Happiness Through My Eyes: There's no place like home

Those of you who have known me for a while know that my family has just moved back to Canada after a 4 year overseas adventure. I don't regret any of our journey and I would do it all over again, but I am ecstatic to be home.

Despite growing up in a small city here in Alberta, I've always wanted to live on a farm. In high school I had a boyfriend (Hi Scott just in case you're randomly reading this!!!) who lived out on a farm and I loved helping him feed the cows, drive the tractor or just do general chores around the farm. I remember one day sitting down by this beautiful little creek on their property and sobbing while the cattle were being loaded to go to slaughter. It's part of farm living, but not having grown up with it I was a little devastated!!! I remember thinking it was just so peaceful out there and I loved visiting. 

There's a big push lately to go "back to the land"  with backyard chickens and vegetable gardens and raw milk and I'm very excited to now have five acres just outside of Calgary and our own family acreage that can facilitate that!  

I walk out onto the deck some mornings with my cup of coffee, the sun is shining, there are birds flying around, goats bleating and cows mooing in the next field and I just stand there and smile. It's not anywhere close to the glitz and glamour that we had in Abu Dhabi, but it makes me much happier. I enjoy hauling hay, I enjoy pulling weeds, and building things and mowing the lawn. I enjoy feeding the goats now that they are safely contained and I'm not chasing them all over the foothills but most of all, I enjoy being back home. 

Home to me is big open skies, family, wheat fields, mountains, good friends and laughter, and rolling hills. It's dramatic clouds, camping, storms, hay bales, friendly people, country music, two-stepping and rodeo. I love these aspects of my home province and I missed them intensely while I was away. 

This month I thought I would share pictures from around our place and along the drive into town(Okotoks). So you can see for yourself some of the things that make me happy to be home.  

Here it is, Chez Burwell :) That's the trout pond on the bottom left. I was taking pictures of the stormy sky that went right over us without actually storming!!! If you look closely you can see my Mom relaxing under the pergola above the pond. 

Artsy take out in the pasture

I drive past this old barn all the time so today I stopped and took a picture

I take the back highway into Okotoks just so I can see views like this on a daily basis!!!!!!

Then on the way back you're looking at a gorgeous Calgary skyline

Mmmmmmm our place is full of saskatoon berries!!! They taste a bit like bluberries and can be used in a similar way but they have a nuttier taste to them. They grow wild here. 

This is Mia, she's a naughty goat most of the time and VERY bossy! Our goats are named after Reese's friends in Abu Dhabi!!!

Our little desert dog Ooday LOVES frolicking through the upper pasture. He chases grasshoppers and then goes and runs laps around the house like a maniac!!!

The road out towards the mountains 

On the top road coming back down into DeWinton. I had to stop because the reflections were awesome :)

Check out the bull's snot/spit!!!!!! I LOVE watching bull riding! This was at the Okotoks Pro Rodeo today. These guys are crazy. (read AWESOME)

This looks so uncomfortable!!! They look like rag dolls being bounced around on the horse!

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys

Mutton Busting- Reese has decided she wants to try next year!!! 

Failing mutton busting she would like to try wild pony wrangling.

So now you can see why I'm happy to be home. Or, you think I'm completely crazy for being in love with all these things!! Either way you should visit the talented Louise Freeland's blog next to check out the rest of the blog circle  CLICK ON HERE TO CONTINUE THE CIRCLE :)

Happiness Through My Eyes.........ISTANBUL!

Well apparently this post needs a bit of fixing, which is going to take a few hours. Sorry folks!!! However the link to Anna should still work if you're doing the blog circle for May!


This month we travelled to Istanbul!!! It was a very quick editing session but here are a few highlights.When you're finished have a look at my friend's blog, the lovely Anna Francken

Inside the Hagia Sophia. It has been a church AND a mosque and now it is a museum. 

The Blue Mosque

Istanbul at sunset from the roof of our hotel

The Sultan's room in the haram at Topkapi palace

Alexander the Great's Tomb

Spices in the Spice Market

The Evil Eye, found all over Istanbul. Hanging it is supposed to protect you.

Reese at the mosque doors

Basilica Cisterns

Istanbul Archeology Museum

Showing off her "Jasmine" outfit

Veiled and lovely

The bobble shoes

Happiness Through My Eyes..........A New Member Of The Family!!!

Well since I last posted we have gained a new member of our family! You can read all about it below and then check out the next wondeful photographer in our blog circle.
The Fabulous Linda Hooper!!!!

It all started when I innocently went to the vet to buy more dog food and there was a small puppy behind the desk who was absolutely adorable and immediately latched on and played with Reese.

Fast forward to the next day and I'd convinced Richard that the puppy should "meet" Cadbury and have a playdate.  This puppy was brought into the clinic at around 10-12 weeks old. Someone had found it scavenging on the street and had managed to capture it. That family had said they would adopt him if he was neuteured and then changed their minds and abandoned the adoption. He had been living in the clinic for a few weeks and fostering at the lovely Zoe's house because he was so distraught at being left in a cage in teh clinic. Poor little guy!!!!!!

Meeting"Jack" on the playdate outside the vets

Cadbury loved him on the playdate so we packed him up and brought him home with us! The first few days were tense because Cadbury loved him outside the house, but tried to eat him inside the house!!!

So for the first day the poor little dude slept on the floor near the couch because if he went anywhere near Cadbury and her bed she would growl.

I think he was just happy to have a home!

We re-named him Ooday, which is an old Arabic name meaning "He who runs fast"!! We thought he should have an Arab name since he's native to here. 

Eventually, Cadbury warmed up to him and even allowed him on her bed. Now she loves to play with him and is remarkably patient given her age and spastic legs!!!!

Finally getting a turn on the bed!

RAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

And now they are best friends most of the time! We actually have to stop Cadbury from encouraging Ooday to play otherwise her joints get too sore. Crazy dog :) She seems to have come to life with a puppy in the house. Definitely more of a gleam in her eyes these days.

Having a snuggle with Cadbury

Ooday and Reese also had to learn to get a long and this is still an ongoing process. We currently have some strict rules in place to protect them from each other!!

Posing for the camera

Daddy has cheese!!!!

Ooday is a desert type dog. Which means that he's definitely part Saluki with potentially a few other things mixed in. Watching him jump and prance is hilarious and his body makes me giggle because he's got the big chest and skinny little waist and these spindly long legs! I can't wait to see him off leash one day when we are home and in a secure dog park (and we've done some work on "Come"!!) 

I'm fairly certain nothing is going to be safe in our house for a few years! Steaks on the counters, anything on the bed or a shelf!!! No pet rabbits allowed in the Burwell house unfortunately!!! 

like a little gazelle

What was interesting is that when we took him camping he got out of the car, immediately dug a hole in the sand and then lay in it. He did this all weekend, and anytime he was lying down, he was in a hole. Guess you can't beat 1000 years of instinct!!!!!

Ooday in his first hole of the day

He was a little hyper today when I was trying to take some more picture because we bathed him for the first time earlier. Cadbury will sit for the hose and bath with not much convincing. Ooday was trying to blend in with the hedge rather than get wet!!!!!

Afterwards he was twitchy and crazy and so when I was taking the following pictures I caught him just as he started at me, mid air, and then as he was right above me!! They're blurry because I had such a close lens on that he was too close to focus but I think they're hilarious!

And finally, some last shots of Ooday. I'm fairly certain he's glaring at me in the middle one. The last one is him with his new tag that arrived on Thursday. He will be making the long trek home with us in June when we repatriate back to Calgary. He'll have five acres to run on and a lifelong family.

I'm getting teenager attitude here I think! 

Officially a Burwell!!!!!! 

Thanks for reading my [incredibly long] blog post for this month! You should head on over to Linda's Blog and check out what she has to say. Comments are always welcome all around :) 

Happiness through my eyes.......The Pursuit of Exploration

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.

 Explore. Dream. Discover.

First of all I would like to say that after readings blog post you should check out my friend Louise's post this month at http://www.louisefreelandphotography.com/2014/02/28/happiness-and-the-to-do-list/

Those of you who have ever received an email from me know that this particular quote is part of my email signature. I read it when we first started our overseas journey four years ago and we have tried to live by it ever since. 

Living in another culture is a privilege and an adventure, and we have done our best along the way to explore off the beaten path. 

Last weekend we drove out to Hatta, which is out in the mountains of the UAE. To get there you have to pass through Oman and back into the UAE. Very strange set up with a massive fence/razor wire/armed guards and the whole package. 

Home in Canada I always feel most at peace when I'm out in nature, especially in the mountains. I can't be called an overly religious person, but out in nature I'm definitely a spiritual one. The mountains in Hatta gave me that same feeling, the feeling of being away from it all and in touch with something greater than myself and I'm happy we took the time to go exploring.

We stayed at the Hatta Fort Hotel that weekend and it was lovely and comfortable. On Saturday we made sure we had gas and a spare tire and crossed into Oman again to try to find the much talked about Hatta Pools. We had an off-road guide that was about 4 years old and there was some confusion as the road was now paved and the directions were thrown off. After about 45 minutes of driving off the main road in random directions we finally got directions from a local guy and found the pools. 

What a sight! The pools are down in the wadi (which is what they call a canyon in this neck of the woods) at this time of year they can be dangerous if the weather is anything but sunny as flash floods kill people every year in this region. Thankfully on the day we visited it was sunny with not a cloud in sight. The water in the pools is crystal clear and looks like the glacier water that we see back home in Canada, except it isn't ice cold!!!!!

We hiked up to take a peek and watched some crazy people doing cannonballs into the water. It was beautiful but the graffiti and trash detracted from the beauty a bit. Hopefully the government will help to clean it up in the near future. 

We decided to take the mountain road back to the UAE and we are so glad we did, stunning scenery and wadis all along the way. Definitely worth getting lost for!!!!! At some points in the road you could see where the floods came through and there was still water on the road. You never know what you're going to find when you go off-roading in the Middle East. Five years ago if you had asked me whether I saw off-roading in Oman as part of my five year plan I would have laughed at you and said "no way"! 

How life has changed. So please enjoy the pictures I took of Hatta and the region.

Happiness Through My Eyes........The Pursuit of Exploration

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