Maple Syrup Season by Lachlan

Maple syrup comes from trees. There are seven different maple trees in Quebec province, but only four are sugar maples. As soon as spring comes, the sun comes out and the weather warms up, little taps are drilled into the side of the trees.

Maple water is very important to trees, just like blood is important to humans. The maple water runs up and down the tree to keep it alive, just like humans have blood running around their body to survive. Small trees have 1 tap and 1 bucket, medium sized trees have 2 taps and 2 buckets and big thick trees have 3 taps and 3 buckets. Once the bucket is full of maple water, it is heated. This evaporates the water off  until there is only maple syrup left. They need 40 litres of maple water to make 1 litre of maple syrup. That is why maple syrup is so expensive.

 Maple taffy is a special treat at this time of the year. Maple syrup is boiled and then poured onto snow. You then get a paddle pop stick and use it to pick up the maple syrup. It becomes like a lollipop which you can eat. They are really really yummy.

 This is a maple taffy that I eat now.    

by Lachlan Wilson

The climate: Spring edition

I didn't know that Northern Hemisphere seasons started at different times to Australia! Spring begins on 21 March, in line with the equinox. The things you learn!

Well, it doesn't feel like spring will ever come. March continued just as January and February seemed to: with lots of snow and very cold temperatures. We had the biggest snow storm we have seen during March. Montreal mostly takes snow in its stride. It does slow the traffic obviously, but the city can cope: the street clearers come out quickly and life continues as normal. This storm however, did disrupt the city. With a storm accompanying the snow, people were advised to stay indoors! We had in excess of 15 cms in a few hours.  This photo, to the right, shows the snow piled up outside our door! As Lach commented, lucky the door opens inwards! Then you have to step into it though.. ! Damn those nice shoes.

This fresh snow melted very quickly though, mainly as the next day hovered around zero, with sunshine. The snow didn't get a chance to freeze as ice. A few days later, we had a lovely day of spring skiing, where the temps rose to 3 degrees, which was lovely: no gloves or beanies as we enjoyed the apres ski hot chocolates.

However, this didn't last: the next morning,  more than 12 cms of fresh, powdery snow fell. Very unpredictable! The next 2-3 days are predicted to be back to tops of around -6, so winter hasn't gone yet.

Signs of spring are emerging however: you may notice a flower bud on the end of this twig. How the tree manages any growth in this cold is astounding. I'm sure with only a few days of warmth, the whole tree will change quickly. We are looking forward to the transition of spring in relation to Easter and seeing the new life emerge in the natural environment.

Our driveway was almost clear! The ice that has been sitting right at the join of the road and driveway was only a thin layer of ice and we managed to crack some of it away.... until that 10 + cms of snow this morning! I had to shovel to get the car out!

 Lach loved the fresh snow and it was the added bonus of being a weekend. His beanie was donated to the snowman cause. You can see some of the depth of the snow on the swing behind him: he has wiped it off mid morning, so that is only an hour or so's worth of snow!

Guest post from Sophie

Ten things about Canada (as told to Gemma).

1. It is very cold. The temperatures are in the minus numbers.

2. In Canada, when they write the word Mum, they spell it Mom.

3. We have one hour of french every day. I know the words bonjour, merci, cava bien, je m'appelle Sophie, un melon, un citron, and I can count to 10 in french.

4. We get milk in our classroom every morning. I put my hand up for the milk and then they give it to me.

5. I have lots of different teachers. My main teacher is Ms Karin and Miss Saba is in my classroom all day every day, to help Ms Karin. Then I have a french teacher, a gym teacher, a music teacher and a library teacher.

6. You make maple syrup by heating maple water.


7. When we were at our friends' winter cottage, the children all went sledding together. We made a small jump and it was heaps of fun.

8. I love skiing. We saw a huge snowman when we skied at Mt St Sauveur. Daddy thinks I ski too fast! He wants me to do more turns but I like going straight down the mountain.

9. There is so much snow around. All the gardens and footpaths are covered with snow.

10. We have special snow clothes to wear when we go outside. I have to wear snow pants, a big thick snow jacket, a beanie, gloves, a scarf and special boots so that our feet don't get wet. We have to put all these clothes on when we go outside to play at school.

Guest post from Tony

Clearing the snow and big machines


Following on from Gemma's post about the excess snow, back in February, we have now had two more big snow storms and seen the subsequent clean up.




Given it has been over 0 C on only a few days, the snow just accumulates, and accumulates.  It can be a few days after a snow storm before your street is cleared. Each side of the street has 2-3 days per week in which you are not allowed to park on that side: this gives the council workers specific days to come and clear the snow. In this case however, the no parking days are Tues & Thurs, and this clearing happened on a Saturday. Otherwise, the first indication that the streets will be cleared is the appearance of cardboard signs in the snow.  They come back and do the other side a few days later.

To clear the streets, they harvest the snow, which really is just the same way in which we harvest wheat!

First they put it into lines (windrows) with modified bobcats and Front end loaders. Please, may I be a bobcat driver when I grow up!!



Then the graders push it one way and then the other. A smaller version clears the footpath while the larger one clears the road.

Finally they harvest it into semitrailers, and take it to the tip, where it melts and any rubbish is left behind on then tip. All the machines work as a team, with three semi-trailers to one harvester. Once a semi trailer is full, it speeds off to the tip and the next one in line moves up.

Some of the semitrailers come from an hour or more away and I am sure some of the front end loaders are from farms as well. 

The amount of equipment we have seen in our small areas is amazing, and it gets you thinking of how much effort is needed to clear the 11,000 km of roads on the island of Montreal, let alone the other half of Montreal which is not on the island of Montreal.

These pictures show a small selection of other vehicles seen in our area. We were fortunate that all this happened on a Saturday morning when we happened to be home. Great entertainment for us! We love how the tractor has this pipe which sucks the snow up and blows it into the semi-trailer.

Then there are specialised vehicles to make the cross-country ski tracks in all the major parks (the yellow pads on the back make the tracks), or to groom the toboggan slopes, essentially a mini groomer from the ski fields!!!

As you can see,we have had quite a bit of snow, but because it has been so cold, we have not had as much as other years. We are told there could have been three times as much if it was about 10-15 degrees warmer.  In the warmer weather, the lakes don't freeze, so water evaporates and makes snow, when it is too cold the air is too dry to snow! Ironic to think in colder weather (approx -10 to -25) there is less snow but it is colder; but with milder temps (0 to -10) there is more snow. I'm not really sure which way I'd prefer it!

The climate ... February edition

Yes, it is March, so I'm a bit late!

After the shock of temperatures around -17 degrees celcius in January, nothing much has changed! It has just continued! February was just as cold and while we had no big snow storm, there was regular snow to keep the city looking white. It was very cold - often fell below -20 overnight and it only reached positive temps for a couple of hours on two occasions - and that was only 1 degree.

We continued wearing just as many clothes as we did in January. The children are becoming more independent and during February, they started walking to school on their own - which meant we didn't need to add all our layers to walk them up. During mid February, as we hit the 6 week mark of being away, we all started to get a little frustrated with life - the weather being the primary factor. It was right at the time that we headed to New York, and despite New York had a snow storm while we were there, the temps were still around 0 degrees. We noticed a huge difference: just one pair of gloves; only one layer on the legs and 1-2 layers on top. Of course, we are laughing about the comments of 0 degrees being warm!

During the last week of February, the daily temps are still between -7 and -16 during the day. Three weeks until spring!

Montreal is known for its houses with external staircases. They are the subject of many photos and paintings in the souvenir shops. Many of the photos/paintings depict coloured staircases. Tony and I are on a mission to find a street with the coloured staircases: in the meantime, this will have to do. It is also an appropriate winter photo to show the snow piled up.

Ski Fields in Canada

We've just finished our Spring Break, which is the one week off school between January and June. In order to have such long holidays, school only stops for one week between that time, which means that it is a long stretch. Even though we've only been here for 6 weeks, we still feel like we needed a holiday ... or rather a break from school.

We decided to spend as much time as possible skiing, so we headed to the ski fields a little further from our house. Les Massif de Charlevoix was the destination for the first few days, a little north of Quebec City; then back to Mt Tremblant, about 90 minutes from our house, for the last few days.

Ski fields are just great. They tend not to be called 'resorts' but rather more low key and are just fields. Ski fields are focused on getting Canadians outside and enjoying their winter climate and exercising. The lift ticket prices are reasonable and especially the season passes. They all have a large indoor centre for skiers and visitors to use, with plenty of tables and chairs, and lockers for visitors. Lockers are all free, but most people leave their gear lying around near the tables. There seems to be no issue with security. Food from the cafes is simple but tasty and healthy. Nearly every centre has had a choice of 3-4 soups and then simple wraps/sandwiches, sometimes a pasta bar and usually one or two pizza choices. You are welcome to bring your own food and people come with large bags and set up interesting lunches. Microwaves are provided if you want to heat food. So family friendly!

As we were there during Spring Break, Les Massif provided free activities with an adult mountain guide for the children on one day. A guide took small groups of children to show them different parts of the mountain and give their parents time to ski - all for free! They provided an english speaking guide for our children, who managed to show Lach where some of the best jumps were! Tony and I skied for while, until I decided that warmed red wine at the bar was a much better idea!

Les Massif and Mt Tremblant are the two biggest ski fields in the province of Quebec. Les Massif is funded by the owner of Circque de Soleil so there is a lot of money behind it! It is only 800 metres above sea level and the mountain runs right down to the sea - the St Laurent Seaway. The background of the photos here show the river in the background - semi frozen. The scenery is stunning and the pine trees that line the ski runs are exactly like the images of snow covered Christmas trees. I encourage you to google it and look at the photos taken by professionals - it really is stunning. The runs are long with views the whole way. There is a gondola lift to take you up (= warmth) but the queues were 20 minutes plus ... so often we braved the chair lifts. Temps were around -15 to -20. The two dots half way down the slope in this photo above are Lach and Sophie.

With temps that cold, the "hotties" (hand warmers) were needed for hands and feet, plenty of hot chocolates and a sneaky red wine. 

Closer to Montreal is a well known ski village called Mt Tremblant. It has a beautiful village which looks like it belongs in Austria, which adds significant beauty to the location. It is popular in both summer and winter. It is very popular with visitors from outside of Quebec as well as the USA. We skied there back in February and decided that we wanted to spend more time there. Again, the facilities are fantastic and we were able to take sandwiches and snacks with us. Unfortunately Sophie got sick and spent most of the afternoon snoozing on my lap in the hut. She managed a half day of skiing on our second day, but still wasn't quite herself. Mt Tremblant is located adjacent to a lake, so the views show a frozen lake at the base of the runs.

As well as these big ski fields, there are many, many smaller ones. We have visited some of them but are always noticing more as we are out driving or are being told about them. Montreal is a very, very flat city, but it is surrounded by the Laurentian Mountains. Ski fields appear even on some of the lower ranges - they don't need a high altitude to get the snow! They just need the long slopes. We have been so impressed with these smaller fields also - think Selywn but with great snow and a range of runs - greens right through to blacks. They many only have 20-30 runs, but that is plenty if you are only going a couple of times a season. All of them have these great facilities which make it an easy day out for families.

Festival of the White Night

Its a long winter here in Canada and I can imagine how it affects your emotions after several months. Everyone has been telling us how cold this winter has been and how early it started. The first snow came in November which is very unsual. For the month of February, Montreal only hit positive temperatures on two occasions - both brief periods during the day where it got to 1 or 2 degrees.

Instead of looking at the negative, the Canadians do try to celebrate their unique climate and provide activities to get people out and about. This month, it is the festival of light and it culminated with "White Night" - a whole night of celebration. Bands play; activities run; museums, restaurants, bars and clubs stay open all night.  We didn't quite make the most of the 'all night' approach, however we did go into town and stay out until about 10pm, which is late for us!

We cooked sausages over open fires, tasted poutine again (not much better - still not taken by it), caught up with some new Canadian friends, looked at the lights and played snakes and ladders on an enormous board. There were super cool activities, like a bob sled about 300 metres long and a ferris wheel, but with queues over the hour, we had to skip them. Its too cold to stand still in a line for that long! The city looked lovely with light features on many buildings and in the trees.

It was really, really cold and it was hard work being outside.  Taking gloves off to eat or take photos stung your fingers, so everything was done quickly. The photo with friends below was in one of the underground shopping centres, which makes up the underground city. It was warmer in there!