Emily's Christmas Concert

Emily performed as a caroler in the Christmas concert. School concerts are all so amazing! The teachers spend so much time finding the perfect play then taking the kids through the practices, arranging for music and costumes and scenery! It was a pleasure to attend.

After we came home I realized that Emily and the other girl in the caroler group reminded me of Mom's group of carolers that we decorate with every Christmas. I have always called them the angel choir until now.

Still Cold!

Susan hosted a lovely tea party for a few folks that included 4 young ladies and their chauffeurs. Susan went to an incredible amount of work, as you can see when you look at the table and all the goodies.

After the tea the girls enjoyed one another's company while the adults continued to visit.

This delightful tea party occurred the same day as the first power outage so we were just delighted to be invited out. Susan is fortunate enough to live in the area that only experienced one power outage this week.

The girls were treated to a game of poor manners by adults that they were encouraged to point out. This caused much laughter and many people had their elbows indicated!

I must be Diarmid's mother!

This is how I dressed for breakfast yesterday morning.

Ranting happens on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. I have had enough! The cold weather is bad enough but when we have power outages during the very cold weather it makes me rant!

Tonight I walked over to Bell's house to put their newspaper inside - they have the great fortune to be in Mexico this week. Since they left the temperatures have sunk to highs of -10. Tonight it is -12 but that doesn't even feel too bad any more. Good thing because the worst is yet to come! We here in the West Kootenays usually fare much better than most of the other interior folks and this cold snap is no exception. As Mom would have said - so this is global warming, eh.

Yesterday I awoke to a power outage as well. That one had already lasted 2 hours and I thought that I should just stay in my little cave of bedclothes until it was restored. Well bed is only comfortable for so long! I persevered and power was restored after a 3 hour outage at 9AM. The indoor temperature was 16, outside -11. Thus the breakfast garb.

This house has hot water heat. It takes a whole lot longer to warm up a house with hot water heat. The house was almost warmed up by the time that I went out yesterday afternoon at 2:30PM.

Tonight I left work intending to pick up a few groceries and come home to make butter tarts and spaghetti sauce. Ha! When I reached the turn-off to the mall, the traffic lights were out. As I waited in line for the 4-way stop procedure I noticed that the lights were off at the Aquatic Center. By this time I could not avoid turning into the mall and I noticed that all the lights were out on this side of the lake as well. Oh, oh. All of the mall lights were off but as I proceeded out of the other end of the mall parking lot, that traffic light was in operation, giving me great hope that Safeway might be open. Dreamer. As I came closer to home I was hopeful that the lights would miraculously come on as I drove up the street. Lit a bunch of candles. Called the neighbours to find out how long the outage had been before I got home - went out about 4PM. As it cooled down I decided to make a fire with the lovely wood that Gordon had brought over and left in a box in the carport - I called him the wood fairy that day. Other days he has been the shovelling fairy, the rototilling fairy, the power washing fairy - all of those lovely things that just happen while I am at work.

I had been saving the wood for a special occasion and today was it! The fire warmed up the house and has almost gone out now. I even decided that I could warm up some beans and make a cup of tea. Now I think that I'm allergic to wood smoke as well as everything else, all the coughing while stoking. The power was restored just about the time that the water boiled for the tea. I was going to use the fire-heated water but then I looked into the pot and decided that I didn't want to drink all the ash. Heated the beans in the microwave and made toast to go with them. But I sure could be happy if the power would stay on.

There sure isn't much to do when the power is out, once all the candles are lit. Reading is difficult, can't watch TV and the email is tanatalizingly close at hand. I thought of going back into town but needed to stay here to keep the fire going, then projected forward to the morning when work would rear its ugly head. Electric hot water heat means no shower, no tea, and should I even leave my fire. With hot water heat I worried about the pipes freezing. I was even willing to pass up going to work tomorrow to stay at home & stoke the fire. Would that ever be a long day!

Checking the email after power was restored was quite illuminating (heehee). Primus and I aren't finished yet. Anyone who is contemplating using Primus for their long distance provider should contact me and I can give them the story of Mom's account. Still isn't over.

Well, the rant seems to have calmed so this blog entry has done its work. Fire has died down and it's time for cleaning up and bed. Too bad the basement now smells of wood smoke.