Just got my vacation approved for March! I'm going a little later this year with the idea that I might hit New Orleans on my way home for the French Quarter Festival April 7-10. We'll see how the month pans out.

Larry and Derek did a stand up race in N. Carolina - the Coldstroke Classic.  I had considered going until I found out that "Coldstroke" refers to the temperature and is not the name of a river or location. Larry came first and Derek second in their divisions so it was a successful trip for them. Some 100 people there in various divisions so it looked like a fun event. I think Larry even won some cash.

Ryan's still in Australia and I was briefly worried when I hadn't heard from him in a day or two. The last I'd heard, he was on his way to Brisbane but all of a sudden it was all over the news that there was massive flooding all over the area. It didn't help that youtube had tons of videos posted by locals.

Ryan was supposed to be there with Nuangi. She postponed her arrival for a few days and Ryan held off in the Gold Coast until the worst was over. Two days after the peak flooding, he went in, headed to the volunteer centre to sign up for cleanup duty. I'm not sure where he stayed the first couple of nights but that last time I talked to him, he'd just moved into Nuangi's apartment and the power had just been restored.

I'm home sick with the flu today so will take the time to back-post to catch up on the end of 2010.

Saturday morning I woke up to the sound of a snowplow rumbling up the street and the scraping of shovels on pavement. I could see through the skylight that the tree branches were covered in fluffy snow that continued to fall.
Shovelling the driveway seemed as good an excuse to rouse myself as any so I pulled on some clothes, ran the coffee maker and went outside. I was pretty proud of myself for getting out of bed before 11:00am. No lie, my life is good (as in "I do what I want").
It didn't take long before I was back in the house with my comfy clothes on, a latte in my hand and some Zeppelin playing while I read a book. Usually I'm hyper to get out of the house but given the weather, I was content.
Then Chrissy texted that she was in Port Credit buying skates, did we all want to go skating on the river. Can you think of a better way to spend a snowy day? It was the perfect suggestion. We got to the club shortly after 2:00pm and shovelled out the rink that the kids at the canoe club had made. Then we just kept shovelling. A half dozen guys had started creating another rink in front of the rowing club but when they saw us, they brought their shovels over and we created a huge rink. I haven't skated in 3 or 4 years so by the time we finished, I was ready to go home. It was perfect though, a little over an hour was just enough.

Because Mississauga doesn't pick up electronics like Toronto (you have to take them to the recycling depot yourself), Chrissy and Jeff came by to help me get it the monster mahogany tv off the curb. I'd put it out there in the hope that someone might want it but no dice. It was out there for a week, frozen, rained and snowed on. No one would think it still worked and I'm sure my neighbours were starting to hate me!

New Years Day, I caught a ride with Carrie and Attila to J.R. & Fanny's open house. So many people I haven't seen in a long time - the host & hostess, Mike & Barb S., Lara & Chris Diggs, Jodi B. etc etc. not to mention all their children, assorted relatives & neighbours.
Good times, good times. They had an amazing spread of food - JR had picked up a few hundred mussels and a giant wheel of Oka cheese on his trip through Quebec and Fanny had roast porks and assorted dips, sauces and appetizers. And POUTINE!! unbelievable. Perfect New Years day party, the kidlets were in the giant playroom downstairs, the guys gravitated to the deck (and the shucking table) and the rest of us wandered from one room to another. It was great reconnecting with so many friends.
Since I don't have any photos from the event, I'm posting JR's extranormal video Typical Windy Weekend.