A Few Days of Catch Up

  The internet has been down since Sunday when the power went off so I have several days to catch up on. We had a massive ice storm on Saturday and Sunday with power off all over the city and since then none of my Rogers systems, phone, cable TV and internet have been working.

   Friday, Dec. 20th.
Plans to go skiing did not transpire, in fact I had got the date wrong and it was the following Friday when Judy planned to go to Brimacombe. Can't remember what I did instead.

Saturday 21st.

Normal day until 4:30 when the kids arrived for a sleepover. Their first task was to prepare their Christmas cakes for marzipan and icing. While we waited for the marzipan to dry I prepared supper. After eating we iced the cakes and decorated them with maraschino cherries, candies and silver balls. They looked very festive when we were finished. Then it was off for baths and bed with a bit of TV in their P.J's. James took a while to settle (he and Elliot were sharing a bed) but he was pretty exhausted and soon dropped off. I wasn't far behind them.

Sunday 22nd.
We woke up (rather early!) to a spectacular display of ice coating every tree and branch. Thank goodness I had put my car in the garage or it would have been coated too! Several tree branches were down all around the neighbourhood, one almost blocking the road. Breakfast was pancakes and sausages washed down with orange juice and soon Judy arrived to take them home. Just before that the power went off and on a few times then finely stayed off. Traffic lights were also off in several parts of the city making Judy's drive home an adventure. Dave came by in the afternoon as they couldn't get me on the phone and got my car out of the garage so at least I was mobile if the power stayed off. I spent the day in a progressively chilly house, had the gas fire on and candles going by dusk and nothing to do but read. An early night was called for.

Monday 23rd.
Woke up around 1:00 a.m. to the sound of the furnace kicking in - the power was back on. However, no phone but Steve dropped by to see how I was faring. I tried again to find some salt for the driveway with no success - all sold out everywhere. I picked up a few more items for Christmas dinner and started a major cleanup of the house, all set for visitors on Wednesday.

Tuesday 24th.
An early start to beat the crowds in the grocery stores - still traffic lights out but not much traffic on the roads and, surprisingly, no big crowds in the stores so I was home again by 10:00 a.m. With no TV, I decided to see a movie in the afternoon, "Saving Mr. Banks". It's about how Walt Disney persuaded P.L.Travers to let him make a musical out of her book, "Mary Poppins". Coming home traffic had picked up and getting through the intersections with no traffic lights was extremely slow going. A final cleanup around the house and then another early night.