Winter wonderland...in Vancouver???

I've planned to put in pictures of our kitchen, as I realised that most people haven't seen much of it so far, but I couldn't resist a gentle ribbing to all my West Coast friends...I hear that snow is falling and there's more to come through the week?  "What about the snow?" we were asked after disclosing our future plans to move to PEI to which I now must respond "Ha!".  (I think even the locals here don't think we'll make it...there's always a long telling pause that follows the questions "Have you been here in the winter?" to which we always answer "no", of course...insert pregnant pause here.)

I can't poke too much fun, however, as we also have snow in the forecast, with some gentle little flakes drifting down as we speak...at least we're not getting dumped on.  (Sorry couldn't resist one last poke!)  Just last Saturday it was 16 degrees here and we went out for a lovely bike ride, the following day it was clear and sunny, but the temperature dropped down in to the 4 range.  We took a nice long final autumn walk.




Road to Bedeque



1st Church for my Calender - maybe.





 

I'm fairing well at my new job.  There's only been a couple of cultural confusions.  If someone says "she's a way about her" here, they don't mean in a good way...I think it's similar to saying "she's a cow".  (Now that I think on it, considering this is a pretty serious farming province, that might construe some sort of bovine insult and why they say "a way about her/him" as opposed to maligning cows.)  The other cultural clash was more interesting by way of self discovery.  Around here, you can pretty well call up anyone, whether you know them or not and ask a question, request assistance or try and get information about someone.  There's no intermediary. 

Example: You want to rent a (fill in an item or service), so you mention it to someone at work.  The someone at work says "Oh, I think so and so did that for his grandson's birthday, you should call him."  (They assume that you know what part of PEI so and so lives in and to look up his number in the phone book.)  They wouldn't think to let so and so know that you might call or perhaps get him to call you, should he want to...nope...you just look him up and give him a call.  To me that just stomps all over some unspoken social moray that I wasn't even aware of until placed in the situation.  Anyhow, just a bit fascinating...

Here's some photos of our kitchen, just so you can imagine us in the heart of our home.  Ron has cooked dinner twice (by the way), the roast lamb was first and he did a bang up job and then he made a stew in our new slow cooker - also very tasty.



Looking in from the back door.



Looking toward the back door.



As mentioned previously, I have more cupboard space than ever before.  My pots and pans are laid out neatly, not stacked (at least for the most part) and almost everything has a place that makes sense and you don't have to move something else to get to it.  That is the definition of kitchen happiness in my books.  My biggest challenge in the kitchen is that the oven and cook top run off propane.  Now it doesn't seem to affect baking too much - except for the rather disconcerting flames that blast up the sides of the oven; it never fails to freak me out.  The stove top runs hot, so I'm burning things way more often than usual.  (I had very little trouble with natural gas cook tops.)  We've been searching for some sort of heat withstanding riser for the burners, maybe wok style, but with the lack of Asian supplies, we aren't holding our breath.

Ron has been touching up paint in the halls, doing household chores and (as mentioned) cooking when he can.  (He even cleaned the chandelier in the living room - bless him.)  I'm not sure how long he'll last in the role of house husband, he seems to think there isn't enough work to be done and I think he's getting bored already, but that's something to worry over in another blog...

Until next time, when I'm certain we'll have pictures of snow to show you; be well.