Reminiscing

It's a quiet Sunday for us, the perfect day to reminisce about what we were doing one year ago this week.  We've been getting "memories" from Facebook all week and most of them were from one year ago...we sold our home in Huntsville and started our house hunting journey. This journey was going to take us to Burlington and yet, here we are living in Quebec. We never thought in a million years that this is where we would end up. Life is full of surprises sometimes.

All is good with us, although we are feeling a little melancholy from those memories.  I also think that the weather is not helping.  March has not been a good month weather wise. We woke up Saturday morning to more snow although the scenery was spectacular.  Russell was out there with his camera to take photos of the trees. I was looking at our crabapple tree from our kitchen window.....in a little while, it will be in full bloom.  Such a beautiful tree in the Spring.  We did notice though that many trees have buds so I guess something warm is going to happen soon. Our "weather specialist" from the Southern Quebec Severe Weather Network is predicting a warmer than normal April.  More importantly, he is predicting a mild 2017/2018 Winter, thanks to El Nino. His predictions are always right. Bring it on!

Cooper and I are doing well at training.  The class on Wednesday was good.  We practiced a lot at home and it made a huge difference.  A funny little tidbit:  towards the end of the class, Cooper had to do a "Down Stay" for 2 minutes (by the way, 2 minutes seems like an eternity).  While this was happening, another instructor came in for the 8 pm class and he unwrapped a cheese string. When I saw what he was doing, I thought for sure Cooper was going to stand up and try to get his paws on the cheese string.  Well, to my great surprise, Cooper stayed in his "Down Stay" position, although his head turned to look at the instructor.  Good one Cooper.  That's what I call training with distraction.  I can't unwrapped any food at home without Cooper running to me!

Russell continues to work on his family tree, which, in my humble opinion, is starting to look like a forrest.  He is in touch with a few cousins through Facebook and email and they are exchanging information.  Today, he found photos of his great great uncle and aunt, on his mother's side.  Quite fascinating.  His aunt Lorraine's DNA has arrived in Ireland and is being processed.  We should have her results in about 5-6 weeks.  My DNA kit should be in the mail by now. Fun stuff.

That's about it for our news.  We may watch a movie later, or not.  We'll see.  On Friday, we watched the movie "Arrival", produced by "un gars de chez nous". Excellent movie! Have a great week everyone.  Remember, Saturday is April Fool's Day!

Fresh snow on the crabapple tree in our backyard.

The tamaracks were decked with snow too...one breeze
and it was all gone.

Mr Cooper on his chair...lazying and waiting
for the next treat...not before working for it though

Finding a sunny spot to lounge is hard work but...
Cooper is always up for the challenge.

Meet Edmund Watkins...
great, great uncle to
Russell.

Ann Babb was Edmund's
second wife...a real
cutie in her day!

So long Mr Winter!

Happy Sunday to all!  What a bright sunny and warm day we're having.  Spring is literally just around the corner. I can see it, ready to make its appearance tomorrow.  I say it's about time although it doesn't quite look like Spring around here.

This past week brought the worst snow storm of the Winter. Where we live, we got a good 35 cm of the white stuff.  In some other areas of the province, accumulation of up to 70 cm were seen.  I guess we lucked out :-)  Although we have a service for our driveway, we had to shovel the backyard for Cooper.  The snow had drifted in such a way that he couldn't make a dent in it.  I spent a good part of Wednesday shovelling paths for him all over the backyard.  The things that we do for our pooch....at the expense of a sore back. But it's all good. Amazingly, a lot of the snow has already melted.  The next few days will bring lots of sunshine so more melting and evaporating.

On the topic of weather, Russell and I follow a guy on Facebook who is incredibly accurate at predicting storms.  His site is called the Southern Quebec Severe Weather Network. The guy is, as far as we can tell, just an ordinary guy who has a day job but his passion is to study the weather patterns and models.  To make a long story short, he predicted this storm, and the severity of it, a month ago. Every weather prediction of his is right on and he is always way ahead of Environment Canada.  He has about 11,000 followers. It's fascinating to follow him although at times it can be a bit depressing.  So, his next prediction is for March 24/25 but this system will most likely be in "liquid" or "ice" form, so he says.  Time will tell.

My parents and I are now focusing on the "staging" of their condo before it's listed.  The next two weeks will be busy on that front but it's coming along. Russell is doing well and continues to work on his ancestry.  He convinced me to get my DNA test done so we're waiting for the kit. I can't wait to find out what I'm really made of!

That's it for today's blog. We just came back from a nice walk at Morgan Arboretum.  Lots of people walking and cross country skiing today.  My brother is coming over for a sleepover.  We will partly celebrate St-Patty's Day and his birthday....greek food on the menu.

I leave you with some photos of our snow taken on Wednesday morning.  Take a peak at my Christmas pot, it is looking better than ever!  I'm also including a photo that we took of Cooper trying to get to the dinner table last night.....I had my back turned and first thing I knew, he was trying to get to the cheese plate (to go with the onion soup).  It seems that Russell had plenty of time to get his camera in the other room as Cooper wasn't going anywhere. Oh, and just for fun this morning, I combed his hair the way it would be if he was a show dog.  Such a different look!

Have a great week everyone and a huge welcome to Spring!

Cooper is wondering which path to take...
so many choices...thanks Mommie.

This is what 35 cm or so of snow looks like
on the back deck.

Best looking Christmas greenery
thanks to the fresh snow this week!

Cooper wishing he was a few inches taller...
that cheese aroma is to die for.

Cooper au naturel with no top knot...
a very handsome fellow.

Spring forward...but more Winter weather

Happy Sunday everyone! I hope your day is relaxing and that you are keeping warm, that is if you live in areas where Winter is still very much with us. This weekend has probably been the coldest so far this season.  Yesterday, with the wind chill it was -32 celsius. Today, it is a balmy -22 with the wind. We bundled up and went for a walk anyway after lunch.  Needless to say, we took a shortcut to come home, didn't realize how biting the wind was.

So, daylight saving time began at 2 am this morning.  This means longer days, more light so it's all good. All we need now is for Mother Nature to bring on Spring. Based on the forecast, it won't be for a while. Lots of snow on the way for Southern Ontario tomorrow and Tuesday, some US cities and some for us, although not as much. Looks like Mr. Groundhog was terribly wrong...tsk tsk

This past week was good and quiet. My parents signed the lease for their retirement  home. They are very happy about it. Tomorrow, I will go over and start helping with the purging process.  They need to get their condo ready for selling, photos, etc. This will be done in the next two weeks. Lots on the go on that front but it will all go smoothly.

Russell is keeping busy working on his family's ancestry.  He did his DNA test in January and got the results while we were in Barbados. It turns out my husband is 51% Irish, 38% Scottish and 11% "other".... what I want to know is what mix is in the "other"... more on that later. Here I thought I had married a Scot! Someone will really be celebrating St-Paddy's Day on Friday! His aunt Lorraine graciously agreed to do her DNA test also. She came over on Friday for the "spitting". It will be very interesting to see her results and how they blend with Russell's. This will help "fill in the blanks".  The family tree is already growing very rapidly.

Coop and I will continue our training on Wednesday night. I have a few tricks up my sleeve to keep him engaged while the instructor does her thing.  Cooper gets antsy when he just sits and does nothing so I will be working on that (thanks to Wanda for giving me good tips).

That's it for today's blog. A quiet day for us. Coop is having a nap, Russell is working on his family tree. I made Wicked Chicken Riggies for dinner tonight...fitting for a wicked cold day. We may watch a movie later. Have a great week everyone and no worries, Winter will end soon.

Grandfather clock ushered in
Daylight Saving time in its
place of honor.

Cooper says..no...I am not being cheeky!

Cooper's famous "I want to play downstairs" pose.

Auntie Lorraine getting ready to 'spit' to collect
her DNA sample....we'll see the results in 6 to 8 weeks...
who knows who she is connected to?

It was a slow week

Happy Sunday to all!  Another sunny but cold day.  The past few days have been very cold, probably the coldest so far this Winter but there is a big warm up on the way starting tomorrow.

This past week was quiet.  I think we are still on "vacation mode", mentally anyway.  I love going away in February but I don't like having to wait for Spring when we return.  I find those weeks leading to Spring can be a real drag.  We don't feel like doing much other than the normal day to day stuff.

Having said this, this past week brought some interesting news. My parents have decided to sell their condo and move to a brand new retirement home, LILO, in Ile Perrot, about 5-7 minutes from where they currently live.  LILO is part of Le Groupe Maurice, a leader in seniors residences in Quebec.  I visited the place with them last week and we will be signing the lease tomorrow.  They are happy about this decision, so am I.  The time to make this move is now, while they are both healthy. The move will take place in August. So, for the next few months we will be busy purging and packing. That's OK, that's my specialty.

Coop and I started Obedience Level 2 last Wednesday.  The first night was a review of Level 1 so not too exciting. We look forward to learning new things starting this week.

Not much else is going on. We are reading up about Iceland and are starting to plan what we want to see, where we want to go.  As we get closer to our trip, we will book a few day tours. For sure one tour will be at night to see the Northern Lights. We look forward to it.

Not too many pics today, a few of the Coop and two photos that we took at Bert's Bar in Barbados. Today's cold weather makes me wish we were back there, having a Margarita! Just for the fun of it, a little bit of history about Bert's Bar, which has been around for ever. It is co-owned by Eugene Melnyk, owner of the Ottawa Senators, and Bert Innis who is Canadian.  There is absolutely nothing fancy about that bar, as a matter of fact some would say that it's a dump, but we have lunch there each time we go to Barbados.  The food is actually pretty good. Just to give you a sense of how old this place is, Russell used to go there where he was a teen.

That's it for today's blog. We will have lunch now then bundle up and go for a walk.  Have a great week everyone!

Cooper wishing it was Spring!

Cooper waiting to signal the arrival of
the pizza delivery man.

Cooper the bedbug....loves to burrow under
the duvet.

Cheers to you! Bert's
famous banana daiquiri.

Cheers to you! A margarita on the rocks.