A Terrible Beauty ....

It has been an interesting week.   In my December

21st post I had a photo of some of the cherries on

our cherry tree after the Friday night ice storm.  Well,

on the night of the 21st we had another ice storm and

that one was much worse.    Compare the previous

picture of the cherries to the one above and you'll

see what I mean.

We knew that the storm was coming of course so

we were expecting some degree of damage and

loss of services.   Most churches, including ours,

sent out word that services the next morning

would be cancelled in expectation of loss of

electrical power and treacherous road conditions.

That was a shame because the Sunday before

Christmas is always a wonderful service ....

lots of beautiful singing and candles and

decorations and joy!!

All night on Saturday night DH and I lay in bed and

braced ourselves whenever we heard a sharp, loud

"CRACK" followed by a whoosh and a "CRASH".

The sound of tree branches snapping off and dropping

to the ground.   We have a big old maple tree in our

yard and that night a great many of it's branches

came down, landing not only in our yard but

also in the yards of our neighbours.   One large

branch landed squarely on the roof of a 

neighbour's shed putting a V shaped dent

in it.

Occasionally we'd be startled by a vividly bright

white flash of light followed immediately by a

blue flash.   Another transformer blowing on a

neighbouring street.

The storm lasted much of the night and we woke

up the next morning (after a night of very little

sleep) to a sight of both breathtaking beauty

and heartbreaking destruction.

Ice many inches thick covered everything.   Slender

wires, tree branches, blades of grass.  It was 

incredible!    

The power was out in our neighbourhood and 

indeed it was out all over the southern Ontario 

region where the storm had swept through.

We are lucky enough to have a gas fireplace

so we at least had heat that day.   DH kept it

on high throughout the day and it was surprising

(not to mention gratifying) how well it was

able to keep most of the house reasonably

warm.    I spent the afternoon wrapping

Christmas presents in our bedroom and 

was pretty good albeit with layers of 

warm clothing on.   

The storm passed on late in the morning and

people started to cautiously venture outside

to survey the damage.    The most obvious and

sad result of the storm was the damage to the

trees.    If you were lucky ... just a few 

branches down .... a little less luck .... major

branches down .... and the saddest of all

were the trees that were either split down

the main trunk or with the main trunk 

snapped right in half.

A corner of our street.    Branches covered in ice,

 broken branches and wires a lot lower then

they should be.

In our backyard.    Our birch tree clump is five

trees growing in a ... well .... clump.    One 

tree had it's top snapped off.   The second

is as you see it above.   Bowed right over and

frozen to the ground.   A third trunk was bent

over and it's branches mixed in with and frozen

to our Mountain Ash tree.

Our deck.    The tangle of branches is from the

Mountain Ash tree, the Birch trees and the

trees and bushes in our neighbour's yard.

On Christmas Day and Boxing Day we had

snow.   The above picture was taken after

the snowfall on those days.   Pretty.  But

adding to the weight of the ice on the 

fragile tree branches.

A tree on our street.

The sounds of chainsaws roared through

the neighbourhood that Sunday as people

worked to remove dangling branches

and trim the jagged tears on the surviving

wood.   All the while keeping away from

anything that was touching or tangled in

with the telephone, cable or (worse) 

hydro wires.

Power was out all over and it would be

a long, painful process to restore it all.

Our power came back on Monday 

morning at 6:00 am.   Many of our

friends didn't get their power back until

late Christmas Eve evening.    Some

people are just getting their power

back this weekend.  We drove to work

on Monday morning through darkened

neighbourhoods and towns.    Some

rural side roads were blocked by police

cars as they were littered with fallen 

tree branches and/or hydro wires.

Many people lost fridges and freezers

full of food and had to throw out the

fixings for their Christmas dinners

which spoiled after several days without

power.

Christmas Eve our friends the O'Briens,

their son Ian (our godson) and their two

budgies came to stay.   Their power

actually came back on not long after

they arrived at our place but they stayed

overnight and had Christmas dinner

with us because their house was so cold

after three days without heat and needed

time to warm up again.   

It bears repeating that DH and I were so 

lucky to have our power restored so 

quickly. We take such things as electricity 

and heat for granted all of the time that we

have it and it takes events like this ice

storm to remind us to appreciate what

we've got.

My main Christmas gift from DH this year

was a Cuttlebug for scrapbooking and 

crafting.   I'm so delighted to have this

little machine which both cuts shapes in

paper from dies and also embosses patterns

right into the paper.  I'm going to have a

lot of fun with this little cutie!!!

(Judy rubs hands together and 

hugs machine .... and DH) 

For myself I got me a copy of this lovely

Zentangle book which I recommend 

highly.   It's full of designs created by

Zentangle artists from around the world

and there is so much to look at and be 

inspired by.   I've been going through

this book from cover to cover and then

back through again.

I thanked me very much for this 

wonderful gift.

Yesterday I made this.   There are still

a few bits to tangle in but most of it

is done.   Fun!!

The cats are happy to have the heat back on

and life returning to some degree of normality.

DH and I are off until after New Years and

enjoying our holiday.   Hope that yours was

a wonderful one too.

Best wishes for the New Year to you.

Cheers!

Sending Love and Best Wishes to All on this 

wonderful, magical day.

For all that we live in the so called "Great White

North" it's actually rare for us to have a true white

Christmas.   A slushy, rainy Christmas perhaps and

on occasion a green one too, but a true white 

Christmas with snowfalls a foot deep or so (or at

least deep enough to cover the still green grass) is

frustratingly rare.

We (I) were resigning ourselves to yet another green

Christmas until last weekend when we had several

nice dumpings of snow.   Everything was buried in

a lovely, crunchy blanket of sparkly snow and a

white Christmas was tantalizingly close to being a

reality.

Then the temperatures began to rise on Thursday.

And here is the results as of this morning.   It rained

quite a bit overnight and this morning everything

is covered in a thick coat of ice.    Trees, bushes,

the car and (worst of all) the roads and sidewalks.

The thing is last nights storm is not the

BIG one that the weather forecasters have

been warning us about all week.   That

storm is due to hit tonight in the form of

a "significant" ice storm.

Gulp!!!

Just got a call to let us know that church is

cancelled tomorrow morning because of the

expected dangerously icy conditions and the

likelihood of power outages.   Which is a

shame because it's the Sunday before 

Christmas so there would have been lots

of carols sung, and all the joy and excitement

that the most wonderful day of the year 

brings.

Usually we do our grocery shopping after

church on Sunday but because of the 

weather decided that it would be prudent

to get it done early today instead.   

This afternoon I baked 8 dozen mini raspberry

tarts and another batch of shortbread cookies

and a dozen mince meat tarts.   The power 

went out briefly in the middle of it all but 

thankfully that only last for about 10 

minutes.

I'd bake tonight but I think that'll be pushing

my luck if the storm is as bad as they think

it will be.    I don't want to have a batch of 

something in the oven and the power suddenly

go out.

Just got a call from friends who live in Georgetown

as well but they are on the other side of town from

us.   Their power went out an hour ago and they

wanted to see if we still had ours.   

A bit of stitching has been done this week.   I watched

White Christmas on DVD last night and worked on

this project while listening to Bing, Rosemary and

Danny sing!    Love that movie.

Last Sunday was the Christmas cantata performance

at Church.   Phil has been working with the rest

of the choir, plus extra volunteers, practising every

Thursday night since October and Sunday night

they nailed it!!!   They do a cantata every year for

Christmas and it's something everyone looks 

forward to.   After the performance there was

cookies and hot apple cider for all.   Yum!!

The Christmas tree and Poinsettias at

the front of the church last Sunday 

night.

So, we will be keeping busy tending to the 

last of the Christmas preparations in the 

next couple of days.   Hopefully once

this nasty weather passes it'll be nice

for Christmas Eve and Christmas

Day.

Cheers!!!

What do you do when you have a few days off in 

December???    If you're me you bake!!!    Lots!!!

Everything that I've made so far sits on the old car in 

the (cold) garage.    I baked on Thursday and on Friday

with the tally so far being as follows:

Shortbread cookies  60

Ginger-Butterscotch cookies 50

mini pumpkin loaves   8

Hootycreek cookies - about 70

Peanut butter temptations  48

Creamy chocolate fudge - not pictured

Fudge cakes     2

Hootycreek cookies have white chocolate chips,

dried cranberries and chopped pecans in them.

And no, I haven't a clue why they are called that.

The peanut butter temptations are a peanut butter

dough, cooked, which then has a mini Reeses

Peanut Butter cup shoved into the centre.

To Die For!!!!

Last year I made maple flavoured fudge which

for some reason never set.    I ended up with

maple flavoured sauce instead.   It didn't go

to waste as we used it on ice cream and to dip

goodies in but it wasn't quite what I'd had in 

mind.

This year I tried a different recipe which used,

among other things, marshmallow fluff as

an ingredient and it turned out perfectly.

Some of the baking will be given as 

Christmas gifts to neighbours and the

rest will be served to anyone who drops

in to visit during the holidays.

You're all more then welcome to come

and partake if you're in the area.

Oh, I still have raspberry tarts, mince meat

tarts and perhaps Marzipan Squares to 

make .... all of which require at least

two batches of home made pastry.  And

I'll also make Cream Scones but I'll do those

closer to Christmas.

In the mail this week I received a sweet

surprise from Paula in Portugal (no blog).

This dainty little Christmas tree.   Paula

has stitched in gold thread neatly all around

the outside of the tree with perfect stitches.

Since we don't have a tree in the kitchen

that is where this evergreen treasure has

taken up residence for the holidays .... where

I can admire and enjoy it often.

Thank you Paula.

       
                                      

We've had some snow here today.  Probably not as

much as other areas, but enough to cover the grass

and give us hope for a white Christmas.

It's the first major snow storm of the season.   It's

been bitterly cold here this week which is funny

because a few months ago the weather service

was telling us that we were going to have a milder

then normal December and January and a green 

Christmas.

Or not?

On Tuesday I took the Go Train into

Toronto and met my friends Darlene

and Elaine for a day of fun and Christmas

cheer.      

The picture (above) was taken in the Eaton Centre

mall before the stores opened.   This tree

dominates the centre of the mall.  Those

reindeer seen to the right of the tree in the 

above picture are made up of steel bands 

and ornaments and lights and are to be 

found all over the mall.

Looking up, into the centre of the tree.

Pretty cool, the ornaments are inside

the tree instead of on the outside.

And this is me posing with the head of

one of those reindeer behind me.

We had lunch at Swiss Chalet with all three of

us ordering the Festive Special.    Quarter

chicken, stuffing, fries, cranberries and a crusty

roll.   And hot chocolate!!   Delicious!!

Our next destination was the Distillery District

a half hours walk from the centre of downtown

Toronto where there was a Christmas market going.

The Distillery District is the site of the Gooderham

and Worts whiskey distillery.   The buildings are

of the Victorian era and have been beautifully

restored and turned into shops, restaurants, 

art galleries and theatres.

It has a definite Dickensian feel to it as you can

see in the pictures.

One of the Christmas market stalls.   

I don't know if these people had heaters or 

something in those stalls with them, although

I suppose that might have been a fire hazard

since the stalls are all made of wood, but it

would have been pretty darn cold without

something of the sort.

Carollers performing on the stage.   

We walked around the cobbled streets,

popping into the stores both to check out

their wares and to warm up a bit.   It was 

a windy, bitter cold day to be outside.

I loved the old buildings .... so full of 

character.

And here are Darlene and I freezing along

with a deer friend of ours. 

Ahem.    Sorry.

We walked back to the centre of Toronto

afterwards with one more stop at a Tim

Hortons for more hot chocolate and

cookies before heading our separate

ways home.

I've got most of my Christmas shopping

done so now it's time to begin the

wrapping and decorating and making

sure the cat (Rupert) doesn't end up as

a part of someone's gift ... given how

much he loves getting into boxes.

Cheers!!!!

The traditional Christmas events that make the holiday

season so special and so much fun are happening now

as we enter December and the days leading up to 

Christmas pass by.

Last night was Holiday Magic .... when the shops

on Georgetown's main street stay open late and there 

are special things on offer such as cups of hot apple

cider and cookies, and free colouring books for the 

children at the White Rabbit second hand book store

and horse and buggy rides around the side streets.

Knox Presbyterian church - which is located right 

in downtown Georgetown - had a Christmas market in 

their basement with vendors selling everything from 

garden produce to home baked goodies, hand made 

jewellery and hand knitted winter wear plus lots more.

I figured it would be a great opportunity to do a

bit of Christmas shopping and so arranged for DH

to meet me there after work.   Good sport that he

is DH acted as my parcel bearer making occasional

trips back to the car when his arms could no longer

hold everything.

I crossed a few names off my gift list and we had

fun listening to various groups of carollers and to a one 

man band and we laughed at the antics of the

"tin soldier" on stilts.  

In the front window of one store was this

tree that snows.   Snow comes out the top

and sprays downwards until it is caught

in the umbrella like skirt below and recycled

back up (through the trunk I presume) to 

fall again.

A novelty but not very practical to put in

a typical household with kids and/or pets

I would think.   And yes, these are available

for sale.    I can just see my two cats jumping

into that umbrella skirt and "snow" flying 

everywhere.   No thank you.

And speaking of the cats.   Here's Rupert in one

of his favourite boxes.   I've put a blanket in this

one so if he wants to nap in there he'll be comfortable.

Phoebe under the Christmas tree.

The tree skirt is forever being pounced

on, burrowed under and pulled at as

the cats play tag and generally get 

rambunctious below the branches

whilst the tree overhead sways and the 

ornaments jingle and someone (me) 

starts yelling.

Tonight is the Christmas gathering for

DH's work.   We're going to Tucker's

Marketplace which is someplace that

I've never been before.  I'm told that

its a buffet which is great because I'm

greedy  I love having multiple choices

of dishes instead of having to try and 

make a single meal choice.

 I went to the hair dressers

this week and had my hair chopped off

and coloured.    I've been growing it out

this year but I'm afraid that I don't have

a lot of patience when it comes to fussing

with my hair and the longer it gets the more

frustrated and annoyed I get with it. 

I reached the end of my rope this week.

Since I wanted it to look half decent when

we went out for dinner Saturday night I

had the deed done.   I'm relieved.

I have one day of work this coming week

and then I'm off for four days.   During

that time a trip into Toronto is planned

to check out the Christmas decorations,

do a bit more shopping and lunch with

friends.    Then I plan on getting as 

much of my Christmas baking done as

possible.     And perhaps some gift

wrapping as well.    We'll see.

Cheers!