Well - we're back in Ottawa for the Christmas season. The trip up was rather hairy to say the least. Originally, we planned to leave on Monday the 8th when the sun came up, drive until dark -which would be around Edmundston, NB, then complete the trip on Tuesday during the daylight hours as well.
Mother Nature decided that a storm was in order for Nova Scotia starting Sunday late and that another bigger one was on her plan for Ontario and Quebec for Tuesday and Wednesday. So we decided to try and sneak back to Ottawa between the storms, leaving Lockeport at 11:45 PM on Sunday (hey, hockey in Barrington HAD to happen first!). As we left Lockeport it was raining and by the time we reached Port Joli the precipitation was snow that was staying on the side of the road. By Bridgewater, we were following a plow which helped for a bit anyway, but he turned off at the end of Lunenburg County. The 102 was rather tricky, much of it not plowed, and then we reached the Trans-Canada - very dark of course but 1 lane cleared. There were a few cars and 1 double tractor-trailer off the road in the Cobequid Pass but traffic was very light. It took 6 1/2 hours to get out of Nova Scotia - Wayne usually does that in under 4 hours. NB was very windy but the driving wasn't too bad once the sun came up (between Moncton and Fredericton). We were glad of our snow tires though. Wayne was sufficiently tired by the time we reached Oromocto that he actually had me drive for an hour so he could nap.
Quebec and Ontario were fine - we reached Ottawa about 7:30PM EST, stopped at Swiss Chalet for dinner and then were home. As predicted, the Tuesday/Wednesday storm was quite significant so we made the right decision.
We've got the tree up, my 70 houses spread around the house, turkey bought, cookies made, most of the presents ready. We've seen many friends from Lady Evelyn, Queenswood, CMHC, Greenview and have plans with several others. We've spent 2 days with our adorable grandchildren, attended a shower for grandchild #3 (Ava Sydney Taylor Cooper making her appearance somewhere around February 23rd, 2009 - another trip to Ottawa), had 2 Cora's breakfasts, a Wild Wing dinner. Regrettably, we missed a shower for my niece and her husband and our grand-niece (February 6th, 2009) since it was the same afternoon as the one for Dan and Christine's baby.
We're living with Bob and Tim so seeing lots of both of them. We've had dinner with Kris and Chris twice and if the weather cooperates a bit today, we'll have Dan and Christine over for dinner. Wayne has played hockey with old friends 3 times so far - he'll miss Tuesday's game as we have dental appointments.
I went to the OPL and got 10 books I wanted to read - 5 done so far.
All in all, we're having a great time - if it wasn't so cold, snowy and windy, the visit would be even better. Watching the weather networks news of Lockeport is somewhat depressing - obviously no snow accumulating there, while we're shoveling continually here.
