Tempus Fugit

The temperatures are on the rise and the snow is melting fast and I saw a sure sign that Spring has arrived on Friday. No, it wasn’t a robin, it was a guy on a motorcycle, and at 6C it still makes for a very “cool” ride. I can remember riding my motorcycle late in the fall to put it away at my parents for the winter in those temperatures. Definitely cool if you’re not dressed properly for it.

Saturday was a busy day with an afternoon wedding that was very nice, and then we went to see the Cannes Lions winners in the film category at the Art Gallery. The Film Lions are awarded to the best commercials of the year. A lot of the commercials were uproariously funny, some quite poignant and a few quite tasteless, but overall it’s a great show. This is one of the Gold winners.

Lots of laugh out loud stuff and quite a few “how did they do that?” moments. Perhaps a few “Why did they do that?” moments as well. Like what’s with the frog jumping out of the drain pipe on the Sony commercial?

This afternoon there was another spring time first. The boys were over for lunch and we all went for a bike ride afterwards. No motors, just leg power. It was a bit wet and generally we took it at a pretty easy pace. Well, except for when Scott went flying by me a couple of times, and then the chase was on! We went 26.4km at an average speed of 19.5km/hr, a decent pace for the first time out considering we stopped a couple of times and slowed down to look at some houses on South Drive. We discovered that my rear tire throws the most water, and I got the wettest, which was surprising since I had a fender and Eric didn’t. Later we figured out that perhaps I had it set too low. I’ll check it out on the next wet ride. I was a good time riding with Scott and Eric.

Technorati Tags: cannes, film, awards, biking

Branches
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

Today was a lazy day with out too many plans. We slept in a bit, until 8:30am or so. I was up a little earlier and did my Bowflex workout routine while checking emails and listening to The Daily Source Code. The DSC accompanies most of my early morning workouts. Sometimes it’s a little too raunchy for my tastes but Adam is quite informative and generally quite interesting. I know I’ve listened to some music that I normally would never have heard.

Anyway, after that I took a few pictures of the hoar frost that coated the tree in front of our house. Well, actually it was coating everything in sight, the fence, the neighbor’s tree, the stuff was everywhere. THien it was time for a couple of cups of coffee, some conversation, and a little reading.  After that it was off to do a little birthday shopping. We went off to by Shirley a leather coat and one thing led to another and we ended up buying four leather coats, two for me, and two for Shirley, quite impulsive. Surprisingly, I’ve never owned a leather jacket and now I have two, and one of them is very cool, or is that hot? Perhaps sick? Anyway, I like them.

We went to see a friend at a local mall and check out a CX-9, wow, what a car. Way more impressive in person that what you see on the TV commercials. But at about $60K it should be pretty nice. Our friend wasn’t there, so after a little window shopping it was off to Starbucks to drop on on another friend. However, the timing was not so good, our friend’s shift didn’t start until later in the day. Back home for a lunch snack and to catch up on posting some photos from a week ago to flickr and blog a couple of things, like this.

Tonight we’re hanging around the house. I think I’ll go out an pick up a movie and Shirley is busy making pizza. So, a relaxing evening ahead. Great stuff after a busy week.

Bat Play
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.
See what happens next.

Last week at church we had a guest speaker, Ted DiBiase, The Million Dollar Man of WWF fame. I was doing sound in the morning so I heard him speak two times and he has a great message. He was also going to speak at an evening service just for men, and I was not really planning on going but I found out that Eric and Scott where involved in the event. Prior to Mr. DiBiase speaking there were several special events, such as revving up a couple of chain saws to put a little “aroma” in the air, a hot dog eating contest, and some feats of strength such as ripping a phone book in two, and breaking bats and bricks. Mr. DiBiase spoke to the men and there was some great praise and worship singing. Top the evening off with a coffee & ice cream for everyone and some WWF video. It was a great evening and of course I was proud to see Eric and Scott’s involvement, they are two great sons.

Liquid gold
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

This weekend we went down to the lake for the weekend. The temperatures were quite nice at about -5C, and when we arrived the cottage was only 0C. Some years we’ve arrived to -20C and it really doesn’t warm up until the next morning.

Upon arrival we put on our snowshoes and unloaded the supplies. The snowshoes made it easy to walk up the deep snow covering the driveway and deck. After unpacking and getting set up we baked som e pizza and thought we’d watch a little TV. Well, it was still quite cold in the cottage and the TV would not turn on. So, we hooked the laptop into the stereo, put it on the hearth, built a roaring fire, pulled the loveseat right up to the fireplace an watched 4 back to back episodes of House with our pizza. Very nice and cozy!

The next morning it was bright and sunny and I started chopping a hole in the ice for water. About an hour later I struck pay dirt, well, water anyway. Somehow it seemed a little harder carrying those two 5 gallon pails up the path to the cottage. It’s surprising how little water you really need when you have to work hard for it. The reward was a nice cup of coffee while basking in the warm sun coming in the patio doors.

After breakfast we snowshoed around the point on the lake. I took some pictures on the shoreline, a neighbors cottage, trees, and the navigation aid at the tip of the point.

Yes, I am cute
Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo.

This morning we were having a late breakfast brunch when we noticed some activity on the deck outside the dining room window. This little guy was also having some “breakfast”. Last night we BBQ’d steak and I left the tongs out on the BBQ shelf. Well, this very enthusiastic squirrel was cleaning up. Have a look here.