Back to the blog重回部落格

I think I still like blogging better than FB. But it's been a long while, where should I start? 

It's been more than 2 years since we moved to our own home in Hidden Valley. The space is smaller, the backyard is much smaller, but we have 2-car-garage instead of 1-car garage and a walking closet in our bigger master bedroom. After all, it's our own house!

This is Emilie, our next door neighbour. She's been Fiona's BFF (best friend forever) since they moved in Feb 2011. Aileen, Emilie's mom has become a good friend of mine as well. Two and half years older than Fiona, but Emilie plays very well with Fiona. We love her. 

This was back in June, a hot Sat. Gareth and I took Fiona and Emilie for a bike ride to Riley Park. Fiona loves the park mainly because there's a wading pool there (even if the water is always cold). 

我還是比較喜歡部落格。可是荒廢了這麼久，要從哪裡開始呢？

搬進Hidden Valley 的房子已經2年多了。家裡空間變小，後院變小，但是有了一個2個車位的車庫，和可走入式衣櫥在我們變大的主臥室。不管如何，畢竟是自己的房子。

這是Emilie，隔壁鄰居的小孩。2011年2月搬到隔壁之後，成了Fiona的最好的朋友。她比Fiona大2歲半，但是和Fiona玩的很好。我們都很喜歡她。我和她媽媽也成為好朋友。

這是6月的一個炎熱(好啦，攝氏25度而已啦，但對這裡已經算熱了！)的星期六。Gareth和我帶著兩個丫頭騎腳踏車到Riley Park。Fiona很喜歡這個公園，因為裡面有個淺水游泳池。

Yes, this is Fiona in the exactly same pool 6 years ago. We came to Calgary to visit in 2006 summer. 

沒錯，2006年Fiona大概8個月大時，我們回卡加利玩，留下這張照片在同一個泳池。

Dalhousie days: a chapter comes to an end

After 21 enjoyable years, the old family homestead in Dalhousie home is up for sale. My parents, sister and I moved back to Calgary once we left Vancouver (Richmond) BC in 1989. After some wilderness years of instability, it was nice to have a real home to settle down in. Lots of good times and memories here.

Though I moved out in 1998, I was always coming back to visit, even for the years away in Taiwan. When it was time for us to move back to Canada in 2007, Mum and Dad were kind enough to let us rent the place from them once they moved to their condo. This summer we'll be moving into our own house, which we bought back in 2005.
The garden has lots of pretty trees in it. May is the best time to see all the blooms coming out.
Fiona enjoyed playing in the tent here last summer. Lots of good BBQs and garden parties had on the lawn
Summer 2006: Baby Fiona with grandma on the deck
Vivian did a super job repainting the dark kitchen in bright white, plus adding a new blacksplash

Mayday tree in bloom
Fiona's playground. Gareth rebuilt the white fence surrounding the property back in 1998
This ancient picnic table may have come from when we lived in Cochrane back in the early 1980s. Recently Vivian's family helped us repaint it
Nanjing cherry tree in the back yard. It grows real cherries!
More blooms

Mum spent hundreds of hours developing the garden into what it is today. Dozens of perennials like these ones now come up every spring

Slideshow from Dad's memorial service

The memorial service for Dad last Saturday January 24 went pretty smoothly. We believe Dad would have been pleased that so many old friends and colleagues attended. There were a lot of people there who we hadn't seen in at least 10 years.

Gareth went through a lot of old photographs and created this slide show which was broadcast at the start of the service:

Quite a few other people couldn't make it on the 24th, but they sent in some nice cards and email messages or called on the phone offering their condolences. The family appreciates your kindness.

We were also touched by all the kind things so many of the guests said about Dad. He was well liked by a lot of people. I guess we knew that but it was still comforting to hear the same sentiments from so many. "Kind and gentle." "Polite, generous." "A real gentleman." He was like that with his friends and coworkers. It makes sense to think of him as "a gentle man"-- he had a likeable manner that was born out of a different generation, a time when people thought and acted much differently. I guess people like him are more of a rare breed nowadays.

We love you and miss you Dad. Thanks for sharing life's journey with us. You were very special.

Fiona's third birthday

Fiona turned 3 years old on November 3rd. My how the time flies. For her special day we invited some little friends over for a party. We made some crafts, played games, had snacks and cake, plus opened several presents. Thanks to Mackenzie, Anna and Maya (and their mamas!) for coming over to enjoy the special day with us. Vivian also worked very hard making the food, plus special Princess costumes for everyone, to go along with the Princess party theme. Gareth decorated the house with baloons and streamers (Fiona is really into pink these days).
Modelling her Princess dress -- handmade by Mama
Trying on princess shoes
Happy day!
Four little princesses: our party guests Mackenzie, Anna and Maya
Sitting down for some snacks
Birthday cake from Cinderella
Enjoying a sweet treat
Group photo. Thanks everyone for coming to our party!


Here's a little video of party highlights. Includes music from Fiona's new personalized CD!

The following day we had more guests: Nai Nai and Ye Ye (Fiona's grandma and grandpa, a.k.a. Gareth's parents), plus Vivian's college friend Heidy and her family: Felipe, Philip and Dylan. Another enjoyable party, with more presents!
Vivian cooked up a bounty of dishes
Fun times with Dylan and Philip

我們在卡加利的B&B民宿開張了 Our Calgary B&B is open for business!

我們在卡加利的B&B(民宿)正式開張了。這是我們B&B的網頁 :  http://www.bbcanada.com/jayandrabbit
請大家告訴大家。若有朋友正計畫來加拿大，卡加利，請推薦我們，我們一定熱情招待！After much tidying and planning, our B&B is open and ready for business. 

All the details can be seen here: http://www.bbcanada.com/jayandrabbit
If you or anyone you know is traveling in Alberta and needs a place to stay, check out "The Jay and Rabbit"! 

Why "The Jay and Rabbit"? We chose the name because a.) it sounds a bit like a pub, warm and friendly, and b.) there are actually quite a few blue jays and rabbits living in the neighborhood. We're in the city but with all the grass and trees around it is almost like being in a forest.
The one, the only: The Jay and Rabbit guest room
Our guests come upstairs to our dining room to enjoy breakfast
Your Jay & Rabbit hosts: Vivian & Gareth 

My Mum, Janet Morgan: gardener par excellence

My Mum is great -- she is very good at gardening, among other things. I thought it was time to give her some credit here, and show off some of her gardening work. She surely makes our house a much prettier place to live Recently she bought a new car, a Toyota Yaris.
Here are some of the flowers she planted in front of our house
Here's what the front garden flower bed looks like
Great bunches of roses growing at the side of the houseHanging basket of flowers on the edge of the window, facing our deck: Visible when you're in the kitchen washing the dishes A nice flower bed at the back of the house too

Close-up of some flowers in the back.

Thanks Mum!

Happy New Year~photos from January新年新氣象，一月的照片

柷大家新年快樂。雖然已經三月了，回顧一下一月的照片吧！
Happy New Year to everyone! I know it's March now, but it's time to share some old photos from this past January.
孟田喜歡躺在雪裡做"雪天使"。
Fiona loves making "snow angels"

走累了，就趴在雪橇上讓媽媽拉回家
I'm tired. Mama, pull me home.


購物中心裡的車車，可以讓媽媽好好的逛街買東西
I love the strollers in the malls. They're the only way I can get some shopping done.

企鵝，你要乖乖，帽子不可以拿下來，媽媽會生氣喔！
Penguin, you'd better keep this hat on, or mama will be angry.


要吃完啊！很痛苦耶！吃飯對孟田來說還是很傷腦筋的一件事。
Fiona doesn't enjoy mealtimes too much.

孟田和她的新朋友Maya。Maya的媽媽也是台灣來的，爸爸是波蘭人。他們目前定居在卡加利。Maya每個星期二都會來和孟田玩。有玩伴真好！
Fiona with her new friend Maya. Her mom is also from Taiwan, ane her dad is from Poland. It's nice to see Fiona with some new friends.

"Two" 兩歲

(其實四個月前就該刊這一篇的，我實在太會拖了。不過，有總比沒有好吧！)
孟田兩歲了。我教她練習聽懂並回答「我兩歲。」用英文和中文。中文很快就學會了，英文卻一直跟著我重複「How old are you?」
我台灣的家人竟然買了一個蛋糕，在電腦前用視訊幫孟田唱生日快樂歌。還在電腦前吃了起來，讓孟田直吞口水。
因為還不知道在這裡如何幫小朋友辦生日派對，我只有簡單的請了爺爺奶奶和姑姑以及我的好朋友Heidy一家人來孟田的生日晚餐。爺爺和奶奶買了一個超大的企鵝，(還有其他的禮物)孟田愛死了。睡覺前還要跟企鵝親吻晚安。
(I should've posted this 4 months ago. Well, it's better than nothing.)
Fiona is two years old now. I've tried to teach her how to answer the question: "How old are you?" in English and Chinese. She picked up the Chinese answer pretty quickly, but it took her a while to understand that she doesn't have to repeat the question.
My dear family from Taiwan bought a cake and sang the happy birthday song in front of the computer for Fiona. Oh, I miss them so much.
We had a small party for Fiona. Grandma, grandpa and auntie Jane all came to the party. I also invited my friends Heidy and Filipe and their two boys. We have met some little friends here from the church and the mother's group I go to every Monday. But I'm not ready to throw a kid's birthday party yet. Hopefully I'll be ready next year for Fiona's 3-year-old birthday.
Grandma and grandpa bought a big penguin for Fiona, and some other nice things. She loves it so much. She even kisses the penguin good night.
孟田的生日蛋糕(看到了嗎？企鵝就躺在沙發上)
Fiona's got an ice cream birthday cake. The penguin is lying on the couch.

孟田愛死了她的冰淇淋生日蛋糕
Fiona loves her ice cream cake.