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Thank you so much for lighting the fire Seeler. I'm shucking my arctic strength parka and preparing to warm up beside it (the fire, not the parka). I was only outside long enough for the dog to quickly lift his leg. At -46C windchill out there I had no desire to linger. Nor did the dog. !!!!!!
 
Please be careful. My volunteer job on Wednesdays at the church has been cancelled. We will do double duty next week. Because of the circumstances of the people we serve it is difficult to impossible to reach them by phone or compputer so we have a policy that if schools in the district are closed, we are too. A couple of volunteers who live near the church will go in to serve those who do show up.
This afternoon I may brave a walk across the street to help a neighbour with her jigsaw pussle.
Sun is trying to come out now, temps are probably dropping.
 
LRemembering the ribbing I got on WonderCafe when I mentioned banking the fire for the night, I've been expecting someone to question about getting the fire to draw on a wet day.
 
Seeler said:
LRemembering the ribbing I got on WonderCafe when I mentioned banking the fire for the night, I've been expecting someone to question about getting the fire to draw on a wet day.
Click to expand...

Thus the conclusion about drawing darkly ... like the Bishopric of Myra ... Ste. Niche? Tis in the distant bank of denied abstracts .... imaginary or not!
 
Snow, snow, snow. Yes, we've had cold weather too, but it is the snow that is really getting to us in Sault Ste. Marie. We enjoy something called "lake effect", which means 10 minutes down the Trans Canada highway, it can be a beautiful, blue-sky day. But here at home, we can be in the middle of a snow blizzard. Last night it rained, so there was a crust of ice on top of the snow. City ploughs are doing a pretty good job with the streets, but it really is impossible to keep up. After two unusual winters, with less snow than usual, we are making up for it now. This feels more like a typical winter, actually. Waiting for a January thaw now....
 
Is a snow job like white washed ... or that expanse illuminated under a full moon as whiter than pale?

Grand place for angels to impress ...
 
paradox3 said:
@Mendalla How was the vacation?
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Just realized I had not answered this. It was lovely. Seven days on a cruise ship out of San Juan, Puerto Rico and hitting several Caribbean islands plus a day in San Juan at each end.

Highlights:

Old San Juan is one of the nicest old European areas I've seen outside Europe. Right up there with the French Quarter in New Orleans and Granada, Nicaragua. The city walls are mostly intact (one side was torn down in the nineteenth century to enable urban expansion), which is rare in Europe, let alone the New World and feature two old Spanish forts that are national historic sites and a UNESCO cultural heritage site. The view of the city from San Cristobal, the fort we went into, was spectacular.

El Yunque rainforest, about 45 minutes outside San Juan, is the only tropical rainforest in the US National Forest system and has been a forest reserve since late in the Spanish regime (the US took over in 1898). Had a nice hike, saw some lovely waterfalls, and the biggest bloody land snails I have ever laid eyes on.

Saint Lucia is a bit of a study in contrasts. Their economy is in the tank (26% unemployment per our driver, other sources have cited even higher) so the towns are a mess. However, the core of the island is volcanic mountains covered by protected rainforests and it is gorgeous. Then there's the Pitons, massive peaks of volcanic rock overlooking the old French town of Soufrieres.

Charlotte Amalie, the capital of the Virgin Islands (it's the cruise port for St. Thomas), is another nice old European city. Strangely, St. Thomas was not colonized by one of the usual suspects (Spain, UK, France, Netherlands) but by Denmark, who then sold it to the US in 1917. The streets still bear both Danish and English names and there's some nice Northern European architecture around (e.g. the legislature, a former Danish barracks, and the city's original fort which is currently undergoing a major reno/restoration).

On St. Kitts, we saw Brimstone Hill, a massive British fort designed to keep the French at bay (the island's colonial ownership was settled in 1763 in the same treaty that ended the Seven Years War here). They've done a great restoration job on the citadel and one of the bastions with work still ongoing on other parts. View is fantastic (it was placed to enable the garrison to watch the seas for incoming ships).

Sint Martaan/Saint Martin (the island is split between the Dutch in the South and the French in the North) is a nice island but I can't really cite any specifics. There's a good beach right along the waterfront of Philipsburg (the Dutch capital).

Barbados is, to be honest, a bit rundown but the legislature is one of the nicest I've seen and they have spectacular beaches (we were on Carlisle Bay, just South of the capital). If you take a walk in Queen's Park, the former home of the British garrison commander, there's a huge thousand year-old Baobab tree. These are normally native to West Africa and they figure the seed must have drifted across the Atlantic because it is too old to have been brought by humans.

That about covers it. I'll see about some pics later. Haven't even downloaded the main camera yet, only my phone.
 
My Basset Hound died this afternoon. Nothing really apparently wrong with him, that I knew anyway, except for bad teeth. But he was 10, which is a good age for a large hound.
 
Bette - I am so sorry. I know what it is like to lose a dog. Tell us about him when you are ready, and feel free to cry as you think about him.
 
Ahhh ... hugs Bette .... sorry to hear your faithful four-legged companion has died. Gentle thoughts & good memories of that long eared guy.
 
I was saddened to read of the death of a wondercafe outer today.

She was a young woman, mother of 2 boys. Wife, active in the church, busy in the community.

She is from Ottawa and for the life of me cannot remember her posting name.

I was connected on Facebook and will miss her articulate posts and gentle, clear spirit

Edited: her wondercafe name was olivet_sarah
 
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Pinga said:
I was saddened to read of the death of a wondercafe outer today.

She was a young woman, mother of 2 boys. Wife, active in the church, busy in the community.

She is from Ottawa and for the life of me cannot remember her posting name.

I was connected on Facebook and will miss her articulate posts and gentle, clear spirit
Click to expand...
There was Pommum from Ottawa. Probably not her because I think she might have been a bit older.
 
No, Pom mum had Pomeranian dogs. She is different person.

I have added the name i to the post.
It was Olivet_sarah
 
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