Not done yet!

I think some of my friends and family are scared to ask me about my doctorate.

Many of you are probably wondering 'how' or maybe 'if'  I am still working on it.

The answer is yes! I'm still writing and it's going strong.

A fellow student asked me to give him one piece of advice on completing the doctorate.  I wasn't sure I was in a situation to offer a suggestion since I was struggling too. But I said to him: "Keep at it, do something every day to work on your dissertation".

Hardly a day has gone by in the past 14 months when I have not done even a little bit of work on my thesis.  It's come a long way from clumsy draft chapters, put together without any thread or compelling argument.

Now, seven stronger chapters and 200 references form a 170 page document that is about to go to the editor before it gets one last review by my supervisors, and then the ultimate test...

the Expert Panel.

Yikes!

And no, unfortunately I don't have to go back to Australia to defend it.  

But to be honest, I think I have been dragging it out a bit as I will miss my daily connection to the wonderful land 'down under'.

Cecile Marie Wiebe

Certain people come into our lives and make a huge difference. 

When my children were small I put an advertisement in the paper for a ‘nanny’ to come into the home and mind them. I received a call from a woman with a French Canadian accent and spontaneous laugh. Her questions about the children told me she was the right person for us.

Cecile treated my daughters like they were her grandchildren and they in turn loved her like their grandmother.  She walked them and the neighborhood kids to school. An extrovert, she quickly knew most of the teachers and parents and many of our neighbours, people we didn’t even know.

We have so many happy memories of Cecile.

She was never in a rush to leave at the end of a long day. She took the time to tell me verbatim everything the girls said and what they did each day.  Her husband would sit patiently reading a paperback in the car for sometimes an hour waiting for her. 

She and her family loved to shop.  If one of the girls requested something for their birthday or Christmas in a certain colour or with a certain character on it they always found it. They would find the rare few things with ‘Stefanie’ spelled correctly, something no one else managed to do.

She played to lottery, always buying tickets and usually winning a few dollars every now and again. I lived in fear she would win the jackpot and leave us.

She loved to eat and had a healthy appetite, despite her petite size. Having been born in New Brunswick she enjoyed seafood. She and her family frequented the restaurant ‘Red Lobster’.  They had their own table and all the staff treated them like family.

We have a spice jar with 'Cinnamon Sugar' hand written on it by Cecile. She made lots of special treats for the girls.

Cecile passed from this world on February 19, 2014.  We will never forget her and will always be indebted to her and all she did for us as a family, not just our daughters. 

Andrea,  Stephanie Harries, Cecile and Stefanie - July 2007

Spring

I've spent most of my adult life living on the flat prairie.

Saskatchewan

The weather is cold half of the year with sub-zero temperatures from November until April.

The spectacular Rockie Mountains - near Banff

Such is the life for most of us hearty Canadians.

But now I'm living in a place where it rains in the winter and the grass gets softer and greener.
Some trees lose their leaves but others keep them all year.  There are even some palm trees growing here.
After spending a few days in cold, bleak, snowy Winnipeg I returned to find snowdrops and crocus blooming. I haven't seen crocus since I lived in Montreal in my youth!
Spring has sprung in January!

Purple Crocus

Snowdrops

A new year!

That's me with 'Santa' and 'Mrs. Claus'

Performing our family's song on Christmas Eve

I had a lovely Christmas break in frigid Edmonton. I really had forgotten how cold it can be!

But the people there are very warm and make up for the blowing snow and -35C temperatures, especially our family.

Dinner with Don and Yukola - Keith's parents

We always have Christmas Eve with my daughter Andrea's in-laws  -  a jam packed evening of song, Santa and silliness!
All the kids were over for a pot-luck Christmas dinner. The food and company were great!

Christmas dinner with all the kids!

My daughter needed a new car as her 1994 Ford Aspire was about to expire in the cold weather. It was either new tires or a new car and we all agreed she needed an upgrade. She and I searcheds around and found a good one, almost the same as her sister's car!

Stef's "new to her" car

I'm now back at the warmer and wet coast. Everyone at work this week was sharing what they did on their holiday break and lamenting how quickly their relaxed state has dissipated.
 

Snow is Canadian

It snowed today in Victoria. Wet snow that formed a pretty coating on the leaves, still holding on to some of the trees and bushes.  But it didn’t stick to the roads.

In anticipation of the weather the college had sent out numerous e-mails about snow protocol. Had I not been aware I might have trekked to work to find no one home!

But it didn’t snow much. I was at the University of Victoria and heard a couple of students gleefully state that this was only the second time they’d seen the stuff. One wondered if snowflakes looked the same everywhere. 

As I drove home I saw a mother standing beside some preschoolers madly trying to create something with the sticky but quickly melting stuff. Kids here don’t get much chance to play in it. One of my colleagues, who grew up in eastern Canada, laments that her kids have no idea how to make a snowman!

Victoria is a nice place for older folks but kids growing up here are missing out on an essential part of being Canadian – a good snowball fight! 

Edmonton Nov. 17

Karen

Karen and Andrea, July 2013

Twenty five years ago I met a woman named Karen Harries at our local Safeway store (which is long gone).  In fact, I  remember we met in the produce section.  With her was her 2 year old daughter, Stephanie. I had Andrea with me, who was the same age.  She told me she had put Stephanie's name on the wait list for the neighbourhood playschool and I should do the same. I had never thought about playschool but now I was considering it.
That was Karen.

And so began a lifelong friendship, not only between Karen, her husband Bruce and I but between her daughter Stephanie and my daughter Andrea and later her son Lucas and my daughter Stefanie.

The Harries lived a few doors down the street from us. Our children played together, walked to school together, went halloweening together, had a lemonade stand... We both had a nanny and our kids hung out at each other's houses after school. And Lucas ate all our cheese!

Andrea and Stephanie were best friends. They went to the same schools, played on the same soccer teams, walked their dogs together, refereed together, hung out at each other's houses. Our family visited the Harries at their ranch in Naramata, BC.

When she was in elementary school, Karen introduced Andrea to her passion, horses, and frequently took the girls riding at the stable.
That was Karen.

Karen was a leader.  She was the President of the Greenfield Community League, the Greenfield School Parent Advisory Committee and taught Sunday School at St. Paul's church when our kids were young.
That was Karen.

I don't know how she did it all, being a teacher is enough and she did more than just teach. She took school kids riding and she participated in drama and other extracurricular activities.  Many times I witnessed her telling a student to be respectful.  She kept her students, and everyone for that matter in line.
That was Karen.

Some people are just neighbours but Karen made sure we became and stayed friends. When our family was in crisis many years ago she insisted we stay in their home.
That was Karen.

And boy could she talk. She packed a lot into her life but she always had time to talk on the phone or at the door, when picking up the kids. I can still hear Karen's incredulous 'what?' in many of our long conversations.
That was Karen.


Years ago I had been hiking in the mountains and mice had nested in my car while it sat in the parking lot. We cleaned out the car but a smell persisted.  Karen and I went for coffee a couple of days later and I put on the air conditioner.  The smell was putrid. Karen was determined to find the source of it smell.  She dug in the glove compartment and under the dash.
That was Karen.

Andrea became a french teacher and Karen mentored her as she did other students and young french teachers. She had them over to her house or went out for coffee with them.
That was Karen. 

Whenever there was an event in our lives, a party or birthday and she and Bruce were invited they always came, no matter how busy their lives were.
That was Karen (and Bruce).

She got her Master's degree a few years ago, something she had wanted to do for a long time. She was intelligent and blessed with common sense.
That was Karen.

Tragically, Karen succumbed to injuries from a horse back riding accident and passed away November 7, 2013.


My dear friend Karen was smart and beautiful and really cared about people. I miss her terribly.

Fog!

Living on the coast presents new kinds of weather systems I never experienced in Australia, despite my proximity to the ocean. 
One issue is temperature. For those of you who know me well, I tune into the Weather Network every evening to find out how I should dress for work the next day. It's about the only TV show, besides Modern Family (which now that I think about it will be the theme of an upcoming blog) I watch. So, in July I dressed as per the given temperature but I was usually overdressed. That's because the temperature near the water is always cooler than the temperature inland where I live and work.
So, just like the temperature difference so is the air different by the water.  It was a clear sky and sunny at home and work (15 minutes apart) the last two weeks of October but about 8 degrees cooler with dense fog by the water.
This is all fine until you need to travel off the island.
The ferries are seldom affected by fog. They sail but blow their horns every 5 minutes or so. Just ask my mother who lives on a small southern gulf island.
But trying to fly can be nearly impossible as Keith found out.  It's hard enough we live apart but when he arrived at the Vancouver airport three weeks ago he was told no flights were flying into Victoria, the airport was closed due to fog. Frustrated his only option was the ferry. He finally arrived, albeit 5 hours late.

Vancouver International Airport

We went for a hike up Mt. Douglas and guess what we saw? Nothing... but fog!
The following week Iwent to Vancouver on business but the Vancouver airport was closed. So I took the Helijet, a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter that usually flies out of the harbour but due to the fog flew out of Victoria International Airport.

The San Juan Islands

Over the Strait of Georgia

Vancouver

Despite the fog being a nuisance it was spectacular to see from the air, truly like a downy blanket. Islands popped out of it. As it got dark, the lights on the islands underneath shone a luminous glow through it. As we approached Vancouver the Lions Gate Bridge was peeking out of it.

About to leave clear Vancouver Harbour but arrived in fog in Victoria

Inconvenient yes but eerily beautiful!