Valentine's Day

    I know I'm a bit late for this but I have an excuse - I had unexpected overnight guests on Sunday so didn't get a chance to get online. Judy and Dave had house guests for "The Great Chili Cookoff", an annual event, and James was sick, coughing and snuffling. So Judy brought him over before heading back for the party. He was an extremely easy guest - ate some supper, watched some TV, had a bath and went straight to bed and to sleep. Judy came back later in case he had a restless night, but we all slept through to morning. It was nice to have company and they left shortly after breakfast. Luckily Monday was a holiday so no rush to get out for school.

    Sunday was still extremely cold, setting several low temperature records for Feb. 14th around the province and even here in Toronto. It has warmed up considerably since then and today we had our first substantial snowfall of the winter - about 5cms. so fairly easy to shovel. I will finish shovelling it tomorrow but the temperature is supposed to be + 6C by the weekend so it will probably be all melted by then.

   Lunch out today with RWTO; it was a delicious piece of salmon in a mustard sauce with vegetables and rice, Greek salad for starters and chocolate coated ice cream with coffee for afters. I had only had half a banana with peanut butter and some yogurt for breakfast so I was good and hungry. Just a frittata for dinner tonight.

   The speaker at lunch was Sergeant Gomez of the Toronto Police who was very funny while teaching us how not to be a victim and other safety tips. He even had us screaming in preparation for a possible purse snatcher - great fun!

Freezing!!

    The furnace is chugging away and the fire is lit so I am cozy and warm but it never really warmed up outside all day. The morning temperature was -23C, quite the coldest day so far this winter,  and when I went out to the store for some fresh fruit and veg, it was only slightly warmer, -19C. However, the sun shone brightly all day and is just now setting. Tomorrow shouldn't be quite so cold and I may venture out for some fresh air.

    I had a hearty breakfast to start me off today - poached egg on toast and grapefruit juice followed by more toast and coffee. Cauliflower soup and crackers and cheese for lunch with an apple have kept me going but soon I will have a glass of White Zinfandel with some nibblies - I bought a Boursin cheese this morning and can't wait to try it! Dinner is more leftovers but I will make a salad to complement the rest of the meal. And I think there's still a mincemeat tart in the freezer so I won't lack for something sweet.

    I picked up a DVD at the Senior's Centre yesterday which I plan to watch this evening. It's "Sliding Doors" with Gwyneth Paltrow and, although I've seen it a couple of times already, it has some interesting twists that I always enjoy.

A New Format for Bridge

    As predicted, the temperature is dropping - we will have -16C tomorrow. Today wasn't too bad but the wind was from the north and decidedly chilling. Still no snow (hope I'm not tempting Providence) and Monday is expected to be back into positive degrees again. We had sun this afternoon for a while.

    I had horrible hands at Bridge on Thursday  - almost decided to give up the game - but the cards were kinder today and I managed to play (and win) a couple of hands. I'm quite enjoying Progressive Bridge and meeting lots of new people as we change partners and tables after four hands. I brought home a pasta dish from the free giveaway so will have that for dinner tonight. I have been eating a fish pie for the last two days and, although it was good and full of vegetables, I feel like a change. I hope it's tasty! I also got a carton of soup which is now in the freezer for next week.

   I got the movie "Wild" from the library this week and watched it last night. It's based on a true story about a woman walking the Pacific Coast Trail under horrendously difficult conditions. I had read the book a few months ago - it was a selection for my book club - and the movie kept well to the story line.

   I am all set for an indoor weekend while the temperature drops - lots of books and a new jigsaw puzzle. I hope there's some good TV tomorrow night!

An Icy Morning

    We were greeted with a slight covering of icy snow this morning. It was blowing a gale when I came home from dance group last night, with blowing snow, so I put the car in the garage just in case. It didn't take long to clear the driveway this morning but the side roads were pretty icy. The temperature was just below zero for most of the day but is supposed to plummet in the next few days with a very chilly weekend ( -10C to -14C) coming up.

  I played a little better at tennis this morning, especially my serve, but still was thwarted by Swan's lobs - she is quite the expert! I was on the losing end in both sets but it was fun and good exercise.

    After a quick lunch I headed for Bridge class and picked up a couple of good tips. We just played until 2:30 so I had time for a nap when I got home. Later I watched a movie I picked up at the Senior's Centre - Billie Elliot - it was VHS so thankfully my VCR is still working! They also have a few DVD's but none that I was interested in seeing. We just pay a token amount for those and books and puzzles - it's more like an exchange program as I usually return them for resale once I am finished with them.