11th hour, 11th day, 11th month...

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We WILL remember them."

It is now 10:47 am local time, and we have just watched the Remembrance Day Ceremony from Ottawa. Bright blue skies allowed the sun to shine down on the National War Memorial, and illuminate the flags flying at half mast. The red, white and blue of the Flag of the Union, flew proudly alongside Canada's national flag. At precisely 11am, a beam of sunlight shone through the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and lit up a memorial stone inside. The minutes silence was strictly observed.

We forget how much Canada's growing armed forces did for the British war efforts around the world, and how proud she is to be a member state of the Commonwealth. God Save The Queen is as much respected as O Canada, and again, a proud people take pride in their fighting forces.





Last night we went to a 'Meet and Greet' in Alexander. And enjoyed it very much! We met a few more of the 'locals', and are beginning to feel very welcome. Usually, in a small community, people can become very protective of what they have, and hence, very secular. Not here. Being the not-so-new kids on the block, I think part of the novelty of having a new family is slowly wearing off. That said, the genuine warmth and well being towards us is still quite over-whelming. The puppet show intrigued Oliver. The 'pot-luck' table intrigued ME. Various dishes for you to help yourself to, and they were good... CJ's curry was tested, but I don't think spicy food is high on the agenda over here (shame, NOT! hehehe, more for me). We met a gentelman from England, David, who is from Dorchester, Dorset, not far from CJ's folks' home in Bradford Abbas. He has been over here for a number of years, married to a Canadian, and recently moved to Alexander from Thompson. Now Thompson is a small town near Churchill, in the extreme north of Manitoba. It is the same distance from Winnipeg, as Land's End is to John O'Groats, but only take 9 hours to drive!

CJ has now finished her stint of nights, and is looking forward to a few days off, before going onto days. Because of various meetings and parent/teacher days, George will only attend school for 2 days a week this month! Daniel is teething, and has developed a cold.
We'll be starting our Christmas shopping this week, which will be an ordeal with the boys in tow. As I'm typing this, the boys' Little Tykes house has just flew passed the window... (Strong winds from the east is the order of the day I guess.)

Carla has been crocheting with Alpaca 'wool', and is now in the process of toying with a knitting machine, kindly donated by Laurie, with the view to producing alpaca sweaters n cardigans etc...


Well, we're off into Brandon this afternoon. Oh, before I forget WE BEAT THE BLOSE 2-1 @ the temple of doom... C'MON!!


God Save the Queen

God Bless Canada