The Squamidian Report – Dec. 27 / 14
Issue #657
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Ah yes, the doldrums between Christmas and New Years. The one week of
the year that seems more like the calendar version of 'no man's land'
than an actual time frame. The rush is over for those who let
themselves get rushed, the bustle is over for those who let themselves
get bustled. Even the weather never seems to do much. Everything just
seems to slump into some sort of semi-hibernation 'time out'. Perhaps
thats a good thing. Of course that is just my perspective. I don't go
near the frenzied shopping malls or road-raging busy freeways. I guess
I'm lucky that way. Mind you, because I didn't get rushed or bustled,
this week is not that different from last week except for that far off
feeling that its over for another year, and when it comes right down to
it, the year is almost over for another year as well. Kind of all fits
together.
Something 'The Wife' and I did on several of the days leading up to
Christmas was bring her home-made peanut brittle and fudge up to the
many familiar faces that work at the gondola. 'The Wife' had spent a
fair amount of time making batches of fudge and peanut brittle and
packaging the treats into little decorative bags. We then passed them
out to the lift attendants, restaurant staff, gift shop staff and so
on. It took 3 days of going up each morning (a real hardship on our
part) to find all the people we wanted to share the confectionary with
and there are still a couple of people who must have had few days off
that we missed but it sure went over big. As it is we always get waved
at, greeted by name and so on. They've always been so nice to us its
the least we could do. I'm sure it must seem strange to the general
population customers when they see us old grey-haired farts walking
through the lodge or approaching the lift as the people working wave
and call us by name. Perhaps they think we are somehow important, I
don't know, but its fun.
There is finally a small dusting of snow up there. There should be
meters of the stuff by now but its been a weird fall, way, way too much
rain and too warm at night for snow, even at those elevations. The
higher mountain areas have lots of snow now but the mid elevations are
struggling to keep what little they get. Anyway, we've done a couple of
very enjoyable walks along our usual trail with a light snow cover on
everything. That just adds to the beauty and makes the spectacular even
more spectacular. When we rode up on Christmas Day the kids were with
us and Kyra saw her first snow of the season that she could interact
with. She can see the snow on the mountain tops but thats too far away
for her to contemplate. The 'snow-line' starts at about tower 10 and
she was sure impressed. Up at the lodge there is about 4 inches of snow
and she was quite excited. Just walking in the snow was more fun than
she could imagine. One of these days, if the weather ever settles down
to something a bit more 'normal', we will take her up there and the
snow will be over her head. That will be interesting.
Anyway, have a great new years and perhaps we will keep this going for a while longer.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Merry Christmas to All!
Well, it’s over for another year and I hope the entire Squamidian Group had a wonderful time!
We had a very nice Christmas and a very peaceful time! We gathered at
our house and enjoyed the day. We started the day with a lovely
breakfast and then gathered around the tree to celebrate the occasion.
The only thing missing this year was our little Poodle Bailey. He
passed away this past summer and had been a fun part of our Christmas
mornings for the last 12 years. We could see his little furry body
buzzing around the room ripping up the wrapping paper and helping us
unwrap our gifts as well as his own. He had his own stocking too and
would get all excited at the sound of the bells that were on it well
before he even saw it! It was amazing how he would know weeks before
Christmas that one of the stockings hanging on the fireplace mantel was
for him! As soon as Carole would hang the stockings on the mantel for
decoration he’d be standing on his hind legs looking at the one that
had his name on it! It was uncanny for sure how he knew! We sure did
miss him this year and will for years to come. We loved having him
around but find that we have so much more freedom now that he’s not
here to be looked after. He was a great addition to our family for 12
years and we loved him but there came a time when we had to let him go.
He was too sick to recover last summer and now he’s just a lovely
memory. Funny how one gets attached to their pets! At least we have
many many pictures of Bailey and will not be replacing him since he’s
irreplaceable! Life goes on after the loss of a family member but there
will always be a hole in our hearts where they occupied that space!
I don’t want to end on a sad note so I’m going to say that it’s
actually nice to have had a green Christmas for a change! I’ve had the
TORO ready for action now for the past month or more but it was a nice
Christmas present not to have to use it Christmas Day! I’ll just go out
into the garage and pat it on the engine head and hope it starts the
next time I do need its help clearing the snow!
They say that 80% of Canadians had a green Christmas this year but that
the weather will change for most of us real soon! What would winter in
The Great White North be without snow?
Anyway, I’m going to cut this weeks Ontarion off short and just wish you all Happy Holidays until next week!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Think about the Military Folks who didn’t make it home to spend Christmas with their loved ones!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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