 |
The weather has continued to dominate our lives this week. On Monday we got another 30 cms of snow to complete the hat trick: three major storms within a week. Schools and my work were closed again. James and I took advantage of the down time to finish our 3D puzzle of St. Basil's Cathedral. This was given to us by my brother Nick and his family two or three years ago and we have been working on it off and on ever since.
The weather cleared up by Tuesday, but the schools remained closed because none of their parking lots or fire exits had been cleared. Friday was a Professional Development Day for the teachers, so the kids only had two days of school this week. This was exam week for Katy and David, so they would have had a lot of time off anyway, but the storm caused the whole exam schedule to be pushed back two days. Katy was happy because her physics exam was postponed from Thursday until Monday. Meanwhile, for the rest of the week, though it has been bright and sunny, the temperature has hovered between -15°C and -20°C with wind chill taking it down another 15 to 20 degrees.
 |
Yesterday Ann woke up feeling ill and spent much of the day in bed, but by the late afternoon she had rallied and we were able to keep a dinner date with our friends the Fosters. They bravely invited the whole family (they also have four children, so they can't complain that they didn't know what to expect) for a wonderful salmon dinner.
This afternoon Emily, James and I went skating at the Shannon Park Arena, a DND facility next door to their school. The skate was arranged by the school and was well attended. Emily met her friend Alison there and ended up going to her house for the rest of the afternoon.
 |
It is said that to speak of the weather is the last refuge of someone with nothing to say. However, this week I think that I can do so with some justification. In case we had any doubt, the past few days have confirmed that we are in the middle of winter. As advertised last week, we got about 40 centimetres of snow by Monday morning. Both schools and DRDC were closed for the day. By Wednesday the temperature had fallen to -20°C but on Thursday it rose again to just below zero to make the conditions favourable for 20 more centimetres of snow starting mid-morning. This time the kids made it to school but were sent home at 11 AM when it became clear that driving was going to become very hazardous. Our walking students arrived home between 11:20 AM (David) and 11:30 AM (Katy); however, our bus students did not arrived home until 12:15 PM (James) and 1:15 PM. (Emily). Buses were following the afternoon schedule which accounts for younger classes ending an hour before older classes normally. As well, the bus didn't even leave the school for the first time until almost noon because the teachers were calling parents of the younger children to confirm someone would be at the bus-stop to meet them. Early closure creates chaos no matter what procedure we have seen the schools follow over the years; no wonder every other school board in Nova Scotia had decided on a full-day closure -- Ann. DRDC stayed open until about three o'clock when the power went out over most of our part of Dartmouth. James, Emily and I had just finished baking 10 dozen Triple Chocolate Chip cookies; everyone was happy to eat, read and play Game Boy. I was thrilled to start supper on our gas-range burners while the power was still out; we still don't know if the gas oven requires electricity to work safely -- Ann. Power came back on again at about five o'clock. On Friday the temperature dropped back down to -20°C where it stayed for most of Saturday. Today it climbed to -15°C, but that did not prevent us from getting another 25 to 30 centimetres of snow, starting at breakfast time and lasting all day. We were given plenty of warning yesterday, so we simply planned to have a quiet day at home. Church was cancelled, so no-one felt guilty about not going. Emily, James and David braved the winds to play in the snow for a while in the afternoon, but it didn't last long; it was just too miserable. Ann spent most of yesterday making sure that we would be adequately prepared if the power were to go out. I think she is secretly disappointed that it has stayed on all day, but she can take heart in the fact that it's not over yet; we are supposed to continue to get snow overnight, tapering to flurries tomorrow morning. The schools have already been closed for tomorrow, though I anticipate going to work as usual.
Yesterday evening Dave and Chris treated the Dave Brothers Band and significant others to dinner and an evening at Eastern Front Theatre called "Share the Dream". The performance was not a play but a celebration of Martin Luther King and Richard Preston, one of the co-founders of the local African-Canadian community. It featured the Nova Scotia Mass Choir and the St. Thomas United Baptist Church Junior Choir from Preston as well as George Elliott Clarke and other local African-Canadian celebrities singing, reciting poetry and reading King's "I have a dream". To be honest, I didn't think that I would enjoy it as much as I did: the singing was very good and quite uplifting. I thought the whole tribute was awesome!!! -- Ann
 |
On Thursday the kids had an unexpected windfall: the roads were very icy due to freezing rain, so the school buses weren't running. When that happens, but the schools stay open, we usually just keep everyone at home as they don't do anything significant at school anyway. According to the radio we are going to get hammered by another storm tonight, so the kids may be at home again tomorrow.
Of course, the main event of the week was Emily's ninth birthday on Friday. She started with our usual big birthday breakfast and present opening. School got in the way of the festivities for a while, but they started up again at 5:30 with the arrival of five friends for dinner with pizza and cake, some "Dance Maker" moving and shaking, the video (Ella Enchanted), and a sleepover. About 10 PM, Ann challenged the gang to do their best "imitations of sleeping people" and, within the hour, all but one was snoring; that one required a flashlight and chapter book to help drift off to sleep. Then, just before midnight, we had some attrition (one of Emily's friends awoke or was sleep-walking perhaps and decided that she wasn't comfortable sleeping at our house and went home to her own bed, something we had been warned to expect). On Saturday morning Ann cooked an immense batch of waffles and shoulder-bacon, then they played games until pick-up at 11 AM. From the general level of activity (not to mention decibels) I would judge that a good time was had by all.
 |
On Tuesday it was back to school and to work again. We have spent most of the week getting back into the routine. Katy is also busy applying to universities for the fall. Trying to decipher all the forms has been trying at times and, with exams also looming at the end of the month, she has been a little on edge all week.
On Friday evening both Katy and David had friends over, so we took it easy and ordered pizzas for dinner. Katy and Krista worked on a school project while David and Brenden played their electric guitars; now what does that tell you?
This afternoon Emily had her friend Alison over to play. James and I took the opportunity to go skating on Lake Banook. It has been several years since the ice on the lakes has been good enough for pleasant skating. At the moment it is just about perfect: thick and smooth, though with about an inch of snow that we got in the night. Someone has cleared a few rinks and connecting pathways near Birch Cove. We had a very nice time playing tag with some of James' school friends that we met by chance.
 |
As foreseen in our message last week, on Monday we were hit by a major snow storm. Although most of the snow fell during the night, it was so windy all day that shovelling would have been a complete waste of time. We accepted the inevitable and stayed indoors to play with our new Christmas toys. When it was all over we had somewhat more than a foot of snow, though it was difficult to tell precisely because of the drifting. We finally dug ourselves out by Tuesday evening.
Tuesday was my birthday, a significant one as I entered a new decade. I was treated to waffles for breakfast while opening my presents, then spent most of the rest of the day lounging around watching everyone else shovel snow (actually, I helped a little). We were thinking of going out for a family dinner but, because of the storm, we decided to stay home instead. Ann scrounged together the food that we had on hand and cooked a wonderful dinner: a pork roast with Brussels sprouts cooked in whisky — yummy!
The rest of the week has also been very quiet. Ann, James, and to a lesser extent Emily have had laryngitis-type colds, so we have lain low other than going to Ingrid, Mike and Alex's for New Year's Eve as usual. Our hours of operation have slowly been drifting later and later (I don't think that I have been up before nine for the past few days) so it is going to be a bit of an effort to resynchronize with work and school.
December 2004 Archive
February 2005 Archive
Archive Table of Contents