And right beside the airport is the Transportation Museum with the old Paddlewheeler outside. That was it for my walk as I had to rush home to make a pot of tea and watch Coronation Street (when will Shelly find out Charlie's no good??? how will Steve tell Tracey he doesn't love her???.....)

Since I was at the airport, decided to take a pic of the largest weather vane in the world. It's the old Canadian Pacific plane (DC3??) that used to fly here many moons ago. It does turn depending on the direction of the wind. And on such a beautiful day, the mountains are spectacular against the bright blue sky. Hard not to take picutres of them.

Whoa, what a beautiful day. It may get down to 30 below at night, but it warms up to about minus 15 during the day and you can now feel the heat of the sun ... finally. This is the path out my back door. About a 12 minute walk will lead me right to the airport (you can see the air traffic control tower on the 2nd picture). This will save me cab fare when I travel, although lugging the suitcase will be a chore!

Luckily my favourite busker was playing his flute inside - he's such a pleasure to hear. Had our coffee and a nice chat, saw a few people I knew then headed home. Passed the Canada Games Centre, went inside to look for SR's stolen soccer boots (on the feet of a soccer player), didn't find them, so decided to sign up as a volunteer for the Canada Winter Games, which happens here in 365 days time. Apparently Rick Mercer is in town and is going to be interviewed by CBC at the centre, but he wasn't around while I was there. Too bad, I wanted to see how short he really was.

The place was packed. Drinking coffee was one of the few things to do downtown on this cold day.

The craft fair was in the Elijah Smith Building. It was small but the work was very nice. By the way, the slippers cost $125 to $150 now.

And that was ALL there was to do. The streets were filling with people looking for a venue and nothing else was going on. So, we went across the street to Zola's for a hot coffee.

Well, it's RENDEZVOUS time once again. Considering I am a Rendezvous scrooge, I bit the bullet and decided to venture forth to be part of the festivities. It IS a holiday today and the sun was shining bright (little did I realize when I made the plans it was -31 c at night and "should" warm up around noon) so off I went to Main Street. The snow sculptures were being created - as you can see there is still a lot of work to do. My fingers froze taking this picture, so I put my gloves back on and went next to the First Nations craft show.

Here is an article I heard on the news. I think it is quite funny: You can access this video through this link:
http://blogs.smh.com.au/mashup/archives//003599.html

A short video showing Hungary's prime minister impersonating British actor Hugh Grant could boost his chances of winning April's parliamentary elections, analysts say.

In a 45-second video clip available on the internet, Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany imitates a scene from the 2003 film Love Actually in which Grant, playing the British prime minister, dances around 10 Downing Street to the tune of the Pointer Sisters' Jump (For My Love).

Gyurcsany made the clip last summer as part of a wedding present to government spokesman Andras Batiz.

"[Batiz] asked if it would bother me if he showed the clip to his friends and relatives, if it would embarrass me if my clowning around gained wider distribution," Gyurcsany wrote in his blog. "I answered that it would not."

Analysts said the clip, along with his blog, was a clear attempt by Gyurcsany to appeal to younger voters and help lighten his image.

"The scene is particularly surprising for someone who is widely seen as the epitome of restraint and seriousness," Availo Vesselinov, a London-based analyst for German investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, said in a report released today.

Vesselinov said Gyurcsany's Socialist Party, while still trailing the centre-right Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Union by a few points in the polls, could make gains among the nearly one-third of voters still undecided.

Oh, those honkys!

And this is what our mornings look like, if you're up by 8:30 AM. A great start to the day.

OK as I wrote this I did think about sailors' warnings, but please note, there are NO sailors where I live, so the remainder of the day turns out quite well.

This a week for brunches. Ev (Mrs Church) and Helen (Gramma) dropped in for coffee and muffins the other morning.

This morning was another, with 4 of us in total. What a lovely way to spend a morning. We then went out to McRae to visit the art gallery. We had a good look around at the newest pieces and a good chat with Patrick Royle and Jackie Ziehe. And the weather was glorious - sun, sun, sun and above 0 temperatures. We couldn't have asked for more.

Just heard that my own son never reads my blog so thought I would show you what I made. This is for his girlfriend. They use Xmas stockings for their gift exchange and are presently using Wal-mart cheapos, so I thought I would make them stockings for gifts. As she is high fashion (aren't they all at that age?), here is the stocking which will be her Birthday present.

Just a quick northern update. The weather is April weather already. Plus 5 and sunny and melting during the day. Down to a whopping minus 5 at night. Has been like that for the last few days and should continue that way for a few more. Love it!

Want to see a good movie? The Constant Gardener.
Want to see a boring movie? Memoirs of a Geisha.

And I'll bet you're all watching the Olympics. And you already know Canada won a gold in moguls and the score in Women's hockey against Italy was 16-0. Good start. I also watched part of the opening ceremonies last nights and saw Yoko Ono talking about peace, heard John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance and saw Sofia Loren and Susan Sarandon carrying the flag.

And for all you soccer fans - Man U won again today AND Chelsea lost 3-0. So, if Man U wins the remainder of their games and Chelsea loses the remainder of theirs, Man U will come out on top - although there is not much hope of that happening.

That's it for now. Ciao!

This is where I went on Friday to visit the surgeon re my carpal tunnel. I told him I had an operation already on my left hand - he looked at it and said, "this looks like my work" - I thought it was funny that he could read his signature in a scar. Now we just have to set a date and perhaps my right hand won't fall alseep all the time (although after 24 years, I'm kind of used to it). 

Time for a wee celebration - 2 birthdays and one visitor from New Brunswick, so we gathered at Debbie's house for a glass of wine and appies. 

The day was miserable weather-wise. Although the temperature wasn't too bad (around minus 15C) the WIND was. If we had snow on the ground, we would now have 6 foot drifts. Making our way from the truck to the dog show and back to the truck cooled us down enough that we had to stop in for a piping hot latte and FINALLY, we now have a Starbucks, hooray!

Did you watch the Super Bowl today? Although it took place in Motor City, we didn't see any Motown action at half time - we DID see the Rolling Stones. People can say whatever they want, but Mick sure performs well for 60+ years old. And they sang Satisfaction, a song that takes me back. I don't even know who won, but Craig Ferguson (my newest favourite comedian - I try to watch at least his opening monologue nightly - he's one of the few that make me laugh) says the Steelers will win because the Seahawks have a hawk on their logo and the hawks would want to fly south and wouldn't be interested in hanging around Detroit in the cold weather. So there you have it, I don't have to watch.

And for any Man U fan out there, they won again this Saturday with some fabulous goals. The game was a pleasure to watch.

Until next time....

I went there with a purpose in mind - to pick out my next breed of dog. What I was looking for was a knee high non-shedding model, but stopped at the Labrador Retriever and the Hungarian Sheep Dog - my two favourites in the whole show - not exactly knee height. The most interesting dog was this dred locked Hungarian Komodor (it's the dog lying down that looks like a mop). The white dog, whose head you can see in the picture is the same type of dog with its hair shaved short. Once again, they are not wee dogs but I somehow cannot help but feel a connection to them. 

Went to the dog show today in the Convention Centre. Yes, we do have a convention centre - for those who lived here in days of yore, it is the old Lions Pool - of course with the hole filled in. And for those of you who know Bonnita Ritchie, she was the MC and did a wonderful job.