Lofty mountain granduer

The words from this hymn kept coming back to us as we travelled through the Rockies...


Angel Glacier, Jasper National Park
The glacier tumbles down from Mount Edith Cavell, and looks very like an angel with arms outstretched...


Lake Agnes, Banff National Park
This is about an hour and half's walk above Lake Louise
There's a lovely tea shop next to the lake - a just reward after the walk uphill!


A glacier tumbles down from the Columbia Icefield
The Columbia Icefield is one of the largest masses of ice outside the polar regions, and is the source of water for three oceans - the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific!


Castle Mountain, Banff National Park


The top of Whistler Mountain in Jasper National Park
Elevation: 8,100 ft (we took the gondola rather than climbing!)
The Athabasca River is in the background, with the Queen Elizabeth range of mountains behind.


View from the top of Sulpher Mountain, Banff National Park
Elevation: 7,400 ft (again - there's a gondola!)
The views from here are incredible - mountains for 360 degrees!


Peyto Lake, Banff National Park
The water in many of these lakes is vivid green / blue because they are fed by glaciers. The glaciers crush the rock underneath them, making a very fine rock flour which is deposited in the lakes, and stays in suspension - absorbing all the light except green / blue.


Spirit Island and Maligne Lake, Jasper National Park
This is one of the best views in the Canadian Rockies...


Lake beneath Mount Edith Cavell, Jasper National Park
Just look at the colour of the water!

Wildlife in the aquarium

These are some of the animals in the Vancouver aquarium - well worth the visit if you ever find yourself there...


Jellyfish
These are spectacular... Luckily we didn't stand on any at the beach!


Sea Otters
These are the cutest things - they lie on their backs all day floating around, washing themselves... and holding hands so they don't lose each other. There is a fantastic video of them on youtube (not mine, I'm afraid) - have a look...


Beluga whale
This is an amazing creature - with advanced sonar to find its way, and loads of blubber to keep warm. It also has a smile on its face too!

Canadian wildlife

Bald eagle
These are everywhere - there were a pair nesting in the garden of one of our B&Bs - they have a white head and bright yellow beak.


Big horn sheep
This was one of about 12 which decided to cross the road in front of us in Banff.


Black bear
We went bear watching in Tofino and saw 10 - they come down to the shore at low tide, turning over the rocks to look for crabs. We saw a couple more beside the road on our travels too.


Ground squirrel
They look a lot like chipmunks, but apparently aren't related at all. They were everywhere we went and are particularly tame - it must be the Japanese tourists feeding them muffins!


Hump back whale
We went whale watching from Victoria, and watched this humpy for an hour or so.

Race Rocks and lighthouse

Perhaps my favourite photo of them all...

This is Race Rocks, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. We went through here on our boat while looking for whales... There is an urban myth that the stone for the lighthouse was quarried in Scotland and shipped over... the internet is full of claims and counterclaims over where the stone came from - but there isn't a shortage of rock in Canada, so it seems a little strange to have brought it from Scotland!

More fantastic views from Canada

Long Beach, Pacific Rim National Park
Vancouver Island, BC


Early morning looking for bears on Clayoquat Sound, Tofino
Vancouver Island, BC

Athabasca Falls

Truly awesome!

That seemed to be the resounding theme wherever we went on our grand tour round the western side of Canada...

Photos and video will be posted here once I've sorted out the 1300 pics... but here are a few to get things going.


Vancouver - Lost Lagoon


Tofino - Middle Beach at Sunset


Lake Lousie, The Rockies


Sulfer Mountain, Banff

Family wanted

Mrs D and I have been following the BBC programmes closely this week, as Nicky Campbell introduces stories of adopted children and their families.

We've both been in tears at times, seeing some of the things these children have been through, and then the wonderful way that they flourish when given a stable, loving home...

And it makes what we're doing seem that much more real...

• The first meeting
• The day the children come to stay for good
• The first family photo
• The laughs and the tears and the hard times

And knowing that this is all to come for us...

We've now completed our CRB forms, and have a medical with our GP on Tuesday. The adoption agency will be writing to our personal referees over the next few weeks, as well as contacting social services in every place we've lived, to check what records they hold on us (I suspect they will draw a blank there).

We then have to attend preparation days - these were supposed to be in September, but for various reasons, will now be in November. Yet another delay for us - it's really frustrating at times, but we hang on to the knowledge that God's timing is spot on, and most likely isn't the same as ours!

So the journey continues, albeit slower than we would have liked... but we know God is using the time to mould us and prepare us for what lies ahead...

Godparents to be

We're going to be godparents again!
Mrs D and I are delighted...

Alice is a beautiful little girl, and we feel honoured to have the responsibility of sharing Christ with her as she grows up... alongside her parents, helping her to know God... and supporting them as they help her grow into all that God has prepared for her.

What a privilige!

It all becomes official in October at a service of thanksgiving... Here's a photo of her looking gorgeous (as always!) You can see more photos of Alice on her website.

Thank you, kind lady

I just wanted to publicly thank the kind lady I briefly met at Newcastle station yesterday afternoon. I had to go to the station to get a refund as GNER haven't yet arrived in the 20th century, with refunds processed by way of triplicate forms, huge British Rail clipboards and giant rubber stamps...

Anyway - I arrived at the ticket machine to find I only had a £2 coin - and the ticket machine being owned by GNER, hadn't yet been upgraded to accept these...

A lady approached the machine to buy a ticket, and I asked if she had change for a £2 coin. She hunted a bit, and then said that she was very sorry, but she didn't have £2 worth of change. But she did have 50p I could have, which was enough for 40 minutes. I tried to give her my £2 in exchange for he 50p, but she was having none of it. What a kind gesture. Of course, I thanked her profusely, and then I purchased my ticket.

So, thank you kind lady.
I hope I would do the same...

Call me irresponsible?

This is a long story, but I'll try to keep it brief...

I ordered the new Michael Buble CD for Caroline a number of weeks ago from amazon... It didn't arrive, so I contacted Amazon's customer service people, and the said they'd send a replacement... that arrived in a couple of days - fantastic!

Two weeks later, the original arrived - presumably having been stuck in the back of a Royal Mail sorting office in the interim...

Anyway, being an honest and responsible kind of bloke, I thought I'd better contact amazon to let them know, and then return the extra copy... should be easy, you would have thought...

Amazon arranged for the CD to be picked up from work - except they turned up on the wrong day!

I phoned again to arrange another pick-up - they didn't arrive at all!
I phoned again. They arranged to pick it up yesterday. They actually came. Fantastic, I thought!

I arrived home this afternoon after work. Imagine my surprise when I found the self same parcel, which had been picked up yesterday from work, sitting on my doormat at home!

I have since phoned amazon again (you'll be glad to know the calls are all free!). They told me to keep the CD, and give it to a friend...!

So if you get a Michael Buble CD from us, for your birthday or other occasion - you'll know where it came from!!

The Impossible Quiz

This is totally addictive...
Don't click unless you have hours (I mean hours) to spare!

Play The Impossible Quiz

Top tip - you need to think way outside the box!

Mr Blair's farewell speech

Ok, I've been spending too much time on youtube...
but this is really good...

The lion sleeps...

This is brilliant - thanks must go to Elaine, who found it first!

More delays!

Can you beieve it?
After the horrific delays last time I took the plane, I decided to get the train to London for my meeting today.... wrong decision!

Good old GNER did their best to keep us moving, but the crumbling infrastructure which passes for a railway system in this country got the better of them, yet again...

I was booked on the 0700 from Newcastle, scheduled to arrive into Kings Cross at 0950 or thereabouts, giving me plenty of time to get the tube to my meeting at 1100.

After sitting on the train (train number 1) in Newcastle station going nowhere fast, we were told that the train was cancelled because of overhead line failure in the Peterborough area. We were told to get off the train and catch the 0740. Which we did (train number 2).

This arrived at York, where we were told it was terminating. We got off. And onto another train (train number 3). We were told this was cleared to go to Doncaster. We arrived in Doncaster, and to great cheers were told that we had now been cleared to go on to Peterborough. By this time we were an hour and a half late. We arrived in Peterborough. We got off.

We then queued for half an hour to get on specially provided buses (train (OK, bus) number 4), which took us to Huntingdon by way of quaint Cambridgeshire lanes.

We arrived in Huntingdon, got off the bus and walked to the station, to be greeted by the back of the train (train number 5) we were supposed to be getting on, leaving the platform heading for London. It seems they got fed up waiting, and left without half the passengers....

So we were told to get on a chuggy local train (train number 6) bound for Kings Cross. Which we did. And it chugged. And chugged. And chugged some more, stopping at every station, and in between stations as well.

On arriving at Stevenage, we noticed a fast GNER train pull in on the platform opposite. Thinking that this would, without doubt, get us to London more quickly than the chuggy thing we were one, we all got off and piled onto the fast train (train number 7).

This left and then promptly stopped 2 minutes later. A fault with the door locks apparently. This seemed to get fixed after 10 minutes (or they decided that it wouldn't matter if a few people fell out along the way), and we eventually arrived into Kings Cross at 1245 - nearly 3 hours later than we should have.

Perhaps fly(may)be aren't that bad after all!

Flybe v Easyjet

I've been having some discussions recently with my friend Lynne about which airline is worse...

Fly (may) be
or
Easyjet (why do they wear orange?)

I reckon flybe is the pits, following a disasterous journey to Southampton recently.
Lynne reckons Easyjet is worse, following her stressful journey to Belfast recently, coupled with her frustrations over scrumming for seats.

I thought I'd give you fine people the chance to vote (Joseph / Big Brother style).
Just add a comment, and let me know which you think is worse, and why!
And if you have any nominations for a worse airline (is it possible?), please feel free to vent your spleen!

Over to you...
(ranting is allowed!)

A splendid evening

Mrs D and I had a splendid evening yesterday at church...

About 50 of us had a lovely meal courtesy of Sandra and her team in the kitchen (thank you all - the food was delicious), and were entertained (and made to think) between courses by Rev Dennis Pethers and the Envizage Theatre Company, from Viz-a-viz Ministries, all the way from Essex... The theme was 'More to Life' - there must be more to life that this...

Accompanying us were Edwina and Lee - the parents of some of our KidzKlub kids - a family we have grown to know and love over the past year through our weekly visits... They had a lovely time, enjoying the food, conversation and drama... and it turned out this was the first time they had been out as a couple in 12 years...

We are so glad they enjoyed themselves and were challenged by what they heard (and weren't even put off by the Essex accent!!) - we'll just have to make sure that it isn't another 12 years till we invite them out again!

Fly Maybe?

Well, here I am back home again after a fantastic weekend in Bournemouth / Poole / Christchurch celebrating the impending marriage of one of my best friends, Stu...

The sun shone every day from the moment we got up, the skies were blue, and it was scorching hot - perfect weather for a spot of golf on the Saturday morning (yes, I know I've never picked up a golf bat / racket / club before in my life) and a private cruise down the River Stour in the afternoon with strawberries and champagne, followed by lunch at the Beach House on Mudeford sandbank, at the end of Christchurch Bay....

Then out in the evening for a curry and some drinks - the perfect end to a perfect day!

I came second in the overall golf challenge (a score of 37 against a par of 18), although we only made it round 6 holes in 2 hours... and I won the high score competition too (12 on the first hole!)

What number bat do I need for this one...?

Who's going to eat the last strawberry?

Mudeford sands - where the beach huts go for more than £100k each!

But the whole weekend could have been a disaster before it began... thanks to Fly Be.

I was booked on the 5pm from Newcastle to Southampton, so pitched up at the airport at around 3.45 to check in. No problems there. Through security. Easy. Check the boards. 30 minutes till we go to the gate. Time for a coffee.

The time counts down to zero. Go to Gate 6. So I stand up to go to Gate 6. Then It changes to 25 minutes again. Fair enough, I thought. A bit of a delay. Counts down to zero again. Then the flight disappears from the board... Then 135 minutes appears. What?

Chos then ensues. Announcement - apologies on behalf of Fly Be... technical problems on inbound flight... still at Southampton... delay of 2.5 hours.... go to desk and get a meal voucher... Fantastic!

So I found a corner and read some of my book... then went to get something to eat... looked at the board - only 45 minutes to go now, but only 30 minutes since it said 135 minutes - something strange going on with the numbers - they must be flybe minutes...

Looked again at the board - 3 minutes to go - brilliant, we all thought - except no plane has arrived for us to get on.... 20 minutes passed - display still says 3 minutes - definitely flybe minutes.... or should that be flymaybe minutes?!

Looked again after another 10 minutes and the wait time had jumped back to 59 minutes... was somebody having a laugh?

And so it went on... and on... and on... Eventually I found a group of other irate passengers in the same situation as me.... all trying to find out what was going on - but there was nobody around - and when somebody did turn up, they left sharpish, promising to return in 10 minutes with answers - they still havem't turned up!

We eventually took off at 9.45pm, a full 4 hours and 45 minutes late....

Thankfully the return flight was uneventful, though they did thank us for flying with them, 'The UK's favourite low-cost airline'! How can this be?

So if any of you are thinking of maybe flying with flybe, remember, flymaybe could be closer to the truth!

Thanks to Dave, for organising the weekend, and to Stu, for giving us the excuse to get together, by getting married!

Urban gardening

We spent an enjoyable hour this morning with our housegroup and a load of the Kidz Klub kids from the neighbourhood, replanting one of the planters on the street near church.... The men from the council came with loads of plants and soil, and lended a hand too!

The kids had a great time, and were really focussed on the task in hand! Not much soil slinging either, although whose idea was it to water the plants with super soakers??!


Before


All hands on deck


Don't stand on it!


What about putting that one there?


Result!

Let's hope it stays like this for a while...

Tummy poppers

We've just had our three beautiful godsons (aged nearly 5, 3 and 18 months) to stay over - to give their mum and dad a well-deserved break in the country by themselves...

We had a great time - Mrs D took them to the park and they played on the swings - then I came home from work and we read stories till tea time...

Then 'The Jungle Book' DVD for a while till bath-time...
...a Bible story and prayers, and then bed...
'Tummy poppers now, tummy poppers' (don't ask - I have no idea!)

Not a squeak from them all night (well, apart from the snoring!)

This morning I managed to make breakfast - 'krispies please, krispies...' - 'what's that popping noise?' Then toast ('strawberry jam please, not raspberry').

Then off to work for me, and off to the park for them with Mrs D...
'kiss bye bye, kiss bye bye'

It has been reported to me that while I was at work, Mrs D was told that I was very good at making breakfast, and I even managed to do it all by myself!

We now know:
1. our car isn't wide enough for 3 child seats
2. our bathroom floor squeaks horribly, paricularly when cleaning your teeth at 11pm and trying not to wake the kids
3. the importance of stair gates
4. elephants can fly
5. I'm good at making breakfast

We still don't know:
1. what a tummy popper is
2. where all the rice krispies went

A grand time was had by all...
We can't wait to do it all again soon!