Gillian was up in Peterborough for the weekend, playing in the Gore Ontario School Curling Championship Regionals at the Omemee Curling Club. The Senior Girls team from her school had qualified back in December in the Zone Qualifier at the High Park Curling Club. They won their first two games, only to lose in the B finals. One of the parents who made the trek to Peterborough took a great shot of the girls with their coaches.
Here they are in December after the Zone Qualifiers.
All day Saturday I was having problems with my Macbook Pro laptop. It seemed to be freezing up and I would have to keep re-booting, it was like a Windows pc. Finally around 7:30 pm it just stopped completely, I ran the disk utility and tried to re-install, but it said it was done. After 3 plus years the hard drive finally crapped out. The good thing was I knew that the Time Machine was working every hour, so I would have my data to that point. Before going to bed, I had pulled the hard drive from my laptop and had figured out which replacement drive I was was going to buy today. After picking up a 500GB hard drive for $70, I had it back in the laptop and was restoring it with my Time Machine backup from 6:23 pm last night. By 4:00 pm, my laptop was booting up and running like normal.
I had a short trip out to Flat Valley Saskatchewan to mark out a new site. This site has a lot of deciduous trees, so it would be easier to mark it and move around in the winter. It was a flight into Saskatoon and then a three and a half hour drive north west. Latitude wise it is further north than Edmonton.
The night we arrived there was 10-15cm of snow added to the already foot of snow on the ground, the only good thing is the snow is so dry, it is easy to move around. It was also easier when following the many deer trails. As we walked in there was one laying in the bush that jumped up and took off.
The forecast was for cloudy and overcast, but the closest city that the forecast was based on was 65km away. The sun was in and out throughout most of the day.
Our site is on the edge of a 150 acre forest.
We are in the middle of farming country, mainly hay and grain.
North of the site it is wide open fields.
Was able to change my flight when I checked in to a direct flight to Toronto, rather than my connection through Calgary. It was suppose to get me home 3.5 hours earlier. When we got to Toronto we were delayed and circled 25 minutes due to the snow. Then there were mechanical problems with the plane so our baggage was delayed and then had the usual friday afternoon taxi line followed by another hour in traffic on the 401. Probably should have declined the direct flight.
We have booked our summer vacation to Newfoundland. We are flying to St. John’s (cashed in my Aeroplan miles) and renting a van to tour the island. We are heading to the west side to stay in Gros Morne National Park, then making our way back to the east with a stop in Herring Neck, up near the New World Islands, and then a couple of days in St. John’s.
We paid off the mortgage on January 11th. What a great feeling, after 18.5 years we are mortgage free.
I spent the past week on Saturna Island. It is pretty quiet this time of year on the island. Not a lot of options available for food, so we have to buy groceries in Sidney before catching the ferry over to the island. My flights were good, our flight from Toronto to Vancouver arrived 17 minutes early, that has never happened before.
There was a backlog at the Superport on the mainland, so there were a lot of container ships sitting among the islands.
The weather for the week was forecasted for sun, but that changed with an inversion. It was snowing when we left the site the first night.
There was a bit of a sunrise on Wednesday morning.
The feral goats are still around.
Thursday morning we started the day with a power failure, it was a planned shutdown to replace some of the poles, it was suppose to be back up by 9:00am. It did allow us to take in the sunrise at the B&B.
We stayed at Sandy Bay B&B.
We had a good day of weather on Thursday and were able to go up to Mt Warburton Pike for lunch.
Looking over towards Pender Island.
There were a couple of bald eagles.
We took a drive down to the Saturna Island Winery.
Back at the site the deer were out in the sun.
After work we headed out to Winter Cove. We did the trail out to boat pass (the middle of the photo).
Along the trail.
There were a few sea lions in the water.
Catching the sunset over Winter Cove.
This is Boat Pass.
A view of Mt Baker in Washington state.
Along the beach in Winter Cove.
When we got back to the cottage, there was a bald eagle sitting on the shore rocks.
Our final day started off in cloud and fog.
The container ships were still sitting there.
We headed out to G-Ma and G-pa’s in Scarborough on New Year’s Day. With the snow we received since Boxing Day it made for good tobogganing conditions.
Gillian and Angela having a little trouble.
Tim and Stella joined us, along with Alex and Emi. Here are Stella and Emi coming down.
Of course what does down, must come up.
Angela and Gillian making it further down the hill, not sure if I caught Gillian blinking or if she had her eyes closed all the way down.
Tim giving Stella and Emi a little push.
Gillian and Angela on the saucers.
Angela going solo.
Claudia and Alex on the inflatable.
Gillian and Stella on the toboggan.
Claudia and Alex after a run on the saucers.
Angela and Gillian mastering the hill with the toboggan.
Angela on the saucer.
Calling it a day after a good time on the hill.
Marley having a rest.
Time for dinner.
More good food, including some chow person.
Alex and Claudia.
Gillian with Grandma’s striped bass.
Lily with her helmet.
Angela keeping Lily amused with her many talents.
Lily having a sip of tea.
Some of the photo highlights of 2012.
Claudia got her braces on in January.
We saw Rick Mercer in February.
Angela turned 14 in March.
In April, Angela made her Confirmation.
Claudia turned 12 in May.
Angela graduated from Grade 8 in June.
July had me in Saskatchewan. Next time I’ll have to visit Richard, SK.
In August we were in PEI enjoying the sun, surf and seafood.
September brought another “First Day of School”.
In October, Susan and I took Gillian to the University of Ottawa Open House to see what they had to offer.
Can’t go a year without a photo of Chloe.
December as always was a busy month, but like this past year, it seemed to go by fast.
We rented the ice at Meadowvale 4 Rinks on Saturday night, it is the first of what may or may not become an annual event. We did it last year for the first time, but that was for Gillian’s birthday, so technically it doesn’t count. We invited some family and friends and brought out a few sticks and pucks as well.
Gillian and Marcus, looking like they are set to duel.
We had the ice for 90 minutes from 9:30-11:00 PM.
Stella had a good time.
Claudia playing goal against Alex.
Claudia was looking forward to skating almost as much as Christmas.
Steve dressed up as a Habs elf.
Angela and Katie.
Abbey taking a break.
Katie trying to hang off of the net after watching one of the bigger kids (Emi?) do it. She couldn’t quite reach.
Instead she was hanging onto the net.
Gillian had a bunch of her friends out for the skate.
We headed out to Lori’s and Dale’s for Boxing Day. Brad had bought the family a new puppy. After his Dad told him he could get a big dog… if he moved out, he wisely picked a Jack Russell mix. Her name is Marley.
Marley getting to know Chloe.
Marley sitting still for a moment.
Last year it was all pictures of Lily, this year she had to share the spotlight with Marley.
Lily with her lion hat.
Lily with her finger puppets.
We bought her a circus tent from Ikea, Angela looking kind of creepy and Gillian offering a ball up.
Lily checking out the tent, I think the girls had vacated it. Marley playing with some wrapping paper.
Lily was helping herself to whatever was in the bags.
Marley took a nip at Chloe and she didn’t take that too kindly.
Marley with her sweater.
Uncle Dale taking Marley out for a pee break.
Lily trying to pull the wool over Marley’s eyes.
Both Lily and Marley had her shoe in their mouths over the course of the evening.
Lily and Marley fighting over the shoe.
Shanna, Jesse and David had skyped in from Rossland.
It was an early evening as the first snowstorm of the year rolled in with high winds and blowing snow. It was a slow drive home. In the end there was 10-15cm on the ground.
