Senior Cat

Kathy has a cat who is getting on in years, he had trouble getting up on the couch due to arthritis.  She had a novel solution in getting a baby step stool to help him.  Click this link to see Kathy's photo.

We pulled out the snowblower on the weekend as we had a lot of snow.  Sometimes it is better to do that than stressing our backs shovelling as we often like to do.  Parts of the world are suffering intense heat waves, it sounds just as uncomfortable.  At least it has been sunny, with cold and crisp air here.

Some snow

Welcome to November! I woke up to some snow last Sunday morning as pictured below.

frosty marigolds in the neighbourhood

snow on fallen maple leaves

water droplets on leaves

Problem Solved

It won't go away

One morning we were surprised to see a note at our front door from our newspaper delivery guy.  He left his phone number and asked if we had future complaints, could we please call him before we report it to the newspaper company itself.  The reason is that he makes $0.19 per paper delivered but they subtract $5.09 for each complaint.  I felt obligated to call him and say that we had not filed any complaint, that there must be some mistake.  He said he would look back at his records and leave the complaint at our front door the next morning.  The next morning he left a paper with an apology, that the complaint had been from another address.  I was happy that the problem was solved!

The only reason I would complain is if we don't receive a paper.  I think these people had complained that their paper was not at left right at the front door.  Either way, newspaper delivery is not as simple or as easy as one would think.  

Snow and Cold

It's been snowing a lot around here and bitterly cold (-13c or 8.6F). It helps when the sun comes out. I took these photos on Christmas Eve, when I met my friend S for a walk.

Duolingo

We commemorate Remembrance Day today, lest we forget.

It is time to put snow tires on our cars.  The snow can come at any time now, in fact it did snow a bit yesterday and we had an extreme cold alert which was luckily lifted by the afternoon.

I met an old acquaintance last week and she was telling me she tried to learn Spanish using Duolingo which is a free language learning website and app.  She and her husband were taking a vacation in Panama and she actually tried using what she had learned.  This didn't really work for her but she tried!

On password security

We finally woke up to some snow yesterday, it was heavy and wet and it really helped to use the snowblower.

I came upon this article on poetic passwords. The poetic password site will generate a password poem for you that they say would take 5 million years to crack.

On Monday morning son K found an email that was confirming his activation of a new cashback credit card at our bank.  I called the emergency customer service number in alarm because he had done no such thing.  After checking his online profile we were told it was likely just a spam email, not to worry.  Whew, and at the same time we will keep checking his online profile just in case.

Snow snow snow

We have been having a lot of snow this year!  We have a snowblower but we actually prefer to shovel for the exercise.

 I have an aunt who came through some serious surgery just fine and is recuperating in hospital this week.  She actually lives in Florida.  It was nice that her three adult sons took time off from their jobs to be with her at this time.  In fact, one of them lives in the Boston area and flew home to be with her.  She will stay with one of their families for a few weeks until she has her strength back.

 It is the time of year for Winterlicious 2014.  The best restaurants in Toronto promote their restaurants by running prix fixe menus.  We will be going to dinner at a nice one with friends and I also got invited to a luncheon next week. 


Have a great Saturday!

Lots of Snow

It snowed a lot all day Saturday, well it's February after all.  Daughter L was home for the weekend with her boyfriend.  It was lovely to see them. They attended an exciting Maple Leaf Hockey game where a player scored a 'hat-trick'.  Then people started tossing their hats onto the ice as per tradition.  And the Maple Leafs won.  It was also Canadian Forces night, which made it even more special.

I walked to church yesterday as the weather was a mild -1C (30F). Well, I just picked up our tax receipts, I didn't go to mass.  It was a beautiful winter wonderland with lots of fresh fallen snow.
We all went to a delicious sushi all-you-can-eat lunch later on.

After dropping the kids off at the train station, husband M went to a Superbowl party.  He said it wasn't a good game.  Son K had a lot of schoolwork, so I was helping him with that.  I called an aunt who is having major surgery, I don't speak to her often but it was as if we talk every day.  Isn't it strange how that can be?  Hope it goes well for her.

Hope you had a good weekend!

Healthy Snacks

My husband M was on a business trip to the U.S. last week. He brought back some healthy snacks. One of those says it's a wheat free gluten free snickerdoodle cookie, it was so delicious!!  It's from WOW baking company. There is even a blueberrycrisp energy bar there along with some fruity snacks.  It's nice that there is a switch to healthy snacks everywhere now.

 M had a Grey Cup (Canadian) football party yesterday at our house with a bunch of friends.  Wish I was a sports fan.  Apparently the game was not exciting, too bad.  But everyone had a good time.

I bought several Christmas gifts on the weekend, they are playing lots of Christmas music on the radio and the malls scream gift shopping with their tempting displays. And the weather became freezing cold along with snow!