Congratulations, Happy Birthday and scrambling to get organised

 Hello all, this blog has been co authored by Kyran and I so my apoligies if we skip to much between him talking and then me.

This week I would like to say that we did nothing at all other then go to work and sleep. However that would be a partial truth; we did not do much in the earlier part of the week, until Wednesday night when Kyran received a job offer at the engineering company in Salmon Arm we had visited two weeks prior. It was a great opportunity so he accepted it. 

After receiving that news we had to scramble and organize ourselves as the start date was set for February 2 and that was less then two weeks away! So this weeks blog is a bit to do with the scramble and a little of what we saw along the way. On Friday we hired a car again and went for a drive around the local towns. The car we hired is the Ford shown below!

 

Merc looking cold as we waited for a lift down the bottom to get the car. Later we went to Walmart to do some shopping - Merc's first time at Walmart!

On the day we got the car, there was a lot of low level clouds in the valley, but up on the mountain it was reasonably clear skies. This is supposedly really common for Vernon during winter, where the cloud level is right over/on the town.

We went to Salmon Arm which is where we will be calling home for the next couple of years to check out a place to stay.

The following photo is courtesy of Kyran, it is where all the planes have crossed paths. 

 

What I can say about the Canadians is that they are very trusting and friendly people.
When we went to check out the house the lady seemed to like us from the start and despite many other people who have applied and inspected the place, she said she liked us and it was ours if we wanted. So without even signing an agreement then and there or without any deposit she's letting us pay everything and give her everything when we move in. What a lovely lady!

So the "moving in" will occur this next weekend coming and you will see plenty of photos next weekend!

Aside from inspecting the house we did drive around a bit - we went to a few car yards as we are intending to purchase a vehicle while we are over here, as we really need a mode of transport in Canada. It is even more important in rural Canada which is sort of where we are.

It was a big Happy Birthday to Kyran this week as he turned 1/4 of a century old. I made him a giant breakfast fry-up and you should all note that it is completely vegan and animal friendly!

Smith Optics Rail Jam

On Saturday 24th January there was the Smith Optics "Rail Jam" event on Silver Star mountain. Anyone could join, skiiers and boarders battle it out for the best tricks on the jumps and rails set up out under the spotlights. I got some action shots with my trusty camera, so check them out!

Overall it has been a warm week here on the mountain and as you can see the snow has melted and turned to ice, and the ice is now melting and running off. There are lots of cool icicles on building roof edges now too!

some random pics of Kyran ;)

At Brewer's Pond there is the ice skating and a kid's snow mobile race track area, and the bowling alley is adjacent to the pond. The pond ice was melting due to the warm days and direct sunlight, so they had closed it on the day we took these pictures.

More random pictures!

SOME THOUGHTS FROM MERCEDES 

As there was not much to say in this blog I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to introduce my theory for friends and family abroad. 

The place we will be staying in Salmon Arm is a studio, so there is no room for friends and family to come visit us - so the theory is, if you want to see us then we should meet you half way!

Meaning instead of coming all the way to Canada (unless you really want to) we could meet you at some holiday destination elsewhere. For example I am keen to go to Fiji again or we could meet in some other preferably tropical destination (Hawaii?). That way it is a relaxed and enjoyable holiday for all involved.
If this sounds like something that you would be interested in doing then please do give us a fair bit of notice as Kyran will have a limited (paid) vacation period allocated to him each year, also so we can save and begin organising for the proposed shenanigans.

Please note:  Australia is not an option, we have to meet somewhere else!

Also for those that are interested, due to the cold weather I have taken to crocheting, and as I have a friend that is expecting a baby and Kyran's brother is also expecting one soon here are some hats that I have been working on. 

If you like them and would like me to make you one please do let me know. I am thinking about starting a shop on eBay, with a percentage of the proceeds to go to a children's charity. 

My motivation behind the crocheting and the charity combination: when I was in highschool I used to crochet beanies for my sports days with the team's sports colours. One of the teachers noticed my talent and asked if I would be interested in making beanies for children in Africa through some charity affiliations that she had over there. I agreed and between Nan and I we sent a lot of beanies to Africa. (not sure why children in Africa need beanies I thought it was warm enough over there!)

However my recent relapse into making children's beanies has inspired me to bring hand made, cruelty free, custom made baby and children's crocheted clothing and blankets together with being able to make a difference for other children around the world. 








So if you would like to know more please do let me know  you can email me at:
Mercedesfindlater @ hotmail.com
also if there is something that you have seen somewhere and would like it made please send me a photo and we will see what we can do :).

Nature walk, and attempting to Snow Board!

Hello again and thanks for tuning into another Findlater's travel blog. 

First of all I would like to apologize as there are a lot of photos of me in this one, as Kyran decided to be the photographer for most events this week.

In this blog there are a lot of nature photos as I decided to go for a walk and snap some shots before the snow melted again.  

The situation was that a week back we had a huge dump of snow and everything was covered in it then we had rain which melted the snow off the trees. After the rain we had some nights where there was a fair amount of frost so there began to be a build up of crystal growth which lead to the trees becoming very white all over. 

One day on my way home from work I noticed that the frost had started to melt off again, so I ran home and got my camera and took the following photos:

 

 

 

 This last photo was an attempt at capturing the crystal structure and to show how it only built up on the side of the tree that is protected from the wind. 
I hope you enjoyed the photos, and now we move on the the rest of the weeks shenanigans.

Next up I finally had a chance to try my new snow board and boots out. 
You know what they say about learning to ride a bike, well its not quite the same as snowboarding. 
Lets just say that my butt now hurts!

The two photos below are me doing what I do best, Kyran calls it 'leafing' it's a way to get down the hill without having to face down the hill and gain speed, but it doesn't count as snowboarding and feels like you have shin splints.

 Next are the moments that Kyran so graciously captured of my suffering and despair.

 

 Here are some action shots, I actually started to get the hang of it!

 

Well that's all the snow boarding shots for now here are some photos of the snow mounds that are around the place and how big they are. Some are this big because of the snow ploughs pushing them up into big banks.

This is just a funny thing we noticed, someone backed up into the snow and it left their number plate imprint in the snow.

I was hyperactive on my way back from work and well the following is what poor Kyran captured.

That's all for now! We were going to go watch a local ice hockey team (the Vernon Vipers) on Saturday but those plans were cancelled, perhaps we'll get a chance to do that some time in the near future.

Thanks for tuning in, that is us for another week! Oh and congratulations to my who got married (officially) this week and good luck for their Spanish traditional wedding to come in March.

"The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love."