Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

Well, what a dramatic day it's been in Canadia...

First, a Florida Panthers hockey player had his throat slashed by a teammates ice skate last night leaving a trail of gushing blood on the ice as he raced to the sideline for treatment.

After emergency surgery to repair his carotid artery (wow Grey's Anatomy does teach you something after all!) he's now in a stable condition in hospital thank goodness.

I've attached the clip below for those who'd like to see, but I must warn you it's very gory and not for the faint hearted or squeamish, so please don't watch it if that's you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSbvfA8qgI4&feature=related


Secondly, I've learned that winter here can be beautiful and fun and it's not always this cold in Canada. Apparently, this is the COLDEST winter they've had the last THIRTY years!!

They didn't even get any snow last year until January. In fact, we had more snow fall during one weekend in December than they had the entire winter last year! Now that I know that, I feel quite excited... and so priviledged to experience something so unique :)

We've had a constant barrage of snow storms since early December and yet more hit every couple of days, so the snow never melts and just gets deeper and deeper... and deeper!

Here's a video link of what the snow was like in December - then imagine how deep it is now...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LnKbx-OnyE

Now that I know these conditions aren't normal and that they haven't really had snow here in 30 years it's actually quite exciting to be able to experience something so extreme... it's just doing the day to day things that become challenging, but then I guess that's also what makes it such a very, very unique experience :)

Which is cool because I don't think there's too many other places in the world I will ever, EVER experience this again, at least maybe not in another 30 years anyway :) So in a funny way, I actually feel quite lucky to have been here this year... well I mean if we didn't have the drastic weather conditions it might have been very much like New Zealand.

Certainly more liveable, but not half as fun and I'm DEFINITELY not going to forget this winter in a hurry! Like they say after all...

It's the unexpected things that happen on your travels which you remember forever :)

So instead of whinging about the cold from no on I've resolved to make the most of it! I hadn't realised that this is something really unique that I may not get to experience again in a long time and I'm sure glad I have before it's over...

That means this weekend, we'll be bundling ourselves up and heading outdoors to make snow men and throw ourselves in the huge piles of white fluffy stuff - yee haaa! Seriously, there are mounds of it taller than I am - just wait till I get some pics!

And it's a pretty crazy experience driving on the stuff too I tell ya. It's been really deep lately coz we've had sooo much snow that they just can't clear all of the roads in time. In fact, there's been so many accidents that the rental car company almost had no cars left when we got back coz they contract out loan cars to the insurance companies!

Below is a link to a You Tube video showing you just how wrong it can go when you're driving on snow...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npTRXr4Sgxg&feature=related

The video link below is quite good for showing you just how deep the snow is! And what I mean about having to dig the car out....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl99TrSvlwc&feature=related

And this one shows what can happen if you're not too careful to drive in already made tracks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jeozKVQZT8&feature=related


The news tonight just had a report of yet another huge pile up due to conditions involving 68 cars! There was one the other to the north of where we live which involved 100 cars! They were all going along the highway and then a snow squall hit causing white out conditions, so no one can see anything.

I'm kinda nervous about having to go to Toronto tomorrow afternoon knowing there's snow on the way, but it's not due till later in the day, and I always seem to have good luck, so I'm hoping it will be just fine.

One things for sure - it really is turning into quite an ADVENTURE living here though!

Stay warm guys and here's just a few more videos to show you what life's like here for now...

Love HEAPS!

A Frozen, but mesmerized, Fernleaf :)

p.s. sorry if my obsession with the snow is boring anyone, but it's probably the only thing I'll be writing about for awhile :)

I'm living in a snow globe!

Hello home, how's it going over there in the sunshine eh!

Well, we're back in Canadia-land now after an incredibly, lovely and magical glimpse of a fully fledged kiwi summer and a really cool whistle stop tour of San Francisco on the way home.

Unfortunately, we were only back for a few weeks, so I didn't get to see everyone I would've liked to and was really sad about that, but hopefully I'll have longer at Christmas!

So I just heard today that there's officially a drought in Waikato. Too much sunshine eh - you lucky buggers!

Below is the weather report for where we live in Canada today:




Yep that's right. I actually live INSIDE a snow globe.

Sure the temperature says - 16 degrees. But did you also see the "feels like" report? That says - 30!!! It's because of the wind... the temperature should be -16, but with such biting winds it makes it so cold it burns (!)

Actually it's the first day with blue sky that we've had in ages too - every other day is snowing and grey. So it's beautiful... but it hurts!

I just went out to the car to get something so didn't wear ear muffs and my ears were burning by the time I got back inside :(

The wind is just so cold it's biting, like it's taking little nips at your skin... and the air is so cold it makes you cough if you breathe it in.

Anyways, the reason I went to the car for was to look for my camera...I wanted to send you guys some photos I took for you guys the day we got back, but now I can't find my camera - so you'll have to wait - sorry!

And what I had been taking photos of was the ICICLES hanging off our roof and those of our neighbours!!!! But they're not just on the houses, oh no, we got icicles on the car too! It's like living in a freezer!

Seriously, you don't have to worry about the icecream melting before you get it home from the supermarket here baby! It's very odd to be going about normal life in such chilly temperatures, but they do it (nuts I tell you).

The other day I heard the radio saying it was -40 degrees somewhere in Alaska and when it gets that cold apparently it can be life threatening if your car runs out of gas or you have to change a tire because you can't be outside for that long.

It's not that cold here, but still it's very strange. I mean just last week there we were lounging about in the pool lapping up the glorious sunshine of beautiful New Zealand and suddenly we're in a frozen world again.

I still can't get used to it snowing. It still seems magical. Which is lucky, coz there sure is a lot of it!

The mounds of snow are so high some of them are almost taller than me! (Not very hard to achieve I know, but it's still a heck of a lot of snow.... and it's just blanketing everything!

The neighbours dog was outside before, but all I could see of him was the tip of his tail and the tops of his ears, because the snow on the side of the footpath was so high.

Honestly, I just don't know how or WHY (??!) anyone would choose to live in this kind of weather long term??

Sure we are right now, but well, it's easier for us - we know we can leave if we want :) And at first it was a novelty, and also it certainly has been great to experience these kinds of conditions - but I swear I will never, EVER think of a Waikato winter being cold again! At least you can go outside without 40 layers of clothing!

So yeah, I guess that's one of the really great things about living overseas, because you don't appreciate the absolutely wonderfully majestic lifestyle we are soooo blessed to enjoy in New Zealand, until you experience something else.

I saw a friend of mine when we were home in January and last I'd heard he was only dashing back to NZ to get his highly skilled work permit points so he could return to the UK as soon as possible. But lo and behold, once he got home he actually found he liked it! I said, "Oh i thought you were all about the big city and bright lights, so coming back to NZ would be a bit small for you, especially since he was so keen to leave NZ the first time! - but he said, "Nah, you know what, I've actually found that I LIKE small."

And it's true. I really don't blame him because, My GOD the summer there is truly majestic! It took all Craig had to drag me back here to Canada - I didn't want to leave the sun :( Oh gosh we are so lucky! NZ really does offer such an amazing lifestyle compared to anywhere else in the world simply because of our geographical size - it's so easy for us to access wonderful beaches, coastline, countryside, and mountains and native bush.

Man, I should soooo work for tourism New Zealand - those guys are really missing out not having me on their team! ha ha :)

Well, anyway, I just thought I should remind everyone back home how lucky you are to have the amenities you do so you make the most of them and don't take it for granted :)

I was talking to another friend when we were home in January and telling him all about the snow here and he said, "Oh yeh I hope you've been snowboarding heaps then?"

And in a way he's right, it's good to look at the positive side of it and see that with so much snow everywhere we can snowboard as much as we like....

But it's just doing the OTHER things in those kinds of conditions that I think makes Canadians one Craaaaaazy bunch!

For example: the groceries. To do these the other day I had to get boots, jacket, gloves and ear muffs - just to go to the car.

Then I had to get out the snow brush to scrape the pounds of snow and ice off the car, while the wind was howling and I was slowly being buried in more snow myself. On the way to the shop I had to drive at 40km/h because the roads were absolutely COVERED in snow and that stuff is just mad to drive on!

If you brake too fast on snow it makes your car slide out and fish tail like anything... and when the entire road is covered in the stuff it's takes lots of concentration not to do this (anyone who's driven with me before will understand why :).

I saw two accidents on the way to the supermarket alone!

And you even have to be careful what streets you drive up - I saw two cars skidding backwards because the snow was so deep they couldn't get enough traction to get up a slight incline! Eeep!

The snow just falls in such a volume and so often that it seems a never ending battle to keep it cleared from the sidewalks, road and carparks. I feel most sorry for those who own car yards - they're lucky the public can even see what's for sale!

Then there's the poor people who own houses have to shovel their driveways every morning before they can even go to work - no need for a gym workout here! God it just makes me appreciate sooo much more how easy it is to just get in your car and go on a winters day in New Zealand.

It cost the city of Toronto $3 million dollars, just to pay for all the roads and sidewalks to be cleared after the last big snow storm (which just happened to be the weekend we arrived back :)

Oh and did I tell you that they use four wheel drive motorbikes with blades on the front to clear the footpaths? It's so cute, and clever too, coz they're just the right size.

I guess the thing is that I won't ever forget living in these kind of conditions, so it's definitely a "UNIQUE" experience :)

Well, I'm off to finish watching the Grammy Awards...

We saw the actual "Delilah" girl who influenced the Plain White T's song - who knew she was real?!

Kayne West's Tribute to his mum was so beautifully poignant...it moved the entire audience.

and has been followed by Tina Turner in a skin tight silver pantsuit (immense effort for someone who's 68 I say!)

Oh and Craig's just told me that Barack Obama (the American Democratic Delegate who's campaigning against Hillary Clinton right now) won a Grammy Award himself! Yes he did! For "Best Spoken Word Album" for the record he made of the reading of his book.

So there you go eh, don't tell me you don't learn something new everyday :)

Finally here's something else very North America for those of you looking for a bit of distraction on those long summer afternoons... (Look for a scene halfway through and check out the size of the cup compared to the size of the kid!)

http://www.whopperfreakout.com/index.html

Lots and lots of love from Canadia land - write soon won't you - I can't wait to hear more about what's happening back home! And I miss you all so much already :(

Love so much,
Fernleaf

oh p.s. I just can't get over how WONDERFUL everyone looked back home! Sooo tanned! So fit! So happy and soooo healthy! I'm totally over being a winter marshmallow and hitting the gym this week - you guys look INCREDIBLE!

Mwah :)