A good day to end the year.

It was a nice day. There was a pretty frost over Timmins this morning. I had a pleasant hike through the forest to grab some photos of frost on the pine needles. This afternoon, my younger brother and I hooked up with a nice phone chat from his latest location, which is the west coast of Canada. Ronald (army guy) and the kids are out by Canadian Forces Base Comox in BC. But Ron’s darling wife Loni (air force gal) isn’t home these days. Loni is back in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It’s her second deployment in the past year. My cousin Glen is back over there as well. He was home for a bit but was back overseas for Christmas. I wish them both good health and Godspeed in 2007.

The kids are fine.

It was great to spend a few days with Jennifer and her family. Of course, Neil was there too. My kids are the coolest. I caught this photo of them heading out the door the other night to grab some Tim Horton's coffee. Neil was all smiles in his new toque. Jennifer looked real spiffy in her new jammies and booties just before jumping in the truck. It's gotta be a Canadian thing eh.

Merry Xmas - Happy Boxing Day

Haven't been blogging for a few days. Got ready for Christmas. Spending lots of time with friends and family. Last minute shopping at the mall on the weekend was one big social event meeting all the people I haven't seen in months. Neil and I went to Sudbury on Christmas Day to have dinner with Jennifer and her family. All is good. Except that there is just not enough snow anywhere. Still in the holiday mood. Coffee and Bailey's at 9:30 AM is a good thing. TTYL.

White Christmas on the way?

Timmins has the best chance of getting a white Christmas over most cities in Canada according to a news report in the Toronto Star. The report, which quotes Enviro Canada weather guru David Phillips, says there are only a handful of cities in Canada likely to have a white Christmas. Of those cities, Timmins has the best chance.. with a probability of 52 percent. Sure hope he's right.

Winter is trying to happen...

Snapped a photo of these trees by Pearl Lake at lunchtime. It looks cold and wintry, but actually it was sunny and one degree Celcius... just above freezing. But the picture sure looked interesting. We are just two days away from the official first day of Winter. (click the pic to see the full size)

Xmas is correct ... if you think about it.

Was out shopping last night with Neil. It was good except that we both know too many people, so shopping becomes a social event of stopping and well-wishing. Then we went to Casey's for beer, burger, bowl of soup and bruschetta bread. There are a lot of Xmas signs around these days. Some people find them upsetting because they see the X as removing the Christ from Christmas. But if you look at things in the historical perspective, it's not so bad. X is the Greek letter chi (pronounced ki) and is the accepted ancient Greek letter for "Christ". There is also the suggestion that the letter X is in itself the sign of the cross, thus another accepted symbol for Christ. Also, it was common for Christian monks in the 16th century to write Xmas instead of Christmas in their letters and tapestries.

Nature's Velcro

Took a quick walk in the bush today. December is way too mild and all the snow is melting. I did notice lots of tiny plants... including these burrs. Even in winter the common burdock waits for the hiker to hitch a ride. Watch where you walk... they'll stick to your jeans even in freezing weather. When you look at the tiny hooks, they're just like Velcro. Or is it the other way around...?

Birthdays!

Jennifer has a birthday today. She says she "doesn't do birthdays anymore" but I can tell ya she is somewhere north of 30 ... but south of 35. It's all good. And I forgot to mention it earlier... but my favorite big brother Gary had a birthday last week. I know Gary is a bit north of 50, but that's all good, because he is a cool guy. My friend Claudette also had a birthday last week. She is the same age as moi! So you know she is still young! : )

Don't try this at home!

Who would’ve thunk it? I took the battery off my drowned cellphone Saturday to let it dry, figuring I might be able to use the battery when I buy a new cell phone. I came back home the next day and found the battery and phone all dried out… so whattyaknow, I installed the battery. And the phone came back to life!! The day and date stuff wasn’t working, but what the heck… the rest of the phone works! Washable cell phones… Cool eh.

Can ya hear me now!

Every now and then it's fun to find a five dollar bill in the bottom of the washing machine. I got home tonight and was doing laundry when i found something else... Oh well... maybe I will save five dollars worth of cellphone calls eh. I really liked that phone. It had my initials on it. Maybe I will have to change my name to Nokia. I couldn't find the phone about two days ago... I didn't really miss it... I just figured I was becoming unpopular.