Snow!

Last night was our first proper snow fall for the 2011/2012 winter! Temperatures are meant to be quite mild for the rest of the week so it will probably melt before too long, but what a lovely surprise to wake up to!

Looking out my front door

on the first full day of Spring!

What it's like in the Northern Hemisphere

The image comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) and is used without permission. It was compiled from satellite images taken earlier this month, when massive winter storm made its way across North America.


From the Daily Mail via Marginal Revolution

Roadtrip to Burlington, VT, USA

G and I took a little road trip to the USA a couple of weeks ago. We stayed in Burlington, which is 160km south of Montreal and lies on the eastern side of Lake Champlain.

Such beautiful blue skies! The weather on our first day was amazing - cold, but brilliant sunshine. We wandered around the downtown area, and along the foreshore, stopping to sit awhile in one of the swinging park benches that line the boardwalk. The great thing about going outside of peak season - everyone had a bench!

The top picture is looking out over Lake Champlain - you can see the Adirondack mountains on the other side of the lake. I will have to visit in the summer and see how busy this area is! The bottom picture is a random, municipal building in Burlington, which was so vivid against the sky and the burnished red of the autumn leaves.

A late lunch at American Flatbread in downtown Burlington. This place was recommended on a number of websites - a big draw being their looong list of house and locally brewed beers. I enjoyed a Cornucopia Spiced Butternut Squash Harvest Ale - it hit the spot after a morning of driving and border crossing negotiations! We shared their house salad, with goat's cheese, and two of their signature pizza-style flatbreads. They were good, although not as good as the raves would suggest - a little dry and the toppings were a bit sparse. Still, they tasted pretty great and the ingredients that were fresh and high quality.

Breakfast at Penny Cluse Cafe, also in downtown Burlington. I decided to embrace the Americana and had the southern-style biscuits smothered in herb cream gravy, with eggs and a fruit plate. The fruit plate was actually the highlight - there was about 11 different fruits on it, including pomegranate, fresh fig and a melon which I couldn't even recognise!

The next day was the opposite of the last - rain that turned into icy pellets that turned into snow, yuck! Luckily we had decided to play tourist and visit the local (indoor) attractions! We went wine tasting at Shelburne Vineyard (see above, they grow special vines which have been cultivated to withstand the extremes in temperature), chocolate tasting at Lake Champlain Chocolates (try their Five Star bar if you get a chance!) and ice-cream tasting at the Ben and Jerry Factory (I know, ice-cream tasting when it is snowing outside? Let me tell you, totally worth it!)

  

On our way back, just before the border, we needed fuel for the rental car (it is cheaper in the USA) and fuel for the border crossing. A quick stop at a McDonalds and look, our visit happened to coincide with the limited edition run of McRib. I think we had these in Australia way back when, but I can't remember them tasting this good! Not sure if they will make it to Canada....

Anyway, it was a great little trip - I can't wait to visit again in the summer!

First snow!

It snowed last night! Just a couple of centimetres, and it wasn't cold enough for any to stick - this is what was left this morning and it was melting fast! No more snow is forecast for awhile and it should still be another month or so before our first big snowstorm (which hit December 7th last year, the day before I was due to fly out to Australia) Still, the snow is a big reminder that winter is on its way!


(It is Halloween today and you can see our little pumpkin sitting there, waiting to be carved this afternoon! I don't think we have decided on a design yet, but I am guessing it will be something appropriately geeky! More details and pictures to follow!)

De-icing a plane!

Living in a city (nay, a country!) that experiences a "real" winter means lots of firsts - first time falling on a patch of ice, first time driving in snow, first time shovelling snow from your balcony, first time hearing the snow plow announce its presence on your street at 3am.... the list is nearly endless! 

When I flew home to Australia this past December, I had another one - first time sitting in a plane waiting for it to be de-iced! De rigueur for most Montrealans, but a surprise to me! Luckily M has clued me in on what it would look like! I am a nervous flier necessarily, but there is something very disconcerting about watching someone do something that is completely necessary for a successful take off! You want to call out, "hey, you missed a spot!"

45°30′N

I have lived through two winters now in Quebec, but last December was my first time flying "in the snow". The day before I left for Australia we had the first major snow storm of the season, which dumped over 20cm of snow on my city. The plane needed to be de-iced before we could take off, something I felt lucky to have learnt about beforehand, since seeing the wings doused in orange goo just before take off is not the SOP in Australia!

Once we were in the air, I relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. The normal patchwork blanket of fields and paddocks is transformed when covered in snow......