A Weekend of Firsts.

Can you believe it?
We have been in Canada over a month and we hadn't even been to a hockey game.
Thanks to Debbie and Geoff that situation was rectified Friday night.

What a game this Hockey (Australian translation = Ice Hockey) is!
Plenty of "Biffo", fast, exciting, non-stop end to end speed skating, hitting each other with sticks, smashing the plexi-glass of the  'sin bin' and plenty of  sledging of the referee -  and these guys were the 'Juniors!!"
Our team, the Bobcats,  won 2:1 and looks like they will make the play-offs.
We can now say we have seen 'Aussie Rules" on ice.

The life of a Hockey  goalie can be a lonely one.

Last, one up the other end is a wimp.

Saturday was another first. The first time we have been Cross Country skiing without either of us falling over. It was a glorious sunny day and I can now see why many Canadians are happy to see the snow.

Are the trees straight or am I leaning?

Saturday night we hosted our first neighbourhood curry night. Elaine, Eugene, Michelle, Brad, Jaycee and Amy were very brave to try out Hanneke's authentic Beef, Chicken and Vegetable curries.
In fact it was a really enjoyable evening with very good company, good food and copious amounts of wine supplied by our friendly, and thankfully still alive, neighbours.
This was also our first attempt at meeting the local fire brigade - the dessert took a turn for the worst in the microwave - no harm done except for an emergency trip to the co-op for fruit and ice cream.
We now know Canadians do not have huge appetites, at least for curry. We had plenty left over for Dawn to come round for our second curry night on Sunday.
At least there is not much snow left around the house after all the hot air that was expelled after our two spicy evenings.

Sunday we experienced our first venture east. We explored the historic town of St Walburg. Plenty of historical links to the agricultural pioneers.  It is also a  celebration town for Baron Imhoff (1865 - 1939) whom we encountered at the Bar Colony cultural centre. The Baron (the one sitting on the horse) was a renowned local artist whose prolific work is found throughout the area. 

Now where did I drop my paint brush?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final first was encountering wildlife. Well at least some deer that looked they had free roam of the ranges and some Bison that looked like they were definitely headed for the hot plate.

We have started to notice the 'Icons' of the prairie. The  grain elevators are impressive buildings and are a definite landmark for some of the local farming towns.
(Click on the pictures to enlarge)

Other landmarks we have encountered are from the local oil industry. Not sure what a row of Derricks is called : A pump class?

We have decided to make this blog interactive.
So here are your activities for the day:

1) Spot the deer....................

2) What are these?
       a) Chocolate covered peanuts left over from Christmas.
       b) Tim Horton coffee beans.
       c) Calling card from activity one.

Answers in next week's blog.