I love Winter ...... but ....

.... this is crazy!

Last year when I took a job out near the airport I had to buy a car. It was something I did with reluctance because I loved being able to walk or take public transit to previous employment. After this week, I am still reluctant and here's why.


Last Thursday Toronto was hit with a huge snowstorm and so it took me 2.5 hours to drive back to the City core. The drive usually would take me 20 to 30 minutes. First we were hit with snow, then freezing rain, then rain. That was before it the temperature fell back below the freezing point.

Yesterday, when it was bright and sunny the aftermath of the storm still affected my drive. because police closed the Gardiner Expressway, Toronto's main artery into the city core for two days. Why? Because a combination of rising temperatures and extremely strong shifting winds caused pieces of ice, that were formed during last Thursday's storm, to tear off the world's tallest freestanding structure (The CN Tower) 435 metres up and land on the Gardiner expressway. It was reported that most of the chunks of ice falling were the size of baseballs. However, some said the largest chunk was 1.2 metres long and several centimetres thick. Wow!

The headlines, some as far away as Australia read something like this:

"Ice missiles close major Toronto expressway"
"Gardiner closed as tower sheds ice"
"CN Tower's falling ice freeezes Gardiner for second day"
"Threat of 'Ice Bombs' closes major Toronto streets"
"Falling ice chunks spark closure of major artery, area streets"

You may have heard about it - it's true. My car may even be in the picture shown above 'cause I was caught in a traffic log jam.

The picture on the right is of the Gardiner just south of the city core, near Lake Ontario. Another picture shows how close the CN Tower is to the Gardiner. The last photo, from yesterday, shows the ice that is clinging onto the CN Tower. In the 30 + years of the tower's history, nothing like this has ever occured before.

I did my best to avoid the long commute by leaving work early yesterday 1.15 hour commute and driving in at "the crack of dawn" this morning 40 minute commute. Finally the expressway is reopened, however can close again if the winds pick up again.

Book tag

Book tag

Reading my post earlier, I learned that I'd been tagged to follow these instructions by Val:

1. Find the nearest book: I'm so close to all my books here in my office and the first one was a cook-book, but after following the directions below it didn't work because it there was a full page photo of a broccoli-cheese rice pilaf (guess that means I'll have to make it this week-end). The second book is a collection of short stories by one of Canada's most celebrated authors.

2. Name the book title and author: Runaway by Alice Munroe

3. Turn to page 123: Done deed.

4. Go to the 5th sentence on the page and then copy the next 3 sentences on your blog.
He drank it down, he said, "Yeah. Sugar. Thanks." Already his voice was clearing. She remembered this too, about the girl at the school - how quick and apparently miraculous the recovery. But before he was quite recovered, or quite himself, while he was still holding his head at a slant, he met her eyes.

While the book's name is Runaway - the above caption is from the short story Soon.

OK now I have to tag three people, so as since many have already been tagged, I choose Gypsy (come back, come back), MaryBeth and Sindy (LOL).

Home Sweet Home

I'm home, after spending February in four different Canadian provinces and sleeping in six different beds (alone!).

It was wonderful to go on visits with friends, see my sister and meet fellow blogger Stevie (while in British Columbia).

Contrary to contrived stories - the evening with Stevie was great. Here we are in front of Dale's very slow computer giggling over what we'd say about the evening.

I like this photo in Dale's "well appointed" livingroom. Any livingroom with a Marshall amp and computer is cool with me!

The only ones who weren't too happy were my cats. Here's Rory in my bag, wishing he have could come along too (even tho I'm sure he'd hate all the car and plane rides).

My homecoming was made extra-special on the week-end by having Saturday brunch with non-blogging friends, attending a great dinner party hosted by our fabulous writing blogger Anne-Marie and her new husband that evening and then snow tubing with them the next morning.

Visiting Bloggers - an intersting concept

Monday, after skiing with sister Dale and niece Beth, we had a visit from Blogger Stevie. I must say it was a “very interesting” visit, but then again, British Columbia is known for its “country bumpkins”, “beatnicks” and “hippies”. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

We were in Dale’s well appointed living room when we heard hoof-like sounds coming from the front of the house and then there was a hard thumping knock at the door. Dale, being the excellent housekeeper she is, opened the door to a very red, glassy-eyed and somewhat disheveled woman. To our shock and horror this woman said "Hey man, I'm Stevie, you know - the wonder child, only eat greens and don't cut down trees". When she walked in, I was aghast to see that her hair was dirty and stringy, with pieces of dirty straw in it. It clung to her head under a beaded head-band that clashed with her over-sized beaded jacket that concealled her flannel shirt that I can only imagine at one time was green. It was hard to tell because it looked gray. Her jeans were soiled and when she took off her heavy boots she was wearing mismatched, dirty and thread-bare socks that also had some straw clinging to them.

She grunted and handed Dale a bottle of her homemade wine that she proudly announced that she had bottled that morning. She was sorry that she was late, but had to attend to her house animals. Morty the pig, you see, has the habit of running out of the house every time the door opens and jumping into their 1977 Chevette and did just that, while Charlotte the goat sneaked into her ice box to grab a few of the vegetables. She also needed to ensure that the chickens she and her unmarried partner kept in the back room were in the right frame of mind to lay their eggs. And the mice that shared her bedroom had enough cheese to eat. These explanations gave Dale and I a hint about the source of her heavy - how shall I put it .... aaah .... eau du perfume.

She didn’t say much all evening, except to say "peace to us all" and preach about the simple life. She also kept running outside to take puffs of a funny smelling cigarette. Finally she left, but not after getting a battery boost for her Chevette which wouldn’t start.

Sometimes, you never really know who blogs.

A Quick Word From The Valley

Hi!

Calgary was a warm reprieve from the snow and cold that I left on Wednesday morning in Toronto. I was actually walking around with no coat on yesterday before heading over the gorgeous Rocky Mountains to the Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia. The drive from Calgary was breathtaking. I could actually feel my heart racing and tears almost welling up in my eyes at such beauty. The drive through the rockies was so spectacular that it was exhausting - because everywhere I looked there was an awesome and really overwhelming view.

The drive down to the Rocky Mountain trench was interesting because as I started to approach Radium Hot Springs there was fog everywhere. That thick kind of pea soup fog that is usually associated with London, England. I thought that it was only because the cold air was clashing with the warm outdoor thermal springs ... however that wasn't it. The entire valley was socked in with it so it made for a very interesting drive during the last few kilometres of the trip.

Having a relaxing day today with Sister Dale and family and off to the ski hills tomorrow.

Yippee!

Loathing V-Day - different perspectives

What's not to love about Valentine's Day? How about cultural offensiveness, emotional insensitivity, rampant consumerism, and even encouraging date rape?

Of course, it starts with the lonely, or those in unrequited love. I Hate Valentine's Day, sings songstress Jewel.

"Wish I had a sweetheart, didn't even get a stinkin' card, I just have to say I hate Valentine's Day." She croons.

There’s also lots of "Excess Baggage" that is attached with love:

• Compromises self.
• Smothers happiness.
• Loses creative edge.
• Lowers a person and potential.
• Reduces funds.

This year, Canadians and Americans will spend over $20 billion on flowers, chocolates, greeting cards, romantic dinners and, presumably, sexy lingerie.

Before the web, people expressed their anger over the day by sending “vinegar valentines”. These cards had insulting poems and ugly caricatures. This little verse was for women who weren't married:

"Miss Grey hairs and wrinkles, don't look quite so cold."Don't let it surprise you to find yourself old. "The 'old maids' of this world, without chance for a beau,"For Cupid's grown gray since he cut you, you know."

There some serious concerns out there about Valentine's Day. Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, thinks Feb. 14 should be V-Day. V, she says, is for vagina, violence and victory and people should reflect on ending sexual violence against women and children, not just mushy, romantic love.

"It's a perfect day to affirm that people should love each other, and be nice to women," she writes, "instead of hurting them or killing them."

Globalization has certainly been kind to V-Day. From its origins in Europe, Saint Valentine's Day crossed across all oceans. It's everywhere, much to the chagrin of some social conservatives.

A few Muslim clerics have been particularly piqued to see men and women giving each other cards and goo-goo eyes on Feb. 14. Saudi Arabia's religious authorities have banned Valentine's Day and urged people to avoid exchanging even verbal good wishes.

"It's a pagan Christian holiday," says an edict from the fatwa committee in Riyadh, "and Muslims who believe in God and judgment day should not celebrate or acknowledge it or congratulate (people). It is a duty to shun it to avoid God's anger and punishment."

The Saudis and the Iranians don't agree on much, but they both see red on Feb. 14. Last year, shops and malls in Tehran were ordered to remove displays of hearts and flowers. Plainclothes religious police tore down banners with "Happy Valentine's Day" written in flowing, Farsi script.

For several years now in India, hard-line Hindu groups have attacked greeting card shops and restaurants promoting romantic dinners for two. Mobs chanting "down with Western culture" smashed wine bottles and set fire to effigies of St. Valentine outside cosy cafes where courting couples were canoodling. The authorities closed down Lucknow University, several hundred kilometres east of New Delhi, warning that too much attention paid to Feb. 14th would trigger lewd behaviour by young men and put female students at risk.

"A day like Valentine's Day will give undesirable elements a chance to take undue liberties," said university vice-chancellor D.P. Singh.

In the end though, it's pretty obvious that cynics, the lovelorn, feminists and stodgy social conservatives are in the minority on the Valentine's debate. As a species, we love to love, even if it can get a little sickly sweet at certain times of the year.

My Sister, My Friend (blogger Dale)

- 50 wonderful years -
- February 9 -

Sister

I will always love you


My love for you will never end


You're that rare and special part of me



You are my sister and my friend