Dancing with Julie and the Unicorns

More than once have I posted photos of Sue and me acting silly in front of Linda's signs, which she updates periodically. The signage invariably has something to do in support of the town. As is plain to see, this one encourages us to shop locally.

Sue is the one to notice these changes and to come up with a plan. This time, in keeping with the season, she had us don our santa hats and  festoon ourselves with shopping bags and attempt to emulate Julie and the unicorns in the poster.

The first photo is as it was -- one shot. I set the camera on a tripod, engaged the timer, and got into place.

Before doing our act together as above, I took some photos of Sue on rapid fire . The camera was still on a tripod, so following her performance, I had her hold the shutter down while I twirled. Then, I put us together by blending two together in post, one in an arms-out twirl and the other facing the other way. Too bad we obscured the sign.

A Santa Driveby

Like just about everywhere else this year, there was no Christmas parade in this town.

But there was Santa driveby.

It was arranged that Santa would drive through various neighbourhoods of the town on three different occasions this weekend and thus go by or close to everyone.

Our turn was last evening.

We were near the end of the route, so it took Santa more than an hour to get here. It was cold and windy, but I lifted the trunk of the car in the garage and waited in not too much discomfort.

Eventually, a police car turned the corner, followed by a firetruck.

Canned goods for the food bank were collected.

Apart from Santa, there was a solitary float, which followed the firetruck.

Then came Santa, who in our town parades is always accompanied by Mrs Claus, who was nearest to us.

Santa was followed by another firetruck, and a police car brought up the rear. 

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. 

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

What a super thing for the town to organize. Kudos to the people who thought about it and those who implemented the event. And, of course, for the participants who gave of their time in the cold.

While I snapped what photos I could, Sue manned the little camera and took a video that I have pared down considerably. You will hear her wish the paraders Merry Christmas more than once.

(Hopefully, the video will actually work this time. Please press F for full screen.)

A Photo Got Noticed

A week ago, I posted a winter photo on our local photo fb group page looking across the river from a park with town hall centered well in the composition.

It is not a new photo, almost 4 years old in fact. I have printed it and displayed it previously locally and posted it on this blog way back when: From a Snowy Park.

But when I recently revisited the photo, I was able to give it a little more punch and then posted it on our local fb group which didn't exist back then.

My goodness! The likes and comments exploded as never before with 30 comments, 241 likes, and 17 shares. That's not a huge response comparatively speaking to other venues, but it is for our local group of limited size.

The town noticed it and asked me if they could use it on their website and promised to credit me, and I agreed. They have paid me for some work in the past, so I was glad to grant them this gratis.

I hadn't bothered to check the site, but I expected them to use it as a header or in a thumbnail.

Then, one of our group members contacted me. She had seen my photo there and was concerned to know that they had asked my permission. I assured her that they had, of course, but appreciated that she thought to notify me.

After some chatting/messaging with her, I decided that I should go and have a look.

I was more than a little surprised to see not a header or thumbnail but the photo covering the screen. And they did leave my signature visible, or most of it.

Carleton Place Website

I hope the post doesn't come across as braggadocious, for I am just sharing from my life, or some of it.

The Grinch Lives

Our neighbour across the street has, or had, a rather exuberant display in front of their townhouse. There's not a ton of room on a townhouse lawn, but they filled it, and it is dazzling. Certainly as seen from my den it is.

But it is not as dazzling as it was.

You see that dark spot behind the snowman and before the porch?

Well there was once another well lit tree.

The tree is still there, but it is no longer lit.

In the middle of the night, someone cut the wires -- cut them so they could not be repaired.

We are not blaming juvenile delinquents in this case but highly suspect a certain miserable, retired neighbour.

She left her shenanigans until there was no snow on the ground to leave footprints, so there is no proof.

Here is our neighbour's response on Messenger.

What a shame to have to do that!

From now on I shall think of the offending neighbour as The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

While I am here, this is another neighbour looking the opposite way from my den. Actually, this is two houses, but they go together well.

A Christmas Surprise from Someone

That was nice.

Alexa notified us that there was someone near the door.

That someone didn't even ring, but we heard the warning and looked out anyway.

Someone was gone already but left these two planters or whatever they should be called in winter.

One was on the ground; the other had been hung on the hook by the garage door.

Of course, someone was Shauna.

The Pandemic These Days

Ah COVID! What an unrelenting beast thou art.

Provincially, like just about everywhere else, Ontario's numbers are alarming. Daily new cases have been in the 1700-1800 range lately, and that is high compared to the early days. After that we then got down into the 100 range before the second wave hit. And has it ever hit!

However, our very local numbers are less discouraging. Our part of the 3 county health unit has only 3 active cases. While that is 3 too many, relatively speaking, it's not bad.

It is all relative too, isn't it? For as disappointing as Ontario's numbers might be, it could be a lot worse as this map shows..

Ontario (the big province north of the Great Lakes for those who aren't geographically inclined) is almost all in the lighter shades of green. But look at the adjacent American regions, especially westward toward Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas and then down into Nebraska. They are mostly blue and dark blue at that.

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A cause for guarded optimism is Canada's vaccine portfolio looks promising. The country has invested in many vaccines.

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Don't quote me on the following statistics which contain numbers that I think that I have read in passing but didn't stop to document at the time. 

I have read that we are also in good shape for early-ish delivery. For example: Canada will apparently have 20 million doses coming from Moderna, and they are coming soon-ish. Moderna has said that because Canada ordered early in the developmental process, we will get it early in the distribution phase. If I understand correctly, we should receive at least some of our 20 million doses by March.

I have also come across projections that by the end of September the percentage of those inoculated will be quite high although still not complete.

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Canada, along with many countries, has offered much support to people and business. We haven't done as well as a number of European countries in particular

A Virtual Tree Decorating Party

I begin Christmas month with a Christmas post.

For the best part of 40 years, our little family has gathered to decorate the Christmas tree. From whenever exactly we began the tradition, I don't think we have missed a year.

2020 being what it is, Sue and I chose not to gather at Sha's in person this year, but phones and tablets came to the rescue.

We set up the tablet in advance and took this photo from the iPad looking back at us.

Then came the notification that they were ready for a Facetime get-together, and we were whisked to their place virtually.

With JJ doing the camera work, we and Danica were all set. To record the event, I took pictures from their stream. What a world! (You can see Sue and me in the top left corner.)

The decorating commenced.

Years ago and for many years, my mother smocked Christmas balls. Over the years, she made two sets, one for each of my daughters. We still have them. They showed us the box, and both Sue and I picked one for this year's tree: white for Sue and red for me.

JJ crawled underneath to put the skirt in place. This was also made by my mother, but you can only see a corner in the bottom right in this photo.

Soon enough, it was done.

One with the house lights out.

Hopefully, we'll trim the tree in the old-fashioned and in-person way next year, but this worked well enough as a substitute this year.

As usual, it was mostly photos from me, but I did take some video clips. It's very brief. Note: apparently, it doesn't play. Oh well.