Downside of Autumn

Yes, I've discovered the one downside!

There are so many wonderful things that come with the arrival of autumn. The one crummy thing? Losing daylight.

Today our sunrise arrives at

7:10 AM

Today our sunset will be at

7:10 PM

Exactly 12 hours.

And getting shorter every day.

I plan to make the most of the daylight today, well, when I'm not in the rink for Cole's practice; or, in the gym watching Claire play basketball. Hopefully I'll enjoy some daylight before the scheduled thunderstorm arrives. Mind you, nothing beats a wicked storm!

Autumn is a wonderful season. I just wish there was more daylight to enjoy it.

87 Days ...

Until SUMMER!

Just thought I'd let you know.

Today. In Oakville. The Forecast: Rain and 10*C

I'm still not sure we've seen the end of the snow. Even though the date always changes, I never believe we've seen the last of the snow until after Easter. But in any case, I'm happy to welcome the rain. We need some green grass and buds on the trees.

Oh, and allergy shots. All scheduled for March 30!

We've hit the plus side

Taken this morning, they're back!

Can you see it in the photo? That little patch of green, uh, brown? Right there where the geese are standing, eating, pooping?

That is the first itty bitty piece of something that resembles ground that I've seen since mid-December. Right now it's +1C and I am tempted to throw open all the windows and air out the whole house! Our January thaw is a few weeks late, but I'll take it.

Hope you're all having a wonderful Sunday.

Here comes the sun

I am very fortunate to wake up to this view every day and especially happy when I am greeted with a sunrise as opposed to a blizzard or gray skies, which has been the case of late. Perhaps the calm before the storm? We are expecting another blast of snow - 25cm to 30cm - by mid-week and then more before next weekend.

There is such a wonderful warm glow into the kitchen. Louis is puttering around getting ready to go to a hockey coaches meeting. The coffee has been made and leftover tourtierre is being heated for breakfast. The kids are still in bed. What a perfect, quiet, start to the day!

Extreme Cold Weather Alert

I just got back from dropping Claire off at school. The car doors were frozen shut and the snow sounds like styrofoam beneath our boots. With the exception of that sound it is completely silent outside. It's too cold to snow, so at least there was no windshield scraping required.

The car thermostat read -22C (-7F) and according to Tom, the weather man on CTV, it "feels like" -30C (-22F). They have called for an Extreme Cold Weather Alert for the whole area. Translation: stay inside.

This is what -22C looks like in my back yard:

The weather stinks, but boy does it make for wonderful photo opportunities.

I hope, wherever you are, that you stay warm and dry today.

Snowmageddon: The view from here

I thought this was a pretty neat photo - out my dining room window toward the front door. The lantern. This was at the start of the storm.
Again, looking toward our front door at the height of the storm (so far) sometime after lunch. The snow was flying horizontally the wind was so fierce.
The first time we were able to see the lake was sometime around 3PM. Now the snow is falling lightly and everything looks somewhat calm, until you look at the waves. Even more intense is the sound. Just huge!

The kids were dismissed early from school, as planned, and have been home dragging out their sliders onto the snow drifts. Much effort has been made to throw snowballs but the snow isn't wet enough to hold shape (which means it's just f.r.e.e.z.i.n.g. out there) so instead, I think they're content to roll in it!!

Hockey has been canceled for tonight as the rinks have been closed down. I figure it MUST be bad out there if rinks are closed in Canada! We're going to have an early-ish dinner and then make cookie dough tonight. We picked up some marshmallows and the fireplace is on. I'm thinking smores will be in our near future! Oh, and Christmas Carols. Well, mama carols - lots of Trans Siberian Orchestra will be filling the house tonight.

Snowmageddon

(This is a file photo from Google images. I'd estimate this to be about 15cm on the cars. Eek.)

Yes, that is the word Environment Canada has chosen to use to describe the upcoming storm that is to hit us by Friday morning.

Looks like I'd better get a lot done today!

According to the powers that be, we are going to be hit with 15cm - 20cm on Friday, no doubt just in time for rush hour; and, then Sunday, another storm hits with an additional 10cm - 15cm. Better news? Since we are on the West end of the lake, we've been warned that those numbers can double, even triple!

I'm hoping that this is one of those forecasts that is simply wrong, or at the very least, an exaggeration!

Snowmaggeddon, indeed.

Scary.

Brrr, time for the scraper!

It can be put off no longer, I must go out and get a scraper to replace the one I broke last year after days and days of overuse. We were running a bit late and realized that we were going to be even later when Claire and I discovered that it was 0C and frost had indeed arrived. There is no turning back, we'll be scraping every day until May!

Hey, it's better than the bugs and removing cobwebs every morning :) Remind me that I said that when I'm complaining in February.

No sign of autumn

The first full day of autumn is behind us and there is no sign of it's arrival.

We've had eight straight days of sunshine. We couldn't claim that record all summer long. It has been simply beautiful. Driving around with the top down, sun shining, not a cloud in the sky. The temperature has been around 20C plus or minus a few degrees depending on the time of day.

Ah, if only it could be like this all year long. That would be divine!

Soon we'll have spectacular colour which will all too soon make way for snow, brrrr. Right now, I'm happy to enjoy the moment, and luckily moments, all week long!

Beautiful Day

We have had such a stretch of brilliant weather. Cool, bright, blue skies with not even a hint of rain. We've been waking up to a spectactular orange and blue sunrise the past few mornings. What a great way to start the day!

This morning I took a walk down to the path and took this photo of the sun reflecting off the retaining wall. It is one of my most favourite sites living here. Looking toward the harbour seeing the boats, the rocks and, of course, the water fowl.

Next time I'll drag out the wide-angle lens and include Toronto - which would be seen to the right - on a clear day we can see the CN Tower and the skyline. It's really quite beautiful.

Wild Weather

What is this? HAIL!

All over everywhere!

While the deck, grass and driveway were being pelted with hail; lightening and thunderboomers were making incredible noise right on top of us; it was all puffy clouds and blue skies over the lake.

Weird.

Wild.

Wow!

Oh, Mister Sun ...

It has been days and days of gray and green.

What're we going to do? Well, if you're my 8 year old son, you're going to sing:

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on me

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Hiding behind a tree...

These little children
Are asking you
To please come out
So we can play with you

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on me!

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on me

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Hiding behind a tree...

These little children
Are asking you
To please come out
So we can play with you

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on...
Please shine down on...
Please shine down on me!

Sung with great passion and LOUD.

You want to talk abut tune wedgie? At least today there will be sunshine in my heart while I take him around town with me.

Cooler days ahead?

What a relief! A cold front has come through and life is far more bearable now. It was positively stifling for the last few days.

Kids cranky. Parents cranky. Everyone cranky.

Now the only hot air will be coming from me for the next little while!

Dew Point

I come from a weather obsessed country. Funny thing is, during our weather forecast we never hear about dew point. I love hearing about it. The guy from channel 5 in Boston is always talking about it all summer long. It is such a good thing to know. Maybe I'm just heat-sensitive.

Personally, I far prefer wind chill to dew point. You can always put on more clothes, right?

So, for easy reference for myself - and you, I'm linking this handy-dandy chart from Wikipedia. I'm thinking that at some point today, the dew point will be somewhere between comfortable but getting uncomfortable. The breeze is what keeps things bearable here at the beach!

2Peas: Monday Blogger

From Alli in Perth, Western Australia: Hi bloggers..I've blogged today .. how about telling us how you are spending your summer holidays or just your summer so those readers in the southern hemisphere can remember what it is like to be warm

it is going to be 35F tonight.. that doesn't sound very cold but 2 degrees celsius does!

We are in mid-holiday in Cape Cod and should return home sometime early next week. The kids have enjoyed days at the beach, visits from friends, go karting, mini golf, kite flying, swinging, tennis, bumper cars, climbing trees, exploring the bog and plenty of hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. The only thing left that is a must do is going to a Red Sox game at Fenway!

The rest of our summer will be filled with camps, baseball games, visits to parks and zoos, friends coming over from everywhere, "meeting" and keeping in touch with pen pals, backyard barbeques, hockey training and plenty of sleep and lounging around. I'm really hoping a few books are read, too!

The weather has been a bit wet with rain, in varying amounts, every day. I don't think that will have any effect on how the kids remember their summer holiday!

Here comes the sun

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes...

Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right
It's all right

George Harrison, 1969

The forecast:

Today: 10C and Sunny

Tomorrow: 13C and Sunny

Tuesday: 13C and Sunny

Wednesday: 16C and Sunny

Not only sunshine, but warmer temperatures to warm our winter weary souls.

We had our first barbeque last night. Claire had some girlfriends over and they needed sustenance before heading off to Night Life. Steak, hamburgers, hot dogs, all hot off the grill. Salads and chips. We had it all. Our first barbeque was awesome. Louis is so excited. I have no doubt a trip to Fortino's is in my near future with a list including freezies and corn on the cob!

Lemons: It it snowing AGAIN

Lemonade: It's good for business

The longer the weather is miserable the longer baseball teams, birthday parties and strength & conditioning programs have to be conducted inside our facility!

So, as much as I hate to wish for it, I'd be happy for the "powers that be" send us all the miserable weather that can be mustered ... through the whole summer ... well, except for the couple of weeks we're in Cape Cod ;)

Freezing Rain vs Snow

I have to say, I prefer snow. There, I said it.

This freezing rain crap is just dangerous! I fell twice taking the recycling out to the curb this morning. Ouch. Good thing I bounce :)

I'm so ready for spring.

UNCLE!

Got snow?

I'm seriously tired of the snow.

I had to find a bright and happy flower to post to bring me out of this snow-induced funk.

Gerbera Daisy = Bright and Happy!

We're not supposed to have snow in Bronte. The realtor, the neighbours, everyone assured us that it was so mild and no one needs a shovel let alone a snowblower.

We need a PLOW.

Spring cannot come fast enough.