Murder on the Orient Express

This movie, chock full of movie stars, did not receive a good review by the critics - Rotten Tomatoes gave it 58%, Roger Ebert 2/4 (nor audiences) but I went to see it anyway.  It is a classic Agatha Christie story starring Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian detective.  Although he is looking forward to a holiday and is enjoying reading his Dickens novel, he finds himself on a train with a murder mystery he is asked to resolve.  It is your typical Christie story ... someone is murdered, Poirot questions all the suspects, deduces who the murderer is and gets the suspects together at the end to do the big reveal.  No surprises here.  Although I enjoyed watching it I do not think this production is among the greats in the film industry.  I give it 2-1/2 stars out of 5.  (a moot point:  Poirot's moustache kind of bothered me).  

Loving Vincent

How do I describe this masterpiece of a film.  Over 100 painters worked at recreating many of the paintings of Vincent van Gogh (he painted 800 in his life time and during his life, sold only one!) to create the storyline of the movie ... the mystery of the death of Vincent.  His paintings are animated although there are a few scenes with real actors.  These scenes are in black and white and there is slight movement or shimmer on the scenes making it is difficult to know if it is real or a painting itself.  It is difficult to explain what I watched on screen, so below is a link to Youtube explanation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOtwJL4iV8s

I sometimes judge a  movie by how many times I look at my watch.  This movie was over before I knew it - not one sneak peak at my watch - and left me wanting more.  Oh yes, one additional suggestion ... see it on a large screen if possible...your eyes will thank you.  I will definitely watch this marvellous creation again and give this movie 5 stars out of 5.

November 10

Getting a bunch of seniors to sit still for a photo is as difficult as getting two 3 year olds to do the same. The plus side is everyone is having fun and that's what counts.  Gail's Birthday dinner was celebrated at Sanchez Cantina tonight.  Great Mexican food, great company and lots of laughs.  Thanks for having a birthday Gail!

November 9

Winter is seeping into the landscape.  Driving to town this morning with slight ice fog in the distance.  Above, the sun it just rising over the trees at 10:00 am.  Weather is a bit cooler now, around the -15°C mark.  It's a good reminder to dress properly.  On the very plus side, the northern lights were spectacular the other night.  They lit up the entire sky.  I'm sure I said this before, but it doesn't matter how long you have lived in the north, even if it is all you life (right SR?) you NEVER tire of the magic of the Northern Lights.

And, being November 9th ...  Happy Birthday Dawson!

Happy Hallowe'en

This is Hallowe'en number 4 for the twins.  Of course, the family comes to my house as I have the busiest Hallowe'en street in the world (I think).  Above is Emerson Batman with Lily Minnie Mouse.  This is what he wore to Day Care and no Debbie, I don't think he is not happy but this is what he looks like when you put a mask over his eyes.  Or maybe this is his tough face???  Alanna was a Flying Unicorn ballerina for Day Care but as soon as she comes to my house she transforms into Princess Allana.

We ate a quick dinner then it was time for another transformation.  Above Brooke is performing magic on Emerson's face.

And this is the result.  Shark Mouth.

And here is the Shark!

Alanna was transformed into another Flying Unicorn (her current favourite thing) and in case you couldn't recognize what she was you just had to read the front of her hoodie.

The family was ready to depart.  The theme was eclectic this year.  Everyone was just whatever they wanted to be.  

And off they went.  

While they were off Trick or Treating, I stayed home to hand out the candies at my house.  

 Last year we have around 100 Kids!!!!  This year we have around 160 Kids!!!!  I think part of the reason our street is so popular is the Haunted House that is just a few houses down from me.  (Lucky me!)

Once home again the kids emptied their jack-o-lantens out to see what they got.  They also helped me hand out the treats to the kids that came to the door.  They each could eat about three small treats before they had to repack their pumpkins.  (If left to themselves of course they would have eaten ALL the candies at once). 

!!! Happy Hallowe'en Everyone !!!

Twins

Brooke had to go to Vancouver for the day yesterday, so I took the kids overnight.  This morning I put on a kid's TV program, gave them their smoothies to finish and told them to go and sit on the couch while I got ready for the day.  When I came back into the living room this is what I saw.  Although they had the whole of the couch and the whole of the living room to sit in, they sat right next to each other.  Yes, they ARE twins!

October 11, 2017

We were lucky.  October 11 came and SR was in town.  

Happy Birthday SR!  

The kids couldn't keep their hands off the gifts.  As soon as they entered the house, he had to sit down and begin opening presents or they would be opened by "someone else".  

Interestingly enough, Alanna was more enthused with the small wands I bought as favours.  Above,  she gave one to her father.

We had a lovely old fashioned dinner of lasagna, Caesar salad, and garlic bread.  I haven't made a dinner like that in years and everyone gobbled it right down.  Then came the cake.

I had help putting the candles on the cake, lighting the candles and the three of us carried the cake from the kitchen to the table while singing Happy Birthday.

And of course SR had help blowing out all those candles.  Cake is always the BEST part of the meal!

And, true to form, is began to snow after dinner, so when they left, we had our first skiff of snow on the ground.  

Thanksgiving 2017

Happy Thanksgiving.  If you've ever followed my pictures, you will recognize this shot as I must have taken 1,000 pictures of exactly this part of the lake.  Spent the day Jackson Lake.

Although it was threatening rain showers when I drove up, the sky cleared and we were able to enjoy some time outside.

SR chopped some wood with two little helpers.

And while he was chopping wood Brooke was inside cooking up a storm. 

Of course, there is always time in a busy schedule for a story or two, especially when you have two avid listeners.

The cabin smelled to good.  Most of the food was local including the turkey. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  It was nice to have Chloe join us for the meal.  She is the twins' new Au Pair.  She fit in well!

As SR lit the fire in the RSF for the night and
as we were waiting patiently for him to return
so we could eat the Pumpkin Pie, the kids got
their first taste of whipping cream shot directly
into their mouths.  THEY LOVED IT and
could have done this all night long.  Dadda
did return and pie was served and they loved that as well.

It is such a great setting for a Thanksgiving Feast. Great idea Brooke and SR. Thanks for the great family meal.  Happy Thanksgiving to All !

Oct 1 again

As I said, the kids had a sleepover.  Sunday we did have "nap time" as they were up at 6 AM.  I tiptoed into their room and found out how they were napping (above) so we put everything away and started all over again.  I was successful but it took separating them to achieve the desired goal.

Princess  Alanna wore her tiara all weekend.  And courtesy of a garage sale, I got a slew of beaded bracelets which she put on (all 8 at once), took off, put on, took off, lost, we had to hunt for them, found, put on ...  It keep her very busy.  Above is the watch that she got also.

Emerson is in the silly stage.  It is difficult to take a photo of him where he is not making a face or giving me a weird pose.  I did snap one of him watching TV, but not before he glance over and weird faced me first.

They did have fun with their Dadda.  Emerson was quite a bit rougher than Alanna but they both had fun.

We had a good dinner which included Apple Pie, then my little friends (and big friends) left.  Now my house seems so empty but at least I can actually sit down with a glass of wine and watch one of MY TV shows..

October 1

The kids had a sleepover at Gramma's house.  We always have fun when this happens.  Then on Sunday, Dadda and Chloe (the new au pair) came over for supper.  Dadda has been out of town for about a week, so the kids haven't seen much of him.  They were excited and Emerson was full of beans.

Haines Junction

Was offered a scenic drive today in a brand new car.  It was a treat to be driven with a "new car" smell, a non-pock-marked windshield and smoother tires.  Went to Haines Junction and haven't been there since SR's wedding time and that was 2013!

The colours were brilliant and the mountain shapes changed constantly as we got closer and closer to Kluane Park.  Of course, it also got cloudier as we went.

We stopped at the Mile 1016 Pub for a delicious lunch.  Above is Debbie's new car parked with the mountains of Kluane Park in the background.

Stopped into beautiful Visitors' Centre.  It almost doesn't matter where you are in Haines Junction, you always get a view of the mountains.  Love it!

The Founder

If you want (or need) another reason NOT to give McDonald:s your hard earned money, watch this movie.  I had heard that the company was founded by two gentlemen.  The idea for fast consistent quality food was developed by two, and I WILL call them gentlemen, who believed in ingenuity, integrity, hard work, customer satisfaction, and quality food (I know, I know, hamburgers and french fries are not quality food, but they made it as good as it gets in the fast food business).  Then along came a fast talking, money worshipping visionary who franchised this good-will business, crawled up the backs of these trusting gentlemen, signed contracts he was never going to keep, gave "gentleman's handshakes" only to quiet down the opposition with no intention of ever honouring them and became a billionaire in the process.  Yes, he was successful, but was he moral or ethical?  I learned a lot about McDonald's and as you can see, this movie riled me up!  I give it 4 Stars out of 5.  

Kid Sitting

The next three days are kid sitting days for me.  Brooke is in Dawson City and SR is working working working.  So I moved into their house.  Much easier being where the twin's things are.  My first day here I drove up and had to move Emerson's tricycle out of the middle of the driveway.  I noticed that is was a bit cockeyed.  SR later told me that he ran over it this morning.  He asked Emerson why he left it on the driveway and was told that he had parked it behind Daddy's truck.  It may be fixable even though the handlebars and front wheel point in different directions.

Shaun came home at lunch install the car seats in my truck.  As soon as the back door was opened, in jumped Lily and Radar.

Sorry guys, we are just adjusting car seats, not going for a ride right now.

Home again

At home again.  Fall weather.  The leaves are changing colours.  Went to the new grocery store the first night home to pick up a few things for the morning.    Thought I'd also pick up the deal of the century while I was at it ... Prime Rib Roast for $4.73 a kilo.  Couldn't find any so asked the butcher.  He told me that they were sold out (even though the sale was on until the next day).  He said that they had 7 semi truck loads of Prime Rib that they brought in and all was sold.  There may be some in the load coming tomorrow but he couldn't guarantee it.  I lined up to pay for my groceries winding my way up and down 4 aisles of the pharmacy, then creeping behind the red rope and finally reaching a cashier.  The next day I went to the store to do more shopping and overheard the butcher say that,  yes, more Prime Rib came in in the morning shipment and the line up to purchase it was from the rear of the store out to the parking lot.  No thanks.  I don't want beef that much.

The next day the kids came over to my house for a sleepover.  We had fun while Brooke cleaned the her house for the shower the next day for Emily's new addition, Henrik.  

Sunday was a day of rest for me.  Then Monday came and I again had little visitors.  We were going to finger paint but they were adamant that a brush was necessary so - change of plan.  Put away the finger paints and brought out the brush paints.  And away they went creating works of art.

I'm sure you know what the end products are, but just in case you are a bit confused, the top painting is Big Bunny (Alanna's best friend) painted by Emerson and the bottom painting is Puppy, (Emerson's nighttime partner) painted by Alanna.

We ate lunch, read some stories, they had a nap (in separate rooms) then  watched Paw Patrol till Daddy came to pick them up.

Ottawa Day 2

Ahhh, it is now day and I see the parliament buildings in the light.  It looks just like all the photos I have ever seen of it.

Also saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with two guards.  Kristin said that since the shooting of the guard, (was that a year ago?) they now have small house to stand by as well as they now carry rifles.  Damn those terrorists!

This we passed on the way to our Hop-On, Hop-Off Bus Tour.  That is a great way to see the city and learn about the different areas.  The entire route was 1-1/2 hours. 

                              

We hopped off by the Art Gallery so we could visit the Mint.  We first had a pizza lunch which was Kristin's suggestion and it was so good!  When we got back to the Mint it would be an hour wait for a tour and the only way to see the mint was with a tour.  I didn't really want to hang around for an hour, plus the Mint made collector coins, not our money coins, so we hopped back on the bus to continue on.  

Museums galore in Ottawa.  We drove past the War Museum.  Those small windows on the wall of the museum spell out "Lest we Forget" in Morse Code.

We stopped at a park that was featuring MosaiCanada.  This is a representation of all the provinces and territories of Canada in plants.

This is Anne of Green Gables waiting for a train.

Here we have a fisherman in a dory on a wavy ocean.

Kristin is standing in front of a train made out of plants!  Apparently the sunflowers just bloomed last week so we were treated to a sea of sailing yellow faces.

Here is the Yukon's representation.

It was fun.  We spent a whole day on the hop-on hop-off.  I saw a lot, learned a lot and had good company to boot.  It was an excellent tour of Ottawa, the city I FINALLY got to see.  Thanks Kristin for opening up your home to me.  I truly enjoy my visit!