Simon says

Before we went to the museum on Family Day Monday the kids needed to be entertained while I did the Loppet on Sunday.  And if I was skiing, they wanted to ski.  And because there was a wind chill of -35 outside, they got to ski inside.  Felicity is so competent she is carrying a picnic basket, plate and doll.   Toby looks like a natural.  I always remember seeing toddlers running around the chalet in salopettes and ski boots when we went skiing in Switzerland on a school trip age 11.  I don't know why that memory has stuck but I'm pleased we've been able to at least give them a feel for being on the snow fro the outset.  The forecast is for a high of -1C this coming Sunday so we shall dig out the shorts and sun cream and hit the slopes. On Monday it was cold again, blah, blah, blah.  So we wet to the wonderful Children's Museum which is housed inside the spectacular Museum of History, formerly Civilisation.  They had so...

See if you can figure out this pictorial representation of skiing in the Arctic north that is Ottawa (we're really nowhere near the Arctic): Technically the Loppet is in Gatineau but it's all part of the National Capital Region.  I know that skiing is inherently a cold weather sport and that it is not much fun otherwise but there are different degrees of cold.  For a start, and what better place to start, there is our friend Kelvin, way down there where there ain't no Kelvins: 0 degrees Kelvin (-273C).  That's really cold.  That's where there is no energy at all.  Anything warmer than that and we have energy but if it's colder than we are, 37-ish degrees C (310K!) we're losing heat to our environment.  So when on Sunday, day of the Loppet ski race it says that it will be -23C on the start line with a very brisk wind gusting 50kmh, we're losing a lot of heat.  This can be mitigated by some well chosen items of clothing but the face gets little prote...

This is the question I asked, idly, aloud, somewhat rhetorically.  "In here!" was the answer I got, emphatically, from Felicity who was simultaneously banging her hand on the super lazy susan corner cabinet.  A super lazy susan is, I believe, differentiated from a simple, straight forward, bog standard lazy susan by the sole fact of its separately rotating two shelves.  Make sense?  Good.  So what better place to keep that elusive, bendy, unruly and enigmatic of concepts: the time.  I am affording myself this indulgence of semantics today to compensate the cross I have to bear in the form of a continuous stream of green/yellow/dark green/dark yellow phlegm emanating from my daughter's nose today.  All of that on about 3 hours of sleep last night thanks to my course, some late night grocery shopping and a Toby who refused to sleep from 3am until 5.30am when we finally gave up and got up. Pictures come to you today from yesterday.  Reading ...

We did it. Chris Roy and I. Yesterday, Saturday.  37km skate skiing around the park. It was fun, really fun. I took some photos.  Here are the details: P8-P9 - 3.5 P10-junction - 4 Junction-Champlain - 2.5 Champlain-McKinstry - 9.2 McKinstry-Champlain - 9.2 Champlain-Penguin via #1 - 7.3 Penguin-P8 - 1 Approx. 36.7km We left a bag at Huron on the way up which was a magical treat on the way back. Stopped at Huron, McKinstry and Huron again. Strava said 36.5 when we got back to P8 so we skied 250m towards P9 and back!

Dr Meg Wilson works shifts in the ER which is great for everyone but especially great for me, Felicity and Toby when she chooses to spend a day off skiing with us.  It was a snowy, milder day yesterday and we went all out skiing to Keogan after a gnarly drive to P10.  Felicity did her best ski to date on the way back down and if we had had more time she could have done even more.  Next time I think we will try some uphill. That was Wednesday.  Now it is Thursday, the snow has been cleared up and the sun is shining. And it is cold again.  My son is developing in leaps and bounds but is currently hell bent on climbing everything.  The problem is that he can so if I turn around for a moment he is on a chair or a coffee table.  I vaguely remember this phase with Felicity but I think she was slightly less reckless.  Case in point, he has just climbed onto the chair, leaned over to the fruit bowl with the result that the chair slowly slid backwards. ...

The cold has kept us in a lot but on Sunday we went outside mainly because there were two of us to deal with the fallout. Toby lasted about 10 mins, maybe because I buried him (I thought the snow would be a good insulator) but Felicity was out for nearly an hour: A tender moment earlier in the day:

Saturday, January 31st, 2015 Our cold winter continues and the snow was painfully dry and slow.  P8-P9-#1 turn-off-Penguin-P8.  Had planned to go to the lookout but it was just too much of a grind.  On the upside it was wonderfully sunny.  Go Eddy...

The title tells you how inspired I was at the end of the day Wednesday. I spent a good part of the day filing. We did also go to the Children's museum which is always a hit. After a childhood traumatized by trips to museums, mostly orchestrated by school and involving a lot of reading of very dense descriptions of charisma-free Roman or Greek archaelogical finds, I am of the opinion that anywhere that has interesting things or bodily-kinaesthetic features should not be called a museum. Nevertheless it's brilliant and I only wish it was annexed to my house. As it is it is across the river in Quebec and difficult to get to without the car. Luckily Crystal has found a ride to work and we have the car for two whole days. So now, Thursday, we are at the farm, the kids are playing in the kitchen and I am enjoying the rocking chair. I should add that before the filing yesterday I had already been peed on and puked on. Anyone would think Toby is 16 weeks not 16 months. Tea time:

Big news.  I have a new helper in the kitchen.  He lacks the refined skills or the self restraint of his predecessor but I feel like its good to bring in young blood.  Besides the 2-year old has better things to be doing these days: picnics at the beach, tea parties, shopping trips, stroller walks, you name it, she imagines it.  So bring it on Toby, and please, stop eating the cheese I've just grated for dinner!

This is the second year I have headed out to Pembroke to take part in the Pembroke Area Cross Country ski race.  Last year the race was shortened because it was so cold, somewhere around -25C so this year's -15C or so seemed quite comfortable and we got to do the whole 10k.  I had a great time slowly but surely picking off the three skiers that I could see ahead of me.  I'll post the results when they are up.  Even got to hot tub back at Chris and Linde's.  

...but his sister is getting there.  We skied up Fortune again and I am not sure how many more times I can do it with both of them in the Chariot.  I came very close to stalling and if gravity does not overcome us I suspect that my heart may just say no more and leave me lying in the culvert gasping for air.  Felicity had a great time on the way down.  She has a thrill seeker gene and loves to go fast. Now it's Saturday night, Crystal has gone on a date with her friend and I am writing this blog instead of doing my homework.  Enough procrastinating.

Friday, January 23rd, 2015 I'm not about to give a 101 on posting but this is my 101st blog post since starting in 2009.  This has been a busy week of appointments and citizenship ceremonies.  On Friday I found myself in the waiting room of a very sleek looking cosmetic surgery clinic.  At least that's what I deduced.  Enigmatically known as the "Ottawa Clinic" there's not much to give it away.  Nevertheless the endless fashion magazines, leaflets about skin treatments and the big posterboard in the exam room advertising the latest "round gel" breast implants gave it away.  So my secret is out.  I am tired of the receding hairline, the mismatched ears and the yellowing teeth.  It's time for an overhaul.  In fact I have a lipoma on my right flank.  It's been there for years.  Various doctors have said don't worry and I didn't until some doctor friends of ours pointed out that the longer it grows the more messy it will be to remove....

Thursday, January 22nd, 2015 That's what they sing at the end of each Dora episode.  Today we made it to story time at the library.  Toby obliged with an early nap and the stars and planets aligned.  The best bit was that after everyone had cleared out of the meeting room we had 45 minutes of running races up and down the room.  Then we had lunch in the mall and went to the grocery store and made it home with minimal complaints after a three hour outing.  After my complaints about the cold yesterday this was a fairly significant victory.  I flooded the rink in the evening with Chad and Mark.  Amen.

Wednesday, January 21st, 2015 Today I became a citizen of Canada by swearing allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, queen of Canada.  I've never had to do that before.  It was a nice little ceremony with 78 other new Canadians.  I can now carry on paying taxes and I get to vote.  There's an election coming up.  It would be nice to see a change but I'm not holding my breath.  Here is a picture of me receiving my certificate from the Queen: The day before I started Special Education Part II which will now occupy 5 hours of my Tuesday evenings every week well into April.  And tonight I am off to flood the rink.  Crystal plays football (soccer, whatever) on Monday and we normally take amphetamines before going to an all night rave on Fridays.  None of the second part of that last sentence is true.  Suffice to say we have busied our weeks.  Luckily I get to sit around with the kids all day.  In fact we have done a lot ...