No, this isn't a picture of our house during the brief

thaw that we had a week ago.  I wish!    I took

this picture and the one below during a day trip

into Toronto a few years ago ... June 2011 to be exact.  

I took a ferry from the pier in downtown Toronto 

to Toronto Island for a day of hiking, picture taking

and to escape a stinking hot day on the mainland.

A picture of the ferry terminal taken last summer.

It had just been renamed the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal

the previous day in honour of a local politician who

had passed away from cancer a year earlier.

From the island you have beautiful views of downtown

Toronto ... as long as either the smog or the weather is

being co-operative.  Parts of the islands (there's 

actually three islands linked together .. or is it four?)

have cottages on them, large parts are parkland,

there's a children's amusement park, an airport

and beaches ... including a nudist beach.

Why am I posting these pictures today?  Well,

I don't have  much else to show you from the 

previous week and a blog post without 

pictures is pretty bland and boring IMHOP.

We did have a brief thaw at the beginning of

last week which allowed the thick ice that

had been coating everything outside to melt.

It cleared off of tree branches, power lines

and eaves troughing but not off of all of

the sidewalks ... alas.   

Then a couple of days of frigid temperatures

hit on Thursday and Friday which had 

everyone huddled indoors.   With the wind 

chill it dropped to -35 Celsius which made 

being outside something to be avoided at all costs

if possible.   I walked home in it on Thursday

night.   Train station to home took 40

minutes.   I was dressed for it but even so

I was a human icicle when I walked in our

front door.    Should-a called for a ride.

I've been drawing/doodling again.  A

couple of pages of this and that.

My neighbour and her daughter came over 

one afternoon and we sat at the kitchen

table drawing, drinking mugs of tea

and munching on Christmas treats.

That's when I started the above tangle.

New Years was quiet but enjoyable.

We had some friends join us for

dinner and visiting though our

numbers were fewer then normal

because of those dreaded "bugs"

that are going around.  Just about everyone 

is affected it seems.  Either getting 

sick .... being sick ... getting 

over being sick .... or married to sick!

So there were seven of us to dine

on my usual go-to dishes of home

made lasagne, mac n cheese, asian

salad and other yummy party

fare.   Then we sat around yakking

and laughing and drinking 

lots of tea and eating lots of

goodies.

And the last guest left before 

midnight!!!   Yes, we are

a rowdy bunch of New Years

revellers aren't we?  Oh well.

My current read.   I stumbled on this

at the bookstore just after Christmas

and as soon as I read the description

of the story on the cover I knew it

was my kind of book.    I've been

reading it ever since and loving it. 

This is the author's first novel and 

I believe that this is the start of a 

series.  If you've read and loved  

Deborah Harkness's All Souls trilogy 

then you'll enjoy this book too!

I can't believe the holidays are

over already.   We haven't

taken the tree and other 

decorations down yet because 

frankly I don't want to.   I love

my tree and hate taking it

down even though it's been

up since Nov 16th.   I am

giving myself one more week

to enjoy it before we pack it

up until next November.

That's it from me.  Sorry for the

uneventful post.   We're expecting

a snow storm tomorrow evening

that is predicted to deliver about

15 to 20 cm of the white stuff.

Hope the weather isn't being too

harsh where you are but it does

seem that nasty weather is happening

everywhere ... and Winter is only

three weeks old!   Yeesh!!!

Cheers!!

You know ... I can't remember if

I've posted those pictures of

Toronto Island before on a blog

post or not.  It's bugging me.

Oh well.