Rainy and Dull

   Very mild today for January, 6C although my outdoor thermometer was showing 9C. In any effect, most of the snow is gone. There was rain overnight but today was just dull and grey. It is so unusual to see the green grass at this time of year.

    I called off my dinner date with Bud - just didn't feel like socializing and he didn't seem too disappointed! I would rather just stay home and watch TV and I still have some of the free meal from yesterday to eat. I will cook up some broccoli to go with the meat and potatoes - an easy dinner. There are usually good shows on TV on a Saturday.

   Didn't accomplish very much today other than my usual Saturday chores. But I did make an interesting loaf in my bread machine. It was a parmesan and sundried tomato concoction with garlic and onion powder and it turned out very well. Of course I have already gobbled up a couple of slices! I will slice the rest and store it in the freezer, out of temptation's way.

  

An Unusual Day

   Today started out as my usual Friday but things took a turn for the better in the afternoon. My regular fitness class this morning followed by coffee with friends. After returning home I found some tennis on SN1 - the WTA Brisbane Open. I just caught the end of a quarter final match but, since the next match wasn't scheduled for a couple of hours I decided on something different.

    I walked over to the Senior's Centre for Duplicate Bridge. This is a new activity for me and a bit more challenging than my usual group. The other attraction was that there are free dinners delivered on Fridays around 1:00 p.m. from a catering company (probably their leftover lunches) and today there was quite a selection. I managed to get a roast beef, mashed potatoes and veg. meal. as well as a carton of navy bean soup. As it is served cold I took it home after bridge and heated up the soup. The roast beef meal was too much to finish for dinner so I ate all the vegetables and saved some of the meat and potatoes for another day.

    Bud (from bridge) has offered to lend me a book (to improve my game) so we have arranged to meet for dinner tomorrow night so that he can give it to me. I hope he doesn't expect me to have read it and upped my game by next Friday! I may have to avoid playing at his table in the future!

A Warming Trend

    Still in the negative values this morning but it got above zero by the afternoon under sunny skies. I walked to the Senior's Centre around noon for my shift in the kitchen and back again around 3:00. Very pleasant!

    My day started with fitness class followed by coffee with some of the other ladies. Our little group has grown somewhat smaller with people having to pass up on exercise due to injuries or other commitments. But it was nice to catch up on everyone's holiday activities.

    So, not a very eventful day but I am glad to get back to my usual weekly activities. Yesterday I had my usual tennis game at Hendrina's but I have to miss the next two Tuesdays because of other commitments. I made cabbage rolls for dinner tonight but they were rather overcooked and the cabbage was too chewy. I'd better search out a proper recipe before I try them again!

  

Frigid!

   The outside temperature was -15C this morning and with the wind chill, -20 something but, with sunny skies, it didn't felt that cold. It did get up to -10C this afternoon but is falling again as the sun goes down. I noticed that dusk is coming a little later this week which is a good thing.

    First thing this morning (well, 10:00 a.m.) was a visit to the bank as the ATM gipped me out of $40 yesterday! They will look into it but I'm not holding my breath. Bridge this afternoon and we had some good laughs but Pinkie and I had terrible cards, although I did manage a no-trump game which can sometimes be tricky. The other pair, Marie and Diane, had a grand slam game, so their cards were really working out for them.

  Out dancing this evening so will have to bundle up - will have to force myself to go but I know I will have fun once I`m there.