Turning Corners

Happy Equinox! Although tomorrow will be the first full day of spring, the sun crosses the equator later today, so we call this the equinox, even if it's not a full day.

And the weather is cooperating. You see, it's going up to 7°C today. Although we've been there before recently, I still consider it a corner turned. Here ↓ is the 36 hour forecast, which also shows a temperature of 5°C tomorrow afternoon. And if the long term forecast stands, there will only be one day in the next two weeks where the high daytime temperature will actually remain below 0, and it will only be -1 at that.

So that's a corner turned, but we still have to get rid of some of that snow. Right now, we stand second in all of Canada's capitals (Ottawa is the national capital, the others are provincial) for snow cover, and some of the, are much farther north: Yellowknife, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Whitehorse, and Iqaluit.

Meanwhile, Sue and I may (MAY) have turned the health corner. Yesterday, as was the case for the two or three previous days, was miserable. But Sue smiled when I first saw her this morning — as she usually does, but she sure wasn't smiling yesterday morning.

And moi? It's early, and my head feels fuzzy and light, but I think (THINK) I am not as bad as yesterday. So that's another corner turned.

This was my Flickr photo this morning. I titled it, Hey Winter! Ride on Outta Here!

Cold in Me 'Ead and Outside Too

When I said in my Sunday post, "I've had worse colds. I even slept fairly well last night. Mind you, it could get worse," I really wasn't expecting the worst. But OMG! What a cold!

I'm now in my third full day. I fully expected to be on the road to recovery when I awoke this morning. Alas, I am not.

I am reading your posts but not commenting too much. Mind you, some posts are very difficult to comment upon. After reading, I am prone to stare blankly at the screen scratch my head in perplexity, and move on, having once again been defeated by my lack of cleverness.

Getting back to colds, I continue to be surprised by how much variance there is in the symptoms from person to person. Sue, for example, has been mostly headachy and coughy (sorry spellcheck, but I'm going with it). OTOH I have been mostly sorethroaty and nosey. However, a dry cough is startling to take hold.

My throat seems to be my weak point. Sometimes I feel as though I could get a hangnail, and one of the concomitant symptoms would be a sore throat.

Blessedly, I suppose, I have managed to sleep fairly well through it all. I did get up horrendously early yesterday, but at least the hours that I did sleep were not fitful.

Meanwhile, Shauna was on her way here with the kids for supper yesterday afternoon when I got a call to pick them up because they had been in an accident. It wasn't their fault, and I think the car can be salvaged, but it is still a bit of a trauma and inconvenience.

The truck tried to make a turn from the left lane while Shauna was in the right lane.

The weather is not exactly cooperating to make anybody feel better although the mercury will inch above freezing today. Maybe millimetre would be more apt.

The long range forecast isn't exactly blazing hot either although by month's end daytime temperatures should consistently rise above freezing.

We Have Succumbed

Almost made it. With spring just around the corner, although it is a heckuva long and wide corner, I was thinking that I and we were about to make it through another winter sans cold.

You see, we're done this for three winters now. Maybe even four.

Colds and flu viruses had seemed to have disappeared from our lives.

Then both of the kids came for sleepovers, and they were coughing quite a lot.

So Sue, being a sympathetic joiner at heart, decided that she should join the coughing choir on Friday.

Finally on Saturday, I succumbed. While mine is more of a traditional sore throat and cold than a cough. it's just a different manifestation of the same bug.

I've had worse colds. I even slept fairly well last night. Mind you, it could get worse.

We didn't take many pictures during their visits, but this was from breakfast with Jonathan.

And a lagniappe from 10 years ago as I sometimes peruse through an old folder: me with Danica.

All Shall Be Well

We have miles to go before we get real spring, but the temperature rose well over freezing for the past two days.

The snow cover in Ottawa dipped below 50cm for the first time in 50 days. I chipped some ice from the driveway, and the sap has begun to run in this Lanark County, the self-designated Maple Syrup Capital of Ontario. You can click here to see a short clip of the first day's run, Thursday, at out favourite maple sugar operation. I would post the clip directly, but I am not sure how to do that with FB videos. They want their clicks after all. So, here it is again: https://www.facebook.com/wheelersmaple/videos/565282027304536/.

But I do know how to grab a photo from FB, and this is from the first day of processing, Friday. They posted with this caption: "There’s that golden nectar... first boil of 2019. Sap should continue to run until midnight so there will be more sap to boil tomorrow."

As long as the daytime temperature go comfortably above freezing, say 5°, and the nighttime temperatures go below freezing, say -5°, the sap will run. Unfortunately, the daytime temperatures are not going to cooperate for a few days. But all shall be well. Eventually.

Back and Full

Not that I have a schedule or even a goal for blogging, but I have suddenly fallen off a bit. My last post (with apologies to bugles everywhere) was on Sunday, and this is Friday.

Back then, I did manage a quick photo post of JJ's tournament, which ended for me with a Saturday evening, heavy calorie meal at a lovely old pub in Kingston. It was the second big meal out in just a few days, the first being that fish n chip outing of which I posted.

I had been pretty disciplined with my diet for two months and probably lost a few pounds although I never weigh in. But those were two high cal meals in quick succession. Then, we had a family dinner on Monday evening followed by a sleepover with Jonathan. Of course, there were snacks.

Come Tuesday, we took JJ to McD's for breakfast, and then we went out for a long planned breakfast with friends and neighbours on Wednesday. When Danica came for a sleepover on Wednesday night, she also wanted breakfast out the next morning. By this time, we were breakfasted out, and I contented myself with a muffin in lieu of my standard sausage and egg muffin plus hash brown. You can get too much of a good thing — or bad, depending on your taste. Finally that afternoon, we were back at McD's for coffee with friends. Once again, I was good and contented myself with just coffee.

This morning? Well Sue has her regular coffee meetup with her lady friends, and I have an irregular coffee meetup with my two photographer friends. I think I will be good though and stick with just coffee. Well, maybe a tea biscuit/scone because they have very good ones, but that's not extremely terrible. Or is it?

I the meantime, maybe I will head downstairs and make myself a very healthy bowl of oatmeal.

Kingston Tournament

We have eschewed travelling to JJ's out-of-town games this winter, but when Shauna offered to drive us to the final tournament of the season, we accepted.

Kingston is the best part of a 2 hour drive from here, or at least 1.5 hours, but we got to the arena and settled comfortably before the first game of the day at 11 o'clock. They had handily won their game of the previous evening, but they were in very tough against a very good team in this game.

In point of fact, our boys were completely dominated, but with good defence and goaltending, they managed to keep the score down to 2-1 (not in their favour). Their only goal had come on a breakaway.

However, in the final minutes they pulled the goalie for an extra attacker, and has luck would have it, they scored to tie the game. It was quite an amazing result.

The boys really didn't spend much time in the offensive zone all game, but I managed to get a few pictures when they did. Danica probably has more as she commandeered my camera for two of the three periods. Her photos are on my computer, but I will leave them for her to sort although I have done the basic developing on them.

The second game of the day and final game of the preliminary round was quite a trouncing. I think the final score was 14-0. I felt badly for the other team, but then I learned that they were playing up a level and probably knew what they were in for. I was impressed with both their players and the fans were very good sports.

In such a lopsided game, our coach mixed up the assignments and let JJ play offence: in the centre, below.

There were many goals and celebrations with sticks raised. Near the end of the game, JJ had a bit of a chance to score but made what is ordinarily the right play and passed the puck. I say ordinarily because he probably should have just gone for it in a game like this. But good on him for being a good teammate. Passing the puck is something that most of his teammates do with reluctance, but Jonathan is a pretty good sport.

I have just found out that they won their semi final match this (Sunday) morning and will play for the championship this afternoon. I don't think they can win, but this team has come so far this year. When I witnessed their first few games of the season, I sincerely doubted that they would win a game all season. In fact, and I'm not kidding, I wondered if they would even score a goal. In my humble opinion, the coaches have done a remarkable job while keeping on a very even keel and being good sports.

Summer Caps At Last

When we were in town for Sue's early fish n chip birthday lunch, Sue opined that I should check out the Irish & Scottish Shop for summer caps.

I have purchased a few heavier caps there in the past, but I've had a heckuva time finding suitable lightweight caps anywhere. My only summer hat is a Tilley with a brim — not a cap. It's fine; I like it, but one doesn't always want to wear a hat, and I don't do baseball-style caps. They aren't me.

As it turned out, the shop only had two summer weight caps, but I liked them both, so a long wait seems to be over. Except, now of course, I must wait for summer. It will take a few months, but I think I am set when it does get here.

Speaking of which, tomorrow shall be a momentous day as temperatures will finally rise above freezing and, for the most part, stay there. Of course, nighttime temperatures will continue to be below freezing, and that is good for the sap run.

Here's the reveal.