Long overdue update

So – finally – summer is here.
And we have a green yard. Whoopie! Finally grass. No more weeds. No more dirt. No more rocks. Just green grass.
The whole house looks so much better now. We also planted some shrubs on the right side. Looks pretty good. First time we planted something. A few weeks later, it is still alive so I call that a success.




Tomorrow we are leaving on a two week – well deserved – vacation! We are going to Nova Scotia. Friends of ours are going to get married and Sarah is one of the bridesmaids! Its gonna be super exciting. I am really looking forward to it and hopefully I can come back with some great photo's!

Otherwise, everything is still ok. We are both busy at work and Sarah puts a lot of energy and time in Elmo. I guess they want to win another competition or two... More on that later. ;)
And we had a HUGE aurora outbreak on August 5. Here are some images from that spectacular night.


Aurora Borealis 5 August 2011 - Images by Olivier Du Tre

Aurora Activity

Friday I went out shooting the aurora's.
It was the best display I've seen so far. Very amazing and active with a lot of purple spikes.
Knowing that this was just a minor hick up of the magnetic field I can only imagine what it is going to be like when solar max arrives.
I'm not going to bore you with further technical details I just want to share the slideshow with you.


Aurora Borealis - Images by Olivier Du Tre

Elmo, my 2nd level champ!

Last week we had another dressage show and as always Elmo did fantastic again! I was not sure if we were able to go to the show. It had snowed 15-20cm overnight (no spring here yet...) so the roads were in poor condition. Luckily my trainer Monty has connections everywhere and we got a thumbs up that the roads were bare and good to drive.
A lot of people didn't show up so the riding times were a bit rescheduled... I had only 5 minutes to warm up and I had to start my first test immediately. Our concentration was kind of lost in the first test but we had fun. 2nd test was better. We were 2nd in our first test and first in our 2nd test. And overall champion 2nd level! That means we had the best score in 2nd level of both shows.
So proud of my champion!

Our first dressage show

Last weekend Elmo and I had our first dressage show and what a success!!!! We were first in 2nd level test 2 and second in 2nd level test 3. I am so proud of my boy!! He did a really good job!
Next show is within 3 weeks. We are already training to improve our weak points. We will keep you updated about the results!









And you can see a video of our tests here

Abraham Lake getaway

One of the advantages of working in Canada is that almost every month has a statutory holiday. And in February that was Family Day. So we decided to go on a trip to Abraham Lake for the long weekend.
Abraham Lake is situated on the David Thompson Highway. (starts at the Saskatchewan River Crossing on the Icefields Parkway) We stayed at the Aurum Lodge, an eco-tourism country inn.
We really enjoyed our stay! The weather was fantastic. Days before temperatures had dropped below -30 but on our trip we could enjoy a -5. Sun was out all day. We went hiking in the snow. We had tons of fun!

Seasons greeting

First of all we want to wish you a Merry Christmas (a little bit late, sorry!) and a Happy New Year!!
So what happened on the other side of the ocean the last month: my mom came over for a 2 week visit. We had a great time! And did of course a lot of shopping. Her first words at the airport were "Den Delhaize is hier" She brought tons of goodies like chocolate, beer for olli, candy for me, horse stuff for Elmo, ... She even brought "Sinterklaas" with her from Belgium.
Mom is already blending in with our Canadian friends. She went shopping with Bonnie (Nicole's mom) and they went for dinner with the family while we were at Olli's Christmas party. We are already looking forward to her next visit! (olli already ran out of "Verboden Vrucht"). And thanks again for all the gifts!
Last time I talked about our first dressage show. Unfortunately the show was cancelled... Not enough participants... Dressage is not very popular over here. But hopefully we will have our first real show in March. Date TBA soon.
We have heard that it snowed a lot in Belgium! Not a lot of snow here in Cochrane. And temperatures are not too bad either. Normally around -8, -15. On sunday we even reached 4 degrees! It felt like summer!!
We celebrated Christmas evening at home. Olli made a wonderful diner for me. Bell pepper soup to start, maple salmon with carrot mashed potatoes and carrot-mango salad and strawberries with chocolate to top it off! It was amazing! I have a secret master cook in the house ;)
On Christmas day we were invited to Bonnie's house. She made us a wonderful meal again! It is always so much fun to hang out with the Brooks family!
In Canada it's a tradition you give cookies to your friends around Christmas time. Monty (the lady where Elmo is boarded) made us a huge plate with homemade goodies. So to return the favour we made her something real Belgian: vlaai and broodpudding. The first time we made it and it turned out delicious!!!

My mom enjoying a giant plate of Canadian King Crab.

An image we really wanted to share with you. Perfect snowflakes!

Our first batch of 'Broodpudding" and 'Vlaai'. Speculoos and Peperkoek donations are always welcome.

Winter Wonderland

Yes, winter has arrived in Cochrane! It started snowing last Monday night. I wasn't really looking forward to Tuesday morning because I knew the traffic was going to be horrible. (it always is when it's the first snow)
Got up at 4:30 and there was already more then 10 cm of snow on the ground. Drove out of the garage and there I was, stuck on the street... (we live on a hill and I couldn't get up the hill). This happens when you don't buy a 4WD... Olli to the rescue!! But no luck... We took Olli's car to bring me to the C-train. No luck either. So we had 2 cars on the street and not one of them was able to get up the hill.
Luckily at around 7, our neighbourhood comes alive and 2 friendly neighbours gave me a push up the hill!
We had light snow for 3 days and temperatures are still between -15 and -25. On Tuesday we go to a low of -30... And as I write this update it's still snowing and another 5 cm is expected...
What exciting things are coming up? My mom is coming over again next Sunday, for 2 weeks. So we are both looking forward to her arrival. And Elmo and me will have our first dressage show, also next Sunday!

Panorama of snowy Cochrane



Even Elmo is doing well in this cold

Let the real Canadian life begin!!

Today was my first day at my new job!
I work as a CAD Technician (this means making drawings, calculations, interpret field notes, ....) for Stewart Weir. So I swapped the Tideway Rollingstone for an office in downtown Calgary.
Let us say that is not very practical when it comes to taxes to work for a Belgian employer and to live in Canada... So I made the decision... Instead of working for the offshore oil and gas, I work for the Alberta oil and gas now!
This means no more travelling, no more 6 weeks on but unfortunately no more 6 weeks off... More time for Elmo (and getting ready for the dressage show season next year) And the start of the real Canadian life!
But I have to admit I will miss the ship and the crew... It was the coolest job I ever did!



Tideway Rollingstone


Tideway Rollingstone


Me and my 8 survey screens. Ah, good times!

Farewell my dear equine friend...

On the 28th of September, Athena, one of my horses back home, died of colic. Completely unexpected... She was 20 years old.
Farewell my dear Athy, you were an amazing horse! Thanks for all the fantastic times together. You will be missed...

Fall Colors

Because we didn't really have a summer and the end of august and beginning of september were really wet, the fall colors were amazing this year! Patches of yellow and orange were spread all over the foothills.
So we would like to share these beautiful colors with you.

Summary of Summer

Wow... talk about a busy 'Summer'. Yes I write 'Summer', because we did not get a real Summer this year. The weather was really bad in May, June, July and August. With maybe a handful of days with decent temperatures. Only for the last 3 weeks weather has been mild and we have been catching up on hiking and sunbathing. That last thing maybe is not true. :)

On the other hand it was super busy at our place the last 3 months. We had a lot of visitors. At the end of June, Ann & Wim (Sarah's parents) and Maria & Marcel (friends of them) where here to enjoy our new country of residence. :) They did a road trip through the Rockies and enjoyed The Calgary Stampede (and the opening parade down town). By that time Laurie & Liesbeth (friends of Sarah) had joined the party. Yep, at one point we were with 8(!) people in the house.
Finally in September our friend Hans was here. I did a 9 day road trip with him to Vancouver and back and we had an awesome time. 6 of those days we spent in rain though.
Did I tell you about our wonderful 'summer' yet?

Thanks Laurie and Liesbeth for the wonderful pictures.

The Calgary Stampede opening parade.

The Calgary Stampede opening parade.

The Calgary Stampede opening parade.

A bunch of cowboys at The Stampede.

The chuck wagons.

Steer wrestling.

The Grandstand Show at The Calgary Stampede.

From left to right: Liesbeth, Marcel, Maria, Wim, Laurie and Ann was at home with us.