First Week Back in Ralston 2011....

First week back in Ralston since all the Christmas and New Year excitement and still as busy as ever. Chris went back to work on Tuesday and Tegan and Fraser back to school on Wednesday - so some normality is slowly returning. The Icemen met up for training on Wednesday and in true squaddie style they did 21/2 hours of training/shinney - great for the body after not playing for several weeks, along with another shinney Friday afternoon.

Monday & Tuesday Tegan and Fraser finally got round to playing with some of their Christmas gifts. Fraser spent several hours on a crystal mining set - slowly chiselling away at a block of rock - or rather in Fraser's way beating it hard. He finally gathered 13 rocks and was delighted at cleaning them all and lining them up. Tegan began sewing her bag - her first go at sewing - it could take quite a while to complete, but is looking good.

Wednesday I had my first trip back to the physio to see how my wrist/arm is progressing. Obviously skiing has been a great form of physio and my wrist is healing really well. Back to ice hockey for me then next week.
Saturday morning we woke up to a blizzard ragging throughout the village. Tegan and Fraser were due to return to their skating classes but everything was cancelled. Slowly the village disappeared as the snow grew higher and higher. Chris ventured out to take Jinx on a very short walk by which time Jinx's face was frozen from the snow and Chris couldn't see the village or anything else. So we shut all the doors and stayed inside. We didn't appreciate how bad the weather actually was until we heard stories of cars overturned on the highway and a Greyhound coach that had been in a fatal accident about 2 hours up the highway causing the road to be closed. Several people from the village who were due to return have had to book into hotels anywhere they can find them.

Sunday the Devils ice hockey team were due to host their annual PSP match. This is where the 1st year Devils get to play against the PSP staff (Canadian gym staff) which is a comedy to watch. Again due to the weather this was cancelled but in its place was a Devils shinney - much to my delight this meant I could return to the ice and get a game - exciting after 3 1/2 months of not even stepping on the ice. We had a fantastic game - Blacks vs Reds and everyone was in good spirits. It had also been arranged for a pot luck Sunday roast to take place after the PSP match so this carried on with about 80 people going to the basement for lunch. Due to all the time changes Chris stayed home and cooked all the parsnips (my contribution towards the lunch) and swept our pathway for 11/2 hours whilst I played ice hockey. We then all went for Sunday lunch and had a great afternoon with friends in the village. The Medicine Hat Tigers were also due to come to the arena but again this was cancelled due to the weather - fingers crossed they will reschedule as Fraser was so excited.
It is a wondererous thing living in Canada and experiencing so many different things - everything from the blizzards where you step out of your door and sink knee deep to having some deers pop along for a bit of a snack. Thursday afternoon I was sweeping the path, a daily ritual almost when along walked a couple of deers, so I couldn't resist cutting up an apple and feeding them.