Day One Hundred and Sixty Three - Hay Conveyor Belt

Dear all

Back on the farm and today [despite the heat wave) we received the first of several deliveries of Hay that we would store in the upper barn to allow us to get through winter.

Hay bales are sadly a little larger than acorns and the process of 'storing' requires a couple of days of carbo-loading, equivalent to that needed to run a marathon.

We assembled the conveyor belt [rather haphazardly] against the shelf in the barn and once turned on, it resembled a roller coaster from the 70's: Dangerous, with a chain liable to snap at any time from undue force.

I was in command of throwing the 200 bales from the truck and trailer to the ground at the bottom of the conveyor belt. I loved this job even in the heat and we got through it in about an hour with mum and dad arriving in the last 5 minutes and lending a hand too!

Day One Hundred and Sixty Two - Fish Curry

Dear all,

Being English means I have an innate disposition to love Curry. I have eaten many curried in my life but for the main part, this involved nothing but vegetables and as a result of bypassing meat dishes [for some reason] I never thought of ordering a curry made from fish.

After a long day at the inn, Darren rallied the troops and Anna, Dale, D and I decided to celebrate the weekend by heading to our favorite Collingwood eatery, the Collingwood Tandoori House! http://www.collingwoodtandoorihouse.com/

It is a fabulous restaurant, just on the outskirts of town opposite Canadian Tire. The owner is truly fantastic and greets us every time like old friends, even calling Darren, 'The Boss'.

After appetizers of Chicken Tikka and Chicken Pokara ( both delicious) I went for a shrimp curry [extra hot] and it was fantastic. We ate until we were all past-full, so much so, that cinema plans were aborted and we went for the Blockbuster option as D needed to lie down and consolidate his vindaloo.

Another fantastic night in Collingwood!

Day One Hundred and Sixty One - Sunset Point

Dear all,

After hearty breakfast of Paul's special french toast ( recipe given on request), we set out for a day of gentle exploring in the local area.

One of the main highlights of the day was a whistle stop tour to 'Sunset Point', a new and brilliantly conceived development in Collingwood and now a major selling point for the town.

The powers that be in Collingwood have 're-mastered' a long stretch of the lakeside just south of the town centre and now lies a fantastic area, all landscaped and manicured looking out on Georgian Bay in all its glory.

As Mum and Dad had just flown in, of course they had bought a slice of good ol' British weather with them, this time in the form of gale force winds. It added a hint of drama to the tranquil pars and meant we could gaze in awe at the number of wind surfers that had taken this first opportunity to leap out into the water.

Its a lovely place to stroll along, to take the family for a picnic or just to potter along in the car and watch the view. I would strongly recommend sunset point if you are in the area, mum and dad loved it!

Day One Hundred and Sixty - Mum and Dad in Canada

Dear all,

The summer holiday season is upon us and this summer I have definitely beenspoilt as more familiar folk hop off the plane at Toronto, this time in the shape of Tony and Hazel; Mutter and Dad Mourant!

Mutti is clearly key in the holiday organization as they arrived on Dad's birthday and despite changing in Newcastle from Exeter had a fantastic flight and tore up the Airport Road to arrive late afternoon.

Mum and Dad have developed quite a love for skiing in the last few years so high on the agenda was a trip to the Blue Mountain Ski Resort to check out the slopes with a view to coming back again during the snow covered winter months.

Blue Mountain is situated on small section of the Niagara Escarpment near to Collingwood and Georgian Bay. It sells on average 750,000 ski lift passes per year which lands it in third place behind Whistler and Tremblant as the third busiest ski resort in Canada. The resort has been carved out of the hill and includes high speed lifts and 'The Village' modelled on Tremblant and Whistler.

We drove to the top of the ski hill to enjoy the breath taking view of Georgian Bay and local area . We had the option of taking the gondola which runs in summer for a small fee, but decided to take the car, passing by The Scenic Caves (http://www.sceniccaves.com) and parked at the top of the mountain. We took a leisurely stroll beside the oldest chair lift in Ontario, now a relic but still on show for the delight of visitors ( if only to strike fear in the hearts of modern day skiers who shudder at the thought of how their ancestors ascended the slopes)

We walked a considerable distance over the mountain and despite the fact that Dad had forgotten his binoculars in the car, we admired various majestic birds mid flight and gazed out at the beautiful Georgian Bay in all its glory. A fabulous introduction to Collingwood.

Day One Hundred and Fifty Nine - Wasp Removal

Dear all,

Today I scaled the heights of the Inn in order to seek out and destroy a nest of rogue wasps. Although uncertain as to when the nest had been established, it was now sending out a constant stream of temperamental and malicious flying insects. Bad for the Inn.

It was rather treacherous up their on the roof but was worth it for the magnificent view of the Pretty River Valley. I managed to straddle the roof edge and shift across to the nest where I sprayed it immediately with a useful 'wasp-destroying' foam. Chris was very concerned at this point as the on site cameraman as he could see me shuffling across the roof followed by an increasing cloud of angry wasps. Here is a brief video of the assault.

I managed to get away in one piece and free from any violent altercations with the now deceased insects.

My thanks go to the 'wasp and hornet' killer spray, without which I think I may have had significant problems. Now the inn roof is clear and wasp free!

And in other news:

1. I have been harvesting my sunflowers. Having past their sell by date and each one now resembling a used kitchen mop, I chopped their heads off and scrapped out the seeds which I will now dry and store for winter.

Day One Hundred and Fifty Eight - Bear Buns Bakery

Dear all,

Today we stopped off at the wonderful Bear Buns Bakery just out of Carnarvan to sample their wears and pick up a bun or two. I am still yet to see a bear ( although it's clearly not unusual: Em and Benj spotted on trundling across a roadside field on their third day in Canada!) but felt a lot more comfortable at the Bear Buns Bakery than I would 'bear' spotting in the bush.

The bakery has a strong bear theme throughout and wields an impressive logo of a bear paw on virtually everything in the store. Lucie was particularly impressed by the fact that they sold 'green worms' and immediately wanted to buy one. We advised her that the worms were not the kind that one would find in 'the cat in the hat' books but rather the very stinky slimy variety used for fishing.

They had a fabulous selection of local breads and a delectable ice cream counter which included an intriguing array of flavors including 'Moose Tracks' and 'Bear Claw'. http://www.bearbunsbakery.com/

We picked up a flaxseed loaf and a couple of cinnamon buns (Benj had been lusting after them since the last time he was in Canada aged 13) which were totally debauched but delicious.

Its a fabulous bakery so if you are ever in Carnarven and are on the look out for breads, ice cream or worms, this is your place!

Day One Hundred and Fifty Seven- Deidre's Wedding Shower

Dear all,

In the build up to the Big Day in September, today was Deidre's Bridal Shower! Any Brits that happen to be perusing this page will be immediately thrown into confusion as yet another subtle cross-continental variation to a centuries old traditional pops up into the limelight.

In the UK we have 'Hen Parties', in North America the bride-to-be in given a 'Bridal Shower'; a gift giving party held in anticipation of the imminent wedding and is most common in the US, Canada and Australia. The history of the custom is interestingly a means to provide goods and financial assistance to ensure the wedding may take place. Nowadays, Bridal Showers are more centered on a big gaggle of girlfriends consuming copious food and wine and involving themselves in various shenanigans, trivia about the bride and/or groom and games that are more than usually filled with a strong sexual content.

Deidre's shower was wonderful. Darren was [quite literally] the hero of the day and offered to drive me down to Toronto after displaying *concerns* over my total inexperience in driving in downtown traffic, driving on the Highway, navigating the complex Toronto transport network and not having done a parallel park since my driving test aged 17.

We arrived at the house at around 8:30 and the party was in full swing. We had been instructed to all wear white and luckily I had picked up a cheeky vintage number in Bullfrog the other day. Deidre was resplendent in pink and as soon as I walked through the door I was passed a fish-bowl of Sangria and swept up into the first game.

The theme was Midsummer's Night Dream and the food and decorations where fabulous. The house belonged to Janice, one of Deidre's closest friends and it was nothing short of beautiful. I have imprinted her Moroccan Style porch in my memory to one day recreate in my dream lakeside cottage.

One of the highlights was the 'Underwear' game where we all had to bring a [new] pair of knickers that reflected our personality and Deidre had to pick whose was whose. Under the advice of the all-knowing D, I went for some running briefs which [of course] Deidre got instantly. Rather joyously she mentioned she would be able to wear them at the gym so great to see the get some good use.

Darren picked me up amidst a rampant storm and even popped in a barrage of whooping from the girls and managed to sneak in a quick glass of wine before we took to the road again back to Collingwood. It was a fabulous evening and I am so excited about the wedding!

Day One Hundred and Fifty Six - Rock 95

Dear all,

I am on a winning streak! I was out on a quick 20 km run enjoying the crisp pre-autumnal sunshine and I stumbled across a live broadcast for the Barrie Radio station, Rock 95. http://www.rock95.com/shawfest.aspx

I dashed up to the stage [remember I had just run around 12 miles, was very hot and could barely speak] and they let me 'spin the wheel' for a prize. It was a fair sized wheel with two chances out of [around] 50 to win. And I won! The stars were clearly alinged and I won a blue ray disc of a random music festival in the UK called 'Festival by the Lake' including performances by Eric Clapton, Mike Rutherford, Ringo Starr and Katie Melua and and bag full of stickers.

I also won a chance at a draw for a 5 star holiday in Niagara on the Lake ( very excited about this) so am hoping the winning streak will continue! Hurray for Rock 95!

Day One Hundred and Fifty Five - Boston Pizza

Dear all

Today Em, Benj, the girls and I were looking for something for something to eat whilst out and about. The girls were starting to mention words like 'hungry' and 'food' at around 1 minute intervals so we decided to stop at a road side 'Boston Pizza' as we were driving around the town on Orillia.

Orillia is not far from Barrie and a small town now over run with WallMart and co and a humongous casino the size of a small village called Casinorama. I had always wanted to visit Boston Pizza as it is a hugely successful chain owned by the fabulous Jim Treliving, one of the formidable Dragons on the Canadian, Dragon's Den. I love Jim.

The restaurant was expansive and a range of different areas including a sports bar and play area for kids. I also liked the fact that there was poker on all the in-house TVs, good wholesome family fun.

The menu was actually rather good. I was not very hungry so went for a chicken salad and it was delicious. Benj thought he would give the pizza a go ( would've thought it) which was again quite good and Em shared a large Salmon pasta dish with the girls. Again all very good. The girls had fun with the various colouring options available and we watched poker and drank $2.99 pints ( can't argue with that)

All in all a very good experience at Jim's restaurant. I don't normally frequent the chains but enjoyed it and even made an effort to check out the website and even entered a competition to win a daily prize of $1000 - I will keep you all posted!

And in other news:

1. Lucie having a go with my camera... I think you will all agree she is a star in the making.

The view from the old house where Em and Benj were staying - also taken by Lucie!

Day One Hundred and Fifty Four - Live Lobster

Dear all,

ITS EMMA AND BENJ'S 10TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! We decided to celebrate by cooking up a feast of live lobster! I had been telling Em all about our lobster antics and she was on a mission to get her lobster quota whilst here in Canada. We thought why not go all out and bring home a fresh catch and needless to say D was very amused by it all when I called him to invite him over to dinner as we had 'three live lobster in the car'. He chuckled.

The lady at the fish counter in Loblaws was very helpful and had a vast knowledge of lobsters in all their various forms. She showed us how to distinguish between male and female lobsters ( males have these weird protruding pincers on their underbellies), which lobsters would taste better (girls) and spent ages picking out the most delicious looking crustacea for our dinner.

We bought three 2 pound lobsters after much debate and packed them up in a large polystyrene container and whizzed them home with the odd question from Lucie as to 'what was in the box?'. We popped them straight in the fridge ( apparently good for one day like that!) after naming them ( always important to name ones pets):

1. Claude ( he has big claws)

2. Sharon ( she slapped her tail a lot. Brits will get this reference)

3. Pinchy ( One must always have a lobster called Pinchy)

We decided Pinchy would go 'into the pan' first. We boiled up a massive pot of water, added a dash of salt.

With bated breath, I held Pinchy's tail, Darren took off his elastics, we threw him in the pot and Em slammed down the lid. Apart from a brief slap on the lid ( sorry for the gory details, this post is rated PG13) after a minute or so, Pinchy had gone bright pink andwas bubbling away nicely.

Darren took control and after 20 minutes, he picked Pinchy out of the water using a useful sieve that we found had in the Garage. It was triumphant!

Next in was Sharon and while she was cooking, we starting to work on Pinchy. Now, cracking lobster we discovered, is quite an art, especially without any cooking utensils and/ or lobster forks. After attempting to crack the shell using a handy door knob, we found a hammer in the cupboard and used that instead which indeed proved to be very efficient in doing the job.

As we worked away on the lobster, Lucie helped Em with setting the table in between episodes of 'Dora the Explorer' and before long we were ready to eat.

We had bought a huge bottle of Cava to celebrate Emma and Benj's wedding anniversary and it was just wonderful. All three lobsters tasted delicious! Heres to another 10 wonderful years!!!

Below, video footage of 'the cracking of Pinchy, the cooking of Claude and the fear of Sharon'.