They're Home!

The family returned from holidays this weekend.  First, a couple of weeks in Mexico, then a week in Vancouver.  It was a big trip for the little ones and they fared well.  They saw a tiger named Duke(at their hotel in Puerto Vallarta), held a parrot and stroked a crocodile.  What an experience.

Once home, they got into "cooking" once again.  They made me a very hot pot of something that I had to blow and blow to cool off before I could eat it.

Emerson is an expert cooker, using the oven like a pro.

Soon it was bath time.  I put this photo in as I believe I had one of SR in his bath when he was little and I am sure it looked just like Emerson, even with an orange container in his hands.  I will look for it and post if I do find the photo.

New Walk - Hospital (Long Lake) Ridge

Our walk today took us up on the ridge that runs parallel to the Hospital Road.  Above you see the start of the trail (after we ascend from street level) by the old Yukon College (then you look towards downtown).  Not having a trail leader and not having a trail map, we walked along and guessed which trails we should be taking.  I must admit, we did pretty good and made it back along the Broken Truck Trail to our place of descent.

Looking south we see the new FH Collins High School.

Lion

Saw this movie a week ago.  It was featured at the Available Light Film Festival and was shown at the Arts Centre on the biggest screen in the Yukon.  Not only that but the festival purchased a digital projector (instead of spending $7,000/year to rent one) and this was its inaugural night.  A tiny glitch was the projector's sound stopped half way through the film and they had to reboot the projector, therefore we had about a half hour break but so be it.

The movie takes you into the depth of India and follows a five year old boy (who was so cute)  through his life on two continents, into adulthood and his desire to connect with his roots.  The life in India is eye opening.  Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire, The Man Who Knew Infinity) plays the adult Saroo or as you discover at the end Saru, and is excellent in his role (although I wished when he was becoming obsessed that he washed his hair a bit more), as was Nicole Kidman.  Although there are some parts that will make you laugh, don't forget to take a kleenex with you for the odd tear you will shed.  This movie was nominated for Best Picture at the Golden Globe Awards, as well as Best Original Score and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (Dev Patel) and Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Nicole Kidman).  See it if you can.

I give it 5 Stars + one Kleenex

The President

As this blog is kind of my diary and as I am printing this blog in books for generations to come to read, I want to make it clear that I am NOT the type of person who supports a man like the 45th President of the United States, and I cannot understand the minds of the millions of people who did support him to the extent that he rose through the ranks and became the top person in the 2016 elections.  

He is rude, crass, a racist, a liar, a narcissist, an egomaniac, a pompous billionaire who has never participated in politics in his life and now has the ability to push that atomic button should someone make him mad.  And if you do not agree with him he calls you down and calls you names as he has done to the Press, Saturday Night Live (oh yeah, did I mention no sense of humour?), and even his wife Melania's dress designers who refused to design for her.   Someone who puts down Mexicans, Blacks, Latinos, and Muslims to name a few, not counting the press, freedom of speech,  the disabled and smeared a dead soldier's parents and I could go on.  In his inaugural speech he put down all the work of the presidents before him while promising to END welfare and END Isis.  He won the election but lost the popular vote.  

There are a lot of demonstrations taking place this weekend against his presidency and if I was an American, I would be joining them.

Addition to the above - and this is all I am going to say on the subject:

January 21st one day after Trump's Inauguration

:  

"Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington on Saturday and at coordinated protests against Trump’s presidency in New York, Chicago, Boston and other U.S. cities and towns, as well as in Paris, Berlin, Ottawa and other international locations. The crowds choked subway trains in Washington, where the transit authority reported more than 1 million riders, eclipsing that of the inauguration."  

This is unprecedented.  And this is how the President responded (via Tweet):

“Watched protests yesterday but was under impression that we just had an election! Why didn’t these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly,”

And his main concern on Saturday was that the press "lied" about the number of people that attended his inauguration.  He even had his press secretary read from a script which mentioned a number of blatant lies regarding attendance at his inauguration, a subject that no one really cared about until he brought it to our attention.  

And so it begins.

Yukon News

Gotta love living here.  Picked up the paper yesterday and the headline story of the day in the whole of the Territory was that a cat was rescued from a tree.  Who said Good News doesn't sell?  

If you're interested, the whole story of this rescue is below.

First Walk of the New Year

I was looking forward to this walk.  It was around the airport - the total walk was just over 8 Kilometres.  It was the views I was interested in.  The fence on the left is barbed as it divides the runways from the public area.  The path was very sketchy.  It wasn't well packed and if you went off of it, the snow was midway to my knees.  Nancy brought her Cairn Terrier, Ginny, who had trouble walking ...  the uneven trail and the deep snow were not conducive for her little legs.

But the views were fabulous!  Above is the wonderful view of the South Access Road and views beyond.  Just a little to the right would be the eagle's new nest.  Next time I walk it I will try to find the access to the view of the nest.

Above is the south end of the the downtown area.  You can see the hospital directly above the road (in green).  As you can see the day was glorious - sunny and quite warm, only about -5 degrees C.

Was a great viewpoint to see the boat.  I think when the snow is gone I will redo this trail and stop at more of the viewpoints.  

Up to 2 degrees C this afternoon. What a difference a few days make.

                                       

View from balcony at 10:27 this morning. 

                                       

Although this thermometer says it is evening, it's really morning. And yes, it is above 0 degrees C!  Yikes. 

First Walk of the New Year

My first walk of the New Year was on the trails in Copper Ridge... finally, walking in my own area.  We walked close to 5 Km.  The sun was shining bright when we began at 2 PM but quickly began to set behind the mountains and our sunglasses were more of a detriment than a help.

Although the trails were extremely wide, most of the walk was well treed.  There was a portion in which we could look about 180 degrees to view the vast scenery ... mountains, valleys and lakes.  And there were others using the trail - ski-doers, kick sleds, fat tire biker and a walker with a dog.

I asked Debbie to get into the photo which I would send to her Mom, but when home found I didn't have Mom's address, so I hope you are keeping up with my blog Mrs. M.  Although difficult to see details, above is your daughter!!  Maybe next time we will walk while the sun is still fully up and you will be able to see who is in the photograph.

New Year's Eve

This is who I spent New Year's Eve with this year.  This was their FIRST sleep-over in a bed that is NOT a crib.  First, we had dinner in the living room, and second, they had dinner watching TV.  That is something they NEVER do at home.  

And not only watch TV, but watch their favourite TV program, Paw Patrol.  That was pretty neat for them.  Even though I had a barricade in front of the TV, when I wasn't looking, Emerson did get the small glass birds I had sitting on the TV table (that I got in Venice, and did I say they were glass ... ??) and he was playing with them in the Fisher Price Farm Barn.  So I pulled them out of the barn and put them safely in a higher spot and reminded them they were not to go closer to the TV than the boxes.  That done, it was bath and bed time.  I had wings for one of the twin beds and I pushed the other against the wall and pillowed the edge.  It took about 20 minutes, but they settled and slept till 8 in the morning. And I was able to sip my Champagne to quietly bring in the New Year.

Happy New Year to all my readers.  May 2017 be all that you can wish it to be.

Just before Xmas

OK, this is the best I can do with a selfie.  I need another six inches at least on the end of my arm (or perhaps a stick, but I don't often take selfies, so guess I don't need one of those).  This was just before Christmas, me and the kids having fun.