On the Plus Side

Lothar's Cafe is reopening on Valentine's Day and will be open for lunch and dinner Wednesday to Friday for the rest of the winter. In addition, Lothar will be emailing his menus to those interested so we can make informed reservations.

We already had made a Valentine's tentative reservation at the Parrot's Pins (a fondue evening) when Lothar's menu for the 14th came out. It looks good too -

Set Menu.

Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup

Lobster and Egg Salad on Mesclun

with Rhode Island Dressing

Chicken breast stuffed with Vegetable Brunoise, Herbs and Cream Cheese

on home made Spinach Pasta, Champagne Sauce, honey glaced carottes

Bavarian Cream with fresh Chocolate coated Strawberries

$32.50 pp. Reservations required two days in advance

So we're back to some good meals!

Another closing

Our local (Shelburne) department store is closing on Monday. Bargain Giant isn't doing enough business so they are closing that location - right now they are having a huge clearance sale so as not to have to move too much inventory to another store. The store is very busy now although the "bargains" don't really look like such to me - the prices being marked down on a lot of merchandise were somewhat inflated to start with.

A Bargain Shop will be moving into the location in a few months - I'm not familiar with that chain but I hope it offers some adequate merchandise or there will be a lot of trips to Bridgewater and/or Yarmouth in the future. I'm afraid it may just be a glorified dollar store. :(

Lockeport Shines

MondayTuesday we had another storm and this time it still looks like winter - a very beautiful winter at that.

There was supposed to be snow, ice pellets, freezing rain etc to the tune of 5- 15 cm. Our actual total was in the 5-10 cm range I would say with a healthy crust of ice/ snow pellet mix on the ground - so it's not actually slippery except on some of the pavement where cars have spun wheels or melting/refreezing has happened. The crust is thick (1-2cm) - enough to hold my weight in most places but quite pebbly. You can still see the tops of our grass/weeds so it's really not too deep.

The beautiful part is in the ice-storm effect on all the trees and bushes. Even after 4 days, they are still coated with a dazzling ice layer since it has been cold and not very windy so the ice has stayed, despite brilliant sunshine. The bushes with lots of tiny branches and the tops of trees are particularly breathtaking.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be above zero so I guess the melt will start, but it has been lovely here this week. Dinner at the kitchen table with the sun setting through our shiny rosebushes has been awesome.

January in Lockeport

Some thoughts on the winter here in Lockeport and area.

Weather

We got back to Lockeport on January 2nd on the heels of a blizzard. The driving wasn't too bad and when we got home, we found a snow plow pile across the end of our driveway but the actual driveway was blown bare. There were very strange drifts around the yard, along the edge of the concrete step at the back door (but nothing at the door itself) and some interesting drifts behind the house. About half of the yard was bare due to our lovely winds at the top of the hill. Within a few days, almost all of what was here had melted. Then it snowed again, melted.

This week it has been very cold - as low as -25C with the wind chill some nights but only a very few flurries here and there. The locals say it is unusually cold. I hope they are right :). Today it is headed back up above zero and we should get rain overnight. The wind makes the dampness feel colder than it is, but only a few times have I felt as cold as I am used to getting in Ottawa - and I rarely have had to wear boots here.

Our wood stove (Pacific Energy Spectrum Classic) has worked completely as advertised - it can be loaded in the evening and burns overnight keeping the rear of the house nice and toasty.

The roads (paved) are cleared quite quickly it seems, salt or sand comes a little later - I guess so they don't have to salt twice for the same storm. There is a lot of ice around, particularly on the gravel roads - enough so that there are many days when the school buses just don't go down them. That is another interesting phenomenon for someone from a big city - parts of bus routes can be cancelled, and, if all buses are cancelled they actually CLOSE THE SCHOOLS TOO - realizing that if students can't get there safely, neither can staff. Ontario take note.

Closures and cancellations are done well in advance via the radio when a storm is scheduled, since most people have to travel quite a distance to bingo, suppers, or whatever.

The ice is also prevalent on sidewalks, driveways etc. with the temperature oscillating around zero so much. Lots of falls and broken bones among seniors. Accidents on roads necessitate very long detours - you can't just go around the block to avoid a road closure. The 2 I've encountered so far have each necessitated detours of 40+ km, and it is easy to see that an accident on the section of the #103 between Sable River and Liverpool could result in no possible detour short of several hundred kilometres.

Activities

Almost none. Well, some of the standard things go on - hooking on Tuesday in Shelburne, the Wednesday craft group at the Beach Centre, Wayne's Sunday evening hockey game in Barrington. I joined an exercise class in Sable River which meets Monday and Friday mornings, but I've only made it once so far due to weather or being ill. Not much else.

Most restaurants are closed - this week the Town & Country closed for the rest of the winter so now only the Parrot's Pins remains open (Tues - Sun). At least it has always had the best food in town. In Shelburne, Charlotte Lane and The Sea Dog are closed. Lothar's is open briefly then closing again for February for a vacation. The Chef's Table in Sable River is closed. The Quarterdeck in Hunt's Point is closed.

Yesterday, we went to the Sandy Point monthly breakfast - an escape from cabin fever. Wayne went to an AGM of the United Church in the afternoon and listened to the congregation (9 people were there) planning for next winter, making sure all activities were in the morning/afternoon so no one had to go out in the evening. Our little diet/exercise group at the Lockeport rec centre seems to have died - no one except the 2 of us has showed up the last 2 weeks. So Wayne has promised to continue teaching me the basics of Tai Chi at home on Tuesdays.

There will be one performance at the Osprey in each of January and February - January's is a classical guitar trio on a Sunday evening when Wayne is playing hockey so, unless I go by myself, that will not happen.

Next Saturday, there is a 5 hour meeting at the Rec Centre as part of the NS government's sustainability initiative - all communities are being required to establish plans for sustaining their economies, social structure and environment in the future. Coordinators have been hired by each municipality to guide the process and prepare the necessary reports. It will be interesting to see what matters to the local population, I'm glad we have been asked to participate and provide some input.

We are seriously thinking of taking a few months in Florida next winter.

Christmas Preparations in Ottawa

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.

Christmas By the Sea

This weekend is Christmas By the Sea in Lockeport - a small, local celebration to kick off the season.

Last evening there was a town tree-lighting in SeaCaps Park. It began with a light exchange - if you brought in 2 strings of old incandescent Christmas lights, you were given a new 35 light LED string by Nova Scotia Power for free. We had several old strings that came with our house so we got 2 new strings - an excellent energy saving idea.

The actual programme consisted of carolling by the pre-school children (3 and 4 years old). They had 6 or 7 songs to sing - all verses, very well done. Then the elementary school students sang for us - very lustily. A few short words from the NSP representative, then the mayor had us all yell "Git er done" a few times until we were loud enough that the elf in charge of the tree lights turned them on.

The evening was capped with hot chocolate and Timbits for all. I was drafted to serve hot chocolate - a nice warm job. It was about 9 degrees when the programme started but the wind picked up and the temp dropped quite a bit. Still a lot warmer than Ottawa.

There are sales this weekend at the local stores and post-office, food offerings, prize draws and tomorrow a craft fair at the Beach Centre with a luncheon available. Lots of fun, and the weather is glorious.

Ah! Small Town Life

We are getting ready to head to Ottawa for Christmas. As part of our preparations, Wayne arranged to have the driveway plowed if it snows while we are gone. Today he asked our neighbour, Shirley, if she would pick up our mail for us (for some reason the post office is very reluctant to actually hold mail - they are quite willing to put a little sign in your box saying "no flyers" while you are away, but they would just as soon stuff all your mail in there instead of charging you to hold it). He mentioned that we were intending to go into Shelburne and get a timer for our living room lights - Shirley said "Why bother? Everyone will know you are away anyway".

I guess she saved us some money at least.