It's Been Too Long!

I'm back! It seems like forever since I last wrote a blog... it's been about 3 1/2 weeks actually! So much has happened since then... we've been very busy... I'm sorry it's been so long.

Well, here's a blog I wrote the week of July 26th.

Best Clo-Em Ever!
On Monday night Joe and I had the privilege of taking Miss Emma Fradd out for a farewell tea (dinner). Emma will be leaving on Thursday to travel to Canada to serve as a missionary with NET Ministries of Canada. Emma is a crazy-awesome musician and will be a part of a team/band called "Massive Worship", that is committed to "evangelization through music". They will lead retreats and music training sessions (among other things) across Canada. We are very proud of Emma and we know that she will do many great things over the next 10 months of service.

Side Note: Joe and I met while I was working for NET and he was serving as a missionary on a parish based team in Ottawa.

We had a great night! Our drive into Port Pirie was beautiful! I feel very blessed to have such beauty on my doorstep while we're living here... Every few minutes I would say to Joe, "Oh look! Isn't that pretty?!" The sun was setting and the sky appeared to be constantly transforming from one beautiful painting to another.

We picked Emma up at her house (a little later than planned... There was some miscommunication about where we were actually meant to pick her up... my bad!) and headed toward our destination. But it was closed. So... we started driving toward our alternate restaurant when Joe abruptly turned into an angled parking spot on the main street (FYI: driving down the main street of a town and pulling a u-turn to drive back the same way that you came is called, "Chucking a Main-y" around here) Joe had found us a wonderful Indian Restaurant... I LOVE INDIAN FOOD! It was a very small place that wasn't fancy at all... but as soon as you walked in and smelled that beautiful aroma you knew that the food was going to be great.

And it was! We are most definitely going back to that place!
Our meal was accompanied by story-telling and jokes... here's one for you (my mom told me this one): "What's the difference between Roast Beef and Pea Soup?"..."Anyone can roast beef" hahahahahaha!

But the night was not to end there! No! After a quick stop at Wooly's (Woolworth's: a grocery store) we went and planted ourselves in front of a fire at another restaurant/café with some wonderful coffees and played cards. After a bit of goofing off outside the restaurant our night concluded with a short time of prayer outside of the Port Pirie Cathedral.

Our wonderful night ended a little bittersweet, as we said goodbye to our dear Aussie friend.

Just to Claire-ify... We Love You Emma!

P.S. In June of this year Joe and I inherited the nick-name "Clo" thanks to our friend Sarah. And Emma has taken quite a liking to the name, hence this Blog title being Clo-Em.

P.P.S. Emma's service with NET Canada is a volunteer position and she is in need of people to financially support her and the work of NET. If you would like to support her you can check out NET's website for more information: www.netcanada.ca

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie... Rules Football

In 1857, Tom Wills, one of the founders of Australian Football, returned to Australia after schooling in England where he was football captain of Rugby School and a brilliant cricketer. Initially, he advocated the winter game of football as a way of keeping cricketers fit during off-season. (www.afl.com.au)

My soon-to-be-family and the town of Port Broughton, SA are crazy for Australian Rules Football... or footy as they call it. I'm willing to bet that about 98% of the boys/men in town have played or are currently playing footy.

Every Saturday during footy season, the entire family loads up and heads to wherever the games might be played that day. And check this out! It's a whole town event! And a family event! In the morning they start with the young ones and work their way up! so, let's say you have children who are 8, 14, 18, 24 and 27 (like my future family does) you don't have to divide yourself to get to all their games when they're all in different places... because they all happen in the same place! And the same goes for the girls Netball... the courts are always within walking distance of the football oval.

So, you may be thinking... "I have no clue about Aussie Rules Football." Well, neither did I before I came here, but it's actually not that complicated.

This is what I found on Wikipedia... not the most reliable source, but I think they got it right...

The object of the game is to score by passing the ball between the goal posts, with the highest score being awarded for kicking the ball between the middle two posts. The team with the higher total score at the end of the match wins.

Players may use any part of their body to advance the ball. The primary methods are kicking, handballing and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled, for example players running with the ball must intermittently bounce or touch it on the ground. Throwing the ball is not allowed and players must not get caught holding the ball.

Unlike most similar sports, there is no offside rule, and players can roam the field freely. A distinctive feature of the game is the mark, where players anywhere on the field who catch a ball from a kick (with specific conditions), are awarded a free kick. Australian rules is a contact sport, in which players can tackle using their hands or use their whole body to obstruct opponents. Dangerous physical contact (such as a pushing an opponent in the back), interference when marking and deliberately slowing the play are discouraged with free kicks, distance penalties or suspension, depending on the seriousness of the infringement. Frequent physical contests, aerial marking or "speckies", fast movement of both players and the ball and high scoring are the game's main attributes.

It's pretty straight forward when you watch a game... or 5 as it usually is for me every Saturday.

Last Saturday was particularly great. Broughton/Mundoora played Jamestown/Peterborough...

Joe normally plays in the B Grade, but last week he was called up to play in the A Grade! (The A grade is basically the top players in the town... every week the roster can change depending on who is picked to play)

And... for the first time ever 3 Button Boys played in the A Grade together. Joe (27), Chris (24) and Tom (18).

Although the team lost it was great to see the boys play together.

Just to Claire-ify.

Oh, and P.S. Thanks everyone for the comments! I love reading what you think!

Cat-holic???

This week Joe is in Adelaide for a week-long class for Uni... so I'm here in Port Broughton with the rest of the Family.

Every Wednesday we walk to the church (which is about a 1 minute walk away) for Mass and Rosary. Tonight when we were leaving the house their cat "Tigger" decided to walk with us. The cat followed us all the way to the corner where it decided to stop for a good stretch on the road. Then the almost-12-year-old cat jumped up and ran to catch up as we rounded the next corner just before the church.

About 5 minutes after we entered the church, Tigger came in and eventually made his way up the aisle and into the sanctuary. Joe's little sister picked up the big ginger cat and carried him back outside.

But of course... the cat came back.

My 8 year-old-future-sister-in-law was in the sacristy preparing to altar serve at Mass, and chatting with Father when the cat made it's way back up into the sanctuary again so she was too busy to usher him back outside. So we just left him and figured that he would eventually get bored and leave.

But he didn't.

He sat quietly on the back pew for the entire Mass!

We didn't hear a peep from him until he let out a giant sneeze at the very end! And then when Mass was done he walked home with us!

My future in-laws had said that he's done it a couple of times before, but hasn't done it for years!

If you'll notice in this picture, he has a slight wound on his neck... I guess sometimes it does take rough times to make us turn to God!

Just to Claire-ify

Around the Twist

Growing up in Ontario we watch a lot of shows on TVO (It's one of those publicly funded TV stations) and one of them was "Around the Twist".

I didn't really think about it at the time but it's an Australian show, an award-winning children's show actually! AND... the other day I found out that Joe used to watch it when he was little. I think it's so weird that Joe and I were into the same things even as kids, but on the other side of the world.

I learned that the show was based on a book series written by Paul Jennings. Joe apparently loved his books as a kid and still has a bunch of them. And funny enough his little sister was reading one in school!

After a little research, I've learned that the show was primarily filmed at Split Point Lighthouse, at Aireys Inlet, Victoria (about 125km from Melbourne). It was produced at 4 different times with 3 different casts between 1989 and 2000. (In case you were interested)

The show was about these kids who lived with their dad in a lighthouse. They got into all kinds of mischief, most of which now seems pretty strange... There was a lot of super-natural sorta stuff, ghost, etc. It was also kinda rude now that I think of it... but as a kid I just found it hilarious!

BUT... the best part was the theme song. This version is a bit different, but if you're questioning whether you've seen the show or not, have a listen to the song... once you hear it you'll know if you had!!!

"Have you ever... ever felt like this..."



Just to Claire-ify.

Cutting Joe's Hair...

"No."
"NO!"
"I don't want to mess it up!"
"Seriously Joseph, I don't want to cut it because every time I look at you I'm going to think about how I messed up your hair!"

I've been watching my mom cut hair my entire life. I've even cut my own hair a few times... BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO CUT HIS!

I protested and protested! But some how he convinced me to do it...

I cut Joe's hair.

I was very strategic about every cut I made and every movement of the clippers. It took me likely longer than the average barber... but guess what???

It didn't turn out that bad! It actually looks pretty good!

When I'm at home in early September I'm going to ask my mom for some tips about cutting around the ears and trimming the back... so just to claire-ify... Joe was right... It wasn't as bad as I thought... I may even do it again!

BIG DAY!

I started working at one of the cafés in town today! I was pretty nervous this morning as I watched the clock tick by until the time came for me to leave the house. Everyone had gone to footy for the day so I was home by myself. Luckily, I signed onto skype and got to chat with my mom (mum) and sister for a while to calm my nerves.

But what was I nervous about?!?! It went great! Well, I think it did anyway. I was doing a bit of everything... dishes, taking orders, serving food AND MAKING COFFEES! I always thought it would be cool to be a barista... or at least to know about coffees like Mairin and Caitlyn! I've got so much to learn, but I think it's going to be fun.

Aussies definitely don't drink as much coffee as Canadians. In Canada there seems to be a coffee shop on every corner... sometimes even across the road from each other (seriously not kidding... check out how many coffee shops are in just this part of Ottawa!)

I guess one of the perks (haha) of my new job will be the coffee... I had the chance to try some different ones today so that I knew what I was serving... and my heart it still racing!

I'm headed back tonight to help with the tea time (supper time) rush at 6pm... hopefully it goes as well as it did today.

So now it's time to make soup again in preparation for tomorrow... maybe by the time I finish my heart will have gone back to it's normal rate!! BIG DAY... Just to Claire-ify.

FOOD.FAMILY.FOOTY

A while ago, Joe and I talked about who would be the "main cook" when we get married... and originally I said that I wanted to be. And that's still true, but Joe's a good cook too! So we'll just have to see how things turn out... maybe we'll share.

We both like to be in the kitchen... and if I may say so, I think we're both pretty good cooks too! Joe's more of a baker, which is fine with me! He's already laid claim on making all the birthday cakes! Go for it Joe!!

In the past week or so, Joe and I have been cooking a bit more... sometimes just for us, other times for the whole family. And so far - so good.

Most recently I made Nothing Soup and Cheese Scones... IN FACT, I've made the soup twice and the scones three times! AND it has been requested that I make them both again for Joe's brother's birthday on Sunday! So I guess they're pretty good.

So, I've decided to share the recipes. I can't take any of the credit... the soup recipe was from a dear family friend in Canada and the scones we found on the Internet... in any case, they're great. And REALLY GREAT together!

Nothing Soup
4 Cups of Water
4 Bouillon cubes (or 4 Tbsp of Chicken stock)
1 Large can of Tomatoes
4 Carrots - sliced
1 Large Onion - Diced
2-4 Ribs of Celery - Diced
2-3 Minced Garlic Cloves
Handful of Chopped Potatoes
salt and Pepper to taste (Be careful, it's very easy to put too much pepper!)

Combine all ingredients and gently boil for 30-45min.
ENJOY!

Cheese Scones
1 Cup of Self-raising Flour
1 Cup of Grated Cheese
2/3 Cup of Milk
Pinch of Salt

Combine all ingredients to make a sticky batter.
Spoon batter onto baking tray in small clumps.
Bake at 220 degrees for 15 minutes - Makes 10-12 Scones


Joe's younger sister and I have also been making some crafts... our latest have been cookbooks! I thought it would be kinda nice to make a book of all the recipes that I try while I'm here... all the good ones anyway.

Other updates??
I still haven't started working... Joe and I booked our flights for the wedding!!... It's now under 80 days until the big one!... We're off to an away day for footy tomorrow... AND the birthday party on Sunday will be my first real BIG family gathering!

Half Birthday

It's now officially my Half Birthday in Ontario and in South Australia at the same time!

'Half Birthday' you ask? YES! It's my Half Birthday. Today I am exactly 25.5 years old.

You see, my REAL birthday is 10 days after Christmas so it always seemed to get squished in with Christmas, New Years and back to school. So... my family celebrated my Half Birthday too! I also think it was a good excuse to have cake during haying season on the farm.

I know I shouldn't have complained... some people have their birthday much closer to Christmas than I do, but OH WELL, it's tradition now!

So... Happy Half Birthday to ME!

Canada Day!

Last week Joe's little sister was assembling a Canada puzzle that I brought for her. We were talking about the different provinces of Canada and what's unique about them. Then she asked what our national anthem was like... she asked, "Is it 'Oh Canada! You are so big!'?" I laughed and thought, well I guess it could pretty much say that! I then proceeded to listen to a few Arrogant Worms songs!

So far today, it has been a great Canada Day! This morning I woke up to the sound of my national anthem being played on Joe's iTouch as he walked into my room with a tray of food... He had made me breakfast in bed... pancakes, sausage, freshly made orange juice, tea and real maple syrup! His dad said that he's setting the bar rather high! He'll have to keep it up for years to come. Joe says he's up for it.

After breakfast I got dressed in my red and white and watched a few classic "Canadian heritage Moments" on YouTube... "Dr. Penfield I can smell burnt toast!"

The morning flew by and then we went and got some hot chips (french fries) to make Poutine for lunch! On the way back I FINALLY met the other Canadian girl in town. She's marrying a local boy as well, and since I was here in January one of the first things that people ask me has been, "Have you met (insert name here)?" So now I can finally say that I have met the other Canadian. And on Canada Day of all days!

After our make-shift poutine we walked down to one of the cafés in town where I am hoping to work. So far so good... they're going to call me next week and we'll give it a trial! I'm excited, but a little nervous.

So, I hope all you Canucks are having a wonderful Canada Day! Enjoy the fireworks at home... they're illegal here!

Just to Claire-ify.