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Mother's Day With Mother Nature

Wed, 16 May 2012 15:47:00 GMT

I think most of us know that last Sunday was Mother’s Day, but did you also know it was Clean Up The Sturgeon day? What better way to celebrate Mother’s Day then to say thanks to Mother Nature by helping clean up some litter, plant some trees, and spend some time with the family? Sure, brunch would have been nice, but how could I say no to a bike ride, BBQ lunch and the chance to make a bit of difference in the city with my kid right beside me?

We decided to start our day at St.Albert Place and move down the river to tree planting and a BBQ lunch at St. Albert Centre. Of course the fact that we also knew ice cream (courtesy of Dairy Queen) was at St. Albert Place also weighed into our decision of where to start.

After checking in, getting our park clean up assignment and fueling up on coffee and ice cream (coffee for me, ice cream for the kid) we were off – armed with two yellow garbage bags and blue plastic gloves. We had a stretch from the Children’s Bridge up towards the Grain Elevators. As we started I was surprised at how little garbage there was, but as we walked up towards the Grain Elevator we quickly filled our two bags. The most interesting piece of litter was a single red and black Nike shoe, just one (how did the owner get home with just one shoe?) The shoe was the highlight of the litter pickup for my daughter. Next we moved on to the second location for tree planting by St. Albert Centre.

On the way over we had to stop and see if we could locate the tree we planted last year. I had a pretty good idea of where we planted but sadly we couldn’t find the tree with our tag. Maybe the tree isn’t there anymore, or maybe just the tag isn’t. There were lots of trees from last year’s planting effort that were doing really well though, and hopefully each year trees get added to provide more shelter for wildlife in St. Albert as part of the River Edge Enhancement Project.

When we arrived at the St. Albert Centre location, there were displays set up on both sides of the river, providing shade for people as well as leaving lots of room for everyone to check out the displays and talk to the organizations that were there. We headed over to plant our trees first, I let my daughter pick the trees so I can’t even tell you what type we planted but with the help of one of the volunteers we managed to get both trees planted, watered, and mulched – and tagged of course so we can come back and visit our trees anytime. We also picked up a free tree to plant at home from the city - along with a mini green bin to carry it in – another highlight for my daughter! Now I have planted a Mother’s Day Tree along the Sturgeon and can plant one in my backyard as well.

I was pretty inspired after our day of litter pick up and tree planting and have been doing research on how to keep helping out Mother Nature every day instead of just on Mother’s Day. Here are a few little things I came up with that can be done every day to start...

My Lucky Seven ways to help Mother Nature

People Power – where ever possible we’ve decided to walk or ride where we are going this summer, and leave the car at home. I’m still going to need to drive to do things like groceries but for the most part everything we do is within cycling distance.

2. Recycle and Compost - Take full advantage of the garbage system here in the city, as well as watch what we buy and try and reduce the amount of products we buy with excess packaging. I’m also going to give my backyard compost pile a second chance. I think in the past four years I have maybe produced a bucket worth of useable compost, I am not giving up!

Litter less lunches – for the kid and for me. While at the Clean up the Sturgeon event I had a chance to speak with the owner of Seriously Green and to check out some of the reusable lunch containers she stocks. They are on my list of places to ride to this weekend.

Turn off lights and electronics at home - My whole family is really bad at this, we constantly leave the lights one. Although this seems like a simple one to get done it is one we struggle with.

Use reusable bags - I have tonnes of these – but of course I always forget them when I need them. We end up with countless plastic bags at home, it’s time to do something about the mountain of them that keeps growing in my cupboard.

Grow my own food, or at least a little bit - I’m off to a good start – the onions I planted last year that didn’t grow are growing this year. This year my neighbour and I are going to plan together and hopefully produce twice as many different vegetables. Stay tuned for how that works out!

Buy local when I can - I’m looking forward to June 16^th and the opening of the Farmer’s Market. I think the best way to spend Saturday mornings in St.Albert in the summer is with a walk around the market. Last year we discovered that Cranky’s Bike Shop offers a free bike check as well, so that ties nicely into #1 on my list!

Oh, and we’ll be there for the first ever City Wide Clean Up in September – Will you?

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Tags: Clean Up the Sturgeon,St. Albert,Sturgeon River,Mother's Day,Tree Planting,River Edge Enhancement Project

Category: Grow

First Artwalk of 2012!

Tue, 08 May 2012 17:28:00 GMT

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 3^rd 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 is one thing that is really difficult to do with a six year old by your side. On the positive side though – Art Walk has no shortage of snacks so I can get to about five or six different locations before my daughter loses interest! Grandin Theatre is usually there providing bags of popcorn for Art Walkers, I like to turn the hunt for the popcorn into a bit of scavenger hunt – the longer it takes us to find it, the more venues I get to visit!

One of the highlights for us last year was the collection by St Albert high school students at the Art Gallery of St. Albert so I had to be sure to go this year. The collection is called High Energy XVII and is fantastic again this year. I was especially impressed with the sculpture using glitter to show the effects of gossip, and the collection of artwork using repeated words to make an image and portray an emotion. All the art work is amazing – a must see for sure! Don’t worry if you didn’t make it down for May 3^rd the collection is there unit June 2^nd.

We also made quick stops in at the Art Gallery of St.Albert Satellite Studio – (it’s a little bit hidden, tucked just off main street – look for the door hinge chair sculpture to help you find it) Stephen Kahn’s office, and St.Albert Place to see the pottery sale and garbage cans decorated by elementary school kids (what can I say, it was an interesting mix of art at St. Albert Place that night!).

Another interesting note if you are planning on heading down for Art Walk is that most of the shops down town are open late on Thursday nights. I managed to visit newly opened Cloud Nine Pajamas as well as stopped in to check out the shoes at Auvigne & Jones (shoes are Art right?). I think now all I need to do is find a cafe that the kid and I can both be happy at and I have created the perfect St. Albert family night – any downtown cafe suggestions?

Next Art Walk is Thursday June 7^th – who’s coming with me?

Busy weekend ahead for me – 13^th Annual Clean up the Sturgeon is this Sunday – I’m going to spend Mother’s Day picking up some garbage and planting some trees! It’s also the Botanical Gardens Mother’s Day Rose sale. Two great events – hope to see you out there!

This post was written by our St. Albert resident blogger Heather Gardiner
Heather, along with her husband and daughter chose to move to St. Albert four years ago. They fell in love with St. Albert's many green spaces, trees, pathways and recreation possibilities. Heather volunteers as a Girl Guide leader and loves to help out at events in the city, believing that volunteering in the community makes St. Albert a better place to live. When she is not out exploring all of the events and activities in St. Albert, she can be found skiing or mountain biking.
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Tags: St. Albert Artwalk,Art Gallery of St. Albert,Auvigne & Jones,Cloud Nine Pajamas,High Energy XV11,downtown

Category: Do

A Saturday at the Musée Heritage & Downtown

Thu, 03 May 2012 19:15:00 GMT

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 museum is separated out into three sections: The St. Albert history and natural history side, the children’s discovery corner, and a side that houses travelling or temporary exhibits. At the moment there is a really fascinating exhibit about the Slavic history of St. Albert. The exhibit has information on settlers from Ukraine and Poland and the impact they had on St. Albert. It’s a bit strange to read about things that I remember watching unfold on TV and in the news, but it also made quite an impact at the same time. I will have to go back again before the exhibit ends on May 19^th to spend more time reading the information. If you do go, be sure to look for the envelope with the secret message written on it!

Another reason I love the museum is that it is child friendly. I was excited when I discovered not only is there a discovery corner where kids can touch things, try on jackets, colour, and basically just be kids BUT the museum staff have also made some pretty cool scavenger hunts. There were three hunts for us to chose from – a younger kids + parents one, older kids one, and a French one. Not having my husband with me (and his French speaking skills) we opted for the younger kid + parent hunt. The scavenger hunt had questions that required us to experience both sides of the museum. I can’t say how much I LOVE this idea. This gives parents (me) a chance to see everything while keeping the kid interested – what kid doesn’t want to find animals, draw things they see, try on a Métis sash or find out what beaver fur feels like?

After the visit to museum was done I figured we should try to do a little shopping. We really only made it as far as the Candy Store – Candy Bouquet (a favorite of my daughter) and the Grapevine Deli (a favorite of mine).

Our final stop was short but important. I recently saw a tweet from Cerulean Boutique mentioning that they are the St. Albert drop off point for dresses for Cinderella’s Closet. Cinderella Closet is an organization that takes gently used prom, bridesmaid’s, and party dresses (Cinderella’s Closest also accepts men’s formal wear) and provide them to grads in the Edmonton areas (including St. Albert) that might not otherwise be able to afford a dress to wear to their prom. I had a party dress that has never been worn and I was happy to donate it to Cinderella’s Closet.

That pretty much wrapped up this week’s Saturday adventure. Here’s hoping the rest of the upcoming weekends have great weather!

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Tags: St. Albert musée Heritage,downtown,Exhibit,Cerulean Boutique,Candy Bouquet,Grapevine Deli,Cinderella's Closet

Category: Do

Art is in the Eye of the Beholder

Wed, 02 May 2012 18:37:00 GMT

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 on the painting; a sign that someone else not only admired this piece, but had already purchased it.

We eagerly anticipate the next art show and the great art showdown!

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Tags: art,guild,St. Albert,ballots,people,choice,Show,st. albert placem,gallery

Category: Do

Family Day 2012

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 22:39:00 GMT

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 family headed to Lacombe Lake, by full family I include the hairy, four-legged daughter we have. Many others had the same thought and so she had a great time greeting other four-legged friends, laying in the snow to cool off and having a munch of it every so often. Skating was on the agenda for the boys, much to my son’s glee; although, he doesn’t know how to skate, the thought of doing it with others around means he is as good as Sidney Crosby in his mind! Wandering minstrels, cabane a sucre, meeting friends and other family members who live in the city made the sunny day all the better. We tried our hand at snowshoeing and fell down more than once. It was a great day and we look forward to it again next year. A great break for the winter blahs.

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Tags: Family,day,lacombe,lake,skate,grosvenor,winter,blah,break

Category: Do

The Cake

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:27:00 GMT

I do not make New Years Resolutions… but every January 1^st. I do promise myself that I will exercise more, eat better, be kinder, etc. and I really do try. In support of eating better on January 1^st I threw the remaining Christmas baking in the compost. All as been well until recently when I started thinking about cake…I don’t know why, because I really do prefer cookies. However, it is cake that has been on my mind. In fact I am attaching a picture of a particularly delicious and festive cake that Michelle in our office made before Christmas to contribute to the department potluck.

Curious on how she made this…send us a comment and we will send you her secret.

Of course, posting this picture has once again piqued my desire for cake, but all is well, my daughter reminded me the other night that we have cake occasion coming up…my birthday! I had completely forgotten this…and for good reason. You see my birthday is really December 21^st; however a couple of years ago I made the decision to officially move my birthday to January 21^st… now this does not mean I am aging twice as fast, it just means I have found an occasion to have cake in January!

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Tags: cake,Christmas,resolution,birthday,festive

Category: Eat

Goal - But!

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:38:00 GMT

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.

Go Canada Go!!

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Tags: hockey,Canada,cry,Olympics,score,beer,goal,but

Category: Do

A Reminder of a Slower Paced Time

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:03:00 GMT

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), and it promptly disappeared. Opted out of the horse-drawn wagon ride as we weren’t really dressed for it, we were off to do some shopping! Back to this century, and off we rushed….a break in the past truly enjoyed.

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Tags: train,grain,elevator,St. Albert,Christmas,crafts,gingerbread,cookies,santa,telegraph,list

Category: Do

A Very Cherdarchuk Christmas

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:40:00 GMT

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 completed activity. There were people of all ages, truly, and all enjoying themselves immensely. It was refreshing to see a group of teens who made the trip out together to enjoy a wonderfully, magical wholesome evening together, along with the families and young kids and grandparents who came along for the experience.

The crazy Christmas house was full of color, and miniature Christmas villages set up to gaze and point at as you discovered fanciful items within it. Santa was busy as kids climbed up on his lap to whisper what they wanted this year, or just gazed at him in wonder and the photographers were busy catching it all. Emails from parents were left and the promise the photo would be forwarded to them at no cost. For the price of a carload only (where proceeds are in support of the Mazankowski Heart Institute), it was a great way to experience the evening. As we prepared to mount the hayride back to our car, it was ensured that my son received his gift bag for completing the activities for kids. A simple but absolutely wonderful gift bag, appreciated with exclamations of “mom, look, cool!” as only a four year old can exclaim.

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Tags: cherdarchuk,Christmas,santa,ice,sculptures,kids,activities,garden

Category: Do

The Great Carrot Harvest

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 23:03:00 GMT

Last week in Jim Hole’s newsletter he spoke to the fact that carrots can be planted now so that they pop through the ground as soon as spring arrives; ironically reading this article spurred me onto harvest my crop of carrots. As you know from my previous carrot chronicles, vegetable gardening does not seem to be my thing. I discovered the joy of seed tapes this year, but a combination of late seeding, poor soil and who knows what did not lead to a bumper crop. In fact the picture below illustrates my entire crop. The second picture shows the largest and the smallest of the carrots I harvested…yes indeed world hunger is not going to be solved by my growing efforts.

However, I have plans for 2012…a big bag of compost, some manure and a plant date that does not start with J should get me back in the carrot business! Stay tuned.

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Tags: carrots,harvest,garden,grow

Category: Grow