Santa's parade day

Crazy day that started with a missed phone call from Dana - it's the Santa Claus parade and the St. Louis' are launching in 10 minutes because Hannah and Jack are in the parade and have to be dropped off early and if we want to go with them that would be great and they will be somewhere near T&T Bakery. Dana sometimes leaves messages like that.

Penny couldn't go, but I figured it would be a great idea and walked over to Main Street. A really foggy day that suddenly cleared up and we had a grand parade. Lots of kid fun and many good pictures because Dana was shooting quite a bit. I got a good shot of Hannah. No, I got a shot of the back of Dana's head and Brown Owl's elbow. So I will let Dana post the parade pictures. My favourite Brownie leader was always Horny Owl.

Here are some shots in the fog walking over to the parade and down the street to find Dana, Jason and Henry. Henry and I had fun! The weird crane thing is the tv camera set up. I loved the fog.

Since I walked over to the parade because the local traffic was crazy with the streets being blocked off, I did not take my keys for the truck. Or for the house. Locked out and waiting for Penny to get home, I saw some nice fall pictures: magnolia buds promising Spring, wild rose hips and the Dana and Jason Tree from their wedding. Sometimes being locked out of the house is ok.

We have been cooking up a storm all afternoon. Company coming for a wonderful dinner tonight.

Coming undone

I started this on the weekend, but will post tonight - Monday.

The game with Andrew is progressing on a couple of fronts. This is the current situation with white to move. Either Andrew has made a pretty big error, or I am about to be suckered. The obvious move is to grab the black bishop at g4. Seems too easy.



And it is. I have once again mis-communicated a move. Instead of moving my pawn to h4 as shown, I wrote the move to g4. Bummer!!


That gives us a position like this (see photo on the blue grey towel). Not nearly as pretty for the Old Fart. In fact, Andrew is licking his chops at the prospect of once again clobbering the Old Man. This may require some further thought and, maybe, giving the correct co-ordinates for the next move. There was supposed to be a turning point at about this stage, but this was NOT the plan.

The new photo studio in the laundry room is a big improvement, n'est pas?

I had trouble responding to the comments (See the "Challange" post). Blogger changed and I forgot how to sign in. But we are back.

So, Erika says she will be ready to run in the summer. And Jason is making some kind of non-commitment. Hmmm. For my part, I tried to run for 45 minutes at the gym today (Sunday). Saturday night we had a lovely dinner and raucous card game . Went to bed about 2 am after much wine. So, after running a couple of miles, the tank ran dry at the gym. Not a very good idea (or workout). But we will continue tomorrow (Monday) and Tuesday. I am running a couple of hard sessions (see how far I can get in 20 minutes) during the week. Every Sunday I try to extend the long run by about 5 minutes while maintaining a pace of at least 6.2 mph. Except for the very tired and rather hung-over Sundays, the plan is working.

Off to see the foot people in a week to get new implants. The orthodics are about a year old and showing as much wear as I am. The shoes need an upgrade too.

We are off to dinner at Byzantium in The Village of Toronto. Looking forward to this as we went there last winter and said we should go back. And I have to watch the Muppet Christmas Movie. Busy, busy, busy.

Oops, Penny just got back from a fitness class. Later, gater.

A Challenge

OK, here it is; a challenge to Eri and Jason and any other people who feel up to the adventure.

The Old Fart (that would be me) is now hitting 4.5 miles at a crack and beginning to up the speed during the week. I can practically feel the excitement and smell the finish line. Eri and I ran in Ottawa - nice flat course except for the one bit that goes up and over and down. Eri ran in Toronto - great net down hill except the last kilometer or so is straight up University from Wellington to Queen's Park. We both ran parts of Aurora - very nasty and hilly. Eri ran Burlington. Is the picture becoming clear?

Well, here's the picture. I will be up to a half-marathon next summer. I doubt the younger group can get their fatty acids in gear for the run, but who knows? Stranger things have happened. Toronto in October sounds perfect but quite a long way off. The Bob Hartwell in Aurora is in March, maybe too near and quite difficult. Ottawa is a rather long drive, but would be fun at the end on June.

Any takers?

Queen's Gambit Declined

The new chess game is underway and Andrew has left the tried and true at move 2. I am pretty sure this creates a weakness, but I am also quite sure he is just tempting me to advance too quickly or engage in some unsupportable attack.

Here I am pouring over the texts to fathom the best strategy at this early point. Perhaps the Albin Counter Gambit? The moves thus far:
1. d4 , d5
2. c4 , e5

More on this and pictures of progress later.

On to housework and projects. 'Tis Sunday, the long run at the gym is under the belt (40 minutes, 4.11 miles) and the afternoon awaits.