Its December 10th and for once I actually plan to write and publish a short update all in one evening, Lets see how that goes eh!!
Well, its been a really uplifting few weeks - mainly because the frigid winter weather has evaded us for much longer than normal this year. Yes, we had some snow in October and Halloween was quite chilly, but the last 4-5 weeks have been amazing. Until a few days ago we were still getting above zero temperatures most days and even in the evening it was only dropping to minus 4 or 5. We have had a little snow, but the warmer weather has easily melted it away and so the roads and footpaths have been mainly clear! I have been out running in shorts and no gloves several times and its been lovely!
The winter HAS finally arrived though with a little winter storm this weekend where about 5-6cm of snow fell, but still it's not that cold and we are expecting a couple of days of 0 - 3 degrees this week, which should be enough to clear the paths and roads again.
People over here worry that there might be a 'brown Christmas', which actually just means 'Not a White Christmas' - I'll be honest - Give me a Brown Christmas any year - No snow to clear, good easy drives and a real British feel about the whole thing! I don't think it will happen but if it does you will hear about it first from me!!
This was our backyard about a year ago...
and this was our back yard two days ago....
Like I said we have had a bit of snow now, but thats cool (Literally) It feels great to kow that we have got away with 4-5 weeks of winter without it actually feeling like winter! Only 3 months to go!! Also even when it has snowed - the kids are big enough now to help out clearing the white shite!!
In other news, we have been busy being a bit posh and getting a bit of culture in! It tutrns out that instead of just going to the pub and getting bollocked, it's actually quite fun to do other stuff like look at art and listen to music - so we did some of that too....then went for beers afterwards!!
It all started because the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra was playing one of those concerts where they play the music to a movie, while you watch the movie on a big screen. It just turns out that they were doing Frozen! So we dragged the kids along on a Sunday afternoon and had a great time (Till Hannah had a bit of a breakdown after the movie) watching the film and listening to the live Orchestra,
This past week, the kids have been left out a little and we did the culture trips ourselves!
Early last week we went to the Convention centre where the 'Beyond Monet', exhibition was on. It was just brilliant. A quick walk around and introduction to Monet (and Van Goch) so that you knew a little about the art and the history and then into a huge sports field-sized room with 20-foot high walls multiple projectors and a surround sound speaker system. On all the walls and the floor are projected artworks, but they are brought to life with movement and depth - a couple of examples being the windmills and lighthouse - The windmill sails actually turn as the artwork moves and the lighthouse light rotates blinding you with light and then darkness as the light moves away. There was so much to see and hear that we stayed a little longer than we were supposed to, but it was really really enjoyable and something I have never really seen before!
Our final Cultural trip for this year was to a local church where there was a candlelight concert playing. This is part of a series of concerts playing in various venues around the city over a couple of months. This one was a 4 piece string quartet playing the music of Hans Zimmer - famous for film scores such as Interstellar, Gladiator, The Lion King and The Dark Knight. But instead of a normal music venue, it s played in a more intimate place, and also surrounded by candlelight. Again it was REALLY good. We really enjoyed listening to the music as much as the quartet enjoyed playing it - they readily admitted it was nice to play something different from their normal music. You will probably recognise some of the music - The first is the crazy countdown music from Dunkirk and the last one is was from Pirates of the Caribbean.
That pretty much sums up our last few weeks.
You will be glad to hear that Hannah has recovered well from the little breakdowns I mentioned earlier. She is just at the stage in her life when things get hard - she is very strong-willed and yet is still very little and finds it hard to control her emotions sometimes. But she is getting much much better about it with lots of talking and working together. We are also seeking outside help, not only for her but for ourselves too, so we can all deal with our issues a bit better and work together to help each other. Buffy and I are open to learning new things and ensure that we do our utmost best for the kids and our little family. There will still be times when we disagree and shout at each other, but with help (Therapy, if you are wondering) we are determined to do our best for each other.
I have just a few photos to share with everyone - One is of Ollie helping me unload the shopping cart. A couple of string-willed Hannah who went to her friends Princess themed birthday party dressed as the only Unicorn there and the last one is of me and Ollie.
It is my new favourite photo.
Taken at the choir concert, it's Ollie sitting on my knee, listening to the music, eyes closed. In this photo, I see his little hands just resting on hs legs as he leans into my chest with his eyes closed. I can only imagine what is going through his mind, but if it's 1% of the love I feel for him and Hannah when I look at this photo, then its a huge HUGE amount of love. This is without doubt the best part of being a parent to these two brilliant little kids.
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