More Like January

    No more snow after all but quite cold (-8C) and a strong north wind. Just my usual Wednesday - fitness class in the morning followed by coffee, a trip to the library, home to change out of my gym clothes, then back to the coffee bar for my afternoon shift. Not a big crowd so I closed up at 2:30, counted the cash and locked up.

    While I was at the library this morning I dropped into Dollarama next door and picked up a new jigsaw puzzle. Although they don't have a big choice they are only $3. It's 1000 pieces so will keep me busy for quite some time!

   I still haven't got my appetite back so just had yogurt for breakfast, soup for lunch and a mushroom omelette for dinner. Maybe I'll lose a few pounds!

The First Snow

   I've been feeling rather under the weather for the last couple of days but had things to do, people to see and places to go so......soldiered on regardless.

   Yesterday I made a trip to the bank to see about my missing $40 and, voila, it's back in my bank account! Persistence pays off, seemingly. I had to talk to the manager to get it done but it only took a few minutes. As I left she said, "Have a good day", to which I replied, waving the receipt, "Now I will!"

   Bridge in the afternoon (Pinkie, Diane and Diru were our group and I had a wonderful hand where I bid 4 and made 6) and dancing at night with a nap in between. Bad news for our social group - the church where we meet has increased the rent to $150 per month (as compared to $25 a week) but also insists we pay for the three summer months we don't meet and don't have any money coming in! If we go along with this we will soon deplete our meagre resources but the management seems entirely oblivious to our concerns! We are looking into an alternative location.

    The first Robbie Burns' lunch today despite a heavy snowfall overnight. We did have some snow in December but it soon disappeared so this our first real snowstorm. The snow was quite light so I cleared half the driveway before I left and left myself plenty of time to get to the west end on a very sloppy highway. The pie, haggis and coleslaw was tasty. The haggis was piped in and addressed by Brian, then we performed some dances (I mixed up two but we managed to disguise the fact so I don't think the audience noticed). Then we had the good folks up for a few ceilidh dances so fun was had by all. Filled the car with gas on the way home as it was just 96 cents a litre - the cheapest in quite a while. When I got home I got the snowblower going to clear the rest of the driveway even though more snow is forecast for tonight. I had plugged in the battery before I went out and it worked a charm.

   Don't feel like much dinner tonight but there's some fried fish in the fridge in case I get peckish later.

Here's another puzzle I did over Christmas - it was very hard as everything seemed out of focus. It's a well known painting  - "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat.

A Change in the Weather

   It started out quite mild this morning (6C) but with lots of rain - my back yard is a pond! However, the temperature dropped radically this afternoon and by 4:00 p.m. we had snow showers and zero. I hate to think how icy it will be tomorrow. I put the car in the garage just in case everything ices up.

    I spent a good chunk of today typing up the minutes from Thursday's meeting but now it's done and sent off to Donna for her perusal. My last effort had a couple of mistakes so I hope she catches any errors this time.

    Over the holidays I did a couple of jigsaw puzzles and this was one of them which took me almost two weeks. It is the interior of a cathedral in Vienna but I haven't been able to find out which one. It was very tricky the first time but a little easier when I tried it a second time. Maybe I will visit the real thing some time, it is certainly beautiful!

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.