Meltyness

Remember all that snow in my backyard a month or so back?

Well, here's what happened over just a few days last week.

Going...

Going...

Gone!

Nothing like 25 degree temperatures to melt snow. And now the grass is growing, and it's starting to look lovely and green, and I think it's time to get the backyard furniture out and invite people over to hang out in the sun!

Melty Days

The weather has been positive every day for about a week now, although it still gets negative at night (which, I'm told, is the perfect condition for the maple trees to produce the stuff that gets turned into syrup). So huge great piles of white snow everywhere are gradually becoming slightly smaller, ugly, dirty brown piles of snow studded with garbage and surrounded by dirty lakes.
On the upside, the permafrost that makes the path to my front door treacherous has melted enough for a few holes down to the actual concrete to appear, allowing a firm foothold for at least some of the steps.
And the sun is stronger. So much stronger that I think I'm got slightly sunburnt this weekend. I didn't think that was supposed to happen on this side of the world, dammit. But sitting in the sun feel very nice. I've even ventured out without long johns on! And my down coat is definitely too warm now, but my hoodie alone isn't quite warm enough most of the time. So one of my missions for this week is to find a spring jacket of some sort. I can feel a thrift store shopping expedition coming on! Maybe I'll get those rollerblades as well...
Oh, and I went to Ottawaaaa for the weekend (that's how they say it here) but I'll blog about it another day.

Diary of a too-late Ice Skater, Part 4

So it seems the skating season is over. I was down at Parc La Fontaine yesterday, and the pond is now just slush. Temperatures are predicted to be over zero all week this week, so I think that's it for the skating. I'm really glad I got to go one last time on Monday.
But now that the sidewalks are mostly free of snow and ice, maybe I'll buy some rollerblades (which are also plentiful in thrift stores) and continue to develop my skills. It would probably save me buying a bike as well.
Of course, I've never rollerbladed in my life. So I bet I'm a pretty-crap rollerblader. But I managed to not kill myself on the ice, so I'm sure I can learn to survive on the streets as well!

Meanwhile, here's a pic I took at the ex-ice skating pond yesterday. Isn't this the funkiest dancing hockey playing stick figure you've ever seen? As far as I can tell, this sign means 'don't dance with your hockey stick here'.

Diary of a Still Pretty Crap Ice Skater, Part 3

Finally got to go skating again. Yes, it's been months, and my plan to become an expert over the winter didn't exactly happen, but I'm still glad I bought my own skates. Soon it will be too warm for skating. Already the change room and skate hire place is closed, and the ice was mostly pretty crappy, but there was still a big area with skatable ice, so I survived. It was easier this time. For a start I didn't have to do the horrible walk from the change room to the ice, which is always so precarious and terrifying on skates and icy paths, and secondly, I was there with a friend and my attention was more focussed on our conversation than on my skating, so I was more relaxed and didn't notice what I was doing, and did far better than the last time I went! Here's video proof:

With luck I'll manage to go again at least once before everything melts! And snowshoeing and cross country skiing are still on the wish-list too, but the chances of having time when the conditions are right are getting less and less as the weather feels more and more spring-y. Already the sun feels so warm, even though the temps are -5 or more, there's real warmth in the sun, and the birds have returned!

We Built an Igloo!

So on Saturday I had some friends over with the crazy idea of playing in the mountain of snow in my backyard, and then drinking mulled wine and hot chocolate (not necessarily together) afterwards. I had ideas of snow sculptures or something, but it was too cold. You need melty, sticky snow for snowpeople, apparently (I'm learning so much here!). But as the day before had been melty, the snow was quite dense and solid, which is apparently perfect igloo-building-snow. I had never considered the possibility of actually building an igloo. It is a foreign concept. But I'm into foreign concepts, and I had expert help and design advice from a couple of actual Canadians. Actually, Telyn did most of the shovel work cutting the blocks, and I just placed them, usually where I was told to. Emily helped by taking photos and playing with the puppy she was looking after for the day, preventing her from digging up our igloo or running away.
It was all going brilliantly until Emily slipped on the private ice skating rink we have developed out there, and had to go to hospital to check she hadn't broken any ribs. She hadn't, thankfully, but it will probably feel like it for a week or so. And it put a stop to our igloo building, so we never did get a roof on it, and I had to dismantle it the next morning so my neighbour could park his second car there, but we did bridge the door gap, and I'm very glad I can now add 'igloo building' to my list of experiences, and thankful to Emily and Telyn for humouring me and my crazy Australian snow-deprived ideas.

The Mountain.

After only three point five months in Montreal, I finally climbed The Mountain today. Mont-Royal, the lump in the middle of town that gives this town its name. It's affectionately referred to as a mountain, but it's only a hill really. Still, there's quite a bit of uphill involved in climbing it, but the view at the top is rather pretty.
And the reason that I had time to do such frivolous things as climb mountains was that there was a mix-up with my day's worth of classes and they got cancelled. I didn't find out about this until I had already trekked all the way to Laval (45 minutes away, if I go early enough for the good bus!) so I got to turn around and trek all the way back, which was ok, as I should get paid for the day anyway!
Once home, I sent out an email to everyone I could think of who might have some time to do something with the wonderful sunnyness of the day, and the fact that it was only -10 or so, and ended up getting invited to climb The Mountain with Telyn. And as it was lunchtime, and we were on the McGill campus, Telyn took me to the Midnight Kitchen, for an almost-free vegan lunch, which is something I think every university should have.
After Telyn had to return to student life after lunch, I had a chance to wander around town, which I don't often do, and go to the Frigo Vert for a little shopping, which I also never get to do. At least, not there. And then I came home to while away the hours on the internet.
So overall, today was good!
More pics on flickr, as usual.

Random Observations.

1. The highest point of the blanket of snow that is currently covering my backyard outside my window here is at eye level when I'm sitting here at my desk. This is a record breaking year, apparently.
2. My internal french-monologue has started frequently speaking with a quebecois accent-la.
3. Changing to summer time (as we did on Sunday morning, apparently) is fantastic, and I love long, sunny evenings, but somehow my body clock cannot be convinced that it's nearly night time right now, and that I'm running late for our jam session, which usually starts *after* dark...
   

Diary of a Really Crap Ice Skater, Part 2

Today, though, it was without the benefit of skates. The weather has turned warm - the temperature went and got all positive today, and the nice powdery snow melted, then refroze into ice that, in many places, very closely resembles polished glass. And it's raining, which is really not nice. So I'm not particuarly impressed. This evening my walk from the metro (about 300m or something) took ages tonight, as I was slipping on nearly every step. And on my way to the from Rhizome (where I was at their film night), the sidewalks actually slidewalks, and after a block or so I gave up and walked in the road instead, which had been salted, so wasn't icy. A car went through a puddle right next to me and sprayed me all over with puddlewater. I felt like someone in a New York movie.
This is my some of my least favourite weather. I would much prefer -20 and snow. At least the footpaths are walkable then!

Today

This morning, just before I left my house at 7.45 or so this was the view out my front door:And then when I got home (and after tramping to my front door up to my knees in snow, getting the shovel, and tramping back):


Then I shovelled. It's still a novelty, so I didn't mind. Not yet, anyway.

A Kat and a Cat in the Sun on a lazy Sunday

So it`s -13 degrees outside, with windchill it`s -22, but wonderfully sunny, and I`ve just spent the last 3 hours sitting stretched out decadently in the sun in the comfort of my own flat.I`m supposed to be at Food not Bombs, helping cook for a velo-rutionaires something-or-other, but the sun was too seductive.It`s beginning to disappear now, though so I might manage to go to FnB soon. Maybe I`ll make it to the serving. I`ve helped cook or serve several weeks here now. It`s a bit chilly, but fun, serving soup to the homeless outside a metro station in town (they don`t usually let us inside).
The other reason I`m being lazy is because I worked most of this last week - my first week of work since October, so I`m not allowed to complain. It was almost interesting to be back in the rat-race.But it`did serious disrupt my sleeping pattern, so I needed to catch up. The reason I didn`t catch up on sleep on Friday night was a potluck at L`Appart Laurier on Friday night. Despite being `only` a potluck, it was wilder and better-attended than the actual party I went to there last month. It was great to realise that despite being here only 6 weeks now, there were only about 5 people there that I had never seen before. And I`m beginning to be known and recognised in this cosy little community. I love it! AND the food was fantastic, as always.And the reason I didn`t catch up on sleep on Saturday morning (afternoon) is because I went to see Sweeney Todd with Rosie. The first half was much better than the second half, but overall it was a great movie. Tim Burton`s imagery is, as always, utterly brilliant, and the beach-fantasy scene was just genius. And you`ve gotta love a musical with a body count! (I could post a pic of this, but I`d just have to steal it from google images, and I think you can all do that for yourself if you want).

But yesterday evening I had nothing on (in a different sense to this morning, when I also had nothing on), and just enjoyed hanging out with Basho the Cat, absorbing internet time and listening to music on the wonderful speakers here in this warm, cosy and elegant flat. I`m only here another week, and I will be sorry to leave. But the next flat is going to be just as good!

The Soo

Ooh Ooh look!
The red dots on my travelpost map have finally joined up across Canada - it almost looks like I've made it all the way across!
I haven't though. I'm in Sault Ste Marie. That's a whole 270km from Wawawawa where we stayed last night. It took over 5 hours to get that far, through this afternoon's blizzard. It got even more fun when it began to get dark and we discovered the headlights weren't working. Luckily high beams were, but that just illuminated the wall of snow immediately in front of us - and blowing rather hard towards us. It was all rather fun, really, and just a *tad* hair-raising.
But 'The Soo' (as Sault Ste Marie is called) seems like a lovely little town. We're staying with a lovely couple (both teachers) and their rabbit, Tutu, whom we found on couchsurfing.com, in a beautiful little house almost within view of the Mary river - the bit of water between lakes Huron and Superior - and International Bridge, that leads to the *other* Sault Ste Marie, which is Michigan, USA. I'm not going there.
Our host Sarah took us out this evening to her favourite little bar here, which just happened to be the one mentioned in my LP guide book. We even walked there! The temperature is quite warm - only -3 or so, and it wasn't snowing, at least not much, so it was a reasonably pleasant walk, and probably further than I've walked in days! (must learn to walk in snow...). There was practically no one there, but we got talking to the owner and his father, and ended up spending a lovely hour or two in conversation - mostly travel related, of course. The owner, who is not much older than me, has travelled in Australia, and so we were swapping notes about our respective countries.
Hoping to make Sudbury tomorrow - it's only another 4 hours or so, if the weather is reasonable...

The novelty of snow

Despite 3 days and nights of driving and wading through snow (I'd say deep snow, but I have a feeling I ain't seen nothing yet) it's still being a novelty. And I'm breaking new records all the time - yesterday I believe I was outside in -23 degrees! It probably helps that I don't feel the need to traipse around and sight-see at any of the places we've stopped so far. And having a car means that you drive to see anyway, rather than walk. I can see that outdoor time will be at an absolute minimum until temperatures approach zero again (from the wrong direction, that is). It's nice to sit here watching it fall out the window though, and it does make everything pretty. And pretty eerie at night!
And of course, the other thing that makes the snow ok, is that I found dubbin for my boots here! And I thought it was just an australian thing! I also bought gloves with cut-off fingers and a mitten bit that folds over the fingers, and something called a 4 in one hood, which I still working out how to use, and which makes me look rather ninja-ish, but who cares, when you're warm!
So I'm now in Wawa. Wa! It's a great name for a town. We're hoping to be in Toronto tomorrow, if not tonight. It's about 900km away, but as it's snowing again, I doubt we'll get that far. Also, the road skips along the edge of lake superior for a while, and then along a bit of Lake Huron, I think, so there might be photo stops along the way. Yesterday it was clear and sunny, and the road were well-plowed (ploughed?), so we got from Dryden all the way here to Wawawawawa - about 800km, which is a lot better than 350km we'd managed in the previous 2 days. We managed this by driving late into the night, which meant an increased risk of hitting a moose (Moose!) but the weather and roads were clear, and the moon, although only gibbous, was so incredibly bright reflected off the snow, and the scenery that we could see was beautiful in its light, so it wasn't a bad drive! (pics that in no way do it justice will be added soon)
In Toronto I hope to stay 2 nights, so I can spend a day seeing the place. I'm also considering a day's dash to Niagara Falls, just to tick that box and save me coming back that way later. We'll see...

I managed to vote, just!

I dropped my postal vote in a mail box at about 4.50 this afternoon - with 10 minutes to spare before the last scheduled pickup. If it had been postmarked later than today, it wouldn't have been accepted, which would have sucked. The reason it was so late was that I spent 2 hours trudging through the snow (ok, not a lot of snow, but snow nonetheless!) trying to find someone who would witness it for me. It had to be a minister of religion (who all seem to leave early on Fridays), an officer of the military or JP (where does one find those?), an Australian Citizen (for once, I seem the only one in town!) or a doctor. So, after trying a church or two, I was directed to a medical centre, where a doctor did agree to sign it for me - as long as I paid him $15! I was outraged at this, and refused, not surprisingly. It just seems incredibly wrong.
I finally found another medical centre, at about 5.45, and a doctor who signed it without really looking or caring, but that's ok with me. Thankfully there was a mail box right outside, as well, and I'd already bought the right stamps earlier in the day, just in case this happened.
So, phew! That's done. And with only minutes to spare. By about 4.30, I was beginning to think it wouldn't happen, and that would have been a pain.

In other election related things, I've been busy opinionating all over the triple J election blog Float Your Vote. You can see my thoughts on overseas voting here, and on whether I'll bother returning to a Liberally Governed Australia here. (At least, you will be able to when the comments are approved and appear...)

(And I know 3 posts in one day is excessive, but as I'm probably going to be travelling for the next few days, who knows when I'll get another chance! And I'll break up all this dull text with some pictures soon too, I promise.)

Cold much?

So right now, outside, it is apparently -11 degrees Celsius or so. -16 with wind chill...
I'm not sure what the coldest temperature I've ever experienced in my life is, but I can't remember anything negative in double figures. So it's all a new and exciting experience for me.
And tomorrow, I'm going to buy proper longjohns (I've discovered that there are longjohns and longjohns, and I need the latter, if I'm to survive).

One major benefit, however: Jack, whom I'm staying with, just brought home a huge quantity of icecream from a local dumpster. And frozen waffles. In Vancouver we joked about the possibility of dumpstering icecream. Here, it's a reality... And you don't need the freezer space - just store it in a plastic box outside!

EDIT: So we went back, with the car, and there is now over 100 litres of icecream and a similar quantity of random other frozen food stuffs sitting in the back room here. And that's even after we've all stuffed ourselves this evening. Apparently, the store had a freezer break down today, so dumped all the stuff in it before it thawed. The max temp today was -4 or something, so everything is still good!
The back room here is pretty cold, as it's a sort of add-on to the house and there is a tree sort of growing into it. Unfortunately, my dollar store thermometer is only reading 4 degrees in there. A great temperature for a fridge, not so good for icecream. There are too many animals outside, and not enough plastic boxes to put it all in. This could get interesting...

T-Shirt Weather

I would just like to point out that I am sitting here, at 5pm, in Winnipeg, in late October, wearing a t-shirt. And with all my van doors and windows open. It's 20 degrees here today. I was getting frostbite* the night before last, and now it's t-shirt weather.

*I didn't really get frostbite, but I did get the impression that I need better gloves. In fact, i need mittens.