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.

Starting again

This was the inciteful birthday card from #1 son. Very cute, droll, on the mark. So the blog is being re-instated with modifications. We will now work more eclectic themes: not just travel, but many other waves including (but not limited to) family functions, current rants and concerns, interesting readings (or wanna reads), chess games in progress with yelps for assistance from the world at large as needed.
The last bit is also triggered by #1 son and his subtle gift of two (being more than one but less than three) books on chess.


On which topic, the new game starts. I am in complete control at this juncture. OK, so I have only made 1 move. And I will have to work on reducing the background noise. Picky.



And here are some silly shots from the 3-way birthday.

May 23rd, 24th - Leaving Venice for home

This is the final post for the Italy 2006 voyage. It is our last day in Venice. These are the final feelings of Venice, probably too many pictures.

We walked from the hotel through the San Marco area to cross the Rialto bridge to the other side of the Grand Canal. Back through the twists and turns of narrow streets and route changes to access bridges over canals all the way to Academia bridge. As we stroll along, we suddenly see the Grand Canal from a bridge crossing a smaller side canal.

Another surprise is a view of wisteria growing along the balcony of a small restaurant. The sights of Venice are astounding.

After re-crossing at Academia, we strolled (for the 3rd or 4th time) through the area between the Grand Canal and our hotel.

Then really lost (again) behind the Fenice. The Fenice opera house is somewhere in here amid a strange crisscross of small canals where this picture was taken. Even with a map we have trouble getting this part of Venice figured out.

We had a lovely lunch at the other restaurant on the Fenice square. We were here last night at Antico Martini, but lunch at the Ristorante al Theatro is much better.

Back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. Drag the luggage over the two bridges to San Marco, through the square one last time (there are now more than 1000 people with us). Take a water bus to Marco Polo airport and a cab to the Marriott hotel.

Up at 4 am the next morning and away to Paris and then Toronto. Must go back some day soon.

May 22nd - back to Venice

Up quite early, onto the road to Venice. Finally hit the highway the first try!

Return the car at the airport (again found 1st try) and on to the water bus to San Marco. Find our hotel easily (because we had cased the place 3 weeks ago).

The hotel room is wonderful: quite large, very comfortable and it has a small balcony overlooking a small canal on one of the gondola routes. Here, to the right is a sample view.

Off for a walk toward the Opitale area at the back side (non-tourist) of the islands. We pass many of the familiar types of sights - the working gondola carrying goods down a side canal, the amazing views that appearing as we round a new corner.

The destination of this stroll is the restored Santa Maria di Miracali church. This was a successful project of teh Save Venice fund (see City of Falling Angels). We wander many back streets well off San Marco square, but still within the San Marco area. The crowds are thicker than they were back around May4th.

The church is not visible until we are almost standing on its stairs. There are small plazas at either end with a narrow passage and a narrow canal down either side. The church is a jewel.








































Keen observers will have noted the murky colour of the water in the canals from time to time. Some complain of the aromas in mid-summer, but we did not notice that. The tide moves the lagoon, and thus the canals, in and out but we could see problems at high season.

More roaming about.
We go through some classic neighbourhoods where the people live. Just love these views, and there were so many variations.

Even some ham-bone gondoliers. This one saw me lining him up and struck the pose!

Eventually we wound up at the hospital that Opitale is named for. It is an enormous edifice that now houses some kind of international health research centre.

Back to the hotel for wine and cheese on "our" balcony. Waving to the passing gondolas with the gondoliers pointing us-wards and saying "That is the way to live". Amen.

We have practiced going to and from the Fenice (opera house) so we will not get lost tonight in the dark. No, we are not attending the opera (closed, alas), we are having dinner at Ristorante Antico Martini; a disappointment at great cost, but a visit necessitated by Montreal history. One of Penny's father's favourite restaurants in Montreal has the same name (but not the same prices). Interesting sentence. Hardly ever get to use a double possessive.

Tomorrow will be the last day (sob).

May 21st - Soave

Today we drove through the countryside between Verona and Soave. As with much of Italy, the going is very easy north-south but a bit of a challenge over the hills east-west. We visited small rural communities and passed farm fields and vineyards. Eventually arrived at Soave, named after the horrible wine they send here. And, what ho, it was the monthly fair day coupled with the annual investiture of the maidens into the castle wine cellars.

We have pictures of the fair and the medievil presentations throughout the old town. No pictures of the maidens.

Roamed around, then had a lovely lunch. The picture to the right is someone's front gate and yard. The small running guy (appears to be running on top of the gate) is part of a statue in the courtyard. People live in the ancient parts of the historic towns.

We had lunch in the place on the right. As you can see below, Penny did not seem to be enjoying the day at all.

The brick eyebrows around some of the windows below are the original brick of the building dating back hundreds of years.

After lunch we strolled around, some tasting of the REAL Soave wines - local grape varieties blended, sometimes with Chardonnay. The better wines there are very nice, perfect for an afternoon nosh. Then we walked up to the castle and back, then around town to see more of the sights.

The medieval fair was in full swing in the mid-afternoon with all sorts of costumed artisans, peddlers and displays. Here are a few of the sights.

Eventually back to the east end of Verone and a wonderful dinner at a small restaurant / enotecha that had donkey and horse on the menu. That could be a whole other blog.

Back to Venice tomorrow.