Picked up my Canada Winter Games clothing, badge and handbook today. Not to kick a gift horse in the mouth, but...the coats and vests come in MEN'S sizes ONLY. I'll bet there are more women volunteers than men and of course, since accreditation began on Friday night, there were no extra-small men's sizes left. And, although receiving a Columbia coat is great, I think they forgot the games are being held in Whitehorse, not Vancouver. The coats are shells with no winter lining, great for Spring and Fall. Thank heavens I am not working outside at the games.
Now that I've got that off my chest, I just read in the paper today that the Squash sport that I am working is having problems. The squash courts of our privately owned local gym will be used as well as one court in the school where the offices will be located. The problem - the City of Whitehorse is planning to spend mega dollars to add sports equipment to the gym facility at the new Canada Games Centre, which will be in direct comeptition to the privaely owned gym. The privately owned gym facility, which is closing down their gym for the week to donate courts to the games, is not happy with that decision and may pull out of the games, leaving only one squash court in operation for the games. Oh the joys of operating a national competition in a town of 23,000 people!

Long Track Speed Skating Oval

This is a picture of the long track speed skating oval that will be used for the Canada Winter Games, beginning the end of February. For those of you who know Whitehorse, it is located in Riverdale at FH Collins High School. This has been a week of volunteering for me. Yes, I'm volunteering for this event in week one and volunteering for the Squash event in week two. Now I'm busy with orientation meetings, computer training, accreditations and meeting the crew I'll be working with. The Games, for those of you who are interested or wish to catch a bit of Whitehorse on the T.V. are from February 24 to March 10.

I had arranged to spend my last day in Toronto with my good friend. I was so looking forward to our day together - and arrived in Toronto soooo s i c k ....the flu hit me hard, but I persevered. I sat in the front seat of the car (like a wet dishrag) while she drove me all around our old haunts - Andy's old house on Westmount Park Road, The Hobbit Hole, Kensington Market, and all around downtown Toronto. Although I was deathly ill I had a great day and look forward to my next visit when I can actually walk and talk. She dropped me back at the hotel (at my request) and I slept for 12 hours straight. At least I got my money's worth out of that room!

A few more family pictures. The first is the one I promised Cousin Joe I would post. We banter back and forth between our blogs and actually did get together at his mum's New Year Day soiree. I keep up on his son (Joey's) football scholarship (career!!) - which university will he pick?? - as well as how his side of the family is doing. To visit his blog click here . Great seeing you Joe!

And I also stopped into Regina on my way home. Just in time for -45 degree weather and blizzards just north of the city. But I was kept warm by my little niece and her wonderful family. Went to a craft class (one-stroke painting) and saw a Regina Pats game (they lost to Seattle), watched little Dawson play hockey and did some clothes shopping as Air Canada lost my luggage for 3 days - on a non-stop flight from Toronto to Regina!

New Year's Day

Every New Year's Day, Aunt Liz and Uncle Joe host a party. This is the first year I was able to attend. They invite all the family, family friends, and the Tim Horton crowd. Since everyone was at the same place at the same time, I tried to get our family together for a group picture. Here it is - although there are still people missing - like SR who is Down-Under. So, this pic is for you SR, to see what you are missing. (Now I want some of your pictures on the internet so I can see what I am missing in Australia!).

5'4" Club

Everyone in this picture except for Dave at the back and Kayla on the left say they are 5'4" tall. They were all so adamant, that we even brought out the tape measure!
Still warm in Ancaster. Rain, rain, and today some snow sprinkles, but none that stayed on the ground. Will go this week to see a play in Toronto, help Lisa baby-proof her house before she travels to China to pick up little Kate, and view The Big White, so Teri et al can see what the Yukon looks like. I'll try to take some scenery pictures if it stops raining.

Ho Ho Ho Merry Merry

The first pic is wee Will pointing to Mr. Fish the Second, that Santa brought to him. It is a Beta fish, a fish that eats all others so has to be kept in a bowl by itself! Will was so happy.

Next little pic is of part of the Xmas dinner crowd. This one is for SR so he can see what he missed. He phoned tonight from Australia. It was so good to hear from him. As soon as Aunt Teri can find the right cord, another pic will be on this site esp for him.

What's Christmas in Hamilton without a Bulldog's game. Here are some of the people I attended the game with, the Schepens' family and Kristin (who came with a slew of her friends). Everyone was shouting GO BULLDOGS GO, except for wee Will who was shouting GO RIVER RATS GO (the Albany River Rats ---what a name!!! --- were dressed in Red and since Red is his favourite colour...) So the Bulldogs won 2-1. Good game.
Tonight is Christmas eve, and apparently Santa is in Paris at this moment. I did see a report that he ate spaghetti while in Italy, so he should be fuelled up and should make it to Ancaster. According to the same report he has already passed through Australia, so SR should have his stocking full as I write.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

It doesn't matter how many years you live in the north, the Northern Lights are always a thing of wonder. They were brilliant last night dancing through the sky - drifting, fading, floating - in colours of green, pink, purple. They make -15 degrees worth it.

The craft fairs keep coming. As we have had so many to-date, lots of items were "on sale". Unfortunately, I already have all my gifts, but fortunately, being the professional shopper that I am, I still purchased too much. This sale was held at SR's old school, Porter Creek Secondary School. It felt good visiting (I almost lived there for the four years he attended, littled jock that he was). We saw Cody and Peter selling their goods there. Cody sold hand-made purses and Peter his artwork & t-shirts. The sweatshirt he is wearing says "the little injun that could". I thought that was so cute.
The weather has been mild - just below 0. A very nice change of pace. Saw the new (old??) James Bond flic last week "Casino Royale". Didn't quite know what to expect and came away thinking it was the best one I've seen. Everyone who was leaving the theatre was commenting on how much they enjoyed it.
With Xmas approaching, I have a very busy week next week, with dinners, gift exchanges etc. Already opened one gift - from Debbie. It was still in the process of production, so am looking forward to the finished work. Received Mr. Milne's 20 questions last week, so if anyone knows of a famous European building that stored gunpowder during WW2 and could let me know, that would be very helpful.
Watched Manchester United win over Manchester City today 3-1 (word of the day...Darby...two teams from the same city playing against one another). It was an excellent game. Man U now sits on the top with a 9 point lead over Chelsea (who, by the way play tomorrow against Arsenal)...that little bit is for all you soccer fans.
That's about it for now.

Finally it's warming up

Our cold snap is breaking. It is a balmy -21 today and SNOWING! I believe the weather is attempting to cooperate with the 2007 Canada Winter Games being held here in February/March. Spent an hour outside this morning shovelling and it's still coming down. MJT requested a picture of snow (I guess they have forgotten what snow looks like in Ontario where they are still golfing!), so here it is. As you can see if you make a request in the comments section, I try to accommodate.

Monday, November 27th

Sorry MJT, no snow pics. I am going outside as little as possible these days as #1 IT'S COLD OUT THERE!!, yesterday we were the coldest spot on the PLANET apparently. Although it has been colder than it now is (-35C)...when I was young, it was -55C for three weeks! (true)..., I still don't want to romp around outside in this weather. The good news is, it is suppose to warm up to -26 in a day or two, so things are looking up, and #2 I have had the worst cold (and I'm not talking weather now - but cannot get away from that word). I have been flat on my back for 2 days and barely moving since. It keeps hanging on and I feel like a semi ran me over. Luckily there were good soccer games on tv this weekend, so lying on the couch was almost a pleasure. I do have a bit of energy today tho, so hopefully the worst is over and I'll get back to blogging soon..

The Little Hungarian cooks

My Hungarian dinner was eaten (enjoyed??) by all. Made cabbage rolls (comments upon serving were, "oooo are they ever big!") and gulyas in case someone hated cabbage. Needless to say, everyone ate both. Michele brought the dessert, freshly baked from the Christmas bake sale and very tastey. She also brought her pictures from their around-the-world vacation which I threw on my DVD player so we visited many many countries last night. Great spending the evening with them, something we should do more often.
Weather?? Cold, cold, cold, and snowing, snowing, snowing. My arms are getthing a work-out with all the shovelling. I'm staying in and cozy today and making Xmas presents (until the snow stops, then I go out to shovel) and this evening I am going to enjoy Birthday cake with a one-year-old ... (birthday cake is my favourite food).

Here's a couple of pictures of my hard work. This is for Jenn, as she was asking.

Edmonton

10th day in Edmonton, and we're all smiles now. Here is SR sitting at his computer in the newly painted dining room. It was a tough slug getting the painting done in 9 days, but I did almost all of it. Would have liked to stay about 5 more days to wash carpets and do a bit of decorating, but a son can only handle a mother for so long... I feel like I accomplished a lot and am satisfied. On my next visit I will be involved in upgrades only. Entered Edmonton October 27th in their first snow storm. Left Edmonton Nov 6 in their freezing rain storm. I have no luck weather-wise there. Sat on the plane for 1-1/2 hours while they de-iced the plane and de-iced one runway (the 2nd runway was way too icy to even attempt to de-ice) and had lots of turbulance when we finally did get up into the air. Many thanks to Sue who waited patiently at the airport to pick me up very very late on a work night. Arrived home to -23 degree temperatures, but alas my house is still standing and not frozen - and warming up nicely now.

For those of you who do not know James Blunt, there is a link to a song:
click here

James Blunt

Received my Xmas gift from SR tonight. Went to see James Blunt in Edmonton. What a concert he puts on! He did mention that we must all be pretty tired of his CD and are likely using it as a frisbee now. He played a lot of new music, so all you James Blunt fans, there is a new CD in the making. His energy was amazing. In one (new) song, he was playing the guitar so hard the strings were a poppin' off. He jumped off stage and hugged a bunch of people (not me tho - even tho our seats were 2nd row) and often he walked along the stage and made eye contact with individuals - this one did include me and I did get one of those cute smiles from him. As we have all played his album and know all the words to all the songs, he gets the audience singing along with him. And in his last song - You're Beautiful - he had the audience singing the words following, "she could see from my face that I was" and we sang ... "__ __" . Now in my days, when we went to concerts, we all held up lighters. Today (since so few people smoke) they all hold up cell phones! My next concert, I'll have to buy a cell phone I guess. These pictures are courtesy of SR. I asked him to take pictures and he did a great job throughout the concert while I clapped and sang and swayed beside him.. If you ever get to see James Blunt - GO ... you'll be happy you did!

Finally, made it to Edmonton. Arrived last night at 7:30 PM and already have one bathroom ready to put on the second coat tomorrow morning while SR gets our coffee and muffins. There is a lot more work than I expected - surprise, surprise, considering 2 university students living here. I'll be ready for a rest on my return home!
The picture is of SR's Hallowe'en costume. Yes, he's the chair. He went to a party last night of 3,000 people including the Trailer Park Boys. He was mad that he couldn't register his costume as he thought he DID have the best. He said people kept sitting on him and he couldn't move... the prize was $3,000.00 + a Harley Davidson. Oh, well...
And as usual, when I visit Edmonton in November - it SNOWS! Of course, I don't have winter clothes with me - I went south, I didn't expect to wear winter clothes! Well, I'd better get back to work, or I'll never finish.

No new pictures so I pulled up this one taken a few years ago at my old house. Gramma (next door neighbour) loves Ladies Slippers, so I took a bunch of pictures for her. The photo is just so you won't get bored while I talk....Well, I last reported that the snow was here to stay. WRONG!! A strong south wind blew all weekend and now there is no snow to be seen. A bit of frost this morning, but no snow. Spoke with my friend Debbie last night who told me that her sister browses my blog once in a while. That tidbit of information came after I said that I should stop my blog as I think my ramblings just go into cyberspace. Few people comment, except for MJT, and I could write her a letter just as easily. So, thanks to all of you that do read.
This weekend I organized my office closet and came across my old (and I mean old) personal box which I immediately opened and started picking through. I spent hours reading the old letters I had received and one person in particular caught me attention as I had been thinking of him within the last month, which is strange because I go for years without thinking of him. That person is Hans Wallner (Gigi) the artist I roomed with while I was working in London England back in the very early '70's. I tried googling his name and cannot find anything about him. He is a painter, photographer, gold and silver smith, and surely some of his work must be around somewhere as that is how he made his living. So, if Hans if reading this (very little hope of that!) or if anyone has come across any of his work please let me know. He must be 65 years old now, originally from Graz, Austria, lived in England for many many years and could be anywhere in the world (or god forbid - other world) by now.
My next blog will be from Edmonton. Yes, finally I am going! - I leave on Friday and will be there for about 10 days - working hard painting and repairing a condo - something I am actually looking forward to. AND seeing JAMES BLUNT, my Christmas present from my son who knows how to pick the perfect gift for me. So, I'll talk to you then....

Adjacent to Yukon College is the new Athlete's Village for the 2007 Canada Winter Games. This building will be used for college residents when the games are over and the basement will be used for Yukon College. The remainder of the village will be used for low-cost housing.