Season Three is About to Begin

We slowly made our way back to Australia after having spent some time in Canada and Denmark visiting family and friends.  We left Brisbane on November 11th and flew home to Canada where we spent a couple of weeks getting the cottage ready for Christmas.  It was a chilly first few days until we got the furnace repaired and operating once more.  But it was nice to be home.  For many reasons, not the least of which was to see my family that I miss so much.  My biggest challenge on this journey is being homesick.  I miss seeing my Son and those casual moments with family and friends.  So it was nice to know that we had two months to enjoy it.  Somehow though, it went by just a little too fast.

December arrived and it was off to Denmark for a first visit with our new Grandson, Victor.  Victor was created in Galapagos and was born on November 13th in Odense, Denmark.

Victor with his big Polar Bear from Canadian Great Grandfather 

It was a flurry of activity in Denmark visiting the kids who have now moved from Aarhus to Aalborg and Odense. We stayed with Jens' Mom, Inger at her home in Aarhus making that our base.  We had so many lovely moments together with her, sharing breakfast and dinners most days; taking trips to the Aros Museum to see the exhibit of the Royals and a road trip to Grenaa through the lovely Danish countryside.  We stopped on the way at Gammel Estrup at a Manor House and heard about all the Christmas traditions from the 1800's, many of which are still in place today.

We had some great times with friends and family as everyone was getting into the Christmas spirit.  It seems every town has a Christmas market so you can imagine my delight in finding all kinds of small treasures to bring home.  We left Denmark for a day and visited with Christian and Birgit Schumann in Hamburg.  Hamburg also has a wonderful Christmas market at the city square which brought back some fond memories of my childhood.  The three weeks flew by and we were soon back to Canada just in time to prepare for the Canadian Christmas festivities.

Mör and me at Gammel Estrup

Aros Museum

The Christmas Market in Hamburg

 

Our tour in and around Denmark

There was a great deal more snow at the cottage when we arrived on December 22nd than when we left.  It was truly a lovely, winter wonderland and we arrived just in the middle of the famous ice storm of 2013.  Luckily, our flight arrived on schedule and we made it up to the cottage without any problems.   Unfortunately, this photographer was so busy "enjoying the moment" that I now realize I was completely delinquent in my duties and I don't have a single photograph of our time in Canada to share with you.  But, trust me, we had a lot of fun and the snowy landscape was beautiful and white.  We have to thank our family and friends for being such troopers and braving the cold, snowy and sometimes icy conditions to come all the way up to the cottage to see us.

And it seemed we left Toronto at the right time as well.  Another winter storm arrived to the Toronto area just after we left for Calgary.  The good folks in Calgary had already received enough snow and we had a lovely winter landscape to enjoy as we made our way around the city of Calgary, up to Banff, Invermere, Elbow Falls and Cochrane.  We were treated to some warm western hospitality  spending the week with my Brother Bob and his family and catching up with my high school friend Pat and her husband Neil.

Mary Lou and Robert at Elbow Falls

We left Canada with a few extra kilos from all the good food and wine over the holidays.  It was a long journey back to Brisbane where the temperatures are roughly 40 degrees higher than we had grown accustomed to.  I have to say though, I really enjoyed the cold and the snow.  Nature's beauty seems to be magnified somehow with a covering of snow.  The mountain landscapes in Alberta and BC are more spectacular than I remember.  It was Jens' first time in that part of Canada and I think he saw it at its best.  Mind you, the summer landscape is probably just as beautiful.  We'll have to make another trip West just to be sure.