Dammed ice

No, the title is not a typographical error (in case anyone is interested in what "typo" is short for). We have some kind of ice dam in the front eavestrough, happens every few years, and now there is water dripping inside the living room window. Wonderful! So up on the ladder with a hammer and cold chisel (yeah, I know; if it wasn't cold before, it sure is now) to whack, break and dig out. Got about 4 feet done, maybe 10 to 12 feet more to go. Looks like the problem is the eavestrough itself. I think there should be a slope encouraging the water toward one end. Must get this all looked at when the weather is warm and sunny and we have nothing to remind us of the winter drips.

On a more chearful note or two, we are out to dinner at Lemon Bistro tonight with some good friends. As the place only seats about 20, the six of us will take over. I promise to be suitably rowdy.



And then there is the kitchen garden. The amaryllis has joined the orchid in blooming. Only two flowers, but a wonderful gaudy red.



Oh, yeah, I found one reasonable photo of Leonard at this birthday party at Antico Martini. Now 92 and still making his points clearly. I just love the attentiveness of the waiter!

Dinner with Bennett, orchid away!

We had dinner on Friday with Eri, Mike and Bennett. The original plan was to make a nice supper with an Italian cheese flatbread and a Greek shrimp cassorole with feta and some attitude. But then the phone rang and we had a better deal offered - pizza at Station!


Ben is getting bigger and has more and more tricks. He has learned that, when in a restaurant, there is some chance of scoring ice cream for dessert. The picture shows the reaction to ordering strawberry ice cream.


Good fun and good food as always. And the other dinner was merely postponed to Saturday. Delicious!


The kitchen window garden is going like gangbusters. We have the first orchid opening (with another three flowers following close behind). So here's the picture of the orchid.

The other flowers are the amaryllis (just starting to open, watch for updates) and some hydrangea (actually, hyacinth - see Mom's note) bulbs a neighbour gave us. They (hyacinths) are now in full bloom and making the house smell like a cheap bordello. Actually, I have led a very sheltered life and don't know how a cheap bordello smalls, but I imagine it smells a lot like a bunch of blooming hyacinths.

Winter & I return

The spelling and typos were worse than normal yesterday. Must try to get the fingers unfumbled.


Just back from Dr. Ing, the surgeon, and all is well. The vagrant staple was quickly snipped and removed and the belly check confirmed nothing untoward. I am fully back with the next visit scheduled for May 23rd (Happy Birthday, Penny). All activities may now proceed toward the inevitable excess.


That would include making mushroom risotto on the spear of the mint. A couple of weeks ago, planning for the neighbourhood 2nd annual wine & cheese, we were looking for groceries. I wandered over to where the dried procini mushrooms would be if they were available and, lo, there they were. Bought some on spec to have available. Several aisles later, behold! Italian rice. And so we were off for a special treat that evening. Wish I could post the recipe somehow.


http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/RecipeController?action=recipe&language=1&recipeID=2052&recipeType=1


This is the link to the LCBO site with the recipe under mushroom risotto.


And this is what the morning brought; wonderful wet snow for that wonderland effect. Traffic is screwed up all over the place, but there is not that much snow. It packs and is very slippery though. Today is again above freezing, so the snow will disappear soon.


The pictures are of the back yard: one of the Dana and Jason tree beyond the birdbath, the other of the spruce boughs outside the bedroom window.





And so away to grasp the day (seizing seems so violent); gym, job search, projects in that order.



I hope Hannah is feeling better.

Hmmmm, it's been a while

OK, so I have been remiss. Much has gone on and I have very few pictures to document same.

All is well, and so are we. That is a grand thing. Back to the gym and some running, but taking it easy on the weights. Looking for work, but maybe not as actively as I might. "Final" visit to the surgeon tomorrow to check the scars and healing. Other than the missed staple, that is all going well. No, you don't want to know.

So, the list: we are set for a trip to Ottawa in March, we also have to go to Detroit in March to pick up 2 ottomans (ottomen?) that were shipped to Mike's brother's place (thanks goodness for "Eats, Shoots and Leaves"), went to Montreal for Leonard's 92nd birthday, got the gas fireplace insert up and running, found the bug fix for the Borland Pascal 7 compiler, worked out the RSP business and went downtown to get that straight, spent a bit of time researching the stock markets, and re-aquainted myself with morning radion on the CBC. I really miss Peter Gzowski. And everyone needs to read "The God Delusion".

Somehow I screwed up the camera settings and have nothing useful from the Montreal trip. Too bad really as the party at Antico Martini was lovely. We were all roudy and quite Italian. Poppa became quite overcome and had to go home, but recovered well. the party was too much on top of the full day he had with the new minister at the church and all. Seems he had been nipping throughout the day as well. 92 and still having a grand time!

I did get a great video of Marilen at the restaurant, but I am not sharing that. The blackmail opportunity is too good. Besides, when I convert it into a "movie" it takes about 7 megs. But really worth the disk space.

The fireplace is rather nice. This means I have lost both the family room and the larger tv. Penny now camps out in the (formerly too cold) family room to watch the soaps and then the evening telly. This may be good for blog writing, we shall see.