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About Me — Barb Dalton
Nurse. Teacher. Crafter. Photographer. Canadian; I am a woman who wears many hats, but what defines me the most is being a New Zealander and a mother.
“Why on earth did you leave New Zealand?”
This is often the first question I am asked after the inevitable clarification of where my accent is from — usually confused with being English or Australian; even after almost 28 years living in Canada, I can’t shake the twang!
I came to Montréal with my husband and 5-month-old daughter, Hannah, on a one-year contract for his new job.
Well, that one year has turned into a life sentence. We produced another two kids and subsequently divorced, but this is now home to me. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be living on the other side of the world, but here I am.
The early years
I grew up in small-town New Zealand at the bottom of the country, often referred to by other Kiwis’ as part of the anatomy involving elimination.
We lived modestly; my Dad was a French and Latin teacher at one of the local boys’ high schools, and my Mum a bank teller. I had a wonderful childhood and have many fond memories of it, especially lining my teddies up in the…