Winterlude Portraits

One of the great things about going places with Richard is all the photo ops! Here I am on Ottawa's Rideau Canal Skateway as an old-time hockey player.


And here I am again as seen through a block of ice. How's that for a portrait?

Ice, Ice Baby

On the weekend, Richard and I spent most of our time up on the roof hacking and smashing off ice. After that, we decided to keep with our ice-themed weekend and check out Winterlude in Ottawa. Most of it takes place on the Rideau Canal Skateway, at 7.8 km long, it's the longest skating rink in the world.


Speaking of ice, there were tons of intricate ice sculptures...


...in all shapes and sizes. To see a few shots of the day by Richard, click here.


And sculptures of a different sort as well. You were asked to recycle your plastic bottles and put a message in them...


...to create a communal, artistic, recycled sculptural creation.


Meanwhile, if you weren't into art, you could rent skates and at the same booth, check your boots.


Or you could rent a sleigh and pull a little one along the canal.


All in all, a great way to spend a winter day.

Snowy Lane

The lanes are still snowy but the sun is getting stronger and everyone is talking about the first little indications of spring. The chickadees are singing their spring song. My cats are sleeping on my bed and not in front of the fireplace. From Toronto, Peter reports a bit of grass appearing from under the snow. From Ithaca, NY, my sister Marcia says that her dogs are waking up earlier. Have you seen signs of spring?

Good Eats Florida 2

I had some amazing food in Florida. We went to the Wild East Asian Bistro in Ft. Lauderdale and started with edamame.


We then dug into some hot squid. Not rubbery and really yummy.


And we had some stuffed pork and veggie triangle thingees. We also had a black bean chicken dish and everything was really delicious.


We hit West Palm Beach and went to Brewzzi's, a micro-brewery that serves amazing burgers. I had what they call the "Bacon Bleu Burger." I washed that down with one of their own brews, a Boca Blonde.


One day we decided to have breakfast at Gabriel's in Wellington. I had the asparagus and bacon frittata with a side of grits. I was in the south, ya'll, so it seemed appropriate.


But we also did some healthy eating. At Pete's Place in West Palm Beach, I had a chicken salad which came with all sorts of yummy fruity things.


At Strathmore's Bagels and Deli, they start you with pickles, sauerkraut, pickled tomatoes and roasted red pepper before you order.


And you see, I ate healthy food again. After grits and eggs and bacon I figured I'd better be good...at least until the next time I ordered.

Good Eats Florida 1

One night we went to a Japanese Steakhouse, Hibachi and Sushi bar called Saito's. Here's our chef creating an onion "volcano."


And here it is on fire.


I ordered shrimp but tasted the mahi mahi and ostrich as well. All were pretty yummy.


Doesn't this look fantastic? (It was!)

Excellent Florida Adventure, Part 4

My friends in Florida have this lovely dog Hailey. She's a Wheaten Terrier and she's just adorable.


We hung out together at the pool. I was looking for some sun. She was looking for intruders of the four-legged variety.


My friends' daughter Whitney made this ceramic likeness of Hailey. Fabulous, isn't it?


And Hailey's in the kitchen too. Love it.


How can anyone resist a face like this? Too bad there wasn't room in my suitcase for her...

The Incredibly Talented Ron James

Ron James has been called Canada's funniest comedian and I have to agree. So did the sold out crowd in Cornwall on Wednesday night where he performed his Mental-as-Anything tour. It's always such a treat to see him live. He's so much fun to watch!
Now he's in Ottawa for five sold out shows and then continues doing a tour of other towns in Eastern Ontario till the end of the month. To see some clips of his various shows click here. Enjoy!

Excellent Florida Adventure, Part 3

For lunch one day, Roberta and I headed to Strathmore Bagels & Deli. They have tons of flavours of bagels (but really, asiago?)


And they have even more flavours of rugelach. We tried the chocolate and the apricot. Yum-o!


Above the rugelach there were many colourful cookies.


Looks like they're getting ready for Valentine's Day.


I particularly liked the lip-shaped ones. Maybe I can make it back for February 14th?

Excellent Florida Adventure, Part 2

Last Saturday was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in West Palm Beach.


We woke up early and got ready to walk with 22,000 other participants. It was a cool 45F. Most thought it was too cold but I thought it was perfect.


Just before we began the walk, someone handed me a yummy, cinnamon bagel thing. I needed the strength to go 5k, right?


And so we started.


We walked and walked and talked...

...and here we are halfway. It was a loop, the route running on the closed off road beside the Intracoastal Waterway separating West Palm Beach and Palm Beach itself.


There were pink dogs and tons of ribbons and all kinds of things to look at.


And here we are at the finishing point. Breakfast anyone?

Excellent Florida Adventure, Part 1

Last weekend, I went on a quick visit to Florida as a surprise to my oldest and dearest friend Roberta for her 50th birthday. I left Montreal after a dump of 25 cm of snow.


Three hours later I was flying over Fort Lauderdale where it was 85F.


I was whisked off to the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida to see the Montreal Canadiens play the Florida Panthers. Waiting for the doors to open, there were so many Habs fans that it seemed I was in Montreal instead of Florida...except of course that it was 70 degrees and there were palm trees...


Inside there was lots of action. I was a big surprise to my friend Roberta who came into the arena not expecting me to be sitting next to her. And we had fantastic seats! Four rows from the ice.

We met some of the team afterwards...


Yup, that's Guy Carbonneau, head coach for the Canadiens in the background...


...and despite the 5-1 loss to the Panthers Doug Jarvis, the assistant coach of the Canadiens was upbeat and happy to pose for photos.


Alex Kovalev, the alternate captain for the Canadiens was happy to sign Roberta's hockey jersey...


...and then pose for a photo with us. Very cool!