway at last night's campground and spent 3 evening hanging out around the campfire with hr very ordinary family. Apart from the throne and tiara you would never have known! That's a story we'll tell you in person!
Surfing for two days in Cannon Beach was great, we were both getting up and riding well on day one when we were 'inside' the break surfing white water, but on day two we couldn't quite get in any unbroken waves 'outside.' Progress still to make when we get to Hawaii.
There has been kite-flying, beer drinking, book reading, beach walking, fruit eating, wood chopping, Volcano viewing (mt St Helens), island hopping, sea kayaking, church going, pool and cribbage and crazy-golf playing (Vic's kicking my bum), Oyster sampling, fire lighting, bike-riding and mucho mucho driving.
Please comment and let us know what you're ll (...both...) up to!
R n V
Friday, 20 June 2008
Pause for thought
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy
Benjamin Franklin.
One week to go now until our giant trip down the west coast. I am gently filling my days at work with tidying up and paperwork tasks, Internet research on San Francisco, Napa Valley wine tours or surfing techniques (as I could learn anything useful at all sat behind a Cow Town desk). It's been 5 or six weeks since I ran anywhere due to continued pain in my IT band but it seems to be slightly better after lots of stretching, so, all covered in well engineered tape by Chantal at school I am prepared to go for a trial run this afternoon. I have yet to make any decisions about the half marathon, but I am relentlessly optimistic
On the long weekend at the start of May Victoria and I returned from camping in Jasper via the Columbia Icefield and we took a tour ON A GLACIER! We were driven out on a kind of hand-built bus with balloon tyres on a hot sunny day and stood in awe on a sheet of ice 30m thick. Our guide was something of a Glacial expert (doctorate in it etc) and told us about Glacial retreat. Apparently the glaciers in the Rocky mountains have been in gradual and constant retreat since about 1850. It is currently retreating at about 2 metres per year OHMIGOD!!! GLOBAL WARMING, AARGH!!!
Nope.
It has retreated 1600m in the last 100m years, an average rate of 16m per year.
It's currently melting MUCH MUCH SLOWER than it has done for last 160 years.
Now, I'm not denying global warming; heaven forbid. All of my left leaning friends would have me stoned in the street, but this doesn't seem to chime with the alarmist figures I hear again and again. Yes, the earth is getting warmer, but more than normal?
So, drive fewer miles in a smaller-engined car, recycle, turn off lights etc etc, but also, for Socrates' sake, keep an open mind...
BTW, after a year of three, four or even five litre V6, V8 and V10 car engines it will be nice to get back to a place where our 1.8 litre Ford is considered excessive by some.
Many friends are saying goodbye this weekend. We have both felt so very welcomed here in Calgary and we will miss all of you. Please, come find us in Leeds. I'll show you what the Good Lord meant when he said 'Let there be beer.'
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Graduation and wedding
Last Friday saw 95% of our 18 year old grade 12 students graduate from high school and walk the stage in the auditorium at Calgary University. It was a significant ritual in their young lives and one they have worked hard to achieve. They were genuinely proud and nervous as they stepped onto the stage beside me and walked off to collect their graduation certificate from Mr MacFarland, the Principal. I was on stage announcing names, a task generally performed by teachers who are retiring that year. It was a real honour to be asked as I am just going home, but I didn't realise how big a deal the whole shebang was until it began. I've been trying to explain to folks over here that we don't so much graduate from High School as simply stop going, any celebrations being a more personal affair as one picks up the insignificant looking envelope containing results of A-levels or GCSEs. Seeing as our graduands had yet to finish their exams and therefore didn't know for sure that they would actually graduate I was expecting this to be all pomp and circumstance, a sop to a North American tradition, so it was a treat to be proved wrong and a privilege to be a part of an afternoon these young people will remember for the rest of their lives. Well done all of you, may your lives continue to be filled with the hope and promise we all see in you.
As soon as I left grad we were off to witness the start of another great adventure: the marriage of Jen Van de Laak to her farming beau Jim in the small prairie town of Leader, Saskatchewan. It was a truly beautiful day and the weather could not have been better. We spent much of the day surrounded by country music, cowboy hats, pick-up trucks, wide-open spaces and the friendly welcoming atmosphere of a small town where everybody knows everybody else's business and cares about them. All 235 guests ate well and enjoyed themselves and the happy couple were genuinely happy all day, surrounded by people who loved them. It made Vic and I remember our wedding day fondly, as weddings always do. The only other time in your life all your friends and relatives will get together to celebrate you is likely to be your funeral and I am not hoping to have that party for a good while yet! Vic and I finished our day as the wedding photographers with 849 photos to edit and touch up. I can't even imagine how much it would have cost to do a wedding back in the days of film.
Jim and Jen tied the knot at 3.37 pm. God bless every minute you guys spend together, and thanks for having us there.
I am putting the finishing touches to this on Friday morning, the 6th June. I have 3 more teaching days left between now and September and I am both excited about the upcoming adventure as well as sad to be leaving what has been an excellent year all round; great school, nice kids, friendly dept, the most welcoming church I have ever come across. awesome skiing and a whole heap of fabulous friends. That said, it's going to be great to get home and see all our friends there who we have missed so much.
I promise to write again soon,,
R
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Bare Naked Ladies
Sorry it's been so long, I've been terribly busy. A swollen ITB is keeping me from running, but otherwise life is fab.
What with it being Vic's b'day party lately we have had several cocktails and I have cracked the art of Manhatten making: mostly whiskey, a dash of vermouth (I prefer Rosso) and a dribble of the juice from the jar you spooned your maraschineo cherry from. It's the only fruit I get most days ;-)>
Anyway, Carmen and I were sat on the sofa drinking away our rough days with a pair of these creations when I considered the name. A Manhattan is the name of this divine creation when one employs American sour mash bourbon. Such a concoction built on Scotch (and I haven't yet brought myself to lavish my Bowmore on one!) is called a Rob Roy. We are using a bottle of Canadian whiskey, so we thought we needed a suitable Canadian name. Having rapidly dismissed 'the Celine Dion' and 'the Bryan Adams' we settled on the sublime, the delightful 'Bare Naked Lady.' Fun, frolicsome and a guaranteed good time! Perfect. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Brian Wilson wouldn't have enjoyed a few, lying in bed...
I promise I'll post more soon about V's Birthday adventures; our trip to the Hutterite (modern Ahmish-ish), a day at the water park inside the world's second largest mall and my visit to a rural primary school, not to mention our wonderful James Bond themed murder mystery party at which V was Dr Yes and I was Hugh Onlee-Livtwice! Many a martini sunk there, shaken , not stirred. It's much easier to blog now that I've set up the wireless system and can do it like this with a tipple on the sofa.
Ciao for now,
R
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