The Royal Canadian Mint

Did you ever wonder where the 2010 Vancouver Olympic medals were made?  When  we went to Ottawa we visited the Royal Canadian  Mint which is where they make all the Canadian collector coins as well as other special coins like the 2010 Olympic medals.

We saw the fabrication of the coins. After getting the gold and silver from the mines, the workers melt it.  Then they flatten the gold and silver and use cutters to punch holes in the metals. These holes are called blanks. To put an emblem on the blank coin it takes 220 tons of pressure.   After all these steps they inspect the coins to make sure there are no mistakes. If there are mistakes, the metal gets melted once again. We saw the molds of a 200 pound dollar coin which was 99. 999% pure gold. It would be worth 5.6 million dollars today. In one room alone we saw over 200 million dollars worth of metals . Each gold roll was worth 24 million dollars and the silver rolls were worth half a million dollars each. They make 15 000 coins a day in this mint while the mint in Winnipeg makes around 1 million coins a day. The Winnipeg mint makes all the coins we find in our pockets, otherwise known as  the circulation coins.

At the mint there is lots of security to protect the precious metals. I held a 28 pound  block of gold worth 700 000$ . It was guarded by a policeman with a weapon.  The Ottawa Mint also made the 2010 Olympic medals which are only worth 600$ each. I think this is undervalued. 

The Mint was a very interesting place to visit and learn about coins . Next time you are in a Post office and you see collector coins you will know where they come from .

By Owen 

This bar is worth 700 000$. It is very heavy.

Here I am with my brothers outside the Mint.

Good times at the lake

We love being home on the lake with Granny Sue and GG. This time of year we can't swim , water or down hill ski but there are always projects to be found and forests to explore. Never a dull moment.

GG had some trees to cut and the boys were excited to take part.  They all got to use an axe! Yikes! Good thing GG was in charge.

Nothing better then getting out with my Mum on the old dirt roads for a walk or a run with the dogs. There's always a view to admire. Here we are down by the boathouses.

 Granny Sue is always creating Magic in the kitchen. Finn was keen to help out with some Xmas Butter tarts. They were delicious.

We are off to Ottawa in the morning. As always, it has been great to be home on the lake.

Carolyn

The Fake Stonehenge...

Hello there! Today on the blog, I will talk about the "Fake Stonehenge".  (We saw the real Stonehenge in England) Well, the fake Stonehenge is in Stanstead , Quebec in the Eastern Townships and it means something else. It is designed to promote peace and is situated on the 45th parallel, halfway between the equator and the North Pole. It is a point of balance.  Here are a few photos:

This is Granny Sue, Owen, Charlie and me.

Owen is so strong. The rocks are granite.

Daddy and Charlie are right on the center stone marking the 45th parallel

We are in a willow hut. It is living.  Mummy thought this was funny.

After we went to a house that is over 200 years old. It is called the Lee farm. Frederick Banting's wife lived there. (He invented insulin.) At that house there were huge dead trees painted into Art.  A man named Mau Harvey did it.  Here are a few photos:

By Finn

arrivé chez mes grands parents

Hourra! Nous sommes arrivés chez mes grands-parents.  Voici ce qu'ils voient de la maison. C'est beau.

Ce matin il a neigé. C'est la première neige de l'année.

Owen et Finn mangent les flocons de neige.

Voici Eli et sa cousine, Brilla. Elle est la chienne de mes grands-parents.

Savais- tu qu'il y a une bibliothèque aux Etats-Unis sans livres! Oui, c'est vrai et c'est sur la frontière de deux pays: Canada et Etats Unis. Ça s'appelle le Haskell et c'est une bibliothèque et une salle d'opéra. Les livres sont au Canada et la porte est aux Etats- Unis.  C'est dans la ville de Stanstead, près de la maison de mes grands-parents. Dans cette photo moi et Finn sommes au Etats et Owen est au Canada.

Les Adultes sont au Etats- Unis et moi, Finn et Owen sont au Canada. Nous sommes dans la salle d'opéra qui a 108 ans!

Owen et moi chevauchons les deux pays. Cette ligne est pour nous montrer la frontière. C'est dans la bibliothèque mais regarde bien car les livres sont au Canada.

Voici un détail sur le plafond de la salle d'opéra. Ca s'appelle un putti.

Par : Charlie Turner

The beach

Who would have thought that we would be hitting the beach in late November!  What a gift of a day. With the kids on the bus, sunshine beaming and zero wind, we grabbed our sunglasses and tuques and made our way to Cabot.  Eli, leash in mouth, was wagging furiously. He knew where we were going before we even could even see the ocean. Our energy gave it away!

There's something quite magical about being the lone beachcombers and discovering the sea's lost  treasures among the seaweed. John was elated to unearth this fishing rope! Eli ran and played in the water, doing his crazy, happy run. Oh to be a lab! It was indeed a happy place for us all. I was glowing just to be able to walk along the water, my sacred element one final time before the snow flies.

 

This is one happy dog.

a Bath like no other

 

We are home from our Turners-take- England tour  but we forgot to write about our adventure to the Roman Baths...

 Bath, England is an unbelievable town, rich in history. Here we are sitting around a Roman bath that is over 2000 years old.  Sure makes me feel young! Years ago,  life in the city evolved around these sacred baths ( I guess they still do to this day but for tourist reasons now).  1.5 million litres of hot water still pour into the pool every day! Now that's what I call a spa!

Charlie and Finn debating whether or not to take the plunge... of course touching the water is a no-no but to these two it was very alluring. Go figure!

British Football

 

The Freak is back home from his European trip, but took time to take in a football game while in London.  No, it wasn’t the Rams and the Patriots at Wembley Stadium which was a blow out, but a football (soccer) match in the English Premier League.  The game featured underdog  Reading and powerhouse Arsenal.  The final score ended up being 7-5, the most goals in the history of a Premiership League Cup game.  If you put it into an American football perspective, the Browns only beat the Chargers 7-6 last Sunday, so really it would be the equivalent to a 49-35 NFL game which would no doubt be very exciting to watch.  The game was very entertaining and the crowd was much different than NFL games the Freak has been to, because in your typical NFL game, the home crowd cheers very loudly when the visiting team is on offense and there are really no organized chants amongst the crowd unless you are at a Jets game.  However, at this football match, the home fans would all dance after a goal was scored which was different, but also the Arsenal fans would not sit down for the whole game and would sing throughout most of the night, some not suitable for young ears!

The product on the field was unbelievable as these top players in the world run at top speed with the ball, make any pass thinkable, and have great footwork and body control.  Furthermore, this game is much more physical watching it live than on television while the pace of the game on tv doesn’t do it any justice.

One huge difference between watching the two types of football in person are all the visiting supporters (Arsenal) must all sit together in one end of the stadium which was cool as you knew the guy next to you was also cheering for the same team so you could celebrate and cheer together and not be worried about getting punched in the head or being verbally abused by other fans like at a NFL game.

The one thing the Freak didn’t like is how the extra time at the end of the game is controlled only by the referee.  In this case, there was only to be four minutes of extra time, but it ended up being six minutes and Arsenal ended up tying the game at the end of this extra two minutes.  It has been like this forever, but giving the ref all the power of how much time is left on the clock seems wrong as luckily the Reading fans were good natured or there might have been a riot and this zebra probably wouldn’t have made it out of the stadium.

Finally, there was no tailgating before the game which is a big part of the experience of the NFL, but not with soccer.  You could still get a drink in the stadium, but you were not allowed to take it to your seat for security reasons.  This was probably the Freak’s and his family’s last English football game, but it was a fantastic experience that all sports fans should try.  The Freak is happy to be back home to watch the NFL and is looking forward to seeing four NFL games live in December.

The Freak (a.k.a Dad)

                                             The boys with the Reading Royals mascot