The Montreal Vienese Ball

We had a lovely time at the Austrian Ball Saturday– I much prefer it to the Ottawa Winter Ball. This one is so Austrian. The dance music is provided by a trio called Edelweiss (made up of the musical and vocal stylings of Fritz, Hans and Dieter). Murray says the highlight of the evening for him is always when the band plays By the Rivers of Babylon, and all the Austrians start line dancing. This year, being the 50th anniversary of the ball, they even had a little mini operetta. The party went well into the morning, we only made it to midnight but for us, that’s doing well.

The March of the Debutants

While we were yodeling it up in Montreal, the girls were having a sleep over at Uncle Rob and Auntie Claire’s . They had such a great time they didn’t want to leave. Claire gave them a cardboard box, and a bunch of craft supplies and helped them make a doll house. It has a staircase, chandeliers and is fully furnished. They’re adding a stable block and pool next.

Christmas Comes to the Village III

Hot on the heels of the ACW Tea and Bazaar comes the Navan Christmas Craft Fair. Those who get my Christmas letter will be familiar now with my rant about the amount of baking I have to do for the Sparks/Brownies bake table at the craft fair each year. For those who aren't it's two items for the bake table and one for the lunch counter, PER CHILD. I'm usually my own worst enemy, going all Martha Stewart and hand decorating 75 gingerbread snowflake cookie tree ornaments or some such lunacy, but this year I was sensible and went with less labour intensive items like mini cranberry orange pound cakes.

The sale runs Saturday and Sunday, and we decided to meet after the girls various lessons Saturday to have lunch and shop. One of the things I got that I'm really tickled with are these hand made Christmas cards. I plan to use them for our friends in the US and Europe whose cards have to be sent nice and early so they'll arrive in time. Well that's the plan anyway, even with the best of intentions, I'll be lucky if I can get them done in time for New Years'.

Christmas Comes to the Village II

Saturday I helped out at St. Mary's Christmas Tea and Bazaar. The Church Hall was packed at usual with what seemed like the entire village coming out to enjoy plates of fancy sandwiches, dainties, and of course numerous cups of tea served in the ACW's collection of china cups and saucers.

The Ladies (and Gentleman) of the Bake Table. Everything was sold out within the first 20 minutes!

The women who organize these event are truly amazing, and village life wouldn't be the same without them. If they weren't running the church diners and teas, the Sunday School, Girl Guides, and just about everything else that happens around here, the social life of this little village would come to a grinding halt.

I was serving, but managed to fight my way to the knitting table to buy my annual supply of hand made mittens. The Tea had everything a country Christmas bazaar should, a bake table, knitting, preserves, quilting. I always envy whoever wins the draw for a handmade quilt.

All in all, a great way to spend an afternoon.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Comes to the Village I

Well, to Laura's Corner at least. Every year to kick off the village holiday season, Laura's Corner has a Christmas Party. It's always packed and lots of fun. This year, they were blessed with perfect weather, and the crowd started to line up before the doors opened at 7pm. I was there hoping to get in and out before heading off to my riding lesson.

A Warm Welcome

The store looks amazing decked out in its holiday finery. Even if you missed the party, you must make a day trip out to the village to have a browse or by a few goodies for the holidays. Why not do it this Saturday and take in the St. Mary's Church Tea and Bazaar, while you're at it? I'll be there serving from 2-4!

Country Living Must Haves

Our new generator is now installed along side the air conditioner. In the country there are two issues that are uppermost in everyone's minds, plumbing and power. Since moving here four years ago we've had to suffer through fairly frequent power outages. In most cases they are 'planned maintenance' outages courtesy of Hydro One. These planned outages are usually Sunday mornings from 5:00 am to 9:00am, although they never manage to keep to their schedule. In most cases we are without power until noon. Now when you have no power in the country, you also have no water (the pump for the well runs on electricity) and no sump pump, so things can move from inconvenient to emergency pretty quickly. And, in a region that remembers the Ice Storm and Big Blackout of 2002, it's really tempting fate not to have any sort of backup power source. All this is to say that after four years of living recklessly, we finally invested in a natural gas-powered generator that kicks in as soon as the electricity cuts out. Murray says with our luck, this pretty much ensures that Navan will never have another power outage again.

It's Ball Season Again

The party season for us usually starts in late November with the Austrian Winter Ball in Montreal, but this year, we kicked things off early and travelled to Toronto for the Bell Celebrity Gala, which benefits the Hospital for Sick Children. With the re-orgs at Bell, Murray has found himself even more involved in the Bell-sponsored events than ever.
The theme was the Big Top, and the dress code was 'Black Tie or Circus Chic.' That had me stumped, but in the end I got a lovely Nanette Lapore lace dress that fit the bill nicely. What a night, there were acrobats, a midway, roller coaster, semi naked caged models in body paint, fashion, food, and fun. It's going to make the Winter Ball seem awfully staid by comparison.

Here's a picture of us - I'm on the right, Murray's colleague Jacqueline is on the left.

This picture of the table setting doesn't really do it justice. It was awesome.