Children of Eden

Well, as I said in my last post, I just finished playing for a musical called Children of Eden.  It follows the story of creation from the beginning until the end of the Flood of Genesis.  It's not considered a religious play, just one that teaches about second chances and new beginnings etc.  Right, well anyway, it was SOOOOOO fun.  I just loved it.  I have played for 5 musicals in my day.  Chronologically, they were Oliver, Pirates of Penzance, Beauty and the Beast, Footloose and Children of Eden.

I don't know how to explain how fun it is.  Something about the energy on stage seeps down into the pit where the musicians are and I just can't help but get inspired from it.

I'm not sure if I'll get a recording of the play, but if I do, I'll be sure to post a link to the music here.  Otherwise, if you go to Youtube and type in Children of Eden, you'll find some good music.  Look for "Ain't it Good?" or "Children of Eden" or "In the Beginning".  They're all good, but those 3 are the ones that I liked the best.

So that has sadly come and gone, and so has Christmas!  That will be the topic of my next post.  Christmas!

I thought that I should put up a picture of what the tree ended up looking like that we cut down in my last post, so here it is!

Once again, that Logan gets in the picture!  So not only can you see the tree, you can see how cute Logan is.  Win win!

Hope all is well with all.

Keep checking in!

Christmas traditions

It may be a bit cliché, but Christmas is my favourite time of year.  I just love the lights, the music and of course, the company.  It brings for all of us a bunch of traditions.  Aside from decorating, I think the earliest tradition (that is to say the one that happens first, not necessarily the oldest) is going to cut down the Christmas tree.

Every year my family ventures out to the Christmas tree farm to 'pick the perfect pine'.  (It isn't usually a pine, I was just going for an alliteration).  Here are some pictures of this year's Christmas tree cutting tradition:

Ok so now that I've uploaded the pictures, I've realized the pictures aren't really of the Christmas tree cutting traditions at all, they're more of my nephew, but that's ok because he's cute.

Alright, that's that!  I'll be back soon with an update of a musical I just played for.  It was fun!  Talk to everyone soon, hope December is treating you well!

Canadian weather

It's a topic Canadians talk complain about all the time.  The weather.  In the winter, it's too cold or there's too much snow.  In the summer (however short it may be) it's often too hot.  However, our rants about the weather might be valid sometimes.  For example, last summer in my home town of Hamilton, Ontario, it reached 48°C (118.4°F).  This is the same place that in the winter it has been known to reach well below -20°C (-4°F).  In fact, the coldest I've experienced was -35°C (-31°F).  So yes.  We might complain about it a lot, but I think we have a good reason to!

Anyway, while most of the people complain about the snow, I love it.  Actually, this morning there was snow on the lawns and cars.  The first time I saw snow this year was October 1st.  It was short, but it happened.  Generally, snow continues until March or April.  That might sound like a long time, but if you enjoy snow like me, it's fun!

Our seasons are weird.  Spring and Fall are very short.  The temperature can be 15°C (5°F) one day and 0°C (32°F) the next.  It goes up and down for a few weeks, then we have the two actual Canadian seasons - winter, and road construction.  Even though the drastic changes in weather are yet another target for our complaints, we owe our ability to produce more than 80% of the world's maple syrup to them!  Mainly in spring, we tap our trees during that crazy time and get delicious results.

Right, well I'm not sure why I made this post... I just felt like discussing the weather.  Perhaps it's because my parents are in Florida right now enjoying the sun and the beach!!!  (anger & jealousy abound)

Here's a picture of my parent's house during the winter.

This next one is from last winter, when we had a particularly nasty storm that was dumped so suddenly that the people in this traffic jam got stuck.  It resulted in one death - even though winter weather can be pretty and fun, things like this remind us that it's always important to stay careful and prepared!

Well that's that!  Stay tuned for more mindless rants about random topics!

Chantal Kreviazuk and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra

Last night I saw Chantal Kreviazuk singing with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.  When I first heard about the concert, I thought to myself, "this will be a nice night out with the family!"  I also thought it would feature the Philharmonic orchestra and Chantal would be featured here and there.  Well, I was right on one thing.  It was a great night!!  However, she was the star and the orchestra was the backup music.

Anyway, it was such a fun night - she has an amazing sense of humour.  I was laughing really hard at times!  That's not the only thing she has going for her though.  Her voice was so impressive.  Some people when they sing live their pitch is all out of tune or shaky or something else, but she had really good control of all of that.

She sang a bunch of songs that I knew already, like "Feels like home", "Surrounded" and "Leaving on a Jet Plane", but she also sang a bunch of stuff from her new album Plain Jane.  My favourite of the whole night was called "Need Anyone".  The music was really all-consuming at one point.  I'm not sure if that's the way she wrote it, or if that's the way Mr. 'Fox' arranged it, but I found myself lost in the the accompaniment and it was a very welcome thing.  Hard to explain.

Right, well it was a great night and I think I'll pick up her new album.  Now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my breakfast - bacon and eggs sandwiched between 2 apple cinnamon eggos.  It's a good morning.

Remembrance Day

Well, it has been brought to my attention that I haven't updated the blog for a while (Kate!!).  I came to the realization that things here in Canada seem so normal to me that nothing is post worthy, but then I realized that I had forgotten to say something on November 11th.

That, of course, is Remembrance Day.  It's a day that Canadians take quite seriously and with every year that passes I see more and more awareness.

I'm personally connected to this day through my Grandpa who served in World War II.  Here's a picture of the two of us on Remembrance Day a few years ago:

This year, there were approximately 3000 people at the ceremony, which is held annually at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton Ontario.  During the ceremony, the last post is played and the famous Lancaster Bomber is flown just overhead.  It's quite impressive.

Here is a video I made earlier this year that has the music of the last post in it, as well as pictures from the largest common wealth cemetery in the world.

I can't predict when I'll post again, but my guess would be when I get my courses for school!

Stay tuned, I haven't forgotten about you!!

Bowling!

For those of you who don't know, I am a huge fan of bowling.  I became part of a league at the beginning of 2010, but couldn't continue because I went to Belgium for a year.  Now that I'm back in Canada (actually this post is being written from Belgium, but I'm only here for a bit this time), I have re-joined the league.

First off, I bought my own shoes.  Then, about 2 weeks ago I bought my very first bowling ball!!  Here it is!

His name is Sheldon.  He's a 13 pound 'slingshot' Brunswick.  His weight block looks like this:

So far, he has performed quite well for me!  On my last Friday of bowling, I got my first turkey!  That's 3 strikes in a row!  Then, I stood back up and threw another one!  I got my first hambone!  (4 strikes!)

Needless to say, I'm excited about my new purchase.  It's very different from using a house ball so I'm glad I bought him!

That's all for now folks!  I guess I'll attach my bowling score chart.  As you can see, I'm not terribly consistent, but I'm just a beginner!  Hope all is well with everyone!

Cats & Dogs

Well, life is back to normal and I'm in my rather perpetual routine of work / sleep.  However, I thought I should make a post about the animals I live with.  There are 2 cats and a dog.  The cats are Pepper (the oldest) and Presley.  The dog's name is Remix.  Here are some pictures!!

This is Remix at about 8 weeks old

That's Presley the day of the tornado warning.  He was taking cover.

That's Pepper at the end of the hall.  She's not very friendly so I couldn't get a good picture!

Now Remix is about 12 weeks old.

 Well, that's that!  Hope everyone is well!

The Cottage

Hello again!  I recently went up north to my family's cottage with, well, my family!  It was the first time we were all up there together at the same time in years.  It was so fun to spend time with everyone and get caught up after a year of being away.

Northern Ontario has such a unique feel to it.  Nights are absolutely silent, there is no light pollution so you can see every star in the sky, and the sunsets, well I can't describe them.  Here are some pictures I took up north:

Our view

Dinner

My biggest catch of the weekend

The sun sets directly in front of our place every night.

Breath taking

Early in the morning, when the lake is as still as glass, the water is warmer than the air, so a layer of fog covers the surface.

I just love it up there!  There's no place like the north!

Smoke's Poutinerie

So, now that I'm back in Canada, I thought my first real blog post from here should be about our national food staple: Poutine.  Poutine is simple - fries with cheese on top, and gravy on top of that.

It's the best thing that ever came from Canada.  Except maybe Celine Dion.

So, just before I left Belgium, I heard of a new poutinerie that opened up in my hometown Hamilton.  I knew I had to go.  Here is some information, and some pictures of Smoke's Poutinerie, in Hamilton Ontario.

Smoke's Poutinerie, George Street, Hamilton, Ontario

That's the magical place.  It's located on this charming street:

at the address 112 George Street in Hamilton.  It's in Hess Village.  The poutinerie, which is open every day at 11am and until 3am on Thursdays and 4am on Fridays and Saturdays (hours listed here) uses Ontario and Québec grown potatoes and cheese from Québec as well.  Not only that, the poutines are served in biodegradable containers, so there isn't an ounce of garbage left over - the fork goes in one box, the rest in another!

This is only one location of course.  They have more locations across Canada.  This one has indoor and outdoor seating, and metred parking close by.

Well, that's that.  I just returned from a cottage weekend with the family, so stay tuned for pictures and stories from the north!

Canadian Blog

Well, I never really thought I'd have a blog in Canada but I think I'll miss it if I don't do it.  I enjoy blogging.  It gives me an outlet where I can express my opinions (who am I kidding - I mainly like to post pictures!)

For those of you just joining me, I have 2 other blogs (now complete) iankivellkorea.blogspot.com recounts my adventures in Korea, where I stayed for one year.  iankivellbelgium.blogspot.com is the same idea, but with Belgium.  Now that I'm in Canada (and plan to stay here for a decent amount of time), I've decided to start a blog here too.

I must say, though, that I will not be updating as frequently as I did my other blogs but I will still stay on top of covering the important events that happen around me.

Today's topic?  My Grandparent's 59th wedding anniversary!  Happy Anniversary!  1952 they were married!

For now, that's all!  Enjoy my blog!