BBQs and Birthdays

Most of you know that it is Jethro's 29th birthday today, so I hope that lots of birthday wishes appear below this post, even if it's almost the 20th back in the UK!

He was very happy to be able to go out snowboarding on his big day, even if it was minus 28 on the mountain. Yes, you read that right. It's sunny and it's minus 28! This country is crazy! I thought I could handle that kind of cold by wearing about six layers on my top half, but whilst I was toasty warm everywhere else, my little tootsies were utterly frozen so I had to go inside after two runs to warm them up in front of the fire in the Slopeside Coffee shop. There are frostbite posters up everywhere. Apparently you are supposed to warm up your affected areas slowly and do NOT rub them! So I did the exact opposite! But never mind... after the initial pain of having all the blood return to my feet, they suddenly got warm again so all was well.

We really want some more snow. Don't get me wrong, the mountain is great and there is a good covering of white everywhere, but I want the temperatures to get slightly more bearable and have a bit of a proper white christmas. Apparently there's a big storm moving in from Wednesday so we may be in luck. Fingers and frostbitten toes crossed!

We had a winter BBQ the other night, as a means to invite a few friends over and to welcome Danni, Baden, Ally and Sarah to the house. We have a wonderful - and huge - gas barbecue that lives in the SVL garage but cooking meat at minus 20 needs some serious dedication. Although the BBQ started off warm enough and was cooking well, the dropping temperatures defeated it eventually so we had to move things inside and finish off in the kitchen! Never mind. Everyone got a sausage in the end and some of our baking friends brought some excellent cakes over too.

Jethro is now happily heading over to Tim Hortons to use his special birthday mug that I bought for him - it comes with a free coffee and he's a bit of a Timmy Ho addict. (For those who don't know, Tim Horton's is a huge coffee chain over here and every Canadian starts his or her working day with a visit to Tims). He also got a nice pair of mitts from me to keep his fingers warm - they're working well apparently, having been tested to the max this morning! And he was also wearing his new thermals that his family sent over from the UK so he's as warm as warm can be.

We're going "oot on the toon" tonight to celebrate with some friends, so I hope he'll be in a fit state to say something witty and amusing on the blog tomorrow. Or maybe not.

The winter BBQ festivities inside the warmth of the basement, where everybody was herded.


No glasses were broken in the making of this party. Everyone behaved impeccably, you'll be glad to hear. We're very lucky to have made some non-crazy friends!


New housemate Ally waves for the camera!


Housemates Baden, Danni, Sarah and non-housemate Simon compare notes on how to chargrill your sausages beyond recognition...


Baden offically makes the best home-made burgers in the World!


Hammo, Sarah, Lisa, Mike, Alex and Marshall (tallest man in Fernie) grin inanely for the camera


Jethro wakes up early to open his presents


It's my birthday!!!!!!