Rainy Sheldon Island

Incredibly, I'm sitting in the Frost Cottage at Sheldon Island, North Georgian Bay, Lake Huron.  Yes, it's raining, but that's ok as we're sitting chatting and catching up the last 18 years since I've visited.  Had a fine party last night over at the Ogden cottage with Mac & Donna, Andy Scott, JVL and Gisele and a number of other Bayfield friends.  I should have done this a long time ago.  Rob Frost is here with his wife Donna and her son Galen.  Her daughter Alex (16) is on a 28 day canoe trip from North of Superior to Hudson Bay.  Wow.  

Otherwise, we're at Shadow Lake.  David has his birthday on Thursday and he'll be 12.  James and he are having another great adventure, and we are having a great time at the cottage with the family.  Grandparents are doing very well.

I'll try to post again before 2010...

Reminded of the blog

I was reminded by Christine Sherwin today that this blog still exists. I haven't updated it obviously in some time. For those interested, I'm now th AP at Branton School in NW Calgary and am still doing many of the same activities as I have with other schools - west coast sailing, music with kids and coaching a bit. Deirdre has been working on a contract with Worley Parsons International for the last year; David and James continue to have many adventures and are growing like the corn. Recently we were out on the Coast for a family sailing trip - lots of fun and some good wind too. Our next travel will take us back to Ontario cottage country in the summer to reconnect with the family and friends still clinging to the East...

I'll add a few recent pictures, and as always, commit to making more frequent entries.

New pictures of summer adventures.

Summer vacations

For any who are still reading (Gordon) we are having a great summer full of many cool activities. David completed 2 weeks of sailing camp at the Glenmore Sailing School and James learned how to dive at his swim lessons. We camped at Waterfowl Lakes in Banff Park for a few days, hiked 10km to Cirque Lake and checked out the shrinking Columbia Ice Fields.

We left for Ontario July 24th and spent three action-packed days at Ontario Place, the ROM and also took in a Blue Jays game. We drove to Montreal to visit Deirdre's family friend Eleanor, and checked out the Botanical Gardens, Insectorium, Biodome, Old Montreal and the Archaeological museum - all in two days! From there we headed to Ottawa to see Gordon Filewych and to check out the new stuff at the National Gallery. We also went to the air collection at Rockcliffe and saw many cool old airplanes, and also made kites.

From Ottawa we blazed across to Bancroft and Baptiste lake for a fine visit with the Redford Clan. One highlight was Bill's amazing MP3 recording of the Big Rock Candy Mountain taken off the old wind-up gramophone and now available as an MP3, maybe even off this site.

Then to Shadow Lake via Kinmount. For two weeks, we lounged, swam, sailed, canoed, kayaked, played tennis and beach ball volleyball, watched the Olympics and ate some very fine meals. A great visit with Mom and Dad, Kathy and Jeff, Hil and Grace.

Back in Calgary now, and gearing up for another busy year. Boys are into COP camp for the last week of the summer, and there will be one more camping trip at least before we are all back at school full time.

Pictures will follow one they are downloaded.

May Showers Bring June Flowers?

It's hard sometimes to adjust sayings to the foothills. We are being soaked today in real Irish type rain. This after several days of hot hot heat - summer weather in Cowtown. Recent events include a garden party for Mother's Day and a bowling party for James on his birthday. James has many new Hot Wheels and Lego sets, and a cool-looking blue guitar in honour of his favourite artist - Picasso. Also, the massive EKG Spring Fling where I, once again, got to be the DJ.

We are looking forward to summer, and travels back to Ontario to see friends and family

Spring... winter... spring ... winter

The Foothills are living up to their reputation of teasing us with very nice weather alternated with heavy snow! Yesterday, we played outside in the sunshine and even had a day of 21 degrees last week. Today, the temperature will drop to -8 and the snow will start, and continue for a week or so. Perhaps an indicator that we need to get out in the mountains one more time to enjoy the powder. We spent a weekend down at Iris and Neil's cabin in the Porcupine Hills and skiied the last weekend at Castle - a variety of snow - everything from light powder up top to heavy mashed spuds in the middle, to slushy slurpee at the bottom. James mastered 'Tumbleweed', a run which defeated him at the beginning of the season.

We'll post some photos of the snow, when it arrives...

Snowy West Coast Adventure

Hola to any still checking in... April can be a cruel month in Calgary, but so is pretty sunny and fair. We've had a lot of great adventures recently, including ski trips to Fernie, Kicking Horse, Nakiska, Lake Louise and Sunshine. We also drove to the coast via Kamloops and Vancouver for a trip on the Roue Schooner Passing Cloud, one of our homes away from home. Some photos will be on board here too. This weekend, thanks to the graciousness of friends Iris and Neil, we're on our way South to the Porcupine Hills to stay in their cabin, and close out the Castle Mountain ski season. Lots of snow still in them Rockies. Deirdre is back to work at Komex (Worley Parsons). On Wednesday night, we celebrated this by all heading out to see a live show by Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans at the Jubilee Auditorium. http://www.corblund.com/site.php if you want to see and hear what the best music from Sothern Alberta is all about. "I'm gonna shine up my boots, I'm gonna head into town, gonna take my twenty dollars and spread it around..."
Hope someone's still checking in on us.

Chia Shrek is cool

Because he's sitting by the window and it's -22 outside... We had an excellent winter school break. Every outdoor winter sport was enjoyed by our family, except perhaps luge and snowshoeing. David and James love to skate, to ski and to toboggan. Good thing if one is going to live in Calgary. We're currently doing the Jackrabbit program every weekend and the boys are getting very fast on their XC skis. Soon we'll add the rifles, and then wait for the gold medals in biathlon at the 2018 Winter Olympics. There is not a lot of news for this post; Dierdre is looking for a new job at Alberta Environment, and I'm on the hunt for a new job in the CBE. The boys continue to really like school which is just great. And it's turned very cold outside. Cold for the next week. Hope the next Chinook arrives before the weekend. Regards to all in the New Year. Hope someone is still reading.

Happy Holidays

If anyone is still reading this, we'd sure like to know! e-mail to robanddeirdre@shaw.ca...

I promised to make a few more entries but have been very busy recently. David and James have been doing lots of swimming at the SAIT pool. They're really enjoying it. David was also doing drama camp this fall and was in a play at the Pumphouse Theatre a few weeks back. Today was the last day of school for the boys; over the break they'll be doing some art classes, and then starting cross-country skiing (Jackrabbits) in January. Hopefully the weather will stay a bit on the warmer side, and the snow will come down in heaps in the mountains.

Apart from this, we are looking forward to a relaxing break from school. Some Skiing, skating, and a few parties and visits with friends, a big turkey dinner at the Delta on Christmas day and New Year's in the Porcupine Hills - sounds like a traditional Alberta Christmas time I guess.

Merry Christmas to all those far away; we are missing a vist with Jill in Toronto at the moment as she is in town singing the Messiah with Taffelmusik. Hope she has a good time! Best wishes to the Irish cousins, Aunts and Uncles, and of course, to GP & GT in Toronto.

Sad day

This just a short note to relate the death of Craig Foss. Craig and his wife Maureen rstayed in our house while we were away adventuring. At that time, Criag had a bone marrow transplant, and eventually recovered to the point where he could be home for a while. Unfortunately, Craig's cancer spread to his lungs, and yesterday evening, he lost his long battle.

Maureen's message can be seen at http://craigfoss.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=115

Bright sunshine in Alberta today.

Weather's Good There in the Fall...

It's been a long time since we've added anything to the old travel blog, but we decided it was worth keeping going as a means of updating any interested folk on our life and activities. If you scroll down, there are a couple of new larger format pictures, as well as the little ones on the side.

Back in August, both David and James went to COP camp. The late summer weather was excellent, and we got up to the mountains a bit for some hiking and canoeing. We spent a lot of time working on the garden at Ecole King George with the other volunteers, and have managed to make the area under construction look pretty nice. It features some new elements including an outdoor classroom amphitheatre.

I was back to school in the third week of August, back to Ecole Fairview, and the boys started back in September. James is in grade 1 with Madame Marie, and David in grade 5 with Madame Doan. They are both having a good start to the year. Apparently taking five months off to travel was not too harmful. Deirdre is the new chair of the Parent council at King George, and I am organizing the fundraising casino so we can buy a new playground. Lots to keep us busy.

We had a great visit from Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tony in September. They were out West to attend a wedding anniversary party for Doug and Libby Wise in Kelowna. The great weather persisted and they had a fine time cruising Lake Okanogan looking for Ogopogo. It is always a treat for David and James to see their grandparents. We had the added bonus of helping grandpa Tony ease up to turning 70, and a party complete with Crave cupcakes. In the middle of their visit, I was off with 40 students and 3 other teachers for a week of sail training with SEA Programs. This is the 11th year I've taken a group out, and it marks 15 years of sail training with CBE students for me. The trip was wonderful; we had great weather, and saw a lot of marine life. All the students did really well, and all the ships were happy. It is always good to reconnect with the SEA crew, though I miss spending time with Captain Greg on the Passing Cloud. The big news in the SEA family is the upcoming marriage of Captain Ryan, and former first mate Kim, the Goddess of the Galley, in Kamloops next summer.

At Thanksgiving, we had a visit from Simon, Sharon, Caleigh, Jenna and Bram. A good time was had by all. James insisted that Jenna stay in his room. We all went to the Westside wave pool/water slide to build an appetite for the BIG TURKEY DINNER which was fabulous. Again, we had great warm, dry fall weather and spent a lot of time out enjoying the sunshine at the zoo and playgrounds.

Throughout October, the weather has been good enough for me to keep cycling to work. The mornings have become a little dark and icy, but the afternoons are generally glorious. Last night was Hallowe'en; David was a Zombie/Skeleton rising from a tomb stone, and James was Hobbes (the tiger; not the Philosopher). The evening was mild and the whole neighbourhood was out socializing. The candy haul was good, but not outrageous.

Adjusting back to normal life has been a bit of a challenge. After spending so long moving from one amazing place to another, it's tough to head up and down the same streets every day. I'm imagining we'll adjust (no choice!) but I'm also planning for the next big adventure, possibly in 2011. Tomorrow night we are hosting the 2nd of 3 slide shows of our trip photos. We still have over 7000 photos to finally process, organize and share. It will take a while to get through it all. Meanwhile, we enjoy looking at our trip, and remembering all the places, but especially the people, we connected with.

Watch this space for more to come...

New Pictures for those still looking

Now that we've had a chance to save and store our images from the trip, we've changed all the ones on the site. Hope you enjoy. David and James are liking being back home. Both have been swimming at the outdoor pool, and enjoyed time at COP Adventure camp.

David turned 10 on August 6th - small party included a trip to the pool and David's favourite meal, fusilli longhi, with lots of capers. Thanks for all the birthday greetings and presents!

Not sure how often we'll keep up with the blog, but we will add some text and pictures from time to time. Continue to check it out, especially around major holiday/vacation times, if you wish.

Home again, home again...

We have now been back in Calgary (safely) for a couple of days. Starting to reflect on 5 months away. Visits to 27 castles, countless markets, countable UNESCO World Heritage Sites and many many museums.

No hospital visits!

No illness, in spite of drinking the local water and munching the local street food everywhere we went!

On budget! (well, almost)

And I will be changing all the pictures on the blog over the next few days for sure. Thanks for watching us on our trip; we will be planning a party soon where attendees can view a highly edited version of our 5000+ trip photos.

Many huge thanks to Maureen & Craig for taking such good care of our house through their ordeal, and to Bob, Holly, and Becky for looking out, cutting grass (never looked this good before) and picking us up at the airport!!! And then feeding us Pizza!!!!!!!

Noonway.

maybe the last entry from the field?

Can't beleive we're almost home! We have had some great adventures through Scotland and Wales, including a trip out to the Isle of Mull (from where Calgary gets its name) and the sheepy mountains around Snowdonia. We met a world-champion sheep-dog handler, Aled Jones, and saw how his dog Gwyn can collect sheep and move them where ever he wants. Sheepdog puppies were plenty cute too. We also went deep into King Arthur's caves, visited the slate mines and spent a day on the beach. Carnaerffon castle was also a great visit and we were very saw to have to say goodbye to Cyffdy cottage when we had to leave.

Travel tip: the Yout Hostel in Bath is full of mold. Don't stay there.

In London now, and have been to the RAF Museum, Hyde Park (where James clonked his head on the playground again), Tate British and Modern galleries and the Tower of London. Lots of good bloody stories there for sure.

Tomorrow the boys reach the promised Mecca of Legoland. We'll visit Deirdre's cousin Chitra on Saturday and hopefully get to Hampton Court Monday. We're loving staying in Jill's house, but wish she was there with us!

See y'all back in Calgary Aug. 1st

Bonnie Bonnie Banks o Loch Lomond

Just figures... we want a quiet highland getaway and they have to host the Scottish Open golf tourney 3km down the road from our hostel... Traffic is a problem, but all the golfing stars are out and about. So, we've been enjoying this part by visiting some castes. First, Doune Castle, where the lion's share of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed. They even give you coconut shells at the entry to enhance your visit. Very cool to see the spot where John Cleese (Launcelot) slashed his way through the peasants to save the 'princess' in the tower, and to see the wall where the French Knights taunted King Arthur and his men, and eventually launched a cow at them! Fun castle visit!

From there, we went to Loch Katrina for a boat tour and some local stories of Sir Walter Scott, who apparently landed a 34 lb Pike from the Loch. More recently, it is the drinking water supply for Glasgow, some 30km away. Nice highland views. Today we visited Stirling Castle, and the battlefields where William Wallace and Robert the Bruce became legendary as true BRAVE SCOTS. The boys love the gory history for sure. Axes in heads. Drawing and quartering. All very cool for sure. We also visited the Falkirk Wheel - a giant lift-lock on the canal system which uses a unique set of gears and wheels to raise and lower boats.

Then, back to the hostel, which is a massive estate home which looks a bit like Hogwarts's converted for hostel use. Our room is in a turret on the 3rd floor. Again, the boys think it's pretty cool.

If anyone is still reading this blog (I know it's summer now) thanks. We are just a few weeks from coming home and have enjoyed the e-mails and comments. We are having fun, but looking forward to seeing family and friends again!

Best whiskey we've tried... Monkeyshoulder - a vat blend of three highland malts - excellent taste, good value and a really cool bottle - look for it!

We are in Oban where the local whiskey shop is staffed by someone from Saskatoon!!!

We are doing well in the West lands, and have visited some really beautiful places. A few days ago, we stayed at Glenfinnan, near the viaduct where all the dramatic train scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed. Every day, the Jacobite steam engine chugs up from Fort William and stops there en route to Mallaig on the coast. We rode the train, in one of the compartments used to film the scenes with the swirling 'Dimentors' and had a great time looking out over the hills an forests used to make the famous films. James and David were a little excited about all this.

We stayed in the Glenfinnan Rail Car sleeper - a hostel with a very small room, a nice kitchen and a seating area. The car is located beside the Glenfinnan station and is a really cool place to stay if you ever have the chance.

from there, we drove down the coast to Ben Nevis, and hiked the shoulder to the Steall waterfall. It almost didn't rain on us, but the top of the UK's highest peak could never be seen due to thick clouds up high. The boys have not forgotten how to hike - they did really well and earned an ice cream for their effort!

Then, down to Oban where we had the best Haddock and chips yet. We were over to the Isle of Mull yesterday, and spent some time at Tobermoray. We wanted to get across to Calgary and Calgary bay, but the local bus service does not run on Sundays! Had to settle for nice views of the harbour and town where we were.

Today we visited the Scottish Seal Recovery Centre- a place for injured wildlife. It has a pretty good aquarium too. This afternoon, I met a shopkeeper in a really nice whiskey store who hails from Saskatoon. She really likes the Monkeyshoulder as well. Off to a coastal park for a beach walk now, and tomorrow, off to Loch Lomond.

SUPER BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO MEI LEE OGDEN for having the good sense to pick Jamie and JJ as her new parents. The pictures are awesome and you guys look great!


Cheers!

Wee bit 'o Cullen Skink in the Highlands

Happy Canada Day!

Tonight we are in Inverness, at the mouth of the river Ness, Moray Firth. We haven't seen any baby Nessie monsters in the river yet, but the paths and parks which surround the area are mystical and gorgeous. Scotland is a beautiful, natural place so far. We arrived last week in Aberdeen and drove down to Stonehaven in the driving rain. As it happened, out place there was on a high bluff looking over the North Sea at Crawton Croft. The house itself was amazing. Warm, comfy... we could have moved in for a long long time.

So - the Keiths descended from Robert de Keith who was awarded the lands near Stonehaven after the battle of Bannockburn. Subsequent generations of Keiths built up the area, including William Keith who built Dunottar Castle (used in Mel Gibson's 'Hamlet'). We spent some time there, and at Kennef Kirk down the road (plays big in Keith history) and also had some time in Aberdeen at the Maritime museum and Marishal College. We also visited Montrose, Brechin and the Caledonian Railway. The coast in this area is powerful - there are sea-birds everywhere (but only one Puffin) and the forest walks are tranquil. David and James are ready to stay and re-claim the Keith lands.

On our travels, we've also been to Lossiemouth, Keith, and the Glenfiddich distillery at Duffstown. It's Free! And they give you whiskey at the end of the tour! Today we visited the Scottish Wooden boat festival at Portsoy on the Moray Firth - very cool old ships and small boats, and a really nice harbour town.

And lots of Cullen Skink! Yum.

So now we are planning to escape to Skye, then on to Mull and hopefully Iona. Then to Loch Lomond and to Wales beyond. We hope to see Nessie on our trips around Loch Ness - will have the camera ready...

The local news is of flooding and of a car-bomb at the Glasgow airport. We are far away from those troubles, and appreciating that immensely. The boys are in good spirits. Still riding the high from the great time we had in Ireland. We hope everybody had a great Canada Day and will try to update again as soon as possible.

Ireland is the biggest counrty in the world

According to Sean and James Egan, it's true. James Keith and David are suspicious, because they know all the words to 'Canada's Really Big' by the Arrogant Worms. Apparently, there are many underground levels we haven't seen, and less gravity in the North of Ireland where Finn McCool is from, so everything is really really big up there. Irish weather has been living up to the legend for the past few days. heavy rains and even some flooding along the rivers in and around Dublin. It's made drying the laundry quite a chore.

Yesterday we spent some time planning the last weeks of our adventure (Stonehaven, Aberdeen, Keith, Inverness, Glenfinnian, Isle of Mull and maybe Iona, Loch Lomond, and perhaps the two big cities of Scotland, then to Balla in Wales, Bath and London) and then headed out to see one of the largest tall ships in the world at the Liffey quays.

So, the ship is the Liberdad from Argentina. It is a massive three-masted full rigged ship, used for officer training. It is in Ireland to celebrate the fact that the Argentine Navy was founded by an Irishman, Admiral Brown.

Who knew.

In fact, the US Navy was also founded by an Irishman from Wexford - John Barry. There is a statue of the man in Wexford which, at one time, was visited by US President Eisenhower for a dedication. Anyhow, the Argentine ship was not open to visitors at the moment we arrived, but John Egan spoke to the young officer in charge in Spanish and they let us sailors on for a mini-tour. We also met Deirdre's cousin Cormac, his wife Neive and their 2 year old daughter Isabel down at the ship. When it really started raining hard, we repaired to O'Brien's Ferryman pub on the docks (to hear some real sailors swear) for a pint. Nice visit. Cormac is in a band called 'Stoat' - they have a web page if you are interested.

Last night, Deirdre and I joined Dan Egan at the Abbey Theatre (founded by Yeats) to watch a performance of the Crucible (Arthur Millar). Great performance, and a fine time at the pub after as well. Dan claims to be saving for another trip to Canada some time in the next 5 years or so, and we'll try to hold him to it.

Today we headed North into County Meath to see Seamus at the seminary where he lives, and to visit the 5200 year-old tomb at Newgrange. Older than lots of stuff in Egypt, it is. We had a a great time with the Egan men, and are now back in Dublin getting ready to fly tomorrow.

We have had such a great time in Ireland. Everyone has taken great care of us, and we've enjoyed every visit. Hopefully it will not be another 16 years before we return.

Many apologies for not updating pictures; I have been trying, but there is something wrong with the interface for our page here. They won't upload! We'll keep trying, or create another page for pictures (all 5000+ of them?). Cheers.

West Ireland Road Trip

Good afternoon from Claremorris, County Mayo. We have covered a fair bit of both rocky and fertile ground around Ireland in the last week. We drove towards County Clare via Limmerick where we stopped to see an interesting cave near Mitchelstown. The entrance is at a farmer's house, where one knocks on the door to pay the admission. From there we headed North to the Burren, a high rocky plateau covered with ancient mystical ruins. We stayed for three days at Clare's Rock Hostel, run by Pat Cassidy, right down the road from Cassidy's pub. You can see where this is going... Cassidy's bus lines take you to all the sites if you don't have a car. The local dairy, Cassidy's, makes really good ice cream...

The Burren is dotted with ruined ring-forts and Dolmans dating back about 1600 years. The area has been continuously settled for over 8000 years, which is hard to imagine given the very rocky terrain. We also spent some time at the Aliwee caves, the cliffs of Moher (where a scene from 'the Princess Bride' was filmed) and the swimming pool in the town of Lehinch. After three days of exploring, we headed Norht to Claremorris. We've been in the good hands of Dan Egan, Jarrod and Anne Egan (great dinner!) and their family, Noula (really great stew!) and Seamus and their boys John, Darraugh and Keiran, and have seen a lot of the county. We spent some time visiting with Deirdre's grand-aunt Kay at her house. She let us know that it's been there as a farm in he family for over 100 years.

Yesterday we climbed part-way up Croak Patrick, the highest mountain in Ireland and the mystical spot where St. Patrick fasted and contemplated the future of the faith of Ireland, and spent some time on the beach at Old Head near Westport. Just off shore from there is Clare's Island, home to Ireland's most famous Pirate, Grace O'Malley.

We've been staying at the Egan family farm which is still home to a few cows and a horse. At night, we burn peat in the fire, sip Irish whiskey. play cards and tell tales of adventures past and present. David and James have learned quite a bit of Irish history, and a lot about their family here. Today they had a chance to ride out in the tractor with Seamus Murphy to count the yearling cows in the far pasture, and to check out the milking operation at the farm. David is really interested in all of this; James just wants to drive the tractor...

Thursday we head back to Dublin, then to Aberdeen, Scotland on Sunday. It rains a lot here, but it sounds like the ground is more used to taking it up than in Clagary... keep your wellies handy...

Hot days in Ferrycarrig

Good evening blog watchers. We have been having a wonderful time staying with John and Bernadette Parle here in the sunny Southeast. Touring County Wexford makes one a true believer in Ireland's charm and natural beauty, no doubt. We've had absolutely glorious hot sunny weather since leaving Dublin. On the way down we stopped at the Abbey of Glendalough and had a great time driving the back roads with Eoin Parle. Over the last few days, we've spent some time on the stunning beach near Curracloe where the film 'Saving Private Ryan' was shot. Deirdre has been swimming in the Irish sea there, and the boys have been making excellent sand castles. We've also spent some time in the town of Wexford, been down to the sea at Kilmore Quays, explored the grounds around Johson Castle, toured a famine ship in New Ross, found our way out of an extensive hedge maze at Dunbrody Abbey and watched the surf pounding at the foot of the lighthouse on Hook Head.

Yesterday John Parle and Dan Egan took me to the county final hurling match at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny. County Wexford (the Yellowbellies sponsored by Wexford Cheddar) and County Dublin ( the Arnotts? sponsored by...Guinness?) played a thrilling, head-bashing, knee-snapping match that saw the favourite Wexford squad narrowly defeat Dublin in the dying seconds by one score. If you ever get a chance to see a hurling match, go. It made NHL hockey play-offs look a bit silly, especially considering NONE of the hurling players get paid a cent to play, and the effort they make in the game far surpasses anything routinely seen in professional sports.

Tomorrow is our last day in Wexford; we will be renting a car and winding along the very skinny roads towards Waterford and the Rock of Cashel. We'll be staying later in the week at Clare's Rock Hostel in the Burren, County Clare, near the cliffs of Moher, Dingle and Galway. We meet up with Dan Egan again in Mayo on Saturday and will spend some time on the farm where Deirdre's mother was born before heading back to Dublin. Having hard luck trying to get more pictures on this thing, but will try next time we have high-speed access.

Hope everyone in Calgary is recovered from the flood. HOT AND SUNNY IN IRELAND!!?!!