Home to the heat:
After a very long 30+ hours of traveling, it was back to Melbourne Saturday afternoon to a 30C day, a bit of a shock to say the least. Sunday was even hotter, so Mac, Giselle and I hit the beach, which as you can see they hate NOT.  It's still hot and I am having trouble adjusting, after the not so cold Canadian weather.

 Farewell Elora

It's hard to believe that 2 months have passed already, and that tomorrow I head back to Melbourne and summer. Not that Canada has really had a winter yet. Everyone keeps saying it's coming, but I don't know about that.
I have had a wonderful time and met some amazing, friendly people. On Sunday, Susan and Mark, over the road neighbours had a get together to say goodbye and give me some lovely reminders of Canada. Thanks guys, it was great.

I will be very sad to leave for many reasons and will always hold fond memories of the wonderful neighbours who took me under their wing and showed me their beautiful part of the world. I am sure Lynn and I will be friends for a long time to come,

Every day the Grand River changes, but still hasn't frozen over. It sparkles under the sunny blue skies and every view is different.

I loved these floating ice crystals

 After some lovely snow several days ago, the village is again sparkling under blue, sunny skies and being a weekend what better way to spend some time than sliding down Vinegar hill. I think the older generation were having just as much fun as the youngsters

Pet Peeve:
The thing that really annoys me the most both here and the US is the "plus tax"  bit, although that is never written on the price tag you see, or at last that I see and not being used to adding a great whack of tax, I forget it every time. We have our  Goods and Services Tax in Oz, but it is added to the price before things are advertised, so what you see is what you pay, but unfortunately that seems to make too much sense, so here in Nth. America the tax is added at the register, and to tell the truth really gets up my nose. Then add to that in the US and to an extent here, not only do you have to consider "plus tax", but you also have to think of "plus tip", which can be another hefty 15% or so,  and that adds a lot to the "quoted prices".

 Hockley Valley Ski Resort:
Although cold, yesterday was a glorious sunny day, so John and Lynn took me for a drive through the countryside to Orangeville and Hockley Ski Resort. The ski season this year has been almost non existent and only operates with snow making when it is cold enough, which hasn't been all that often. This weekend was one of those times, when the temperature remained well below 0 and snow making was possible. There wasn't a lot of snow or people, but they all seemed to be making the most of what  was there.

What a great idea:

To go outside Diesel and Stella have been taught to ring the cowbell hanging from the door handle. One belt with a paw or a nose, the bell rings and the well trained door attendant (me) obediently opens to door for the two to go roaring off around  the yard. Mind you they always ring the bell when I am talking on Skype or busy preparing food, anytime I am not paying them attention, but they are not too demanding.
Diesel's trips outside are usually pretty short particularly if it's cold and snowy, but Stella likes to  sneak out toys, bones etc and re-discover them when the snows melts a little. She will spend quite a time out there snuffling around in the snow, chasing squirrels or barking dementedly at Desi next door and rushing up and down along the fence.
To come back inside it's a sharp yip, which gets sharper the longer I ignore it!

Marlene, at Yarnbird

Holly

 Whenever I house sit in a cold climate I always seem to end up with some knitting, and true to form, I have been knitting here. I saw a pattern in a book in the pharmacy and asked about buying yarn here in Elora. Joy of joys there is a real old style yarn shop, with an owner, Marlene who knows just what she is talking about and knits herself. I would never have found Yarnbird on my own, as the shop doesn't have a street front window, but once inside it is a knitter's delight and Marlene is a knitter's friend, and happy to chat. With the help of Holly, the shop is warm and welcoming.
So I have been knitting away.

Lynn's Christmas present

 You will find Marlene and Holly in Yarnbird at 22 Mill St W, Elora

CN Tower

View through the glass floor

A Day in Toronto

After checking the weather forecast for a good day, Lynn & I headed to Toronto on Tuesday. Mind you the weather is SOOO mild at the moment, just about any day is a good day. It's almost Spring like here.
Anyway it was a great day to go, with a mild 5 degrees and sunshine. The MUST visit in Toronto is of course the CN tower, which for many years was the world's tallest, but no longer. Being such a clear day we had a great view out over Toronto and I even managed to coax Lynn to walk a few steps onto the glass floor- it is a long way down

View from the top

 Then it was off to explore a little of the city. We wandered through Chinatown and through to Kensington, a very quirky area with very colourful old houses and a bohemian, market style atmosphere.
 Had a great Chinese vegetarian lunch in Kensington, before heading off to catch a few of the streetcars and head to the St Lawrence market, and Lynn loves a market! I must admit that the food there looked to be great quality. Then it was back on the subway to collect the car and the long journey home in peak hour traffic. Thanks Lynn for yet another great day.

Kensington

Kensington

Probably the only Mountie or Moose I will see.

TheMailman?
Mail is not delivered to individual houses here but is posted into boxes around the area. This is a small bank of boxes, "ours" has more stands of boxes, I think about 7, so handles the mail for a lot more houses. It means that you have to get yourself to the boxes to collect  your mail. By the look of the tyre tracks at each set of boxes, most people must stop off on the way past in the car, but I wonder about those who don't drive of are ill or just frail or elderly, it must be quite a chore just to collect the mail. Our set of boxes are over 2 blocks away and when there is a lot of snow or the footpaths (if there is a footpath and that's not the case  here in Water Street) are very icy, it often means the mail might go uncollected  for days if at all. I can imagine it also gets a little busy at times with a number of cars  all arriving at once, which I imagine would make it quite unsafe.

It's a good that Christmas is over and that Poinsettias are cheap, as yet again I have managed to massacre my little bit of Christmas cheer. I have never managed to get one to last past the end of January.
Every day the poor thing looks sadder and a few more leaves wilt and drop,  I guess they go out with the sad Christmas trees for the rubbish collection or into the compost, and next year the nurserymen make a fortune with the new crop.

 Brrrrrrrrrr:

Still -16 degrees out there at 2.30 pm, but so sunny and sparkling that the sled team and I just had to get out there. The snow all crunched underfoot and my nose and cheeks turned a flattering shade of red, but we had fun and got our exercise, it was just magnificent.

 Tim Horton's:
A name every Canadian seems to know, a true Canadian icon. I am tempted to compare it to other well known chains, but that might make me very unpopular with the locals. I am used to Melbourne's great coffee shops tucked away in lane ways and main streets and all individual, and the big chains aren't really my thing.
But here, Tim Horton's is revered.

Started in 1964 by a famous hockey player by the same name as a way of supplementing his income, the coffee and donut (it kills me to spell it like that, it's doughnut) business has turned into one of the most recognised and well loved Canadian franchises, and the Tim Horton's signature is a prominent feature on the Canadian landscape

 The menu is similar to many of the well known food and coffee chains, with the addition of lots of doughnuts and cakes etc, but everyone seems to stop for a Tim Horton's and you see them everywhere.

The Machine:

I swear Richard must have the biggest snowblower on the block, other than the ride on type that is. The "Rolls Royce" of snowblowers maybe?

It was another drive clearing morning this morning, and as you can see I didn't do a particularly good job, but I am getting the hang of it.

I noticed Donalee, the neighbour out with a very compact ladies size blower, and George, over the road with a medium size blower, and then there is this one and me.

Naturally I picked  exactly wrong moment to go out a-blowing, as the wind was a-blowing and the snow was swirling everywhere, add to that the snow being thrown into the air from the blower and I looked a little like a snowman in a red jacket chasing this machine down the drive. (The sun is now shining and not a breath of wind !)  I now know what Nicole meant when she said you have to be careful in which direction you aim the snow chute, ..... all part of the learning curve. At least I can get it going, thanks to a good old power cord and I am learning to control it, sort of.

Big Ambitions:

Typical terrier is Ms. Stella, she might be compact but she never gives up and will have a go at anything. She would make a great sled dog, but tends to deviate from the path if there is a squirrel, another dog, a smell,anything really, but loves the snow and loves to be out in front pulling. Diesel is not quit so keen, but once we are out he has a great time and bounds along on those tiny legs. Lots of snow this morning, so we were cutting a path through the snow - (deeper than this picture), and they had a ball and now of course the sun has come out so we should still be there. Oh well, maybe later. It takes so long for us all to gear up, that the weather has changed by the time we are ready to go!

Happy New Year

A very soggy wet new year's day here in Elora. The temperature is several degrees above 0, and the rain is steadily coming down and the snow is turning to more brown slush. See I am just as obsessed with the weather as  everyone else!
I don't think we will be walking very far today, just might have to get back to the rowing machine.

I hope you all have a wonderful 2012.

Canadian Obsessions

I have noticed a number of obsessions here, on the tv at least. One is the Hockey and that is an obsession here in Ontario at least, but I think it is national. The other is an obsession with the "stars". It seems every time I turn on the tv, there is a "star watch program", news from Hollywood,  e talk, local stars etc. The third obsession is "THE WEATHER'. Throughout an hour of news programmes there are at least 4 updates on the weather, complete with the weather map etc. I know at this time of year it is pretty important, particularly when driving, but I am sure an hour of news would be reduced to just 1/2 hour  if there was just 1 weather update.

With the temperature so variable at the moment I can understand the obsession, as we are having a quite a bit of rain, which is turning to freezing rain, so there are lots of "fender benders". The next day there is snow, fog or a temperature of 4 or 5 above 0, so road conditions change minute by minute.  As you can see from next week's forecast, we are expecting the lot.

Sunday Jan 1 Monday Jan 2 Tuesday Jan 3 Wednesday Jan 4 Thursday Jan 5 Friday Jan 6 Conditions 6am - 6pm   Mixed precip. Scattered flurries Cloudy periods Scattered flurries Variable cloudiness Variable cloudiness P.O.P. 80% 60% 20% 40% 30% 20% High 3°C -3°C -11°C -1°C -3°C 2°C Feels Like -4 -11 -15 -8 -7 -4 Low -3°C -9°C -13°C -11°C -5°C -2°C Wind S 45 km/h NW 35 km/h N 20 km/h SW 30 km/h W 20 km/h SW 35 km/h 24-Hr Rain close to 1 mm - - - - - 24-Hr Snow close to 5 cm 2-4 cm - close to 1 cm - -

Today it is not nearly so cold,hovering just at and below the 0 mark, but the village has been blanketed in a thick fog, which gives everything an ethereal character.


After my snow blowing and dog walking, it was time to get out and play with the camera again.  Every day, the scene changes, and as we are about to go into the above 0 temperatures again for the next few days, I guess all the snow will again disappear. Every day is a new experience.

 Yesterday was a beautiful day, very cold, around  -6, but once the sun came out, so did the kids and the toboggans on the hill several houses down
 It snowed most of the day, so I was in heaven watching it all. That is one of the reasons to come to Canada after all, just loved it!

Success

This morning I mastered the art of snow blowing - thanks to Richard's lesson. It took me a while to get the machine going, I had to take all the outdoor gear off and run back upstairs for my scribbled instructions,  but the drive was finally cleared.... I felt very pleased with myself. With practice, and I am told there will be plenty of that, I am sure it will soon be as easy as lawn mowing

 Snow Clearing

It started snowing yesterday afternoon and has pretty well continued since and at present is a cool -10C out there, but it's beautiful. John beat me to it with the snow blower this morning, and Mark had his helpers, Sophie and Lucas out shoveling their drive, while the guy down the road went with the extra big guns to clear his drive. The snow is still drifting down out there and Stella has just been out there burrowing around in it all. I went out earlier for some photos and now it's time to take the dogs out.

Christmas Dinner
Although there was still some snow on the ground, around 5.00pm some lovely big flakes floated down for a short time and left a fresh coating for my  White Christmas..,whooeeee 

So after a long day driving to Port Elgin and back John and Lynn then turned around and produced the traditional Christmas dinner. The turkey had been cooking away with some help from the neighbour Rose and Jaclyn, Lynn & John's daughter, but everything else had to be heated etc for our dinner, and a lovely dinner it was. I wasn't into the turkey, but the mashed spuds, turnip and green beans went well with the salad and a bottle of the Black Chook , so I certainly didn't go hungry. It was a lovely evening and a great way to spend my Canadian Christmas