Weatherwise we have been living a topsy - turvy existence ..... up and down like a toilet seat in public places. Yesterday it was snowing .... then raining downpour style when we hit the hay around midnight,,,,,, followed by freezing rain overnight into the wee hours ...... with thermometer hovering around zero. About 4 in the morning I woke up to make a pit - stop and decided to check out traffic movement through our panoramic windows in the dining room........not knowing just how frozen the streets and parking lots had become while " visions of sugar plums " were dancing in my head. Unbespectacled in the darkness I made my way to the window and gazed out . Not ONE car was moving ....... just a lonely gritting lorry over near the Fairview Plaza. Then I looked downwards at our own parking lot below and could make out the rather fuzzy outline of a pick - up truck with its high beams illuminating the whole lot with silhouettes moving about in the shadows....... seemingly darting back and forth between the vehicule and the parked cars . Carthieves , says I to myself and I grab my handy three million candle - power spotlight ....... once feared by undesireables on Chemin du Ravin in my other life...... and I lit those suckers up from nine stories up like deer in the headlights.
It was a private contractor hired by the owners of our building to salt and sand our huge parking lot which is built on a major slope and deadly after freezing rain for fender benders , etc
Another first for me today on Canadian soil. I went out in shorts on December 12th to move my car to a better parking space. It was 15 C ... or 60 Fahrenheit !! Wake up weather tomorrow morn they are calling for - 10C !
I had a huge feast of quahogs .... above pic ... a type of hard - shell , short - necked clam which is quite popular in these parts...... more popular in Rhode Island though where it is highly revered by shellfish lovers.
This is for Bill !! Here I sit at my new Hampton pine philosopher's desk ..... striving , as always , to find better ways of rolling back the frontiers of human knowledge .... Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time "on my left and the New Jerusalem Bible on my right ( hidden ) . By the way , Bill , my new bookcase is made of "naughty "pine !!
Our weather is quite strange. Tomorrow maybe 60F.....monday the high is 20F with a low of 6F. Sunny today, snow sunday, maybe. No ice here yet but in Wichita they had ice/snow last week with 650 --- yes 650 --- accidents. What? Did everyone get braindead on how to drive on slick roads over the year??
ReplyDeleteStay safe and dry. hugs!! I am sure am glad you are back!!
Julie - Ann..... thank you for the warm welcome back and kind wishes. I know a wee bit about Prairie winters for have spent one full winter in Oklahoma... Kansas .... Nebraska some years ago. And speaking of winter driving habits .... one of my late Mom's friend's is still alive and bemoaning the fact to me that the police had taken away her licence a while back for having bumped into a few cars ... she's 97 !! LOL Not that the elderly are the only ones to do so by any means !!
ReplyDeleteOur weather up here is steady.-10f during the day, down to -30 at night. 50% chance of snow everyday says the radio but it snows lightly 100% of the time it seems.
ReplyDeleteThose look like some very nice clams.
Our weather has been changable also but not by that much.
ReplyDeleteCar thieves: The building I used to live in there was a Sea Captain who when home would sit outside on his terrace with his rifle and shoot at suspected car thieves. Your group should be extra thankful he does not live in your building. (c;
Is that a notebook computer in front of you?
The Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time " must be at your elbow because the other thicker books don't look like my copy. (c;
I own a bible (somewhere) and a book by Asimov about the works of Shakespeare. As I understand it Asimov also wrote a book about the bible but I'm not sure just who's bible he's interpreting. *lol*
I hear you loud and clear , James.... for having lived 46 years in Quebec and spending many years working with the Montagnais , Naskapi and Atikamekw native peoples of northern Quebec.... -30 and - 40 were part and parcel of the winter scenario.... also with the Saami ( Lapps ) of northern Finland... high up inside the Arctic Circle.... only been to the Yukon once though ... and yes , the quahogs are truly delicious with a garlic butter dip ! Keep warm up there !
ReplyDeleteOH, I also forgot to mention you may have my share of the clams. I'm partial to mussels and usually don't do clams. (c;
ReplyDeleteOf course smother just about anything in garlic butter and I'll give it a shot!! **LOL**
Hey there , Jim..... I'd kill , so to speak , for a good feed of soft - shell clams... dipped in garlic butter !! I can down a couple of pecks of mussels too for dessert !! As for riding shotgun on the building here , Jim , maybe I.ve discovered a new calling ? However , my rifles are still unpacked in my sweet Mom's hopechest here bside me !!
ReplyDeleteIt's not a notebook pc , Jim , but rather a Dell mollusk..... as it opens up like a clam !! ( chuckle )
Actually it is an edtion containing both Hawking's works... " A Brief History of Time "and "The Universe in a Nutshell "... a great buy for $ 20.00. And as for Asimov.. well he wrote about every other subject so why not Shakespeare ? Take care , Jim , and stay dry !!
oh, now you've gone and made me really hungry!
ReplyDeletealas, all that is in store tonight is a small ham, but i'm ready for a new year dungeness feast soon. you'll not meet a worse seafood freak than me!
Sorry about bragging up my seafood supper , dear Celeste... but I have gone clamming along the Southern shore of Vancouver Island ... not far from where you are as the crow flies.... you are in excellent country for someone with a seafood urge and taste ! .... et encore une fois ... bon courage , ma fille , pour la grande épreuve à travers laquelle tu dois passer bientôt ! Hugs !
ReplyDeleteThe interesting things you must see from that high vantage point you have. It reminded me of that Hitchcock movie of long ago when whoever was looking from his window and saw something. Wow......my brain is gone. Guess it was a murder the character saw. I am sure it will come to me after breakfast.
ReplyDeleteI hope you all are having a nice weekend. Have you taken the bus with Reb yet? That way both of you can see everything and no one has to drive. I guess you know the area pretty much already though.
Hugs to you!!
That is Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelley. Great movie!!! But luckily Gerry is not wheelchair bound!!
ReplyDeleteThis looks to me like a vast improvement on your former office......so tidy , and with a great view...speaking of wood, brother-in-law John relates that a few months ago, he was splitting logs to go into his mennonite furnace, situated outside , to furnish heat to both the house and the cow barn.....and he was saddened to notice that he was splitting BIRD'S EYE MAPLE.....a decent tree probably goes for about $10,000.....especially for fancy guitar makers and Rolls Royce dashboard craftsmen.....the problem is that you don't know what you have till you split it.......
ReplyDeleteHey there , Keeper of the Light...... we went to visit you this afternoon but only found your stand in on the job !! At Quaco Head lighthouse !! LOL Yes , I am now the official"air marshall "of the highrise..... whether the others want me to be or not !! And Juliana beat me to the draw with the title of the old Jimmy Stewart movie.. in fact , it was on here only last week. It might be a good idea to take a busride with Fluff some day.... however , I am constantly giving here the history of the place and a blow by blow ... firsthand ...... insight into how things were here 70 years ago,,,,, with a few added exaggerations here and there for flavour !! LOL... Hugs !
ReplyDeleteHey Bill , yes , quite a step "upwards " ..... and yes I had every intention of making a pun here ....... from what I had in the ravine. And I have decided to keep it neat and tidy until the hearse pulls up at the front door !! And your "bird's - eye "maple clusters can be found in other species of trees also... I have seen the design in yellow birch that I have felled and chopped up from my property back in the ravine.However , you cannot tell until you split it or cut it into lengths..... it must have been like that when they "split "the first atom ???? Fluff and I were relieved "all to hell " when we found out you and Ann had made it home safely. Hugs all around , ole buddy !! In closing.... Of late I have been getting my inspiration from the following passage in the Old Testament , " When Methuselah was a hundred and eighty - seven years old he fathered Lamech " Ch 5 : 25. :
ReplyDeleteI can imagine all the things you can see from where you live. You and Reb got a lovely view. Even in the night it looks pretty with all them lights. I saw one of Reb's night photos.
ReplyDeleteNice picture of you sitting there at your desk. =o)
Wow the weather really is strange, going up and down like that. In my parts of the world, the temp. has been staying pretty much the same for a long time now. It stays around 0°C . It's been raining a lot. I do hope to get a little snow around Dec 22nd. I love a white Christmas. After Christmas and New Years is over I'd like the snow to go away LOL.
Ha en fin Söndag KRAM
Inspiration??????.........as Perry used to sing...".dream along with me".....
ReplyDeleteMon cher Guillaume......mens sana in corpore sano has likewise been a beacon of inspiration over the years...... and you take your pick of possible translations for the duo " sana / sano " , i.e. , healthy , sane or clean..
ReplyDelete