ChocoMotive

We headed over to Montebello, QC to ChocoMotive, a chocolaterie and cchocolatemuseum housed in a former train station.

 There's lots to see there including a few people making chocolate bunnies.

 There's also a huge selection of chocolate types...Richard picked hemp and acai berry (!!) and one with no sugar and almonds.

 The bee pollen chocolate caught my eye but I settled on a sea salt bar.

 We also tried their incredibly delicious hot chocolate. A teeny tiny cup was enough. This stuff was rich and delicious.

 It wasn't cold out or snowy, which is so odd for Dec. 28th, but the hot chocolate went down perfectly well, thanks very much.

Looking forward to a repeat visit to this place. Lots of fun and yummy too.

Cookie time!

 Polar bear gingerbread cookies with warm scarves...

...or funky blue snowflake gingerbreads. How does one decide?

Retirement cake

I made this cake for a co-worker who retired as a salesperson at our office. She was often on the road and returned with Post-It notes and clippings and all sorts of things in her folders. I thought it was a fun way to point out possible adventures to come and at the same time remind her of the chaos of working.

Happy retirement-- Bonne retraite Francine!

Visiting the menagerie

Meanwhile over at Knatolee's World, there are plenty of new critters. Here's Nat mucking out the barn where her new ponies spend the night.

She's flanked by Honey, one of three Greek cat she's saved. They flew over a few weeks ago and seem to be enjoying Canadian life. 

 This is her sister Daisy. Buttercup was off exploring somewhere and I'll get to meet her next time.

I did mange to get a quick snuggle with Honey.

I grabbed a snap of the ropes hanging in the barn. So colourful.

 Meanwhile indoors, there are more creatures wanting a hug. Naomi is always up for a quick snuggle.

And poor old Tristan is still going strong. He's an elderly boy who still likes a treat, head pat or belly rub. Sweet boy.

Happy Chanukah

 It's Chanukah and time for latkes. Richard's really got the hang of doing latkes!

 I was running around all day but tried making the brisket in the slow cooker. And it worked out great!

Richard lit my grandfather's menorah on the left and I lit a candle on my late parents' menorah. Lovely to have family mementos and great memories to make the holiday special.

Cats, cats, cats, cats

I just love my cats...but I rarely ever see them all at the same time. In fact, hours can go by where I don't see any of them...but yesterday it was cold enough that they all found the warmest spot in the house and hung out together for a while. Kind of nice to see...

It's beginning to look a lot like...

 Last weekend a few of our gang at work decided to stat setting up our display at the park.

 Our sign will light up and hopefully everyone will see whose display it is.

 Giant plywood Christmas trees strung with lights.

 And a giant snow-family too.

 All those sandbags hold down the displays and make sure they don't blow away.

 From previous experience they found out that plastic added to the bottom of the displays makes it easier to remove when they are iced in...

And here's our sweet display. It's for the Festival of Lights in Alexandria, Ontario, which runs all December with tons of lights and trees and is really a fun experience, albeit usually freezing cold. Every year we've added to this display. This year, the deer and the lollipops are new. I'll take a photo of it at night and report back!

Sweet kitties

 I have four lovely kitty cats and they love to sit with me when I watch TV. Nutmeg, the white calico whose face is obscured is now 15 years old and is moving a lot slower. Cookie, the other calico and her sister Oreo, on my legs are 13 and are still pretty active.

Somewhat new in the mix is Matzo Man who I found in my barn two summers ago. This will be his second winter inside. I think he's about three years old. He loves his time inside and never tries to go out. But he doesn't cuddle and in fact, I often find him curled up on the other side of the house, nowhere near the other cats or me. He's kind of like a roommate that I only see from time-to-time. It's fine with me. He's a perfect gentleman, never too demanding and very sweet. He definitely has his own personality...he's very fond of Cookie but keeps his distance from the other guys. Kinda funny how they all sort it out their way!

Visiting

 My friend from Toronto, Peter, came for a visit last weekend. First up? We made a cake together, honouring a English Lit. class we took at university many moons ago. We were big T.S. Eliot fans...

Then we headed over to Vankleek Hill to visit Beau's All Natural Brewing Co.

 Next up? Track down a good poutine!

 Richard was up for the search as well.

 Our search took us to Vert Forchette and we each tried a funky variety of poutine.

We also visited Natalie and her critters. The piggies are darn cute.

We lunched at the Quirky Carrot and had a wee visit with Julia who dreams up all that delicious food.

 And a quick boo at the amazing St. Raphael's ruins...

We also stopped at Glengarry Fine Cheese so that Peter could take their award winning cheese back to Toronto!

 Sadly, all good things must come to an end...

 It was a great weekend full of and merriment...and we missed the snow by one day!

Come back again soon Peter. It was so much fun! I have to rest now. I'm exhausted!!

Looking back...from kitten to cat.

 My dear old cat Nutmeg is rather creaky these days and at 15 years old, she moves very slowly.

I found these wonderful pages from my photo album of when she joined our household. 

She was such a sweet little kitten and as an adult, she's still as sweet, although a lot larger!

Take a walk on the boardwalk

 Over the weekend we went to Cooper Marsh, a conservation area just down the road a piece.

 Just recently they rebuilt what seems like miles of boardwalk...

 We took one of the shorter routes through the marsh.

 It was a bright windy day, likely one of the few left before the snow flies.

 Lots of golds and browns in the palette.

 And as I mentioned, miles of boardwalk with areas to stop and observe wildlife.

 The only wildlife in the marsh was Richard and me!

 But there were hungry chickadees waiting for a handout. Next time I'll bring some sunflower seeds for them. They sure are friendly. I think they've been hand fed a few times before. I tried to lure them with some sumac seeds. It worked only once and then they ignored me!

Very scenic spot for taking photos.

And we had to snap a selfie...natch!