Spoke Too Soon

    The snow arrived on Sunday so I spent an hour clearing the driveway with the snow blower. Today's snow was just a dusting but I cleared it anyway as the sun was shining and I was happy to be outdoors. The wind was strong and blowing the snow back in as I worked, wind chill -16C.

  Bridge this afternoon and, thankfully, I had better cards than yesterday. It's all about the luck of the deal and often I get pretty dismal hands. But it is still fun and keeps the old brain working. I also do the puzzles in the newspaper every day and am usually successful.

   One of the cats had to go to the vet yesterday for an injection and Judy came by to pick her up. What a job corralling her into the cat container - she had to wear protective gear to avoid the claws and teeth! But, mission accomplished and no one is any the worse for wear. Never a dull moment at Mia Casa!

   I have made some potato salad for dinner and will also have a green salad and some garlic shrimp. Some nights I just don't feel like cooking but this will be fast and easy. 

Hibernating

   Can't believe I haven't posted since before Christmas as the days between Christmas and New Year's are usually a "down time" chez moi. I did get started on a few twice-yearly chores but soon tired of that!

   The visit by the family on Christmas Day went off well despite the fact that they were accompanied by two dogs they were babysitting. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am currently fostering two cats who have been through a bit of trauma in the past few months and are very skittish. It seemed best to corral them into the upper floor of my house while the dogs were here but they let their displeasure be known once they were allowed downstairs again (messes on the carpet etc.). They are back to their normal behaviour now, thankfully.

   Since then I have been lazily filling my days with reading lots of books and working on a very tricky puzzle. Activities at the Senior's Centre started up again this week as well as Book Club and Knitting group. I was one of the presenters at book club (we read "None of This is True" by Lisa Jewell and, although a small group attended, had a lively discussion) and brought home lots of tasty nibbles to snack on. Back to "auld claes and parritch" (basic food and clothes), even our RTO Executive meeting was by Zoom this week!

    The weather here hasn't been as wintery as we are used to so far this month. Minus temperatures and cold northerly winds but (fingers crossed) not much in the way of snow. I am happy not to have had to do much shovelling so far this winter!

    

Starting to Feel a Lot Like Christmas.

    My latest heating bill arrived in my (virtual) mailbox today and it was a whopper. However, I checked last year and this one was actually slightly less. Next month's will probably be quite a bit more so I am keeping money in reserve in my bank account as a precaution.

   After a couple of quiet weeks, this one has started to heat up in the lead-up to Christmas. Last Friday I got the grandkids gifts at the book store as it was on my way to a Christmas show. Happy to get that done and the show was fun with songs, skits and a sing-a-long. Two birds with one stone.

   On Tuesday it was a pot luck lunch at my Bridge group. I overate as usual but wanted to try a bit of everything that people brought. I made sausage rolls and they went down well. Yesterday was the "Festive Special" at Swiss Chalet with the family (my treat) and it was great to see oldest grandson as he was back from school after his first term away. He seems to have grown up (matured rather than grown in height) so it was a good decision to attend a school away from home. 

   Today my Probus Club's Christmas party was held at "Flogo", a local Greek restaurant and about 60 people attended. Reasonable prices and a nice selection of dishes to choose from. I had an eggplant concoction, something I wouldn't make at home and it was very good with lots of Feta cheese and olives. Plus a glass of white wine as a special treat as it is the holiday season after all!

   On my way home from that I stopped off at the local mall and picked up a gift for my daughter from the Kitchen store. Just something for son-in-law still to get and it will probably be golf related. He is hard to shop for. We don't exchange gifts with the family in Victoria but will Skype with them on the day.

   Now I just have to decorate the house and do a last shop before the big day so everything seems to be under control. My freezer is already full with goodies for the meal!

Eating Out Again

    Yesterday was this months RODEO lunch and we are at the letter "K" so it was a Korean restaurant. Another quirky little spot in a non-descript strip mall. You would never find it unless you were actually looking for it. Our fearless leader, Norma, is painstaking in hunting down interesting places to eat. The restaurant was surprisingly busy for a mid-week lunch hour so, obviously, it's a well known and popular spot.

   So, we arrived at "Makkal Chon " and were all seated promptly. Our meal started with complimentary appetizers, some quite spicy, followed by entrees such Bi Bim Bop and Bol-gul-bi. Not being too adventurous, I chose a pork cutlet which was tender and crispy with a slightly spicy BBQ sauce and a salad and rice on the side. Having nibbled on the appetizers I was quite satisfied with half of the meal so took the rest home for dinner. 

   December is always a busy month for eating out and I have at least 2 more events to attend and one concert. The month will go by fast and, before you know it, it will be the new year. No idea what our next RODEO outing will be but, as we are at the letter "L", it may very well be Lebanese. ,