A Land of Immigrants

   Not long back from a thoroughly lovely day at the retired teachers monthly lunch. I was there from about 10:00 a.m until nearly 3:00 p.m. We do spend  too much time yacking!

   Seriously though, the lunch was, as usual, very good - first a huge plate of salad (as much as I would normally eat for lunch) in a raspberry vinegar dressing. This was followed by a nicely moist chicken breast in sauce with a variety of vegetables all perfectly cooked. The meal finished with ice cream wrapped in a crepe and coffee. 

   The topic today was "The Irish in Canada" a finely researched description of the potato famine in Ireland and the mass migration of starving people to North America. Rather a depressing and quite tragic topic as many died en route or shortly after arriving, but fascinating nevertheless. The speaker has travelled extensively throughout Canada to visit memorials to the Irish and has written a book on the subject. I'm sure it would be worth a read. However, it was ironic to be hearing of the plight of these poor people after being so well fed.

   Not much supper for me tonight, just soup and a sandwich should suffice.

Finally some exercise

   I managed a short walk today (40 mins.) as the sun was shining and the icy patches on the sidewalks had mostly melted. We had snow overnight, light fluffy stuff and quite easy to shovel so the driveway is clear again. Minus 10C again tonight though so winter is still hanging on.

   This was the last day of a long weekend so not much going on - stores closed as well as the senior's centre and the library, so I mostly stayed home. I baked a couple of French bread loaves for the freezer. They turned out really well. S.C Dance group was on tonight so that was the extent of my socializing today!

St. Valentine`s Day

   Valentine`s treats at the Senior`s Centre today. I don`t usually go on a Thursday but yesterday I overheard a conversation about goodies being defrosted. So I decided to go for Mah Jong and have a coffee and chocolate bars. It was fun and a nice break from shovelling. By the time I got home the sun had worked its magic on my driveway. It almost felt like Spring!

I can`t get in my back gate as my neighbour very generously shared all the snow from his path!

The sun shone for most of the day and dried up all the cleared areas. But the snowbanks are growing again.

Another pretty substantial snow pile. It will soon be too tall for me to add to.

The front path is finally free of ice for the time being. It always ices over with any moisture.

Another Cancellation

    It has snowed on and off all day again and I have been out shovelling twice. The fist time I used the snowblower as there was a huge windrow over the end of my driveway, the second time I only needed the shovel. However, all that exercise, along with my Osteo Fit class this morning, has given me quite the workout. At least I know my heart is in good shape as it managed to survive all the cardio.

   The main roads were quite clear when I came home this afternoon but my side street not so much. My dance group this evening has been cancelled again (third week in a row) as very few were planning on going. I`m quite happy to have a night at home as I will be out tomorrow and Friday evenings. Please let that be the end of the snow for this week!