Monday 23 December

Everything is icy this morning: 3º and it’s stopped raining. People walk very carefully outdoors. It's now just back to very cold. Toronto has put out emergency weather bulletins telling people to go to schools, churches, anywhere that’s open and has power because that’s where it’s warm. We’re heading for a high of -11º tomorrow so people need to have access to power for heating as most don’t have gas.

This is a frozen bush:

This is a close-up – every inch of the bush is totally encased in ice - and this is a day and a half after the freezing rain storm.

We went to the Joseph Schneider Museum, where there was an exhibition of Inuit Eskimo dolls from past centuries, as well as artefacts including quilts, all hand-sewn.

The Schneider House was where Joseph Steiner lived with his family and then his son, Joseph Jnr, with his family, German Mennonites from Pennsylvania. The house is  preserved as it was in 1856, most items being genuine antiques, with a few being reproductions; rooms are set up with the furnishings correctly placed as described in historical documentation.

Joseph Jnr had six girls and two boys. That was good for his wife, who had lots of help with the cooking, spinning, quilting and housework but for Joseph it would have been difficult to run the farm with his two sons, so they would have employed workers. There was a parents’ bedroom, with a trundle for a child under five and a cradle for a baby. Over five, the children were old enough to sleep on the upper level which had no heating.

There was a very large bedroom with three beds for the girls (some would have shared), two other bedrooms, a guest room and a “hobo room” for wayside travellers needing shelter. The hobo room was tiny, with a tiny bed and no natural lighting, just a little window where light came from an adjoining room. The large guest room, with a double bed, was the only room with a washstand. Everyone else would have washed in the kitchen. Their beds were shorter than ours, because they used to keep the top half of their bodies propped up on pillows to avoid fluid settling in their lungs.

It was fascinating to take a walk back through time; the guide was very generous in answering questions (actually a good afternoon to go because most people were out there frantically Christmas shopping. Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, the shops will close at noon. It’s extremely rare to find anything open on Christmas Day but this year Maccas, Tim Hortons and the other coffee chain, Williams, will all be open Christmas Day.

We did some shopping this afternoon for a couple of gift items. The sun was out very briefly, transforming ice into brilliant bling for a few short moments here and there. Then the snow started again and looks like it’s settling in. Right now at 4.30 it’s -5º; tonight’s low will be -11º. Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, will be -11º  max, -16º  min; then Christmas day will be warmer: -6º  max to -7º  min.

Thursday morning it will warm up to -4º !

Tonight we’re going to Steve’s son, Gerard and his wife, Alison for their Christmas dinner. That’s not very far away, and we’ll call in on some friends on a farm on the way.

Still Sunday 22 December

STOP PRESS: Special request from Ontario Canadians - please stop praying for my white Christmas! they said it's enough now and they want some warmer weather back!!

Sunday 22 December

The first time I've celebrated my birthday in the northern hemisphere in 62 years! When I was called for breakfast, there were three helium balloons tied to my chair. J

We woke to an icy (as opposed to snowy) wonderland. Everything is either thickly coated with ice or has icicles hanging off it. Even low ground cover and weeds, all coated with ice and everything looks like it’s made of glass. Branches of trees are so heavy with ice and so brittle, being frozen, that a couple of branches have broken off Steve and Dianne’s birch out the front. This is the first view of out the front; notice the icicles on the lantern:

A frozen tree:

We heard that church was still on because the main roads have been salted this morning, so Steve salted the little path to the car and we walked out carefully. When I opened the car door it crunched and cracked; the windows were all iced up, so that required vigorous scraping by Steve.

On our way to Maccas, there were lots of huge tree branches down because of the wind and ice. Dianne opened her window to look at something; it hadn’t been scraped, so when she wound the window down, there was a solid thick sheet of ice still there, like looking through frosted glass.

We stopped for gas – icicles on everything and a car still coated with ice:

My side mirror - no, silly, it's not the driver's side in this country!

Church wasn’t too down on numbers, about 40-50 people?? However, at the end of music practice, as the service started, the power went down. So out came the baby grand piano and we all gathered around that for a worship time. Then a few reflections on Christmas, followed by the Christmas story from Luke. I was sitting near one of the only two windows in the auditorium which aren’t coloured, frosted glass, listening to the time-old verses: straight through the window was a winter wonderland – so pretty. God said “it’s just for you!” What a lovely birthday gift! J

This church doesn’t have a Christmas Day service, so with the advent wreath, having lit four candles last Sunday, they lit the four again today and then the four people each took their candle from the wreath and lit the “Jesus” candle together. They then relit their four candles and passed through the church with each of our candles being lit by them – very similar to the Easter candle ceremony on Holy Saturday.

Walking to and from the car had to be done carefully: very slippery in parts. Notice the branch down on the pathway:

The trip home was a scene of huge storm damage: the frozen branches, some very large and heavy have been devastated on trees everywhere by the strong wind. Branches are down on streets, some closed off; branches are down on power lines, cutting power to many parts of the area. Malls are in darkness, parking lots empty. Cafes and restaurants are dark and empty - a major tragedy for all retail and food service on the Sunday before Christmas. Many homes have no power for heating or cooking.

We have everything working here; at lunchtime Steve and Dianne gave me a birthday present – Steve had gone out and chosen fabric himself and made me an Amish style apron; there’s a matching pot holder in each pocket. You can see why he chose the pattern:

Frozen tree in the backyard over the frozen clothesline (sorry, it's through a flyscreen).

Dianne and Steve wanted to take me to a museum after lunch but when we arrived there, not only had the police cordoned off that section of road because of fallen branches but the place was in darkness – no power. We heard there are 17000 homes without power tonight: in sub-zero weather, that's not good. 

So we went to Coffee Culture, quite similar to the Cheesecake Factory in style but without the opulence in decor and food. Great cuppa and they actually froth the milk manually, rather than machined milk and froth that most specialist coffee places serve. While we sat there, chunks of ice fell from overhead deposits onto the street – quite enthralling to watch.

Toboggans were out there on the toboggan hill we passed: very cold and damp up there (although it was about 1º degree – a sweltering day!).

When we got home after being shocked at all the damage along the way, we found out that the restaurant that was supposed to provide my birthday dinner was also shut down, without power. However, phone calls revealed another source, so we headed out Del Dente, an Italian restaurant. There were quite a few tables filled when we got there but we got fancy armchairs at a table right in the middle of the dining floor (everyone else had normal straight-back chairs). By the end of the evening (about 9.00) there were only a handful of people left. On a night just before Christmas they should have been very busy but the weather has caused many people to stay home.

The meal was wonderful – bruschetta to die for; bread made in flower pots with herb butter and cinnamon butter; Caesar salad for entrees for Steve and Dianne. Steve had lasagne; Dianne had an amazing eggplant stack; I had a chicken futtucini with wonderful  stuff and was grateful I only ordered a small. We took away 6 little doggy bag boxes. Then out came the “birthday cake” – a flourless chocolate cake slice with cherry port sorbet: squisito!

The streets were much clearer on the way home and some of the ice had melted from parts of the trees. The paths are still icy; it’s -1º at the moment but expected to drop tonight to about -1º I think.

So ended an amazing birthday!

Saturday 21 December

First task this morning was to build a snowman.  The benefit of the rain was that it made the snow wet and so it’s much easier to pack into shape now. Dry snow is useless for building snowmen.

Then we went back to Chikopee ski hill to have coffee in the restaurant overlooking the slopes. It was very quiet today – not so good for the staff. They had lots of staff on in the cafeteria and restaurant, expecting a big Saturday crowd, but very few people were out. Two reasons for this: it’s raining and miserable and it’s the last shopping weekend before Christmas. Staff were looking rather bored, texting, making paper planes! Many looked young, so probably college students earning a dollar. Our waitress was Brandy, only her second day on the job - a lovely girl, who had spent a holiday in Australia, so she enjoyed chatting with us.

We’ll spend the rest of the day indoors because it’s grey and miserable outside. It’s already icy on driveways, so you have to be careful walking. The freezing rain is expected around 4.00pm and will continue till noon tomorrow.

Still Friday 20 December

We left for Sarnia at 1.00pm and arrived about 3.30pm. There was no freezing rain, fog most of the way, some rain but the temp stayed between 1º  and 3º , which meant it didn’t freeze on the road.

We drove around the town, having a look at the areas where Steve grew up, went to school, worked, played, down to the lake, although we couldn’t see much it because of the misty conditions, just the edges which were already icing over. Over to the other side to the edge of Lake Huron.  Already “icebergs” are forming at the edge where the lake begins to freeze.  We could see over to the US side, which looked very close.

We went to the two bridges that connect to the US, one for each direction – very impressive structures. Most pictures are from inside the car because it was too cold and wet to get out! Boats are lifted out of the water and shrink wrapped for the winter – stored in multi level frames; otherwise the freezing lake would crush them.

After a light meal at Tim Horton’s, we drove along the park to see their beautiful display of lights and then went to the Mall, just to do some walking because we’d been sitting so long in the car.

We arrived at Steve’s brother and sister-in-law’s place, Cec and Vera, and soon others began to arrive. Vera decorates almost every square inch of their home with Christmas and they have two magnificently adorned Christmas trees. Very Dutch-style decorating and a lovely, cosy house; entertaining was down in the basement and the room was soon full of people.

It was great fun talking with all the lovely men and women and partners who make up Steve’s family. His eldest sister, Margaret, turns 80 next year. It was Vera’s 70th birthday, so the Dutch tradition is for the family to all gather at the birthday person’s home; she had to provide all the food and even her cake. However, I’ve just realised there was no singing of Happy Birthday or candles etc.

We left by 9.15; it was pretty dry for a while; the rain started a little way into the trip and followed us to about 10 mins out from home, when the temperature dropped to 0º  and the road started to ice. By the time we were home at almost 11.30, we had to be careful walking from the car because it was very icy already. 

Thank God for a safe trip!

Friday 20 December

It’s wet this morning, only 1º  but when it’s wet it feels colder. The rain is very light but enough to start to melt the snow. Up till now the snow has been too light and dry and fluffy to make a snowman but if there’s time, we’re going to try to make one in a little while; then we plan to have lunch and head off on our trip. 

In this country in winter, people carry a survival kit in their trunk (sorry, boot!). Weather can move in or change quickly and highways can be shut. If you’re out there, you need to be able to keep warm, watered and if necessary fed. We will also take an overnight bag in case the roads are iced over when it’s time to leave Sarnia tonight.

Thursday 19 December

Happy Birthday, Matt! 12 years old today and finished with Junior School forever! Well done, Matt – hope your birthday was special.

Today it’s really warm. Overnight minimum was -6º; when we went out for our walk, it was up to -2º. At the hockey rink it’s like walking in a freezer room; this morning there was a hockey game on: no spectators but the game itself is noisy with banging on the walls of the rink, etc.

Coffee at Macca’s afterwards. When my coffee came, it was a small and I’d ordered a large. So the guy was going to throw it out, when Dianne said she’d like it, so she got a free latte! It’s much more pleasant walking around the car park without the snow and salt.

A quiet day – a trip to the mall for groceries and then to another mall for a browse through a department store. After dinner, we went to Ray and Cathy’s, friends of Steve and Dianne’s, about 15 minutes away. It was 1º when we were there around 7pm. Now it’s back to 0º.

The forecast for tomorrow, Saturday and some of Sunday is for warmer temperatures, hovering between about -3º  and 2º but with this will come “ice pellets” and “freezing rain”. This last term means the roads will be so icy and dangerous that it’s really foolish to drive. Snow is taken care off by salting and sanding the roads; that doesn’t work with ice. Saturday evening we could get an "ice storm" apparently.

We’re supposed to be going across to Steve’s family in Sarnia to celebrate his sister’s birthday tomorrow evening, but it’s a two-hour drive and you simply don’t take that risk in this country in this weather. So we’ll wait and see if the weather man is right: if he is, we won’t be going anywhere tomorrow!