Covered in the White Stuff

   We got 15 cms. of snow overnight so shovelling was required! The plow had been down our street early and left a wall of snow, called a windrow in this neck of the woods, across the end of my driveway. I went at it around 8:15 and had cleared enough to get the car backed out of the garage, then took a break - no need to overdo it! I fished out the battery for the snowblower and got it charging (should have done that last night!) and managed to get through the windrow by gunning the engine for maximum speed. I was due at the Senior`s Centre by 9:00 to start the coffee machine but, as it turned out there had been some miscommunication and it was the other Christine who was on duty! So I came back home and did a bit more shovelling before collapsing on the sofa for a rest.

   By the time I got home from Bridge around 3:00 p.m. the battery was fully charged and I finished off the driveway in quick time. The snow was quite wet so I had to scrape away a layer of the wet stuff that the snowblower didn`t pick up, but it was still quicker than doing the whole thing manually.

   Our last night at dance group tonight so we are having a pot luck party. Next item on the agenda was to make some sausage rolls - they look delicious and I ate the leftover sausage, egg and pastry for my dinner. I`m sure I will be hungry again by the time we finish dancing and roll out the food.

    Here are photos of my neighbourhood this morning:

The Canadian flag still flying bravely at my neighbour`s.

You can see the depth of the snow by the pile on my other neighbour`s car.

Looking More Wintery

   Snow has been threatening for a few days now but finally it is falling in earnest. I have put the car away just in case there is a sizeable accumulation, and looked out the snow shovel. Hopefully it will only be a couple of inches. It is only a few degrees below zero so not too uncomfortable.

    I didn't go out much today - just to the store for a few groceries. There's still lots of food in the freezer so it was basically just fresh fruit and veg. I had a beautiful salmon fillet for dinner tonight (the first time I have cooked a proper dinner in almost a week!) and with it just chopped cabbage. It was delicious, very buttery and peppery, the only things I  seasoned it with. It took me back to my childhood as cabbage was a big part of our diet, appearing on the dinner table a couple of times a week. Now I very rarely  buy it as it takes me ages to eat a whole cabbage, but all the other greens were very expensive today at the store. I will have to try and find several different ways of cooking it but it does keep quite a long time.

Taking It Easy

    A blessedly restful day today - I haven't set foot outside except to pick up the newspaper - it's minus 2 and was snowing (somewhat half-heartedly) until an hour ago. All I have eaten so far is egg in a croissant with coffee for breakfast, a bowl of carrot-lentil soup for lunch, and blue cheese, crackers, smoked trout and some grapes with a beer just now (the sun is over the yard arm) which will be my dinner! I will have a couple of sandwiches and something sweet at the monthly dance this evening but I will burn that off by dancing most of the dances.

     I was late to bed last night and read for a while so I really slept in this morning - 9:15 which is quite unheard of for me. I didn't bother with grocery shopping - I'll do it tomorrow - so, other than making a pot of soup, I have been very lazy, just reading, sleeping and doing my current jigsaw puzzle. My current book, "The Best Kind of People" by Zoe Whittall, has reached an exciting stage so I am going back to it soon. The fire is on and it's so nice and cozy in here that I will have to force myself to get up and prepare for my night out.

Meals # 4,5 and 6

    After fitness class this morning I stayed at the Centre for the bi-annual meeting of the committee that runs the social side of things. It wasn't a very long meeting but the presence of at least 15 members was required. As an incentive we were promised a "light Lunch" which duly arrived at noon and turned out to be pizza. I took a piece but saved it for later as I was going out to Remezzio for lunch with the ladies from my fitness class. I just had a bowl of minestrone but it was tasty. That was meal #4.

   Later that afternoon I was on the road to Swiss Chalet for the Festive Special with the family. The traffic was quite heavy but all eight of us arrived on time. It was my treat and they were all well fed, especially the kids. That was the final meal of the week and I survived by eating sparingly (except for Wednesday when I did overdo it) and eating very little at other times. The pizza I will have for a bedtime snack.

    I'm not going to weigh myself for a few days in the hope I can get myself back onto my more abstemious diet (no starches). Hopefully it won't be too shocking!