Merry Christmas

We are ready for Christmas, last night we joined Tim's Mum and family 15 in total for a wonderful turkey dinner, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Thank you Judit for inviting us it was lovely to see everyone again,

Tonight we are going with Stefanie, Tim, Buster and Judit to look at some of the more spectacular light displays around Burlington and then supper at our place, no Turkey though something a little lighter.

Doug took a couple of pictures of the Mall in Trinidad decorated for Christmas, note the locals in their shorts.

Wishing you all a wonderful day tomorrow, we hope Santa is good to you all.

Ancaster Craft Show Pictures

A little overdue but here are some pictures of the goodies we were selling at the Ancaster Christmas Craft Show.

I need some sunshine and warmth

I arrived in the UK to a severe hoar frost which covered the trees and fields, it looked like a scene from a Christmas card very pretty but much colder then Canada.

The day after I arrived my Mum and I got up in the morning to find her boiler not working so no heat or hot water. We survived for a couple of days before we could get a plumber to check it out. Fortunately we had a gas fire and portable oil filled radiators. You don't realise how you much you are used to certain things until they are not available. The cause of the problem was the severe cold weather and condensation had frozen to block a narrow outside pipe.

Whilst at home I managed to persuade my Mum to at last have a lifeline installed, she has been fighting us for a couple of years but thanks to support from Keith & Viv we managed to persuade her it was the best thing to do as she is now 90 years old and we all worry she may fall and at least with the lifeline she can summon help immediately. Of course she tells anyone who will listen that she is not at all happy about it.

Doug arrives this evening we will both return to Trinidad on January 4th. I am still trying to figure how to add the pictures of the craft show and open house. I didn't take them Stefanie used her camera and emailed them to me. Maybe Doug will help me out.

Wishing everone a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. See You in 2011.

Busy time in Canada

I arrived back last Wednesday evening and have been busy since. Stefanie and I are participating in the Ancaster Christmas Craft Show this coming weekend. I had made a lot if things in Trinidad that needed stuffing and finishing off I have been working on those and am almost done.

Yesterday evening Stefanie and I went for a pedicure, we managed to relax for an hour and felt much better afterwards, I have also had my hair done since arriving back. I really need to find a hairdresser in Trinidad.

Keep you fingers crossed that we will do well at the show, I will post some pictures of our booth.

I still have Christmas shopping to start, Christmas cards to write and baking to do, wonder if I will get it all completed before I leave for the UK?

Orchids

We stopped at a local garden centre on our way home at the weekend.

Along one wall in place of a fence were orchids, they are not planted in soil they just grow with the warmth and constant misting with water. It was amazing, my pictures do not do them justice.

Brunch at Chagaramus

At the weekend we had brunch at Chagaramus where we sat and drooled at all the yatchts and catamarans. Had a good brunch, a few drinks and watched the local fishermen in their boats.

Did a lot of people watching and before we left a steel pan band set up in the restuarant and played Christmas songs. Frosty the Snowman doesn't sound quite the same when it is very hot and the only thing that was frosty was Doug's beer mug.

It has been a while

The month has flown by since I returned from Canada and I will be heading back again on 17th November to help Stefanie with the Ancaster Christmas Craft Show and Open House at her home. I am then flying to England for a short visit with my Mum and family then back to Canada to spend Christmas with Stefanie, Tim and Buster. Doug will fly to Canada December 18th and we will both return to Trinidad in the New Year.

We have been enjoying shopping at the local markets and trying different foods, we have made some mistakes but mastered others. They have so many starchy root vegetables which we are working our way through, we like the Casava but not sure about the Trinidad Sweet Potato, I think a small spoonful on the plate would have been enough. We just bought dried pigeon peas today to make curried pigeon peas.

I miss the soft fruits like Ontario peaches and raspberries, blueberries etc but we have discoverd new fruits like the Paw Paw