Culture Vultures

Howdee Folks !

Well, we've stepped up the culture immersion with a night at the rodeo. . .yeehaa!! A lot like you'd expect really . . . mad bulls and funny walks (can't do your nether regions much good - no wonder they all limp out of the arena !!). Steer wrestling was interesting . . . the steer goes hell-for-leather out of the gate,cowboy catches up,takes the bull by the horns (literally) mid gallop, and wrestles it to the ground. Why would you??? Chuck wagon racing was a highlight for the locals . . . lots of audience participation by way of foot stomping, whooping and hollerin' (we're getting with the lingo now). Beats TV any night.

Went to Banff with Audrey on Sunday. We stopped for a picnic and were joined by a dozen ground squirrels all shouting "where's mine?" (or words to that effect).The crusts went down well, so Katie got close enough for a photo without one of them going for her jugular (remember the squirrel scene in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'??). Anyway, managed to get Audrey up the mountain in a cable car . . . and she regained the power of speech pretty quickly, all things considered! Tea is a wonderful thing.

Off to soccer tonight with Hannah. I sat in the car last week to avoid the blizzard -white fluff off some bizzare trees. The whole town was covered in it. One pre-school Mum was so fed up she vacuumed the lawn!(mad, obviously). Anyway, Hannah scored a hat-trick on Saturday so Bert is a happy, smiley bunny. Bless.

Well, that's all folks. Thanks for the messages, Victoria . . . you are a star (is everyone else print-phobic???).

Love and hugs to everyone, Nicki xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Babies and Bunnies

Hiya! (Katie here),

The picture is of Miss Daisy's new baby. Her name is Danya-Marie and she's lovely, she is 2 weeks old. I do lots of babysitting for Daisy. She also has two boys called Daxton, who is 4, and Davon, who is 2. I love looking after them. There are little children all over the place so I'm always being asked to babysit. It's great, I earn a lot.

I'm going to England on July 8th (my 15th birthday!!!!) and I come back on August 3rd. I've planned to do loads with my friends and I can't wait! :) I fly over with my Nana, and I come back with Julie and Millie - they are staying for two weeks :)

I decided Highwood High wasn't for me, so next year I'm being home schooled! There's a building beside the High School called Education Plus, I will be assigned a teacher, and every week I go in to get my work. Home-schooling is very common here, people love it because it's so flexible. You go in for tests and field trips, so you do meet up with other home-schoolers. Mum has an English friend with 14 and 16 year old home-schooled daughters so we will be meeting up with them.

Two weeks ago we got 2 baby rabbits. They are very cute. Mine is called Charlie and Eleanor's is called Lola. Charlie is brown and Lola is black. They are 7 weeks old and very wriggly!

That's all my news ! Looking forward to seeing lots of people in England.

Lots of love, Katie xox.

Crazed Canadians!

Hiya all !

Bert is on nights and tv is complete garbage (am I missing much on Big Brother???) so thought I'd share a couple of strange events with you.

Went to a 'Fashion Show' (allegedly) with friends. Picking up the tickets was a hint of things to come . . . 'Kirsten' was a good 6 feet tall and of dubious genetic make-up. . . "It's going to be awesome?" she(?) boomed down at me.
Alarm bells were already ringing. Plus it was in Black Diamond (remember Marv?). But God loves a trier, so off we all went.
Fashion ???? Think 'Quality Seconds' reject rail. Mind you, we did have 'Miss Alberta Rodeo' as the celebrity guest. How many cowboy hats and shades of denim does that woman own ??? Of course, being a 'fashion' show, a lot of the denim had sequins sewn on . . . made all the difference, I can tell you.
But the real star of the night was Kirsten, who kindly treated us to a slide show (12 foot screen) of her personal photo shoots (there are many) and her 'rags to riches' story, before making a triumphant appearance on stage . . . having squeezed her ample (seriously enhanced) body into a bright pink Barbie doll number (she was probably aiming for Marilyn Monroe . . . she achieved Diana Dors in her latter years). It took us a while to regain the power of speech. Different !

Follow link for Miss Rodeo finalists: http://www.canadianfinalsrodeo.ca/documents/2007MissRodeoCanadaContestants.pdf

Today the pre-school teacher was off, so Lucy was 'sub' - with Cheryl and I 'helping' - when over the tannoy comes "This is a lock-down. All teachers must lock-down immediately" . . . what !?! We gathered we should probably lock the door . . . but no key. Must be one of the self-locking ones where you push and turn the handle . . . guess who had to risk the crazed gunman and stand outside the room to see if they could lock it ?? Anyway, they couldn't, so we phoned the office and they told us to hold the door shut and keep the kids away from the windows !! Good grief.
You'll be pleased to know it was just a practice.
Hannah says their lights go out and they have to stand in the corner, silent, while people rattle the door and try to get in. . . and if you're in the corridor and locked out, you go to the loo and lock yourself in a cubicle with your feet off the ground !!!
Couldn't they just lock the front door ???

Well, that's enough weirdness for one blog. Let me know how you're all doing !
Love and hugs, Nicki xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx