I have to say one of my favorite things to do in the summer in St. Albert is Art Walk.  Art Walk happens downtown the first Thursday of the month though the summer.  May 3rd was the season opener for 2012.  I didn’t have a huge amount of time to spend as my daughter had skating practice but I just didn’t want to miss it, so we headed downtown.  

There are so many galleries and shops hosting artists downtown that I don’t know I could get to them all in one night even if I didn’t have my daughter with me.  I really love that the artists are there and happy to chat and tell you about their works.   I hope to head back again later in the summer with a couple of friends to really take the time to see all the art, shop, and chat with some of the artists.  That...

I had big plans for this first blog post of my adventures in St. Albert! There are so many things to do, I wanted to pack as much as possible into one day with my daughter!

Instead of a shopping trip outside we decided to spend most of the afternoon in St. Albert Place (home of city hall, the library, museum, and the Arden Theatre).  The  Musée Heritage Museum is one of those hidden gems in St. Albert that I have really enjoyed discovering. The first time we went was in 2010 during the Girl Guides of Canada 100 year anniversary.  I was pretty involved in planning their Alberta events and when I saw the small but beautiful Girl Guides in St. Albert Display I knew I was going to be a big fan of the Musée Heritage Museum for life!     The...

The art show put on by the St. Albert Artist’s Guild is an anticipated event in my house. My husband and I attend together; but as soon as we get our ballots for people’s choice we become strangers. We each start in a different section, perusing the art in detail. If I turn a corner and see my husband, I immediately turn the other way. For us, one of the joys of the art show is comparing our ballots; and laughing at how different our taste is. After intense inspection of every piece we meet at one of the tables to compare the results. This year; when my husband sat down he said “If by chance our number one choice is mutual, I think we should purchase it.”  I agreed with this statement; our tastes are usually so different, I did not anticipate that my visa card would need to be withdrawn from my purse.  

And the envelope please....much astonishment on both of our parts when we realized that we had agreed not only on our number one choice, but on number three as well. Alas a red dot was already posted...

Family Day!  An extra day off work to allow you to unplug and connect with your Family; and what a wonderful day it was, with perfect weather to partake in the festivities that the City of St. Albert had planned.  This year was the first year our family took part in the Frostival’s activities, including the evening at Grosvenor Park on Sunday night, and then at Lacombe Lake Park on Monday.  Sunday night my son and I rolled down the hill to the skating rink at Grosvenor and tried our hand at throwing a couple of milk jug curling rocks.  It was a bit touch and go there for awhile, but with skill and luck we managed to pin one “on the button” and win the game!  We thought a reward was in order and decided a s’more and hot chocolate would do the trick.  At one of the firepits set up around the rink we roasted and munched.  My son watched longingly at the kids who brought skates and were playing a game of scrimmage, while I marveled at the five year old who could skate better than I.

The next day the whole...

I confess, for this blog I have ventured out of St. Albert and into Edmonton, and to top it off I am wearing red hoodie and a foam finger. So where does one go where this outfit is appropriate…well the World Juniors of course. I love everything about the World Juniors, I cry when they play the National Anthem, and I cry once again when Team Canada salutes the fans at the end of the game. I marvel at the copious amounts of beer that are consumed around me and the element that has caused me great delight this year is the line-up to the men’s bathroom. Seriously ladies, it is so wonderful to see men standing in a huge line, while I cruise on by directly into the ladies…

 Another thing that has caused me great amusement is the Goal – But! that comes up on the giant screen when a goal is scored. At first I was But What? Then my bi-lingual daughter informed all us Anglophones that But is goal in French. Now every time it comes up on the big screen I laugh.  

 Hockey unites Canadians, and just like the Olympics, at this given time we are not Oiler fans, or Canuck fans, we are Canadian Fans…we cheer, we sing, we drink too much beer and then we can hardly wait do it again the next night.

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Chestnuts Roasting on a Open fire….

This song tends to bring a certain period in time to mind for me.  Not necessarily a simpler time, but a slower paced time when things weren’t so rushed, and how much you spent and gifts weren’t the focus of the season. 

 

A little bit of that time was evoked and shared with my son this past weekend at the St. Albert Grain Elevator and Train Station, where they had a telegrapher send his wish list to Santa in the North Pole via Telegraph!  Man, the Operators fingers sure knew what they were doing as they tapped out this great long list….We opted out writing the list with an old fashioned pen and ink and went with good ol’ lead!  I could see messes happening with ink in a 4 year olds hands and a wandering mind, especially since the great man in red was sitting in the next room waiting to talk and see if you had been good or naughty.

 

We created a couple of crafts and ornaments and decorated a gingerbread cookie (deliciously from Grandin Bakery),...

What a wonderful weekend to head out of St. Albert to the third annual “A Very Cherdarchuk Christmas”; another event that added to the magic of Christmas for our family.   

 

No, no you are correct it wasn’t in St. Albert, but St. Albert sponsored the Winter Garden that included some very intricate and beautiful ice sculptures within it.    Kicking off the excitement was a hayride from the parking field to the nursery.  Kris Kringle and his elves greeted us all from behind a beautiful ice podium with a great big Merry Christmas.  With kid’s passport in hand we found the hot chocolate, wonderfully sponsored by local business and free for those who needed an internal warm up.  The garden centre was transformed into a Christmas cornucopia of wonderful, crazy and delightful items to purchase.  Christmas had exploded! 

 

Outside my son dug for Christmas balls, played candy cane baseball, antler toss decorated a cookie and created another Christmas decoration – gaining a check mark for each...

The Painters Guild Fall Art Show & Sale was last weekend in St. Albert Place. I always look forward to this show, it is a tremendous tribute to all the talented artists we have in the city and the area. This year my husband and I attended together, as in we entered the building together and left the building together, however, we took different paths to view the show. This works for us, as what I stop to admire, at times will only get a passing glance from him, and of course vice-a-versa.

 This year as part of the show they had a “People’s Choice” award. Armed with a golf pencil and a slip of paper we were asked to pick our top three. What a great way to really immerse your visitors in the show. We both took our job very seriously and carefully deposited our votes in the draw box. Of course, the first question you ask each other as you leave the building is “What three did you pick?” We were both very surprised to discover that our second choice was actually the same, a partial nude painting of a woman....

Another ghoulish year is upon us and to kick it off for our family, once again we headed to Hole’s to ‘enjoy’ their Pumpkin Patch and Hallowe’en festivities for their first year in the Enjoy Centre.  Good thing my neighbour was on the ball, otherwise we would have missed it this year. 

 

After getting some supper into our bellies, my son donned his cape, funny face and green Dracula teeth and off we headed to see what kind of scaries we could find.  Full of fright and fun, the pumpkin patch was filled with parents and kids all vying to take their picture with the perfect pumpkin, the ramp outside up to the top of the Centre was filled with kids running and screaming at the ghosts hanging about in the trees, and mothers were warning them to slow down as they didn’t have enough band-aids in their purse to patch up faces should they fall! 

 

The Enjoy Centre had us moving through the complex with a sheet for the kids to obtain stamps from each vendor, who had all altered their shop names...

Christmas Has Come

 I know it is only Mid-October, but the St. Albert Botanic Park has provided us a reason to start celebrating a little early this year. Until October 22nd the gift shop is open and selling everything Christmas. Christmas baskets, ornaments, and end tables adorned with poinsettias are just a few of the items waiting to delight you. As well as a wonderful Christmas shopping opportunity, the Botanic Park complements the experience by providing hot apple cider and a tray of goodies…including my perennial favourite “shortbread” cookies. www.stalbertbotanicpark.com

  I only eat shortbread cookies once a year and I am a purist. I was taught to make shortbread cookies with butter, cornstarch, icing sugar, and flour, topped with a ½ maraschino cherry…and these are the only ones that satisfy me. Recipe below:

1 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar 1/4 cup cornstarch 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour...

“ …over the boardwalk…out in the sun...”

 

Okay so I took a little liberty with the words; I took a lot of liberty in actually singing it, but I’m sure it sounded fine as I was outside in the fresh air with my little guy and no one else to hear me other than the odd duck and micro-organism we were reading about on the Ducks Unlimited Boardwalk.  At least I hope that’s all who heard me. 

 

On such a nice sunny day we decided an outdoor activity was required, so we parked at the Bless Shelter at the end of Rodeo Drive in Riel Park, and walked along the Red Willow Trail sidestepping numerous grasshoppers to the viewing platform.  Stopped and looked through the scope to “see what we could see” which wasn’t “the other side of the mountain” but mostly sky and water, and then moved on through a patch of gravel onto the newly finished Boardwalk. 

 

It was a great adventure to clump along and read the well spaced information boards on the different plant species, fish, birds...

On Friday night I attended the Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts Gala. I went last year for the first time and had a fabulous time so was looking forward to this year’s celebration. St. Albert Place is a delightful venue for a reception, both my husband and I enjoyed a glass of wine and some nibbles. I thought the croissant sandwiches were delicious and my husband literally chased the server across the floor in order to indulge in another meatball. However, the food and wine were secondary; the intent of the night was to celebrate the arts and it was a great celebration.

 

My favourite entertainers of the evening were Anna Marie Sewell and Jeff Stuart and the Hearts. Anna Marie is the Edmonton’s Poet Laureate for 2011-13, her combination of singing/poetry touched me, as did her bare feet that helped to tell the story. Jeff Stuart and the Hearts were upbeat; fun to watch and easy to listen to.

 

Mayor Nolan Crouse also added interest to the night by delivering his welcome in the form...

As fall winds down, so to does the Outdoor Farmers’ Market. With only two Saturdays left, time is running out. My last foray to the market provided us food for a week. The first place I stopped was at Cinnamon Girl…the smell of the cinnamon buns drew me as sure as if I was following the pied piper. After salivating and drooling over the cinnamon buns for a good three minutes I chose the focaccia bread. Why focaccia bread when I was drooling over the cinnamon buns? Well the real reason is I knew I could not stop at one, and when I did the math I knew multiple cinnamon buns equated to a really long run on Sunday morning and I mean really, really long. I knew I would enjoy the forcacia bread and would be able to consume with much more restraint.

From bread we moved onto beets, then blackberries and raspberries, cucumbers, fresh corn, baby potatoes, greens, and carrots. What a feast! I did hear the now familiar complaint of where’s the meat…but for this Saturday the tempting display of meat & seafood that is available at the market did not make the cut.

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I realized very early Sunday morning that my peaceful laundry/housekeeping day was not going to happen as 4 extra bodies aged 3 – 11 exploded into my living room and the noise level increased 10 fold!  I quickly made the decision that the four boys, one girl and I were going for a walk to spend some time outside at the Harvest Festival taking place at the Grain Elevators and Train Interpretive Centre.

  

On our walk down we heard a train coming along the tracks and were very excited to wave and have them toot their horn at us.   It was rather a neat experience as the train actually slowed down as it passed the Elevator Park seemingly to partake in the festivities.  It was well timed as the grand opening speeches were just finishing up.  A great touch to the whole opening I thought.

 

We kick started our time at the park with a wagon ride, and giggled as the horse walked down the walking trail behind a girl who was obviously plugged into her Ipod and had no idea there were two huge horses within tongue licking distance from her.  We waited in anticipation for her to turnaround and realize what was following her.  We were not disappointed. 

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Sunday was the annual Terry Fox Run. I have a deep fondness for this run; it really was a fore runner in runs that raised money for a cause. Unfortunately the charity run market is now saturated with a run or sometimes several runs in any given weekend. This makes me sad as the Terry Fox Run is now a poorly attended annual event. However, although the number of people participating maybe small, the spirit of participants is not; most of them participating because cancer has touched their life in some way.

 The Terry Fox Run provided us the opportunity to teach our children about charity. Although the first Terry Fox Run (1981) occurred before our first child was born; they have all contributed to Terry’s dream. We started with one daughter in a stroller, then two. By the time the third came along, the older one had graduated to a bike. We proceeded along this path, graduating from strollers to all the kids on bikes, some with training wheels some without. Pushing them up the hills, only to have them speed...

The mission that I chose to accept from Joan was to attend some of the activities at St. Albert’s 150th Anniversary Picnic with my three kids, and document all of the fun we had. This part would be easy. It was trying to decide which of the ten picnic locations we would visit that was the hard part!

After studying all of the possibilities and relaying them to the kids, two things stood out for them... racing bunnies, and bouncy castles – keep in mind their ages are five, three and one. That settled it, we were off to Area 9- McDonald’s Family Fun Zone, and Area 10- TELUS Youthapalooza.

The weather couldn’t have been better, it was a lovely day to be out on the Red Willow trails, and it was terrific to see the number of people out taking part in the day’s events. People young and old were enjoying their...

On Sunday August 28th, St. Albert will host a picnic on the banks of the Sturgeon River. The picnic promises to be “epic.” Sunny weather has been forecast…and a ton of activities have been planned. With 10 areas along the river offering activities you will need to choose carefully or move quickly so you do not miss a thing. The program offers activities that will appeal to all ages; from the sedentary to the movers…you can watch Demonstrations or take part in an Amazing Chase. The Bird House Building and the Rubber Duck Races in the zone 1 piqued my interest. In zone 5 you can be part of the Book Domino Event at the Public Library and in zone 8 you can watch the Dog Agility Demo. Sure to be a hit is the Bunny Hopping Demo in zone 9.  Now when I hear the word picnic I think of a wicker basket filled with lemonade, sandwiches, and pie, but don’t despair if you don’t have time to make your own picnic there will be lots of food vendors scattered throughout the zones. AND…at St. Albert Place starting at 12 p.m. there are 1,000 cupcakes to be given away…first come, first serve!

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Those who cannot create beauty, must appreciate it.'

I have to admit that I fall in this category, and to make up for my lack of skills in creating; I am a super appreciator of the arts. This probably explains my love for the monthly art walks.

How civilized to sip a glass of wine, nibble on a canapé and admire art that was created by someone else…someone with talent.  It really is the perfect evening; particularly when the sun shines and when it takes place in the beautiful Perron District in downtown St. Albert.

Art walks take place the first Thursday of every month, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.  Fifteen businesses participate, each one offering something different. In August, Art Beat featured two local artists; Allison Argy-Burgess and Sharon Moore Foster....

For one week each summer, St. Albert is taken over by cars…everything from Cadillac hearses to 1957 Chevy pick-ups…to…well, other vehicles that have engines & wheels. Cars are not really my thing, but still one cannot help but get caught up in the excitement of the week.

I attended the Show and Shine at Millennium Park on Saturday. I have to admit I took pictures of the cars that I liked the colour of…maybe a bit shallow, but seriously can you imagine a dress in the same blue as the truck pictured below!

From pancake breakfasts, to street dances and car cruises, Rock’n August is truly a wonderful week. For me, it really is a walk through history…told by the automobile. Rather than examining the engines, admiring the pistons and cam shafts, I imagine what...

On July 24, 2011, Founders’ Walk was opened with great aplomb and ceremony. Founders’ Walk is a fascinating journey through St. Albert history. Nine story boards, starting with board number one at the top of Mission Hill, tells the St. Albert story. The City’s heritage is skilfully woven throughout the main themes that include: The Mission, Education, The Métis, Mission Park, The First Bridge, Bruin Inn, Downtown St. Albert, Founders’ Court, and the Buffalo Hunt.

Do you remember five-cent draft?  Neither do I, but in the 1940’s the Bruin Inn was a destination for Edmontonians because men and women could drink together. On a Saturday night as many as 600 people would crowd into the bar.

The Grey Nuns arrived in St. Albert in 1863 and by 1881 seventy-five students attended their school. The children were taught French, English, mathematics, grammar, and religious education. The boys were also taught trades and the girls were taught domestic skills.

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I am an occasional runner, quite committed to my Sunday run, but other than that, I can find many excuses for not going. However, on Wednesday night, my husband and I decided that we should go for a run, both of us were uninspired to follow a regular route; you know the one where you know exactly where the three, six and eight kilometer mark is; where the steep hill is followed by a kilometer of undulating trail; the one that starts and ends at your front door…so we made the decision to drive to a different starting point.

Kingswood Park was our chosen destination. This is such a wonderful location, we started from the shelter, ran past the Peace Grove, up the hill, across Sturgeon Road and into Riverlot 56.  Running on trails is such a treat, no pounding on your knees or hips; the silence is only disturbed by the grass hitting your legs as you go by.

The...

Taste! of Summer 2011 Sadly Cancelled

Took a little pirate to the Hole’s Eat, Drink and Be Scary event last night and ran into a whole slew of little goblins, ghoulies and ghosts.

Sunny days & Sunny activities at the Botanic Park.