Merry Christmas Everybody!
This will be our last post for the year, as early tomorrow morning Aimee and I fly out of Toronto and won't be coming back until next year!
We are headed for New York, to spend our new years celebration with the millions of others that gather in New York's famous Times Square.
We will watch the ball drop, as it counts down the last 60 seconds of 2007. Here's a video of what we can expect this year:
Admittedly most of you will already at least 12 hours into 2008, but we will have fun all the same =)
We have 3 nights there, so keep an eye on our photo page, once we get back we'll put up photos of all the things we've seen.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Green Christmas
Well,
Who would have thunk it. This morning's paper revealed the grim news, no more snow for us. In fact, temperatures for this weekend are predicted to be 6 degrees on saturday, and 8 degrees on sunday!
That will certainly make a dent in the snow piles that have been pushed to the edge of the roads and it's likely that we'll have a lovely green christmas, just like all you kiwis out there. I might have to go and buy a BBQ.
So last weekend we had about 30cm of snow which buried roads, gardens and cars.
The next day when it stopped the city workers had the laborious job of clearing the streets, main streets first pushing the mass of snow off the road, and into huge 5 foot piles of the stuff on the side of the road.
4 lane streets became 2 lanes and 2 half lanes.
Nice wide footpaths became single track, and walking is like walking through wet flour.
Transitioning from the road to the footpath involves jumping over a pile of snow, or finding an area where it's clear.
Now things have melted a bit; wet feet are surely the outcome.
This weekend we go shopping for BOOTS!
Who would have thunk it. This morning's paper revealed the grim news, no more snow for us. In fact, temperatures for this weekend are predicted to be 6 degrees on saturday, and 8 degrees on sunday!
That will certainly make a dent in the snow piles that have been pushed to the edge of the roads and it's likely that we'll have a lovely green christmas, just like all you kiwis out there. I might have to go and buy a BBQ.
So last weekend we had about 30cm of snow which buried roads, gardens and cars.
The next day when it stopped the city workers had the laborious job of clearing the streets, main streets first pushing the mass of snow off the road, and into huge 5 foot piles of the stuff on the side of the road.
4 lane streets became 2 lanes and 2 half lanes.
Nice wide footpaths became single track, and walking is like walking through wet flour.
Transitioning from the road to the footpath involves jumping over a pile of snow, or finding an area where it's clear.
Now things have melted a bit; wet feet are surely the outcome.
This weekend we go shopping for BOOTS!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Cracking Nuts
Well last night it was the nutcracker, and I have to say, what a great auditorium.
The acoustics were so amazing, I could hear the little triangle from all the way in the orchestra pit out to my seat, and could not see a single speaker or amp anywhere.
The orchestra was clear and played very well, sounded brilliant.
I recognized so many of the tunes they played from ads on TV.
I have to say thanks to my parents for telling me all about the story of the nutcracker when I was young, i really recognised the parts of the story... NOT!
Hehe, I had to do a fast and furious read of the synopsis during intermission, because I had no idea what was going on; who would have thought that a ballet would have all dancing and no dialogue!
I guess that's fine, cos all the speaking would have been in Russian anyway.
Anyway, the production was really well done, superb costumes and the sets were very cool and Aimee really enjoyed herself.
The acoustics were so amazing, I could hear the little triangle from all the way in the orchestra pit out to my seat, and could not see a single speaker or amp anywhere.
The orchestra was clear and played very well, sounded brilliant.
I recognized so many of the tunes they played from ads on TV.
I have to say thanks to my parents for telling me all about the story of the nutcracker when I was young, i really recognised the parts of the story... NOT!
Hehe, I had to do a fast and furious read of the synopsis during intermission, because I had no idea what was going on; who would have thought that a ballet would have all dancing and no dialogue!
I guess that's fine, cos all the speaking would have been in Russian anyway.
Anyway, the production was really well done, superb costumes and the sets were very cool and Aimee really enjoyed herself.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
snow snow snow, rain... sun!
Well, we've certainly had a mixed bag of the weather lately.
Two Sundays ago, Aimee and I were stomping through 1 foot of snow and throwing snowballs at each other; while forecasters advised drivers to avoid traveling as plows were struggling to clear snow from main roads.
As they pushed snow from the lanes of highways, they blocked on-ramps with their piles!
So that massive dump has now cleared, and we've been having snow on and off for the last 2 weeks. Yesterday the temperatures finally rose above freezing, allowing the rain to help with moving some of the dirty grey piles from the side of the road.
Todays weather highlight is I had to get out my sunglasses, as it's a sunny 1 degree!
So we've also been up to some other antics. Check out our photos from the link at the top, on Saturday we drove north and cut down our Christmas tree.
The tree farm was called Hockley Alley, it is a few acres of trees in different stages of growth, with tractors towing people to and from their cars, and Clydesdale's pulling people around in a sled. You can even sit by the bonfire and sip eggnog.
Later on Sunday we went ice skating downtown in an open free rink. We just had to hire skates.
Tonight we will be off to the ballet to watch the nutcracker, and then tomorrow is the eastbay Christmas party!
Fun stuff, so lots of relaxing this weekend I think.
Two Sundays ago, Aimee and I were stomping through 1 foot of snow and throwing snowballs at each other; while forecasters advised drivers to avoid traveling as plows were struggling to clear snow from main roads.
As they pushed snow from the lanes of highways, they blocked on-ramps with their piles!
So that massive dump has now cleared, and we've been having snow on and off for the last 2 weeks. Yesterday the temperatures finally rose above freezing, allowing the rain to help with moving some of the dirty grey piles from the side of the road.
Todays weather highlight is I had to get out my sunglasses, as it's a sunny 1 degree!
So we've also been up to some other antics. Check out our photos from the link at the top, on Saturday we drove north and cut down our Christmas tree.
The tree farm was called Hockley Alley, it is a few acres of trees in different stages of growth, with tractors towing people to and from their cars, and Clydesdale's pulling people around in a sled. You can even sit by the bonfire and sip eggnog. Later on Sunday we went ice skating downtown in an open free rink. We just had to hire skates.
Tonight we will be off to the ballet to watch the nutcracker, and then tomorrow is the eastbay Christmas party!
Fun stuff, so lots of relaxing this weekend I think.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Cold cold cold...
It's cold.
People keep saying "But it's only November" and we're loving it. Things can only get colder from here.
Last week it snowed. It's only snowed twice since then, but nothing to really leave an impact. The strange thing is, there's still piles of snow in the city, like rubbish piles waiting to be taken away.
The temperatures haven't been warm enough to actually melt them.
Today is a nice day, and it's Aimee's birthday. We have rented a car just like we did for my birthday, and will take advantage of that by going shopping! No longer will we be restricted to buying only what we can carry on the subway, now we have a boot (trunk for you north americans) to fill up.
If you haven't been watching the latest season of the British motoring show Top Gear, watch it.
They cross the English channel in a car they converted into a boat. They raced through London and a bicycle won! They got stuck in an African desert, amazing stuff.
For our readers out there who keep complaining that we're not writing enough, "sorry".
Hehe, that word means a lot of things over here. Once on my way down to the laundry, I had it said to me 3 times within 2 minutes.
It seems to be a greeting - if 2 people touch on the subway "sorry".
It's also an excuse me - "sorry, can I get past?"
Or in last night's case - "sorry, I know you said Dacquari but i thought you'd like a Tanduay on the rocks instead"
Just cos she's from the philippines doesn't mean she automatically wants to drink Rhum.
So things here aren't interesting enough to blog every day, pretty soon we'll get bored talking about the snow, and how cold it is, and we'll have to revert to what those other bloggers out there do, ranting about their thoughts.
Nah...
So fun movie we watched last night, Mr Magorioum's Wonder Emporium.
Dustin Hoffman (meet the Fokkers) and Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta) are in charge of a magical toy store... bah, IMDB has a much better plot summary than I can give.
Just go watch it, it's good wholesome fun.
Also go play Call of Duty 4 - Modern warfare. Better yet, play it with surround sound on a 40" TV.
People keep saying "But it's only November" and we're loving it. Things can only get colder from here.
Last week it snowed. It's only snowed twice since then, but nothing to really leave an impact. The strange thing is, there's still piles of snow in the city, like rubbish piles waiting to be taken away.
The temperatures haven't been warm enough to actually melt them.
Today is a nice day, and it's Aimee's birthday. We have rented a car just like we did for my birthday, and will take advantage of that by going shopping! No longer will we be restricted to buying only what we can carry on the subway, now we have a boot (trunk for you north americans) to fill up.
If you haven't been watching the latest season of the British motoring show Top Gear, watch it.
They cross the English channel in a car they converted into a boat. They raced through London and a bicycle won! They got stuck in an African desert, amazing stuff.
For our readers out there who keep complaining that we're not writing enough, "sorry".
Hehe, that word means a lot of things over here. Once on my way down to the laundry, I had it said to me 3 times within 2 minutes.
It seems to be a greeting - if 2 people touch on the subway "sorry".
It's also an excuse me - "sorry, can I get past?"
Or in last night's case - "sorry, I know you said Dacquari but i thought you'd like a Tanduay on the rocks instead"
Just cos she's from the philippines doesn't mean she automatically wants to drink Rhum.
So things here aren't interesting enough to blog every day, pretty soon we'll get bored talking about the snow, and how cold it is, and we'll have to revert to what those other bloggers out there do, ranting about their thoughts.
Nah...
So fun movie we watched last night, Mr Magorioum's Wonder Emporium.
Dustin Hoffman (meet the Fokkers) and Natalie Portman (V for Vendetta) are in charge of a magical toy store... bah, IMDB has a much better plot summary than I can give.
Just go watch it, it's good wholesome fun.
Also go play Call of Duty 4 - Modern warfare. Better yet, play it with surround sound on a 40" TV.
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