November 8th

7pm: A day off today & so what am I doing on a plane? Well flying it actually, this was the rather wonderful Xmas present that Nicky had given me last year. A session on the flight simulator near Calgary Airport. An amazing experience as the thing is so life like, it moves around & you actually fly over Calgary, or Canmore or in this case sit on the runway at Vancouver having just landed. I really enjoyed it, great fun at the end when the kids came & joined me - they thought they were actually flying. I had taken a single real flying lesson back in about 1999 in London & loved it, even thought about getting my pilot's license. We ended up taking Tabby for Sushi at the Sushi boat restaurant in Calgary because let's not forget, it was her sixth birthday today!! Tabby had spent the morning in a private pottery making class, i think she enjoyed that as much as I did my aviation experience.

November 2nd

 

9am. Vancouver bound & on the runway at YYC yet again, how many flights this year  still more to come! Still a nice day for it.



October 29th

 

1pm,. Centre Street, Calgary. A stupendously glorious day today as the weather turns yet again. It's been a very warm, mild autumn & long may it continue. I was here for the day working, but sapped this shot from the sunroof of the car as I headed downtown.



October 27th

9pm: My kitchen is overflowing with apples & I am the one buying & eating them! What is so special about this? Well generally the apples over here are truly foul - waxy, glossy balls of mealy nothingness. Genetically modified to hell & I avoid them at all costs. However for just a few sweet weeks, Blush Lane Market in Calgary brings in from it's own orchard in BC, a bumper crop of Cox's Orange Pippins - a beautiful blast from home, i adore them & for these blissful weeks i devour them in great quantities before sadly the supply dries up & the only alternative once again is the monstrosities in the supermarkets.

October 17th

10am - I took an early flight keen to get home & to see the family, the sun shone all the way & I had a great view of Calgary shining in the morning sun as we flew in, but the best view was looking straight down as we made our final descent from the east.

October 14th

 

8am Calgary Airport & this is my never-to-be plane heading to Vancouver. We boarded as normal but then sat there for an eternity before the captain informed us that the computer on the plane was broken. Dutifully we de-planed & waited for a replacement, I arrived in Vancouver hours later - but better to find out the computer was down while at the gate then 38,000ft over the Rockies I guess.



September 25th

4pm: We enjoyed a day out in Calgary today, fabulous sunny weather at last. After lunch in Kensington, at a really nice Vietnamese (what else in YYC) restaurant - we made our way over to Inglewood. Inglewood is a developing neighbourhood with funky little arty shops & a Harley Davidson dealership where a glamour photo shoot was going on in the parking lot where we had left our car. It involved gleaming bikes &  a scantily dressed young lady! The kids were a bit bemused by it all..........not something you see every day.

September 3rd

7pm: Picked up a load of beautiful fruit & vegetables in Calgary today after I finished work. Despite the dreadful summer we had here in Alberta, neighbouring BC can usually be relied on to provide us with all kinds of goodies. Here are some amazing peppers - habaneros, jalapenos, scotch bonnets & pimentos - will be a spicy weekend for sure.

July 26th

11pm: Amongst the illness of last week, I wasn't much good for celebrating Nicky's birthday - I made up for it today whilst in between meetings in Calgary by buying her the GPS watch she wanted for her running activities. Not convinced that she will use it properly, technical stuff is not her strong point but she is doing so well with her running, that anything that helps her to be better at it, is fine by me.

July 12th

11pm: This is my nod to the Calgary Stampede which is on at the moment, although tonight's event was marred by freakish weather - monster hailstones & a perfect storm. To be honest I am not interested in attending the Calgary Stampede for a few reasons, but have enjoyed the Millarville rodeo down the road (where I did my bike ride a few weeks ago) - it is more down to earth, authentic some may say & this photo (of a photo) is a beautiful mystery barrel racing girl who raced that day back in 2008.

June 29th

11am. I discovered a real gem in Calgary today, Orchid Pastry up in the North of the city is a new Persian bakery making exquisite confections & selling imported middle-eastern delicacies like these amazing pistachios. They didn't last long in our house....

June 7th

4pm: Day-off, with Nicky's mum over we took the kids to Calgary Zoo. The Zoo, despite it's poor reputation for animal husbandry, is pretty good. A wide range of exhibits, although the Canadian section featuring elk, bears, moose, mountain goats is really just a facsimile of what is lurking in the forests beyond our back garden!! This is the rather tranquil butterfly house, tranquil that is to everyone other than Charlie who hated the butterflies & wanted out ASAP. We took him to the dinosaur park, an excellent exhibit chock-a-block with full size, animatronic dinosaurs - he was terrified at first, creeping past them with as low a profile as you will ever see, but after a while became acclimatised & then fascinated. We ended the day in Fatburger!!! A nice day off indeed...........

April 15th

9.15am: My Air Canada plane is leaving Calgary Airport on a beautiful morning, not a speck of ash in the sky unlike Europe with it's misbehaving Icelandic volcano. We worked hard and late in Vancouver but finished the day with a superb Indian meal at Maurya - the best I have had in North America.

April 8th

7pm: A day out in Calgary, we left snowy Canmore & headed into warm, sunny Calgary for some shopping & stuff. Highlight of the day was an amazing Mexican lunch at the Tu Tierra Taqueria in SE Calgary. It's a genunine Mexican restaurant, serving regional cuisine from around that sunny nation - beautiful food and a nice, simple decor. Top lunch experience! Later we hit the dreaded Ikea, it was sunny when we went in, but about an hour later we came out into a raging, angry blizzard. The snow was flying horizontally & the temperature had plummeted. Thinking we were in for a hellish journey home, we got through unscathed - although horror stories of pile-ups & crashes dominated the news. We did though end up at the doctor's office, with an unwell tabby - hence the picture of a snowy Safeway as we headed over to their pharmacy!

March 31st

4pm: The stormy snow clouds that have been hanging over the mountains are very evident in this shot that I took on my way home from a day's work in Calgary. Calgary was warmish & clear, Chinook conditions even but as I got closer to Canmore the temperature dropped. Love these views you get on the Trans Canada, something different in the sky or on the ground every time you make that journey. One sure sign of spring is the melting lakes & the arrival of lots of waterfowl migrating north - the freshly arrived black beaked Trumpeter Swans in particular mean that summer is not too horribly far away.

March 12th

10am: I suppose I should feel a bit ashamed of myself for posting up such a childish picture - however I couldn't help but notice this reference to the ancient art of Onanism in South Calgary this morning. I have no idea whether it's related to the "Medical Massage" advertised in the bottom left corner?!

February 25th

5pm ; Heading out of Calgary on my way home from work, westwards to the mountains, one of my favourite views as you crest the Old Banff Coach Road just east off Springbank. The whole vista opens up with stunning views of the Rocky Mountains & that big old Alberta sky.

February 19th

7.00pm: Pete Morey warms up the crowd at the Uptown Stage & Screen Theatre. Pete was producing the latest edition of Go! for the CBC, recorded in front of 500+ enthusiastic fans & broadcast the following morning. I know most of his team by now, lovely people & after an excellent show we all went out in Calgary for dinner & drinks ending up at the rowdy Rose & Crown just off 17th Ave. A long, tiring day but fun nonetheless!!

February 16th

10pm: Wilco come to the finale of their set at The Jubilee in Calgary. A good show in front of an enthusiastic crowd, particularly enjoyed their cover of Broken Arrow in the encore. Only negative point was the idiots around me who didn't stop talking throughout their set & that of excellent openers, Califone. I hate people talking at all seated gigs as you have no option to move away from them. Was nice to see Pete & his CBC gang in town for their show this week - more of Pete later this week.

January 14th

Heading home, an unusual route took us right over downtown Calgary, happily basking in the warmth of a chinook. A lot of the snow had melted in the 4 days I was away. The Bow River is clearly visible, if somewhat frozen - to the north of the downtown core. Princess Park Island in the centre of the river a fantastic setting for the Calgary Folk Festival in July which will draw huge crowds, (& us), to see some top names perform.