Mild and Blowing

my interpretation of the noise outside the window

Drops of rain are on the window
The wind is howling
and everything looks slick out there

The newspaper delivery is late b/c
the roads are slippery
or the delivery lady is worried about the roads

Should be mild w/ rain according to the forecast
maybe even , high 40 s

We shall see said the Zen master

AND a new release for the theatres is " Lion "

BUT Nicole Kidman plays a mother , as in the son is 20 something
I still think of her as a young chick seducing guys

Getting old , never gets old

" this Is It

.... we've hit the heights "

Merry Christmas to you

Weather is damp and the ... well the sun is not up yet.
P.S. the sun showed and is now hiding

We're expecting 36 F or better but
to - morrow , the temperature soars

We downloaded a movie last night

after watching 1 / 2 h of scans , trying to find a movie

we settled on ' Zero Dark Thirty '
and it was dark , well for me

they hate us , 

2 new movies , in the loot from to - day
'Tarzan , the Legend '  so - so
' the Revenant ' bloody , dark

'Twas the Day

before the day

I've often commented that in my teaching career , I'd listen as the students planned their week end , all het up and excited

I seem to count things such as Xmases and anniversaries 
and it isn't the same
The time frame is so long for me or us

Weather is gray and dull
We left the Xmas tree outside on all night
so Santa could find his way
Right !
I forgot
But it was a Friday night and the tree looks festive

We are sandwiched as you know between two herds of reindeer , a polar bear and deer as well on one side and Santa and a sleigh on the other
we are minimalists
I heard that somewhere and its ' in '

Something snapped
is my pet phrase for impulse buying
At Shoppers Drug Mart , there was a shelf tag that said 50 % off
Now , you know that caught my eye
Oh !
The object was a Go - Pro 750 camera and mounts
and emblazoned on the front was ' the girl from Frozen '
the camera and accessories are pale blue
Bought it anyway
So if you see a grown man w/ ............................

Yep , its me

Slipped out early to gather milk , bread etc. Parking was catch as catch can - I parked on a snow mound
no buggies
men were relaxed and jolly
women were harried
normally 6 or so registers are manned
14 to - day and no line ups 
but constant 2 - 3 person lines

Early ............... yeah , 

Post Script : video camcorder. The basic instructions are translated from the Portuguese by a Mandarin speaking Australian.
I fiddled around and got really very little to work. Set the date.

Then I remember something that I saw on line when pre checking what help was available. Always a good move

* Hit reset and change the SD memory card.

 Unfortunately , the SD card that I used was 4 Gb and good for 43 min.
I replaced the 4Gb w/ a 1 Gb which is good for 10 min

But surprise , the camera works. I'm not sure what I'm doing all the time but ........... it records and plays back

I wrote to the company to ask about a manual.
Reply : " Dear Sir 
                Thank you for your purchase. The model described is our base model and does not have an instructional manual , only the information booklet. Feel free to write and ask questions "

Oh boy , email chaos for sure

Joyeuse Noel 

Oh , Genius at Work

got out early to shop for stocking stuffers ( food items )

I was 20 th in line at the Scottish Bakers. Early ! Right. The store opened at 8:30 A. and you couldn't turn around in the little bakery.

I said ' I'll  come to - morrow at 8:00 A and beat the crowd.'
OR /
Drive to a indoor mall for the other bakery. Ten minutes later , there I was first in line and out the door in a blink .
Pleased w/ myself , as only I can be

Meanwhile the CBC , morning show ' Q ' has a piece on the Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune. Born outside of Japan but arrived in his 20 ' s.
Did you know ? 
He is the quintessential samurai , in fact the piece this morning is based on a documentary ' Mifune - the Last Samurai '
His N.A, fame comes from the ' Seven Samurai ' by Akiro Kurosawa or the Magnificent Seven ( if you saw only the American version )
His N.A. agent turned down the role of Obi Wan Kenobi , in the first StarWars for Mifune.
Darth vader was pure Samurai ( helmet , sword etc even the voice as it turns out )
Mifune was the role model for Paul Newman in ' Hombre ' and for sure was Dirty Harry before Dirty Harry

Weather - sunny , cool wind and 34 F but real pleasant.

" have yourself a Merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide , gay 

And have yourself a merry little Christmas day

the donald wants to boost America's nuclear presence

Ho ! Ho ! Ho !

Hey , There

' welcome to my morning
welcome to my day
Your the one that made it possible
I made it just this way '

the words of John Denver

Announcement , another download called ' Eye in the Sky ' being the tech war in the sky and collateral damage
Sad and a downer
Terrorists gather in Kenya. In Las Vegas , a drone pilot awaits orders from London overseen by a British political meeting seeking permission from Ministers in London , Beijing  etc. Video I.D. is done in Hawaii.
Bingo Bango ( and I mean it ) 
" Rifle , Rifle bird is on its way "
And there is collateral damage
Rating 2.5 out of 4 ( even tho' it cost $4.99 )
Starring Helen Mirren and a farewell performance by Alan Rickman. Side cast also very good and mainly British

A dusting of snow for T.O. , thus cars were sliding off the roads

We will be 32 F and rising for the nest 4 days. The top might be a 45 F  

T.O. has had only 2 White Xmases in 10 yrs
This would be #3 and its pretty much a lock

Following up on a previous entry tidbit
Our ISP provider is dropping the rate for internet and phone

Why ? the explanation is :

In October, Telecom ruled ruled that incumbent providers were charging third-party ISPs like Teksavvy too much to access the so-called "last mile" of their networks, from the street to home connections. 

An earlier 2010 ruling had mandated that the big companies charge no more than their own costs plus a 10 per cent markup, but the October decision found they were charging far more than that — and ordered them to stop doing so, at least on an interim basis.

We follow up

in an effort to finish out stories
as if you cared

Do you ?

I wrote the following to a friend re: taking back our driveway

I re - claimed my driveway. We are at the end of the plow run for our street. The plow pushes a pile against the W side of the drive at the bottom , nr the street. They do it neatly but the pile extends 2 ft or so onto the driveway.

When the snow service comes , they look at the driveway and start at the snow pile. I lose approx 3 ft of driveway. If I don't remove the extra snow after each snowfall , I'll loose a foot or 2 each snowfall , all season.

I have a complete driveway as of now.

And I can now report the Sony charges us for download movies in Cdn $. Sheesh , in $ U.S. thats an extra 1/3.

Turkey Tuesday was a big success. There will be turkey sandwiches , soup etc for days ( frozen , so its spread out ).

I told relatives at the memorial that I avoid packaged deli meat. Its the salt and fat that bothers me. I prefer frozen left overs as sandwich fodder.

As well , I favour open face sandwiches.

Still no beer. Vodka , yes and coolers yes NO beer.

I'm like a virgin saving herself 

but I'm waiting for Yeungling on draft.

Celebrate :
December 21, 2016 – NATIONAL FRENCH FRIED SHRIMP DAY – CROSSWORD PUZZLE DAY – PHILEAS FOGG WIN A WAGER DAY – YULE HUMBUG DAY – WINTER SOLSTICE – NATIONAL FLASHLIGHT DAY – NATIONAL HOMELESS PERSONS’ REMEMBRANCE DAY

P.S.  - this is going to be the last " National Day of .... "

I can make up ones better than these

I thought National Snow Shovelling Week  - was appropriate and informative

Why

is a song written by Roger Whittaker. British born semi - folk / popular songster. I saw him live here in T.O.

Tuesday turns out to be Turkey Day. No , not celebrated nationally , but here

For the last while , say 12 yrs , we've been invited out for a turkey dinner , call it a family get to - gether on the 26 th. And we have cooked a turkey on Xmas day , kinda for ourselves.
I'm big on Xmas at home. People can come here but I won't go out.

As in the past , off and on , we wanted a turkey here ... this year we plan on turkey DE 20 and then out the 26 th. Spread out the turkey feasting.
A lot of work for M but she dives right in and goes for it.

Xmas Eve is planned. And we'll do the British roast thingy on the 25 th.

so , merry christmas , early