26 December 2008

Let it snow, redux

Well, the snow did eventually come, and come, and come. Buckets of it! It just won't stop. As of Wednesday morning, we'd had 62 centimeters (about 2 feet) of accumulated snow since all of this began. And probably about 10-15 cm more has fallen since. Closing in on an all-time record snow fall for Vancouver for the month of December. We did have the record accumulated snow on the ground by Dec 25, so it was the whitest Christmas ever for our fair city. Here are some photos:

A tree in my yard.

Icicles on my house.

The view out my front door.

After I shoveled my walk.

Someone's car. Yes, I think that's a car!

13 December 2008

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

We were supposed to get a snow storm tonight, but we didn't. So I've put some digital snow in my blog instead. Enjoy!

(Note: You can't see it from a feed reader, you've got to actually go to my blog site. And for the technically inclined, here's where I got the code.)

11 December 2008

The First Noël without Cricket

I'm tired of having a dark and gloomy house for Christmas when all my neighbors have lights up and/or trees showing through the window. I want to be part of the Christmas cheer. So I caved in this year and bought an artificial Christmas tree. I like real trees better. They smell nice, they are more environmentally friendly, and they were part of all my Christmases growing up, so they bring back fond memories. But they are such a hassle (they're hard to get home, they drop needles all over the place, and then you've got to find a way to recycle them afterwards), that I rarely get one. I've actually only had a real tree once, when I had a housemate with a truck who helped me pick it up. (The year that I used the trimming off the top of a friend's tall hedge as a "tree" doesn't count.) So I figured if I'm not even going to enjoy a real tree, why keep hanging onto the somewhat irrelevant sentimental notion that they are nicer? So I finally took the plunge. I went out and bought myself a Noma 6-1/2' Pre-Lit Self-Shaping Pine Tree, with little white lights. Here it is, pre-ornaments. As my Dad used to say every Christmas, I think it's the nicest tree I've ever had! I've already had one compliment from a neighbor about it. It has already enhanced my Christmas mood, and I got out my trumpet and have been playing Advent hymns and Christmas carols every day since. Yay! I love this season of the year.

But someone is missing from it all. Here's a photo from Christmas 2005 with Cricket. This is my first Christmas without her, and I still miss her a lot. I doubt she ever knew that there was anything special about the Christmas seaon. She actually looks kind of bewildered about the Christmas tree in this photo; it's the only time she ever saw one. But she loyally kept me company no matter what incomprehensible things I did. She just wanted to be wherever I was in the house, and she got used to being posed for photographs. She was usually pretty good at it, though in this one she does have that look of, "Come on, Rosie, haven't you got a good shot yet?" (I took six.)

05 December 2008

Thanksgiving

I have much to be thankful for this season. I'm still in the Thanksgiving mood, even more than a week later. I continue to be impressed with the way President-elect Obama is thoughtfully putting together his team, fostering transparency in government, and soliciting input from the people. I love the way he's using a YouTube channel to keep people informed, and we can "join the discussion" and give our suggestions (which they take seriously) at Change.gov. Very interesting "Inside the Transition: Health Care" video, for example.

Well, enough politics. I'm also very thankful for the great time I had with my cousins over an extended Thanksgiving weekend. We had our turkey meal at Point Roberts and went for a hike down to the beach. There we saw these interesting rock formations.



Here we are playing a game of "Bananagrams" (aka Speed Scrabble) at Arbutus Cottage on Galiano Island.



An arbutus tree.



There's an awesome view behind the fog on the hike up to Bodega Ridge, honest.

 

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