snow rise

so the sun rose over an icy vista today, as the mercury hovered around minus 4
yes it really is that cold! and needless to say it's an indoors kind of lifestyle, having two stories plus a basement in the house is a blessing and will be very good for spreading out as things get colder
below is what our home looks like now, compare it to this shot, from September
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbzomurJWu2ERRIqjFJuuEWr9LzRdQnXKX7nIw7YDri_ZA5iyojQI0LD46uhkeBB_jtou0IVpELRinz2rnqaL3hltn44YAlDDuVX6WdyGas6KgXCFjOq_TFs4FXozu2_fVT6tTIjCpi0JQ/s1600-h/sydney+farewell+hobart+first+12+days+047.jpg for how things used to

this winter weather is predicted to last all week, so i am wishing even harder that Santa will bring me a treadmill so I can at least do some exercise. I'm all for a winter stroll but when you're looking at minus 5 and colder with wind chill it's really not pleasant! We do run out and do errands but it's totally a drive EVERYWHERE situation

this is our street, after the snow mobile had been through and cleared the roads

snow storm

so I gave a great talk in Toronto this afternoon at the Astrology Toronto Inc, then Peter and I went to have Lebanese on the way home. (all you can eat Buffet for $11!)

We left Mississauga around 8pm for the 45min drive home and finally got home just before 11pm. I experienced my very first snow storm whilst we were half way up Caledon Mountain, on the main highway into Orangeville from Toronto. Tonight I have learned that cars need more traction while travelling up hills and that snow on the road (which having fallen right after rain and created the whole black ice situation) drastically reduces traction. Our little car was spinning it's wheels, like the majority of the other cars on the road. Every second car was pulling over to the right (remember driving occurs on the opposite side of the road to where Ozzies drive!). We managed to turn the car around (not much traction required for going down hills!) and then onto a side road, hoping to use the extra traction from fresh snow on the less travelled road to get us home. We made good progress until we came to another hill and then our little car become the little engine that couldn't.

We pulled, or rather slid, off to the side into a safe nook (not under powerlines!!) and phoned Miss Hummer + Hubby and Pooch to see if they could come rescue us. They could and we settled in to wait.

I didn't have the camera with me, but photos above are of our front yard when we got home. Even Peter said he had never driven in conditions like this before (and he's lived in or near Toronto all of his 41 years) - needless to say the snow tires, which Peter usually puts on the car late November, will go on this week!!

hawaii part two

just on sunset..

choosing what to eat (notice the first bottle of vino already half full)

more dinner snaps (I so have NOT figured out how to think backwards and put these posts up in order, so go down to the first Hawaii post and read from the bottom up!)

hawaii snaps - blast from the past

our FAVOURITE restaurant. Can't recall the name of it now, but arrived for a pre dinner cocktail at 5pm and left sometime after 10pm.... two bottles of wine and a couple of cocktails/ beers later..... oh yeah the food was FABULOUS too....

just after snorkelling -

A monk seal beached itself off the snorkelling beach.....

cocktail hour on the balcony of our apartment....

this was the closest beach to our apartment at the Kapalua resort. About a five minute walk, and we were in Piscean ocean heaven. The water was warm, the tide gentle, and once you'd found a way through the shallows that didn't involve walking on coral, you were free to float around tanning the afternoon away. We'd pour a drink, wander down to the beach, sipping along the way, and swim with a holiday buzz.

the view from where we stayed

from August 08...

so before Peter whisked me away to the Great White North, we spent a gorgeous, sunny, warm and decadent week together in Hawaii. Going through his camera (and the blog) this morning, I resalised that I hadn't yet posted any snaps from then up here yet. So pour yourself a cocktail, fasten your sarong and sit back, relax and enjoy this tropical getaway.....