January slips away...

It has been a warm month, aside from a few cold days where the temperature dipped to -27 at night and the daytime high was -12.  Still, we have a had nice weather overall.

Iain has taken advantage of the good days to get some hydro to the new cottage, so the contractor can start mudding the drywall.  Not much has happened there this month, but they're getting close to the end of the job:  just the mudding and wood ceiling to do, and some odds and ends.  We're thinking of paint colours (though it won't be exciting, we're into cream-coloured walls).

After the rush of Christmas, it's nice to relax a bit, and have weekends where I get to do some puttering about.  Back into a schedule now, I've started working out with an exercise program on the PS3, EA Sports Active 2.  So nice to get back into working out:  I really have let myself go over the last year.  This is perfect for me, because I can exercise at home, early in the morning, when I like to do it.

The Kobo is getting a workout:  I read Stephen King's Mile 81 (pretty good, typical King; I would have enjoyed a longer story), and am now reading George Martin's A Game of Thrones; it's an easy read, and I love the imagery in it.

I finally finshed The Cat's Table, too, which I had in hard cover.  It was pretty good, but Ondaatje always leaves me kinda cold; I just don't find his books satisfying.

We've had some visitors to our feeder, most notable among them this Downy Woodpecker!

Fun in the snow

On New Year's Eve we went for a walk. It was cold but not terribly so.  None of us wanted to do anything too strenuous, so we just went down the road and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Iain and Myles patiently waiting for the rest of us to get moving.

Crossing the field on the road, I tried to capture how gorgeous the trees were - and failed; the eye can take in so much more than can the camera lens.

We passed by the Regans' barn, and stopped to admire the elk horns Paul brought back from a visit up north.

Carl wearing the horns!

I made everyone stop for a sec to get a group picture.

Kerri was outside with her nieces when we came back by the house. She's a good aunt.

Kerri at the top of the "hill" where the kids were sliding.

Hope was enjoying the stand-up sleigh (I don't know what you really call it).

Taylor trudging back up the hill.  Those kids have a ton of energy!

At the lake

We had so much fun visiting with Carl and Irene at their cottage, at New Year's eve-eve, eve, and day.   They are wonderful hosts!  Even so, we are dreaming about staying at our own cottage next year.  We haven't been able to stay at the old place for the last 6 years:  ever since the oil stove came out.  It's not got a lot of insulation, and the wood range just can't kick out enough heat to warm it up.

This probably won't be a problem at the new place.  We stopped in for a look at the drywall on Friday afternoon, and were surprised to notice that the snow we tracked inside melted pretty quickly, despite there being no heat on for the previous week, and the weather being pretty cold.

Iain checking out the lovely thick insulation in the ceiling.

Once the drywall has been mudded, the builders will probably do the wood ceiling that extends through the living room, dining room and kitchen.  You can see the nice pine all stacked up in this next picture.

Mmmmm ... pine!

I made sure to get a picture of the front this time, showing the chimney, the angled windows in the living room, and the cute light outside the front doors!



My new best friend and me

Funny picture, I know!  But here it is, the Kobo, on which I intend to read lots of new books and articles!  It was a Christmas gift from Iain (I returned the favour, and he is also Mr. Kobo now), and I've already read Stephen King's Mile 81 and Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  Just finished downloading the 4-book set of George Martin's A Game of Thrones.

Currently I'm working on a free ebook, Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago by Canniff Haight, which is a description written early in the 1900's about life in mid-1800's rural Canada.  Fascinating stuff, for me; I really enjoyed my Aunt Doris' My Heritage-My Memories, the pdf for which also sits on my Kobo!

My prediction for 2012:  I will have my nose in a book even MORE often than usual!