February 2015
Monday February 23
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The sidewalk on my walk to work |
The Khumbu Icefall |
I suppose it would be dating myself if I used a broken record metaphor: Another major winter storm is on the w...skip...Another major winter storm is on the w...Another major winter storm is on the w...Someone give the needle a shove! For much of the week the sidewalks were almost completely impassable, either being sheets of ice or blocked at intersections by mountainous slabs of icy snow, and making my walk to work seem like a major expedition. Last weekend I spent some time digging out the storm drain in front of our house. A city worker then arrived in a half-ton truck with a plow and cleared away the snowbank around it as well as filling the drain itself back in again. Then the sidewalk plow came along and, seeing a nice clear space, dumped all the excess snow from the sidewalk back on top of the drain and an extra four feet into the road. I spent a good part of Saturday getting it clear again to handle the 40mm of rain we got yesterday.
On Monday, both Ann and James had the day off for Nova Scotia's first February holiday but I did not since I'm a federal employee and the holiday was granted by the provincial government. Then the lab closed because of the weather but I had to go in anyway as I had a conference paper due that I could not work on from home.
On Tuesday, James and I helped out at the pancake supper at the church. James was a general gofer but I was given the responsibility of cooking the sausages (actually, only heating and browning them as they had already been parboiled). Ann arrived in time to help eat them.
This weekend, James practiced again with the Nova Scotia Youth Wind Ensemble. It was scheduled for Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday but the Sunday practice was cancelled because of the weather. He came home with a bass trombone which he is going to play in the concert next weekend.
Ann, Rhonda and Jill cooked for the Early Risers' Breakfast at the church on Sunday morning. Given the weather, the turn out was quite good although only half of normal. On Saturday afternoon, Ann experimented with gluten-free and dairy-free recipes for the occasion (some of the women have restricted diets): Morning Glory muffins and Pumpkin Apple muffins. Ann considered the former a success; she won't be repeating the latter.
Sunday February 15
Louie enjoying the heat of the gas fireplace
I hate to be repetitive but, once again, we have been blasted by a major storm. It began overnight and was in full swing when we awoke this morning. Although the forecasts had predicted up to 40 cm, we only had about 5 cm before it turned to rain. That made shovelling very difficult as each shovel load was extremely heavy. The driveway and road became sodden, slushy messes, so James and I had to take turns wearing my Wellington boots in order to get everything cleared away. We spent the rest of the day staying inside.
On Friday, after another snowfall, Jim and Valerie came over to watch the Hitchcock version of The 39 Steps, bringing along pizza and cookies for dinner as well. Lucky us!
Other than that, our week has been uneventful. Work, school, music and choir practices ... ho hum.
Sunday February 8
Our house yesterday morning
The main story this week continues to be the weather: more snow interspersed with some freezing rain. James had snow days on both Tuesday and Friday, and Ann and I didn't have to report to work until mid-morning. We're told that there is more snow coming this week, especially on Tuesday.
We've had a cultural weekend with an evening at the symphony and another at the theatre although neither show was particularly high-brow. On Friday, Ann, James and I went for dinner at Saege Bistro with Ingrid, Mike, Alex and Marg then went to see David Myles playing with Symphony Nova Scotia. We have seen him several times over the years (he is one of Ann's favourite local performers and I'm a fan of Alan Jeffries, his guitar player) but it was interesting to hear him backed by the full symphony. On Saturday, Ann and I left James at home at met Ingrid, Mike, Kim and Glen for dinner at Mirchi Tandoor, a new Indian restaurant just down the street from Neptune. We had a very nice meal before going to see The Thirty Nine Steps, a farcical rewriting of the 1935 Hithcock movie (itself a revision of the book by John Buchan). It was a lot of fun.
Sunday February 1
Our back yard this morning
Winter has finally arrived in the Maritimes. While there were cold spells before Christmas, there was not much snow, but on Tuesday we had our first snow day, then more snow on Friday night, rain yesterday, followed by more snow overnight. And there's more to come tomorrow afternoon if the weather reports are to be believed.
I made a mistake last week agreeing to go to Ottawa for a meeting before looking at our calendar. Had I done so I would have realized that we had tickets to see a Symphony Nova Scotia concert of Mozart symphonies as well as the clarinet concerto which I have never seen performed live. Ann asked Jocelyn to go with her instead.
I flew up to Ottawa on Wednesday evening for meetings on Thursday and Friday morning. When I visit Ottawa on business, I usually take Katy and Ben out to dinner somewhere. That was the plan this time too, but a snow storm got in the way. Emily and I arrived at Katy and Ben's place after their dodgeball game but it had taken Katy so long to drive to and from it due to the weather that we decided to stay put, order in Chinese food instead, and watch their DVD of The Prestige. I ended up in their guest bed for the night and Emily slept on the sofa. Katy drove me back downtown early next morning so I could get ready for my meeting. I flew home again on Friday afternoon.
Last night Ann, James and I went to a neighbourhood party hosted by Carl and Roxanne. As we had tickets for Neptune, we changed them for a matinée show today. The play was What a New Wife Ought to Know, an examination of what it was like to try and plan parenthood in the 1920s. It was quite well done but not exactly light entertainment. I'm recovering by watching the Superbowl.